Queen of Air and Darkness Read online

  “I see as a warlock sees,” said Tessa. “I know they do not belong here.” She indicated Julian and Emma. “And I have seen, a little, into other worlds—into their world in particular. It is closer to this one than we might like to think.”

  “What do you mean?” Julian said. “They seem pretty different to me.”

  “There are stress points in history,” said Tessa. “Places where a great deal of chance is at play. Battles, peace treaties, marriages. That sort of thing. That’s where timelines are likely to split. Our two timelines split at the Battle of the Burren. In your world, the demon Lilith was too weak to render Sebastian Morgenstern much help. In Thule, another demon gave aid and strength to Lilith. She was able to kill Clary Fairchild, and that’s where our timelines split—only seven years ago.”

  “So this is what our world would be like without Clary,” said Emma, remembering all the times she’d heard people—mostly men—say that Clary wasn’t a hero, that she hadn’t done much that deserved to be praised, that she was selfish, even worthless, just a girl who’d been in the right places at the right times.

  “Yes,” said Tessa. “Interesting, isn’t it? I gather that in your world, Jace Herondale is a hero. Here he is a monster second only to Sebastian.”

  “Doesn’t he even care that Sebastian let Lilith kill Clary?” demanded Emma. “Even when Jace was in thrall to Sebastian in our world, he loved Clary.”

  “Sebastian claims the death of Clary was not what he wanted,” said Tessa. “He says he murdered Lilith as revenge for her taking of Clary’s life.”

  “Not sure anyone believes that but Jace,” said Diana.

  “He’s the only one who has to,” said Tessa. She ran her finger around the rim of her teacup. “I must apologize for testing you,” she said abruptly. “I appeared as Jem when you arrived because I knew that the real Emma Carstairs would be delighted to see him, while anyone aligned with Sebastian would be horrified at the sight of a Silent Brother.”

  “Jem . . . ?” Emma whispered. She knew what Livvy had said, that all the Brothers were gone, but still she had hoped.

  Tessa didn’t look up. “He died in the attempt to seal the Silent City. It was successful, but he gave his life to hold off Sebastian’s Endarkened as the Brothers made their last stand to protect the Mortal Instruments.”

  “I’m sorry,” Julian said. Emma remembered Tessa and Jem in her own world, eyes only for each other.

  Tessa cleared her throat. “Sebastian already has possession of the Mortal Mirror—Lake Lyn. It is surrounded by demons, ten thousand strong. None can go anywhere near it.”

  “Why is he guarding the lake so fiercely?” said Emma. “If no one can get to any of the Mortal Instruments—”

  “As the warlocks were sickening, we found that the water of Lake Lyn could neutralize the blight that was eating through our world. We raced there to collect the water. But by the time we arrived at the lake, Sebastian had surrounded it with countless demons.”

  Emma and Julian exchanged a look. “With the blight gone, would the warlocks have been cured?”

  “We believe so,” said Tessa. “We had a small amount of the water and used it to cure the blight around the Spiral Labyrinth. We even gave it to some warlocks, mixed with ordinary water, and they began to improve. But it simply wasn’t enough. The warlocks began to sicken and turn again. We could not save them.”

  Emma’s heart thumped. If the water of Lake Lyn had neutralized some of the blight here in Thule—if it had helped the warlocks, even as this world was turning to demonic poison all around them—surely the water of their own Lake Lyn, in their own world, might be a cure?

  They needed to get home more desperately than ever. But first—

  “We need your help,” Emma said. “That’s why we called on you.”

  “I guessed that.” Tessa rested her chin in her hand. She looked young, no more than twenty, though Emma knew she was over a hundred. “Is it that you want to get back to your world?”

  “It’s not just that,” Julian said. “We need to get into the Silent City. We have to get to the Mortal Cup and the Mortal Sword before Sebastian does.”

  “And then what?” Tessa said.

  “And then we destroy them so Sebastian can’t use them,” said Emma.

  Tessa raised her eyebrows. “Destroy the Mortal Instruments? They’re very nearly indestructible.”

  Emma thought of the Mortal Sword shattering under Cortana’s blade. “If you open up a Portal back to our world, we can take them through with us. Sebastian will never be able to find them.”

  “If it was that simple,” Tessa said sharply, “I would have already opened a Portal, leaped through it, and taken the Cup and Sword with me. To open a Portal between worlds—that is complex, powerful magic, far beyond most warlocks. I can see into your world, but I cannot reach it.”

  “But you can get into the Silent City, right?” said Emma.

  “I believe so, though I have not tried,” said Tessa. “I thought the Sword and the Cup were safe there. The Silent Brothers died to protect the Instruments and to remove them would have left them vulnerable to Sebastian. Yet now he is close to breaking the seal on the doors.” She frowned. “If you can truly bring the Instruments back to your world then they would be safer there. But without the knowledge that a Portal can be opened, there is another way to end the threat.”

  “What do you mean?” said Julian. “There’s nothing we could do with the Sword or Cup here, besides demonic magic.”

  “People used to say that the Mortal Sword could kill Sebastian,” said Diana, her gaze sharp. “But that’s not true, is it? I was at the last battle of Idris. I saw Isabelle Lightwood take up the Mortal Sword and deal Sebastian an incredible blow. He wasn’t even nicked. He struck her down instead.”

  “Ave atque vale, Isabelle Lightwood.” Tessa closed her eyes. “You have to understand. By then the invulnerability granted to Sebastian by Lilith had grown so strong no warrior of this earth could slay him. But there is something most do not know. Even Sebastian does not know it.” She opened her eyes. “He is tied to Thule, and Thule to him. A warrior of this world cannot slay him with the Sword. But the Silent Brothers knew that did not hold true for a warrior who was not of Thule. They locked the Sword away, hoping for a day when a warrior would arrive from Heaven and end Sebastian’s reign.”

  For a long moment, she gazed intently at Emma and Julian.

  “We’re not from Heaven,” Emma said. “Despite what some bad pickup lines I’ve heard over the years might have you believe.”

  “Seems like Heaven compared to here,” said Diana.

  “We can’t wait forever to be rescued by angels,” Tessa said. “This is a gift, you being here.”

  “Let’s be clear.” Julian took a bite of bread. His face was expressionless but Emma could read his eyes, knew the gears were whirling in his brain. “You’re asking us to kill Sebastian.”

  “I have to ask,” Tessa said. “I have to make Jem’s sacrifice mean something.”

  “In our world,” Julian said, “the bond between Jace and Sebastian meant that killing Jace would destroy Sebastian, and the other way around as well. If we—”

  Tessa shook her head. “There was a point at which that was true here, when Sebastian believed it protected him from the Clave. There is no Clave now, nor does that aspect of their bond remain.”

  “I get it,” said Emma. “But with how far gone this world is—would just killing Sebastian make that much of a difference?”

  Tessa leaned back in her chair. “In your world, what happened when Sebastian died?”

  “It was the end of the Endarkened,” Emma said, though she had a feeling Tessa already knew that.

  “That would give us a fighting chance,” Tessa said. “Sebastian can’t do everything himself. He leaves most of the dirty work to the Endarkened and the Forsworn.” She glanced at Diana. “I know you agree.”

  “Maybe,” Diana said. “But going after Sebastian
seems like a suicide mission.”

  “I wouldn’t ask if there were any other choices,” Tessa said quietly. She turned to Emma and Julian. “As you’ve requested, I will break the seal and open the Silent City for you. And I will do whatever I can to get you home. All I ask is that if you get a chance, an opening—you kill Sebastian.”

  Emma looked across the table at Julian. In his clear blue-green eyes she could see both his desire to agree to what Tessa was asking and his fear that it would put her, Emma, in danger.

  “I know Thule isn’t your world, but it’s only a breath away,” Tessa said. “If I could save the Jem who lives in your world, I would. And now you have a chance to save your sister here.”

  In Tessa’s voice, Emma heard that she understood that the Livvy in their world was dead.

  “She is safe in the Bradbury, but for how long? How safe are any of us? Any safety is temporary as long as Sebastian lives.”

  Ignoring Church’s indignant meow, Emma reached across the table and put her hand over Julian’s. Don’t fear for me, parabatai, she thought. This is a chance for both of us. For you to save Livvy as you could not in our world, and for me to avenge my parents, as I could not either.

  “We’ll do it,” she said, and Julian’s eyes blazed like tinder set alight. “Of course we will. Just tell us what we have to do.”

  * * *

  As they climbed onto the cycles, Diana warned them they’d be driving back on surface streets, not flying—the closer it got to nightfall, she said, the more full the skies were of demons. Even the vampires stayed out of the air after dark.

  Emma was surprised to discover Diana had woken them up later in the day than she’d thought. The nuances of morning light, afternoon light, and evening light were lost here: There was only the dying sun and the blood moon. As their motorcycles raced along the Pacific Coast Highway, the moon rose sluggishly, barely illuminating the road ahead. Instead of sparkling on top of the waves, the moonlight turned the water an even more poisonous color—no longer Blackthorn blue-green, but ashy black.

  Emma was glad for the warmth of Julian’s arms around her as they turned off the highway and onto Wilshire. To be this close to all that was ruined was painful. She knew these streets. She had been to this supermarket to pick up cereal for Tavvy: It was a ruin of smashed wood and broken beams now, where a few unsworn humans huddled around watch fires, their faces haggard with desperation and hunger. And there had been a candy store on this corner, where now a demon proprietor stood watch over rows of glass tanks in which drowned bodies floated. Every once in a while he would plunge a ladle into one of the tanks, pour some of the viscous water into a bowl, and sell it to a demonic passerby.

  How long could Thule go on like this? Emma wondered as they rolled along the Miracle Mile. The tall office buildings here stood empty, their windows shattered. The streets were deserted. Humans were being hunted to extinction, and just like Raphael, she doubted Sebastian had another world full of fresh blood and meat up his sleeve. What happened when they were all gone? Did the demons turn on the Endarkened? On the vampires? Would they move on to another world, leaving Sebastian to rule over emptiness?

  “Slow down,” Julian said in her ear, and she realized that while she’d been musing, they’d reached a crowded and well-lit section of street. “Checkpoint.”

  She swore silently and pulled in behind Diana. The area was buzzing—Endarkened wandered up and down the street, and the bars and restaurants here were basically intact, some of them lit up blue and green and acid yellow. Emma could even hear atonal, wailing music.

  There were black-and-white barriers up in front of them, blocking the road. A two-legged lizard demon with a circle of black spider’s eyes ringing its scaled head loped out of a small booth and over to Diana.

  “I’m not letting some demon lick me,” muttered Emma. “It’s not happening.”

  “I’m pretty sure it was just licking Cameron to make sure his tattoo was real.”

  “Sure,” said Emma. “That’s its story.”

  Diana turned around on her bike and gave them a tight, artificial grin. Emma’s heart started to beat faster. She didn’t like the look of that smile.

  The lizard demon loped toward them. It was massive, at least nine feet tall and half again as wide. It seemed to be wearing a police uniform, though Emma had no idea where it had gotten one that would fit.

  “The boss has been looking for you all day,” it slurred. Emma guessed its mouth wasn’t really shaped for human speech. “Where you been?”

  “The boss?” Emma echoed.

  Fortunately, the lizard was too stupid to be suspicious. “The Fallen Star,” it slurred. “Sebastian Morgenstern. He wants to talk to you both.”

  20

  THE HOURS ARE BREATHING

  Sebastian wants to talk to us? Emma thought with horror, and then, with a duller pang of realization: It thinks we’re the Endarkened versions of ourselves. Well, that explained Diana’s expression.

  Julian’s fingers gripped Emma’s arm tightly. He slid casually off the cycle. “Okay,” he said. “Where’s the boss at?”

  The lizard demon drew a paper bag out of its breast pocket. The bag seemed to be full of wriggling spiders. It popped one into its mouth and chewed while Emma’s stomach lurched.

  “In the old nightclub,” it said around a crunchy mouthful of spider, and pointed toward a black glass-and-steel low-slung building. A dull red carpet was spread out on the pavement in front of the entrance. “Go. I watch your motorcycle.”

  Emma slid off the cycle, feeling as if ice had invaded her veins. Neither she nor Julian looked at each other; somehow both of them were crossing the street, striding along next to each other as if nothing unusual were happening.

  Sebastian knows who we really are, Emma thought. He knows, and he’s going to kill us.

  She kept walking. They reached the pavement, and she heard the roar of a motorcycle starting up; she turned to see Diana speeding away from the checkpoint. She knew why Diana had needed to go, and didn’t blame her, but the sight still sent a cold stab through her chest: They were alone.

  The nightclub was guarded by Iblis demons, who gave them a casual once-over and let them pass through the doors into a narrow corridor lined with mirrors. Emma could see her own reflection: She looked starkly pale, her mouth a tight line. That was bad. She had to relax. Julian, beside her, looked calm and collected, his hair ruffled from the motorcycle but otherwise nothing out of place.

  He took her hand as the corridor opened up into a massive room. Warmth seemed to flow from him, through Emma’s hand, into her veins; she took a deep, harsh breath as a wave of cold air smacked into them.

  The nightclub was silvery-white and black, a dark fairyland of ice. A long bar carved from a block of ice ran along one wall. Cascades of frozen water, polar blue and arctic green, spilled from the ceiling, turning the dance floor into a labyrinth of glimmering sheets.

  Julian’s hand tightened on Emma’s. She glanced down; the floor underneath them was solid ice, and beneath the ice she could see the shadows of trapped bodies—here the shape of a hand, there a screaming, frozen face. Her chest tightened. We are walking on the bodies of the dead, she thought.

  Julian glanced sideways at her, shook his head slightly as if to say, We can’t think about that right now.

  Compartmentalizing, she thought as they headed toward a roped-off area at the back of the club. That was how Julian got through things. Pushing down thoughts, walling them off, living in the moment of the act that had become his reality.

  She did her best to shove the thoughts of the dead away as they ducked under the ropes and found themselves in an area full of couches and chairs upholstered in ice-blue velvet. Sprawled in the largest armchair was Sebastian.

  Up close, he was clearly older than the boy Emma remembered from her world. He was broader, his jaw more square, his eyes tar black. He wore a crisp black designer suit with a pattern of roses on the lapels, a thick fur coat
draped over it. His ice-white hair mixed with the pale gold fur; if Emma hadn’t known who he was and hated him, she would have thought he was beautiful, a wintry prince.

  Standing beside him, his fingers resting lightly on the back of Sebastian’s chair, was Jace. He too wore a black suit, and when he turned slightly, Emma saw the strap of a holster beneath it. There were leather gauntlets on his wrists, under the sharp cuffs of his jacket. She would have bet he was carrying several knives.

  Is he Sebastian’s bodyguard? she wondered. Does it amuse Sebastian to keep one of the Clave’s heroes as a sort of pet, bound to his side?

  And then there was Ash. Wearing jeans and a T-shirt, sprawled in a chair some distance away with an electronic device in his hands, he seemed to be playing a video game. The light from the game came and went, illuminating his sharp-featured face, the points of his ears.

  Sebastian’s cold gaze swept over Emma and Julian. Emma felt her whole body tense. She knew their runes were covered by fabric and concealer, but she still felt as if Sebastian could see right through her. As if he’d know immediately they weren’t Endarkened.

  “If it isn’t the two lovebirds,” he drawled. He glanced at Emma. “I haven’t really seen your face before. Your friend here’s been too busy sucking it.”

  Julian replied in a flat monotone. “Sorry to have annoyed you, sir.”

  “It doesn’t annoy me,” Sebastian said. “Just an observation.” He settled back in his chair. “I prefer redheads myself.”

  A flicker of something went over Jace’s face. It was gone too quickly for Emma to guess at its meaning. Ash looked up, though, and Emma tensed. If Ash recognized them . . .

  He glanced back down at his game, his expression evincing no interest.

  Emma was finding it hard not to shiver. The cold was intense, and Sebastian’s gaze colder still. He templed his fingers under his chin. “Rumors have been swirling,” he said, “that a certain Livia Blackthorn is raising a pathetic little rebellion downtown.”

  Emma’s stomach lurched.

  “She’s nothing to us,” Julian said quickly. He sounded like he meant it too.