"Taki!" I said, experiencing a mixture of relief and disappointment. I'd hoped my visitor would be Clary or Jace or Simon or Isabelle or even Alec. But at the same time, I'd been afraid that if it actually was one of my friends, something bad must've happened for them to come back so soon.
Instead, my visitor was someone I'd been wanting to contact.
The furry eared Fey bared his teeth at me. I guess that was his way of saying hello. "Shadowhunter."
Oh, right. That again.
Caelia had led me to the chamber and then disappeared so that I was left alone with the short order cook. It all felt strange and I didn't know what to do.
"What do you want?" I said in a bored tone.
"To deliver a message," he answered, eying me carefully as though trying to judge how I was going to react. "The vampire, Raphael, was seen going to the Institute. He was carrying a body."
My heart raced uncomfortably. It didn't mean anything. Not to me personally. It couldn't possibly mean anything. "A body?" My voice sounded much more nervous than I'd wanted it to.
Taki's steel colored eyes were locked on me. "A male body."
The room seemed to slowly be losing oxygen. "Is that so?"
This was it, this was what he was waiting for, why he was watching me so closely. "One of yours."
"Simon," I breathed.
The world spun around me. It seemed almost as though someone had told the ground it ought to be the sky. I didn't wait for my surroundings to settle, I turned and ran to find the Caelia.
Except I turned the wrong way and ended up finding the Queen instead.
"My Lady," I gasped, copying Jace. "My Lady, I must ask your leave. My-" I choked. "My fri- my brother… he's… he's been attacked."
She regarded me coolly. "And how would you be aware of this?"
"Taki."
She cocked her head to one side. "Why would you wish to concern yourself?"
I fought the urge to scream at her, to fling my tired body at her and attack. "Because he's my brother."
She blinked slowly. Her face was serene, almost with a trace of amusement. "No."
Jace was right, I realized as I stumbled away, she did enjoy toying with human emotions because she had none of her own.
The Queen watched the Shadowhunter girl leave. So attached to mundanes, and for what? Their lives were so short.
"Caelia," she called.
Within a moment the energetic faerie was at her side. "Yes, Lady Aeval?"
"Something has occurred between the vampires and the Nephilim children. I want you to tell me what."
Caelia didn't appreciate being sent to run errands, especially since it meant more time with more Shadowhunters when hers was already being unruly enough as it was. But no one went against the queen, especially members of the court.
Her wings twitched in irritation as she ran lightly down the corridor. If only Queen Aeval would return to Ireland. And soon.
"Do you have a library?"
No one was answering me. Well, the sprites I found just sort of mocked me and scampered off. Did that count as answering?
I needed to find a way to contact the Institute and my thoughts kept returning to books. They ought to have information in them, right? At least, that was what I hoped. But no one was being even remotely helpful. If I was supposedly the Queen's own personal Shadowhunter, didn't that come with a side order of respect?
An elf kicked at my foot.
Apparently not.
Something had happened to Simon – something bad. But I had no way of knowing what and the Queen wouldn't let me leave. If only I was strong enough to break through her magic…
I stopped mid-stride. Oh, it was so simple! The answer had been there, waiting for me the entire time! Feeling a rush of hope, I turned on my heel and set off towards the training room. It wasn't going to be the fastest way to get free, but it would work. It had to.
"Caelia!" I shouted as I started to jog through the halls. If there was ever a good time for that faerie to just show up, now was it.
But she didn't show up. I guess that's faeries for you, unreliable. However, Meliorn was standing calmly by the back wall, stringing a bow.
"I never thought I'd say this," I said as I walked towards him, "but I'm actually glad to see you." And without another word, I grabbed two swords off the wall, tossed one to him, and attacked.
"This wasn't a good idea," Isabelle said softly to Jace.
"And going to the Seelie Court was?" he snapped back.
Despite its still being summer and the fact that they were no longer soaked in pond water, the night air was still uncomfortably cold. Jace refused to admit he was cold though, and stood with his arms crossed, watching Raphael dig a fresh grave in the cemetery. Clary was nearby, cradling Simon's still body and shivering terribly.
Isabelle sucked in a breath as though his remark had physically harmed her.
Jace sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm just on edge."
"Why would you be on edge?" she asked dryly. "It's not like your girlfriend is being held hostage by a bunch of faeries and you're stuck playing guardian angel over her little sister while you wait for her best friend to be buried since he got himself attacked by vampires."
"Thank you for summing that up," he growled.
Isabelle shrugged but it turned more into a shiver. "Alec said he'd be here soon, right?"
Jace nodded shortly. "They have to stop and pick up some blood, but they're on their way."
"Clary's talking to Raphael," Isabelle pointed out. "It doesn't look like it's going so well."
They both stared at the scene. Raphael was taking a momentary break from digging the grave, leaning on his shovel. With a start of alarm, Jace noticed how pale Clary's face was.
"You watch Simon, I'll take care of Clary," Jace ordered and stepped forward.
Isabelle's mouth twisted into a humorless smile. There went Jace, taking care of Clary – even though he hardly liked her – because Jaci had asked him to. She could remember Jace when he was younger, refusing to do what he was asked just because he could. Jaci was good for him. If only she could've been there in the cemetery with them. It felt wrong to Isabelle that she would witness Simon's burial when she'd only known him for a little while and Jaci was trapped. She tried to imagine if Alec was in Simon's place and she was the one unable to be there. Her stomach dropped uncomfortably and she turned her mind away from that particular train of thought.
Clary seemed to sway where she crouched, Jace noted.
"Clary," he said firmly. "Come on. You don't have to watch this." And ignoring her quiet protests, he helped her to her feet. "Isabelle will watch him."
"I want to be here when he wakes up." She sounded like a sleepwalker.
Jace put a protective arm around her shoulders and led her away from the site. "I know. You will be, I just don't want you passing out and falling into the grave."
An image of being buried alive flashed through Clary's mind and she automatically leaned into Jace. "I feel sick."
"I know. I thought you were going to throw up on Raphael's feet."
"I thought you thought I was going to fall in," she pointed out half-heartedly.
Jace led her to a large rock and sat her down. "I think either one would have surprised him."
"This is my fault," she muttered as though she hadn't heard him.
"It's not your fault."
"Yes," Clary snapped, "it is.
Jace looked annoyed. "How do you figure that?"
"If it weren't for what happened in the faerie court, Simon would still be alive," she blurted out before she could filter her words.
The chilled air seemed to hold the silence and make it grow. Clary imagined that it was visible, like a cloud surrounding the two of them.
"Simon's not a child," Jace said at length. "He has to be held responsible for his own actions, too, you know."
"And I have to be held responsible for mine," Clary snapped back.
"Jace!" someone called.
"Alec?" Jace called back.
Sure enough, the dark haired boy appeared over the rise carrying a plastic bag in one hand. Behind him trialed Magnus, looking thoroughly unamused.
"I brought blood, like you asked," Alec said, holding up the bag.
Jace took the bag gingerly. "Do I want to ask where you got this?"
"From a butcher shop in Greenpoint," Magnus responded. "Now, do I want to know where you left Jaci?"
The steady sound of Raphael digging had stopped.
"I'll explain later," Jace said dismissively before turning to Clary. "When Raphael said this wouldn't be pleasant, he wasn't lying. You can stay here. I'll send Isabelle down to wait with you."
Clary thought about that. It would be a relief not to witness whatever was going to happen but she couldn't make Simon face that alone, especially without Jaci there either. "I want to be there. I have to be there."
No one tried to argue with her. Clary felt numb as they walked back into the clearing that held Simon's grave. Isabelle stood by the side of the freshly packed rectangle, her whip coiled through her fingers.
"Jesus, it's cold," Clary muttered, hugging herself. "It's as if it turned to winter overnight."
Raphael chuckled darkly. "Be glad it isn't winter. The ground freezes like iron in winter. Sometimes it is impossible to dig and the fledgling must wait months, starving underground, before it can be born."
Clary tried her best not to shudder at the mental image.
"Charming," Magnus muttered.
Raphael noticed the warlock for the first time then, his eyes widening in surprise for an instant. "High Warlock. I hadn't expected to see you here."
Magnus shrugged. "I was curious. I've never seen one of the Night Children rise. Besides," he glared meaningfully at Jace, "I thought I might run into a friend of mine here, but she appears to have vanished. How. Odd."
"Where is the other Shadowhunter?" Raphael asked, eyes flashing. "The clever one?"
"She had an important appointment with a very influential individual," Jace said evenly. "She was unable to cancel."
"Influential individual?" Raphael echoed. "You keep surprisingly illustrious company, Shadowhunter."
"Are you talking about yourself again?" Jace asked. "That seems boastful."
Alec let out an awkward laugh before speaking. "Maybe he meant me."
Clary stared at him. Did he really just make a joke?
"Sorry." Alec blushed. "Nerves."
Magnus reached out to comfort Alec, but the Shadowhunter boy stepped out of range self-consciously. Clary noticed and decided to defuse the tension – well, at least that tension, anyway.
"So what do we do now?" Her teeth chattered as she spoke.
"It is always cold at a rising," Raphael said, ignoring her question and noticing her shivering. "The fledgling draws strength from the living things that surround it, taking from them the energy to rise."
Clary had a bizarre mental image of a fanged duck. "You don't look cold," she pointed out.
Raphael met her gaze evenly. "I'm not living."
And now, Clary thought, Simon won't be either.
"Make room," Raphael ordered. "Simon can hardly rise with you all standing on top of him."
Clary jumped back hastily, not liking the idea of standing on Simon's grave – not liking the idea of Simon's grave, even. Her breath rose before her like a ghost, terribly fitting for the dark graveyard.
At that moment, a dull pounding began underneath the earth.
Isabelle tugged on Jace's sleeve. "I have a bad feeling about this." She stared at the freshly turned earth in apprehension. "This is wrong. This is very wrong."
"We couldn't let him die," Jace said back in a strained voice. The pounding was growing louder but nothing more seemed to be happening. The lack of movement was eerie. Where they stood, everything was still, despite the slight breeze that moved elsewhere. The prolonged suspense was grating on all their nerves.
Raphael began to pace and mutter to himself in Spanish, coming near to the edge of the grave – the central point of the pounding – but always backing away as though unsure of himself. Clary watched his progress closely, feeling the terrible cold seep into her bones.
"Something's wrong." Magnus's voice presented the thought they were all afraid to think.
The vampire in their midst didn't respond but continued to pace.
"Jaci should've been here," Clary murmured to herself. The pounding was terrible to listen to and the longer it lasted, the worse it got. That was Simon, trapped under the earth. Jaci's worst nightmare, she realized. "Why isn't he rising?!"
"Because he is not strong enough," someone answered.
Clary whirled to face the voice, half of her expecting to see Jaci striding into the clearing with some magical answer. But it wasn't Jaci. The figure approaching their group was smaller than Jaci and moved differently than the Shadowhunter girl. As the newcomer drew closer, Clary could make out shimmering wings growing out of the girl's back. A faerie.
"Now we're only missing a werewolf," Jace commented. "Why not just hold a mini-Accords?"
The faerie didn't respond to Jace. She walked past him as though he didn't exist and walked right to the edge of the grave.
"Get away from him," Clary hissed. This was a faerie. This was why Jaci was gone and now, now she was losing Simon too.
The faerie turned solidly black eyes towards her. "Certainly. If you wish to condemn him."
"Condemn him?" Clary echoed, panic coloring her voice.
"You," Jace snapped, turning on Raphael, hand reaching inside his jacket threateningly. "Tell us what's happening."
Raphael simply shrugged though his face was carefully emotionless. "He is not drawing the sufficient amount of energy from his surroundings."
"And what does that mean."
"It means," Raphael met Jace's eyes unflinchingly, "he may not want to rise."
"What." It wasn't a question. For a moment, Clary thought she had been the one to speak but then realized it had actually been Isabelle.
"He is not drawing the energy he needs," Raphael pointed out simply. "It must be only by choice. There are enough of the living here to provide more than enough energy."
Clary felt as though her stomach had vanished without warning the rest of her insides so that now they were all sitting in new, bizarre places. "What happens if he doesn't rise?"
Now that she listened, the pounding under the earth didn't seem to be growing closer to the surface or farther away. It was just simply staying.
The elegant vampire shrugged. "He will wait under the earth until he decides he is ready, or until he grows too weak to free himself."
"Then we have to dig him out," Jace said, stepping forward to grab the spade but the faerie hissed at him.
"Fool Shadowhunter," she spat. "You know nothing of Downworlders and yet you insist on trying to control us."
"Who are you?" Alec demanded of her. "I don't believe you were invited here."
The faerie smiled and Clary noticed her teeth looked almost as sharp as Raphael's. "I am Caelia. I am the keeper of your Jaelyn."
"Then where is she?" Jace glowered down at Caelia. He was very aware that he could break her bones, she looked so delicate. Even smaller than Clary.
Caelia stared back at him unwaveringly. Foolish Shadowhunter boy, so confident in his strength. "She is safe."
"Why isn't she here?" Isabelle asked.
"Because it isn't time for her yet." Caelia turned back to face the grave. "This mundane, he is important to her?"
Clary realized with a start that Caelia was addressing her. She nodded quickly and looked away from the faerie's chilling gaze.
"Then he is important to the Fey," she said simply. "He will rise, even if we must wait."
"The Fey took my Shadowhunter?" Magnus huffed in exasperation. "I want her back," he said to Caelia.
"She is not yours," she answered simply, settling down on the ground, closing her large, dark eyes.
"Great, now I have to visit the Seelie Court and see if I can fix your problems," the warlock muttered. "Again."
No one responded to him. They were all preparing to hold vigil throughout the night, waiting for Simon to rise. Soon, the only sound was the steady beating under the ground, as though the earth itself was coming slowly to life.
Clary felt so tired… And the pounding under the earth was so rhythmic…
Jace watched vigilantly as Clary fell asleep, curled in the grass, shivering slightly.
He turned when Isabelle spoke. "You said we couldn't dig him out. That we didn't understand."
Caelia slowly opened her eyes. She was clearly annoyed. "Because you don't."
Jace turned to Raphael. "Care to explain?"
"If you unearth a fledgling, it will not be fully turned and will die slowly and painfully," he said.
"So, we wait for Simon," Isabelle said.
Magnus sighed dramatically. "I rushed here so that I could stand around a pile of dirt and find out you irresponsible bunch lost my Shadowhunter. This is not what I had planned for my evening."
"You don't have to stay," Jace pointed out.
"You have an excellent point," Magnus admitted, unhitching himself from the tombstone he was leaning against. "Enjoy your frosted rendezvous in the cemetery." He motioned for Alec to follow him.
"I'll text you," Alec said to Jace. Jace just nodded in response.
As he walked past Clary, the warlock stopped for a moment and snapped. A fleece blanket appeared to cover her.
"Thank you," Jace said. He knew Jaci would be appreciative.
The group around the grave sank into silence. Now the beating below the earth rose and fell periodically, not as loud as it had been.
Isabelle heaved a sigh and then sat on the ground next to Clary's sleeping form. She pulled the other girl's torso onto her lap, stealing her heat and part of her blanket. Jace raised an eyebrow at his sister.
"It's cold," she said defensively. "And it doesn't sound as though anything is happening anytime soon."
Jace had to admit, she had a point, so he sat down next to her and hugged his knees.
There was a rock digging into his back. Wasn't that how it always went with sleeping outside? There was always one rock in the worst position.
Jace sat up stiffly and blinked in surprise when he saw his surroundings. They were still in the cemetery, except now it was dawn and Raphael was nowhere to be seen. Beside him, Isabelle and Clary were still asleep in a tangled mess of blanket and limbs.
"You're lucky," said the faerie. Her back was to him, facing the rising sun. The slight glow reflected dazzlingly off her wings.
"What?"
Caelia rose gracefully to her feet. "Demons could have found you if I hadn't stayed." And she began to walk away.
"Where are you going?" Jace demanded, scrambling to his feet. She knew where Jaci was, how Jaci was.
"I am going to babysit my Shadowhunter," Caelia said flatly. "Daycare's over. Well, I suppose it would have been Nightcare."
He whirled to stare dazedly at the fresh grave. "He's still under there."
"Observant," the faerie commented. "You may as well not waste your time, he will not rise during the day."
"So you're leaving."
She paused for a moment and glanced towards the east. "For now. A representative of the Seelie Court will return at dusk."
"Jaci…?" he asked hesitantly.
"What about Jaelyn?"
He took a deep breath. "Tell her that he won't be left alone."
The faerie looked impressed. "You intend to stand guard over a fledgling vampire who will not rise? But he is only a Downworlder."
"No," Jace said, turning away from her, "he's Simon."