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The Copper Gauntlet
The Copper Gauntlet cover
Information
Author Holly Black and Cassandra Clare
Illustrator Scott Fischer
Cover artist Alexandre Chaudret
Release Date September 2015[1]
Publisher Scholastic Press
Cover

Havoc, Aaron Stewart,
Callum Hunt,
Tamara Rajavi, and
Jasper deWinter

Series The Magisterium
Chronology
Preceded by
The Iron Trial
Followed by
The Bronze Key

The Copper Gauntlet is the second book of The Magisterium series, released on September 1, 2015.

Synopsis[]

Callum Hunt has returned from the Magisterium victorious. He is now a mage in his own right – a Copper Year student. He has friends; he feels at home in the winding tunnels of the mysterious magical school.

But Call hides a terrible secret.

His soul is not his own. His body a vessel for a powerful evil mage, wielder of chaos magic … murderer.

Salvation could lie in the Alkahest, a mysterious copper gauntlet.

But it is a dangerous object, with a violent history. It could destroy everything Call knows and loves …

And release the evil within him.

Plot[]


Callum Hunt's summer break isn't like other kids'. His closest companion is a Chaos-ridden wolf, Havoc. His father suspects him of being secretly evil. And, of course, most kids aren't heading back to the magical world of the Magisterium in the fall.

It's not easy for Call... and it gets even harder after he checks out his basement and discovers that his dad might be trying to destroy both him and Havoc.

Call escapes to the Magisterium -- but things only intensify there. The Alkahest -- a copper gauntlet capable of separating certain magicians from their magic -- has been stolen. And in their search to discover the culprit, Call and his friends Aaron and Tamara awaken the attention of some very dangerous foes -- and get closer to an even more dangerous truth.

As the mysteries of the Magisterium deepen and widen, bestselling authors Holly Black and Cassandra Clare take readers on an extraordinary journey through one boy's conflict -- and a whole world's fate.

Plot[]

SPOILERS AHEAD!

Callum Hunt has been staying with his father Alastair in their home in North Carolina for the summer break, and things have been awkward. He now knows that Constantine's soul is inside him—that he could be Constantine—and he also knows that Alastair suspects this, though the latter does not say it. Alastair also does not like Call's Chaos-ridden pet, Havoc. One evening, Alastair invites Call to see a movie, much to his surprise. He agrees, but Havoc must be left behind, so Call ties Havoc up in their garage. When they return, Call finds Havoc missing. He and Alastair drive around town calling out to Havoc, to no avail.

Call briefly has a miserable, restless night's sleep when he is awakened by a whining. He follows a feeling and finds Havoc chained up in a room in his father's cellar. In the room, he also sees a cot and shackles—just the right size for him. Call sees notes on the desk about a ritual—which requires a copper gauntlet and a Chaos-ridden's beating heart—that could take out the chaos magic from a Makar, which would also kill and destroy them. Call immediately assumes that Alastair will try the ritual on him to confirm his fears.

When Alastair comes downstairs, Call confronts him about it. In a fit of rage, Call ends up attacking Alastair with magic and knocks him unconscious. Call, who had already decided that he will leave with Havoc, packs up his bags and takes some money lying around and leaves the house. Quickly deciding that he will go to Tamara's home in Arlington, he goes straight to the bus station and, posing as an 18-year-old, buys a ticket, using up all his money for the ride.

Once there, he takes a cab to Tamara's house, called the Gables which is well-known among the locals due to its extravagance. There, the butler almost didn't let Call enter, but he ran past him and almost caused a scene until Tamara herself arrived and vouched for him. Call arrives on a day when Tamara's parents, both Assembly members, were throwing a party and finds Jasper deWinter in attendance, as well as Aaron Stewart, whom Call just finds out has been staying with the Rajavis all summer. He also sees Alex Strike, who has been staying over because he was dating Tamara's sister, Kimiya. The Rajavis allow Call to stay with them for the rest of the break.

Once summer break is over, the kids happily head back to the Magisterium. Once there, the trio go to the library to learn more about the Alkahest, which they had overheard someone talk about at the party, saying someone had tried to steal it and that it would put Aaron, the Makar, in danger. It has since worried the boy, who has been feeling the pressure and weight of his responsibilities since. Soon, Alastair comes to the Magisterium and asks Rufus if he could talk to Call; Call refuses in fear and has him sent away.

Some time after, Call, remembering the notes in their cellar room, realizes that Alastair may have something to do with the failed attempt to steal the Alkahest. From a previous lecture given by Rufus, Call figures out that the Alkahest was moved from its display in the Collegium to a vault below the airplane hangar—which Alastair had a blueprint for. Call realized that Alastair wanted this move to happen because he was a good metal mage, and its new placement was in his favor.

This bothers Call the following day—so much that both Tamara and Aaron become worried and confront him about it. Finally, Call tells them about Alastair, telling them the things he could without bringing up what he believes is his father's ulterior motives. Tamara, however, fears for Aaron's safety and tells Rufus, despite promising Call that she will keep whatever he will admit to them a secret. Call becomes furious at Tamara for this, driving a wedge in their friendship.

Shortly after, Alex comes to Call and tells him that now that the Alkahest had been stolen, presumably by Alastair, the Assembly has decided that the search for Alastair will be a hunt: they will kill him for the gauntlet. Deeply concerned, Call decides to go after him with Havoc somehow to warn him. However, he is caught by Tamara and Aaron before he could leave, and they insist on tagging along. When they are caught sneaking out by Jasper, they take him with them to prevent him from telling.

While making their way to the highway, they end up at a base of members of the Order of Disorder in the woods and are caught sneaking around by Master Lemuel; while he doesn't care if they run away from the Magisterium, his companion Alma insists that the children stay awhile, and she tells them about what they do in the woods: they study the Chaos-ridden. When a search party from the school arrives, Alma agrees to hide them in exchange for Aaron, a promise from him that he would return to conduct experiments with chaos for them, with Havoc as collateral. Call agrees, and Alma hides them in the building where they hide their Chaos-ridden animal subjects. Once alone with his other fellow apprentices inside, Call tells the other his plan: escape with Havoc while Alma speaks with the Magisterium Masters, and not allow Aaron to come back for their experiments. When they try to escape however, they accidentally release the rest of the Chaos-ridden animals, causing pandemonium and a great distraction while they make their escape.

Lemuel, still with more contempt for the Magisterium than them, tells them where to go. Tamara then calls her butler Stebbins and has him drive them to a property Alastair rents for his collection of dilapidated cars. When they get to the farmland, owned by Mrs. Tisdale, whom Tamara reveals to the others is also a mage, much to Call's surprise, they find out that Alastair was there the week before and had stayed for a few days. In the barn, Call finds clues to where his father may be. He finds correspondence exchanged between him and Master Joseph, realizing that Alastair will surrender the Alkahest in exchange for the return of his real son's soul, much to his dismay. When the others find out, they all agree that they should just report back to the Magisterium, though they also decide to stay the night and rest.

That night, however, they are disrupted when Automotones, a dangerous metal elemental arrives and threatens their lives. They find Mrs. Tisdale dying, warning them with her dying breath to protect themselves from the Magisterium. After finding out from Rufus just days before about Automotones being an elemental kept and sent out by the Magisterium, they realize and believe Mrs. Tisdale when she said they sent those after them to kill them. She also tells Call that it was her that tied up Havoc for Alastair. Aaron manages to send the elemental to the void, draining him of his strength. They then decide that though they may no longer be safe at the Magisterium, but they can still try to complete their quest and prevent Alastair from giving the Alkahest over to the Enemy.

With Aaron hot-wiring a car from the junkyard and Call driving, they make their way to the coordinates—to an island in Maine—listed by Joseph in his letters to Alastair. After a change of clothes, however, Jasper loses his the rock that protects from scrying which Tamara had given him and they are reached by Rufus through his ether phone. They defend their actions and confront him about the elemental that they believe the school sent after them, surprising Rufus, but they all decide to cut the line.

When the others decide to let Call stop driving for a while to rest, they are unwittingly tracked down by their Masters and, through their car, are pulled up in the air with air elementals. Call tells them that the floor pan of the old car they're in should break easily, and Tamara and Aaron kick it until it bore a hole, and the kids jump out of the car. Aaron, with chaos magic and support from Call, his counterweight, creates a dirt cave for them to hide and rest in.

Later that night, Call contemplates leaving them to continue the trip alone so as not to put his friends in any more danger and trouble. However, he is interrupted by the arrival of a horde of Chaos-ridden people, who then bow down to Call. Left with no choice, Call tells them about his birth—about having Constantine's soul in him, leaving his companions scared and confused. They decide to continue on however, considering how close they were to the end. Call orders the Chaos-ridden to lead them to Joseph, and eventually the Chaos-ridden pick up Call and the others and run at an inhuman speed, and later board a boat across the sea, towards their destination.

They end up in the island specified by the coordinates. On the island is a tomb, its entrance guarded by Verity Torres's severed head that lets them enter after answering three riddles. Inside are the bodies of Jericho Madden, Drew Wallace, and the Enemy himself, Constantine Madden.

While Call was in Constantine's chamber, Joseph and Alastair arrive, with Alastair wearing the Alkahest. When Joseph threatens Alastair, Call reveals himself and has his Chaos-ridden subdue Joseph. Joseph tries to coax Call into giving in, into becoming Constantine again and rejoining him, possibly even for the return of his deceased mother, Sarah Hunt. Alastair is angered by Joseph's words and for a moment both Call and Joseph think Alastair will finally kill Call with the Alkahest. Instead, Alastair uses the gauntlet on Constantine's body, which had been his plan all along.

Constantine's body disintegrates, and the chaos magic in his body dissipates and is released into the air. It becomes drawn to Call, and when Call attempts to protect his friends from the Chaos-ridden, he ends up unleashing his chaos magic for the first time. There was too much power, however, and it begins to eat away at the tomb. Joseph escapes with the Alkahest, and the group leave the tomb, but not before Call could cut off Constantine's head.

Shortly after the tomb collapses, the Magisterium Masters arrive and have air elementals swallow them into a prison inside them for easy transport back to the Magisterium. There, they are faced by a panel of Assembly members and Magisterium Masters who chastise them for their actions. To stop them, Call takes out Constantine's head and tells them that their mission culminated in the death of the Enemy. While everyone in the group had expected Jasper to sell Call out, he simply revealed to them that Call was now also a Makar.

The group became instant celebrities, with news of their victory, the death of the Enemy, and thus the end of the war, spreading through the school fast. Aaron, Tamara, and Jasper agree to keep Call's secret, though they—even Call—have their doubts. Call then bids his father farewell, with Alastair reassuring him that he does not believe he will become Constantine, their relationship seemingly repaired. Meanwhile, Rufus sets Call aside and warns him about threats, about a potential spy in the Magisterium who could have sent Automotones to kill them, and about people who are not welcoming to Makars. Their recent adventure and new troubles aside, however, Rufus sends Call back to the Refectory and says their classes will resume the next day.

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