Simon was so busy healing the faun/satyr/whatever guy that he almost didn't notice Sebastian enter the picture. When he did notice, he stood, a slow trickle of his vampire blood running down his hand.
Immediately, the demigod Hunter chick shot Sebastian straight through the heart with a silver arrow.
He laughed it off. "Second arrow wound in the last three minutes. I thought you demigods would be more interesting."
Then, lightning struck him, and Simon reflexively averted his eyes from the brightness. Instead of Looney Tunes-esque charred remains, Sebastian still stood there with not so much as a burnt hair. "Much better," he said. "You Huntresses sure know how to keep things entertaining." He winked. Was he flirting, despite the Hunters' "sworn off men" thing?
Lightning struck him again, which was statistically improbable, Simon couldn't help but note.
"Enough!" Sebastian shouted once the lightning was done. "How about a change of scenery?" Then he, Percy, Nico, the Hunter chick, and Clary and Jace vanished.
"Percy!" Annabeth gasped. "Thalia!" It took her a second to tack on, "And Nico!"
Isabelle cursed loudly. "How did he do that?!"
"Much too easily for my liking," replied a voice as Magnus Flipping Bane strode over.
"Magnus!" Alec shouted, lunging for his boyfriend, or his ex, or whatever (Who could ever tell what was going on with those two?) and embracing him. "I didn't see you all through the battle. I thought-"
"...that a thousand-year-old warlock would be downed by a seventeen-year-old evil Bieber?" Magnus joked, although his snarkiness was kept gentle.
"Bieber?" Alec and Isabelle repeated in very confused unison.
"He doesn't look anything like Justin Bieber," Simon argued compulsively. (At this point, the quips just came naturally.) "More like Young Anakin. But not really young Anakin, like 'I race ships and have a high voice' Phantom Menace Anakin. More like 'I could totally be making out with Natalie Portman right now' Anakin. That Anakin looks almost exactly like him. And it works, because Anakin also turned to the dark side and also had Daddy issues." It was only when Simon had finished his monologue that he realized that Clary wasn't there to appreciate it. That was when the fear for her set in.
Thankfully, Rachel cut through the awkward silence by saying, "I got it. The joke, I mean. I got that. Although...Luke Skywalker was more the authority on Daddy issues."
Simon forced a smile.
...
Jace opened his eyes and found, to his relief, that his arms were still around Clary.
He then tried to stand and found that his muscles suddenly felt weak, as though the gravity had doubled and rendered him almost entirely powerless.
Sebastian did not seem so hindered. He towered over the three demigods, who had landed in an undignified pile with Thalia sprawled over Percy's back and Percy's head resting on Nico's chest. They appeared to be unconscious, except for Nico, who was stirring.
Without turning his head from the three of them, Sebastian spoke to Jace: "Welcome to Edom, brother."
"How did you transport us here?" Jace demanded.
"The golden blood of Olympians is a sufficient sacrifice for Lillith," Sebastian replied, and though his back was turned to Jace and Clary, Jace could imagine the wicked smile that must have furnished his face. "Can't you feel the power of this place?"
Jace could. He could feel it crushing him, very gradually suffocating him. He wondered how long he could last here and how he could possibly leave. Then he remembered his stele and Clary rested against him. She could get them out. He was sure of it.
Suddenly, Thalia sat up, shoving Percy aside as if by reflex. She looked dizzy, but her eyes landed on Sebastian. "The storms here are strange," she noted.
"The storms of Edom are made of demon essence," Sebastian said proudly. "I doubt they'll lend you any lightning to shoot me with."
With evident difficulty and trembling legs, Thalia got to her feet. She produced a spear that crackled with power. "I doubt I'll need them to," she said dangerously.
The effect was ruined by Percy, who sat up shouting, "I wasn't drooling!" And then wiped his face, as if to check.
"Mind getting yourself off my ribcage?" Nico muttered with great strain.
Percy sat up. "Where did you take us, Sebastian?" he demanded, and his voice was laced with an impressive amount of fury with the name "Sebastian".
Sebastian sighed. "Why are people so frequently about the 'where' and so rarely about the 'why'?"
"We're in Edom," Nico observed, still in his spot stomach-first on the ground but now supported by one arm. His hair hung down in his face as he stared at the dirt. "You took us to Edom. That was pretty stupid."
"Why? Because you command the Underworld?" Sebastian laughed. "Silly ghost king; You command the Underworld of men, but I lord over the Underworld of demons."
Nico lifted his head, then, to peer at Sebastian. Then he smiled slightly, as if he was the only one in on a really good joke. Then he started to snicker, as if he couldn't hold in the hilariousness anymore.
"Mind sharing?" Sebastian asked, seeming determined not to show confusion at Nico's behavior.
Nico mimicked him: "'I lord over the Underworld of demons!' Hahaha! Percy, is that what I sounded like when I decided I was the Ghost King?"
"You were angrier, not so smug," Percy replied, also seeming confused by Nico's apparent mirth.
All at once, though, the laughter stopped, and Nico took long strides toward Sebastian. It was an interesting sight; Sebastian was worlds taller than Nico, but both had such confidence and darkness in their bearing that they seemed equally matched. Which was reassuring, because Jace felt that he might pass out, and Clary still wasn't awake.
"You really don't get it?" Nico asked Sebastian.
"Get what?" Sebastian asked venomously.
"Sure, you can command all the demons you want. Maybe two fifths of them are house-trained, but have at it. But this was once a Shadowhunter city. And if you know anything about a Shadowhunter's sense of honor, even in death-"
"They never left," Jace guessed in a whisper of awe.
"Listen to Jace," Nico suggested to Sebastian. "You might learn something, dipwad. Or just listen to this." The sound of the ground cracking rang and echoed through the space, and then the chorus of what Jace would only describe as the yawns of the dead.
Something started to remove Clary from Jace's grasp, startling him and provoking him to hold on tighter, but it was only Thalia, who looked irritated at the resistance. "Look at how pale she is," she chastened him. "Wouldn't you agree she needs help?"
"We don't know you," Jace said half-heartedly.
"I shot Sebastian with lightning twice. Do you need to?"
"No," Jace decided.
Thalia looked Clary over, checking her pulse and her breathing.
"Is she okay?" Jace asked worriedly.
"She's fine. Just exhausted. Guessing she's had a long day."
Jace had not been aware of how tightly-strung he was until all of his muscles uncoiled with relief. He almost laughed, but instead he said to Thalia, "I'm sorry."
"For not trusting me? Don't be. It's smart."
"No; for making you rethink your oath against men. Sometimes I just can't turn off my charm. It's a curse. Anyway, I'm taken, and I've heard that Artemis is pretty serious about oaths, anyway."
Thalia looked at him with disgust before walking away.
"Come with me," Percy said to Jace, then just started walking, expecting Jace to follow.
"What? Oh..." Jace decided to skip questioning what this demigod was doing and just to follow instructions.
Percy Jackson led him over a hill and down to a clear stream.
"Unlike Tartarus, Edom has actual rivers," Percy said. "Ones that don't mess you up in some way. Just regular water."
"Good for Edom," Jace said tiredly. "I'm sure it wins all the prizes for housekeeping. Are you going to do some sort of Poseidon attack thing?"
"Maybe in a sec," Percy said. "But first, put your hand in. Hers, too."
Jace placed his and Clary's hands in the water.
Then Percy put his in.
Instantly, energy began to pound through Jace's veins, and the scene before him came into sharp focus. Clary sat up suddenly, eyes wide. "What happened?" she asked breathlessly.
"We're about to beat Sebastian," Percy said determinedly. "It's five against one."
Something prompted Jace to glance over the hill. What he saw was a legion of ghosts facing off against a considerably larger legion of demons. "Make that...a bunch against...a bunch," he said.