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Thais and Dru -- Good morning! Hope that after last night you managed to get some sleep. We need to talk. I wanted to give you a heads up that tomorrow morning I will be sending the following memo out to all the students and staff. I won't include your names, but I'd like to see both of you in conference in my office on Wednesday at 9 sharp to discuss what happened and how. -- Luke
Dear Students, Staff, and Faculty,

Love Spells Are Bad News.

As all of you surely know, last night the Academy was briefly overtaken by the effects of a classic “love spell” that grew unmanageable. While—as you also know—magic of all kinds is forbidden to Shadowhunters generally, and that does include the ones who are Academy students, so-called “love spells” are a particularly terrible thing to experiment with, for a variety of reasons. Here are four of those reasons.


1. Love spells are mind control.

There’s no getting around this one. Love spells are neither morally nor ethically acceptable, because they involve changing a person’s feelings against their will. Consider the horror of a demon using such magic to wreak havoc. Even the Spiral Labyrinth, who do not ever usually intervene in the behavior of warlocks, will come down hard on one of their own doing something like this.
 

2. Shadowhunters don’t do magic.

This is for a reason! It’s not just a point of pride. Shadowhunter history is full of examples of mundanes experimenting with magic, and inevitably it tempts its users to corruption, to power, to controlling others. It’s believed that it is precisely this temptation that caused Raziel to provide us with the magic of the Gray Book and only the Gray Book. (Even there, some runes are unreadable in the book except to Silent Brothers, because of the possibility of tempting the user to evil.)
 

3. Love spells are imprecise and temperamental.

You are not Magnus Bane! You will be, and now have been, amazed by how easily a spell intended to work on one person can instead grow to an enormous cloud of magic that covers an entire Academy campus.
 

4. Love spells are disruptive to the community.

This is true emotionally, but also more directly, as we found out last night. And sadly, I must address some of the specifics.
 
First: you’ll be relieved to hear that official apologies have already been sent to the High Warlock of Seoul as a result of an estimated three hundred fire messages falling on the heads of a certain band during a concert. Also apologies are due to a certain Ms. T. Swift. Details to follow. My conclusion: You must all stop listening to mundane music immediately. It is clearly turning your brains. 

Many of you chose to spend the evening singing loudly below the windows of your beloved. Please return all Spanish guitars to the weapons room as soon as possible. No questions asked.

I don’t know how a kissing booth was constructed so quickly, but it is in the process of being dismantled as I write.

None of the spontaneously declared marriages will be recognized by the Clave, or mentioned to your families.

Those of you who have been delivered breakfast in bed from a mysterious benefactor may as well go ahead and eat it. The breakfast itself is likely unenchanted.

Classes are canceled this morning, but will resume this afternoon. The staff will take care of turning away whatever doo-wop groups, singing telegrams, candygrams, etc. were ordered to appear at lunch today. Professor Loss and I will be available in our offices for either personal or relationship counseling for the rest of the day and, I’m guessing, well into tomorrow.

Let this be a learning experience for us all.


Luke Garroway
Hi <<First Name>>,

Happy Valentine’s Day! I hope you enjoyed that glimpse into the chaotic events at Shadowhunter Academy. I’ve got a couple other special treats for you guys today: there’s a new update of Secrets of Blackthorn Hall, featuring some totally cute art of Emma and Julian. (“Secrets of Blackthorn Hall” fans will remember that Julian and Emma went to the London Eye when she dragged them out for a day on the town. Julian had a photo taken of the day, and here they are, canoodling.) The adorable image is by Charlotte (CCCrystalClear).

Worth Remembering

Next month’s newsletter will be all about Sword Catcher. I’ll take you through the setting and writing process, complete with exciting photographic images. Well, I find them exciting. I suppose there is a reason that writing a novel is not a filmed sport…yet.
 
A few somewhat romantic snippets, fitting the theme of the month: 
 

Chain of Thorns

“Daisy, I know you think that I’ve never loved you,” James said, “and that therefore you can’t trust my feelings. But I want to show you something.”
“Don’t just stand there, Alastair,” said Matthew. “Thomas needs you.”

Sword Catcher

“I have to say,” Merren said. “I’m finding this situation a bit confusing. In terms of your . . . intentions.”

“I’m going to kiss you,” Kel said.
 
Merren looked relieved. “Oh, good.”

Reginald Update

Last month, Reginald colonized a box. This month, he has been joined in the box by a companion. (He hates it. Look how mad he is!)
Happy Reading!
 

Cassie

Start Reading Today! 😍

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