"That's my book." I try to speak over Sebastian, but my voice is only just so loud. I stand in the living room doorway in my grey pyjamas with my brown hair disarrayed as if I had just woken from my slumbers. That was partly true; I was half asleep only just a few moments ago. I glare at the manga novel sitting next to the dark, older boy.
"What, this?" Sebastian holds out my copy of Angel Sanctuary. I don't like this boy. People who steal my books will never hold a place in my heart, and especially not this strange-looking boy who tries too hard to be pleasant. "Here you go, kid."
I stalk silently across the room, my eyes fixed on the comic in his pale hands. I snatch the book back quickly and scowl disapprovingly at the boy. "Don't call me kid," I spit.
Sebastian laughs it off and tousles my hair. Standing up, he announces he is going to get some coffee. He heads for the kitchen, letting the door swing shut behind him.
"Max," Isabelle hisses sharply. "Don't be so rude."
"I don't like it when people take my stuff." I hug the comic book closer to my chest, not letting it out of my sight again.
"Grow up, Max. He was just borrowing it." Isabelle's voice is irritated. "You should be in bed anyway. It's late."
I hate being told what to do. I'm nine now, not seven. She's not even an adult herself. She can't tell me what to do.
"There were noises up on the hill. They woke me up." I blink. Without my glasses, everything looks like a blur to me. I can't focus on anything. The fatigue doesn't help. I remember what I came down to ask now. "Isabelle…"
Isabelle turns away from the window. "What?"
"Do people ever climb the demon towers? Like, for any reason?" The dark human-like figure on the glass towers had caught my attention. I'm sure it was not just my imagination. It had seemed so real, yet looking back on it…
"Climb the demon towers?" Aline looks up and laughs. "No, no one ever does that. It's totally illegal, for one thing; and besides, why would you want to?"
I do not know whether Aline has much of an imagination. I, for one, would enjoy spitting gum on passers-by below. I frown, though. "But someone did. I know I saw-"
"Whatever you think you saw, you probably dreamed it," Isabelle tells me.
I can feel a lump at the back of my throat forming, and I begin to protest with watery eyes, but Alec stands up and holds out a hand. "Come on, Max," he says in his unique affectionate tone. "Let's get you back to bed."
"We should all get to bed," Aline says, standing up. She walks over to the window, beside my sister and draws the curtains shut, slightly firmer than needed. "It's already almost midnight; who knows when they'll get back from the council? There's no point staying-"
The scene before me suddenly goes wild, and everything turns into a blur: Isabelle's pendant pulsing, the window shattering, then Aline screaming and disappearing.
"Get weapons," Isabelle snaps as Sebastian appears from the kitchen and stares around the room in astonishment. "Go!" she shrieks, running for the window.
Alec holds me by the fireplace, but I squirm and yell, trying to escape from my brother's grip. Try as I might, he drags me towards the door and up the stairs. He flings me over his shoulder effortlessly as I struggle to be free from his hard grip. Not for the first time, I curse my small height and lack of masculine build. We enter the room that belongs to me, and he dumps me softly on the bed. I land lightly with a small thud, and succeed in hitting my elbow off one of the bed posts. I cringe slightly in pain and Alec bends down eye level to me.
"Listen, Max," he begins, a worried look in his eyes, but also determination. "I'm going after Aline and Izzy. You have to stay here, no matter what. Unless, of course, a demon comes in, then you get the hell out of here. But that's not the point. I need you to stay here Max, because I need to know you'll be safe while I'm out there. Sebastian will stay here-" He cuts off, and I know it must be because he saw the look of disgust come across my face. "Sebastian will look after you, Max. He's a good guy, okay? He's much better company than an Iblis demon would ever be. He'll protect you from outside."
"You promise?" I look at him sternly.
"I swear. I swear on the angel that he'll be good to you and protect you."
I nod slowly, and he kisses my forehead. "Be good, Max. I'll see you later." And with that, Alec is off and into the night.
I look around the room, trying to ignore screams from outside. I am already bored to death. Well, I suppose not literally bored to death. I am still alive, after all. That, is a bonus.
I hear a loud banging from downstairs. I wait for it to stop, but it doesn't. I wonder what Sebastian is doing down there, and maybe if I could sneak a peek at what he is attempting. However, Alec told me to stay in my room. But Alec did also tell me Sebastian was good, so I'm sure he won't mind. I slowly creep out of the door and down the stairs, my feet padding lightly on each step. I wander towards the banging sound coming from the living room and look inside the room. Sebastian is covering the hole made by the demon in the window. I wager he has taken logs from the fire place in attempt of finding something that will do the job.
Slowly, I walk into the large room and stare at Sebastian as he hammers the nails into the wood. He strikes the hammer powerfully, and I wonder, just for a moment, what would happen if he missed the nail and hit his thumb. My guess: it would shatter like glass. Quietly, I clear my throat. Some how, he hears me and turns around.
"Max, what are you doing down here? Get upstairs." He orders me, but I do not like being ordered.
"I was curious as to what you were doing?" My statement is unsure, and sounds more like a question. "Can I look out the window?"
"Go upstairs." He orders again, but I stand my ground.
"No." It is a small word, but a powerful one; apparently, one powerful enough to bring out the real side of Sebastian. He storms across the room towards me, hammer in hand.
"Get upstairs, you little brat. I'm in charge here. No big brother or sister to protect you now, so respect your elders and get out of my sight, ugly little squirt." He hisses as if he were a snake, his words like a venomous bite.
I slowly shrink back towards the stairs, but not before I catch sight of Alec and Isabelle climbing the steps.
"They're back," I squeak, as if I am a small mouse, my mightiness disappeared.
"Get down and don't say a word." Sebastian turns and goes back to hammering the window as I slowly sink to the ground, hugging my knees. Quite literally the second after, Alec and Isabelle enter the living room and asses their surroundings.
"There," Sebastian says proudly, standing back to admire his hand work and letting the hammer fall onto the bookshelf. "That should hold for a while."
Isabelle drops down beside me and gently strokes my hair in a soothing motion. "Are you alright?"
"No." I say. I can hear fear in my own voice and imagine my expression to be spooked. "I tried to see out the window, but Sebastian told me to get down."
"Sebastian was right," Alec says with admiration for that dark boy. "There were demons out in the street."
"Are they still there?"
"No, but there are some still in the city. We have to think about what we're going to do next."
"Where's Aline?" Sebastian asks with an ugly frown.
"She ran off," Isabelle explains to him. "It was my fault. I should have been-"
"It was not your fault. Without you she's be dead." Alec's tone is clipped. "Look, we don't have time for self-recriminations. I'm going to go after Aline. I want you three to stay here. Isabelle, look after Max. Sebastian, finish securing the house."
I am glad that Isabelle is staying. At least that monster, Sebastian, can do nothing to me with Isabelle on his case.
"I don't want you going out there alone! Take me with you." Isabelle speaks up indignantly.
"I'm the adult here. What I say goes." Alec speaks in an even voice. "There's every chance out parents will be coming back any minute from the Gard. The more of us here, the better. It'll be too easy for us to get separated out there. I'm not risking it, Isabelle." His gaze moves to the devil. "Do you understand?"
"I'll work on warding the house with Marks." Sebastian says, stele already in hand.
"Thanks." Alec is already nearly at the door. He turns around to look back at Isabelle for only a moment, and then he is gone.
It is then that I notice Isabelle's wrist that is ringed with blood, like a bracelet. "Isabelle," I say in a low, concerned, voice. "Your wrist is bleeding."
She looks down in surprise as if she hadn't noticed until now. She gets to her feet. "I'm going to get my stele. I'll be right back and help you with the runes, Sebastian."
"I could use some help," Sebastian nods. "These aren't my specialty."
Sebastian starts to draw a protection Mark as Isabelle darts out the room. As soon as she is out of sight, Sebastian stops drawing and turns around, setting down his stele. He picks up the hammer.
"Sebastian," I say, unsure of what he might be thinking. "What are you-"
I am cut off as Sebastian storms across the floor and wraps a hand around my scrawny neck. He lifts me off the floor as if I were only a feather. I try to speak, to say anything at all, but I am choking. I am choking on something. I am choking on fear. Fear of Sebastian. Fear of what I know is imminent. I know what he is doing. I am merely an annoying little splinter in his finger; merely an annoying little boy in the middle of his evil plans. I am dragged into the kitchen. He throws me onto the floor and I try to scream, to let Isabelle know something is wrong, but I can't. The truth is, I never will be able to. This is my first real test of being a shadowhunter, and I have already failed. I failed ever since I took my first breath. I am not fit to be a shadowhunter. I never have been. Perhaps in another parallel universe, I am the greatest shadowhunter that has ever lived, or perhaps I am a normal mundane boy. A normal mundande that has not experienced pain, grief and loss. And then perhaps I will grow into a man. Perhaps a successful business man. Yes, that sounds good. But I am none of those things here, and now. None of the things I need to be.
I feel fear grabbing at me. Feel it wrapping me in a blanket. Sebastian looks over me. "You always were too innocent to be useful, Max. Such shame that such good bloodlines were ruined by a scum like you. I am not sorry, Max. I am putting you out of your misery. I will never be sorry, Max. This is for your own good." He raised the hammer, and I know what is coming. I knew from the start. This is it, yet something feels wrong. I am sprawled across the kitchen floor like a kicked puppy. Perhaps that's all I will ever be. But I will not die a kicked puppy. I will die a brave, shadowhunter death.
At the last moment I jump to my feet, the hammer speeding towards my fragile skull.
I am Maxwell Lightwood. I am nine years old. My home is New York. I was never a real shadowhunter. I never will be. But I will die a...