A/N: I'm so sorry! I thought i had uploaded way sooner than i actually had. As an apology were going to get two chapters tonight! HOORAY! Also for people that didn't know Nieve is pronounced NEE-VE.
Chapter 11
We took our time to get back to the Institute. I'm not quite sure why. We knew we needed to get back and it wasn't as if we didn't want to go back; we did, we just, I suppose we just liked not being Shadowhunters for a day. I smiled up at Alec, but sighed when I noticed the hands behind the rigid back and the frown set back on his face. I touched his arm lightly, to which he nodded lightly and headed in. I waited for a second watching him before following him in.
We were greeted at the door by Izzy who had her arms thrown round Alec. He hugged her back with more ease than normal and patted her back. Izzy beamed at the contact before noticing me and letting him go.
"Cope without us?" She laughed,
"We had it under control." I raised an eyebrow. She laughed again and came over to hug me.
I hugged her back before saying, "Where's Clary? I have to talk to her." Izzy motioned upstairs.
"In her room, I think. You okay?" I nodded lightly, ignoring the look Alec was giving me. I squeezed her hand before walking part her to Alec.
"Relax," I muttered as I passed him, and got a short sigh in response. I grinned behind me to him and headed upstairs. I made the short journey to Clary's room and knocked on the door. I heard shuffling inside and the door opened quietly. Simon smiled at me before motioning for me to come in. Clary was sleeping on the bed so we took a seat in two of the armchairs next to the window. We didn't speak for a while until Simon cleared his throat and whispered,
"Why didn't you stay?" I smiled gently.
"You had Clary, he had no-one." This answer didn't seem to satisfy him.
"You just left. I had been through the most terrifying experience of my life and you left."
"You didn't need me Simon. Or want me." Simon opened his mouth to speak but I put up a hand to stop him. "You've been in love with Clary for nearly 10 years. At that moment in time, you wanted her. You needed to hold her, even if it wasn't exactly how you'd like. We've been mates for a long time Simon, but I could never compete with her. Unrequited love interest trumps best friend every time." Simon was shaking his head now. "You were out of there for almost 10 minutes and you never looked at me once; and you wouldn't have done if I hadn't of come over. I was there too Simon. We all were. Clary wasn't the only one to risk her life to save you. You'd do well to remember that." Simon's eyes were on his lap. I touched his knee lightly. "I'm not angry, that's just my reasoning for going after Alec instead of staying. He needed someone and I was free." He smiled lightly and sat back in his chair.
"Do anything interesting?" I shrugged my shoulders.
"Had tea and a croissant, went to see a film, had lunch, went for a walk, had dinner, went to the pub…" I rattled of the list of things that we had done, before stopping short. Simon narrowed his yes at me.
"What?" I rolled my eyes knowing I would have to tell him. I took a deep breath before saying quickly,
"Nieve's back." Simon's eyes bulged from his skull before he stood up and threw a pillow at the sleeping Clary. She jolted awake eyes wide with panic. He stood at the end of the bed facing the glaring redhead.
"Nieve's back." He said and she stopped glaring, switching her gaze to me. I rolled my eyes at the dramatics as they both came to join me. Clary gripped my hand.
"Yesterday was a year," she whispered, "I'm so sorry, I totally forgot." I smiled gently tapping her hand.
"Where was she?" Simon asked also staring at me in concern.
"The pub." Simon raised his eyebrows.
"So Alec…" I nodded softly.
"He was there." Clary and Simon looked at each other before turning back to me.
"Does he… know?" Clary stuttered out. I nodded my head.
"Yeah, he was really cool about it." Clary and Simon raised an eyebrow at each other. I rolled my eyes. "You just need to get to know him. Outside of the Institute. He's different outside. More relaxed." I smiled gently remembering the grin on his face and wondering when I would next see it. Clary looked at me strangely before changing the subject back to Nieve.
"So, what did she say?" My heart sped up and I could feel myself getting annoyed.
"It was too hard to say goodbye." I spat out in anger. Clary jumped up from her chair and started to pace and Simon became very still. They were pissed. I looked at Clary and watched her ball her fists. "In 3, 2, 1…" I muttered to myself.
"HOW DARE SHE?!" Clary exploded. I sat back in my chair and watched as Simon got up to join her and they paced parallel to each other. They always did this when they were angry.
"Who does she think she is?" Simon said, through gritted teeth.
"SHE GOES AWAY FOR A YEAR, LEAVING YOU ON YOUR OWN, NOT KNOWING WHERE SHE IS, WHAT'S SHE DOING OR IF SHE IS EVEN ALIVE, AND THEN TELLS YOU IT WAS HARD?!" I winced at her high pitched screech.
"She also told me she still loved me." I added, which threw Clary into a spinning rage again. The door opened quietly and Jace stuck his head in.
"Out!" The three of us echoed, Clary shouting whilst Simon and I were slightly calmer. I mouthed an apology at him as he left. He just grinned and shut the door.
"SHE LOVES YOU! LOVE! HA! SHE DOESN'T KNOW THE MEANING OF THE WORD!" Clary.
"How can she think she can just turn up after all this time?!" Simon.
I started to giggle at their respective reactions. Clary was all fire and shouting, whilst Simon was the kind to seethe quietly. I waited for a few minutes, watching them clam down. Simon came back to join me first and Clary followed a moment later.
"Better?" I asked them with a smirk. Clary just looked dumfounded.
"How are you so calm about this?" I shrugged.
"I dunno," I started before pausing, "Maybe it's because I don't have feelings for her anymore. I've moved on." Clary and Simon stared at me.
"When did that happen?" Simon asked curiously. I shrugged again.
"I didn't know it had until I saw her. I was angry about what had happened and how it had affected me at the time but it didn't hurt, like it did before. When I looked at her, I felt anger but nothing… else." Clary and Simon grinned.
"Does this mean we can trash talk her now?" Simon whispered eagerly. I hooted with laughter but noticed Clary looking at me seriously.
"Can we?" She said. I grinned at nodded. Clary flew from her seat again.
"Thank god! I'm sorry Char, but she was horrible. She was rude and shallow and looked down on us every time she came to visit." Simon joined her.
"She never laughed at my jokes and never let you hang out with us! You missed an entire season of Teen Wolf because of her!" I laughed.
"I caught up!" Simon looked affronted.
"Caught up? Caught up! We watch together. That's the rule. When I say you missed an entire season I missed it too. We had to binge watch it!"
"You love binge watching stuff!" I pointed out.
"True," he admitted, "But not because I have to, to be on par with the next series." I rolled my eyes as Clary cleared her throat.
"Back to Nieve." Simon and I grinned at turned to face her. Clary sat and looked deep into my eyes. "You deserve so much better than that." I nodded as a knock on the door pulled us out of our moment. "Come in!" She shouted, not pulling her eyes from me. Jace's head came round the door again.
"Everything okay now?" He asked looking to Clary and then to me, missing Simon completely.
"Oh I'm fine, thanks for asking," Simon called sarcastically. I laughed before turning back to Jace.
"We're all good. I was just leaving." I stood, but Clary didn't let go of my hand. I looked down at her. "Seriously, I'm good. She can't infect this as well." Clary nodded and let go of my hand. I patted Simon on the shoulder and followed after Jace. He was just ahead of me walking down the corridor.
"Hey," I shouted to grab his attention. He turned round to look at me before gesturing towards one of the back training rooms. I furrowed my brows but went ahead of him. When we were inside he closed the sliding doors and looked at me. I raised an eyebrow.
"We need to talk," He looked nervous, "About Alec." I frowned at him.
"What about Alec?" I asked, looking him straight in the eye. Jace sighed before leaning against the wall and sliding to the floor. I stayed standing and waited for him to elaborate. He raised his head and said,
"Is he alright?" I almost laughed at the question. One parabati asking me if the other is okay?
"Why don't you ask him?" I put a hand on my hip, confused as why he had come to me.
"He's pissed at me." I stared at him. Jace just stared back.
"Can you blame him?" I said finally, the silence irritating me. Jace sighed again, this time in frustration.
"How can you say that? She's your sister?" I rolled my eyes.
"Thank you for reminding me, I'd forgotten." He was starting to piss me off.
"Then how can you defend him?"
"I don't condone what he said. But I can see where he is coming from. He and I have talked about this. He knows that Clary isn't gonna hurt anyone, but he's worried. About you, about Izzy, about the Institute. He has all this pressure on his shoulders and now Valentine and the Circle are forcing their way up out of the woodwork at the exact same time as we show up? He's just being cautious. And you, as his parabati, should have his back, no matter what. No matter your opinions or your obvious growing feelings for Clary." He tried to interrupt but I cut him off. This needed to be said and I was worried I'd chicken out if I didn't say it now. "Look, I'm not blind. Whatever attraction there is between the pair of you, can't effect your relationship with Alec. The parabati bond is so strong, but if you weaken it over something so stupid…" I trailed off; he knew where I was going. "Talk to him. Listen to him. That's all he wants. Is for you to listen." Jace nodded and left, I assume in search of Alec.
I sighed before looking at the training room around me. I walked over to a pile of staffs strewn on the floor and picked one up. I hadn't used one in years. I twirled it around in my hand, getting used to the weight and feel of it. Steeling my gaze on the dummy set into the middle of the floor, I twirled, moving the staff as an extension of my hand. It cut through the air and hit the dummy with a dull thud. Flipping backwards, making sure to keep my staff from touching the floor, I landed in what Simon would call the Superhero Position – on one knee and the fist gripping the staff flat on the ground. I stood again and jumped at the dummy hitting it over the head and using the momentum to move me round to the other side. A quite clapping caused me to turn my attention to Izzy, who was standing in the doorway. I rolled my eyes as she came forward.
"Bit rusty," I admitted. She shook her head with a smile.
"No, you're a natural." I laughed as she walked past me and picked up a staff. My eyes followed her as she twirled it around her body expertly before bringing it tight to her side. I grinned as she fixed me with a mischievous glance.
"Bring it." I laughed as she ran forward. I sank to the floor, ducking underneath the oncoming staff, and stuck my leg out to try and trip her. Izzy however, being the badass Shadowhunter she is, foresaw this and jumped over it. Twirling round and up, I narrowed my eyes playfully whilst Izzy fixed me with an identical stare. We parried against each other for a while before we called it a draw and flopped onto the floor. I caught Izzy's eye and began to laugh with exhaustion. Izzy joined me a few seconds later as we pulled ourselves to the nearest wall and leaned against it. Izzy took my hand and leaned her head on my shoulder.
"I'm glad you're here," She whispered, "We all are." I smiled softly and rested my head on hers.
"Me too." She sighed.
"Good," she stated, "We need someone like you here. Someone that can see past all the…" Izzy seemed at a loss for the right word so I figured I'd help her out.
"Bullshit?" I offered. She nodded.
"Yeah. You see through Jace's bullshit, and Alec's bullshit and my bullshit and even the Clave's bullshit…" She paused again. "We're lucky to have found you." I closed my eyes.
"I'm lucky to have found you all. I'm finally starting to feel I'm where I belong." I rolled my eyes when I replayed that sentence in my head. "Ergh, that sounded so cheesy." Izzy chuckled and muttered,
"I liked it." We sat like that for a good 10 minutes before a cough at the door pulled us away. Alec stood by the door, looking awkward. Izzy and I grinned as we stood. He kept his eyes locked on me, so Izzy nodded and left.
I went to take a step back and said, "What have I done now?" Alec's brows furrowed.
"Nothing." I raised my eyebrows and took a breath of relief.
"Good, coz' normally when people want a word, I've done something wrong, and I genuinely had no idea so…" I rambled. Alec stuck up a hand to stop me.
"I wanted to thank you." This time I did take a step back. I stared at Alec in bewilderment.
"Why?" Alec sighed, obviously finding this difficult.
"Whatever you said to Jace must have struck a chord. He apologised and said that in future he would try to listen better." I grinned. Good boy Jace. "So whatever you said to him, thank you."
"How do you know I said anything?" I raised an eyebrow and grinned at him. A small smirk worked its way onto his face.
"Because you can't ever keep your mouth shut…" He started. I opened my mouth in protest but he ignored me. "and he started off the apology with, 'I've just had a bollocking of Charlie…" I nodded appreciatively at the British term but said nothing. "So thank you."
"But…" I started again.
"Just take the damn thank you would you!" Alec snapped. His voice sounded angry but his eyes radiated amusement. I laughed.
"You're welcome." He nodded stiffly before turning away. I chuckled before running to catch up with him.
"So, what we doing now?" I whispered conspiratorially. He rolled his eyes.
"I'm heading to Op's. I don't know what you're doing?" Alec snarked. I rolled my eyes but continued to follow him. He sighed frustrated. "When will I be rid of you?" He muttered light-heartedly under his breath. I laughed and looped my arm through his.
"Oh no buddy, were friends now. We've reached that point. You ain't never getting rid of me."
"By the angel," Alec muttered but didn't remove my arm.
We reached Op's and settled round one of the monitors. Shadowhunters milled around us, doing whatever it is that Shadowhunters did. I wasn't actually very clear on that.
"Can I ask you a question?" I looked up at Alec. He sighed but nodded, however before I could open my mouth to speak Simon came flying out of a back corridor with Clary shouting after him.
"Simon, what are you doing?" I sighed, shot an apologetic look at Alec and followed after the pair.
"I already told Isabelle, they can't keep me prisoner here." I raised an eyebrow.
"Prisoner?" I asked, confused.
"Wait, what... Simon! Where are you going?" Clary ran round in front of Simon to stop him, whilst I came to his side and gripped his arm.
"I'm going home, Fray's. And if you haven't already completely drunk their Kool-Aid, then you two will be coming with me." I rolled my eyes.
"Simon…"I started. He turned to glare at me. I winced and let go of his arm. He had never looked at me like that before.
"You might already be caught up in this madness, but there is still time to save Clary." I reeled back, hurt at his words. Clary also looked at him with an open mouth shock.
"Simon." Clary gasped. He turned to look at her and sighed.
"Look, I'm sorry." He looked to me again. "That came out wrong. You too damn stubborn to see what I see. This place is dangerous. These people are dangerous." I shook my head.
"I am these people." Simon huffed before turning back to Clary and starting at her.
"You know I can't." Clary whispered. Simon gripped her arms.
"Yes, you can, it's... It's not safe here." The lift behind us dinged and heavy footsteps came to a halt in front of the exit.
"In fact, this is the safest place she could possibly be." Jace's arrogance threw Simon over the edge.
"You don't get to talk to me, Captain America!" He snapped.
"Considering I'm the guy with the weapons, I get to say what I want." I shot Jace an angry look which he promptly ignored. Simon however was so pissed he launched himself towards Jace.
"Okay, come at me, bro!" He yelled as Clary and I pulled him back, knowing that if we didn't Jace would have Simon on his back in 2 seconds flat.
"Oh, yeah?" Jace taunted from behind us. I kept my grip firm on Simon as he tried to get at Jace.
"Yeah!"
"Hey, what is your problem?" Clary snapped as we pushed Simon away.
"He's my problem!" Simon gestured angrily at Jace. "He's just like Kirk Duplesse from high school. Do you remember him? Total jerk with the square jaw. Smelled like body spray, always bullying people. Why don't you do your own homework? Just once, yeah?" I pushed Simon back again.
"If you had forgotten, Jace helped rescue you form the vamps. He risked everything to get you out of there! We all did!" I hissed at Simon, becoming really fed up with his attitude. Simon just rolled his eyes and pushed past us.
"I can take care of myself." He muttered as he headed for the doors.
"I'm not saving his ass a second time..." Jace mocked as Clary went to follow.
"Really, Jace? Simon! Hey" Clary ran after Simon as I stayed rooted to the spot. Taking a deep breath I looked at Jace. He nodded gently.
"You didn't exactly help." I said through gritted teeth. Jace shrugged and walked past me. I rolled my eyes and turned to follow him back to the main table where Alec, Izzy and Hodge were gathered. I frowned.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"He alright?" Izzy nodded to where Clary and Simon were still arguing. I nodded mutely and looked at Alec.
"Magnus Bane," was all he said and I felt like all the air in the room had been sucked out. I blinked my eyes rapidly to push away the dark spots that were collecting in my vision and took some steady deep breaths. When my vision returned, everyone was staring at me with varying expressions of concern, interest and suspicion (Hodge).
"Something we should know?" Hodge bit out, glaring at me. I narrowed my eyes and turned to see Clary walking up. I looked at her, but she shook her head. I nodded and turned back to the group.
"What's going on?" Clary said, noticing the stares.
"Alec told Charlie what we were doing here, aka. Magnus Bane, and she had some kind of… I dunno, it was weird." Jace whispered to Clary as she turned to stare at me.
"Have you been having dreams too?" I shook my head gently.
"That's what I remembered. With the Silent Brothers." Clary gasped and the others looked intrigued. "Magnus Bane was who my mother told me to find," I continued. "He was the one who sorted the adoption, not Luke." Clary looked confused. "He gave me a family, and then wiped my memory so I didn't know it was him." I looked around at the group who all looked confused now.
"But why did he help you?" Hodge asked suspiciously. I shrugged.
"Because my mum asked him too." Hodge scoffed.
"Magnus Bane doesn't do anything for free."
"Well I didn't give him anything, except a letter from my parents. So whatever that letter said convinced him to help." Hodge grumbled under his breath before turning to the screen in front of us.
"Magnus Bane." A picture came up on the screen. It looked like he was in Egypt or somewhere of that ilk. "He's over 300 years old. And, as you can see, he's not exactly shied away from the pleasures of every century. His tastes are both exquisite... and quite excessive." Hodge shuffled through several pictures of Magnus before stopping on one in particular. I narrowed my eyes.
"Wait, we saw him." I said to Clary. "At the club. We bumped into him when we were leaving." Clary raised her eyebrows in recognition before joking, "He looks like the Downworld's David Guetta."
I smiled as Izzy said, "Guetta's already a Downworlder. Vampire? Ever seen him in the daylight?" I chuckled along with her but stopped short when Alec snapped,
"Can you three focus? This is not a joke." I gave him a look. He stared back emotionless.
"Someone needs to get slayed." Izzy muttered under her breath.
"Alec's right. Now, Magnus is one of the most powerful warlocks I've ever known. He has a deep mistrust of Shadowhunters." Hodge narrowed his eyes on me. "Except for your parents, it seems."
"Well, then why did he help my mom remove my memories? Isn't she a Shadowhunter?" Clary piped up, causing Hodge to remove his gaze and me to let go of the breath I was holding.
"Yes, one of the best. But "help" might not be the most accurate word. Now, did Magnus provide a service for Jocelyn? Perhaps. But more than likely, your mother paid Magnus handsomely for his magic." I furrowed my brows. Then why did he help me. I didn't give him anything.
"Warlocks usually require payment before they help anyone with anything." Jace agreed sitting next to Alec.
"Word from the Clave is that most of the warlocks have gone into hiding since Valentine began hunting them." Alec added stoically.
"Valentine must be searching for the warlock, where did Jocelyn..." Hodge muttered under his breath before hissing as his rune sizzled against his skin.
"Hodge, your rune. You okay?" Clary asked, looking concerned. Hodge waved it off. "So how do we find Magnus?"
"We don't. Magnus finds us. We'll set up a meeting, somewhere protected. Lure him out of hiding." Jace had his thinking face on. After only knowing him for a few days I had become very accustom to his various facial expressions.
"And I know exactly where we do it." Izzy smiled and jumped off the table. Walking round Hodge she took the tablet from his hand and clicked around til she found what she was looking for. She grinned as a poster came up on the screen for what looked like a party. I raised an eyebrow at Izzy whilst Hodge chuckled.
"A Downworld rave. Nice, Izzy." Jace muttered appreciatively.
"And where'd you get that?" Alec raised an eyebrow.
"During my surveillance of the Downworlders. From what I hear, Magnus likes to party." Izzy threw a dazzling grin at Alec.
"He'll never go for it. Not with Valentine trying to kill him." Alec muttered.
"Of course he will. He'll blend in. Hide in plain sight." I said to Alec. "The hardest place to find a specific Downworlder, will be at a party full of Downworlders."
"I don't know, it's seems..." Alec was obviously unsure about this plan so I smiled at him reassuringly.
"Trust me. If Magnus is coming out of hiding, he's going to one of the biggest parties of the year." I smiled at Izzy. This was getting interesting.
"Never underestimate Magnus' hedonism." Hodge added, before a strange look morphed onto his face. "Or his greed. Come with me."
"Oh," I whispered to myself, "That's his idea face, looked more like he had just shit himself." Clary giggled form beside me. I grinned at her as we followed Hodge into the training room. He knelt on the floor and opened a panel with his stele. Inside was the most beautiful necklace I had ever seen. A massive gemstone was set in the middle of gorgeous silver detailing, that was slightly aged and worn with time.
"Is that real?" Izzy gasped from next to me.
"A four-karat, unheated Burmese ruby. And this necklace has special meaning to Magnus Bane as it was a gift from him to his then lover, Camille Belcourt." I was shaken out of my daze by that little morsel.
"What, Camille and Magnus were lovers?" I wrinkled my nose as Clary looked as freaked out as I did.
"Warlock gets around." Jace joked causing Clary, Izzy and I to grin.
"Magnus bought it in 1857 for the price of his London townhouse. Now, the jewel is enchanted by a spell that alerts the wearer to the presence of demons." Beautiful and useful. Magnus had good taste.
"It's so beautiful." Izzy was still in her daze as she gazed at the necklace longingly.
"Magnus has longed to reunite with this necklace. Offer it to him. He might just take the bait." We nodded as the plan began to settle in our minds.
"I'll send Magnus a fire message to arrange the meeting. We have to get to Magnus before Valentine does." Jace said, swishing out of the room. I rolled my eyes as Iz took out hands and pulled us upstairs.
"It will not take us all day to get ready!" I called as Iz pulled us along.
"I know," Izzy laughed as she continued to drag us towards her room. "We've got girl talk to have." I groaned as Clary laughed. She knew I was no good at girl-talk. She had tried to teach me the art but I had never got it. I was not looking forward to this!
Another update will be up soon.