"I just want to test it out," Clary said as she led her group of friends to a wall behind the New York Institute.
"But I don't get it," Alec explained yet again. "Don't you already have a portal rune?"
Izzy chimed in, just as confused, "Yeah. What is different about this one?"
"I don't know yet," Clary shrugged. "That would be why I am testing it out."
"I don't like this," Jace said seriously, coming to stand behind her protectively.
Simon nodded in agreement on her other side, always having her back, of course, because that was what parabatai were for.
"Seriously, Clary," Jace continued. "What if there is like a horde of demons on the other side?"
"It's not like I'm going to portal us into a dark alley. You have no faith in me. Besides, I know you will protect me," she said, standing on her toes to give him a kiss.
"So, where are we going?" Alec asked, interrupting the moment.
Clary smiled with the pleasure of her secret. "Only the greatest city in the world."
Immediated Isabelle perked up and started guessing. "Paris? Milan? Rome? D.C.? New York?"
Alec rolled his eyes as Simon sniggered under his breath. "We are already in New York, stupid."
Izzy punched him, hard, in the shoulder as a response, and Clary began tracing the rune that had popped into her dreams the night before. A blue swirl appeared on the wall before them and began to grow, until it was big enough to walk through.
"I'm going first," Jace said matter-of-factly.
"No you're not," Clary said, lacing her fingers through his. "We will go together."
The two walked into the swirling mass of blue, followed by Simon, Izzy, and then Alec and fell downwards in the rotating vortex. After making everyone a bit dizzy, the portal spit the shadowhunters out onto a hard floor of wood.
From her seat on the floor, Izzy looked up at the nearest window, taking in the gloomy sky and a large clock tower in the distance. "London?" she asked, apparently not impressed. "London is mediocre at best."
As everyone started to get up from the floor, they heard a gasp and whipped their heads to see a young, woman shadowhunter with long, wavy brown hair. She had stormy, gray eyes and was dressed in gear, holding a book, The Tale of Two Cities.
"Tessa?" Clary asked in confusion. "What are you doing here? I thought you moved to California with Brother Zachariah."
"What?" The girl gasped, fear in her eyes.
"Oh sorry, I forgot. It's just Zachariah now," Clary corrected herself.
"Who are you? How did you get in here? And who is Zachariah?"
"It's me, Clary," She said, walking towards Tessa. "We met at my mother's wedding, Jocelyn Fray? Zachariah is your boyfriend."
"I don't know you and I don't have a boyfriend." The girl was remaining surprisingly calm.
"Sure you do," said Alec. "He was a silent brother, then he wasn't, and then he stole our cat!"
As if on cue, the small, gray cat in question sauntered into the room followed by a girl with blond hair, wearing an elegant dress with large, old-fashioned, purple skirts cascading down to the floor. She lifted her head to say something to Tessa but stopped and stared, mouth gaping, at the strange guests. And then she screamed. It was a loud, shrill scream, like that of a banshee. Jace was by her side in a flash, gagging her with his hand.
When she stopped squirming he said calmly, "I'm going to take my hand away now, so stay calm."
The girl nodded frantically as he gently regained the use of his hand. Then she turned to her friend and asked softly, "Tessa, who are these people?"
"That is exactly what I would like to know."
Jace stepped forward to take the lead. He began, "We are shadowhunters from the New York Institute..."
At the same time, Izzy was busy looking out the window, trying to figure out what was so strange about the image outside. Then she saw it. "Alec..." she whispered, tapping him on the shoulder. When he turned around, he saw it too. And then another. Then five all at once.
"Are those...?" He asked in disbelief.
"...Horse-drawn carriages," she finished in awe, turning around to observe the other oddities in the room: the old-style clothing, the lack of electronics or modern technology, the room lit by candles and witchlight. "Excuse me," she said suddenly, interrupting Jace. "What year is it?"
Tessa looked at her like she was crazy, as did everyone else, as she said, "1878."
"OH MY GOD!" cried Simon with a giddy smile. "Are you telling me that we just TIME TRAVELED?" This was his nerd dream come true.
"What is going on?" shouted Tessa, losing her patience.
Jace looked too dazed to continue his little introduction, so Clary took over. "We are shadowhunters from New York Institute..." She hesitated. "In the year 2012."
"That's not possible," The blond girl exhaled in shock.
"I am Clary Fray. I have the power to create runes. Apparently, my newest one allows us to travel in time," She explained. Clary went on with the introductions, pointing to each respective person. "This is Alec and Isabelle Lightwood, my parabatai, Simon Lewis, and my fiance, Jace Herondale."
"Did you say Herondale?" Tessa asked, letting her hand fly up toward her necklace protectively.
Clary nodded in confirmation, and Tessa turned immediately toward the other girl. "Jessie, go get everyone. Tell Will it is an emergency."
The blond left the room, obviously frightened and shocked by everything.
"I am Tessa. Tessa Gray," she said, turning back to Clary.
"I know. We've met."
"But that's impossible," she gaped in disbelief.
Jace took his turn to say something. "Not when you are immortal."
"I'm immortal?" This was news to Tessa.
The New York gang looked around at each other, not quite sure what to say. Luckily, they were saved by ensuing chaos. First, a young man with black hair ran in and darted straight toward Tessa, not even noticing the guests from the future.
"Tess, are you alright?" the man said urgently in a panic.
Tessa put her hands on his shoulders to calm him down. "I am fine, Will."
"But, Jessie said there was an emergency?"
Tessa looked over his Will's shoulder to the strangers behind him, and he followed her gaze. He let out a surprised gap and stood up quickly, yielding a glowing seraph blade, fury in his eyes. Jace drew one of his own and moved protectively in front of Clary.
"Will, no!" said Tessa firmly.
Clary was also trying to calm Jace down. "Jace, stop!"
Neither shadowhunter backed down, but Will spoke now, still not addressing the guests. "Tessa, who are these people?"
"They said..." she hesitated, still a bit dazed about the whole ordeal, "... that they are from the future."
"What?" Will said in disbelief. "That's crazy!"
Tessa grabbed him by the shoulders, forcing him to look into her eyes. "Will, one of them is a Herondale."
The dark-haired boy looked over at the crowd of strangers and relaxed, dropping his weapon. Then he walked over to the other boy, stood in front of him, and smiled.
"He has my eyes!"
"Actually," Jace said, interrupting Will's staring, "I'm the Herondale. Jace Herondale."
"Oh," he sighed in disappointment. "Well, who's this one?"
"I'm Alec Lightwood. It's nice to meet you. Will, is it?" he said, sticking out his hand to shake.
Will ignored it and suddenly became distressed. "Tessa, why does a Lightworm have my eyes and my hair?" he turned back to Alec. "What is your middle name?"
"Gideon."
"I am going to kill him! Tessa, did you know about this? Is Gideon Lightworm messing around with my sister?"
Just then, someone came through the front doors of the institute.
"Tessa? Sophie?" they yelled. "We are here for training!"
"I am going to kill him!" Will repeated, running out into the front hall.
The rest of the group followed him and watched as he pushed a big, blonde guy up against a wall and started to choke him. At the same time, the rest of the London Institute came running down the stairs. A girl with long, dark hair and blue eyes- who looked remarkably like Isabelle- ran up to Will and tried to calm him down. This was no doubt the sister he was talking about.
"Will stop it! What are you doing?" she yelled.
He ignored her and continued to question the person he had up against the wall. "What have you been doing with my sister?"
"What?" The blonde guy struggled to speak. "I'm engaged to Sophie, you idiot!"
This must have made sense to Will because now he turned on the smaller blonde guy. Before he got there, however, he was stopped by several people.
"Everyone calm down!" shouted a little woman with brown hair tucked into a bun. "We will settle this later, Will, but first, we have company."
The whole group made their way into a large sitting room where everyone found a seat and introductions were made. The little woman spoke first.
"I am Charlotte Branwell, head of the London Institute. This is my husband, Henry, Will Herondale, whom you met, Tessa Gray, Jem Carstairs, Cecily Herondale, Jessamine Lovelace, Sophie Collins, Gideon Lightwood, and Gabriel Lightwood. You'll have to excuse us. We do not always have this many people here at once."
Now it gets really confusing so switching to dialogue mode
Clary: I am Clary Fray and these are my friends Jace Herondale, Alec Lightwood, Isabelle Lightwood, and Simon Lewis.
Henry: Fray? That doesn't sound like a Shadowhunter name.
Clary: It's not. I grew up as a mundane because my mother was hiding from my father, and we changed our name to Fray. It's actually a mixture of Gray and my mother's maiden name, Fairchild.
Charlotte: I'm a Fairchild. Henry, she even has your hair.
Jem: Excuse me for asking, but it seems that everyone has a relative here except for me and Jessamine. Do you happen to know anyone by the name of Carstairs?
As he talked, the Shadowhunters of the New York Institute looked at him really for the first time.
Isabelle: Oh my god! Brother Zachariah?
Jem: What?
Clary: Isabelle, don't upset him.
Jem: I become a silent brother?
Isabelle: Well, yes, but then Jace touched you with heavenly fire so somehow you're human again. Oh and you are dating Tessa!
Tessa: *blushes furiously*
Gabriel: Wait so are these Lightwoods from me or Gideon?
Cecily: They must come from us. He has my eyes.
Gabriel: *wide eyes*
Cecily: Does that freak you out?
Gabriel: No. It will be an honor to have children with you.
Will: There will be none of that! No children will be had by my sister! Especially with a Lightworm...
Tessa: Calm down, Will.
Clary: To answer your question, Jem, there is a girl who lives in LA. Her name is Emma Carstairs.
Jessamine: How come no one looks like me?
Will: Who would ever marry you, Jessie?
Henry: I find it very interesting that you were able to travel in time with a rune.
Jace: Well Clary is very talented. She can create runes.
Henry: Oh, have you created a rune to get yourselves home?
Clary: Actually, I have no idea how to get home. I think we could use some help.
Henry: Jem, go call a warlock.
Will: So, Jace. It is a shame you didn't get any of my good looks... Do you know anything about your great great great grandmother by any chance?
Jace: No, but there is a rumor that the Herondales have warlock blood in them. That's completely ridiculous, though. Everyone knows that warlocks cannot reproduce.
Will: *winks at Tessa*
Tessa: *blushes even more*
Magnus: Did someone call for a warlock?
Alec: Magnus?
Isabelle: He hasn't met you yet, Alec.
Magnus: Who's the pretty boy?
Alec: I'm your boyfriend in the future.
The London Institute: Boyfriend?
Jem: Magnus, you're gay?
Will: That explains so much.
Magnus: Okay, we aren't supposed to travel in time, but I pulled some strings with my father.
Clay: Thank you so much, Magnus.
Magnus: You are welcome, people I have never met!
Simon: How does everyone keep track of this. I am so confused.
Isabelle: You are so cute when you are confused.
Will: Alright, everyone through the portal. The sooner you all leave, the sooner I can kill Gabriel Lightworm.
Jace: It was nice to meet you all.
Tessa: Come back to visit!
Magnus: And bring future me with you! He is so handsome.
Alec: My humble boyfriend, ladies and gentle men.
Charlotte: Bye.
Clary: Bye.
The New York crew went through the portal and found themselves outside the New York Institute. Present day Magnus was waiting for them on the other side.
"Quick," Jace said, "What year is it?"
"2012," Magnus answered in confusion. "Where have you guys been."
"Oh, nowhere," Alec said, putting his arm around his boyfriend. "Just meeting your past self."
"Oh god."
"Yep."
"Well that was interesting," Clary generalized.
"No that was crazy," Simon corrected.
"Agreed," Jace said. "Let's never do that again."