He smiled a bit at this.
“They were monsters, Magnus. They could not be allowed to live. Stupid mundanes, thinking they could rule their world by harnessing our power? No. They died quickly.”
“And, I would imagine, in great pain and terror.”
“Perhaps. But their sufferings have ended. And now, so have mine. Come with me.”
“Come with you? To Pandemonium? To the Void? And here I thought that my invitation to summer in New Jersey was the worst I had ever received.”
“This isn’t the time for jokes, Bane.”
“Aldous,” Magnus said, “you are talking about going to the demon realm. You do not come back from there. And you know what horrors you would face.”
“We don’t know what it’s like. We don’t know anything. I wish to know. My final wish is for knowledge of that most mysterious place, my true home. The final step to finish the spell,” he said, pulling up on the balled head of his cane and revealing a knife. “A few drops of warlock blood. Just a bit will do. A slice across the palm.”
Aldous looked at the knife thoughtfully, then at Magnus.
“If you stay here, the Portal will open, and you will come with me. If you do not wish to come, leave now.”
“Aldous, you can’t—”
“I most certainly can, and I’m about to. Make your choice, Magnus. Stay or go, but if you go, go now.”
What was now extremely clear to Magnus was that Aldous was insane. You did not plan trips to the Void if you were compos mentis. Going to the Void was an act greater and more terrible than suicide—it was sending yourself to Hell. But it was also very, very hard to talk to people who had gone insane. Alfie could be talked off the window with reason. It would not be so easy with Aldous. Physical force was just as difficult an approach. Any move Magnus made here would likely be predicted and met with equal or greater strength.
“Aldous . . .”
“You stay then? You come with me?”
“No. I just—I—”
“You worry for me,” Aldous said. “You think I don’t know what I’m doing.”
“I wouldn’t put it like that, exactly. . . .”
“I have considered this for a long time, Magnus. I know what I am doing. So please. Stay or go. Decide now, as I am going to open the Por—”
The arrow made a kind of singing noise as it cut through the air. It entered Aldous’s chest like a knife sliding easily into an apple. Aldous sat upright for a moment, looking at it; then he slumped to the side, dead.
Magnus watched his blood hit the granite.
“RUN,” he yelled.
The young Shadowhunter was still proudly looking at his work, how perfectly he had hit his mark. He didn’t notice the web of cracks spreading from the altar and across the floor, splintering the white marble into hundreds and thousands of pieces with a sound like breaking ice.
Magnus ran. He ran in a way he wasn’t aware he could run, and when he reached the Shadowhunter, he grabbed him and dragged him along. They had just reached the door and jumped out when one great belch of fire exploded into the foyer, filling the room with fire from floor to ceiling. Just as quickly, the fire was suctioned back into the ballroom. The doors of the hotel pulled themselves shut. The very building shook as if an enormous vacuum had appeared just over it and was sucking it up.
“What’s happening?” said the Shadowhunter.
“He’s opened some kind of channel to the Void,” Magnus said, staggering to his feet.
“What?”
Magnus shook his head. There was no time to explain.
“Was everyone out of the building?” he asked.
“I’m not sure. The demons were both inside and out. We caught a half dozen of them in the street, but . . .”
The building shuddered and seemed to stretch just an inch or two, as if it was being pulled upward.
“Get back from here,” Magnus said. “I have no idea what happens next, but it looks like this whole thing could . . . just get back!”
In all his years, in all his studies, Magnus had never encountered anything that had prepared him for this—a building turned into a perfect Portal, a warlock who wanted to go home to the Void, using his own blood as a key. This was not in the lesson books. This would require guesswork. And a lot of luck. And probably some stupidity.
If he was wrong at any point, which he likely would be, he would be sucked into the Void. Into Hell itself. Which was where the stupidity came in.
Magnus pulled open the door. The Shadowhunter behind him cried out, but Magnus just yelled for him to stay back.
This is a terrible idea, Magnus thought as he found himself in the lobby again. This may be the worst idea I’ve ever had.
The fire that had blasted into the heart of the building had scorched every surface, blackening the ceiling, destroying the furnishings, exposing the floor under the carpet, and charring the great staircase. The doors to the ballroom, however, were completely unharmed.
Magnus stepped back inside the ballroom carefully.