"Pandemonium, here we are again."
Simon parked his van not too far away from the club, and Clary was the first to jump out. To say that the trip over there was awkward would be a complete understatement. Everyone sat in silence and eyed each other every once in a while. Simon still tried to lighten up the mood by putting on some music, but Alec immediately barked at him, telling him to 'silence that weird noise', his words exactly. Nora was enjoying spending time with those people a little more than she thought she would. Perhaps it was true, perhaps she truly belonged with them. If things had been different, Nora and Clary would have grown up in that sort of world as well. If Valentine hadn't become such an enormous threat to their family, maybe their childhood would have been different. Still, it gave her the chance to be a normal girl for a few years and for that, Nora was grateful. Obviously she wasn't trained to be a killing machine like Jace, Alec and Isabelle, and maybe she would pay dearly for that, but at least her life was based on something more, other than hunting monsters for a living. And yet, this new reality excited her more than it should.
The group followed Clary in circles as she sprinted through the streets that surrounded the night club. They turned a corner and Clary continued to walk fast, but she came to a sudden halt and gasped again, her hand grasping the necklace that Jocelyn had given her before she disappeared. Nora glanced down at her own jewel and gently stroked it, but nothing happened. "Oh, well, I guess it doesn't work with-"
Nora stopped mid sentence, widening her eyes as if she was seeing Dot right in front of her. The air became trapped in her lungs as she saw that two Shadowhunters had her trapped and were about to stab her to death with their seraph blades. She hadn't gotten into a lot of details about the place, but it seemed that they were standing just outside the club. "Okay, I do not want to experience that again!" Clary and Nora glanced at each other as if they were asking one another what they had seen telepathically. Alec and Jace looked at them as if they were crazy and shrugged it off. The twins ended up nodding in agreement and continued running through those alleys, turning another corner before reaching the entrance of Pandemonium.
"Clary! Nora! Stop! Where are you going?" Jace inquired as he caught up with the twins.
"Two Shadowhunters, Jace, circle members!" Nora exclaimed almost out of breath.
"The same ones that came to our house and took our mom. They have Dot, they're gonna hurt her or kill her, we have to stop them!" Clary yelled as she ran inside the night club, once again with everyone folllowing right behind her.
When Nora entered Pandemonium, she was almost shocked to notice that it was utterly empty, cold and dirty. The floor was filled with small pieces of paper, cigarette ends and some other things that she really didn't want to find out about. The two sisters stopped running and glanced around, but there was no one in there except for them. Nora brought her hands up and ran them through her blonde hair, which left it completely tousled.
"Damn it!" Nora cursed under her breath. "She's not here. We're too late already. They have taken her!"
"She was just trying to help us." Clary stated, her voice breaking a little. Nora placed her hand over her sister's shoulder and tried to transmit her some sort of reassurance, but it didn't seem to work. She whirled around to face the rest of the group and paused for a second, gulping thickly. "And now she's gone!"
"I'm sorry." Simon uttered sorrowfully.
"You don't understand, Dot is like our big sister!" Clary exclaimed, her green eyes were absolutely furious and Jace could definitely see a fire in them.
"It's not safe here, we have to go back to the institute right now. "Alec declared with an emotionless voice.
"So, what now?" Clary questioned, almost on the verge of tears. "Valentine has our mom and Dot, and we're just gonna give up?" Clary's watery eyes trailed over Jace, waiting for him to say something. Unfortunately, everyone remained silent. "What about our memories? They can't just be gone!"
"There is another option." Jace said in a low voice.
"Don't even!"
"Absolutely not!"
"I'm not afraid of the Silent Brothers." Jace fired back, crossing his arms over his chest.
"And who the hell are the Silent Brothers?" Nora asked with an impatient voice. "Are they some kind of monks or whatever?"
"They're Shadowhunters with superior powers." Jace corrected, giving her a pointed look.
"Who possess the ability to recover memories." Isabelle explained, frowning in obvious preoccupation.
"A process that can also kill you, so there's that." Alec shrugged it off, narrowing his eyes in contempt as he eyed Clary.
Nora raised her eyebrows and stepped right in front of Alec. "So there's that? Just how cold are you?"
"Your bedside manner is abysmal." Simon added.
Alec ignored them both and turned to glare sharply at Jace. "We've broken at least eighteen Clave rules and now you want to go to the City of Bones? There is no way.
I won't allow it."
"This isn't our choice to make." Jace responded, gesturing towards the twins. "It's theirs."
"You can't ask Nora and Clary to do this!" Isabelle protested. "They don't know what they're facing! I'm sorry, guys, but you're not prepared."
"If anyone can tell me another way to recover our memories and still get the answers we need, I'm listening." Clary snapped, placing both her hands on her hips. They all looked at each other, but no one seemed to have a better solution. "That settles it, then."
"See? I told you these two were tough."
Having said that, Jace started walking away from the stunned group. Clary tried to go after him, but Nora grasped her hand to pull her back, forcing her to stay. "Wait, are you sure about this?" The blonde girl inquired, a nervous look in her eyes. "Alec and Izzy might be right. We might die."
"They said 'might', not that we will. That's a risk we'll have to take in order to find mom and Dot, Nora." Clary shot back, tearing her own arm from her twin sister's grip before walking away in a hurry, only to catch up with Jace.
Nora was appalled by her sister's strange behavior. Clary had never acted that way with her, not even once. She huffed and rolled her eyes. If that was how she wanted to play it, Nora would certainly deliver it to her. "I hope this doesn't get us all killed. I really enjoy being alive."
Isabelle shook her head and threw an arm around Nora's shoulders, trying to make her feel better. "So do I, Nora."
After another embarrassingly quiet ride, the group eventually arrived at the place where the Silent Brothers were and, this time, Nora was the first to jump out of Simon's van. The only thing lighting up the way ahead was a small, dying fire. Nora stumbled upon a large stone and nearly fell with her face on the dirty ground, but someone's hands grasped her waist and kept her steady. Her cheeks turned into a burning red when she twirled around and noticed that it was Alec Lightwood who had saved her from making even more a fool of herself. It was only in corny movies that those things happened, but Nora found herself enjoying the way his hands touched her waist, since his touch seemed to send some sort of spark rushing through her entire system. Alec was closer to her than what she thought him to be, so she could practically feel his cold breath on her face as they were both paralyzed for a few moments. Alec couldn't even force himself to look away from the blonde girl. He wasn't sure if she was blushing really hard or if it was only the fire's brightness reflecting on her fair skin. "Uh, thank you." Nora finally managed to say, though her words sounded strained.
"You should probably watch where you step on." Alec replied, snapping out of his daze. His cold demeanor took over once again as he tried to mask his thoughts and unwanted feelings. "Next time I might not be around to catch you if you stumble."
"Always so charming." Nora pointed out with a sarcastic smirk.
"Don't you two start." Jace warned them both, rolling his eyes.
Isabelle watched her older brother's reaction from up close and smirked playfully. Of course, she had been right; Alec was rude to almost everyone, and maybe he was crude to Nora as well, but unlike with Clary, he seemed willing to help her, and she was starting to grow on him. Everytime she caught her brother glancing at the blonde girl, there was a certain softness in his eyes, and he wanted to hide it desperately. In their line of work, distractions could be dangerous and nearly fatal, so it seemed that he was trying to avoid something from happening, before it even had the chance to begin. Isabelle couldn't blame him, though. She had promised herself that she would only have a serious relationship if she found someone she truly wanted to spend the rest of her life with. By the time it happens, she will have plenty of interesting stories to remember. Isabelle found herself enjoying the thought of those two together and smiled deviously, shaking her head a little.
"Yeah, this place isn't creepy." Simon commented, moving to stand behind Isabelle, who grinned at him. "Not at all."
"Don't tell me you're afraid." Isabelle chuckled lightly.
"Are you kidding me?" Simon practically exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air in a rather dramatic way. "I was born afraid! And that sounded a lot better in my head..."
"Yeah, and it probably should've stayed there." Nora countered, patting her best friend's shoulder playfully.
"Thanks, Nora. Always so helpful." Simon replied through gritted teeth.
"Let's check it out." Alec announced, tired of hearing Simon's voice.
Clary was right behind Jace, but he stopped her from moving any further. "Wait here a minute. I wanna see if it's safe."
Alec, Isabelle and Jace continued walking until they were standing a few meters away from Clary, Nora and Simon. The blonde girl rolled her eyes instantly, noticing that they were whispering about them. "Well, they could make it a bit less obvious." Nora smirked and raised her voice, glaring sharply at the trio. "Because I can definitely hear what they're saying right now." They stopped whispering and gazed at her, but she only smiled, turning around to face her sister and her best friend.
"Why are we doing this? We don't even know these people." Simon suddenly said.
"Not that again, Simon. I thought we had been through this already." Nora groaned, crossing her arms over her chest.
"They're strangers to us, Nora!" Simon nearly shouted. "And all I care about is you and Clary! I don't want you guys to get hurt."
"We appreciate your concern, Simon, we truly do, but we need to do this." Clary agreed, throwing her arms around Simon's neck to bring him closer to her. "This is our only chance at finding our mom, you have to understand. I just wish she had trusted us enough to tell us about all this."
"Nora, Clary, how are you two not ultra freaked out by all of this?" Simon asked, still frowning in confusion.
"I guess I just always felt like there was something missing. Some void I couldn't quit explain." Clary answered honestly. "Things are finally starting to make sense."
"Whether we like it or not, they're our people. If things had been different, we would have been raised in that environment as well, Simon." Nora stated, trying to make him see things more clearly. "Sooner or later, we would've ended up getting sucked into this world anyway. We can't escape our destiny."
"See? My thoughts exactly. This is who we are meant to be. There is no turning back now, Simon." Clary added, nodding in agreement. "But none of it is going to matter unless we get our mom back."
"Then let's do that." He responded, his eyes mainly focused on Clary's beautiful smile and soft lips.
Clary grinned, obviously clueless of how much Simon seemed to love her. Nora shook her head and turned around. Some things were simply unbearable to watch, no matter what. Jace approached them and bumped shoulders with Nora as she walked away from them only to join Isabelle, who stood back a little, waiting for her. Once the blonde girl reached her side, the two locked arms and followed Alec as he led the way. Clary observed the two girls and huffed, some sort of jealousy bubbling inside of her. In her opinion, Nora was doing that to annoy her, but it wasn't true. Nora enjoyed Isabelle's company quite a lot, and since Clary couldn't get her head out of Jace's ass, she ended up pushing her own sister away. It wasn't long before they reached the entrance of the City of Bones. To say that the place didn't scare the hell out of Nora would have been a huge lie, but she hid her fear behind a strained smile.
"Which one of you is going to go inside?" Jace suddenly asked, turning around to gaze at the twins.
"I will." Nora answered immediately.
"No!" Clary argued, grabbing her sister's arm with evident tenderness. "Let me."
"What if you get killed in there? I'm not risking that, Clary." Nora shot back, forcing her to let go of her arm.
"I'm going in, Nora, don't try to stop me."
Nora appeared to be battling a war within herself. She would definitely die for the people she loved the most, but in that same moment, she realized that Clary couldn't be persuaded. The twins were two different sides of the same coin, but they completed each other and if one died, a piece of the other would die as well. And yet, Nora knew that Clary was too stubborn to perish, so that seemed to calm her nerves a little. "If you get killed in there, Clary, I swear to God I will burn that freaking City of Bones to the ground, you hear me? You better not die."
Imagining her twin sister burning down the whole place amused Clary and it clearly showed how much she cared about her. In fact, she was aware that her sister would keep her promise if such thing happened. "I can handle this, Nora."
"That really doesn't make me feel better, you know?"
"I know, but you have to trust me."
"You have to understand, Clary, the Silent Brothers aren't like us." Jace interjected, ruining their sweet moment.
Clary turned to face Blondie with a sly smirk on her lips. "They lack your charm and superior people skills?"
"Right, his charm..." Nora repeated in a not so convincing way, while Alec and Isabelle tried to hide their amused grins.
"Most people do." Jace responded as he glared sharply at Nora and rolled his eyes, which made her beautiful smile grow even bolder. "The Brothers communicate without using words, using just their thoughts."
"That doesn't sound so bad." Clary uttered, frowning in confusion.
"Don't let their silence fool you." Jace said warningly, his eyes obviously showing his concern for her. "They'll hold the Soul Sword to your head, and with its blade, carve the truth from your mind. If you're not strong enough, you will die."
"I take it back." Clary commented. "That sounds level ten bad."
"Okay, you are definitely not going." Nora declared. "Not on my watch, honey."
"Nora, I have to do this."
"No, you really don't!" Nora exclaimed, running her hands through her hair rather nervously. "I can do it."
"I'm going, and you're not going to stop me."
"Clary, I'm not letting-"
"Nora, stop! You can't change my mind!" Clary shouted at her twin sister. As soon as she realized what she had done, Clary regretted it immediately. Nora hated being yelled at, it was one of the things that instantly made her back away from someone. Clary sighed and shook her head, but Nora huffed and rolled her eyes at her. The damage had already been done.
"Fine. Suit yourself." Nora replied with a cold tone, taking a few steps back.
"Clary, you should know, the pain will be excruciating." Jace warned her. "Nora is right, you don't have to-"
"I will do anything. Walk through fire, battle demons, whatever it takes. I have to get our mom back." Clary shot back, crossing her arms over her chest stubbornly. "I can't, I won't lose her. Are we clear?"
"You won't." Jace said, caressing her cheek rather gently. "We won't."
"I can do this." Clary stated, trying to bring some confidence to herself.
"Yeah, you can! You're Clary freaking Fray! You can do anything!" Simon chimed in, throwing his arm around the redhead twin's shoulders.
Clary laughed approvingly and grinned. Simon started walking towards the creepy entrance to the City of Bones, but Jace slapped his hand on his chest, stopping him from moving any further. "Alright, hold up."
"Surprise, surprise!" Simon exclaimed, throwing Jace a dirty look. "No mundanes allowed, just like in the training room, right? Wrong! I've seen every horror movie ever made and the funny best friend who gets left behind is always a dead man!"
"You're not that funny." Jace argued. "But, by all means, go ahead. Of course, the minute you enter, you will die."
"Problem is, now I don't trust you!" Simon yelled back at him.
"He's not lying." Alec uttered, unconsciously taking a step closer to Nora.
"Now. He was before." Isabelle added with an amused smile.
"The rune energy in the City of Bones will kill any mundane who dares to enter, so, please, go ahead." Alec explained, offering Simon a cold look. Nora gave him a roll of eyes but he just shrugged at her, pretending he didn't care. He definitely didn't like mundanes, especially the overly talkative ones.
"The Brothers creep me out." Isabelle sighed, turning to glare at Jace. "I'll mind the mundane."
"Your sacrifice is noted, Izzy." Jace snapped, his voice laced with sarcasm.
"Talk about sacrifice, I'm missing a financial analysis class." Simon commented with a regretful look on his face.
Alec growled internally and backed away from the group. "I can't be here anymore, so, Jace, I'm gonna mind the perimeter."
Nora's blue eyes followed his dark silhouette as he disappeared in the distance, and when she turned around to glance at her twin sister and her best friend, she noticed that Isabelle wore a sly smirk on her lips while her eyes examined Nora's expression with great care. She tried to ignore it and watched as Simon threw his arms around Clary's neck to bring the redhead closer to a hug. They both sighed and held onto each other for as long as possible, and Nora could see just how much Simon enjoyed to hold her twin sister in his arms.
"I don't wanna leave you and Nora here." Clary murmured in his ear, causing his whole body to tingle with the sensation of her face so close to his.
"Go be a badass Shadowhunter, alright? Get your memories back, save your mother." Simon smiled softly. "I'll be right here with Nora and Isabelle, guarding the entrance to hell. Don't worry about us, we'll be just fine."
Clary nodded with her head and then approached her twin sister, wrapping her arms around her torso, even though Nora seemed quite hesitant, given the fact that Clary had practically screamed at her. "I'm sorry, Nora, I know I shouldn't have yelled at you. I know how much you hate it, I'm so, so sorry. I promise everything will be fine. I will be fine, all you have to do is wait here, alright?"
"Yeah." Nora finally agreed, her voice breaking a little. "Go ahead, but don't get yourself killed. You know I'll be really pissed, so don't even dare."
"I won't." Clary chuckled softly.
"Clary, you don't keep the Silent Brothers waiting." Jace suddenly said, causing Nora to roll her eyes at him for the hundredth time.
"Alright, just be careful. Go on, you got this." Nora encouraged her twin sister, hugging her one last time before she ran after Jace.
"They're getting to be quite the team." Isabelle uttered as she noticed the way that Jace looked at Clary when she walked through the gates. Once they were out of sight, she turned to face Simon with a mischievous grin on her face. "Amusing."
"No, not really." Simon grimaced, arching his eyebrows in distrust. Oh, he was certainly not amused. "I really don't see it."
"Says the jealous man." Nora snickered, shaking her head a little.
"I'm not jealous." Simon replied in a defensive manner. "Like, at all!"
"Right, of course you aren't." Isabelle's voice was obviously contaminated with irony.
"My mistake, sorry." Nora continued, her smirk growing even more daring.
Isabelle didn't seem worried about the fact that Simon was in love with Clary, in fact she even smiled brightly at him. Indeed, she enjoyed a challenge, and the mundane boy would certainly mean a lot of work. Surely, he was also good to pass the time, and Isabelle actually enjoyed his company, even when he babbled nonstop. "Oh, my God, two against one is just not fair. Let's forget we ever talked about this, alright?"
"Suit yourself, honey." Nora replied, glancing around as if she was looking for someone. "We won't torture you anymore."
Isabelle immediately knew who she was searching for, and she couldn't help but giggle at the blonde girl's expression. "Well, well, well. You wouldn't be, by any chance, looking for my older brother, now would you, Nora?"
"What? What could possibly make you think that?" Nora's blue eyes widened immediately, and her cheeks became flushed.
"The fact that you're glancing around while he's not here, well, it kind of hints towards that." Simon pointed out, earning a seductive smile from Isabelle.
"Oh, please, do you know just how ridiculous you sound right now? I mean, come on!" Nora laughed nervously, shaking her head a little.
Isabelle noticed that Nora was starting to get red-faced and embarrassed, so she decided to drop the subject. Still, Simon chose to press the matter even further, given the fact that Nora had many times insisted on discussing his mad love for Clary with him. It was his turn to torture her, in a playful manner, of course. "It doesn't sound ridiculous at all, it actually seems pretty accurate to me." If looks could kill, Simon would have been dead and buried already, since Nora's eyes almost burned holes in his forehead. That was when he decided he needed to stop taunting her, or else she'd hurt him pretty badly. "Jeez, alright, don't give me that look! I will zip it!"
"Thank you." Nora grinned sweetly.
Nora stood back a little, realizing that she was going to be the third wheel for a while. She leaned against a pole and crossed her arms, watching as Isabelle and Simon talked in hushed tones. She was laughing internally, wanting to mock Simon once more. He was practically drooling at Isabelle, who smiled seductively at him and didn't seem scared of touching here and there. "Uh, Simon, you have something in the corners of your mouth..." Simon glanced over at the blonde girl and blushed hard, giving her an annoyed look. "I think you're drooling a little too much, honey."
Isabelle giggled and shook her head in an amused way, while Simon rolled his eyes and huffed. "You're so mean."
Nora gave her a beaming smile. "I know."
"The perimeter is secure."
Nora nearly jumped when she twirled around and saw Alec approaching them. He seemed a little calmer, this time. She leaned back against the cold cement and tried to look at something else, even though she could feel him coming closer and closer to her. She didn't have a clue as to why she was behaving like this, especially when she was anywhere near Alec, and truthfully, she didn't want to find out. Some things were better left untouched. "So, we're safe?" Nora inquired, trying to avoid looking at the raven-haired boy.
"For the time being, yes." Alec replied simply.
"Good! So, is cracking someone's mind open supposed to take this long?" Simon decided to ask, turning around to face Alec. "Maybe we, or you, should go check?"
"Jace has it covered." Alec answered, folding his arms across his chest.
"Take my word for it." Isabelle muttered in Simon's ear, her seductive voice causing him to shiver. "The Silent Brothers are quite unpleasant."
"That's not helping, not at all." Simon's voice quivered as he became even more nervous, given the fact that her face was only a few inches away from his. "What if Clary can't handle the Brothers? What does that-"
"It literally never stops talking." Alec commented, rolling his eyes for the millionth time.
"Hey! Simon is not an 'it'. You can't talk to him like that." Nora said, finally turning to face Alec with a determined look in her blue eyes.
"Is he always so charming?" Simon asked sarcastically.
"Firstborn." Isabelle explained with a small smile on her lips. "Heavy is the head that wears the crown."
Nora huffed, thinking that being the firstborn didn't grant him the right to be so rude to other people. That was just an excuse for being an asshole. "I feel his pain. Only son. My mother wants me to be a CPA." Simon explained, looking into Isabelle's dark brown eyes as if he was getting lost in them.
"And you? What do you want?" Isabelle asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
Nora chuckled, noticing how anxious and tense Simon was every time she was near him. "Me? Uh, well, I'm in a band."
"Yeah? What type of music?" Isabelle questioned, placing a sleek finger over his mouth to keep him quiet. "Let me guess. Indie rock?"
"Yeah." Simon nodded eagerly.
"Got anything on your phone?"
"I do! We recorded our last set. We killed it! It's... uh, I left my phone back in the van."
"Let's go get it, then."
Nora's eyes widened considerably when she saw that the two were beginning to walk away from her and Alec. Isabelle was holding onto Simon's hand while he seemed surprised, a little bit dazed even. Alec immediately grabbed his sister's arm, forcing her to stand back. He was beyond horrified by the fact that his sister was going for a walk with that annoying mundane. "Hey, where is it going?"
"We'll be right back." Isabelle responded with a sly smirk. Alec raised his eyebrows and sent her a look that clearly meant 'really? Are you seriously interested in a mundane who can't keep his mouth shut for even a few seconds? I'm shocked', and she laughed lightly at him. "What? He passes the time."
"I can hear you guys, you know?" Simon countered, glaring sharply at Alec.
Isabelle simply pushed the boy onwards and giggled when she saw her older brother's disgusted expression. Nora didn't say anything, even though she was dying to make a few sarcastic remarks. She decided that she would keep those to herself, or else she would embarrass Simon even more. She leaned her head against the pole and sighed deeply, thinking that if she had to wait any longer for Clary and Jace, she would certainly fall asleep while still standing. Alec removed his hand from the wall and started pacing around impatiently. They were both restless and aching to leave that creepy place.
"Simon was right about one thing. Is this supposed to take so long?"
"I don't know." Alec answered, taking a deep breath. "It probably won't take much longer."
"I hope not." Nora commented, groaning in exasperation. "It really hasn't been that long, to be honest, but I'm tired as hell and I just want to go home."
"And you can't." Alec concluded, holding her gaze for a few moments before she turned away from him, breaking the eye contact.
"Exactly."
Alec stopped marching around as something occurred to him. He eyed Nora carefully and opened his mouth a few times, definitely wanting to tell her something, but not knowing how to begin. She seemed oblivious to his anxiousness, given the fact that she nearly had her eyes closed. "Nora?"
"Wait, so, I'm Nora, not 'little girl' too?"
"No, that's your sister."
"Okay, very smooth." Nora snickered, smiling genuinely at him. "What is it?"
"Do you remember what you said to me when you were under the effect of demon venom?"
Well, that certainly forced her to stay awake, as her eyes widened in trepidation. She thought about many things that she could say to him, but playing dumb seemed like her best option, in that moment. After all, things were already strange enough, and if she told him that she thought he was utterly hot, things would certainly get worse. "Uh, no. I don't remember anything about that. What exactly did I say to you?"
"Well, you asked me if I was an angel." Alec replied. Nora shuddered, her cheeks beginning to burn up. "And that you loved my tattoos."
"Oh, God." Nora breathed. "And that was just it, right?"
"I also recall you saying I was hot."
"Oh, sweet mother of God." Nora stuttered, knowing he had been right when he said she would regret having said such thing. "Well, you know how it goes, the venom was taking over and I kinda wasn't seeing straight anymore, everything was just a blur."
For the first time ever, Nora saw Alec Lightwood chuckling softly at something she had said. She hadn't known him for long but she had gathered that he rarely smiled, much less laughed. That certainly made her smile too, because his laugh was genuine, something like she had never seen before. In that moment, a small but burning spark sped through her entire body, and she realized that she harbored a strange but good feeling. She could almost swear that Alec felt it too, since the look in his eyes could practically show that. Before the raven-haired boy could come up with an answer, Clary and Jace walked through the gates, both of them wearing deeply upset expressions.
Alec immediately approached them and began questioning the pair. "What happened? What did you find out?"
Nora sprinted towards her twin sister and brought her into her arms, watching her through heavily worried eyes. "Are you alright? Did you get hurt?"
"I'm fine." Clary answered softly.
The redhead glanced over at Jace and her lower lip quivered. She had been crying, and was on the verge of doing it again. "Valentine is their father."
Alec's chin nearly dropped to the ground. Somehow, he looked hurt and betrayed, given the fact that he was beginning to sympathise with Nora. "Wait a minute. You're telling me that these two girls show up out of nowhere and they're both Valentine's daughters? Did it occur to you that they might be spies? That this might be part of their plan?"
"That's enough, Alec!" Jace nearly shouted.
"Surely it makes a lot of sense, Alec! That's why we decided to come here to this freaking City of Bones or whatever, so that you could also find out that, apparently, Valentine's our father! Do you honestly think that if we were spies, we would let you know about our true identity?" Nora's voice was soft like silk, but deadly like poison. She was truly offended by the fact that he even doubted her. "I mean, come on! What the hell?"
"Nora's totally right! Do you think we planned for our mom to get kidnapped? Or for Dot to be taken? Or to have a giant sword dangle over my head and find out that our father is one of the most dangerous people in the world? Really?" Clary continued, her green eyes were puffy but she wasn't going to let her tears roll down, again. "Where's Simon?" Isabelle came running towards them, but she was alone. Nora glanced around, and Simon was nowhere to be found. "Where's Simon?"
"I told him to stay in the van." Isabelle answered softly. "I've searched everywhere."
"He's gone?" Clary exclaimed furiously.
"I can't find him." Isabelle said, shaking her head a little.
"You were supposed to protect him!" Clary shouted at Isabelle, pushing past her. "Simon! Simon!"
"These mundanes are killing me." Jace growled.
"We're not mundanes." Nora snarled at him. "Okay, maybe Simon is, but that doesn't make him less important."
Before Jace could answer her, the blonde girl sprinted towards her twin sister and followed her, both of them calling out their best friend's name. Nora reached the van and nearly jumped inside, her eyes analyzing every inch and every detail until she realized there was no sign of him. "Simon!" Nora screamed his name, over and over again, until someone replied. Unfortunately, it wasn't him.
"Is that the mundane's name?" The group whipped around and saw two people standing on what held the bridge up. There was a girl, who strangely was strong enough to hold Simon's body upside down by his feet, and a man in a fancy suit. "I'm afraid Simon's coming with us!"
"No, no! He's not a part of this!" Clary yelped as she started running towards them, though Jace held her back.
"And it would be my pleasure to kill you unless you return him." Jace threatened with an irritated voice.
"Careful. You would be violating the accords." Alec pointed out, shrugging his shoulders. Jace and Nora glared angrily at him before turning to look at the people who held Simon in such a delicate position.
"I'm afraid your sidekick is quite right! The Night Children have broken no laws." The man answered, gazing upon them like they were mere ants. His eyes lingered on the blonde girl who stood next to the raven-haired boy, and he couldn't help but notice just how tasty she seemed to be. A sly smirk crawled out of his lips as he thought of something. Nora glanced up at them in pure disgust, finally realizing who and what they were. By 'night children', he meant vampires. She shuddered, thinking of what they could do to Simon if they didn't save him from their clutches. "We're negotiating. The mundane, unharmed, in exchange for the Mortal Cup. And perhaps you should hand us over the tasty little blonde you've got down there with you." Jace and Nora eyed each other, obviously puzzled, given the fact that they both had golden hair. "I meant the girl."
"Oh, yeah, right! Keep dreaming!" Nora shot back, folding her arms across her chest.
The male vampire laughed deviously, showing them his white teeth. "We'll see about that. Now, the clock is ticking! Tick-tock, people!"
"Clary! Nora!" Simon still managed to shout out his best friends' names, but they were all powerless. In the next moment, the vampires were gone, and so was Simon.
"No!"