The Seventh Circle
"Wha-wha-what happened?" Magnus stammered in a rasping and barely audible voice as he struggled to get the words past his chattering teeth. He tried to hug himself and rub his hands up and down his arms, to warm himself and control the powerful shivers that were running wild through his system. But the movement intensified the pain in his extremities and the stiffness in his muscles made his arms feel like they were made of lead. He blinked a few times trying to clear the webs that still clouded his vision and took a couple of deep and ragged breaths to settle his rapidly beating heart.
He was confused and disoriented and his body was out of control, cold and hot, shivering and sweating at the same time. His magic, dormant and unresponsive for so long, was now suddenly awake, and it rushed through his veins, gushing like a torrent from the center of his being towards his fingers, looking for a way out. It was as if every cell in his body had abruptly come alive, reawaken with a startle; as if an explosion had gone off in his chest releasing all the magic that had remained bottled up for weeks. At the same time that his magic sought release, it also sought replenishment, reaching with invisible tendrils through his skin and the bottom of his feet, searching for sources of strength in the invisibles forces of nature that fuelled his magic. The conflicting need to release and replenish made him feel simultaneously bursting with and starving for magic, the sensations adding to his confusion.
"Wh-wha-what is happening?" Magnus asked again, desperation threatening to become full-blown panic.
"Just breath," replied Catarina who at that moment was wrapping a blanket around his shoulders. "Your body is going into shock because you had an abrupt awakening. Drink this, it will help, and please direct your fingers away from me. I don't fancy being turned into a dog right now" she added placing a cup in Magnus' shaking hands and giving him a reassuring smile.
"Alexander!" Magnus called out, panic and desperation winning over the shivers. The image of his lover's face with his arm extended towards him a second before Alec disappeared in the dark depths of the demon trap abruptly came back to Magnus' mind, vivid and clear in all its devastation.
"Do you have him?!" Catarina asked turning urgently to Tessa who at that moment was struggling to stay on her feet beside where Alec laid on the couch. Tessa was sending silver and white streams of magic into Alec's chest, but her powers were rapidly weakening. "Tessa, do you have him?" Catarina asked again as she moved to stand beside Tessa.
"No," Tessa replied after a moment and her powers sputtered a couple of times like an engine running out of fuel and then went out completely. She staggered back and would have fallen had Catarina not supported her. "He has passed beyond the reach of my magic."
"What!? Oh no, no, no," Magnus exclaimed and tried to stand up, his legs refusing to obey him, his head spinning, wild tendrils of magic flowing from his fingers and threatening to set the room on fire.
"Get a hold of yourself Magnus," Catarina ordered, her voice steady and forceful – the voice of a nurse used to working in the emergency room – "or you are going to set the apartment on fire and we have no way to scape." She then helped Tessa to the armchair. "The potion I just gave you will stop you from going into shock, drink it," she added, her tone an unquestionable command.
'Come on, get a grip,' Magnus told himself as he held the cup tightly with both hands and concentrated in stopping it from shaking as he lifted it to his lips. The liquid tasted bitter and sweet on his tongue and seemed to dull his senses a little as it went down. He then stood, and half walked, and half stumbled to where Alec laid, motionless and unconscious on the sofa, his face impassive, all color drained from it.
Suddenly, a blast of demonic energy, like a black cloud, gathered above their heads where it floated for a few moments before it began to swirl like a whirlwind, its vortex pointing straight at Alec's sternum. The whirlwind picked up speed and then abruptly disappeared into the Shadowhunter's chest, as if it had been sucked by a dark power emanating from Alec. Alec gasped, his chest swelling rapidly, his back arching against the sofa before relaxing and going completely still once again.
Magnus snapped his fingers trying to command his magic and reach with it towards Alec, to pull him back from wherever he was. But it was to no avail. The tendrils of magic found nothing to hold on to. He tried again, and with even more desperation projected tendrils of magic into Alec's chest, pushing the love he felt for the Shadowhunter along with his magic, searching for a thread, or even a sliver of Alec's soul, something, anything to grab onto and pull but found nothing. Unwilling to give up, he tried a third time and this time he imagined that his powers were a fishing line he was throwing into the void searching for anything to hook his magic to, any piece of Alec's beautiful soul. But even as he did, he knew it was futile. As Tessa had said, Alec had passed beyond the reach of simple spells.
"Magnus, you are going to wear yourself out," Catarina said as she came to stand beside him. She placed a gentle hand on Magnus' shoulder. "You won't get him back like this, and you may hurt him instead. We need time to come up with a better plan." She placed her other hand atop one of Magnus', the gesture meant to stop any further attempt to send another surge of magic towards Alec.
"What did you do Alexander?" Magnus' asked, losing the battle to stay on his feet. He fell on his knees, took Alec's hand in his, and buried his face in it, more despondency and desperation in his voice than Catarina had ever heard. "Tessa, Catarina, why did you let him go?" he added turning to his two friends who at that moment were looking from him to Alec, a mixture of sadness, horror and exhaustion in their expressions. He was not sure what he was asking; whether he was reproaching Tessa and Catarina for having helped Alec go rescue him, or whether he was blaming them for not having brought Alec back.
"I am sorry," Tessa replied from the sofa, "I tried to hold on to him as long as I could, but no matter how much I called to him, he refused to come back."
"What are we going to do now?" Catarina asked, an unusual tone of uncertainty in her voice. "We need another plan."
Just at that moment, a sound that resembled thunder echoed throughout the room, releasing what looked like lightening that illuminated the contours of the protective wards that surrounded the apartment. Magnus realized that the noise resembled the faint tapping sounds he had heard right before Asmodeus sent him back, except that this sound was closer and more powerful.
"Not now," Catarina exclaimed with a deep frustrated sigh. "She doesn't give up, does she?"
"What is going on?" Magnus asked, his voice a bit less hoarse. He looked up and saw how the lower layers of the wards, which were the oldest and thus the weakest, began to burn away.
"We are under attack," stated Tessa in a tired voice. "Celestina Rays didn't appreciate us stealing Aldous Nix's spell book from the Spiral Labyrinth."
"They have been trying to break through the wards for the last hour," Catarina added. "Thankfully Jem reinforced them with Silent Brother runes, or they would have broken through by now. Still, I don't think we have much time."
"You stole what?!" Magnus asked incredulously, his mind still having a hard time keeping up. "And you involved the Silent Brothers in this madness? One cannot go away for a few days without you getting yourself in trouble and dragging my boyfriend along." The intervention of the mysterious Nephilim order complicated things considerably. For that and the unusual presence of the Spiral Labyrinth in New York was bound to bring Shadowhunter attention.
"We did not involve the Silent Brothers," Tessa replied looking at Magnus with an expression that told him that she too understood the situation. "Just Jem, and he has been keeping watch from a few blocks away this whole time."
"Even his wards won't resist this attack for much longer," Catarina added as another blast resonated throughout the room.
"We have to get out of here, get Alec to a safer location," Magnus stated, standing up on still unsteady legs. With shaking hands, he reached under the collar of his shirt, looking for a small silver medallion he always wore hanging from a silver chain under his clothes. He felt weak and his head swam and all that kept him from keeling over was the adrenaline that had begun to flow through his veins and unused muscles. That and the desperation to keep Alec from further danger until he could figure out his next step.
"We are trapped," Catarina replied, "we cannot portal through the wards, and we have no hope of repelling Celestina's team of warlocks, not just the three of us."
"I can get us out," Magnus stated, renewed certainty in his tone. "Do you think I would live in a place that has no escape route?" he added in response to Catarina's dubious expression. "I have a portal that will get us out of here."
"But the wards…" Tessa started to say.
"This portal can pierce the wards," Magnus interrupted. He was removing the medallion from around his neck. It consisted of two circles, a smaller one on top of a slightly larger one. The top one resembled a small dial, an arrow engraved on it pointed to minute symbols on the edge of the larger circle. He placed the medallion in the palm of his hand and turned the dial three times to the left, one to the right and two to the left again, as if her was working the combination in a lock. As he did, a bright light began to shine in the palm of his hand, which he directed towards the middle of the room. "Come on," he instructed, "gather what you need, we are leaving."
With his free hand, Magnus directed a stream of blue and green magic towards Alec, lifting him off the sofa and carrying him towards where the energy emanating from the medallion was now becoming a fully formed portal. A minute later, as Magnus was about to step through the event horizon after Tessa and Catarina, an even more powerful blast of energy hit the roof burning away the last of the wards. Right before disappearing into the portal, he conjured up a spell that magically locked up tight all the places in his loft where he kept his most valued secrets and possession. If the spell held, the Spiral Labyrinth would be unable to gain access to his things. With his magic still hard to control and his body stiff, the effort to move Alec and activate the spell increased his dizziness and nausea.
As soon as Magnus emerged at the other side, he turned the medallion in his hands once again and the portal closed with a loud clank and a few sparkles of light. He then bent down and for a moment rested his hands on his knees trying to catch his breath and regain some of his self-control.
"You carry a portal around your neck Magnus?" Catarina asked astonished as she looked around the unfamiliar room. "I didn't know portals could be that small, or that they could pass through wards," she added as she guided Tessa to a stuffed white armchair and helped her sit down, the other warlock looking paler by the minute, suffering, Catarina was certain, from extreme power depletion.
"It is an old one." Tessa's soft voice was almost a whisper. "Old portals are very sturdy even if travelling through them can be bumpy. I had not travelled through one as old as this one since Will and I used to visit his parents more than a hundred years ago. I didn't know though they could be carried in something so small."
"Technically, portals can be of any size, for in truth, they have no dimension. I made this one soon after Henry Branwell and I created the first portal. Like all old portals, it can only travel between two places," Magnus explained as he straightens up and turned to make sure Alec was properly settled on a long white sofa. He spread a wool blanket over him and felt his forehead for any sign of fever or cold. Once he was sure that Alec was as comfortable as it was possible under the circumstances, he sat on the edge of the sofa, leaned his elbows on his knees and rested his head on his hands. He felt terribly exhausted and his mind was still full of cobwebs.
"Where are we?" Catarina asked looking around once again. The portal had deposited them in a spacious, airy and bright open concept room, decorated in white, buttercream and blue colors and adorned with nautical details and ocean blue carpets, which gave the room the impression of being a cottage by the sea. To one side, there was a modern kitchen and dining area and on the other, French doors led off to other rooms. Enormous uncovered glass windows looked out onto a landscape barely discernible in the early morning light. She could not see the sky even though light outside had begun to change from black to blue, as night slowly relinquished to morning. But she thought she heard the gentle sound of the ocean no far in the distance.
"This is my secret hideout, my treehouse by the sea," Magnus replied. "We are on a remote island on the west coast, about two hours by boat from the city of Vancouver in Canada," he added in reply to Catarina's still questioning expression.
"I didn't know you had a cottage in Canada. I didn't even know you liked cottages," Catarina said.
"It wouldn't be much of a secret hideout if people knew about it. We are safe here," Magnus said. "Not only is the forest around us very ancient and very dense, but it is also protected by wards. The only way in or out is through my portal. About a hundred and fifty years ago and in recognition for some services I provided, I got permission to build here from the Coast Salish peoples to whom these lands belong. Now tell me what happened. How did Alec end up in my father's court in Edom?" He gently brushed a lock of hair away from Alec's forehead and smoothed his shirt a little, the gesture loving and intimate.
"You father? Well that explains a lot," Catarina said looking from Magnus to Tessa, a mixture of surprise and dawning understanding in her eyes. "No wonder petrification got such as strong hold on you. But before we get into that, we need coffee and food. Tessa is about to keel over, and you don't look much better Magnus. I assume you have food in this hideout of yours," she added as she headed for the kitchen.
"Why did you let Alec go after me?" Magnus asked a few minutes later as he sat with his two friends at the kitchen counter, a half-finished cup of coffee and a half-eaten bagel in front of him. Tessa was washing down the remaining of a chocolate muffin that Catarina had conjured up from who knew where with the remaining of an enormous cup of hot chocolate, the drink and the food returning some of the color to her cheeks. Martinis and steaks had always been the remedy for Magnus when his powers were low; for Tessa it was chocolate while Catarina preferred Polish food and vodka.
"Did you think we could have stopped him?" Catarina asked. "You know very well he would have found the way to get to you, as you would have done the same for him. Besides, he was the best chance we had."
"I understand, but you don't know what that place is like," Magnus stated, his voice flooded with anguish. "I would have preferred to stay in that hell for an eternity to knowing that Alec is there now at the mercy of my father. My father was right, this is a worse vengeance and punishment than anything he might have done to me in his realm."
In the last few minutes, Magnus had quickly related the experience of having been trapped in Edom, giving just enough detail for his friends to fully understand the danger, keeping to himself the worse of his father's punishment. Tessa and Catarina, on their part, had told Magnus about Aldous Nix's spell book, his experiments with petrification, and the capture order Celestina Rays had issued against the three of them. They had also explained the methods they had used to send Alec's consciousness to Edom, including the effects of the first attempt on the Shadowhunter.
"Can we not use the same method with use with Alec to send you back there?" Tessa now asked.
"I don't think that is going to work this time," Magnus replied. "You were right, petrification traps its victims in order to torture them by making them live their worst nightmares and feed on their worst fears. What you don't know is that when you sent Alec to Edom, it wasn't his consciousness you sent; it was his soul. Petrification traps the soul and as the soul gets more and more entangled and lost, it and the body become a conduit, a gateway of sorts, that eventually allows demons to travel freely between hell and here. Only when the soul is completely defeated, can the demons be free to roam between the two realms." Magnus had gained that knowledge in a piecemeal way, as his father and his minions had unwittingly relinquished small morsels of information. In fact, it was his father the one to give him the first clue when he had said that through petrification, he would both take vengeance on Magnus and gain his freedom. Now Asmodeus was likely torturing Alec and there was nothing that Magnus could do to stop him. He looked at Alec's inert figure on the couch and thought that if it wasn't for the ever-growing dark cloud of magic and cold that seemed to be surrounding him, he would look like he was peacefully sleeping.
"That explains why Asmodeus took advantage of your momentary weakness to infect you and take hold of your soul," Catarina stated. "He will never forgive you for vanishing him and he has likely been trying to get back for centuries. And, it explains why he took Alec. Using a Nephilim soul as a gateway would give him a powerful weapon not to mention access, not only to the mundane world, but also, eventually, to Idris and the Nephilim."
"That also explains why the Spiral Labyrinth has gone to such lengths to keep the secrets of petrification hidden. Petrified warlocks are dangerous, and I would not be surprised if Celestina has ordered petrifying warlocks killed in the past," added Tessa. "But why can we not send you there like we did Alec?"
"First of all, my soul cannot access my powers, which means I would be defenseless and unable to fight my father," Magnus replied. "Secondly, I doubt Alec's soul is still in Edom. My father sent it to an even deeper level of hell. As I told you, I saw him fall." The memory of Alec's face, of his arm extended towards Magnus, of his brave attempt to reassure Magnus that he would be okay while his eyes could barely disguise the terror he felt would forever haunt him and he knew that all eternity would not be enough for him to repay Alec's sacrifice.
"Alright, what is the alternative then?" Catarina asked. "For I assume you have a plan in mind."
"I think I know where Alec is," Magnus stated. "He is trapped in the Seventh Circle. I plan to go there in body and soul." Magnus saw how puzzlement gave way to dawning understanding and then to full-blown fear in the faces of his two dear friends.
"That is madness even for you Magnus!" Catarina exclaimed, her cup half way between the counter and her lips. "Do you know how dangerous that is!?" she asked, the cup accentuating the urgency and alarm in her question with a thump as Catarina put it on the counter with a little bit more force than needed.
"I will go with you," Tessa stated, her voice calmer and less alarmed, even though Magnus could still read the apprehension on her face.
"Do not encourage him, Tessa!" Catarina's voice had quickly acquired the tone of a headmistress. "You do know what they say, don't you? That when Dante wrote the Inferno, he was not imagining, but rather describing what he had seen in hell. If that is true, the Seventh Circle is a barren and burning landscape, filled with murderers and blasphemers who have been condemned to cook in rivers of boiling blood and fire and to wander through a dessert of burning sand and burning rain. There is no guarantee that anyone can enter it at will, let alone that anyone can be rescued from it."
"The more reason for me to go" Magnus rebutted. "Imagine what that place can do to a Nephilim, full of demons, murderers, and necromancers, some of which were put there by Shadowhunters. Besides, I know how to get there, Catarina. Don't forget that I am my father's son. I have powers and knowledge beyond those of most warlocks. And, I will go alone," he added turning to his other friend. "Thank you, Tessa, but the Seventh Circle is no place for a half-Nephilim warlock. I need you here. In fact, my plan depends on both of you helping from this side."
In truth, Magnus' plan was still only half a plan. There were many details that he had yet to figure out and many others that he would have to leave to chance. But he would not let those details delay or discourage him. Even if there was just one in a million chance of entering into the Seventh Circle without Asmodeus noticing and of finding Alec and bringing him out, he would still go ahead, and he would not fail, no matter the cost.
"Magnus, you can barely stand," Catarina observed. "Just a few minutes ago you were going into shock and do not tell me that you have recovered. I know you. I can see the shaky hands and the unsteady legs. You are hanging on by a thread and at any minute you will fall over. How do you propose to master enough energy and strength to attempt this mad endeavour?"
"Catarina has a point, Magnus," Tessa said. "We could all use a rest. You can barely control your unruly magic. Just a minute ago, you were involuntarily shooting magic sparkles from your fingers and almost burning holes in the carpet. You were in a state of petrification for over a week. You need time to regain control, and neither I nor Catarina will be much help if we continue working without rest."
"I will be fine," Magnus argued even though he knew that his friends were correct. He had never felt so unsettled and out of control since his powers first started manifesting in childhood. It wasn't that his powers were depleted. In fact, he could feel more energy than usual coursing through his system. Rather, it felt like after days of his soul being trapped between places, unable to access his magic, he was having a hard time grabbing the reins of his powers. He felt like he was riding a wild horse, except that the horse was him.
"You know," Catarina said, and a smile began to curb the corners of her lips, the gesture suggesting that she had given up on the argument. "You and Alec are made for each other. He was eager to jump into the fire without certainty that he would come back. In fact, he even refused to return when Tessa called him. He did all that with only the small hope of getting you back. You are now willing to do the same. I don't understand the reason for your fight if you are so obviously in love with one another." Catarina threw her arms in the air in a gesture of frustration and surrender. "But I will not agree to do anything until we all, and specially you Magnus, get some rest. I am not inclined to have all of us dragged into hell just because we went in unprepared and in a rush." The warlock's last words were categorical and left no room for debate.
Magnus looked towards Alec, his peaceful sleeping face not betraying any feelings or emotions. Yet Magnus feared, with a terror that he had no words to express, that Alec was at the moment trapped in a hell he even had a hard time imagining. The possibility of ending up in the Seventh Circle of hell had always been a prospect that had kept warlocks from getting into too much trouble, and now he was planning to voluntarily go there. Yet, he would not have it any other way. Alec had gone to Edom for him, and now he would go get him back.
"Why did you and Alec fight?" Tessa asked three hours later, picking up where their earlier conversation had left off.
She and Magnus had spent the last three hours in quiet companionship in the living room while Catarina napped in one of the guest bedrooms. Tessa had alternated between periods of dossing off in one of the armchairs, consulting some of the books on magic in Magnus' library and checking in on Alec. Meanwhile, Magnus had done a complex series of exercises meant to reinforce and tune-up his mastery over his powers and had spent the rest of the time studying Aldous's spell book and comparing it to his own. Except for a quick shower and a much-needed change of clothes, which Catarina had insisted on by unceremoniously telling Magnus that he stunk worse than a skunk, he had remained in the room at all times, keeping constant watch over Alec, paying attention to even the most minute of changes. He was now once again sitting on the edge of the sofa on which Alec laid, and after resting a hand against Alec's cheek for a moment, he brushed a lock of hair off his forehead.
Tessa observed her friend's caring and loving gestures and marvelled at how much they mirrored Alec's earlier ministrations towards Magnus. She knew that while Magnus had a great investment in appearing distant, glamorous and sometimes aloof, he was in fact a gentle soul, someone who craved the affection that he had been denied as a child. As a result, he was a generous and caring friend. She had experienced that generosity and care first hand at a moment in her life in which she felt utterly devastated. Yet, he had never seen him express so much love so openly to a partner or lover before.
"In the grand scheme of things, the reason seems trivial now," Magnus replied as he shifted his gaze from Alec to Tessa. "The truth is that what I feel for Alexander scared me, and I think his feelings for me scared him too. As you know, it is not easy to fall in love and commit to a mortal. I suspect it is equally challenging to commit to spend one's life with immortals like us. For things appear so perfect at the beginning but, sometimes, the certainly of loss at the end of the journey, of being separated by years and death can become daunting. I faltered because I didn't think I could handle losing Alec at the end of it all. I took advantage of a mistake, a moment of confusion on Alec's part, to run away, to save myself the agony that the certainty of losing him would cause me. I didn't know that the reality of being without him so soon would be worse."
As he finished speaking, Magnus looked out towards the green and blue landscape outside the windows. The morning sunlight filtered through the trees in tones of yellows, blues, and greens illuminating his features and making him seem younger and more vulnerable somehow, nothing like the powerful warlock image he always tried to project. Tessa followed his gaze and admired once again the beautiful scenery that seemed to melt into the room.
Once the sun had come up, Tessa had finally understood why Magnus called this a treehouse by the sea. The cottage was somehow suspended tens of meters above ground and was nestled among the canopy of some of the oldest and tallest trees in the continent. Some of the them were almost a thousand years old and their age was reflected in their thick trunks and great heights. Just a few meters from their window, the forest came to the edge of an inlet, its waters calm and deep blue. Magnus had mentioned that during certain times of the year, he could see from his window families of whales swimming in the peaceful waters. Odd, thought Tessa, that someone who was so comfortable in the hustle and bustle of a city like New York, could also be so at home in this quiet and almost unspoiled setting. Yet, when she thought about it now as she observed Magnus, she realized that this was an appropriate setting for someone as old as him. For sitting among such ancient trees, tress that had already been mature when her friend was born, could certainly provide perspective and grounding.
"You know very well how much I can related to your fears and feelings," Tessa gently said as she placed a hand atop Magnus'. "You and I are similar in that respect: loss for us is hard specially when we love so intensely and deeply as you love Alec and I loved Will. But Magnus, loves like the one that you and Alec obviously share come only once in a lifetime even for us that live so long. Don't spoil it with unnecessary doubts. Catarina is correct: you and Alec love each other so completely and so openly that each one is ready to go literally to the end of the earth for the other. That is priceless."
Magnus looked away from the window to Tessa and smiled. "You are right, of course. Once I get Alec back from that place, I will…"
But Magnus did not have a chance to say what he would do once he got Alec back, for at that moment, Alec gave a loud and ragged gasp, his chest swelled, his back arched against the sofa, and his face became a mask of intense pain. Magnus stood up with unbelievable speed and looked with horror as the skin on Alec's face and arms turned red and began to blister, big and ugly red blisters that quickly covered almost every inch of him, as if an invisible fire was burning him alive.
"We are out of time," Magnus exclaimed in a panicky voice as he snapped his fingers and directed healing and cooling streams of magic in Alec direction, his magic still a little wild. "I have to go get Alec right now."