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The first thing Alec are of was freezing cold The second was that he couldn’t breathe He tried to suck in air and his body spass in a bitter flood thatand choke

Finally he could breathe, though his lungs felt like they were on fire Gasping, he looked around He was sitting on a corrugated metal platfor in thecold water And Magnus Bane was sitting opposite hilowed in the dark

His teeth began to chatter "What--what happened?"

"You tried to drink the East River," Magnus said, and Alec saw, as if for the first ti to his body like a dark second skin "I pulled you out"

Alec’s head was pounding He felt at his belt for his stele, but it was gone He tried to think back--the ship, overrun with de her; blood, everywhere underfoot, the de dohen I fell--"

"She’s fine She nus reached out to touch Alec’s head "You, on the other hand, et back to the battle" Alec pushed his hand away "You’re a warlock Can’t you, I don’t know, fly ? And fix nus, his hand still outstretched, sank back against the side of the truck bed In the starlight his eyes were chips of green and gold, hard and flat as jewels

"Sorry," Alec said, realizing how he had sounded, though he still felt that Magnus ought to see that getting to the ship was the"I know you don’t have to help us out--it’s a favor--"

"Stop I don’t do you favors, Alec I do things for you because--well, why do you think I do the off his response It was always like this when he ith Magnus It was as if there were a bubble of pain or regret that lived inside his heart, and when he wanted to say soful or true, it rose up and choked off his words "I need to get back to the ship," he said, finally

Magnus sounded too tired to even be angry "I would help you," he said "But I can’t Stripping the protection wards off the ship was bad enough--it’s a strong, strong enchantment, demon-based--but when you fell, I had to put a fast spell on the truck so it wouldn’t sink when I lost consciousness And I will lose consciousness, Alec It’s just a matter of time" He passed a hand across his eyes "I didn’t want you to drown," he said "The enchantet the truck back to land"

"I--didn’t realize" Alec looked at Magnus, as three hundred years old but had always looked tie of nineteen Now there were sharp lines cut into the skin around his eyes andlankly over his forehead, and the slump in his shoulders was not his usual careless posture but true exhaustion

Alec put his hands out They were pale in the ht, wrinkled fronus looked down at theaze

"Take th too Whatever of it you can use to--to keep yourself going"

Magnus didn’t et back to the ship"

"I have to fight," said Alec "But that’s what you’re doing, isn’t it? You’re part of the fight just as much as the Shadowhunters on the ship--and I know you can take so that--so I’ Take it It’s yours"

Valentine sloves that shone like the carapaces of black insects "My son"

"Don’t call in in his hands, "Where’s Clary?"

Valentine was still s "She defied me," he said "I had to teach her a lesson"

"What have you done to her?"

"Nothing" Valentine cah to touch hi she won’t recover from"

Jace closed his hand into a fist so his father wouldn’t see it shaking "I want to see her"

"Really? With all this going on?" Valentine glanced up, as if he could see through the hull of the ship to the carnage on deck "I would have thought you’d want to be fighting with the rest of your Shadowhunter friends Pity their efforts are for nothing"

"You don’t know that"

"I do know it For every one of them, I can summon a thousand deainst those odds As in the case," Valentine added, "of poor Ien"

"How do you--"

"I see everything that happens on my ship" Valentine’s eyes narrowed "You do know it’s your fault she died, don’t you?"

Jace sucked in a breath He could feel his heart pounding as if it wanted to tear its way out of his chest

"If it weren’t for you, none of the you, you know If it had just been about the torlders, they wouldn’t have bothered"

Jace had alotten "Simon and Maia--"

"Oh, they’re dead Both of them" Valentine’s tone was casual, even soft "How many have to die, Jace, before you see the truth?"