“Magnus deeply disliked people who were early to business meetings. It was just as bad as being late, since it put everyone out, and even worse, people who were early always acted terribly superior about their bad timekeeping skills. They acted as though it were morally more righteous to get up early than to stay up late, even if you got the same amount of work done in the exact same amount of time. Magnus found it to be one of the great injustices of life.”

“To them, as to Magnus, time was like rain, glittering as it fell, changing the world, but something that could also be taken for granted.”

“To them, as to Magnus, time was like rain, glittering as it fell, changing the world, but something that could also be taken for granted.Until you loved a mortal. Then time became gold in a miser’s hands, every bright year counted out carefully, infinitely precious, and each one slipping through your fingers.”

“They say time heals all wounds, but that presumes the source of the grief is finite”

“So what do we do?” Alec whispered.Magnus shrugged and smiled suddenly; with his messy black hair and the gleam in his gold-green eyes, he looked like a mischievous teenager. “what everyone else does,” he replied. “Like you said. Hope.”

“Magnus remembered a town in Peru whose Quechua name meant “quiet place.” He recalled even more vividly being obscenely drunk and unhappy over his heartbreak of that time, and the maudlin thoughts that had recurred to him over the years, like an unwanted guest slipping in through his doors: that there was no peace for such as he, no quiet place, and there never would be.Except he found himself remembering lying in bed with Alec—all of their clothes on, lounging on the bed on a lazy afternoon, Alec laughing, head thrown back, the marks Magnus had left on his throat very plain to see.”

“And second, keep in mind that you are a weapon. In theory, when you’re done with training, you should be able to kick a hole in a wall or knock out a moose with a single punch.””I would never hit a moose,” said Clary. “They’re endangered.”

“We seemed to be trapped in an episode of One Life To Waste. It’s all very dull.”

“Alec?” Magnus was staring at him. He had dispatched the remaining Iblis demons, and the square was empty but for the two of them. “Did you just- did you just save my life?” Alec knew he ought to say something like, Of course, because I’m a Shadowhunter and that’s what we do, or That’s my job. Jace would have said something like that. Jace always knew the right thing to say. But the words that actually came out of Alec’s mouth where quite different- and sounded petulant, even to his own ears. “You never called me back,” he said. “I called you so many times and you never called me back.” Magnus looked at Alec as if he’d lost his mind. “Your city is under attack,” he said. “The wards have broken, and the streets are full of demons. And you want to know why I haven’t called you?”

“I’m seven hundred years old, Alexander. I know when something isn’t going to work. You won’t even admit I exist to your parents.” Alec stared at him. “I thought you were three hundred! You’re seven huundred years old?” “Well,” Magnus amended, “eight hundred. But I dont look it. Anyway, you’re missing the point. The point is-” But Alec never found out what the point was because at that moment a dozen more Iblis demons flooded into the square. He felt his jaw drop. “Damn it.” Magnus followed his gaze. the demons were already fanning out into a half circle around them, their yellow eyes glowing. “Way to change the subject, Lightwood.”

“So it’s true what they say about warlocks, then?”Alec gave him a very unpleasant look. “What’s true?””Alexander,” said Magnus coldly, and Clary met Simon’s eyes across the table. Hers were wide, green, and full of an expression that said Uh-oh. “You can’t be rude to everyone who talks to me.”Alec made a wide, sweeping gesture. “And why not? Cramping your style, am I? I mean, maybe you were hoping to flirt with werewolf boy here. He’s pretty attractive, if you like the messy-haired, broad-shouldered, chiseled-good-looks type.””Hey, now,” said Jordan mildly. Magnus put his head in his hands. “Or there are plenty of pretty girls here, since apparently your taste goes both ways, Is there anything you aren’t into?””Mermaids,” said Magnus into his fingers. “They always smell like seaweed.””It’s not funny,” Alec said savagely, and kicking back his chair, he got up from the table and stalked off into the crowd.”

“I’m the warlock who’s here to cure you. Didn’t they tell you I was coming?””I know who you are, but…” Maia looked dazed. “You look so…so…shiny.”

“Wear that scarf,” he said, pointing to a blue cashmere scarf hanging on a peg. “It matches your eyes.”Alec looked at it. Suddenly he was filled with hate – for the scarf, for Magnus, and most of all for himself. “Don’t tell me,” he said. “The scarf’s a hundred years old, and it was given to you by Queen Victoria right before she died, for special services to the Crown or something.”Magnus sat up. “What’s gotten into you?”Alec stared at him. “Am I the newest thing in this apartment?””I think that honor goes to Chairman Meow. He’s only two.””I said newest, not youngest,” Alec snapped.”

“Isabelle snorted, “All the boys are gay. In this truck, anyway. Well, not you, Simon.””You noticed,” said Simon. “I think of myself as a freewheeling bisexual,” added Magnus. “Please never say those words in front of my parents,” said Alec.”

“I’ve got the Mark of Cain,” said Simon. “That means nothing can kill me, right?””You can kill yourself,” Magnus said, somewhat unhelpfully. “As far as I know, inanimate objects can accidentally kill you. So if you were planning on teaching yourself the lambada on a greased platform over a pit full of knives, I wouldn’t.””There goes my Saturday.”