The Golden Tower

by Holly Black

  “We’re supposed to take you to the last gate,” Jasper said. “The rest of the mages are waiting. It’s so not fair that you get to graduate early and I don’t. That’s definitely going to make the Collegium more likely to give you a good spot.” He sighed. “But — at least my dad’s going to be okay.”

  Call nodded. He couldn’t bring himself to feel bad that Jasper’s dad was going to stay in prison for helping Master Joseph, but he was glad for Jasper’s sake that nothing else would happen to him. “The Collegium is more likely to bar us from it,” he said, trying to pep Jasper up. “In case we happen to accidentally burn it to the ground.”

  “Yeah,” said Tamara. “And the choices were ‘graduate early’ or ‘go to prison, do not pass go, do not collect a million dollars.’”

  Right then, Aaron stepped out of Jasper’s room. Everyone froze. He was wearing a uniform that actually fit him, so Call guessed it wasn’t one of Jasper’s.

  Aaron’s smile was hopeful and full of nervousness. “I wasn’t … myself. Before. But I am now. I hope you can forgive me.”

  “You’re actually on Team Good now?” Jasper asked.

  Aaron nodded.

  Jasper gave him a long, steady look. “Huh.”

  “Come on,” said Gwenda. “Let’s find out if he’s on the up-and-up.”

  Together, they trooped through the caverns of the Magisterium, passing a room with long stalagmites and steaming mud heating the air. They ducked through another doorway and into the Hall of Graduates. An archway Call had never seen before was shimmering with golden light. The carved words Prima Materia glowed on the wall above as though illuminated from within their grooves.

  A smaller crowd had gathered to witness this. Master Rufus and Master Milagros, Master North and the Rajavis. Gwenda and Jasper murmured last words of luck and good wishes to Call and Tamara before crossing the room to stand with the teachers and Assembly members.

  Master Rufus was wearing a tight smile, which relaxed as they came in. “Tamara, Alex, Call. You are ready to pass through the final gate of the Magisterium, the Gate of Balance. Previously, your studies allowed you to walk through control, affinity, creation, and transformation. Long ago, you passed through the First Gate, the Gate of Control, and became a mage in your own right. Now, once you pass through the Gate of Balance, you will be not only a mage but also a member in good standing of the mage world. Passing through the gate demands that you are able to put aside your own desires and emotions for the good of others. If you can see the gate, then you’re ready to be tested. Tamara Rajavi, you first.”

  She stepped forward, shoulders back, and walked up to the gate. As she had with the very first gate she stepped through, she put up her hand to touch it. Then she disappeared from view.

  “Now you, Alex Strike.”

  “Okay,” Aaron said, looking nervous. He wiped his hands against his pants. Stepping up to the gate, he took a deep breath, then walked through, disappearing as well.

  Call couldn’t see either of them. He couldn’t see if they’d made it to the other side. All he could see was Master Rufus’s implacable expression and the eyes of the other mages, waiting for him to be judged.

  “Callum Hunt,” said Master Rufus. “Your turn.”

  Call swallowed and moved toward the gate.

  “Wait!” a voice called. “Stop!”

  Call whirled around. To his surprise, there was Alastair. He looked much as he always had, except a little blurry around the edges, and he was no longer wearing his glasses. He glanced over at Master Rufus, and Call realized his teacher must have summoned his dad to the ceremony.

  “We need to do this now,” called Master North.

  Alastair disappeared, and reappeared again only a foot from Call. Call stepped toward his father, and they hugged quickly. Alastair was actually starting to feel substantial — Call could almost feel the texture of his jacket. “I went through the Gate of Balance, once,” Alastair murmured. “You can, too. You’re my son.”

  “I know.” A great calm had come over Call. He let go of his dad. Somewhere someone was muttering about having Devoureds in the Hall of Graduates, but nobody was actually moving to do anything about it.

  A lot had changed at the Magisterium, Call thought, taking his final step toward the Gate of Balance. There was cheering behind him: Alastair, Gwenda, Jasper, even the Rajavis.

  He wasn’t going through alone. He had support at his back, and his two best friends on the other side.

  He took a deep breath and stepped through.

  It was the eye of a tornado. Images from his life flashed all around him — a cave of ice, his old skateboard, the kitchen at Alastair’s, the Refectory full of students, Master Rufus lecturing, Aaron and Tamara laughing, Havoc as a puppy zipped into Call’s coat. Love for all those things rose up in him, expanded in his chest.

  He saw the golden tower fall, Alex on his dragon, Drew dangling Aaron over the chaos monster, Anastasia dying, Master Joseph watching him. But he didn’t feel anger. He had bested those things, those people. He had won. The better part of him had won, and there were no memories circling him that weren’t his own. There were no memories of Constantine Madden’s, no memories that belonged to Maugris. Only memories that belonged to him.

  He knew now who he really was.

  He was Callum Hunt.

  The tornado whirled away, and the calm that came after it was almost deafening. He was standing on the other side of the gate with Aaron and Tamara; both of them were grinning at him. They’d both made it. For the moment, the crowd couldn’t see them — though Call could see the mages in the distance, gazing anxiously toward the gate. In a moment the wall of illusion would fall, but for this moment they were together, unseen.

  “We did it,” said Tamara. She grabbed Aaron’s hand in one of hers, and Call’s in the other. “We made it, together.”

  Call and Aaron linked their hands, too.

  “And we’ve got to promise not to be like the other chaos users,” Aaron said to Call, gripping his hand tightly. “Not like Maugris. When we’re old and it’s time for us to die, we’re going to go. We’re never going to do anything like this ever again.”

  Call nodded. “No hopping bodies.”

  “No hopping bodies,” Tamara said. “You watch each other. And I’ll watch both of you. And if one of you breaks the pact, it’s up to the other one of you to stop it — along with me. Understood?”

  Aaron smiled and there was something in his gaze, something odd in those eyes that hadn’t always belonged to him. “I promise,” he said. “I definitely promise. So long as I live, I will never, ever steal another body again.”

  Call looked steadily into Aaron’s eyes. “I promise, too,” he said. “From now on, we play by the rules.” He smiled at Aaron, pushing down his flicker of doubt. He was a good person now. They were both good people now.

  They just had to stay that way.

  Holly Black and Cassandra Clare first met over ten years ago at Holly’s first-ever book signing. They have since become good friends, bonding over (among other things) their shared love of fantasy—from the sweeping vistas of The Lord of the Rings to the gritty tales of Batman in Gotham City to the classic sword-and-sorcery epics to Star Wars. With Magisterium, they decided to team up to write their own story about heroes and villains, good and evil, and being chosen for greatness, whether you like it or not.

  Holly is the bestselling author and co-creator of The Spiderwick Chronicles series and won a Newbery Honor for her novel Doll Bones. Cassie is the author of bestselling YA series, including The Mortal Instruments, The Infernal Devices, and The Dark Artifices. They both live in Western Massachusetts, about ten minutes away from each other. This is the fifth book in Magisterium, following The Iron Trial, The Copper Gauntlet, The Bronze Key, and The Silver Mask.

  Text copyright © 2018 by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare LLC

  Illustrations copyright © 2018 by Scott Fischer

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  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available

  First edition, September 2018

  Cover art by Alexandre Chaudret, © 2018 Scholastic Inc.

  Cover design by Christopher Stengel

  Lettering by Jim Tierney, © 2018 Scholastic Inc.

  e-ISBN 978-0-545-52242-7

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