"You're never safe from being surprised until you're dead." – L.M. Montgomery
Chapter 7
When Clary awoke the next morning she was momentarily disoriented, but then realised she was in the New York Institute. She got out of bed and dressed for the day, pulling on a pair of jeans and a t shirt, and braided her hair. She decided against putting gear on, knowing that it was not likely that they'd be doing anything that required it in the morning.
She wandered out into the hall and realised she didn't know where to find food, or if they'd need to go out for breakfast. She decided to head for the library, at least temporarily, as it was the only place she really knew how to find.
She entered the library to find Jace, sitting alone, apparently reading.
"What are you reading?" Clary asked quietly.
"Just The Codex," Jace said. "I found a copy and it didn't seem like a complete waste of time. Is anyone else awake?"
"I was going to ask you the same thing," Clary said with a small smile. "So I'm going to assume that's a no. How did your talk with Aunt Amatis go yesterday? What did she think about the whole Hellhound business? And did you ask her about visiting that club?"
"So many questions," Jace said dryly. "It's a bit too early for that many questions I think, at least without food. I need breakfast and I have no idea where to find food in this place."
"Well, this is New York, I'm sure we can find some food somewhere," Clary said dryly. "But we can't go back to Taki's, not after you led that faerie on."
"You never know, maybe I wasn't leading her on and I'd like to go and see her now," Jace said casually.
Clary glared at him and then turned her nose up.
"Fine, go see her then, I'll find something better to do," she said, trying to remain indifferent.
They appeared to be at an impasse, both giving the other a measured look, trying to decide what to do next.
Clary rolled her eyes and turned to stalk out of the library, but Jace sprung forward and put a hand on her arm to stop her.
"Let's go find somewhere for breakfast. I'll send Alec a message to let him know, and when those lazy things wake up they can come and find us," Jace told her, trying to give her his best sincere smile.
"Okay," Clary agreed. "I'll send Amatis a message. Let's go."
The two of them headed out of the Institute and into the light of a New York morning.
Both were dressed in casual clothing, so there was no need for glamours, especially as they'd be finding a mundane place to eat.
They settled on a little place not far from the Institute, and slid into a booth, sitting opposite each other.
They said little, both perusing the menu.
A waitress came, eyed Jace longingly, flirted with him, but received no response, and then left with their orders.
"What, you didn't feel like flirting with that waitress?" Clary asked dryly.
"I couldn't care less about her," Jace said seriously. "I told you yesterday, I was only flirting with Kaelie to see what information I could get out of her. It wasn't fun, well maybe it was a little fun, but it was mainly just me doing what I needed to do. It's not like I slept with her or anything."
"Okay," Clary said, prepared to let the matter go. "Do we need to wait for your food, or now that we're in sniffing distance of breakfast, can you tell me what Amatis had to say last night?"
Jace grinned at her and replied, "She was rather concerned about the Hellhounds being there. She has no idea who would have summoned them, or who they'd would be hunting. She thinks it's too much of a coincidence that they were in the same area as us at the same time. She's going to contact Magnus Bane this morning and ask him to help her look into it."
"Seems the most sensible plan," Clary agreed. "Do we get to meet the fabled Magnus Bane?"
"If he comes to the Institute, I suppose so, we're not doing much else today," Jace answered, looking lovingly at the steaming plate of breakfast that had been set in front of him. "Actually, that's not quite right. I'm not doing much today, but I believe Isabelle will be making you go shopping with her. We mentioned The Pandemonium Club to Amatis and she was on board with us going there tonight. She'll want to talk to us before we go, but she's in favour of it."
Clary nodded, and they were both silent for a minute or two while they ate. It was a comfortable silence, with Jace offering Clary a warm smile and she returning it.
"I'm sorry you got hurt because of me last night," Clary said quietly, eventually breaking the quiet between them. Her failure from the evening before had been bothering her, particularly with the addition of Alec's harsh words.
Jace looked at her, startled. "What gave you the idea that it was your fault, or that it bothered me to step in? You were backed into a corner, there was nothing you could do about it, so of course I stepped in. I'd do it for anyone, well, except maybe Sebastian."
"But I shouldn't have needed for you to save me, even with Jon knocked out I should have been able to deal with that Hellhound," Clary said, sounding disgusted with herself. "Last night I might as well have been a mundane facing that demon."
"I know you can fight better than you did," Jace agreed. "When I stuff up, which I rarely do, for the record, I try to figure out where I went wrong. Do you know how you ended up cornered?"
"Well, I suppose it was actually to do with Jon," Clary eventually said. "I became distracted when I saw him on the ground, not moving, and then I froze, and then suddenly I was cornered and I just couldn't think straight or figure out how to get out of there."
"So you froze, that happens occasionally," Jace said nonchalantly. "Next time you won't. You let yourself get distracted, so you work on not getting distracted. Nothing bad happened, I was there, and we're both okay."
This made Clary smile a little and she said, "Well, thanks again. I kind of like being alive."
"I kind of like having you alive," Jace said softly, before he realised he'd said it.
Their eyes met again, locking in a heated look, the connection between them palpable. Once again it was broken by Isabelle, who appeared once again, with Alec and Jonathan. Apparently they were all dressed and looking for breakfast too.
"Did Jace tell you about our shopping plan for today?" Isabelle asked brightly.
"He may have mentioned something," Clary said weakly. "You know, I don't have to come with you, you could just bring something back for me. I trust you."
"I wouldn't say that, Clary," Jace said, grinning widely. "As much as shopping might cause you pain, and I can understand that, leaving it up to Isabelle to pick your clothes you will probably cause you more pain that the actual experience of shopping."
Isabelle glared at him, but didn't correct him, which was more than enough proof for Clary.
"Fine, we're going shopping," Clary grumbled. "But for no more than an hour. I don't want to miss anything."
"What would you be missing? We're not doing much today, are we?" Jonathan asked.
"Aunt Amatis wants to meet with Magnus Bane to see if he can help at all with looking into the Hellhounds from last night," Clary began to explain to her brother. "If he's meeting her at the Institute I want to meet him, or at least see him."
"This is what happens when you go to sleep instead of staying up with the grownups," Isabelle teased.
Jonathan looked rather sheepish.
Alec had not spoken a word to anyone, not even Jace, since his arrival with his sister and Jonathan, and had been looking rather mutinous.
"What's his problem?" Jace asked Isabelle.
"Nothing more than waking up on the wrong side of the bed apparently," Isabelle told him.
They had both been speaking audibly, and Alec had clearly heard them, but chose to ignore them.
Clary felt uncomfortable, as she was pretty sure Alec's mood could be directly traced to their conversation the night before, so she decided to try to change the direction of the conversation before anyone directly asked Alec what his problem was.
"So, what is Jace short for? I've never heard the name before, especially not in Shadowhunter families," Clary remarked, trying to sound off hand.
"Jonathan Christopher," Jace answered. "I know Jonathan is a common enough Shadowhunter name, for obvious reasons, but apparently my father really wanted me to be named Jonathan, and Jonathan Christopher more specifically, even though your brother was already named that. So I became J.C., which became Jace."
"Three Jonathans our age would have been a bit much, what with Jon, and Jonathan Wayland," Isabelle added.
"Yes, I don't really understand the need to name so many of us after Jonathan Shadowhunter. One or two every few decades would surely be enough," Jace said dryly. "I'm quite happy to have my own nickname. At least I have another middle name, to make my name a bit different to Jon's too."
"What is it?" Clary asked curiously.
"William, it was my dad's middle name, and he was given it for Will Herondale," Jace answered. "Grandmother Herondale is most comfortable sharing impersonal familial details such as those."
"Your extra middle name isn't even original," Alec added unexpectedly. "Hell, none of us have an original name among us. If you look back through our families trees, and not even that far back, you'll find basically all of our names, even our middle names, are family names. Then you get all the intermarriages and there is a whole mess of people for us to be named after."
"I'm not named after anyone," Clary said quietly. "At least not my first name. My middle names are shameless tributes to relatives, of course."
"Well, at least they're reliable, likeable names," Jonathan said peaceably. "I mean, at least we're not called Hepzibah or Zephaniah. There are a lot of bad Biblical names we could have ended up with."
There was no arguing with this observation and Alec, Isabelle and Jonathan quickly fell to choosing and ordering their food.
Once they'd finished Isabelle and Clary, much to her chagrin, headed out into New York to find something they could wear to Pandemonium that night. They both needed outfits that were suitable for a club, but that also covered their Marks. They wouldn't be using glamours, so they needed to be able to blend in successfully enough.
Once they'd finished they returned to the Institute, where they had planned to meet up with the boys, so that they could hopefully sit down with Amatis and talk about their plans for the evening.
They found the boys waiting outside the closed doors of the library.
"What are you three doing?" Isabelle asked in amusement.
"Magnus Bane is in there with Amatis and she wouldn't let us participate," Jace said with a glower.
"I don't find that surprising, seeing as she probably wanted to have a conversation with him without you getting in the way," Isabelle needled. "How long have they been in there?"
"At least half an hour," Jonathan replied. "Surely there can't be that much more for them to talk about."
"Shh, I think I can hear footsteps," Alec said suddenly, and they all sprang away from the doors, attempting to hurry off down the corridor with an air of innocence.
"I'll do what I can, Amatis," said the man who was apparently Magnus Bane said, as they left the library. "And look, what do we have here? Young Shadowhunters? I didn't know you had any staying here Amatis. My sympathies, these young ones can be very troublesome."
Amatis smiled at the warlock, the only thing really defining him as such were his cat-like eyes.
"They are only visiting, on lone out from Idris for a couple of days really," Amatis explained. "They are the ones who encountered the Hellhounds last night."
"Ah, of course," Magnus said understandingly. "See? Nothing but trouble."
The five of them had gradually drawn closer to Amatis and Magnus and with a sigh Amatis said, "Magnus, this is Jonathan and Clarissa Morgenstern, my brother's step children, and Alec and Isabelle Lightwood, the children of Inquisitor Lightwood. Jace Herondale is also under the Inquisitor and his wife's care."
"Herondale you say," Magnus said with interest.
"I'm Jace," Jace said, stepping forward.
"You don't look much like Will," Magnus mused. "Pretty of course, but not dark like him."
Jace, for once, was a little uncertain of how to respond.
"And you two, you look like your mother, and you, your father," Magnus said to Clary and Jonathan. "But I'm sure you hear that often."
Clary and Jonathan both grinned ruefully.
Magnus then turned to Isabelle and Alec. "Now, I'd know you two were Lightwoods even if Amatis hadn't told me. That hair, the ruby Sensor pendant. That pendant and I go a long way back."
"It's a family heirloom," Isabelle said in confusion. "I've heard that it came to the family by way of a vampire, but not a warlock."
"There is much in the world that you do not know, Isabelle Lightwood," Magnus said airily. "There is much I do not know, though I can guarantee I have seen and done much more than you."
Alec had stood by, apparently of little interest to Magnus, until Magnus suddenly met his eyes and said in surprise, "And you, you have Cecily's eyes, Will's eyes. You look more like a Herondale than your friend. Much more appealing."
Jace and Alec looked equally shocked at these words, for a combination of reasons. This warlock they had never met before seemed to be very familiar with them, and he had actually admired Alec over Jace, and in a rather public and casual way.
Alec shifted uncomfortably and mumbled, "I seem to remember being distantly related to the Herondales."
Magnus gave Alec another appreciative look and then returned his attention to Amatis.
"Well, this has been a pleasant little interlude, Amatis, but I shall head off now," he announced. "It was nice to meet you all, especially you."
This was directed at Alec, who turned a deep scarlet, and looked mortified as Amatis walked away with Magnus, to see him out.
By some unspoken agreement they all seemed to have decided not to discuss what had transpired with Magnus, particularly pertaining to Alec.
They all moved into the library to wait for Amatis to return so they could hopefully discuss their plans for their evening at Pandemonium.
AN: Thanks for reading! Thanks to everyone who has reviewed, followed and favourited. I really appreciated the feedback and suggestions on the last chapter as well.
I hope you enjoyed Magnus' appearance :) I spent a lot of time trying to make his tone right, and giving him a suitable entrance, because of course essentially none of the character introductions align with COB or TMI, due to the alternate universe.
There are two more characters coming next chapter, and one of them, will be sticking around from then on :)
Please review! It's so great to hear what you think :)
As usual, there's a 500 word preview, sent by PM, if you review!
