On the other hand, she thought, this courtyard had been torn up by Leviathan a couple of weeks ago, and there was no sign of that, either. Perhaps to be a Shadowhunter simply meant drawing runes over one’s scars, over and over.
Inside, all was just as silent and empty, an eerie change after the bustle that had filled the place for the last days. Their boots rang loudly against the stone floor and echoed off the walls. As they made their way up the central staircase, Jesse slid his gloved hand into hers.
“Did you notice Bridget leave?” he said in a low voice. “I swear I didn’t see her in the crowd.”
Lucie was startled. “No—I didn’t—but she must have, mustn’t she? Probably we were all too busy with Oscar to notice.”
“I suppose,” Jesse said, though with doubt in his voice.
They had reached the library. Lucie looked around at the results of the planning they’d done secretly in the last day and a half, working in short, feverish bursts whenever they could grab a moment. The table was piled with maps of London, the Silent City, the environs of the Adamant Citadel. There was also an empty chalkboard on wheels off to the side; Thomas had dug it out of some supply closet or other.
“At least we can write our plans down now,” Jesse said—they’d been avoiding doing so for fear of detection. “Assuming we all remember what they are.”
“Ari, would you write?” Anna said. “You have the best penmanship of all of us, I’m sure.”
“Not in chalk,” Ari protested, but she looked pleased anyway. She took up the chalk and gestured toward them expectantly.
Thomas looked around and, finding no one else wanted to start, cleared his throat. “First priority,” he said, “is securing the Institute. Board up the windows of any room we’re going to use, and no lights in any room we’re not using. We chain up the front doors. From now on we enter and exit only by the Sanctuary. With some luck we can keep Belial from knowing that any Shadowhunters stayed behind at all.”
“He’ll figure it out eventually,” Alastair said. “If we weren’t spotted by Watchers on our way back from the water gate already.”
Ari pointed her chalk at him. “That’s very dark thinking, Alastair, and we won’t have it. The longer we can keep our presence hidden, the better.”
“Agreed,” said Anna. “Next. Ari and I are going to try to find a way in and out of London. There must be some magical gate Belial would have missed. A leftover warlock Portal, a path to Faerie. Something.”
“What about trying to get back the way Tatiana and the Watchers got here?” suggested Thomas. “The Path of the Dead.”
In the past frantic days in the library, they had learned what the Path of the Dead was—a passageway that led from the Silent City to the Iron Tombs. It seemed that after Tatiana had been imprisoned, she had opened a gate within the City of Bones to allow Belial’s army to march from the Iron Tombs, along the Path, and into the heart of the Silent Brothers’ stronghold. It was a painful thought.
“I wish we could do that, Tom,” said Anna, “but remember what Charles said—not only is the entrance to the Silent City sealed, but we couldn’t possibly fight off the demons that would attack if we tried to open it. Especially now, when there is no real daylight, there is no time we would be safe in trying.”
“If we had the aid of a warlock, we might be able to try,” Lucie said. “Magnus and Hypatia are in Paris, but Malcolm is the High Warlock of London; he must at least know what has happened. And not just warlocks,” she added. “We must attempt to make contact with any Downworlders still in London, and see if they can be of help. Belial said they were all under his control, but he lies about everything.”
“Fire-messages,” said Grace’s small voice from the other end of the table, surprising Lucie. “The invention that Christopher was working on. He thought he was very close. If we can get them working, we can perhaps send messages to Idris. Since Belial doesn’t know they exist.”
Everyone nodded. Cordelia folded her arms. “The Watchers. It’s dangerous, but we must learn more about them. What they can do. Whether they have any weaknesses we can exploit.” She turned to Lucie. “Luce, have you ever encountered the ghost of a Silent Brother or Iron Sister? I know their bodies do not decay, but what of their souls?”
Lucie shook her head. “I have never seen such a ghost. Wherever the souls of the Iron Sisters and Silent Brothers are voyaging, it is someplace further than I have ever been.”
“Figuring out anything about the Watchers is going to be difficult,” Alastair said, “given that we are also trying to remain undetected. If we fight a Watcher and run away, it will report us to Belial. If we fight a Watcher and kill it, it will be missed. I’m not saying we shouldn’t try,” he added, holding up his hands before Cordelia could respond. “Maybe we could drop heavy things on them from above.”
“You’re on dropping things on Watchers from above,” Anna agreed. “Meanwhile, the worst and most important problem remains.”
“Saving James and Matthew,” said Lucie.
“We’ll have to find James and Matthew first,” Jesse pointed out.
“James will hold out for as long as he can,” Cordelia said firmly. “But we don’t know how long that will be, or if Belial will find some means after all of possessing him without his consent.”
“And Belial didn’t expect to take Matthew at all,” Thomas pointed out. “He has no reason to keep him alive. So we have even less time than that.”
“He has one reason to keep him alive,” Lucie said. “James will never cooperate if Belial hurts Matthew.”
Thomas sighed. “We’ll have to cling to that, for now. Since we don’t even know where to start to rescue them. Edom is another world. We have no way of reaching it. Perhaps with the help of a warlock—it depends on whether Belial was lying about them being in his thrall.”
“So,” Anna said, sitting up. Lucie felt grateful—even as deep in grief as Anna was, she wasn’t going to let them fall into despair now. “Ari and I will be looking for magical ways in and out of London. Grace, you should look into the fire-messages, you know the most about Christopher’s work on them so far.”
“I’ll help Grace,” Jesse said.