Chapter 1: Introductions
I can't believe my eyes! They are seriously letting mundanes into this club now? What could the owners of Pandemonium be thinking? I have got to find a way to convince those two boys that they need to leave, now, before some vampire decides their presence means its lunchtime.
"Simon, Izzy, are you two seeing what I'm seeing? Go get Alec and Magnus and as soon as I get back, we are leaving!" I scream to them to be heard over the crowd and begin making my way over to where blonde and blonder are leering at babes (if only they knew that none of those 'babes' were human. Ha!).
I tap the sexy, silver haired boy on the shoulder "Excuse me, I'm not sure who's mess up it was but they actually shouldn't have let you in here. I'm afraid I have to escort you both out now." I place my hand on his back and begin to usher them towards the exit. For a second, it seems like they are leaving but then he turns around and puts his hands on my shoulders. I feel a thrill of electricity race through my body at his touch.
"And just who are you, my feisty friend? Tell me why it is within your power whether my brother and I choose to stay or leave this establishment?"
"Okay, let's say, for argument's sake that this club is VIP only. There is a test for admission that should have been given to you at the door. Obviously it wasn't, so let's do this now. When you look at that flag, what do you see?"
He relaxed into a smile. "What do I see? I see the exact same black design that I told the bouncer I saw, just before he let us in here. And my brother, sees it too, don't you Jace?"
"Yep, sorry, little lady, I see it too."
"So, now do you want to tell me why it's such a big deal for us to be in here?"
I am truly baffled, right now. I know all of the shadowhunter families in New York, and my Father runs the institute. If these boys were shadowhunters, I should know that. They have no markings, either. But mundanes can't see the runes. So, it looks as if I have no choice but to take them back to the institute with us. Great, Dad and Maryse are going to be thrilled, sigh.
"Clarissa, I think we have a situation here. Did you not happen to notice that the silver haired one looks strikingly familiar? Come and look at this picture with me. This is back when we were all young and in The Circle. Do you recognize any of these faces?" Maryse asks.
It feels like I've just entered a time warp. It is a picture of all the former Circle members. Maryse is standing between my father and her former husband Robert. On the other side of my father is the image of the woman I've inherited my red hair from, though I've never actually met her. She ran away to raise my brother Jonathan and the Herondale orphan when I was a toddler. That's when it dawns on me, what Maryse means about the silver haired boy. He is the spitting image of my father. Crap!
"I don't care, I think he's sexy. They both are." I am sitting with my step-sister Isabel and her vampire boyfriend Simon at Taki's talking about the two boys who are currently being interrogated by my Father. When I left the institute, he was grilling them on the whereabouts of their mother. Was she in New York, did she know where the boys were, etc. He claims he wants to find her so that he can send them back but I personally know that Maryse wants them to stay and train as Shadowhunters. And whenever my father and step-mother 'discuss' something, she usually wins.
"It's a strange feeling. I mean, the Clave looked for those two boys for years. The search was steady until I was, like twelve. They even say the Herondale boy is the last of his line. Although, if we wanted to try to teach them to be Shadowhunters, this late in the game, I don't see how they could ever be properly trained. The golden one told me they were raised in a hippy commune, with all of that 'make love, not war' garbage. They probably don't even know what a sword is. Although, all of that free love doctrine might come in handy, if you catch my meaning."
"Clarissa! You are not being serious, are you?" Isabelle looks shocked, maybe even a little bit appalled by my carefree use of sexual humor to ease the tension.
"Oh come on, even you have to admit the whole sibling thing is a little sexy! I'm sure if Alec wasn't gay the two of you would have at least experimented a little." I'm mostly just trying to get a rise out of Izzy at this point. She makes it too easy and I just love to see her squirm.
"Clarissa! Okay eww! That's just disgusting. And no, I assure you, I would not be into that. Now let's get back to the institute before my Mom blows a gasket, okay?"
"Lead on, Sista dearest." I pay the check and follow them out the door.
"So Jocelyn has no idea that you boys are in New York? And you just so happened to accidentally wander into a Downworlder haunt with no prior knowledge of the Shadowworld? Have I gotten that all correctly?" Father sounds at least somewhat skeptical as Izzy and I arrive outside of the library and stand there silently listening. Okay, eavesdropping is what we're technically doing, but tomato/tomatoe, right?
"Yes Sir, our mother thinks we're on a class ski trip but we thought it'd be more fun to see the lights of the Big Apple. That Pandemonium place just happened to be a short walk from our hotel, that's all. We weren't trying to infiltrate any secret organization. Now may I ask why everyone keeps talking about our mother as if she's some sort of celebrity around here? We have no idea who any of you are, yet you all seem to know a lot about us that you aren't telling." The sexy, silver haired one seems to have a silver tongue too. I can't just stand here any longer, knowing that my father hasn't told these boys anything and if he gets his way, they'll probably never know!
"What my father isn't saying, Jonathan, is that 17 years ago, my mother Jocelyn walked out on him with their two year old son and a baby boy that she had rescued earlier that evening. She would have taken me too but she couldn't find me. After that, she disappeared from the Shadowworld, choosing to live in the less dangerous and far more boring mundane world. And that is why the two of you are now standing here surrounded by people who seem to know you or at least know of you. Ironic, isn't it?" I can practically see the little hamster wheels turning in these boys heads as they finally register what I've just said.
"Your mother's name is Jocelyn? Surely it has to be a different Jocelyn? That's what this is all about, you think we're the kids your mother took off with? But that would make us…"
"Siblings? Yep. Shadowhunters? Also yep. Standing in front of your own Father, who apparently had no intention of telling you that? Big honking yep. Surprise! You know, if it weren't for the whole 'secret society of demon slayers' part, we could almost take this catastrophe on a talk show, hey? If you want we can add a whole other level of crazy to this and I can explain Genetic Sexual Attraction to you over a cup of coffee at Taki's later? I did a report on it one time." I made that cute 'if you catch my drift' clicking noise that I'm famous for and strolled past them all to curl up in one of the arm chairs and watch the rest of the drama unfold.
"And that girl, Jonathan, with your mother's red hair and the attitude to match it, as you have probably guessed by now, is your sister, Clarissa Adele Morgenstern. And while I'm fairly confident Jocelyn has told you nothing about your family, my name is Valentine Morgenstern, and I am, indeed your father. You, are Jonathan Christopher Morgenstern and you come from a rather famous Shadowhunter family. Your friend here, while evidently raised as your brother, is actual the lost Herondale boy, last in the line of another, very important Shadowhunter family and there are many people who will be pleased to hear that he lives. My little fire sprite over there, has assumed that I planned not to tell you boys any of this, when in actuality I was merely searching for a way to do so delicately. Clarissa, on the other hand, is not so delicate and I apologize for the manner in which she chose to inform you of this. I assure you, she will be properly dealt with later."
"You know Pops, you could just pass me off on Johnny-boy here for my punishment. He looks like he knows how to give a right good spanking. Sorry golden boy, brother dearest gets first dibs, although you could watch if you'd like."
"BY THE ANGEL, CLARISSA! GET OUT OF THIS ROOM, BEFORE I THROW YOU OUT OF IT ON YOUR INSUBORDINATE LITTLE BEHIND! And you will please stop by the bathroom on the way to your training session to rinse that filthy little mouth out with soap or else I will do it for you!" I've always known when the getting was good, so what do I do at this point? I get. I scram as fast as my tenacious little legs can carry me. Isabelle catches hold of me around the first bend and stops me. I stand there, with my hands on my knees trying to catch my breath.
"I don't blame you for running as if all of hell was chasing you, Valentine looks fit to kill but I don't blame him either! What in Raziel's name were you thinking Clary, saying all of that smutty stuff in front of your Father?"
"I have no idea what came over me but it's been coming over me since Pandemonium when I first laid eyes on this Jonathan creature. Maybe it really is GSA, I don't know. All I know is, I keep daydreaming about him and I've apparently lost my ability to filter. It's a damn good thing I'm the best Shadowhunter there is or else my father would probably be tempted to ship me off to join the Iron Sisters or something after that little display of hedonism. Sheesh! I have got to get my head screwed on straight."