The Shadowhunter's Codex (43 page)
Read The Shadowhunter's Codex Online
Authors: Cassandra Clare,Joshua Lewis
Tags: #Juvenile Fiction, #Horror & Ghost Stories, #Lifestyles, #City & Town Life, #Fantasy & Magic, #Social Issues, #New Experience, #Paranormal
But the Ninth Accords were signed. In a stroke of irony Valentine’s terrible acts helped to uphold the Shadow World’s commitment to the Accords’ passage. It had been a difficult negotiation that year, full of clashing personalities and strong opinions, but after the Uprising a great sense of fraternity was felt by Downworlder and Shadowhunter representatives alike, united against their common foe, and they were able to ratify the Accords only a few weeks later.
The Tenth Accords (2007), just terrible for everyone.
Things turned out okay, though, right? Guys?
The Great and Tragic Love of Jonathan Shadowhunter and David the Silent, by
Clary Fray, Aged 17
SIMON IT WAS BY SIMON NOT ME
| JONATHAN SHADOWHUNTER: I am Jonathan Shadowhunter, and I am about to form a holy order of warriors to defend Earth from demons! I am louche and aristocratic and callow! | DAVID: Are you suggesting that only the combination of both your rash bravery and my levelheaded thinkiness can hope to defeat the darkness, rather than either alone? |
| DAVID: I am David and I witnessed something truly horrific in a cave and as a result I have taken a vow of silence and sworn myself to killing demons. I am only thinking these things, rather than saying them out loud, because I have taken a vow of silence. | JONATHAN: . . . No, but that’s much better than what I was suggesting, so let’s go with that! DAVID: We kill demons awesomely now! We go on adventures and repeatedly save each other’s lives! |
| JONATHAN: I throw myself at demons indiscriminately! | JONATHAN: Oh, David, I would trust you with my life! |
| DAVID: Verily, you shall be killed if you keep doing that. You need an influence of calm and meditative spirit in this mission. It is not just a war; it is a holy war. Meditate with me. | DAVID: Oh, Jonathan, I would sacrifice my own life for your holy mission! [He almost does.] I regret nothing. JONATHAN: (weeping) David, you must return to me! I need you! I cannot do this thing without you! |
| JONATHAN: This meditating business is very nice, and I feel more balanced and together than ever before, but have you noticed that we are supposed to be demon hunters but in fact neither of us has actually killed a demon in many moons? | DAVID: Lo, I return!
SIMON I WILL KILL YOU |
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS AND THINGS TO TRY
1. With which of the founders of the Nephilim—Jonathan, David, or Abigail—do you feel a bond? Why? What about their lives can inform the way you live your own?
Um, I guess Abigail because she’s the only girl, Codex. I mean, really? At least boys get two different people to choose from. Abigail’s defining feature is she’s female.
Some would say Abigail’s defining feature was that she learned how to work the very material of Heaven on a forge, and then she built a gigantic fortress and never came out again.
I don’t see that as a reason not to feel a bond with her.
Where do you want to get lunch?
My psychic vampire powers say you want noodles.
I always want noodles.
Your psychic noodle powers depend on them.
True
What are you guys, twelve? Stop passing the thing back and forth.
HISTORY OF THE CODEX
Did You Know?
How could you possibly care?
The first edition of
The Shadowhunter’s Codex
is a hand-illuminated book written in Vulgar Latin, on pages of vellum. It can be seen in a carefully preserved display among the treasures of Alicante. For many years this first edition was believed to have been written by Jonathan Shadowhunter, in his own hand, and thus was dated to the late eleventh century. Modern research and dating techniques have, unfortunately, revealed that this date is not correct, and the first edition instead dates to the early thirteenth century, almost a hundred years after Jonathan Shadowhunter’s believed date of death. Its author and its illuminator, whether the same person or different, remain unknown. Many different Enclaves of Shadowhunters in Europe have laid claim to being the rightful inheritors of the original
Codex
, but no evidence has ever arisen to allow a definitive claim. In any event it is logical to understand the
Codex
as a document dating from after the deaths of the first Shadowhunters, when the Nephilim of Idris were actively working to find recruits to their mission and to drastically expand their numbers and their geographical reach. The
Codex
would have provided an expeditious method of teaching the literate, at the very least, about the Shadow World and its denizens.
The first edition of the
Codex
produced on a printing press is not nearly as mysterious. The
Codex
was first printed, in German, on the presses of the Institute at Frankfurt-am-Main in what was then the Holy Roman Empire. It was brought to that Institute from Heidelberg, where a group of Nephilim had been studying demonology in collaboration with scholars of the university there. It is unknown how many copies were made, but of them, forty-eight survive. Of these, several can be found in Alicante, and at least one can be found at each Great Library. The rest are spread among smaller Institutes, mostly in Central Europe, and a small number of Shadowhunter private collections.
This edition of the
Codex
is a minor revision of the twenty-seventh edition, first published in 1990. Only material related to the Ninth Accords has been added. I care.
Don’t you quote
Star Wars
at me, Lewis.
NOTES:
DO NOT DOODLE IN THIS SPACE
NOTES AREA
Please use this blank space provided to practice Marks. Note: Please practice your Marks with a waster and not with a real stele. Paper is too fragile to withstand the force of heavenly fire.
