Born to Endless Night Read Free

baby’s breathing, right?”
    They all stood and stared at the little bundle. The baby waved his fist again. If the baby was moving, Simon thought, the baby must be breathing. He was not even going to think about zombie babies at this time.
    “Should I get the baby a hot water bottle?” George said.
    Simon took a deep breath. “George, don’t lose your head,” he said. “This baby is not blue because he is cold or because he cannot breathe. Mundane babies are not blue in this way. This baby is blue because he is a warlock, just like Catarina.”
    “Not just like Ms. Loss,” Beatriz said in a high voice. “Ms. Loss is more of a sky blue, whereas this baby is more of a navy blue.”
    “You seem very knowledgeable,” George decided. “You should hold the baby.”
    “No!” Beatriz squawked.
    She and Julie both threw up their hands in surrender. As far as they were concerned, it was clear, George was holding a loaded baby and should not do anything rash.
    “Everybody stay where you are,” said Simon, trying to keep his voice calm.
    Julie perked up. “Oooh, Simon,” she said. “Good idea.”
    Simon fled across the hall and up the stairs, moving at a pace that would have amazed his evil Shadowhunter gym teacher. Scarsbury had never provided him with motivation like this.
    He knew that Magnus and Alec had been put in a fancy suite up in the attics. Apparently there was even a separate kitchen. Simon just kept heading up, knowing he would hit the attics at some point.
    He reached the attics, heard murmuring and movement behind the door, and flung the door wide open.
    Then he stood, arrested on his second threshold of the day.
    There was a sheet over Alec and Magnus, but Simon could see enough. He could see Alec’s white, rune-scarred shoulders and Magnus’s wild black hair spread on the pillow. He could see Alec freeze, then turn his head and give Simon a look of absolute horror.
    Magnus’s golden cat eyes gleamed from over Alec’s pale shoulder. He sounded almost amused as he asked: “Can we help you?”
    “Oh my God,” Simon said. “Oh wow. Oh wow, I am really sorry.”
    “Please leave,” said Alec in a tight, controlled voice.
    “Right!” said Simon. “Of course!” He paused. “I can’t leave.”
    “Believe me,” said Alec. “You can.”
    “There is an abandoned baby on the front steps of the Academy and I think it’s a warlock!” Simon blurted out.
    “Why do you think the baby is a warlock?” Magnus asked. He was the only one in the room who was composed.
    “Um, because the baby is navy blue.”
    “That is fairly compelling evidence,” Magnus admitted. “Could you give us a moment to get dressed?”
    “Yes! Of course!” said Simon. “Again, I’m very sorry.”
    “Go now,” Alec suggested.
    Simon went.
    After a short while Magnus emerged from the attic suite dressed in skintight black clothes and a shimmering gold robe. His hair was still wrecked, going every which way as if Magnus had been caught in a small personal tempest, but Simon was not going to quibble about the hair of his potential savior.
    “Really sorry again,” said Simon.
    Magnus made a lazy gesture. “Seeing your face was not the best moment of my day, Simon, but these things happen. Admittedly, they have never happened to Alec before, and he needs a few more minutes. Show me where the child is.”
    “Follow me,” said Simon.
    He ran down the stairs as fast as he had run up them, taking two at a time. He found the tableau at the threshold just as he had left it, Beatriz and Julie the horrified audience to George’s terrified and inexpert baby-holding. The bundle was now making a low, plaintive sound.
    “What took you so long?” Beatriz hissed.
    Julie still looked very shaken, but she managed to say: “Hello, Magnus.”
    “Hello again, Julie,” said Magnus, once again the only calm person in a room. “Let me hold the baby.”
    “Oh, thank you,” George breathed. “Not that I don’t like the baby. But