A/N: Guys, I cannot apologize enough for the long wait!

I didn't expect school to be so difficult and for myself to get writer's block
because of all the homework. I am SO sorry!

Disclaimer: I don't own The Mortal Instruments.

Who else heard the news about the City of Ashes Movie? Aaargh I'm so excited! :D

Chapter Seven

Isabelle sat in her bedroom, picking at her nail polish. She was in an unnaturally good mood ever since her brother went out to go to Magnus' apartment. He'd been so isolated for so long . . . it delighted her that he had found someone. Well, more like someone had found him. It still made the smile on her face not want to leave, even after Hodge's betrayal.

A knock on her door snapped her out of her gleeful reverie. When she called whoever it was in, the door swung open to reveal Jace and Clary standing in the threshold of her bedroom. She cocked her head in wonder, her dark hair spilling over one shoulder. "Yes?" she asked, blinking to detangle some of her eyelashes.

"You have some explaining to do," Jace said, coming into the room without an invite to come in. Clary, however, hung back nervously, only entering when Isabelle jerked her head in a 'come on in' gesture. Jace sat down on the seat beside her vanity and leaned back, folding his arms. "Go on," he said, "we're listening."

Isabelle scowled. "I don't know what you're talking about," she said.

"Oh cut the crap, Iz," Jace scoffed. "'He is a Downworlder'? What was that?"

"Uh . . . momentary case of cautionary madness?" Isabelle tried.

Clary perched uneasily on the edge of the bed. "You can tell us, Iz," she said. "I mean, we know Alec's a downworlder now, you told us that much once Magnus had arrived, but I don't understand why you won't tell us any more than that. We won't judge him, we promise. Don't we, Jace?"

"Depends," Jace grunted.

"Depends?!" Clary shrilled. "He's your parababtai you idiot, of course you're not going to judge him you bloody moron!" Jace grinned in amusement at her outburst and shook his head, which just added more fuel to her chargin. Isabelle watched as they argued for a couple of minutes-like an old married couple-thankful that the spotlight wasn't on her. It wasn't her place to tell them about Alec but if they kept pressing then she might be forced to divulge the truth.

"Just tell us, Izzy," Clary insisted once Jace had shut up with his stupid asshole remarks. "We won't judge-" she shot a withering look at Jace-"right, Jace?"

Jace shrugged. "Whatever you say babycakes." Clary's eyes widened at the name and her mouth fell open. Ignoring her shock, the blond turned to Isabelle with a bright smile. "So Iz, are you going to tell us or am I going to have to go hoking around in Alec's room to find evidence?"

"You're a real asshole sometimes, you know that right?" Isabelle said acidly. He shrugged again. "Fine, I'll tell you. But just don't go around talking about it because it isn't my secret to tell and Alec would kill me if I told you any more than you already know."

"Which is . . . ?"

"Our mom was a mermaid. Our dad was a shadowhunter. They made Alec. Alec is like our mom. They made me. I am like my dad. There, nice and simple." Watching both Clary and Jace's expression's carefully, she sighed when she realized neither one of them had a clue what she was talking about. "What we think we know about mermaids, is wrong. All of it. We were raised on lies."

"Lies?" Jace asked slowly.

"Lies," Isabelle confirmed. "Sure, they started out as mystical female sirens who lived only in water, luring young sailors to their demise but when seas began to meander into rivers and rivers gave way to land and land became the breeding ground for civilisation, they had to evolve and develop to adjust to the new world. Males began to appear from the other side of the world and they breeded, using human genes to become part mundane."

"How does that even work?" Clary asked.

Isabelle shrugged. "I don't know. I'm not into mermaid politics. Whoever's decision it was to start breeding with male mermaids with mundane genes must have had some complicated plan in mind because I can't even think of how it works."

Jace opened his mouth to suggest how it might have worked.

"Don't even," Clary warned him. He shrugged and made a show of zipping his lips, locking it and throwing away the key. "So what happened . . . after they breeded with mun-human genes?"

Isabelle bit her lip, her eyes zoning in on her whip, which was coiled up on her bedpost. "People like my mom were born."

"People like your mom?"

"Our mom," Isabelle rephrased.

"Aren't people like your mom just ordinary shadowhunters?"

"Nah-ah," Izzy shook her head, black hair swishing around her shoulders. "When the first mermaid-mundane-downworlder was born, they were born with legs. Like a normal human. But if they ever-and I mean ever-get wet, they turn into the original form of a mermaid. You know, tail, gills, webbed hands, the works."

"And that was your mother then?"

Isabelle nodded.

"Are you trying to say Maryse is a mermaid?!" Jace exclaimed.

"Aren't you supposed to be zipped?" Isabelle asked dryly, not appreciating the exclamation riddled with awe, as if her mother was an alien from outer space who visited Earth on the mothership. Even after having never known her mother properly, Isabelle still felt defensive towards her, even though she had ditched herself and Alec at young ages. Jace had only ever met Maryse once, and he was nearly the same age as Isabelle, Alec being the slightest bit older.

"Skeleton key," Jace replied, as if it was obvious.

"Clever," she replied. Jace wasn't the only one who used sarcasm as a weapon. "Yes, mom was a mermaid, and I suppose the reproductive cycle of the mer-folk became so adapted that it didn't matter who they mated with any more, there would still be a half a chance of their children being downworlder."

"And that's what happened Alec?" Clary said, her eyes squinted as she took a wild guess.

"Uh-huh. And then that half a chance worn out and I was born . . ." Isabelle struggled to find the word.

"Normal?" Jace suggested.

Clary looked horrified. "Are you trying to say that all of the downworlders are abnormal?" she said. "If there's anyone abnormal around here, it's the shadowhunters. At least the downworlders aren't specially trained assasians. They go on with their daily life without a care in the world, they have a purpose that doesn't involve murder. I think you'll find, you guys are the abnormal."

"But does that mean Alec is normal or abnormal?" Jace challenged with a smirk. "Because he's both."

Before Clary could answer, Isabelle cut in. "The mundanes are the normal ones," she said as if obvious. "Hence the name mundane."

They sat in silence after that, all three having their own thoughts to occupy their minds. Isabelle sat, fiddling with a loose thread on her duvet, letting what she had told them sink in. She hoped dearly that Alec wouldn't kill her too painfully when he found out that she told them everything. All the stuff she had learnt about the mer-folk hadn't come from him either way because once she'd found out what he was, she'd done a bunch of research on her own, discovering everything she needed to know while Alec just bought more hand sanitizers and the chemically modified dry shampoo that could be used hygienically that Hodge invented before he died.

"How do mer-folk mate?" Jace asked out of the blue.

"Jace!" Clary exclaimed in horror.

"What? I don't mean in that way, duh. I meant that I'd read somewhere that they don't just have one night stands, they mate for life with their other halves. I was just wondering how that worked," Jace said indignantly, defending himself and proving that he didn't have a mind that spent 80% of it's time in the gutter.

"Ribbon," answered Isabelle.

Jace and Clary's faces froze into that of complete confusion. "What?" they asked at the same time.

"Ribbon," Isabelle repeated. "When mer-folk find their other half, they're bounded by the wrists with ribbon. The ribbon keeps them forever connected, forever together. Sharing emotions and such. It's pretty sweet, when you think about it. God help them if the ribbon snaps though."

Clary placed a hand on her chest and sighed. "That's beautiful," she said.

"Yeah," Isabelle replied with a shrug. "I suppose it is."

"What I had last heard of the mer-folk, they were an extinct race," Jace put forward. "If so, would that make Alec and Maryse like . . . rare. Wouldn't there be people out there looking for them? Wouldn't it be the same as seeing a dodo in Manhatten? People would want in on it, very likely capturing the bird and selling it for millions."

Isabelle closed her eyes and breathed out shakily, her hands tightening on the bed covers. Clary placed a concerned hand on her shoulder. "Hey Iz, are you okay?" she asked.

Isabelle shook her head. "Yeah," she said. She opened her eyes and blinked back tears as she looked at Jace. "You're right. There are people out there who want Alec. Mum's safe. People are a lot more accepting back in Idris because there aren't any greedy downworlders lurking around corners."

"What would they do with a mermaid though?" Clary asked.

"Clary a mermaid's tail alone is worth more than a hundred million," Isabelle said. "Even if the mermaid herself is dead. Now imagine the worth of a live mer-folk, in perfect health. That's Alec. That's why we've been keeping it a secret. And that's why I'm scared because someone took a photo that night in the alley. We don't know who it was or what they wanted but they saw Alec in his true form."

"What does this mean then?" Clary frowned. She turned to Jace. "What do we do?!"

Jace shrugged. "I don't know," he said. He quirked an quizzical eyebrow at Isabelle. "Where is he now?"

"With Magnus Bane," Isabelle answered.

Clary's eyes widened. "How can we trust Magnus?!" she exclaimed. "What if he's going to sell Alec?!"

Isabelle shook her head solemnly. "No, we can trust Magnus," she said.

"How do you know?!"

Isabelle wasn't sure how to answer. All she knew was that Magnus Bane was not going to hurt her brother. She didn't know what it was about the old warlock that told her this but there was something deep in her gut that knew Magnus' intentions were not to sell her brother off to some carnival who would exploit his aqua qualities. No. Magnus was not interested in her brother in that way.

Magnus wanted something else.

Something deeper.

Something Isabelle wished her brother would give for once.

His affection, his trust, his passion, his needs.

Magnus wanted a relationship with Alec.

And if this was true, Isabelle gave the warlock her blessing.

A/N: Sorry it's short :/

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