Speculations
"I am here to help, Alec. Don't shoot," Tessa Gray repeated, her hands up, palms out, in a gesture intended to be defensive rather than offensive. She hoped that the remnants of the magic she had just mustered to open the portal would not show in silver sparkles between her fingers and that the young man training an arrow on her would not interpret her posture as a threat. Shadowhunters were generally weary of warlocks' hands, the usual conduits for their magic, but there was no other gesture Tessa could think of to reassure Alec. She wished they had had time to send a warning to Alec of their impending arrival. But alas, things had been too chaotic and any attempt at communication too risky since Catarina had appeared at the door of her small visiting scholar office at the Spiral Labyrinth ten hours ago.
She looked at the young Shadowhunter intently in the eyes, attempting to communicate in all possible ways that she was a friend. She recognized in his features and expression gestures and features of much-loved faces from times gone by – the striking eyes, black hair and fair skin, the tall and slim figure, and the warrior's bearing – and a pang of nostalgia and pain hit her. As much as possible, Tessa avoided the Nephilim because, despite the passage of time, memories of her lost Shadowhunter life still hurt her. She had not visited Magnus since she learned that he was involved with a Lightwood. She wouldn't confess to it, but she had stayed away because she feared an encounter with someone belonging to a family that brought such fond and such sad memories. She would have kept her distance for a while longer had not Catarina showed up at her door asking for help, despair written all over her face, telling her that Magnus needed them. Tessa had not thought about it twice. Magnus was one of her closest friends, a steadfast connection to times in her life in which she had been the happiest and the saddest. Magnus and Catarina were family; perhaps the only family Tessa could count on.
Alec hesitated for a moment, unsure of what to do. Meanwhile, with a low rumble, the building finally resettled on its foundations and the walls and furniture gradually ceased their shuddering. From the corner of his eye, he saw the slumped figure on the ground and recognized the blue skin and long silver hair of Catarina Loss, and decided to take a risk and trust that Catarina would not bring someone into Magnus' apartment who was not safe. Besides, the young woman in front of him with her dancing eyes and her innocent open face seemed harmless enough. So, he lowered his bow but kept his eyes fixed on the new arrival and his protective stance in front of Magnus.
Visibly relaxing and apparently deciding that Alec was unlikely to shoot her, Tessa turned, promptly lifted her arms in the air and began to wave them in swift and purposeful semicircles, blue, orange and red sparkles streaming from her fingers as she reinforced the wards that Catarina had erected around the penthouse. She then walked in the direction of the unconscious Catarina, and crouching, brought her hand gently to her brow trying to ascertain the extent of her friend's injuries. Healing had never been her speciality, but snapping her fingers, she mustered the remaining of her magic powers and sent waves of healing energy towards Catarina. After a moment, the other warlock took a deep breath and stirred, and a second later, she made to stand though she was evidently still a little disoriented.
"Take it easy, Catarina," Tessa said calmingly. "We are safe at home, but you took a nasty blast of magic to the back, and the journey through that portal was difficult."
"Have you got it?" Catarina anxiously asked looking at Tessa with still unfocussed eyes.
"I dare say that I have," Tessa replied reaching for her back where a backpack that had obviously been magically concealed suddenly solidified. From it, she produced a big old book, its dark brown leather covers worn, and its pages yellowed with age. She handed the book to Catarina who gently took it and hugged it to her chest.
Alec came to join Tessa, his initial distrust abating, and together they helped Catarina to her feet and onto the couch. As some of her strength returned, Catarina donned her usual glamour, and the blue hue of her complexion began to fade, her skin returning to her habitual dark golden tone and her hair to its usual black. Once she was settled on the sofa, Alec went to the kitchen to get a glass of water.
"Here, drink this," he said gently and handed the glass to Caterina. "What happened?" he then asked looking fixedly from one woman to the other. "I have never seen a portal that looked like that or that exerted that kind of power. I thought the building was going to crush to the ground."
"We had to open a portal capable of breaking out of a heavily warded fortress," Tessa replied. "And, we were under attack. I suspect that some of the magic they were blasting us with got caught in it. Shall we agree to never do that again?" she added turning to her friend with a conspiratorial smile and running a hand gently along her arm.
"Which part," Catarina asked beginning to sound more like herself again, "the breaking and entering, the stealing of an ancient spell book, or the escaping from a heavily warded Spiral Labyrinth?"
"All of it, I must say," replied Tessa, her smile denoting relief at seeing that Catarina was regaining some of her strength and wit.
Alec thought that Tessa's voice did not only carry the inflection of an English accent, but also the cadence of long-ago words. When he spoke of his many adventures and the many historical figures he had met along the centuries of his life, Magnus sometimes spoke in that old accent and Alec felt transported to a time of horse-drawn carriages, oil lamps, full skirts and top hats. Listening to Tessa now, Alec experienced a similar time displacement and could not help but relax a little and trust this young, quiet and apparently unpretentious woman.
Now that Catarina was safe, Tessa looked around at the dimly lighted room for the first time since their abrupt arrival. As the adrenaline that had been running through her system began to ebb, the dreariness and cold that permeated the very air around them finally hit her. "I see what you mean, Catarina," she stated as an involuntary shudder run down her spine and goosebumps rose on her skin. "There is a dark and sinister energy building up in this room."
She stood up from the sofa and walked towards Magnus who had remained completely oblivious to the shaking of the building and the arrival of his friends. "Oh Magnus, what did you do to yourself? And, why didn't you call me?" she quietly and gently asked crouching in front of Magnus, taking his hand in hers, and repeating the same questions that both Catarina and Alec had asked before.
Alec took advantage of the fact that Tessa was intent on Magnus to observe her with more attention. Magnus had mentioned Tessa many times, always in relation to shared adventures, never disclosing any of his friend's secrets. While Alec didn't know what he had expected, he knew it was certainly not a young, slim and bookish looking woman with the appearance of a librarian or an art major. Tessa wore tanned ballerina style flats tied around the ankles with thick pink ribbons, ankle-high blue jeans, a loose white cotton tuxedo shirt and an open and slightly oversize silk vest with an intricate design in grey, purple and cooper that anyone would think was a good replica of Victorian fashion, but that Alec suspected was authentically old. Her reddish-brown hair was long, and she wore it in a braid that fell down one shoulder, and her apple-face, devoid of any makeup, was the face of a young woman not older than perhaps 25 with well-defined lips and striking grey-blue eyes. Overall, the mixtures of fashions reflected in her outfit, the vintage earrings and bracelets adorning her ears and wrists, and the regal way in which she carried herself made Tessa appear ageless, as if she existed outside time and could, therefore, easily transport herself to any era. She was objectively beautiful in a way that projected both vulnerability and strength, as if innocence and experience, youth and maturity could be encapsulated in one person. Alec knew Tessa was a warlock and that in the past she had had closed relationships with the Nephilim, including members of his own family, but the particulars remained a mystery. It was hard to believe though that this young woman was over a hundred years old.
"Who were you escaping from?" Alec asked turning to Catarina after a minute of silent contemplation.
"The team of warlocks that guards the Spiral Labyrinth's archive," replied Catarina getting up and going to stand besides Magnus. She placed a hand a couple of inches above Magnus' forehead as if trying to ascertain whether Magnus had a fever. "I guess they didn't take kindly to me breaking into the archives after the Highest Warlock denied me access and stealing one of their precious books," she added gesturing to the old tome on the sofa.
"That reminds me," stated Alec and he then proceeded to recount the arrival of the red paper bird with the message directed to all New York warlocks instructing them to surrender Magnus and Catarina and warning them against harboring them.
"I am not surprised," stated Tessa, walking towards Magnus' desk by the window, and grabbing a piece of paper on which she magically scribed a few words. With a wave of her hand, she made the paper fold itself and with another, send it flying into the air. The paper hovered for a moment and then disappeared swallowed by magically conjured flames.
"Who is the fire message for?" Catarina asked.
"I am contacting Jem. I suspect Celestina will add my name to the most-wanted list as soon as she finds out that I helped you break into the archives Catarina," Tessa explained. "It is just a matter of time before they discover the reason behind our very illegal actions. If what we suspect is correct, we are in danger and magic wards will not be enough to protect us; we need Silent Brother wards."
"Am I correct to assume that you found what you were looking for?" Alec asked trying to keep his frustration in check. He didn't like being in the dark, and so far, nothing of what he had been able to ascertain from Catarina and Tess's conversation was very explicit in terms of a cure to what was afflicting Magnus. Everything sounded like conjectures and more conjectures. Furthermore, it now seemed that members of the very secretive and, by what he gathered, very powerful Spiral Labyrinth were after them. The situation seemed direr now than before and Alec was concerned that he would not be able to protect Magnus, and Magnus could obviously not protect himself. He was also getting tired of waiting, not knowing what to do, or rather unable to do anything to bring Magnus back. He was a warrior; waiting while others, not matter how powerful their magic, risked their lives was not something to which he was adept.
"We still need to do more research," replied Catarina, "but I am confident that we found the right spell book."
"Catarina must have told you that petrification is a taboo topic among warlocks," added Tessa. "It is more than a taboo really; it is rather a forbidden topic. Yet, as a result of my interest in the history and origins of warlocks and the sources of our powers, it is one of the topics I have been researching though, I must say, not always with much success. Every time I think I have found something, somehow the information eludes me, I am denied access, or told not to ask any more questions. Naturally, that has only piqued my interest even more."
Tessa joined Catarina, placing her hands above Magnus' shoulders, in a gesture that Alec thought suggested that they were examining Magnus, attempting to diagnose or identify the forces that were keeping him in his frozen state. Alec stood close by and observed them intently, not wanting to interfere but ready to step in if needs be. The faces of the two warlocks reflected a mixture of concentration, curiosity, concern and puzzlement, but they didn't seem to be in any discomfort. After a moment, tendrils of dark, grey and charcoal magic began to emanate from Magnus reaching for Catarina and Tessa's hovering hands. As they did, the color seemed to drain from the two warlocks, as if a grey film, or perhaps a dark veil was engulfing them. The room grew even colder, and the sensation of menacing danger seemed to expand. It was as if a movie that had been in full warm color a second ego had suddenly transformed into frigid black and white.
Alec had always admired the multicolor ways in which Magnus' magic manifested – red, green, blue, purple, orange – each color signaling a different force or power. His favorites were red and blue because they were the colors of the magic that sometimes escaped through Magnus's fingers when he touched Alec, and the touch was warm and cold at the same time and awoke every nerve ending on Alec's skin. The magic emanating now from Magnus was completely devoid of color and warmth, and rather than projecting energy, it seemed to be draining all color and life from the room.
"Humm," said Tessa pensively after a minute as she removed her hands.
"Do you see what I mean?" asked Catarina also removing her hands.
"Yes, this seems to correspond to what I have deduced from the pieces of information I have gathered," replied Tessa, concern and a trace of panic drawing in her face. "It is like a black hole that sucks all energy and light from its surroundings," she added meditatively. "And you say that the effect is growing stronger?"
"Yes," asserted Catarina, "it has definitely expanded in the time I was gone. I worry that in time, I might drain all energy even the energy from the wards protecting us."
"No wonder Celestina is in such a panic," Tessa said, taking a further step away from Magnus and hugging herself as if trying to stop heat, or perhaps her own powers, from escaping her.
"Guys," Alec stated, trying to call the two women's attention, his voice a bit louder than he intended. He was at the limit of his patience, and his body vibrated with the tension, desperation and panic accumulated in the ten hours of waiting. "I am going crazy here. I am not a warlock, so can you please explain in simple and complete sentences what is going on?"
"I am sorry Alec," Catarina said with a gentle and reassuring smile, as she approached Alec and placed a hand on his shoulder in a gesture meant to comfort him but that did very little to calm his anxiety. "I know this is hard, but we are also trying to understand this thing. Let's sit down and we will explain what we know so far." She then gestured for Alec and Tessa to sit on the couch, some distance away from Magnus and the dark shadows surrounding him. "I need a coffee," she added, and with a hand gesture, summoned three mugs from a kitchen cabinet and magically filled them with hot dark liquid. "Tea for you Tessa?" She asked adding milk to Tessa's cup.
The three of them sat wrapping their hands around their mugs, trying to gather warmth. The temperature in the apartment kept going down and soon, Alec suspected, would be as cold inside as the dark late winter night was outside. He had never felt alone when he was with Magnus. Magnus could be lively, glamourous, and sometimes bigger than life. Yet, the intimacy of the time and space they shared was generally quiet and he and Magnus could sit for hours in silence each reading a book or the news or listening to music. The private Magnus could be so different from the public one: quieter, gentler, tender. It was as if behind closed doors Magnus shed the High Warlock costume and became just Magnus, young, loving, vulnerable somehow. However, the last ten hours spent with an immobile and distant Magnus and surrounded by ever-expanding sinister shadows and cold now made Alec glad to have company, to not be alone with Magnus.
"This is what we know," Tessa began, in the tone of a scholar explaining a new and yet unproven hypothesis. "And, I must clarify that a lot of it is speculation. I just hope the spell book we stole will confirm our assessment and provide an answer. The hypothesis that makes the most sense to me proposes that petrification is a disease caused by a weakness in our magic immune system, if you will. That weakness allows for a sort of evil infection to creep into our system and take control of our powers. As it takes hold, the infection lures the affected warlock into a darkness more profound than any we know cutting them off from reality. The infection causes the darkest and most demonic and sinister part of our magic to take over, feeding on the power and energy of our darkest thoughts and memories while keeping us in a state of permanent inertia. As it expands, it begins to also drain energy from the surroundings, becoming a sort of black hole that drains all magic from the environment."
"Warlocks do not produce magic Alec," added Catarina noticing the look of puzzlement on Alec's face. "We feed on the forces of nature around us, the good and the bad, the dark and the light, and manipulate them to accomplish what we want. Petrification seems to turn warlocks into a sponge that attracts, absorbs and eventually converts those forces into something else, something evil and dark. We cannot be sure, but it is conceivable that the petrifying warlock becomes a conduit that allows demonic forces to reach into our realm and feed on the energy we usually master for our magic."
"What happens when all the energy is drained or converted?" Alec asked wistfully looking towards Magnus.
"We are not sure yet," replied Tessa. "What I do know is that petrification terrifies our people so much that the Spiral Labyrinth has a team of warlocks whose sole mission is to stop anyone from learning about petrification and, I suspect, to make petrifying warlocks disappear before the disease takes its course. Magnus is in danger," she declared looking at Alec with an intensity meant to make sure the Shadowhunter understood the whole extent and urgency of the situation, or perhaps to give him a way out if he thought he had become too involved in a problem that didn't concern him.
At that moment, a blue and green paper butterfly appeared in a corner of the ceiling, fluttering its wings gently as if wanting to call attention but without making any noise. Tessa lifted her hand in a gesture that mirrored Alec's earlier gesture towards the red paper bird. The butterfly gently penetrated the wards and made its way to Tessa's hand, unfolding as soon as it landed. Tessa read the fire message, a suggestive smile drawing on her lips, as if the words were written in a secret code that imbued them with double meaning. She then folded the paper, and as she did, a slight tremor shook the room and the pressure in the air suddenly changed, as if the whole apartment had been submerged in deep dark waters. The silence became even more profound, and the city lights visible through the widows turned even more faint and distant as if now barely visible through a thick hazy glass.
"Jem has added concealment and protection wards on top of the ones already in place," Tessa explained. "He will keep watch and continue reinforcing the wards from the outside as we do the same from the inside. We are safe for now."
"Alright, what now?" Alec asked, the information about dark memories, evil infections, magic black holes swimming in his mind, and a thousand unanswered questions in the tip of his tongue.
"Now Alec, we must find a way to cure your troublesome boyfriend," said Tessa with a reassuring smile.