Sebastian POV

We watched almost in silence as the bodies were cleared away from the room, the stench of blood still filled the air and I was doing my best personally to not gag. Who was Lilith referring to when she said that myself, as

well as four guards, were meant to wait for someone only known as the Magister? Were they a friend or foe of mine I wasn't sure, and it scared me. It must have terrified everyone in the room, no one spoke, barely anyone breathed louder than necessary. Chortling defused through the room, and we as a group turned around a small female child approached me she wore a sickly almost traditionally A Victorian dress that could not have possibly seen the day since it's the time in fashion.

"Good day! Are you Sebastian?"

Her voice was unnatural and jarring… there was something wrong with this girl, I opened my mouth to reply but hesitated when the men surrounding me, guarding me all made several steps back almost as if they were cowering out of fear…. Why were they so afraid of a little girl I wanted to ask aloud, but clearly, I hadn't been paying attention to the elephant in the room. A man taller than I, with unnaturally golden hair, scars littered his frame but they did not give off the impression of a hideous nature, instead, these scars suited him as well as any other and he seemed to take pride in his devil-may-care pretence.

"Lucy dear, please take Sebastian's hand and take him to the awaiting vehicle."

No one protested, and the girl who I was sure was anything but human took my arm and pulled me away from my guards, the energy of the room itself was tense within itself, and whilst she remained silent I decided to let my mind wander and dwell… thoughts returned to my sister, my family and the life that I once had, how I was now being held hostage by a colourful cast of villains and most of all I wondered what my fate would be… would I survive this hellscape, knowing that every day was as unpredictable as the last? Just as that man had said, there was indeed a waiting vehicle outside the building, and whilst it would have been a perfect opportunity to make a run for it… I found myself almost unable to shake off the small girl whose hand remained on my own left hand, she opened the car door and waited for me to take a seat before entering herself.

Clary POV

Humming the tune of a song I couldn't recall the words or name of, I attempted to remain active at the moment, but my body was out of it, it was as if I had been asleep too long and whilst my mind was still intact… I was still hurting, I was still fearful and I was still angry. My brother had to be out there, no matter what everyone else said I knew that I wasn't wrong… he was alone somewhere in the world and we hadn't done anything to save him or to find him and that made me even angrier. Twirling my fork in the pasta-salad, I kept my eyes on the food and my ears listening…

"Isn't it lovely, all alone? Heart made of glass, my mind of stone"

Jace sat and ate in relative silence, like me… I was no longer at the camp he ran but at my ancestral home, I should have felt like I belonged amongst the walls where Morgenstern's before me resided but it suffocated me, it made me want to scream, these walls were nothing but a reminder of the failure that I as a daughter was, my brother, belonged here along these walls because he was a true Morgenstern and he was strong… I was just a fake impressionistic copycat that was trying to mimic my brother's spirit… but I had none of his heart or his mind. His phone buzzed and he picked it up perplexed. He stood up and silently excused himself, leaving me to dig deeper and to rip myself apart. I needed to burn something, I needed to watch the flames consume something other than me… I wanted to burn. I wanted the world to burn and most of all I wanted for my brother to come out of the ashes and back to me. The feeling of loneliness continued to seep further into my bones, standing up I wiped my mouth and walked towards the front door, avoiding the staff members were easy, even as a child I had learned to avoid them, their mannerisms, their routines. Their dull way of life, their competent and complacent nature angered me.

Stepping out and down the stairs, I noticed a car being driven into the driveway, crossing my arms I was stunned when Simon, Isabelle, Maia and Lydia clambered out, the car proceeding to back out as they will put themselves back together. I took a step towards them and spoke before any of them could speak.

"What are the four of you doing here?"

Why hadn't I approached Simon? Why hadn't I hugged him? I asked myself… but a part of me knew that something had changed about me, about him about what we were to each other… the fluttering of my heart no longer showed itself for Simon, my cheeks were no longer red with embarrassment… I should have been afraid of this change, this change meant that the one other male anchor in my life asides my brother and father no longer mattered in that sense to me… he had become my friend and that was that, how was I to tell him? How was I to break it to him? I hadn't the chance as I felt the warm embrace of Simon and his scent envelope my scent. I must have pulled away too quickly because his mask fell for a moment, but it was at that moment I realised that I had hurt him severely. The sound of leather boots approaching, I turned my head and Jace stood there, his arms crossed I moved back towards him, we could hear Alec's voice from his phone which he quickly cancelled the call on.

"We can explain."

"What on Earth is going on here?"

My father made his presence known, his eyes were cold and piercing and his hands were covered in bandages, I didn't bother to ask, it was really none of my business, if he decided to lose his cool and needed to blow some steam off, no one spoke for what felt like a million years, placing my weight on my left foot rather than my right ankle, I turned away from the group and approached the garage, I needed to go into town and just have a moment longer for myself, to recollect my thoughts and to assess the new change that had come with waking up in Switzerland.

Maia POV

"Let me explain before you send us back to the camp."

The four of us sat within Justice Morgenstern's home office, provided to us by himself so that the four of us could speak to Jace alone, over why we broke out of camp and came here. Explaining the situation was harder than we initially thought and the proof was barely there… Jace didn't bother showing much remorse, his face itself was expressionless. None of us could blame him for being this way, we had basically all broken our sentencing conditions, we were meant to stay at that camp during the duration of our diagnosis or at least till we got over them and could cope without being watched like newborn children.

"So, you decided to break out of the camp to save Clary from what could most likely be a delusional and conjured up enemy? What kind of cruel game do you think this is? She's in mourning and all of you are in deep trouble for breaking the orders that are keeping you each from being sent to facilities where you'll never see the light of day again."

"Jace, please we know something is up and we know you're trying to ensure none of us is arrested but we need to keep Clary safe or so be it we're all screwed. Lilith, Valentine's assistant is seriously trying to topple the Morgenstern line. He'll be a broken man if suddenly both of his children, his only family and heirs are dead. Like for all, we know Sebastian is still truly alive and that means there's a chance to rescue him and restore whatever balance has been broken whilst putting those responsible behind bars."

For once, Lydia sounded at least somewhat logical.

"Lydia, you realise you're on your last straw if your family were told about this, you would lose everything."

"I am aware, but if there's an escape to be made. I am the best shot everyone here has at getting out of whatever might happen. Besides, we're not doing this for fame. We're doing this because of Clary whilst we don't know her well… we've read up on the murder her brother supposedly committed and we think he's innocent."

At first, we thought that Jace was going to laugh, instead, he sighed… a loud defeated almost amused sigh he then stood up from the desk chair that I was sure was normally occupied by one Justice Morgenstern.

"Well, something did happen whilst the lot of you were trying to get here, I suppose I should tell you now, but don't go creating random theories or ideas. As of right now, there is no reason for us to act."

The Magister POV

"Please take a seat, Lucy please tell Delilah to prepare for us some tea and cakes."

"Yes papa"

Lucy skipped off, Sebastian was still very tense, poor boy. Probably thought he was in trouble or in danger, he really wasn't in any danger seeing as he was soon going to be a part of my collection, whereas his sister was the one in trouble.

"Relax, I am not here to hurt you, I am merely here to keep you under watch for Lilith."

"Why is she doing this?"

"She's a vengeful woman, so is her family but they are easily dealt with if you keep your word. Your father sent her lover away and now she wants to take your entire family down."

"Am I going to die?"

"Oh lord no. That would be very unfortunate."

Lying was easy, he was so uptight and cautious about everything that as soon as I slipped those words into his consciousness he relaxed, completely and utterly relaxed just as Delilah and Lucy entered the room with a small trolley of high tea.

"They're not human."

"They are as human as can be. They are my dear darlings."

"I'm his first one!" Lucy giggled

"Yes, you are a princess."

Lucy proceeded to sit closer to the fire with her cupcake, Delilah worked quietly asking only occasionally if Sebastian wanted sugar or cream in his tea, and he was polite enough… noticing that Delilah was working slower than usual, I put a mental note inside to open her up and to check her clockwork and maybe her motor. The spread that she had created for us was expansive, a four-tier high tea tower, Sebastian started at the bottom whilst I started at the top.

"You've always had such a sweet tooth" Lucy giggled.

"Course I am, I am as sweet as sugar after all."