2) Ancient Runes

Stephen kept spinning his phone between his thumb and finger as he walked down a dark corridor, he looked at the broken light, "Really need to get the light fixed." He noted to himself, then took his witchlight out of his pocket and shone his way through the pitch black corridor. The witchlight was a large rock that glowed blue shining the way through even the darkest places. He finally turned left into the library which was quite a large room, it was a square room with bookshelves filled with books running along both sides of the rooms.

Stephen smiled a little as he saw Camael and Alice sat looking at the Grey Book, looking through the runes. He just stood watching from a distance for a while before walking to join them, "Camael, Jocelyn needs your help."

Camael looks at Stephen and frowns, "My help? With what?"

Stephen hesitates then explains, "She doesn't want Clarissa to be part of this world yet, she doesn't think that she is ready. Obviously Jocelyn wants her away from Valentine but since he has been summoning demons, Jocelyn is more fearful that these demons are after Clarissa. She thinks if her daughter is unaware of the world she might be able to fool all of the demons and maybe even Valentine himself."

Camael shakes her head, "So what does she want me to do?"

"She has Magnus Bane's help he is going to take the memories of any supernatural status out of Clarissa, instead of feeding it to the memory demon, she was wondering if you could keep them for her." Stephen looks at her, "I said I'd talk to you about it but we do owe her, I wouldn't be alive without Jocelyn's help, she picked me up and dragged me here after Valentine tried to kill me."

Camael sighs deeply, looking down a little guilty "I wish I could help but I can only use my powers to protect you and Alessandra. I am sorry but I cannot help."

Alice looks at Stephen, "Maybe I can help, mum said I am a natural with my powers, maybe I can help Clarissa and her memories."

They both turn to look at Alice, they had forgotten for a moment that she was in the room. "No-" Stephen started to say but at the same time Camael was saying, "That could work."

Stephen looks at Camael stunned, "You cannot actually be considering this?"

His wife looks back at him, "Yes I am, it is true she is a natural all I have to do is tell her the ancient rune and she can do it, I know she can Stephen."

"Ancient rune? You mean the runes that the angels use? She is part human remember!" Stephen questioned appalled.

Alice entered the convocation once again, "Dad please let me try! I want to help Clarissa, please let me." She pouted a little and looked innocent and adorable, she knew how to get around her father, and yet again it worked.

"Ok, if you think you can do it, you can try, but if it hurts or if something seems wrong you tell Magnus to stop, promise me." Stephen looks at his daughter in the eyes, so she knew this was serious business.

She smiles and nods, then hugs him tight, "I promise dad, I will make you proud you will see."

"You always do make me proud Alice, each and every day, I just wish sometimes you wouldn't grow up so fast." He kisses her forehead his eyes were watering with pride. He quickly wiped his eyes before realising Alice. "Alright, mum will teach you what you have to do, remember to listen carefully and if you don't understand anything ask your mum, remember this isn't training ok? I will go and call Jocelyn."

As Stephen leaves, Camael looks at Alessandra with total seriousness, "Alessandra, you listen carefully for this ok? Watch me draw this closely to, ok?"

Alessandra nods, and watches her mother draw two runes one of top of the other; the first one, the one on the bottom layer, she started like she was going to right the letter 'A' but as the point was coming down it curved up earlier and looped right to a circle, she carried on by instead of crossing through the letter 'A' with a line she drew what looked like a tiny '2'. Once her mother finished drawing that rune, she turned to look at Alessandra, "You get that? Can you remember what that rune is?"

Alessandra smiled as she knew the answer, "That's the sharing rune!"

Camael smiles and nodded, "That's right good girl Alessandra, now on top of that you are going to draw the protected rune, can you remember what that looks like." With Alessandra's nod, she continues, "Can you draw it on top of the share for me then please?"

Alessandra took the pencil of her mother, and started at the middle left and started to draw a diamond but didn't let the left corners lines meet, she then drew small straight lines from the centre of each side of the diamond and drew a small upside down 'a' on a little slant in the middle and to the right of that she drew a crescent moon both met with the diamond and with each other. "There, but mum I never seen runes be put on top of one another."

Camael, smile and nodded, "You are right, because only angels do that, to make runes stronger, you need to draw the share rune first, you're going to draw it on the back of your hand, then you are going to draw the protected rune on top. Now Alessandra, when you start drawing the protected rune it's going to hurt, but you need to be strong and follow through, can you do that?"

"But I just promised dad if it hurts I would stop." She looks at her mother then looks down.

"I know, but he knows all runes hurts at first, but you can do it, once you've drawn both runes, you're going to hold your arm out straight with your palm facing Clarissa. All her memories will move directly to you, you will see her memories flash before your eyes, when Magnus is finished, all of the rune will fade accept the 'e' and crescent moon in the middle of the protection rune, that will stay glowing for a while. You got all of that? Repeat it back to me." Camael wanted everything to go perfectly.

Alessandra looks at her mother confidently, "First I draw the share rune on the back of my hand, then I draw the protected rune directly on top of it, then I stretch my arm straight up my palm facing Clarissa. When Magnus starts I will see all of Clarissa memories in a flash, then my rune will fade except the 'e' and crescent moon, but why doesn't the 'e' and crescent moon fade?"

Camael smiles proudly, "It doesn't fade at first because it is finding a secure place in your mind where they can store Clarissa's memories so that it doesn't affect your everyday life, once it has found a place then it will fade."

"That's so exciting, so how do I give Clarissa, her memories back? I mean when she is ready?" Alessandra questions.

"Well you just activate the protected rune, then it will fade instantly, then you activate the share rune then take Clarissa's hand, and draw the share rune on her hand then you hold hands, then she will get all her memories back." Camael pulls Alessandra in and kisses her forehead. "I am so proud of you."

Meanwhile Stephen walks back down the dark corridor with his witchlight, and dials Jocelyn's number. After a few rings there was an answer.

"Stephen, please tell me Camael can help?" Jocelyn sounded desperate on the phone.

"Camael can't no, but she is teaching Alessandra how to help you as we speak." Stephen replied proudly.

"Your daughter? She is what five? How can she help us?" Jocelyn didn't sound convinced.

"She is four, but she is very intelligent, she offered to help you, when Camael said she enable Alice asked if she could help you, she has the same power as Camael, we just found out today, but she is an extremely quick learner." He explained confidently.

"If you are sure she can do it, I didn't know she had the same ability as her mother, as long as she knows what she is doing, I trust you, please come as soon as she is ready, we are at Magnus's place." After a moment she adds, "And Stephen…thank you, I mean I know you don't approve, but your helping anyways."

"I owe you, so this is the way you have asked for it, we will be there soon." Stephen replies then hangs up.

He walks back to the library, hearing Alessandra asking a few question, "That's my girl, being thorough." He muttered to himself, then turned the corner to the library.

He was welcomed by his daughter by her running up to him and jumps up at him, he caught her. "I am ready dad, mum says you have something to give me, she said it is a stele and it's how I draw the runes on myself."

"I will go and get it for you, you go and wait at the front door, and I need you to be sensible on this trip, this is important remember." Stephen had to ensure that Alice knew how important this visit was. He headed back to his room, reached under the bed and opened a box with all Alessandra's baby stuff was in, then there was a blue stele inside, he picks it up, the stele is thick crystal like pencil. He heads to the front door where his daughter was waiting, "Here you go Alice."

She takes it smiling, "It's beautiful, and my favourite colour! Thank you, dad." She slides it in her jacket pocket. Then reaches to hold her father's hand, it was the only rule he had, that she held his hand when out in the streets.

Stephen opened the front door and at first there was nothing but a narrow empty room, until he inserted his stele in a lock then the ground rose at different levels to make stairs then at the top of the stairs the wall sunk into the ground, they both walked up the stairs, when they left the house, the wall moved back up, it blended in with the rest of the building. "Come on then we are going to a warlock's house, you know what you are doing whilst we are there?" He asks he was nervous about this but she wanted to do it, so he wouldn't stop her.

Alice rolls her eyes and chuckles, "Yes dad, mum made me repeat it back to her, and I got it right."

"Don't roll your eyes at me missy, it's a father's job to be worried about his little angel." He ruffles her hair chuckling trying to ease the mood a little.

"Dad stop it!" she pushes his hand away as they walk to Magnus's house. "Does he live far away?" She asks as she skipped a little.

"No just a couple of blocks away, I'm proud of you for helping a family friend, it's a good thing you are doing." Stephen praises his daughter, not many people do something like this for a stranger especially a child.

"Thank you, dad. Mum says I can do this you know, you can relax, I am confident about it." She grins up at him.

"I am not doubting you, but this is officially your first mission, that's what your mum will believe. All parents get nervous on their child's first mission." He explains to her.

They turned a street corner as she smiles, "Were your parents like that? Nervous?"

"Oh nervous wasn't the word for them, they asked me several times if I had the correct weapons then they squeezed me to death like they didn't expect me to come back or something." He chuckled at the memory.

Alice laughed, "That sounds funny, please don't do that when we get there, that would be embarrassing."

He laughed too, "Oh no, I won't embarrass you, do not worry about that." They got to a house and Stephen says, "Here we go, this is Magnus's place."

Alice lets go of her father's hand and knocks on the door. After a few moments a man that had make-up on, nails painted, a black and purple stripped t-shirt and black trousers on answered the door.

"Ah, Stephen; we ask for your wife and you bring your child instead, you are one strange parents." Magnus thought out loud.

Alice looked up at the man, "My name is Alessandra or Alice for short. Nice to meet you." She holds her hand out; she had read in a book that Warlocks can feel the power of someone through a hand shake.

Magnus narrows his eyes and out of curiosity he took her hand and gasped a little before pulling his hand back, "Maybe it is not a strange choice after all Stephen. Nice to meet you too Alessandra. Please do come in."

Alice walks passed Magnus and says, "Please call me Alice, only my mum calls me Alessandra, or my dad when I get into trouble." She chuckles softly.

"Alice, come on, this isn't a general visit remember." Stephen rests a hand on her back guiding her inside. As he passes Magnus he apologises, "I'm sorry, she doesn't really meet new people."

Magnus chuckles, "Don't worry about it, I like her, Innocent on the outside but powerful on the inside. I'm quite excited to work with your child, I hope she knows what she is doing, for Clarissa's and Alice's sake." Magnus shows them to the living room where Jocelyn and Clarissa was.

Clarissa was sat on a chair looking down. Alice walks up to her and smiles, "Hello, you must be Clarissa, I am Alessandra but you can call me Alice. Do you have a nickname?"

Clarissa shakes her head shyly, Alice smiles and thinks for a little, and concludes "How about Clary? Can I call you Clary?"

Clarissa looks up at Alice and smiles, "Yes, I like that, thank you Alice."

"You know it is alright to be scared, I am scared a lot of the time, but to get passed the fear you push through what you are scared about. Like for a long time I was scared of the dark, and we have a corridor where a light broke and it was pitch black, so I never used to go down it, I always used to ask dad or mum to get a book I wanted from the library, but one day I just decided to go down the corridor myself. Now I am not scared of the dark." She smiles at Clary who smiles back.

The smile soon faded from Clary's lips, "I do not know why I am here though, is it because there is something wrong with me?"

Alice rests her hand on Clary's "No there is nothing wrong with you Clary, I promise there is nothing wrong with you."

"So why do I see things that my friends do not see?" Clary looks at Alice with saddened eyes.

"Because you are special, we both are, so are our parents, we have the gift of seeing things that other people do not see, we are angels, but you have seen scary things haven't you?" Alice asked softly.

Clary nods and looks down, "Yes, it was horrible, it wanted to hurt me, it said horrible nasty things."

Alice nods in understanding, "Yeah, it isn't nice, that is why you are here, your mum wants to take the nasty things away from you, she doesn't want you getting hurt."

Stephen, Jocelyn and Magnus watched the two girls from a distance, Magnus saying observingly, "For your child not meeting many people her social skills are amazing."

Jocelyn looked at Stephen then Alice stunned, "I haven't been able to explain to Clarissa why she is here and Alice explains it so easily."

"Yes, but we best get this over with." Stephen says, then calls Alice over, "Alice, come on, its time."

Alice turned to look at Stephen, she looks at Clary's desperate face, Alice gave Clary's hand a squeeze, "Remember its ok to be scared, we will push through your fear together ok?" Clary smiles and nods.

Alice stands up and walks to her father but turns to looks at Magnus, "She is going to forget me isn't she?"

Magnus rests a hand on her shoulder, "I am afraid so."

Alice sighs deeply, "That's not fair I didn't even mention anything supernatural, can't you just remove her memory from now?"

Magnus shakes his head, "No, I'm sorry, it's too risky."

"Ok then, give me a minute." Alice runs to Clary and hugs her tight. "Be brave, you're stronger than you know." Clary returned the hug.

Alice took a step back after a short hug then walks back to Magnus's side. "I am ready."