The awkward silence and tension were deafening. How a room could be so silent and yet incredibly loud was something that Everleigh couldn't understand. For someone like Everleigh Grimm silence was something she couldn't stand, she always needed to have some kind of noise as for her, silence was death and that wasn't something she was interested in. The silence was stifling, almost suffocating and Everleigh desperately wanted to say something, say anything to break the silence or even make some dumb wise crack in order to break the silence. But not this time. This wasn't a time to be making jokes as she was in a whole heap of trouble that she couldn't quite get herself out of, trouble that was of Everleigh's own creation and there was a good possibility that she was about to get herself into further trouble and commit an act that was borderline unforgivable in the Shadowhunter world. Things had gone way too far, they had escalated way too quickly and before Everleigh knew what was happening the day that she had long been dreading had finally arrived; the day that she would take the Parabatai vow in front of the council alongside Callen Ravenwalker – the man she was in love with. It was forbidden for parabatai to fall in love, it was taboo really… They had never meant for it to happen but it had and they had spent a long time trying to keep it a secret to make sure nobody else would find out. It was a lot harder than Everleigh had initially thought it would be, especially when the Clave had taken such an interest in her life but she had found way around it, claiming that she wasn't ready to take the vow, unable to go through with the ceremony because of some injury that she had suddenly acquired. The excuses had brought Everleigh some time. But now there was no time left. The council wanted this done now, they wanted it done today. Time had run out. Everleigh couldn't keep still any longer, she rose from the battered arm chair that she had been sitting in for god knows how long and immediately began to start pacing up and down the room – a rather bad habit of hers. This was bad, really bad even for her and that wasn't the worst of it as she had dragged so many people into it. Her friends; the people closest to her who Everleigh surrounded herself with who she considered to be more like family than friends. They had been dragged into this terrible mess and regardless of the possible consequences that they would face. they were still here with her, standing by her side like always.
There was Isabelle, standing by the largest window in the library offering Everleigh a reassuring smile that she couldn't return. Isabelle Lightwood was the dark haired beauty who was as dangerous as she was beautiful. Her dark eyes seemed to see through everything and despite that she had always been a comforting source to Everleigh, to Ever she was irreplaceable. Her truest friend. Then there was Jace. The only person who Everleigh knew that could make narcissism, sarcasm and two mismatched eyes look attractive and the best Shadowhunter of their generation, the only thing that came second to Jace Wayland's fighting ability was his protective nature of the ones he loved. Everleigh knew she was lucky to be one of those people. Jace's support had been unwavering and also a bit of a surprise, Everleigh thought that Jace wouldn't have approved of any of this, as he wasn't very big of the whole love and warm fuzziness of feelings but all this time Jace had been watching Everleigh's back. The only person missing was Alec.
"All of this is my fault, if only I had been normal like the rest of our kind none of this wouldn't have happened. If I didn't get a kick out of pushing the Clave's buttons because of who I am, the name that I bare, knowing full well that they would turn a blind eye. I should have never let things get this far down the line, there was no way things were ever going to end well." Everleigh stated in a grim manner as she knew that she had gone too far, she had always been a bit of a wild child but what she was thinking of doing was perhaps a step too far even for her. She couldn't stop pacing, she was so confused. Right now Everleigh's head and heart was all over the place. It seemed like her whole world was falling apart at the moment, she didn't know what was going to happen. There was a chance that everything would be okay but there was a very good possibility that everything was about to go down in flames.
"Don't say that, we've done nothing wrong Ever."
Everleigh looked over her shoulder where Callen stood in a dimly lit corner of the library, always close to her side just like he had promised her he would always be. Everleigh couldn't quite see him but she knew he was there, looking into the darkness she didn't need light to see him or to picture him clearly. His messy crop of honey brown hair that was pulled back into a bun on the top of his head, the blue eyes that seemed almost violet in colour and his nose that was ever so crooked from being broken one too many times. Callen Ravenwalker. He was the first person Everleigh had met when she arrived at the institute seven years ago, being forced to move from the London institute to the New York one. It had been a hard adjustment for Everleigh and it had taken time but eventually she had learned to settle in to her new life in New York and made friends whilst being trained in the ways of the Shadowhunter. Everything had been fine. It had all been perfect for years up until Everleigh had turned fifteen. It was then she had crossed the line that has resulted in the whole heap of trouble that she was currently in. The trouble that her and Callen had dragged all of them into.
"Cal's right… You two fell in love and that is not a crime." Isabelle began as she crossed the room and walked over to Everleigh and took both her hands in her own to stop her from continuing her rather erratic pacing. "And don't you ever say something like that again! Don't you ever wish that you were anything that resembled being normal because that's not you Ever. You are brilliantly abnormal the way you are and we love you just the way you are."
"The Clave may not be as understanding." Everleigh replied in a grim tone of voice as they were all aware that certain lines had been crossed and things had gone too far for any of them to go back. The problem simply wasn't that Everleigh and Callen had fallen in love, the problem in it's whole was that Everleigh and Callen had been romantically involved with each other for over two years despite the fact that for the last seven years the two of them had been raised in tandem with each other, with the aim of them becoming each other's paratabi. Their almost instantaneous friendship with each other hadn't escaped the attention of others within the institute and the decision was made for their close bond to be encouraged and eventually have them gone through the necessary tests before taking the vow to become paratabi. The two of them falling in love was not supposed to happen. It was forbidden and fearing their separation if the truth came out, everyone in Everleigh's inner circle had kept quiet for the last two years but now they were at a serious impasse.
"That's if they find out." Jace idly stated and Everleigh could hear a sharp intake of breath coming from Callen and she didn't have to be a mind reader to know what he was thinking. It was probably something along the lines of 'it's a good thing Alec wasn't here to hear that'. As what Jace was suggesting was insane and Alec would be the first one to state that fact and furious that Jace would even suggest something like that. Even Everleigh had to admit that this suggestion was absurd as that meant breaking one of the biggest rules that the clave had. At times the five of them had bent the rules, occasionally outright broke some of them but never ones that were this big. This one was a big no no.
"You can't be serious Jace… There is no way that we can go through with this whole thing. It's one thing keeping mine and Callen's relationship quiet all these years, we barely managed to get through all the tests without anyone figuring anything out but actually taking the vow is a whole other thing. The ceremony is a sacred thing and you of all people should know that." Everleigh retorted as she couldn't believe that Jace was somewhat making light of such a serious manner, the parabati ceremony was a serious matter, the ceremony involved bonding two shadowhunters together essentially making them as one. The vows they took were generally for life and everyone tended to take to them very seriously which is why Everleigh was surprised that Jace of all people was suggesting that her and Called go through with the ceremony, given that Jace himself had gone through all testing and had taken the vow with Alec. "If Callen and I go ahead with this, if we take the oath and anyone outside our circle finds out then it's all over. They'll separate Callen and I, force one of us back to Idris and the other one off to one of the other institutes and the clave will do everything they can to make sure that we would never see each other again. But it wouldn't just be the two of us, we would never see you again Jace, or Izzy and Alec. The clave would not let us walking away from something like this.
"Am I talking to Alec? Since when have you been worried about breaking the rules?" Jace questioned making a light-hearted joke in an attempt to lighten up the atmosphere and it seemed to work as Isabelle let out a small giggle, Callen let out a small scoff that was tinged with laughter and Everleigh couldn't help but let a smirk.
"There is a reason why Alec is the voice of reason and rationality, it's to keep our errant selves in line…" Everleigh retorted as each one of them knew that without Alec they would just be bunch of misfit shadowhunters who lived nothing more than running around and doing whatever they saw fit, spending most of their days pushing their boundaries and generally undertaking missions without getting permission from the clave. In their eyes the only bad ideas were the ones that were never tried. It was Alec who kept them on the straight and narrow. If it wasn't for Alec, the clave would have found out about Everleigh and Callen a long time ago. He was going out of his way to buy some more time for them. Alec Lightwood was the type of person Everleigh often wished she could be if she was capable of being anything but a mess. Alec was her unreachable idol.
"Come on Ever, we all know that no one really knows the reason why paratabi can't be romantically involved and the two of you haven't even taken the vow yet. Technically you've done nothing wrong." Jace stated and Everleigh knew that he had a point but at the same time it wasn't the point. There were some ruled you just didn't break. This was one of them and for the last few years, Everleigh along with Callen had been deceiving pretty much everyone around them and she knew that was going to be the big problem here. The clave wouldn't take any of this deceit lightly, they had gone to too much effort to make sure that Everleigh and Callen would become parabati. Callen's family had sat on the council for generations and Everleigh was the last of the Grimm shadowhunters. In the eyes of the clave, the two of them would be a great addition to their collective and possible heads of institutes in the future hence why the clave were taking such an interest in them both.
"There had to be a reason for such a rule, you know that Jace as do we all. The clave would not have forbidden it just because they didn't love affairs to get in the way of our duty." Callen replied, coming out from the shadows and walking into the light and proceeding to stand behind Everleigh and placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Maybe. But then again perhaps that rule is outdated and needs to be changer as none of us have ever seen you two compromise any of our missions because of you two being together. If anything your love for each other has only made your bond stronger as you fight together just as well as any of parabati. We can attest to that and surely the clave can't refuse to listen, if they see the two of you together-" Isabelle began and Everleigh just ruefully shook her head, she knew that Izzy was just trying to help but there was nothing else they could do. Callen's eighteenth birthday was in 7 days and the ceremony had to be done before the 18thbirthday. There was still six months before Everleigh's eighteenth birthday but that didn't matter. If they were to become parabati the ceremony had to be done before Callen turned 18 and the clave wanted it done today.
"Talking won't solve anything, the clave will never listen to any of this…" Everleigh wearily said as she furiously wiped at her eyes as the tears were soon beginning to fall. There was no way to escape this. For the rest of their lives they would all have to be looking over their shoulders, worried about the clave keeping a close eye on them.
"Guys, give us a minute. We'll meet you downstairs." Callen said and Everleigh made sure to avoid meeting Isabelle and Jace's gaze as they made their way out of the room. As soon as the door was shut, Everleigh turned around to face Callen and made a beeline for his arms, wrapping herself as close to him as she possibly could.
"I don't like this Callen. I hate lying to them."
"So do I Ever but it's the only way, they've risked everything to protect us and now we have to do the same. I hate lying to Jace, Alec and Izzy as well, it's unbearable but by doing this we're protecting them from when the Clave come looking for answers when we can't be found. By keeping them in the dark we're giving them real plausible deniability. We can't let the ones we love be punished for what we did. We can't keep allowing them to risk everything for us, I know it as do you Everleigh."
"They'll never forgive us, especially Alec."
"We'll have to live with that."
13 Months. It seemed like forever ago that Everleigh was here in New York and running around all hours of the day and night in the city that never slept, coming and going from the Institute whenever she liked for the most part. A long time ago Everleigh had lost her home and she never thought that she would belong anywhere else again until she was brought to the New York Institute when she was a child. For 7 years the Institute had been Everleigh's home and it was her most favourite place in the world, of all the Institutes all over the world it was the New York Institute that meant the most to Everleigh. So to be back after all this time felt pretty weird, after all she had fled the Institute with Callen only hours before they were supposed to travel to Idris and take the oath of the paratabi in front of the council. They both knew that there were going to be consequences for their actions and being banished didn't really surprise her given that she had not only embarrassed the clave but caused them a major headache as well. They had spent a great deal of time and effort bringing Everleigh Grimm to New York and pairing her with Callen Ravenwalker, in hopes of shaping the two youngsters into being the future of the institute by making them parabati. Spending the last year in Idris trying to earn the penance of the clave had been unbearable, Everleigh hated their home so being forced to live there under the watchful gaze of the clave had almost killed her but she had survived. It was Callen being by her side which made the whole thing bearable. He was her bright star on the rainy days. The clave had banished Everleigh and Callen back to Idris because of how close them came to breaking one of the most cardinal rules when it came to Shadowhunters. They had wanted to separate the two of them but were unable to due to Callen and Everleigh's status as being man and wife. The marriage had come as a surprise to many but even the clave could not undo the bonds of matrimony. Everleigh glanced at the back of her left hand, more specifically the marriage rune that adorned her body and she couldn't help but smile. Izzy was going to freak when she saw this, half out of excitement and the other half out of annoyance over the fact that she hadn't been at the ceremony. Alec and Jace on the other hand? Everleigh wasn't sure how they would react to the news that two of their old friends had run off and eloped. This would be the first time that Everleigh saw or spoke to any of her friends since the last time they had been here. There was going to be a lot of explaining to be done but Everleigh was ready to explain everything. Alec was probably going to be pissed that much Everleigh knew and she was ready for it, she would beg and plead for Alec to forgive until he got fed up and caved simply out of annoyance over her badgering him. Everleigh would never admit this out loud but out of everyone, it was Alec that she had missed the most over the last year.
There was a huge part of Everleigh that was apprehensive about returning to the institute as so many things had happened but when Isabelle had managed to find her and reached out for Everleigh to return home, she dropped everything. Her banishment was sort of indefinite, the clave hadn't exactly give her or Callen an end date for it but Everleigh could not ignore Isabelle's call. She didn't care that she was risking the wrath of the clave once more, her team needed her and she would not ignore their calls. Jace, Izzy, Alec, Callen and Everleigh had always been a team and it would forever be that way and she would always come whenever they called. Taking a deep breath Everleigh made her way into the institute and the moment she crossed the threshold she knew that she was home. The place was the same as she had remembered it. Not one single thing had changed and it was just as busy, if not more. As she strolled through the foyer of the institute Everleigh made her way into what she liked to call the hub, it was pretty much the heart of the institute where they did most of their research and tracking. Everleigh used to spend hours upon hours in here. Walking through the hub, Everleigh caught sight of countless familiar faces but none of them were the people she was looking for. She took sight of them and they certainly saw her, the attention was something that Everleigh had expected as her and Callen disappearing under a dark cloud had everybody talking for a fair while. No doubt it was only a matter of time before word got back to Idris that Everleigh Grimm had absconded and was back in New York. She would deal with that later. First she had to find her friends and much to Everleigh's surprise she caught sight of her favourite blonde standing in the training room, working out as per usual and straight away she made a beeline for him. Jace was turned away from Everleigh and even though she knew there was a snowball's chance in hell of scaring the Big Bad shadowhunter that was Jace Wayland, it didn't mean that she wasn't going to try.
"How goes the day stranger?! Everleigh warmly greeted and her eyes barely had time to catch Jace flinch briefly before he turned around to face her with a rather surprised look on his face. No doubt she was the last person he was expecting to see. Straight away there was this overwhelming warm and fuzzy feeling in Everleigh's chest and without even thinking about what she was doing, she ran over to Jace and flung herself at him and wrapped her legs around his waist barely giving Jace anytime to drop the bo staff he was carrying. Regardless of how much Jace had been taken off guard by Eveleigh's appearance, he hadn't dropped her.
"Ever… What you doing here?" Jace asked with a small frown on his face as no doubt it her being back in New York was going to cause some ways but the smile was clear on his face for Everleigh to see. It wasn't Jace's typical smirk but an actual smile which meant that he was genuinely happy to see her. Everleigh was glad to see that someone had missed her whilst she was gone. She was one from three with her reunions and she was hoping that the other two were going to be quite as happy.
"Izzy called. She said that you guys were breaking all kinds of rules and wanted to know if I wanted to join in the fun and then there was something about a mundane girl and her potentially being one of us and I just couldn't resist. You know how much I love the mundanes, can't keep me away from them. Plus I was starting to die of boredom in Idris, so here I am! Someone will probably notice that I'm gone soon enough but we can worry about that later. I want to hear all about this mysterious mundane girl." Everleigh explained in a rather nonchalant manner, trying her hardest to play things down and stop herself from bursting into song and dance over being back home. She couldn't be seen to getting soft since her time away otherwise Jace would never let her live it down.
"Of course. You Grimm's and your fasincation with mundanes is something I'll never understand… But then again you aren't a Grimm anymore, are you Mrs. Ravenwalker?" Jace quipped in a teasing manner and Everleigh just grimaced as Jace gently put her back on the ground. It wasn't the comment about her being somewhat obsessed with the mundanes that bothered Everleigh as it wasn't exactly a secret that she quite liked mundanes and had an interest in their quite bizarre world and lifestyle. It was a bit of a thing in her family, a trait you could call it in some ways as all the Grimm's before Everleigh had been big supporters of the mundies, very much intrigued by their way of living and some of her family had even married mundanes. Everleigh herself loved nothing more than mundane television and that all stemmed from her ancestors Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm, the most famous of the Grimm shadowhunters. The comment that had actually bothered Everleigh and caused her to grimace in distaste was Jace's use of her marital title. It was still something she wasn't used to, even though Everleigh was well aware that she was somebody's wife, she still couldn't hear herself being called Mrs. Ravenwalker without pulling some kind of face.
"Don't call me that Wayland! It's Grimm. You know the women in my family have always kept the Grimm name even in marriage. It's what we do…" Everleigh replied with a small scowl on her face which just caused Jace to smirk in response, it was like she had never been away.
"Yeah yeah, I know… I still can't believe that you and Callen ran off and got married. That was insane but if anything the two of you only seem to function on insanity and even more questionable behaviour."
"Look Jace, about that… About what happened that day and everything else that came after Callen and I took off, I can explain-" Everleigh began although in reality she had no idea how on earth she was going to explain this in a way that anybody, let alone Jace would be able to explain. She had put love before her duty and for a shadowhunter that was a serious no no. It wasn't like Everleigh and Callen had walked away from their duty, well for the most part. They had run away and eloped but they had never stopped being shadowhunters, even when they were slumming it back in Idris. This was their lives. They were warriors born of human and angel blood, sworn to keep the peace within the shadow world, keep it hidden from the mundanes and uphold the accords. Everleigh understood that, she had never wanted to be anything else than a shadowhunter and be involved with the family business like her ancestors but at the same time she had wanted to have something in her life that went beyond hunting demons. It was also so damn complicated and Everleigh wasn't sure if someone like Jace, who knew nothing about romantic love would ever really understand why she had done the things she did.
"Ev, we so don't need to be having this conversation-"
"But Jace-"
"No buts Grimm. You and Cal belong together regardless of what anyone else says or thinks and even I know that, end of story. We're cool… Speaking of which where is Cal? Before you guys took off normally you wouldn't find one without the other?" Jace questioned and Everleigh looked away from her old friend's rather alarming and enchanting odd eyes and proceeded to look at her boots as if they were the most interesting thing in the building. Of course they weren't as there was numerous items with the institute that were far more and exciting than Everleigh's black glittery boots but the reason why her husband was currently with her was sort of a difficult topic which she needed to assess before Callen could return to the Institute.
"Not here yet, he's taking care of a few things." Everleigh wearily said as she lightly tugged at the strands of her dyed lilac hair. Right about now she was really wishing that Izzy or somebody else would come in and interrupt the conversation before Jace figured out what was going on. It was only a matter of time. There wasn't much you could get past Jace Wayland, those mismatched eyes seem to catch everything.
"Avoiding Alec, huh?"
"I never said that."
"You didn't have to Ever, you may have been gone these last thirteen months but you forget that I know you and Callen." Jace retorted and Everleigh looked over to her friend before letting out a weary sigh, the always arrogant and charming Wayland had her there.
"He's not hiding if that's what you're thinking Jace, Callen just wanted to give it a few hours before he comes home. We figured that it would be better if I came back home first and assess the damage and lay down the ground work. I knew that Izzy would be fine with everything, I wasn't sure how you'd react but we were pretty certain I could talk you round but we had no idea about Alec. We knew he'd be pissed we just wasn't sure how angry he would be and I thought it would be better if we both didn't sudden just turn up and ambush you all. I figured that if Alec didn't go ballistic upon setting eyes on me then it was safe for him to come home. I'm not coming back here assuming that everything is going to go back to the way it used to be, I know everyone has a right to be mad with us about what we did and I wouldn't blame Alec if he hated us for it." Everleigh wearily commented and she felt a terrible pang in her chest. The idea of one of her closest and oldest friends hating her was something that Everleigh couldn't stand. Besides Callen, her friends were the only real family that Everleigh had in this world.
"He doesn't hate you Ev." Jace assured and Everleigh just rolled her eyes in response.
"You don't know that Wayland."
"Yeah I do Grimm, Alec is my best friend and my brother. If anything he'll be pissed because he's not angry with you and he'll be mad about that. It'll be fine Ever, give Alec a few days to sulk and he'll be back to his usual self…" Jace stated, his voice filled full of confident and even though Everleigh didn't quite believe what he was telling her about Alec, she was just going to go with it as after all Jace was one of the two people in the entire world who knew him best. Not only was Jace the adoptive brother of Alec but also his parabatai.
"So what's the deal with this girl? Izzy didn't managed to tell me much except for the fact that you guys encounterd a mundane girl whilst out on a mission and although she acts like a mundane, she's one of us. Izzy also said this mundane girl manged to distract the great Jace Wayland and after that I was pretty much one foot out the door as I had to come and see this girl for myself." Everleigh questioned moving things along ever so slightly as she hadn't returned to New York for a mere social visit, Izzy said they needed her help and that was what Everleigh was going to try and do. Hopefully she could try and worm her way back into the Clave's good graces at the same time. Although that was very likely as they would go ballistic when they inevitably found out that both her and Callen had left Idris and returned to New York.
"Firstly Izzy is mistaken as the mundane girl didn't distract me, I'm not exactly sure how this happened Ev… We had received some intel that demons were killing mundanes and draining their blood, we suspected that maybe the vampires were involved or that a third party was getting the demons to kill the mundanes and then gathering the blood and dealing it. So Alec, Iz and I went to Pandemonium to see what was going on and try and figure out who was behind all these mundane killings. I hadn't even reached the club, I wasn't really paying attention to the mundies and I sort of walked into Clary and I walked off thinking nothing of it. She could see me Ev, Clary had no runes on her body and yet she could see me. I assumed she was a regular mundue but then she yelled at me to watch where I was going and I realized she had the sight. I knew straight away that Clary was one of us, I don't know how but I just did…" Jace admitted and Everleigh slowly nodded her head before a small smile crept up on her face.
"Since when did you start calling a Mundie by their first name Jace Wayland? Have you been taking up the mundanes cause in my absence?"
"Don't be stupid Ever! Besides she's not a mundane as later on in club, when things started to get messy Clary had followed us and when she touched the seraph blade it lit up. Clary is one of us. Alec is still in doubt but a lot of things happened tonight, Clary ended up being attacked by a shapeshifter at her house and the venom got into her system. I used to use a rune on her and she survived it, well she's not woken up yet. But if she wasn't a shadowhunter it would have killed her already, without a doubt Clary Fray is one of us." Jace explained and Everleigh could see the logic in her old friend's reasoning. The fact that this Clary girl had the sight, a seraph blade responded to her touch and she had survived getting a rune meant a hundred percent without a doubt that she was a shadowhunter.
"Clary Fray? I don't recognise the name." Everleigh wearily said as most shadowhunters tended to know each other, not personally but rather through their family lines and she had never heard of the Fray family.
"Yeah neither did I at first but it turns this girl is the daughter of a Jocelyn Fairchild whose now missing. But the thing is Clary was freaking out about all of this, seeing us fighting in Pandemonium and killing demons, the shapeshifter in her home. She had no clue about any of this. It's like she doesn't know who she really is. But something is going on here Ev, people are after Clary and they've taken her mother too. Why would a shapeshifter come after shadowhunter who doesn't even know that she's a shadowhunter? Then I'm pretty sure that there were some circle members at the club as well…"
"This is all troubling Jace but what's bothering me most is the fact that she's the daughter of Jocelyn Fairchild… This is impossible Jace. I know it's not impossible because of what you've told me but as far as I know Jocelyn Fairchild never had a daughter and she's been dead for the last 18 years. All of the Fairchilds have been deceased for a long time, there was some kind of fire and they all perished. But apparently not… Just what the hell is going on here?" Everleigh questioned as none of this made any sense at all. The sudden appearance of Clary, her mother Jocelyn Fairchild seemingly alive and missing instead of being dead like everyone thought she was and the possible appearance of circle members at Pandemonium. This was all a bag full of crazy. Everleigh was pretty damn glad that Izzy had called her when she did.
"Funny. That's just about what I was going to ask."
That voice. Everleigh would recognize it anywhere and just hearing it caused the hairs on her neck to stand up as she could tell by the tone of his voice that Alec Lightwood was not pleased in the slightest to see her. Looking over to her left Everleigh saw Alec standing on the top step of the stairs that led to the training room, his arms folded over his chest and his hazel eyes practically sending daggers across the room to her. If looks could kill. However that was the least of Everleigh's worries as she knew that Alec was very proficient with the seraph blade and even more dangerous with his weapon of choice; a bow and arrow. He looked the same as always, although perhaps a little bit taller than what Eveleigh remembered but that disapproving look was still the same. Alec had always been the good one out of the five of them, always tried to keep them on the straight and narrow, trying to make sure they followed the letters of the law for the most part. Everleigh had known that she had missed Alec whilst she was away but she didn't realize how terribly she missed him until she saw him right in front of her own eyes.
"What is she doing here?" Alec demanded and it was beyond clear that he wasn't addressing Eveleigh in the slightest. The one of his voice was pretty much soaked with venom and this was pretty much the reception that she had been expecting, it made Everleigh all the more glad that she had come to the institute first instead of Callen as she could only imagine what Alec would have done if Callen was standing in her place right now.
"Nice to see you too Alec." Everleigh drily quipped.
"That's not what I meant and you know it Everleigh. You're supposed to be in Idris and if the Clave find out that you're here-" Alec barked in annoyance and Everleigh couldn't help but let out a small smile as Alec wasn't mad with her but rather he was mad that she was here instead of being in Idris as per her banishment from the institute. This was quite the interesting development and she looked over to Jace who looked back at her with an expression on his face which pretty much said 'I told you so'. Maybe she hadn't messed things up as bad as she previously thought.
"What are they going to do Alec? Send her back to Idris? Why? Ever is more use to them being here instead of being forced to spend all her time in Idris where she is no use to anyone. They should have never been there in the first place! C'mon you know as well as I do that both Ever and Cal should be here with us where they belong-" Jace attempted but Everleigh could see that Alec was having none of it. So maybe she was jumping the gun with thinking things may not be as bad as she thought they were.
"The Clave wouldn't have had to act if they hadn't run off and abandoned their duties, putting themselves before everyone else and embarrassing the entire institute in the process Jace! My parents are still dealing with the fallout of Ever and Cal running of. We trusted them Jace and they lied to us and then didn't even both to say anything to us when they took off-" Alec began and now Everleigh could see what this whole thing was really about. Sure Alec was upset about the fallout from what happened but it was them lying to him and taking off without a word that was at the core of his anger. He had taken this just as hard as
"Alec, if you'll let me explain-" Everleigh intreruppted.
"There is nothing to explain Ever! Just go back to Idris before you get us all in even more trouble Ever!" Alec retorted and Everleigh could see that the elder Lightwood was just starting to be pig-headed now. Two could play at that game.
"You'll have to take me back kicking and screaming Alec."