Outcast

Chapter Nine - Life Doesn't Discriminate

It was midnight when Alec finally realized he wasn't going to sleep.

Magnus was sound asleep and they were laying pressed against each other. Magnus had put one arm across Alec's torso with his head against the other's shoulder. Alec's arm was under Magnus' neck and around to rest on his side. With a little bit of wriggling, Alec managed to detangle himself and rise without waking the Shadowhunter.

Let him sleep, he told himself. He's had a long day too.

He turned and let himself quietly out of the bedroom, using a touch of magic to silence the latch falling back into place as he shut the door. He passed Max's room and saw witchlight seeping from under the door. He smiled, guessing the boy was awake reading.

Alec slipped silently downstairs and peered out the window in the front room. Alicante was silent, with only the witchlight lamps to eerily light the empty cobblestone streets.

He turned away and decided to find the kitchen and get himself a drink—and maybe snap up a snack, since he hadn't eaten most of that day. Maybe it was the jet lag between London and Alicante, but he felt like he hadn't had time to eat at all. Breakfast at the London Institute felt like years ago.

He saw a light in the foyer and peeked in as he passed. He wished he hadn't.

Maryse caught sight of him and rose to her feet from where she was sitting in a chair by the window. "Alexander. I believe we need to talk," she said crisply.

Alec swallowed to hide his nervousness and drew himself up. "I don't believe we do," he replied. "In fact, I don't think we've ever had anything to say to each other, not since I was twelve, not yesterday, and certainly not now."

She didn't seem to like that answer. "Robert has informed me that I...may have overreacted this evening," she said, her voice tight and lips pressed thin. Alec's eyebrows raised. Was he about to get an apology?

"But that does not excuse you waltzing into my house uninvited, thinking you would be welcome in the heart of the Shadowhunter homeland," she continued sharply, "and throwing yourselves upon the mercy of my family."

"I knew it was too good to last," he muttered to himself, rolling his eyes. Raising his voice, he said, "Listen, if we aren't welcome, Magnus and I will go. But before we go, I have one question and only one question for you."

"What is it?" she snapped.

"My father," Alec said, crossing his arms. "I want to know who it was."

"After you were born, Alexander," Robert said, "we had a faint inkling that something wasn't right. Things would go wrong. When you threw tantrums, lights would go out. When you laughed, sometimes you would make things float, like your books and toys. There was one time—I don't know if you recall—when you and Jace were little, he took your bear and wouldn't give it back. You were crying and ran up to push him, and you knocked him about five or six feet through the air. All the glass in your room—windows, lights, the mirror—they all shattered when it happened.

"No Shadowhunter would have that kind of strength. Things continued until you were about nine, and we took you to Alicante to get your first Marks. We had a meeting set up with the Silent Brothers, and they... Well, I'm not quite sure what they did. We weren't allowed to go in with you.

"They came and told us that you were...not a Shadowhunter. You can imagine how Maryse reacted. She insisted that you were, that we were your parents and there was no way. But Brother Enoch was kind, and he didn't blame us. He said they had found demon blood in you, and that the only way that Maryse and you were both healthy during the pregnancy was if it was a Greater Demon. He said that Greater Demons have more power than just their Eidolon cohorts, and so their powers of illusion are stronger."