"What?!" Clary shouts in disbelief. Her eyes dart to the rest of the people in the room to see their reactions, trying to figure out if she's serious or not. "That's impossible. I watched him be burned."
"And my little creatures collected every single piece of ash and bone that came from his pyre." she says smugly. "I have kept them with me, knowing that one day I would have a use for them. And as usual, I was right."
"There's no fucking way I am helping you bring him back," Clary says with fervor, shaking her head. "You're insane if you think I would ever consider helping you bring him back."
"I think you will change your mind once you hear the rest of what I have to say." she says, rising from her chair and walking close to Clary, stopping a couple of feet away from her. "I am offering you your freedom in exchange for this one tiny favor."
The retort Clary had planned sputters on her lips. She is completely stunned. "What...what did you just say?" she asks her. She's sure she's hearing things now. There's no way the Queen would let her "little pet" go.
"I do not like to repeat myself but I will this once for you. If you help me bring back your brother, I will let you have your freedom. You will be free to return to your world and live with those you love."
Clary's mind begins to spin a million miles an hour.
Free. She would be free.
She could see Jace again, her mother, and Simon. Her days wouldn't be spent being tortured and experimented on. She wouldn't be woken up by being dragged or kicked. She could have clothes again and walk freely, above ground, never being confined again to Faerie. She could see the sun again.
Her thoughts stop immediately in their tracks. The number one lesson she's learned is that faeries are sneaky and conniving. "You say you would give me my freedom?" she asks.
"Yes." the Queen says.
"For how long?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at her. The Queen grins maniacally back at her, pleased with her response. "I was hoping you wouldn't catch that." the Queen admits. "I will give you your freedom for as long as you like."
"For the rest of my life...and no one would take my place for me down here? You and your people would just let me go, just like that? No repercussions of any kind? You and your people would let me walk out of here on my own, unharmed in any way, mentally or physically, and let me live out the rest of my life in peace with whomever I please?"
"Very specific." the Queen comments with a raise of her brow. "Yes. I would agree to all of those terms. But only if you help me bring back your brother."
"How could I help with that, though?" Clarys asks genuine curiosity sparking the question from her lips.
"There is a spell in the book I have just told you about that would bring him back to life. The only thing I would need from you is your angel's blood, willingly given, and with full knowledge of what it was being used for."
"I will only agree to this if I can be there when he is brought back...and I get to speak to him first...alone...the moment he wakes up. There are some things that I would like to get off my chest concerning him." Clary lays out her terms for the Queen, trying her absolute best to keep her poker face while on the inside, she is laughing evilly as her plan solidifies itself.
The queen studies her for a long while before giving her answer. "I think that is fair enough. I agree to your terms." She smiles wickedly then as she looks down at Clary. It takes every ounce of strength she has not to burst out into a hysterical laugh. She knows that the Queen has other plans concerning her brother, plans that don't involve what she has told her about the Unseelie King, but she is perfectly fine with that. She's fine with it because she knows that once she is alone with her brother, the Queen will never get what she wants. Whatever she thinks she will get by bringing him back, she will never have.
"So, when are we doing this?" Clary says, finally allowing herself to smile.
Jace. She can't wait to see him and wrap her arms around him and kiss him senseless.
"I'll have everything I need by tomorrow morning." the Queen announces as she turns around with a grin and walks back over to her seat. "Varys, get as much blood as you can from her. It will be last time you will be able to." the Queen says to him with a smug tone. Clary's eyes widen with horror, much to the queen's amusement, and her eyes dart over to Varys who is smiling diabolically at her. "And don't forget to take the half-blood from the Wild Hunt. He is only on loan to us for a short while. I am sure you will need his help."
"No!" Clary says loudly as she slowly starts to back away from Varys' approaching figure. His thorny hair was starting to slowly reach out to her. Someone grabs her from behind and holds her still long enough for Varys' hair to wrap around her wrists.
Clary closes her eyes and begins to take slow purposeful deep breaths to steady herself. Only one more time. One more night. she tells herself in a mantra. Varys jerks on her hard, making her stumble forward and almost fall over before she gains steady footing and follows the light blue faerie.
The next agonizing hours are hazy and spotty at best. She is only able to remember bits and pieces because she was constantly drifting in and out of consciousness. There was a time when she thought she heard Mark Blackthorn threatening to kill Varys if he didn't give her a break but she's pretty sure she hallucinated that part. She welcomes it wholeheartedly when a deeper blackness takes her and she is finally able to get some rest.
"Clary. Wake up." someone says to her in a surprisingly soft voice. Her eyes slowly open and find Mark hovering over where she lays on the ground of her room. "It's time," he tells her with a small smile on his lips.
The previous day comes back to her in a rush. She sits up quickly and returns his smile. "I get to go home today." she whispers to herself.
"Yes, you do." he tells her as his own smile grows.
Clary stands up along with Mark and looks around them to make sure that no one else is here. When she determines that it is safe, she scoots closer to him and motions for him to bend down to her height. He furrows his brows at her for a moment and then he is bending to her. "Mark, could I please have your stele?" she asks him.
He immediately looks into her eyes with a worried look on his face. "I can't," he whispers back. "I don't know what you'll do."
"I swear on the Angel that I just want to draw one rune on myself for my own protection. I will not use it against the Seelie Queen and once I put this rune on myself, I will not use it again until I complete my end of the bargain with the Queen is up. I will only use it after my brother awakens. I swear that no harm will come to you and no one will find out who gave it to me should it be discovered. If it is, I will say I stole it from you."
Mark looks long and hard down at her. She can see him warring with himself in his two-toned eyes as the muscles in his jaw flex. He takes a deep breath and says, "Alright. I suppose it is the least I can do for you at this point. You have been down here a long time." He reaches into his waistband and pulls out his stele.
Her eyes fixate on it the moment it is in her sight. "About that, exactly how long have I been down here?" she asks him.
"When were you taken?" he asks.
"March 6, 2013."
"Wow," he says. "The last time I was not in Faerie, I believe it was...late July of the year 2017." He slowly holds out the stele to Clary and her hands shake a little as she reaches out and takes it between her fingers.
"Oh my gosh!" she exclaims, sounding horrified. "Everyone must be beside themselves with worry. Poor Jace." Her voice is sad and thoughtful and full of pain. "I don't like to think about him up there, feeling absolutely helpless." She's wondered how many times he and her friends and family have attempted to rescue her and just prays that they never got hurt trying to do so.
She spins around and pulls down her sheet-dress and closes her eyes and envisions the rune from so long ago. She doesn't want to mess it up. It has to be perfect. Her hand begins to guide the stele across her ribs, just under her left breast and as close to her heart as she can get. Once it is done, she knows that it is absolutely perfect. It sinks into her skin and she begins to feel it's power seep into her body as it calls out to its other half, unable to find it just yet.
She hurriedly ties her sheet-dress around her and tucks the stele into the folds of it, hiding it from sight. Once she is sure that it can't be seen, she turns back around to Mark with a huge smile. "Alright. I'm ready," she tells him.
Mark turns and moves to the door with Clary right beside him. She's so giddy that she can barely contain herself. She wants to bounce up and down and dance and sing and scream with happiness at the top of her lungs. All the times that she envisioned escaping and getting out of this hell-hole, she always ended up in Jace's arms within seconds. She knows that isn't realistic but it was her fantasy that it would happen like that. Now that she has a stele, she can very easily make a portal to wherever he is so in a way, her fantasy will come true very soon.
There are so many new runes that she wants to try out that she's come up with while being held down here. The angel Ithuriel showed her so many runes that could have helped her in her time of need and in those moments when all she wanted to do was die. It helped her remember that she has a purpose. That she was important and that someone bigger than her, an actual angel, cared for her and trusted her with the gift she has.
After a long walk, they finally reach what seems to be their destination. He turns a corner and motions for her to go into a darkly lit room. When she steps into the room, her eyes land on a sort of altar where there is a large pile of ashes spread out in a certain pattern. As she steps closer, she is able to see little pieces of bone and even some teeth up where his head should be. She shivers with uneasiness at the sight.
The next thing she notices is the Seelie Queen standing next to a very orange warlock with long purple hair. The only other person in the room is a faerie night that is clearly there for the Queen's protection. "Is everything ready?" she asks, looking around at the various things that are obviously for the spell that is set on a table in front of the warlock.
"Not quite." the Queen says smoothly with a smile on her face. "I am waiting for some information."
Clary just nods her head even though there is something about the Queen's smile that is more unsettling than usual. She's about to bounce out of her skin with anticipation. For a long few minutes, they all stand there, the warlock whispering to himself while Clary tries her very best not to look at the heap of ashes that used to be her brother. How the Queen thought that was going to become her brother again, she had no idea, but she was more than willing to help her try to get out of this place.
The quiet atmosphere of the room is broken apart by a young faerie walking in and bowing before the queen. "Is it done?" the Queen asks.
"Yes, my lady, it is. He did." the young faerie replies.
The Queen's smile grows tenfold as she looks to Clary and says, "It is time now. Come forth and take the blade the warlock hands you."
Clary gulps and looks over to the orange warlock. Her nerves spike and she has to force herself forward before she changes her mind. When she reaches the altar, the warlock reaches across it and hands her a long curved blade that is etched with some language, probably demonic, that hurts her to look at. "Cut your palm and let your blood drip down onto your brother's ashes, starting at where his feet would be and ending at his head while chanting what I tell you to."
Clary looks down at the blade in her hand and then back up at the Queen. "Remember, I get to speak to him first, alone."
"I have not forgotten our bargain." the Queen replies with a little annoyance.
Clary nods seriously and brings the blade to her left palm and pushes it into her skin. She doesn't even flinch in the slightest at the pain; it's nothing compared to what she's endured at the hands of Varys. She watches as her blood wells up and starts to pool in her hand. The warlock begins to chant and Clary quickly copies him, mimicking him perfectly as she moves her hand up the length of ashes. Where her blood falls onto his ashes, little tiny whirlpools begin to pull the ashes together, piecing them together like a jigsaw puzzle.
Once she is done, the warlock motions for her to step back. She steps down and away from the altar as the warlocks chants grow more and more impassioned. Little purple sparks fly from one hand while the other throws different potions onto the altar.
Even though they are underground, a large gust of wind comes from nowhere and whips her hair up and around her face. It sweeps across the room and grows stronger, the Queen bracing herself against the knight that was there for her protection. The warlocks voice grows louder and louder and soon he is shouting, his eyes wide and looking almost possessed as he looks down in front of him.
Clary follows his gaze and her mouth falls open at the sight. A part of Clary had thought that the Queen was insane, that there was no way that her brother could be brought back. After all, he was a pile of ashes.
That was until she looked down and saw a body reforming before her eyes. Her blood was pulling together his ashes and turning them into actual muscles and ligaments and then flesh and bone. His long and lithe body was taking shape rather quickly in front of her eyes and soon she could make out the features of his face. His long slender nose and the shape of his eyebrows, noticing for the first time that they were the shape of her mother's.
She's unable to tear her eyes away from her brother now. Another few seconds pass and then the chanting stops. The wind that was swirling the room immediately dies and everyone stare in complete awe at her perfectly newly formed sibling lying naked on the altar. It's dead quiet for another few seconds before she gasps when he takes his first breath. "LEAVE!" she shouts out at everyone. "Leave now!"
Her eyes land on the Queen and she gives her a stern look. "Leave her with her brother." the Queen commands and starts to move towards the door. "Move faster than that!" Clary shouts as she watches her brother begin to stir on the altar. Clary hurries over to her brother and grabs a hold of his arm and looks back to see the Queen leaving the room and then they are alone. She hurriedly pulls out the stele that Mark gave her as her brother starts to try and pull his arm back to himself that she has pinned to the altar. She slashes a Sleep rune into his arm just in time for him to open his eyes and look down at what she's just done. His eyes widen as she smiles wickedly at him and watches as he falls asleep.
She can't help herself and her fist flies into the air and she gives herself a celebratory fist pump. "Yes!" she whispers in excitement to herself. Remembering her plan, she climbs up onto the altar and straddles his stomach, trying her best to ignore that he is naked. She places the stele on his chest and closes her eyes. The companion rune to the one she just placed on her rib cage appears behind her eyelids, not that she doesn't remember it like the back of her hand anyway, and then she is drawing. Her hands guide her to draw it perfectly and then a wave of heaviness washes over her. Her hand lifts up off of his chest and then she feels him. She feels the burning of his rune in her chest before opening her eyes and smiling down at her brother beneath her.
It worked! Her plan worked! They are one now. She and her brother are one and she is the dominant one this time. Now she gets to be the one to order him around and control him like he did with Jace. Lilith's rune worked! Whatever happens to him happens to her and vice versa. His own free will is gone and is replaced with hers.
She reaches over to his arm and slashes out the Sleep rune and draws an Energy rune on his chest. She hops down with lithe grace that she hasn't possessed in a long time just as her brother sits up, his eyes wide and confused. He sucks in deep startled breaths as his eyes dart around the room. "Where are we?" he says, his eyes landing on her. "Why aren't we in Edom?"
"I'm so glad you asked me that," she says, her tone is smug and full of elation. "But first, do five jumping jacks for me. Now." He looks confused for only a split second before hopping down and immediately jumping up and doing exactly as she asks. Once he is done, she looks pointedly down to his chest at the new rune there and smirks. His eyes follow hers and for just one tiny split second he looks enraged and mortified before it is wiped away and replaced with indifference and understanding. "You put Lilith's rune on me." he remarks.
"And guess who is the dominant one?" she asks. A loud elated laugh escapes her lips then, the happy sound echoing around the room. "I think the Seelie Queen brought you some clothes," she says and nods over to a pile of black clothing next to the altar. He quickly dresses and looks up to Clary with an arch of his brow. "You look like shit." he remarks and she looks down at herself.
Her sheet-dress is dirty and torn and her hair is full of tangles. "Thanks for pointing that out big brother," she says with a laugh and a smile at him. At this point, nothing can put a damper on her elated mood. He chuckles and then the Queen is stepping back into the room with a superior and unbelievably cocky grin on her lips.
"Sebastian." she coos at him.
"He likes to be called Jonathan now." Clary states looking over at him. She doesn't want to call him Sebastian. The name brings back too many horrible memories. "Don't you Jonathan?"
"I do," he replies with a nod of his head.
"Never the matter, I don't care what you want to be called. I have brought you back so you can complete a task for me." she says as she reaches him and smiles seductively at him while sliding her hand down his chest.
"He doesn't want to do anything for you." Clary says out loud in a stern voice. "I do believe that it was my blood that brought him back while you stood over to the side and watched."
Jonathan nods his head over at Clary and says, "She's right. She is the one who brought me back and I don't want to do anything for you. I owe you nothing."
There are no words that can then describe Clary's satisfaction as she watched the Queen's superior smile disappear from her face, pure shock and rage replacing it. Clary hurriedly pulls out her stele once again and places it against the dirt wall of the room and quickly draws a portal. "And now that my part of our deal is done, I'll be going." She looks back to see the Queen staring at her angrily, her eyes zeroing in on the stele in her hand. "I'm so glad that Jace taught me how to pick pockets," she remarks looking at the stele. "Jonathan, would you like to join me?"
"I would," he says and walks over to her as the portal starts to form.
"What did you do to him?" the Queen asks looking livid, her eyes darting back and forth between them.
"What does it matter what I did to him? You never forbid me from doing anything to him," she says with a smug smirk. "I held up my end of our deal and brought my brother back to life and now, I'm leaving."
Clary grabs hold of her brother's hand and with a clear picture in her mind of where she wants to go, she pulls him into the swirling portal. She is just able to hear the Queen's enraged scream before the whooshing of wind drowns out every other sound.
Clary, you sneaky little minx, you! Clary is finally free and with Jonathan in tow and connected with him! Turnabout is fair play and karma is a bitch for him.
I love that Ms. Cassie Clare came up with the idea of the spell book that brings people long dead back to life in her newest book. It brings about so many possibilities!
Like always, thanks a million for reading and don't forget to follow and review to tell me what you think!