I'm going out of town for two weeks so I won't be able to update until August! Sorry!
"You don't know where he is?" Isabelle asked accusingly as they sat around the table, eating breakfast. Clary sighed and ran her fork through her eggs, which suddenly seemed even less appealing. Isabelle was not the best cook to start with, and the added worry about her brother only made the breakfast worse.
"No. He . . he left me yesterday when Lucian offered me to help him. He's too loyal to our father. I assumed he returned here, but I guess not." Clary had woken up this morning and gone straight to Jonathan's room, hoping to apologize to him and get him on board with the Downworlders. But she only found his room to be empty, a few of his belongings gone, including his seraph blades and stele.
"Does your mom know?" Alec asked. Despite the obvious hatred towards Valentine, nobody seemed angry with his wife, Jocelyn. She was a wonderful person, much kinder than her husband, and often tried to persuade Valentine to be less aggressive towards the Downworlders. Most people admired her bravery and kindness in the Shadow World.
"No. She went out to breakfast this morning with my dad. And Jonathan's usually a late sleeper. They probably assumed he wasn't up yet," she sighed, resting her head on her hand. "I don't know where he'd go . . . "
"I'm sure he's fine," Jace said, pushing his plate aside. His eggs were left untouched, though he held a half-eaten mango in his hands. "Besides, I doubt he's going to come around and help us. He's practically Valentine's twin." Clary glared back at him. "Come on, it's obvious. He even dresses like your father."
Clary couldn't argue with that, though she wanted to. She loved her brother, and even her father. But both of them were just too set on this whole "Downworlders are bad" idea. Talk to them about anything besides Shadowhunting politics and they're great family. Her father's even funny sometimes, and her brother's a great listener. But mention even the smallest opinion on the Clave or the Law, and they'll both erupt into an hour long argument against your case. They would both make excellent lawyers, Clary thought.
She decided to ignore the topic of Jonathan; it would only make her worry more to talk about it. Instead, she brought up Lucian's instructions for them. "We should head out after breakfast. Hit up all the Downworlder spots, and even try to get some Shadowhunters on board. Lucian wants at least 100 more recruits by Thursday. We don't have much time until the Downworlders get angsty; they want to rebel now. Lucian's holding them back until we can get a larger army. There's hundreds of Shadowhunters in Idris we're going up against. We'll need as many people as we can get."
"Won't all the Downworlders want to join anyway? I mean, these are their rights we're talking about?" Alec asked, seemingly bored. He fiddled with his stele, also abandoning his plate of eggs.
"Some of them don't really care. I mean, a lot of them grew up with these laws in place. They don't realize what they're missing out on. And some are just scared. Trust me, my father's pretty frightening," she laughed. Even the times when he'd yell at her for something stupid like leaving her stele at home or screwing up in training, he had horrified Clary. He even made her cry a few times. Valentine was anything but pleasant.
"Fine. Isabelle and I will scout out Faeries and Warlocks," he sighed. I figured Magnus was going to help him, judging from the look on his face when he said warlocks. Clary smiled at the thought of that. Even though she didn't like Alec that much - and had only known him for a few days - she thought it was nice that he had a boyfriend.
"What?" she exclaimed, finally realizing that that meant she'd be paired with Jace for the day. "No, I'll go with Isabelle."
"It's fine, dear Clarissa," Jace laughed. "We'll cover the Werewolves and Vampires. Though I assume that Lucian's got the wolves on board."
Clary rolled her eyes. The last thing she wanted was to spend the day with the sarcastic Herondale boy. Especially after he kissed her at the Pandemonium club and then ignored her the rest of the night. What a jerk, she thought. "He has most of them, but there are some other packs we'll have to try to convince. Lucian thinks that if the Downworlders realize some Nephilim feel the same way, they might be more eager to join. Having help from the opposing side is usually a good thing."
Jace pushed back his chair and stood up, snatching his stele off the table. "Well, then, we should head off. Werewolves are usually pretty feisty, and vampires have a nasty problem with Shadowhunters. Especially when they get a whiff of Le Sang de Jace." Clary let out a puff of breath. This was going to be an interesting day.
"I'll tell Mom and Dad that we're out sightseeing," Isabelle laughed. "I'm sure they'll believe that."
"It doesn't matter," Alec said. "The worst they can do is ground us. And has that ever stopped us?"
"Never," Isabelle agreed. She recoiled her golden whip around her arm and tied her hair back in a sleek ponytail. "We'll meet back here around six, okay? Good luck." Clary was surprised by the last comment, since Isabelle didn't really come off as the encouraging type. But she pushed away her confusion and tried to focus. She heard the front door slam as the Lightwood siblings left, leaving her alone with Jace.
"Okay, let's go. We should start with the vampires. They'll be harder to convince, and Lucian only has a few of them on board. Do you know where to go?" Clary hoped Jace had a decent knowledge for where Downworlders usually resided. If not, they'd have an even longer day ahead of them.
"I've got an idea," he said. He lead her out the door and they started walking, both invisible to the mortals that passed by. "It's called Hotel Dumort."
"Of death," Clary translated. "Sounds fun." And it actually did. Clary would love a good fight right now - in fact, she was craving one. Her muscles ached to attack. But she knew that fighting is the last thing they wanted. Calm discussions would be best in this scenario.
"Oh, and you might want to put on some more of that lipstick," he noted.
"Huh?" Clary asked, taken aback.
"That lipstick you wore at Pandemonium. I liked it." He said it so casually, so nonchalantly, and then continued ahead. Clary was left standing alone in the street for a good minute before she regained her sense and caught up with him. By the Angel, this was going to be a long, long day.
