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

seventeen // tornado warning

The Institute had a garden, as a matter of fact, and winter cold and incoming storm be damned, Pluto found themself out in it. Bryn was waiting for her, elbows on knees, smoking a cigarette.

"The goblins hated these," Bryn pronounced. "It's nice to have the habit back again. I hope you don't mind."

"Not really," said Pluto. "So long as we're outside and I can wear a mask. But I can do that."

Bryn shrugged. "How goes it with the Shadowhunters?"

"Eh."

"That's about what I expected."

"It's about what I expected too. Christopher's the best of them as usual, but everyone's really really tense right now myself included and that's not helping matters. The storm isn't helping either. I've just got this horrible vibe going on and it's been going on since the Christmas party and it won't leave me alone. Something's coming in and it's coming in right now."

Bryn nodded. "I felt . . . something, not long ago. It was like some awful magic trying to claw its way into my bones and hold me still." She took a drag from the cigarette and grimaced. " It didn't take, I'm stronger than that, but it was . . . what is it you say . . . icky, those few moments."

"What do you think it was?"

"I don't know," Bryn said. "Hell knows what it might have done." She got to her feet. "I'll dig around. See if I can find out more. Go to Saoirse's, maybe." She looked back at the house. "You'd best get back inside, I think. It's tornado weather."

< & >

Pluto got inside and found everyone settled into the library with supper.

"Were you outside?" Matthew demanded, as Pluto sat down with him and Christopher.

"I got in just before the rain." Pluto looked toward the windows. "You know, this is the kind of weather where, when we lived in Chicago, Dad would put on the news and we'd wait for the tornado sirens to go off."

"We don't have tornado sirens," Matthew said. "I don't even know what the closest thing we have to them is. And that's what worries me. That if something comes for us, we may have no warning."

"I'm afraid I won't be much help," said Pluto. "I've had a bad vibe since two days ago but it's a bad vibe that's giving me nothing."

"Pluto," said Christopher, "what were you outside for?"

"To speak to Bryn," said Pluto. "Remember, we agreed that it would be a bad idea to bring her into the Institute. For a number of reasons."

"What did she have to say?" Matthew asked.

"She said she'd felt someone try to put a spell on her. She pulled away somehow."

Christopher and Matthew looked at each other. Christopher opened his mouth to say something. He didn't get there. Across the room, Anna started first.

"Now that we know this whole dreadful bracelet business," Anna said, "surely it points toward Belial's goals. Certainly breaking James's heart and tormenting him was part of it, but I do not believe it was a goal in itself. More of a treat to enjoy along the way."

Cordelia made a disgusted little noise and shuddered. "Well," she said, "clearly he sought to control James. He always has—he wishes James to collude with him. To offer up his body for possession. He no doubt hoped he could talk him into it using Grace."

"It's a terrible story," Christopher piped up, "but an encouraging one in a way. The bracelet was Belial's will made manifest. But James matched Belial's will with his own."