A/N: Yet again, thank y'all for your lovely reviews! I'm really grateful for everyone taking the time out of their day to not only read this, but also tell me what they think about the story (especially since you always have such nice words for me ;) )
This time around, there's a bit more POV-jumping, I fear. I hope you don't mind experiencing the whole alley-incident again through Alec's eyes... (it does serve a purpose, I'm not just making you reread the whole thing in different words. After all, I hope you were at least a little bit curious what he was even doing all alone in that dark alley ;) ) The part with Magnus and Catarina seamlessly continues where the last chapter ended, in case anyone should be confused :)
Chapter 4
On the outside, not much had changed in the three days since Alec had stopped pretending that the cat-eyed stranger didn't exist or that he'd imagined the whole scene in the alley behind Pandemonium. He was still making small talk with his mom, laughing and joking around with his friends, watching Dr. House obsessively (he was through with the last season of Desperate Housewives by now).
But the nightmares had returned with a vengeance and Alec was getting slightly paranoid – okay, maybe more than just slightly – whenever he was walking down the streets on his own, whether it be night or day. He was no longer just unconsciously looking for the stranger who had saved his life – and he had developed the habit of actually putting a lid on his coffee. He didn't need a repeat of what had happened to Cat Eyes' outfit, and he somehow doubted the next person he'd accidentally spill a whole cup of coffee over would be benevolent enough to just disappear without leaving a cleaning bill behind.
With the knowledge that it hadn't just been his overactive imagination that night behind Pandemonium came a surreal feeling casting a shadow over every last normal thing he did. It felt like something was lurking in the dark, just waiting to strike and tip his world on its axis until it would finally turn upside down. What was real and what not? Could you still tell after you'd run into the one thing you were so convinced wasn't real, the reminder that running from the truth and denying it never really worked out in the end?
Maybe Cat Eyes just liked this look so much that he was wearing contacts 24/7. Maybe he'd been the only real part about that night and the boy with too many teeth and claws had never been there. Maybe Alec just had some sort of complex and wanted to be the damsel in distress, rescued by the glittering savior, so he'd made the whole thing up.
On top of all his doubts and his world teetering precariously on edge, he swore he kept seeing strange things. If he'd seen a guy with purple skin or a girl with flowers for hair every once in a while before his second run-in with Cat Eyes, he now felt like he couldn't go anywhere without stumbling over strange figures. A tall woman with claws for hands, a guy with a beak, people with all sorts of animal eyes, more boys and girls alike with too many teeth in their overly predatory smiles... Alec didn't know if he was losing it or if his imagination was really running wild with him now – or if maybe, just maybe, it was something else. Like there possibly being more to the world he was living in than he'd ever dared to imagine or look for.
Alec did his best to shake that last thought especially – he actually preferred insanity as an explanation for some of the things he thought he'd seen – but he never really succeeded and it kept crawling back to the forefront of his mind.
On the third day of his struggle with his changing perception of reality, Alec was on his way back home from another afternoon at Simon's when he brushed past someone whose sight made him stop dead in his tracks and caused bile to rise up in the back of his throat. Not because that person was covered in scales or sprouted horns – in fact, she was as human-looking as one could possibly be. No, this time it wasn't her foreignness that made him stop mid-motion and his world spin and tilt.
It had been the girl he'd saved that night, weeks ago.
She hadn't seen him, hadn't even looked at him out of the corner of her eye or turned back around. But Alec had recognized her and seeing someone so closely related to that specific night who clearly wasn't anything other than a human being just like himself somehow made it even more real than running into Cat Eyes and accidentally spilling coffee down his clothes. Alec blinked and followed her retreating form with his gaze and she was still there, not growing wings or claws or pulling a mysterious disappearing act, just hurrying down the street with her head slightly bowed and her hair covering most of her face. If it hadn't been for a conveniently timed gust of wind blowing it aside, Alec probably wouldn't even have been able to identify her.
The crowd moving around him suddenly made him feel claustrophobic. Alec needed time to think, to readjust his teetering world without feeling like the walls of the buildings surrounding him were closing in on him. He tried to take deep breaths and calm himself down but when he caught a flash of another normal enough-looking head adorned with what looked like horse ears out of the corner of his eye, all he could do was duck his head and run for the next alley.
Alec retreated deep into the shadows, leaning back into the cold wall behind him when he felt he'd brought enough space between himself and the people passing by on the street, trying to figure out the mess his life had become in the relative quiet and solitude welcoming him in the dark. The smell of the garbage cans to his right wasn't as inviting but at least he didn't have to worry about anyone bumping into him or asking him if he was okay.
At first, Alec didn't notice anything off, too preoccupied with his reeling mind to really pay attention to his surroundings. But his instincts told him to look up after a few minutes of mostly silent freaking out, the uncomfortable chills of feeling someone watching you running up and down his spine. He thought he'd seen something distinctly human-looking move in the shadows at the end of the alley when a noise from the opposite wall paralyzed him with fear.
It was not at all a human kind of noise and when Alec looked over, not daring to move more than strictly necessary, he found that that was very fitting indeed. Because what clung to the wall facing him certainly wasn't human by even the broadest definition.
The creature's head was turned toward Alec as if it was watching him – which was rather unlikely considering that it had no eyes, or at least none that he could make out in its grotesque face. Its long limbs were attached to the wall and Alec could see where the claws at its hands and feet dug into the concrete as if it were butter. The creature lifted its nose up in his direction and sniffed the air, huge mouth pulled back into a growl, baring what should have been teeth but looked more like spines. Without a warning, it dropped to the ground in one strangely smooth motion and inched closer, raising to its hind legs in a failed attempt to imitate human posture.
Slightly gagging and trying to suppress the urge to vomit as the air moved and the revolting smell of the creature really hit him, Alec pressed his back as close to the wall as possible, hoping and praying that he wasn't what it was looking for. Unfortunately for him, no one seemed to hear his prayers – the creature simply took another deep breath and made a sound that was way too close to satisfaction for his liking. It made Alec's skin crawl with fear.
The creature shook itself like it was chasing away a fly and before Alec could even try to make a run for it or form another thought, it moved – so fast his eyes couldn't follow. For a split second, Alec let himself hope that it had left to find other prey – only for the thought to be interrupted by blinding pain as long limbs attached themselves to him and something sharp pierced the skin of his left forearm.
His own piercing scream still rang in his ears as he saw something move at the end of the alley – the end from which he'd come, the one leading to safety and a world where creatures such as the one currently trying to bite through his arm were nothing but the stuff of nightmares or horror movies. Out of the corner of his eye he thought he'd also seen movement in the shadows to his other side but he wasn't about to check if he'd been right. If there were even more of those things waiting for him in the dark he didn't want to know. He'd rather look the other way and hope that someone had seen him and hopefully would come to his rescue.
His gaze locked with a pair of kind gray eyes, looking about as shocked as he felt. Their owner had stepped forward instinctively instead of making a run for it and in the stray rays of light falling into the far end of the alley, her skin seemed to glow a deep blue. For some reason, it made him think of Cat Eyes and the way he'd almost casually burned down the boy with too many teeth. Maybe she'd be able to save him. With some kind of vile creature attached to his arm Alec certainly wasn't above pleading for help.
The woman with the blue skin seemed willing enough to rescue him and Alec sucked in a relieved breath when she made to take another step forward – only for a spear of blue flames to fly past her and dig right into the torso of the thing still clutching him. It burned for a second before it disappeared like it had never been there in the first place, like the whole thing had been nothing but his imagination – if it hadn't been for the throbbing pain still racing up Alec's arm and the warm blood dripping from the wounds the creature had left.
Alec let himself collapse against the wall, his sight already starting to blur around the edges, the world tilted at a funny angle. He was hot and cold and dizzy all at the same time. The last thing he saw before he closed his eyes and everything went black, thankfully taking all of those clashing feelings carrying out a war inside of him along, was a pair of frantic cat eyes running toward him.
###
"What do you mean he's a- no, he can't be. Do you see any runes on his arms?!" Magnus gestured at the boy's unmarked skin with wild eyes, his hands shaking slightly. Catarina sighed inwardly but couldn't find it in her to reproach her friend for freaking out. Inviting trouble in form of a mundane was one thing – inviting trouble in form of a Shadowhunter was pure insanity. Even Magnus had to recognize as much.
"He can and he is. He's just not Marked."
"How can you know for sure, then?" Magnus said, his voice wavering. Catarina suppressed the urge to roll her eyes at him. As if a healer as experienced as herself couldn't tell the difference between a mundane and a Shadowhunter, Marked or not. Ignoring the insinuation, she went on.
"I know his mother. In fact, you know his parents, too. I don't know what happened to his father but his mother has been hiding with him in New York ever since the Uprising. He looks a lot like her, now that he's grown up. He has her eyes."
Magnus raised his eyebrows at Catarina's words. 'Knowing' a Shadowhunter – and where they lived – that had been hiding from the Clave after the Uprising was pretty much code for 'I helped them hide' among Downworlders. Which wasn't something you wanted anyone to think, unless you wanted to spice up your life with several handfuls of enemies among your own kind and a whole lot of distrust directed against you.
"Who is he?" was all he said. The answer probably wasn't one he'd be eager to hear but trying to gloss over the truth wouldn't do them any good in their current situation. Not with demonic spies following the boy around.
Catarina took a deep breath, looking like she'd rather face the Devrak in hand-to-hand combat than answer his question. "Maryse Lightwood's son," she finally said, her voice small and hushed, barely audible – as if she were hoping Magnus wouldn't hear her.
But of course he did hear her. His face went completely blank, like the words had wiped out all trace of emotion inside of him. For a moment, he said nothing at all, just stared at the boy without really seeing him. Eventually, Magnus' right hand let go of the fabric of his pants and he raised it to the boy's head, letting the inky strands of hair run slowly through his fingers.
Magnus bit his lip as he watched the movement of his own fingers as they gently twisted in the boy's locks again and again, his hand seeming to move of its own accord, detached from the rest of his body. When he finally let go it looked like it cost a lot of effort to get it to obey. It sank back down to Magnus' side but his fingers didn't seem to want to leave the boy, their tips brushing his temple and cheek on their way down as if they couldn't bear to lose contact.
Magnus' expression was no longer blank by the time his fingers dug back into the fabric of his pants but for a second, Catarina almost wished the blankness back. It had been better than the lost sadness in his eyes. Even Magnus, ever the optimist, couldn't deny that this was bad news – for all of them.
"He does look a lot like his mother, now that you mention it." His voice sounded bitter. He shook his head like he was trying to shake all the unwanted thoughts that came with that newly revealed piece of information and unsteadily got up to his feet.
"Magnus?" The word shook almost as much as Magnus' hands. Catarina quickly hid her own left hand in her pocket and closed the other around the boy's arm to hide that they were shaking just as badly.
"We should bring him to my loft. It'll do no good if he wakes up in a dark alley after this." He gestured to the claw marks still clearly visible on the opposite wall. Catarina just nodded and watched as Magnus started to draw a Portal on the stone.
His emotions were too carefully controlled, his lips pressed into a thin line, his hands too steady all of a sudden. Magnus resembled a cat in many ways – one of them being that he tended to purr and pretend everything was just wonderful one moment, only for him to attack with claws out and teeth bared the next. He was radiating cold the way his magic had radiated heat when it had burned the demon to ashes – and with Magnus Bane, that was always a sign to cower behind the nearest object because he would explode any second now. Catarina was sure that the explosion would come as soon as the boy would be safely stowed away in one of his guest rooms. Still, she didn't hesitate to follow when Magnus carefully slid his arms under the pale figure and lifted it up.
For a moment, Magnus just looked down on the boy's strangely peaceful face. Maybe it was just the light of the Portal but Catarina could swear she saw his features soften with tenderness. She quickly averted her eyes – this was not her sight to intrude on.
"You told me who his mother is, but you never told me his name," Magnus said at last, turning his back to her and slowly walking toward the Portal. Catarina hurried to keep up with his long strides, though she didn't raise her eyes to meet his gaze even after she'd caught up. His eyes were probably still locked on the boy, anyway.
"Alexander, his name is Alexander."
"Alexander," she heard Magnus whisper, his tone so tender she couldn't help but look up at him. His cat eyes were caressing the pale face the same way his voice had caressed his name. As they stepped through the Portal together, Catarina couldn't help but bite her lip and wring her hands. Magnus had always been one to fall fast, and judging by the way he looked at Alexander? She was probably going to see a lot more of the Lightwoods in the near future than she'd wanted to ever again.
###
Hidden from sight in the shadows at the end of the alley, a stranger watched the scene unfolding before them carefully. Their eyes never left the unconscious boy, at the same time keeping track of every movement of the two warlocks. When the boy's labored breathing evened out into the rhythm of sleep, they finally left the scene. They knew where Bane lived and following him and his blue-skinned friend was out of the question, since they were using a Portal. It wasn't like there was any place Alexander Lightwood could hide from them, anyway.
A/N: Review maybe? I hope I didn't jump around too much to follow :) Have a lovely day and thanks for reading!
