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Prologue

The Outcast Dead

The fog was thick, ht Where it parted, Will Herondale could see the street rising ahead of him, slick and wet and black with rain, and he could hear the voices of the dead

Not all Shadowhunters could hear ghosts, unless the ghosts chose to be heard, but Will was one of those who could As he approached the old ceed chorus-wails and pleading, cries and snarls This was not a peaceful buriall ground, but Will knew that; it was not his first visit to the Cross Bones Graveyard near London Bridge He did his best to block out the noises, hunching his shoulders so that his collar covered his ears, head down, a finehis black hair

The entrance to the ceates set into a high stone wall, though anybut a plot of overgrown land, part of an unna else no reat bronze knocker in the shape of a hand, the fingers bony and skeletal With a griloved hands and lifted the knocker, letting it fall once, twice, three tiht

Beyond the gates leaan to coalesce, taking on an eerie blue glow Will put his hands to the bars of the gate; the cold of the loves, into his bones, and he shivered

It was a y fro the air around them of heat The hairs on the back of Will 's neck prickled and stood up as the blue ed dress and white apron, her head bent

"Hallo, Mol," said Will "You're looking particularly fine this evening, if I do say so "

The ghost raised her head Old Molly was a strong spirit, one of the stronger Will had ever encountered Even as ap in the clouds, she hardly looked transparent Her body was solid, her hair twisted in a thick yellow-gray coil over one shoulder, her rough, red hands braced on her hips Only her eyes were holloin blue fla in their depths

"Williaain so soon?"

She hosts Her feet were bare and filthy, despite the fact that they never touched the ground

Will leaned against the gate "You know I missed your pretty face "

She grinned, her eyes flickering, and he caught a glimpse of the skull beneath the half-transparent skin Overhead the clouds had closed in on one another again, blocking out the et herself buried here, far fro voices of the dead belonged to prostitutes, suicides, and still births- those outcast dead who could not be buried in a churchyard Although Molly had ed to make the situation quite profitable for herself, so perhaps she didn't mind

She chortled "What d'you want, then, young Shadow-hunter? Malphas venom? I 'ave the talon of a Morax demon, polished very fine, the poison at the tip entirely invisible-"

"No," Will said "That's not what I need I need Foraii deround fine "

Molly turned her head to the side and spat a tendril of blue fire "Nohat's a fine young man like you ith stuff like that?"

Will just sighed inwardly; Molly's protests were part of the bargaining process Magnus had already sent Will to Old Molly several ti candles that stuck to his skin like tar, once for the bones of an unborn child, and once for a bag of faeries' eyes, which had dripped blood on his shirt Foraii demon powder sounded pleasant by comparison

"You think I'm a fool," Molly went on "This is a trap, innit? You Nephili that sort of stuff, an' it's the stick for Old Mol, it is "

"You're already dead " Will did his best not to sound irritable "I don't knohat you think the Clave could do to you now "

"Pah " Her hollow eyes flamed "The prisons of the Silent Brothers, beneath the earth, can 'old either the living or the dead; you know that, Shadowhunter "

Will held up his hands "No tricks, old one Surely youabout in Doorld The Clave has other things on its hosts who traffic in demon powders and faerie blood "

He leaned forward "I'll give you a good price " He drew a caled it in the air It clinked like coins rattling together

"They all fit your description, Mol "

An eager look cah to take the bag froht her pals, each tied in a lovers' knot at the top Old Mol, likefor that talisman, that lost piece of her past that would finally all low her to die, the anchor that kept her trapped in the world In her case it was her wedding ring It was coone, buried under the silty bed of the Thas in the hope one would turn out to be hers

She dropped the rings back into the bag, which vanished somewhere on her undead person, and handed him a folded sachet of powder in return He slipped it into his jacket pocket just as the ghost began to shimmer and fade

"Hold up, there, Mol That isn't all I have coht "

The spirit flickered while greed warred with irunted "Very well What else d'you want?"

Will hesitated This was not so he wanted to know for himself "Love potions-"

Old Molly screeched with laughter "Love potions? For Willl'erondale?

'Tain't my way to turn down payot no need of love potions, and that's a fact "

"No," Will said, a little desperation in his voice "I was looking for the opposite, really-so in love "

"An 'atred potion?" Molly still sounded amused

"I was hoping for so more akin to indifference? Tolerance?"

She host "I 'ardly like to tell you this, Nephilih ways of"

And with that she vanished, spinning away into the hed "Not for her," he said under his breath, though there was no one to hear hiainst the cold iron gate

Chapter 1: The Council Chamber

A bove, the fair hall-ceiling stately set

Many an arch high up did lift,

And angels rising and descending met

With interchange of gift