Magnus & Alec

Chapter 3

Alec's POV

He didn't talk to him on the way home.

Alec had spent all day trying to think of how to get away from the new boy. He'd have to which seats. That was the only answer. But switch to what seat? He didn't want to force himself on somebody else. And even the act of switching seats would catch Jace's attention.

Alec had expected Jace to start in on him as soon as he let the boy sit down, but Jace had gone right back to talking about Kung fu again. Alec, by the way, knew plenty about Kung fu. Because his dad trained him since he could walk, not because of his Japanese friend.

Switch seats, how . . . ?

He could probably find a seat upfront with the freshmen, but that would be a spectacular show of weakness. And he almost hated to think about leaving the new weird boy at the back of the bus by himself.

He hated himself for thinking like this.

If Jace knew he was thinking like this, he'd call Alec a Mundie. If his mother knew, she'd smack him on the back of the head. 'Don't be rude!' She'd say. 'Is that anyway to treat someone who's down on their luck?'

But Alec didn't have any luck - or status - to spare on that dumb Asian kid. He had just enough to keep himself out of trouble. And he knew it was crappy, but he was kind of grateful that people like that boy existed. Because people like Jace and Simon and Clary existed, too, and they needed to be fed. If it wasn't that Asian, it was going to be somebody else. And if it wasn't somebody else, it was going to be Alec.

Jace had let it go this morning, but he wouldn't keep letting it go . . .

Alec could hear his mom again. 'Seriously, son, you're giving yourself a stomach ache because you did something nice while other people were watching?'

It wasn't even that nice, Alec thought. He'd let the boy sit down, but he'd sworn at him.  When he'd shown up in his English class that afternoon, it felt like he was there to haunt him . . .

'Magnus', Mr Smith. 'What a bold name. It was a wrestlers name, you know.'

'It's the name of an ice cream,' somebody behind Alec called out. Somebody laughed and called back, 'That's Magnum, you muggle!'

The new boy rolled his eyes and sat down and the empty seat Mr Smith was gesturing to.

'We're reading fiction today, Magnus,' Mr Smith said. 'Rowling. Perhaps you'd like to get us started.'

Mr Smith opened his book to the right page and pointed.

'Go ahead,' he said, 'clear and loud. I'll tell you when to stop.'

The new boy looked at Mr Smith like he hoped he was kidding. When it was clear he wasn't - he almost never was - he started to read.

'Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had up to find their nephew on the front step, but Privet Drive hardly changed at all,' he read, 'The sun rose on the same tidy front gardens and lit up the brass number four on the Dursleys' front door; it crept into their living-room, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night when the Dursleys had seen that fateful news report about owls.'

Mr Smith didn't stop him, so he read the whole chapter in that cool, defiant voice. The same voice he'd used on Clary.

'That was wonderful,' Mr Smith said when he was done. He was beaming. 'Just wonderful. I hope you'll stay with us, Magnus, at least until we do Lord Of The Rings. That's a voice that arrives on horseback to Mordor.'

When the boy showed up in history, Mr Jacks didn't make a scene. But he did say, 'Ah, Magnus the mighty,' when he handed him his paperwork. He sat down a few rows in front of Alec and, as far as he could tell, spent the whole lesson staring at the sun.

Alec couldn't think of a way to get rid of him on the bus, or a way to get rid of himself. So he put his headphones on before the boy sat down and turned the volume all the way up.

Thank the Angels he didn't try to talk to him.