The Rise of the Hotel Dumort (The Bane Chronicles 5)

"I sometimes feel a bit out of place, but I very much consider myself of this world. Where else would I be from?"

"You may have been born here, but you originate in another dimension. "

"You mean the Void?"

"I mean that exactly. I intend to go where I do belong. I want to go to the only place I feel I can truly call my home. I want to go to Pandemonium. I was opening up a Portal to allow me to get there. "

"And these people?"

"These people believed they ran the world. They believed that their money entitled them to control. They heard about me, they came to me seeking a way to gain that control without war, without force. And I told them that I would expose them to a power they never knew possible if they gave me what I needed. So they gave me this hotel. Ive been working here for some months, preparing the way. This entire building is now a latticework of spells and enchantments. The walls are spun with electrum and demon metal. It is a channel now. It will be the perfect and strongest Portal. "

"And they came here . . . "

"For a demonstration. I did tell them there were risks. Perhaps I wasnt clear enough. I thought I was. . . . "

He smiled a bit at this.

"They were monsters, Magnus. They could not be allowed to live. Stupid mundanes, thinking they could rule their world by harnessing our power? No. They died quickly. "

"And, I would imagine, in great pain and terror. "

"Perhaps. But their sufferings have ended. And now, so have mine. Come with me. "

"Come with you? To Pandemonium? To the Void? And here I thought that my invitation to summer in New Jersey was the worst I had ever received. "

"This isnt the time for jokes, Bane. "

"Aldous," Magnus said, "you are talking about going to the demon realm. You do not come back from there. And you know what horrors you would face. "

"We dont know what its like. We dont know anything. I wish to know. My final wish is for knowledge of that most mysterious place, my true home. The final step to finish the spell," he said, pulling up on the balled head of his cane and revealing a knife. "A few drops of warlock blood. Just a bit will do. A slice across the palm. "

Aldous looked at the knife thoughtfully, then at Magnus.

"If you stay here, the Portal will open, and you will come with me. If you do not wish to come, leave now. "

"Aldous, you cant - "

"I most certainly can, and Im about to. Make your choice, Magnus. Stay or go, but if you go, go now. "

What was now extremely clear to Magnus was that Aldous was insane. You did not plan trips to the Void if you were compos mentis. Going to the Void was an act greater and more terrible than suicide - it was sending yourself to Hell. But it was also very, very hard to talk to people who had gone insane. Alfie could be talked off the window with reason. It would not be so easy with Aldous. Physical force was just as difficult an approach. Any move Magnus made here would likely be predicted and met with equal or greater strength.

"Aldous . . . "

"You stay then? You come with me?"

"No. I just - I - "

"You worry for me," Aldous said. "You think I dont know what Im doing. "

"I wouldnt put it like that, exactly. . . . "

"I have considered this for a long time, Magnus. I know what I am doi

ng. So please. Stay or go. Decide now, as I am going to open the Por - "

The arrow made a kind of singing noise as it cut through the air. It entered Aldouss chest like a knife sliding easily into an apple. Aldous sat upright for a moment, looking at it; then he slumped to the side, dead.

Magnus watched his blood hit the granite.

"RUN," he yelled.

The young Shadowhunter was still proudly looking at his work, how perfectly he had hit his mark. He didnt notice the web of cracks spreading from the altar and across the floor, splintering the white marble into hundreds and thousands of pieces with a sound like breaking ice.

Magnus ran. He ran in a way he wasnt aware he could run, and when he reached the Shadowhunter, he grabbed him and dragged him along. They had just reached the door and jumped out when one great belch of fire exploded into the foyer, filling the room with fire from floor to ceiling. Just as quickly, the fire was suctioned back into the ballroom. The doors of the hotel pulled themselves shut. The very building shook as if an enormous vacuum had appeared just over it and was sucking it up.

"Whats happening?" said the Shadowhunter.

"Hes opened some kind of channel to the Void," Magnus said, staggering to his feet.

"What?"

Magnus shook his head. There was no time to explain.