Ah, hello! So, Robert Sheehan is playing Simon in the City of Bones movie! I love him in Misfits. Talking of Simon, as HikariMelody rightfully pointed out, in the last chapter he was in the Infirmary which is not possible…oops! :S Sorry about that. Let's just pretend it didn't happen, but the overall effect was the same?
Clary's arm was wrenched from Simon's as a malevolent blue-black smoke engulfed them both- dusty and freezing, that stung her eyes as he choked it in with the air. Strange, twisted shrieks shot fire through her brain as warped shapes closed in, demons?
Clary wept and tried to curl up as hideous images flashed around her like some sick flickbook; a screaming man with blood dripping from his eyes, a wolf with its ribcage torn away, other things too horrible for her mind to register- then she remembered.
She was a Shadowhunter. Trained (well, in training) to coolly deal with any adversary.
Numb fingers fumbled for the vial inside her jacket, uncorking the stopper she threw the ichor and-
The magic was gone, leaving instead Simon. Clary was about to smile when intense pain blazed through her entire body, she gagged on the scent of her own flesh blistering, and darkness bled into her vision, swallowing her whole.
Clary woke with a jerk, the memory of her and Simon's attack still clinging bitterly to her brain, a nasty, sour taste in the back of her throat.
"Clary, baby, how do you feel?" Jocelyn, lips bitten and skin pale, was gazing down at her.
"Mum…how did I get here, is Simon-"
"Simon's fine, although very worried about you. He told the Lightwoods to come and get you, you're in the Institute. Magnus Bane healed you."
Clary sat up stiffly, a little uncomfortable but her skin no longer felt as though it was on fire.
"What was it?"
"The injuries were from the Mark of Cain, due to the ichor you threw at Simon. The attack was dark magic of some sort, Magnus says he knows exactly where it came from, but he won't tell me."
"Is everyone else-"
"Everyone's fine." Her mother smiled gently, and Clary was reminded of the times she'd been sick in childhood: Jocelyn had always stayed with her, with books and drinks and whatever she needed, forever patient. "Well, Simon feels awfully guilty and Jace has thrown on that bitter, spiteful, sarcastic persona he seems to use when he's upset about something. Valentine did that, sometimes, only not so sarcastic.
Her eyes were far away, and Clary wondered, not for the first time, what she was thinking when she did that.
Suddenly, like a flare in the depths of a dark cave, a rune appeared in her mind. Its wibbly, intricate lines whispered tantalisingly in the language of the angels.
It would be interesting to know what people were thinking, wouldn't it?
Magnus' vivid eyes snapped open, eerily yellow-gold in the witchlight, thick lashes splayed out so they looked like black daisies growing on his face.
The slivers of his pupils flexed and jittered as he thought.
"Clary's awake, and she's absolutely fine." Jace leapt up, but the warlock shook his head. "Jocelyn's there, but she really needs to rest. Don't disturb her for at least a couple of hours."
"Fine." Jace spat, ignoring Alec and Isabelle's worried glances. They didn't know where all his anger was bubbling up from. To love is to destroy. The dreams. Clary. He couldn't handle it. "Come on, Alec, I need to fight. Let's practice with those new blades."
Alec's eyes widened. He and Jace normally sparred with fake blades, or unnamed seraphs, just in case one of them made a mistake. Still, he could see that Jace needed the distraction, so he simply nodded, pushing a thick strand of hair off of his face.
At first, it was fine. The parabatai connection that made them so aware of each other, so perfect to fight together, made it challenging to fight against each other, as they could usually predict each other's moves.
But today Magnus was standing at the sidelines, eyes fixed on Jace's blade, muttering in an interesting blend of Italian and Dutch, unheard threats of what would happen to Jace if Alec was in any way harmed.
Also, Jace- instead of venting, as everyone had thought he would- seemed to be getting more and more worked up.
Poisonous thoughts swirled around, a malevolent maelstrom in his mind, thoughts that had built up over the last few days like worms wriggling about under his skin. Jace wanted to stop thinking, just stop all of it.
He had almost managed it when his blade twizzled over Alec's head, under his arm, and sliced toward his throat. Jace realised, a split second too late, that maybe lack of thinking wasn't such a good idea, as the move had been performed on autopilot- too late, as a bolt of turquoise magic felled him like a tree.
Alec's eyes were wide. Stunned. Frozen. Like the world had been torn away. His blade clattered to the floor, the fingers that had been holding it pressing briefly to his pale neck. Jace knew, because he felt it too, the horrible hurt, betrayal coursing through Alec's body, and he hated himself more than ever before.
"Alec." His voice sounded very far away. "You know I would never hurt you."
"But you did. Jace, you did."
The fine line on his parabatai's throat wept a few scarlet tears as he edged slowly backwards, to Magnus who curled an arm around his shoulders protectively and lead him out of the room, shooting Jace a glare that said quite clearly this isn't over.'
Jace wanted to say something to Alec, to apologise, but Isabelle snatched the front of his shirt in her fist.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"Izzy, believe me, I never meant to-"
"That is not the sort of move you do with your parabatai, Jace you KNOW that!"
"I'm so sorry Izzy, you've got to know how sorry I am-"
Her expression was unreadable, black eyes flat and cold and blank like the squares of a chessboard.
"He could have been killed. If Magnus hadn't zapped you then Alec could have-"
"No, Izzy, I swear I wouldn't. Not ever."
She turned away, slinking towards the door.
"Does Alec mean nothing to you?"
Jace grabbed her by the shoulder, forcing their eyes to meet. He couldn't help but think, with cold anger on her face, that Isabelle looked a lot like Maryse, but where Maryse would have looked away when faced with such a gaze, Izzy stared him down.
"He means so much to me, Iz, more than I thought possible. And I never tell him. By the Angel, that's why this is happening."
Izzy sat him down on the floor, leaning against a glass-fronted cabinet displaying vials of rare poison. Her features seemed a little softer now.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I've been having dreams. Like the ones that Lilith sent me, and they're messing me up, I don't even know what I'm thinking any more. They're all about Alec."
After hearing Jace out, Isabelle called an emergency meeting of Team Good.
Magnus had summoned a round table made of smooth black granite, the pitch-dark stone shot through with tiny ribbons of rainbow colours that glimmered when hit by the light from some theatrical Phantom of the Opera style torches he'd got to go with it. Someone would have laughed had the mood been less tense.
Alec was silent, pale, the shallow cut gone from his throat but not his mind, and Magnus hadn't yet let him out of groping distance. Even now, one protective hand squeezed his knee, the other had its slender brown fingers tangled with Alec's own.
Clary's eyebrows shot up to her coppery hairline as Izzy explained about the nightmares.
"I know who's sending them this time. It's Camille. She did it before, in the park, she said it was 'a taste of what is to come'."
"You can't just send someone nightmares," Magnus scowled, "It's not like texting. Especially a Shadowhunter, you'd have to use extremely powerful dark magic. If this is Camille, she's got help."
"Who would help her? And why would they want to anyway?"
"Well," Magnus said darkly, "The magic used on you and Ratboy originated from the Seelie Queen, and we know she's certainly not over fond of anyone here. Perhaps it wasn't just some random attack; they could be planning something together."
"Planning what?" Alec's voice was small but fierce. "What could those two possibly want from us?"
"I don't know." Magnus stroked Alec's hair thoughtfully. "That's why I worry."
There you go, that's it for today! Let me know what you thought! Well, usually I have lots to say, but today, er, it appears not.
Love anyway, China. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx