a cross in the void // christopher lightwood {4}

sixteen // tornado watch

act three // godmother death

The glacier knocks in the cupboard,

The desert sighs in the bed,

And the crack in the tea-cup opens

A lane to the land of the dead.

W. H. Auden, "As I Walked Out One Morning"

— — —

They returned to the Institute as fast as they could go. Pluto felt oddly calm, as if either the shock of events had not processed yet, or the exhaustion and relief of finding Christopher alive and well had taken it over and made everything somehow alright again, even though it was obviously not.

"What happened?" Christopher asked, his voice small and stunned. "How much do you know?"

"Not much," Pluto answered. "I left the Institute almost as soon as Tatiana showed up. I was so afraid she'd catch you on the way out of the City . . . I went looking for you and slammed straight into Moira. Bryn and I fought her off, and I came straight here. Moira—she crashed my bicycle, that's why I'm all banged up. I was going really fast, I'm lucky I didn't crack my head. I still don't know what all is going on."

They pulled into the Institute courtyard and this time Pluto just took the bicycle up the stairs to the foyer and by then Christopher had dashed ahead and they found him in the drawing room, clinging to his friends as they filled in the details of Tatiana's ambush and subsequent capture and what was going to happen now.

"I just don't understand," Christopher whispered. "Why Alexander? Who would want to hurt a baby?"

"Tatiana wants to hurt us, Kit," Tessa said. "She knows the best way to do it is through our families. It's the worst pain she can think of to inflict. Any of us would gladly suffer in place of our children, but to have them suffer in our place is . . . horrifying."

"She has been brought to the prisons of the Bone City," said Will. "So we will have ample opportunity to ask her."

Pluto's stomach dropped out. They heard Christopher draw in a breath behind them.

"They're holding her in the Silent City?" Christopher burst out.

James's gold eyes went bright and dark. "They keep the prisoners apart from each other, right? They must. She must not get near Grace."

"They would never let that happen," Will started. He didn't finish. The doors flew open and Cecily flew in and all but tackled Christopher into a hug.

"Come upstairs, darling," she said. "Alexander is sleeping, but he might wake at any time, and he will want to see you." She looked over his shoulder at Ari. "And Anna asked that you come as well, my dear. We would love to have you with us."

"And Pluto," Christopher said, his voice very small. "Them, too."

Cecily nodded.

Pluto got out of the armchair they'd collapsed into and stumbled after Kit into the hall.

< & >

Upstairs, Christopher all but forced Pluto into an infirmary bed to get checked out too. They wound up with a lot of bandages. It turned out the thing that had gone crack was a rib. That was unpleasant, but with a couple of stronger healing runes, fairly easily fixed. Pluto sat with a stunned Christopher on the edge of their cot, their arm around his shoulders, and tried to process.

"Thank you," Cecily told them. "For going out to get him. I know he's alright, but just in case that wasn't the case . . . to know that someone would have been there, to help him stay safe . . ."