Chapter Five

"Is this good idea?" Max thought that Rafael would choose for them to hide under the bed, not in a portal,

"The point of the game is to win, if we go through, they won't find us and we'll win, comprende?" Rafael was oozing confidence,

"Okay," Max latched onto Rafael's hand as they approached the portal.

The wind blowing from the blue and purple swirling mass made Max's cap blow to the ground and he started to feel cold. He was nervous; he had never even seen a portal up close before, but the fact that he would be with his brother made him feel much more at ease and slightly excited.

"Remember that massive tower that papa says he'll take us to," Rafael said,

"The feefil tower," Max replied with certainty,

"Think of that the whole time."

Max nodded and they took a step forward. This was going to be the best game of hide and seek ever. Max closed his eyes and tried to imagine a really tall pointy structure, surrounded by light and with cars rushing around it as he and Rafael stepped through the portal.

When Max stepped out of the portal, he was surrounded by at least hundreds of people. There were some people taking pictures in front of the Eiffel Tower (or feefil tower), strange people trying to sell key rings and some didn't seem to care about the wondrous structure they walked under and got on with their lives. This was the most exciting and thrilling thing Max had ever experienced. The lights danced in his eyes, the smell of popcorn made his mouth water, the feeling of the breeze in his hair was sensational to him and the amazed look on Rafael's face let Max know that he wasn't alone.

"What do we do now?" Max asked,

"Let's stay for a little while," Rafael giggled as they walked underneath the Eiffel Tower.

Max made sure to remember where they left the portal as they walked further away from the tower and towards a seemingly quiet park. Max had never wandered anywhere without Alec or Magnus and he was starting to like it as he and Rafael played games in the dark and were free to be as loud and hyper as they wanted.

"If I catch you, you have to organise Aunt Isabelle's wardrobe!" Rafael shouted,

"Never!" Max laughed.

They ran around for what felt like merely seconds when Max bumped into something. Something big.

"Sorry," he said as he staggered back.

A large pitch black thing slowly turned to face him with eyes as red as blood but no mouth. It reminded Max of a giant blob of sticky tar, but whatever this was, it had mouths crammed with sharp teeth on its hands and the mouths looked ready to eat.

"RAFFY!" Max cried.

The poor boy was so scared that he found himself unable to run and he could only stagger back while wishing that his dad and papa were there to save him. Rafael soon appeared behind him and grabbed his hand so tight that it almost hurt. The brothers were petrified. They had never seen such a terrifying demon before and this enormous grotesque one was the stuff of nightmares. The demon raised its hands and its eyes grew wider. Max began to cry and begged for his parents. Through his tears, he saw a slash of light, heard a loud deep groan and witnessed the demon melt into black thick liquid which soon disappeared. In front of them was a tall woman with golden blonde her, piercing blue eyes and more importantly, she had runes covering her body. Max had never been so thankful for a stranger. The woman looked down at the boys in confusement.

"Are you hurt?" she simply asked,

"No miss," Max shook his head,

"Stranger danger, Max," Rafael whispered.

Before the woman could respond, another one of the large black demons came running towards them. Max couldn't do anything but scream. The woman instantly picked Max up, put her seraph blade in its sheath, grabbed Rafael's hand and started running. She ran with unnatural speed and constantly told the boys that everything was going to be okay, despite the demon chasing them down. Max had had nightmares of what demons were like, but they were always slightly smaller than him and looked funny, the reality was much more petrifying.

"Theo!" the woman cried.

Seconds later, a bright white ring fell around the demon, stopping it in its tracks and making it groan. A tall, muscular man flipped over it, landing between Max and the demon and pierced it with his seraph blade, his lasso then turned back to its normal colour and he drew it in before hanging it on his belt. The man turned around and looked at Max and Rafael with wide eyes.

"I wanna go home," Max sniffed,

"How did you get here in the first place?" the woman asked,

"There's a portal under the tower," Rafael explained before letting go of the woman's hand and running towards the tower.

The woman and the man followed. But there was no more portal. Max wished he had enough magic to create one as he simultaneously yearned to be in Magnus's arms instead of the blonde stranger's. He then realized that if they couldn't get home, Jace would never find them. They were lost. Max began to cry even more.

"Ssssh, it's okay. We'll just take you to the Institute and call your parents," the woman smiled,

"Je déteste les enfants," Theo muttered under his breath,

"Ferme-la s'il te plait," the woman snapped as they began to walk.

Throughout the short walk, Rafael had to keep reassuring Max that they'd be okay and he occasionally sang a Spanish lullaby with the intention to make Max fall asleep, but it didn't work. The bright lights, mass of people and want for his parents kept Max very much awake and sobbing, but what made him go quiet, was when they approached the Paris Institute. Max had heard Magnus saying that they were doing work on the Paris Institute to make it look grander, but if anything, it looked more like a palace. The exterior walls were cream with arched stain glass windows rimmed with gold, gold rimmed arches with runes along them and a golden statue of the angel Raziel on the top of the stupendous structure. They boys were taken to the study where they sat on a very elegant black chaise lounge and watched as the strange man and woman talked.

"I don't like him," Max pointed at the blonde haired tall man,

"Don't worry, we'll be home soon," Rafael clasped Max's hand.

The blonde woman had clearly had enough of the man and slapped him round the face before picking up the phone and tapping her foot.

"Oh, my name is Esme, and this is my brother Theo," she smiled.

Max simply waved.

"Hello, this is Esme Garson from the Paris Institute, we have two young boys here who claim that they got here through a portal," she sang sweetly.

Slowly, Max leaned on Rafael and soon had his head on his lap like he would when he got tired while watching TV with Alec.

"Oui, I suggest you pick them up very soon, everything is less than calm here at the moment," Esme went still for a while, nodded and then put down the phone, "your parents will be here as soon as possible,"

"Tired," Max yawned.

Esme showed them to an extravagant room with two beds fit for two sleepy princes. The walls were a royal blue with a white swirl pattern covering it, the black curtains had gold tassels, the floor was polished so well that the small chandelier was reflected off of it, the wardrobe looked large enough to contain another room in it and the beds were more than bouncy enough for Max. Max instantly curled up on the bed without even taking his shoes off, unlike Rafael who made sure to have both his shoes and socks off before getting under the covers.

"Bonne nuit," Esme whispered as she turned off the light and left them to sleep.

"I want my teddy," Max sniffed,

"Dad will bring it," Rafael replied before singing a Spanish lullaby which this time made Max fall fast asleep with hopes of waking up to his dad and papa.