Lord of Shadows (The Dark Artifices #2)(81)

"The Centurions, you mean?"

"I don't like having them all here," said Ty. "I don't like crowds of people in general. When they're all talking at the same time, and making noise. Crowds are the worst-especially places like the Pier. Have you ever been there?" He made a face. "All the lights and the shouting and the people. It's like broken glass in my head."

"What about fighting?" asked Kit. "Battles, killing demons, that must be pretty noisy and loud?"

Ty shook his head. "Battle is different. Battle is what Shadowhunters do. Fighting is in my body, not my mind. As long as I can wear headphones-"

He broke off. In the distance, Kit heard a delicate shattering, like a window being blown in by a hurricane.

Ty exploded into a standing position, almost stepping on Kit, and drew a seraph blade from his weapons belt. He gripped it, staring out toward the ocean with a look as set as the glares on the statues in the garden behind the Institute.

Kit scrambled up after him, his heart hammering. "What's wrong? What was that?"

"Wards-the wards the Centurions put up-that's the sound of them breaking," said Ty. "Something's coming. Something dangerous."

"I thought you said the Institute was safe!"

"It usually is," Ty said, and raised the blade in his hand. "Adriel," he said, and the blade seemed to burn up from within. The glow lit the night, and in its illumination Kit saw that the road leading up to the Institute was packed with moving shapes. Not human ones-a surge of dark things, slippery and dank and undulating, and a stink rolled up toward them from below, one that almost made Kit gag. He remembered having been on Venice Beach once and passing the rotting corpse of a seal, festooned in maggoty seaweed-it stank like that, but worse.

"Hold this," Ty said, and a second later Kit found that Ty had shoved his blazing seraph blade into Kit's hand.

It was like holding a live wire. The sword seemed to pulse and writhe, and it was all Kit could do to hang on to it. "I've never held one of these before!" he said.

"My brother always says you have to start somewhere." Ty had detached a dagger from his belt. It was short and sharp and seemed altogether less fearsome a weapon than the seraph blade.

Which brother? Kit wondered, but he didn't have a chance to ask-he could hear shouts now, and running feet, and he was glad because the dark tide of things was nearly at the top of the road. He had turned his wrist a way he wouldn't have thought was possible, and the blade seemed steadier in his hand-it glowed without heat, as if it were composed of whatever made stars or moonlight.

"So now that everyone's awake," Kit said, "I don't suppose that means we retreat inside?"

Ty was pulling his headphones out of his pocket, bracing his black-sneakered feet just above the top step. "We're Shadowhunters," he said. "We don't run."

The moon came out from behind the cloud then, just as the door behind Kit and Ty flew open, and Shadowhunters poured out. Several of the Centurions carried witchlights: The night lit up, and Kit saw the things coming up the road, spilling onto the grass. They clamored toward the Institute, and on the porch the Shadowhunters raised their weapons.

"Sea demons," he heard Diana say grimly, and Kit knew suddenly that he was about to be in his first real battle, whether he liked it or not.

Kit whirled around. The night was full of light and noise. The brilliance of seraph blades illuminated the darkness, which was a blessing and a curse.



       
         
       
        

Kit could see Livvy and Diana with their weapons, followed by Diego, a massive ax in his hand. Zara and the other Centurions were just behind.

But he could also see the sea demons, and they were much worse than he'd imagined. There were things that looked like prehistoric lizards, scaled with stone, their heads a mass of dripping needle teeth and dead black eyes. Things that looked like pulsing jelly with fanged mouths, in which hideous organs hung: misshapen hearts, transparent stomachs in which Kit could discern the outlines of what one of them had just eaten-something with human arms and legs . . . Things like huge squids with leering faces and tentacles dotted with suckers from which green acid dripped to the ground, leaving seared holes in the grass.

The demons who'd killed his father were looking pretty attractive by comparison.

"By the Angel," Diana breathed. "Get behind me, Centurions."

Zara shot her a nasty look, though the Centurions were mostly clustered on the porch, gaping. Only Diego looked as if he literally couldn't wait to hurl himself into the fray. Veins stood out on his forehead, and his hand trembled with hatred.