"Magnus, what happened?" Tessa asked anxiously.
"Is someone dead?" Catarina asked. I didn't bother asking why she was there. Tessa had obviously called her in a panic, thinking she would find me lying in a pool of my own blood.
"No. Nobody's dead," I said slowly, trying to think of how I would tell them of my predicament without sounding melodramatic. "I just… needed to talk to someone other than my cat. No big deal."
"Obviously it's a big deal, or you wouldn't have called," Catarina said, rolling her eyes and flipping her sky-blue hair over her shoulder. "Do you just need help cleaning? Because no offense, but this place is looking really gross right now."
I looked around the loft. I hadn't bothered cleaning lately. Take-out food containers were all over the place, clothes were strewn all over the floor, and all the furniture were dull colors.
"Magnus," Tessa said, always the kindest one. "Just tell us what happened."
I couldn't keep it in any more. I started crying. They both rushed over looking panicked and hugged me. They exchanged looks with each other, like Have you ever seen him cry before? No? Me either.
I didn't cry often. Especially not around people. No wonder Catarina thought somebody had died.
I told them the entire story. Not just how I broke up with Alec, but everything - how we met, our first kiss, our first date, how he kissed me in Idris, our trip around the world, our love of sandalwood soap - everything.
"So let me get this straight," Catarina said when I was done talking. "He's mortal, correct?"
I nodded.
"And you were his first boyfriend ever?" Tessa asked.
I nodded again. Catarina and Tessa exchanged an exasperated look.
"Why are you exchanging looks?" I asked, looking at them. "What are you thinking?"
Catarina sighed. "What we're thinking, Magnus, is that you are an idiot."
I blinked. "Well if you're cruel."
"What she means," Tessa started, trying to put it in a way that wouldn't make me cry again, "Is that of course he thought about taking your immortality away! He loved you. And he was scared that after he died you would fall in love with somebody else and forget about it. And he didn't even go through with it. And I get breaking up with him if you hated him for doing what he did, but you still love him, so now you're miserable."
I was silent for a minute before I said quietly, "He is too."
"How do you know?" Catarina asked.
"His brother - friend - parabatai - whatever he is - came and told me," I said, crying into a pillow. "And he keeps calling me."
Catarina looked thoughtful for a minute. "On your cell?"
I nodded. Quick as a flash, she grabbed my cell phone off the coffee table. When I tried to take it from her, Tessa tackled me and pressed a hand against my mouth.
"Sorry, Magnus," she said. "This is for your own good."
Catarina shouted "FOUND IT!" and pressed a button on my phone. She held it up against her ear. Barely two seconds later, he had evidently answered, because she started talking.
"No, this is his friend Catarina. You're Alec? You need to come over here quick, there's been an emergency. Magnus needs you. Okay."
She ended the call, grinning like a Cheshire cat. "He'll be here in ten minutes."
"Give me my phone back!" I yelled when Tessa removed her hand from my mouth.
Catarina crushed my phone under her platform shoe.
