Born to Endless Night (Tales from Shadowhunter Academy 9)

Robert winked, as if they understood each other. Magnus was speechless.

The Lightwoods continued on their quest to childproof the suite, feed the baby, and all hold the baby at once. Witchlight on every side, filling the whole small space of the attic, blazed and burned in Magnus's vision.

Alec thought they were keeping the baby. He wanted to name him Max.

*

"I saw Magnus Bane and a sexy vampire lady in the hall," Marisol announced as she passed Simon's table.

Jon Cartwright was carrying her tray, and he almost dropped it. "A vampire," he repeated. "In the Academy?"

Marisol looked up into his scandalized face and nodded. "A sexy one."

"They're the worst kind," Jon breathed.

"So you weren't too bad, then, Simon," Julie remarked as Marisol walked on, spinning her tale of an alluring vampiress.

"You know," Simon said, "sometimes I think Marisol goes too far. I know she likes jerking Jon's chain, but nobody is dumb enough to believe in a warlock baby and a vampire on the same day. It's too much. It makes no sense. Jon is going to catch on."

He poked a mysterious lump in his stew. Dinner was very late tonight, and very congealed. Marisol fibbing about vampires must have put the idea in his head: Simon looked back on drinking blood and thought that it could not have been as bad as this.

"You would think she'd had enough excitement for one day," George agreed. "I wonder how the poor little baby is doing. I was thinking, do you think he might change colors like a chameleon? How cool would that be?"

Simon brightened. "So cool."

"Nerds," said Julie.

Simon took that as praise. He did feel that George had really come along under his tutelage. He had even voluntarily bought graphic novels when he was in Scotland over Christmas. Maybe someday the student would become the master.

"This is hard luck for you, Simon," said George. "I know you wanted to talk to Alec."

Simon's brief moment of cheer faded, and he collapsed with his face on the table. "Forget about talking to Alec. When I went to tell them about the baby, I walked in on Alec and Magnus. If Alec didn't like me before, he definitely hates me now."

Another old memory flashed in Simon's mind, absolutely unwelcome: Alec's pale, furious face as he looked down at Clary. Maybe Alec hated Clary, too. Maybe once someone crossed him, he never forgot and never forgave, and would always hate them both.

His hideous imaginings were interrupted by a sensation around their dinner table.

"What? Where? When? How? Did Magnus seem like an athletic yet tender lover?" Julie demanded.

"Julie!" said Beatriz.

"Thank you, Beatriz," said Simon.

"Don't say a word, Simon," said Beatriz. "Not until I have acquired a pen and paper so I can write down everything you say. I'm sorry, Simon, but they are famous, and celebrities have to bear with this interest in their love lives. They're like Brangelina."

Beatriz rummaged through her bag until she found a notebook, and then opened it and gazed at Simon with an expectant air.

Julie, Idris born and bred, made a face. "What is Brangelina? It sounds like a demon."

"It does not!" George protested. "I believe in their love."

"They are not like Brangelina," Simon said. "What would you even call them? Algnus? That sounds like a foot disease."

"Obviously you would call them Malec," said Beatriz. "Are you stupid, Simon?"

"I will not be distracted!" said Julie. "Does Magnus have piercings? Of course he does; when would he miss an opportunity to shine?"

"I didn't notice, and even if I had noticed, I wouldn't discuss it," said Simon.

"Oh, because people in the mundane world never obsess about celebrities and their love lives," Beatriz said. "See also, Brangelina. And that boy band George is obsessed with. He has all kinds of theories about their romances."

"What . . . boy band . . . George is obsessed with?" Simon asked slowly.

George looked shifty. "I don't want to talk about it. The band's going through some hard times lately, and it makes me too sad."

Far too many disturbing and upsetting things had happened to Simon today. He decided to stop thinking about George and the boy band.

"I'm the one who grew up a subway ride from Broadway, I know people get too interested in celebrities," he said. "But it's weird for me when you girls obsess over Jace or Magnus. It's weird when Jon trails after Isabelle with his tongue hanging out."

"Is George's crush on Clary weird too?" asked Beatriz.

"Is this Betray George Day, Beatriz?" George demanded. "Si, I may have had certain thoughts about certain pocket-size vixens, but I would never tell you about them! I don't want to make it weird!"

"Pocket-size vixens?" Simon stared. "Congratulations, you made it weird."

George hung his head in shame.

"It's weird for me because everybody acts as if they know famous people, but I really do know these people. They're not images, like posters to hang on the wall. They're not anything like you think they are. They have a right to privacy. It's weird because I see everyone acting like they know who my friends are, when they only know a tiny bit of them, and it's weird to see anyone acting as if they have some sort of claim on my friends and their lives."

Beatriz hesitated, then put her pen down. "Okay," she said. "I can see it's weird for you, but--it does come from everyone admiring what they've done. People act like they know them because they want to know them. And being admired means they have a lot of influence over other people. They can do a lot of good with that. Alec Lightwood is Sunil's inspiration to be a Shadowhunter. And you, Simon. A lot of people follow you because they admire you. There might be some weirdness mixed in with being admired like that, but I think there's more good."

"Oh, it's not the same for me," Simon mumbled. "I mean, I don't even remember. I meant my friends. Including Alec, who is . . . my friend who doesn't like me. They're the special ones."

He couldn't be cool and assured like Magnus or Jace. He didn't know what Beatriz was talking about. Also he felt suddenly paranoid over whether people were wondering if he had piercings.

Simon had no piercings. He used to be a musician in Brooklyn. He probably should have piercings.

Beatriz hesitated another instant, then tore off the page she'd written on and rolled it into a ball. "You're special too, Simon," she said, and blushed. "Everybody knows that."

Simon looked at her red face and remembered George mentioning someone had a crush on him. He'd thought for a moment it might be Julie, and though it would be both bizarre and bizarrely flattering to have changed the heart of a Shadowhunter ice princess with his manly charms, he supposed Beatriz made more sense. He and Beatriz were really good friends. Beatriz had the best smile in the Academy. Simon would've been thrilled to have an attractive girl he was friends with get a crush on him, back in Brooklyn.

He felt mainly awkward now. He wondered if he was supposed to let Beatriz down easily.

Julie cleared her throat. "And just so you know . . . ," she said, "there have been invasive questions asked about you. Also there was an incident where someone tried to steal one of your used socks and keep it as a trophy."

"Who was the sock person?" Simon demanded. "That's just nasty."

"We never tell them anything," Julie said. "And they may ask once, but they never ask again." Her lip curled back from her teeth. She looked like a snarling blond tiger. "Because you're a real person to us, Simon. And you're our friend."

She reached across the table and touched Simon's hand, then drew it back as if she had been burned. Beatriz snatched Julie's hand as soon as she'd drawn it back and pulled her out of her chair and toward the corner of the room where the food was laid out.

Neither of them needed more food. They had barely touched their stew. Simon watched as they went, and then stood talking to each other in fraught whispers.

"Well, they both seem strangely upset."

George rolled his eyes.

"Come on, Si, don't be dense."