Jonathan scared her. Not the way their father did, though. Valentine was predictable. She knew exactly what to expect from him. Jonathan…Jonathan wanted to please their father, but he wanted other things too. He liked to hurt things, to hurt people. He wasn't as predictable as their father. He was a little unhinged. Something in him wasn't quite right.
It had taken her a long time to realize what it was. Only after moving away and finding out what they were did she realize. It was the demon blood. Lucifer's blood running through his veins. It had manifested, taking him over and creating a monster.
"Are we here for the same reason?" He asked her.
They were still standing atop the hill, the cottage below them. "No. I don't believe so." She said truthfully. It felt good to tell the truth, even if it was to Jonathan.
He nodded, clearly pleased with her answer. "Good. Father is already so displeased with you. I couldn't imagine he would be happy to learn you were searching for the Mirror as well."
She made sure her face didn't change. It was no surprise that he was after the Mirror. The surprise was that he had sent Jonathan to look for it. "I'm testifying to the Clave. Against him." She told him.
"Of course, you are." He sighed disappointedly. "I often wonder where he went wrong with you. He treated us the same. And yet, I am loyal and you are not."
Jonathan truly believed that he was their father's prodigal son. He was unaware of how much Valentine valued Jace. "He didn't. He never treated us the same. He favored you." Jonathan said it was because he always did what he was told. "I don't see either of us complaining about our current status." She pointed out. "Father still favors you and I got the freedom I wanted."
It wasn't freedom. It was close, but it wasn't freedom. Valentine still loomed over her, threatening the ones she loved. And then there was Jonathan. Standing next to her. He would hurt someone, just to do it. But if he knew that it would hurt her, he would relish it. Make it a hundred times worse.
"You're going to keep your mouth shut." A demand, not a question.
She looked over at him. They looked similar, the two of them. The Morgenstern twins, the true twins. The same regal cheekbones and slender bodies. The same eye shape and the same nose. The same graceful hands they had inherited from their mother and long lashes. "Yes." She stated. "But Jonathan?" He raised an eyebrow questioningly. "If you do anything that even makes me think you'll hurt one of my friends, I'll kill you." The words came out much more confident than she had hoped.
She hated the smile he wore. "You can try." He replied easily. "If you don't succeed, I'll let you live." Jonathan didn't believe in mercy. "And then, I'll kill your Lightwood friends and that incessant vampire you've brought into our home country. I'll kill that warlock scum you've allied yourself with and I will kill your vampire boyfriend."
She sucked in a breath. When he looked back at her, her eyes were the same dark black as his.
Their trek back to the Penhallow was quiet. Jonathan didn't attempt any conversation and she was glad for it.
By the time they returned to the house, food was spread out in the living room. Most of it had been picked on, she noticed. They hadn't been gone that long, she didn't think.
Conversation ceased when they entered the room. Jace barely looked up from Aline, the two of them eating cake from the same plate.
"Good, you guys are back!" Isabelle grinned. She waved her hand around the food. "We've got cake and cheese and apples and a bunch of stuff Aline swiped from the kitchen for us." There was a bottle of wine in the middle of the food.
Max was huddled on one of the couches, a piece of cake in his lap and his nose in a book. "Jace, your sister has a wonderful sense of direction." Sebastian settled himself on the couch next to Isabelle. "She's like a walking compass." Isabelle made him a plate of food and handed it to him. He smiled graciously. She asked where they ventured off to. "Eliza was kind enough to show me the cottage she grew up in."
Jace's head snapped up from Aline. "Did she now?" He asked thickly. Oh, he was very cross with her.
Sebastian popped an apple slice in his mouth. "Yes. It was a lovely little place."
Jace glowered at her briefly before turning back to Aline. Eliza put her hand on Simon's wrist as Sebastian turned his attention to Isabelle. She led Simon to one of the other couches and they sat down.
"How are you?" She asked quietly. He shrugged. "I'm sorry you ended up here. If I could send you back to New York, I would in a heartbeat."
"Don't worry about it." He told her. "Besides, how many vampires can say they've been to Alicante?"
Isabelle stood up from the couch she was occupying. "We're out of wine." She put the empty bottle on the table and, with a wink in Sebastian's direction, flounced off to the kitchen.
Sebastian turned, settling his attention on Eliza and Simon. "Simon, you've been quiet. Are you all right?" He smiled. He tended to smile a lot in this guise.
Simon leaned back on the couch, making himself comfortable. "I don't think I would bring much to any conversation. They're all about your politics or people I don't know."
Sebastian's smile faded. "We tend to be closed off. It's only because we are shut off from the other world." Simon said he felt as if they closed themselves off from the world, considering they seemed to despise mundanes."
Sebastian's eyebrows lifted. "That is strong language. Anyways, I can't imagine that the world would want anything to do with us. We're the reminder to the mundane world that the monsters who hide under their beds are in fact, very real." Sebastian glanced at Jace, who was staring at them with mild interest. "Do you agree with me?" Sebastian asked him.
Jace gave a tight-lipped smile and responded in Romanian, "De ce crezi ca va ascultam conversatia?" She scrambled the words out in her head. She hadn't used Romanian in so long. Why do you think I was listening to your conversation? Naturally he had a smart-mouthed response.
Sebastian seemed surprised by his answer. He replied back in the same language, "M-ai urmarit de cand ai ajuns aici. Nu-mi dau seama daca nu ma placi ori daca e sti atat de banuitor cu toata lumea." Did they have to argue in Romanian? Her brain was hurting. You've been following me since you got here. I do not know if I do not like you or if you are so stupid with everyone. Sebastian stood up. "The Romanian practice was enjoyable, thank you. I'm going to go see what's taking Isabelle so long with the wine." He walked out of the room, headed towards the kitchen.
Eliza glared at Jace. "Why do you insist on baiting everyone today?" She hissed.
His eyes widened and then narrowed in contempt. "De ce insistă să flirtezi cu toată lumea?" She flinched. Why do you insist on flirting with everyone? Sometimes, he could be just as cruel as Jonathan.
Alec came into the room, the same frown as before plastered on his face. "Welcome back." Jace said dryly.
"You know, Alec," Eliza started, "it wouldn't kill you to smile every once in a while." She suggested to him.
He looked grim. "You told me that amusement wasn't a good look on me." She vaguely remembered the strung out look on his face after the Hotel Dumont incident. She decided not to carry the conversation further. "I came back for you." Alec gestured to Simon. He took an apple from the table and took a bite. "They want him at the Gard."
Jace got up from the couch, shaking Aline's hand from his. "Why? Did you at least ask before you came running back here?"
Alec glared at him. "Yes, I asked. I'm not stupid, Jace."
Isabelle snickered in the doorway. Sebastian was next to her, a new bottle of wine in his hand. "Brother, sometimes you can be just a little bit stupid." Isabelle told him. He turned his murderous look to his sister.
"The Clave has decided to send Simon back to New York through a Portal." Alec told them. Eliza put her hand on his knee, giving Simon a warm smile. Isabelle protested, saying Simon had just woken up. "Isabelle, hush." Alec told his sister. "That's what the Clave has decided, seeing that Simon coming to Alicante was a complete accident."
"No, it's fine. I want to go." Simon finally spoke. "I might get back before my mom notices I've been gone." Aline asked if he really had a mother. "I really want to go back." He told Eliza.
She stood up and pulled him to his feet. "I need a favor, if you're going to be ditching me." She said softly, so no one would hear. He said he'd do anything. She pulled him into a hug, her mouth close to his ear. "Tell Magnus I'm in danger." She murmured. He stiffened. "And give Clary my best." She said loud enough for others to hear. "Oh, and if you see Magnus, make sure he's feeding the cat. He forgets."
She pulled away from the hug. Simon nodded, saying he'd speak to Clary and ask about the cat.
"Alec, you're going with him?" Jace asked cautiously. "You're going to make sure everything works out?" The two parabatai shared an intense look. Simon asked what was wrong. Jace said nothing quickly, a dull smile on his face. "You're going home, fangs. Perk up."
She was leaving the bathroom when Jace caught her in the hallway. He pushed her into the bathroom and locked the door.
"Jace, what the hell are you doing?" She asked. "I feel as if you could have waited until I was fully out of the bathroom."
He didn't look to be in the joking mood. "Where did the two of you go? You and Sebastian, earlier."
By the Angel, that's what was wrong with him? She rolled her eyes. "He told you. We walked around the city and then he asked about where I had grown up and it wasn't a far walk, so I just decided to show him." He asked if that was all they did. He had some nerve, inquiring about her activities after openly flirting with Aline the entire day. "I don't have to explain anything to you or answer your questions, Jace."
The corner of his mouth twitched. "Do you like him?"
She laughed bitterly. He was something else, truly. "Do you like Aline? You seem to. I don't blame you."
He leaned against the wall. She couldn't read the expression on his face. "Aline is from a good family." He finally said. "She's pretty." That seemed more of an afterthought than a main point. Which was unusual for Jace. He really liked pretty girls.
"I know." She said. The Penhallows were a very good family. And they were well to do. Jia Penhallow had run the Beijing Institute. Between she and the Lightwoods, Jace would be well taken care of in the career department.
"I could be happy, with her." He didn't seem completely sure. Like he was trying to convince himself along with her.
She nodded. "You could." It would be better for him, to settle down with a good Shadowhunter girl like Aline Penhallow. She would be much better for him. Eliza had ruined him.
"You have Declan." He noted, reminding her. Declan, sweet and caring Declan. She missed him.
"I do." She said quietly. Declan cared for her a great deal and she cared about him too. But there was an inherit danger in being with him. He would be a target for her father and brother. If she did something wrong, if she messed up badly enough, they would kill him. And then there was the fact that he was a vampire. She would get old, he wouldn't. If she decided she wanted kids, and that was a big 'if', they wouldn't be from him.
Yet, every time she imagined herself with kids, they always had the same tawny eyes and golden curls as the boy in front of her.
"Maybe if things were different…" Jace murmured.
Maybe if I hadn't lied to you. Maybe if you knew you weren't my brother. Maybe, maybe, maybe. "Yes." She agreed. "Maybe."
She rejoined the group in the living room and poured herself a full glass of wine. She sat down on the couch beside Max, leaning over to look at his book.
"What're you reading?" She whispered, Isabelle's high laugh drowning over her voice.
Max looked up, his glasses falling down his nose slightly. He pushed them back up. "A manga. Do you want to see?" He seemed glad someone was finally paying attention to him. She nodded encouragingly and he scooted closer to her. He held the book where she could see it. He pointed out the characters, explaining each of them to her. He even explained to her that manga books were read differently than other books.
"Eliza, I have a question." Aline's voice startled her. She and Max looked up from the manga volume. "Jace tells me you're dating a vampire. Is that true?"
"Yes." She answered. "Declan's the head of the London clan, actually."
Aline's eyes sparkled. "How interesting. How did the two of you meet?"
Jace and Sebastian both were staring at her. Sebastian seemed more than content in hearing her answer. Jace, however, looked angry. "At a diner. I was getting take-out for my roommate and I for dinner. Declan introduced himself and offered to pay for our food. And then he asked me on a date." Aline asked what she meant by roommate. Why didn't she live in the Institute with the others? "I live with the High Warlock of Brooklyn, Magnus Bane. It's more comfortable."
"It isn't as safe." Sebastian spoke up. She took a long sip of her wine, asking what he meant by that. "I mean no offense, Eliza, but it's well know that your father despises Downworlders. Aren't you afraid that he'll come after the two closest to you?"
She licked her bottom lip, staring back at him. "He can try." She told him. He asked what she meant. Another drink. "I've stabbed him once. I'll do it again. And this time, I won't stick my knife in his leg."
He seemed amused with her answer. "What?" Aline breathed. "You stabbed Valentine?"
She didn't get a chance to respond before Jace was speaking. "Liz is the best Shadowhunter of our age." He told Aline. "Our old tutor said she may even be better than me." Izzy said that Eliza was better than him. Jace shot her a glare before turning back to Aline. "My sister knows how to kick ass."
Eliza finished her glass of wine and decided not to pour another. She put the glass on the table. "Well, we'll just have to test that theory, won't we?" Aline smiled at her.
Jace laughed quietly. "Aline, I wasn't kidding."
"Neither am I." She said sharply. She looked back at Eliza. "You've fought the Lightwoods and your brother. You should fight against Sebastian and I. Training methods here in Idris are a little…different."
Jace was watching her carefully. Don't, his face said, you'll hurt her. Sebastian was watching her too, but his look wasn't as concerned for Aline. He looked excited.
They hadn't fought against each other in months. He had been better than her growing up.
"I'd love to." Eliza's eyes darkened.
Aline clapped her hands together happily. "Great! Tomorrow?" Eliza said that was more than fine.
"Liz. Outside." Jace was on his feet. "Please."
She got to her feet, ruffling Max's hair. "Be right back, kiddo." He gave her a lopsided smile. She followed Jace from the living room out to the front stoop of the Penhallow's house.
"You can't fight against them." He told her. "You'll kill them."
"You mean, I'll kill Aline." She corrected. "Worried for your girlfriend?" His eyes flashed. "I won't hurt her. I'll knock her on her ass a few times, but I won't cause her any damage an iratze can't fix."
Jace moved away from her. He moved off the stoop, sitting on top of the stone wall around the front garden of the house. "Something is wrong with you." Jace muttered. She said that he had no idea. "No, I mean it. You've changed. You didn't use to be like this."
She looked away from him. She saw Alec walking down the cobblestone, the streetlights illuminating him in the darkness.
"Have you guys been waiting on me the whole time I've been gone?" Alec asked, hesitating on the first step.
"No." Jace said. "Liz went on a walk with Sebastian and then agreed to fight him and Aline." Jace told him.
Alec's shoulders seemed to unstiffen just a little. "You two are fighting again. Great." He groaned. He sat down next to Jace on the garden wall. "In case you guys were wondering, and I would like to think that you were, it went fine. Simon and the Inquisitor." He brought up.
"Did you actually see him go through the Portal?" Eliza inquired. Alec said no. "Then how do you know that it went fine?"
Alec paled. "I left him with Inquisitor Aldertree."
Jace didn't like that answer. And frankly, neither did she. "Why didn't you stay to make sure?" Jace asked sharply.
Alec's mouth twitched. "The Inquisitor said that he was going to escort Simon personally and make sure he got back." Alec told them.
Jace rolled his eyes at Alec. "Do you remember the last Inquisitor? She went above and beyond her position. If she hadn't been killed last week, we all know that the Clave would have fired her. They may have even considered cursing her, like they did Hodge. This Inquisitor could be just as bad, even worse maybe." Jace's voice was sharp-edged and acidic.
Alec glanced at her. She shrugged. "He has a point, Alec." She said softly.
Alec shook his head. "Inquisitor Aldertree seems really nice. Much nicer than Inquisitor Herondale was. He was really nice to Simon, too. You guys need to realize that we can't control everything. You've got to learn to trust the Clave." Jace pointed out that as of recently, the Clave was messing up quite a lot. "When you begin to think that you're above the Clave and the Law, you're putting yourself in the same position as Inquisitor Herondale. And Valentine."
She saw the way Jace recoiled from Alec. The pained look on his face. Alec could have stabbed him and he would have looked less betrayed.
"Jace, I didn't- I'm sorry." Alec scrambled for words.
The front door opened behind her. Isabelle was standing in the doorway, yellow light from inside the house surrounding her figure. She stood with her hands on her hips, her face pinched. "What the hell is going on?" Isabelle asked them. "Aline thinks she upset the two of you." She waved her hand at Jace and Eliza.
Jace got to his feet just as Alec looked back at him. "I hope you're right about the Clave." He grumbled. She watched him walk by her, shove past Isabelle, and go back into the house. Isabelle spared a look at Eliza and Alec. Eliza shook her head slightly and Isabelle turned, going back into the house. She waited until she heard the door click.
"He's impossible." She finally spoke.
Alec looked up at her. "I shouldn't have said what I did."
She shrugged, saying it wasn't his fault. "He needed to hear it, whether he wanted to or not." He looked at her incredulously, blue eyes bright with confusion. "Sometimes, he reminds me of him." She said quietly.
"Surely not." He responded just as quietly. "I heard him speak with the old Inquisitor and with my mother…"
"I'm not saying Jace is the same as him, Alexander. I'm only saying that I've spent a great deal of time with both of them and I sometimes see similarities." She said. "They wear the same arrogance, the height at which they hold themselves, I don't want to see it but I do." She stood up and brushed off the back of her pants.
"Liz, we both see things." He told her. "I-I see the way that you look at him sometimes." They'd had the same conversation once, only flipped. She had said the same thing to him before.
She opened her mouth and then closed it quickly. "Alec, I don't know what you're talking about." She said the words she had said so many times before. "He's my brother."
She didn't give him the chance to answer before she went back into the house, slamming the door behind her.
Her father, wherever he was, was laughing. She knew it. He had them all under one roof. His three engineered soldiers. Jace, Jonathan, and Eliza. He had spent precious time and energy building them into exactly what he wanted them to be. All of those years and only Jonathan had turned out to be what he desired.
She sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed. She grabbed her cardigan from the floor and picked up her shoes. Quietly, she stole through the house and crept out the front door. Once she was outside, she slipped on her cardigan and shoes, lacing up the boots. The night breeze was cool against her skin and she pulled her cardigan closer.
She walked around the house until she found the canal. She could hear the water lapping against the stone, reminding her of home. She caught herself in the thought, wondering when home had become New York.
The day you realized you were in love with Jace, she told herself.
"Trying to run away?" His voice carried through the air.
She didn't bother turning. "No one would miss me if I did." She said as he sat down next to her. His knee bumped against hers.
"Magnus and Declan." He told her. "Me." He said, his voice a whisper in the wind.
She looked over at him. He was wearing a loose-fitting flannel and dark pajama pants. Was he wearing…house shoes? She breathed out a laugh. "I only meant if I left Idris and went back to New York."
"I'd still miss you, Lizzie."
She looked away. She squinted trying to see the water in the canal. "You can't say things like that." She whispered. "It isn't right."
He made a strangled noise in his throat. "I don't care anymore." He stated. "I thought I did. I thought that I would care what other people thought, but I don't. I care about you, Liz. Always you. Only you."
She smiled to herself. She hated him, the way he made her feel. The way he looked. His smile, bright as the sun. The way his golden curls formed a halo on his head. "You're my brother." She reminded him. A lie.
"I know." He replied. "I tried…I tried not to feel this way, not to feel for you. I thought it was going to work when you started seeing Declan and it did, for a little while." She asked what changed. "I saw your face, after I kissed Clary in the Seelie Court. I saw you, on Valentine's ship. That's what I saw when Agramon confronted us."
Quietly, she told him that she already knew that. He asked how. "Father told me. He said that- he told me that your greatest fear was your love for me."
"What Agramon showed me, I never want to see it again." He mumbled. "You weren't next to me. You were in front of me. And then, you fell forward. There was blood all over you, you were dying." His voice cracked, falling unevenly over the words. "I was so scared, Lizzie."
She looked back to him. "Losing you. That's my greatest fear." She told him. "I watched you die, Jace, and it was my fault."
He grabbed her hand. "It wasn't real. None of it was. We both know that now."
She shook her head. As long as Valentine and Jonathan were alive, it was real. She wasn't sure if Valentine would ever actually hurt Jace. But Jonathan…Jonathan might.
"What we feel, it isn't right." She said quietly. "We can't act on it."
The look on his face was hard to read. A mixture of betrayal and understanding. "I don't want to hide how I feel anymore, Liz."
She thought of Aline, with her pretty almond eyes and curved cheekbones. Her fingers wound together with Jace's, not so different from how Eliza's were at that moment in time. She quickly pulled her hand away, averting her gaze to the canal. "I can't have this conversation with you. Not when I watched you flirt with Aline Penhallow all day." She said coolly.
He looked back at her in amazement. "I've watched you with your boyfriend for two weeks." He replied icily.
She narrowed her eyes. Declan. He deserved better. Better than a girl who was in love with a boy who everyone thought was her brother. "Declan is wonderful." She told him. "He cares about me and-."
"And he isn't your brother. That's what you were going to say, wasn't it?" She swallowed, saying yes. "Is that what you want? For me to be just your brother?" His voice hurt just as much as demon blood did when it burned the skin.
The thing was, he wasn't her brother. Her real brother was inside the house, asleep, waiting for her to slip up.
"I don't know." She admitted. Her shoulders slumped. She ran her hands through her hair. "I don't know what I want, Jace. I know that I-that I-I know I feel things for you that I shouldn't, things I can't feel." She looked back at him. Her green eyes were melancholy. "I'm sorry. I know that isn't what you want to hear, but this isn't right, Jace."
She stood up, pulling her cardigan together. "Liz." He sighed. She walked past him and he reached out, grabbing her hand. His fingers were cool against her skin. "Please."
"You want the truth?" She asked him. Almost unsure, he said yes. "The truth is that I love you. I don't want to and I've tried not to. Because it isn't right and there isn't anything I can do to change it." That was the truth. She couldn't change it. There was only one way the real truth about Jace was going to come out. Someone had to tell him. And only three people knew the truth: herself, Jonathan, and their father. Four, if she counted her mother, but she wasn't conscious and who knew when she would be.
He let her hand fall.
Isabelle shouting Sebastian's name woke her up. Faint morning light streamed in from the window. She jumped out of the bed and rushed from the room. She ran down the long hallway and down the stairs. Sebastian was blocking the stairs, someone in front of him.
Eliza jerked to a stop on the stair above him. She could see the girl he was blocking. Her bright red hair was a mess of curls. She was wearing the standard black Shadowhunter gear and surprisingly didn't look ridiculous.
"Clary?" Eliza gasped. Sebastian looked back at her and she watched her younger sister's eyes draw up to look at her. "What the hell are you doing here? How are you here?"
This was a nightmare come to life. All three of Valentine Morgenstern's children in one place. His three children and his pet project.
Isabelle was standing a few feet away, a flustered look on her face. "I tried to stop her but she ran right past me."
Eliza shoved past Sebastian to stand in front of Clary. "You aren't supposed to be here." She reminded her sister. Clary said she was well aware that she didn't want her there. "How did you get here?"
"Sneaking into Alicante isn't an easy thing to do." Sebastian finally spoke.
Eliza and Isabelle agreed with him. "I just came through a Portal." Clary said casually. Isabelle asked how that was possible, Valentine had destroyed all the Portals in New York. "I'm not telling you anything until you tell me where Jace is."
At the same time, Isabelle and Sebastian spoke. Isabelle said he wasn't there and Sebastian said he was only upstairs. "Shut up!" Isabelle told him shrilly.
He did well hiding the gleeful look in his eyes with a concern that seemed concern. "He's Clary's brother. He'll want to see her, right?"
Isabelle seemed conflicted. Her mouth was drawn tightly in frustration.
Sebastian looked at Eliza. "Right?"
Eliza ground her teeth together. "Right." She relented unwillingly. She wasn't in the mood to argue with him. Not after her conversation with Jace the night before.
"Liz!" Isabelle threw her hands in the air dramatically. Eliza gave her a sympathetic look. There was no point in arguing over it, Clary was already there. "Fine, whatever." Isabelle's usually sweet face was pinched in anger. "You never think about your actions, do you?" She asked Clary. "You just do whatever you want, whenever you want, no matter who might get hurt." She snapped.
"Isabelle." Eliza said tightly. "I think that's enough."
She grabbed Clary by the elbow, her grip tight as iron. She motioned for Sebastian to step aside and he did. Eliza began hauling her sister up the stairs.
"I can't believe you." Eliza muttered. "You shouldn't be here."
She felt Clary give her a hateful look. "You and Jace certainly tried your best to keep me from coming." She said bitterly.
Eliza jerked her to a stop at the top of the stairs. Her eyes were dark and furious. "Did you ever stop to think for even just a second that we didn't want you here for a reason?" She hissed. "We weren't playing a game of the Big Kids Club, Clary. We kept you from coming to protect you." At the base of the stairs, she could hear Isabelle laying it on thick to Sebastian. Good, she thought, he deserves it.
"Hi." A small voice said from behind them.
Eliza grimaced, turning around. Max was sitting in the bay window, a book in his hands. "Max, hi. I didn't see you there."
He adjusted his glasses as he stared back at them. "You're Jace's other sister." He pointed to Clary. "You taught me how to read Naruto!" He waved his book for her to see. "I got another one to read, do you want to see?" He sounded so excited. Eliza hated to burst his bubble.
"Max, we really can't talk right now." Eliza said. "Clary just got here and we need to see Jace. Is he still in his room?" She asked nicely.
He said no, his eyes saddening. "He's in the library. I asked if I could hang out with him but he said he had to do grown-up stuff. You guys always say that."
Eliza frowned. "We'll hang out later, kid. I'll sneak us some cake and you can show me your new book, okay?"
Max half-smiled at her as they walked by. She felt bad for him. He was nine, old enough to have a good idea of what was going on, but still too young to really be involved.
Eliza still had ahold of Clary as she led her down the hallway. She turned the doorknob and kicked the door open with her foot.
A strangled noise escaped her throat and her grip tightened on Clary's arm.
Jace was standing in the middle of the room. His arms were around Aline Penhallow, her hands in his hair. Their lips were locked together and bitterly, she wondered if either of them could even breathe.
Clary's cold fingers were wrapping around her own. "You're hurting me." Clary whispered. Eliza couldn't look away from the scene in front of her. Clary pried her hand off and stumbled back. The door slammed shut.
Aline jumped, stepping back from Jace. Eliza's eyes were black when Jace and Aline looked over at them. Eliza's eyes went down to Aline's blouse. The top few buttons were undone and a colorful lace trim was showing underneath. When she met Aline's gaze, she raised her eyebrows questioningly.
Aline's fingers immediately went to work, quickly buttoning her blouse. Her face was constricted in plain annoyance at being interrupted. "Who's this?" She nudged her head towards Clary.
Eliza looked back at Jace. His face was colorless, the dark circles under his eyes prevalent. "Clary, my other sister."
Aline's face molded into a flustered smile. "Goodness. My apologies." She gushed. "I'm Aline." She started towards Clary, her hand offered out to shake. As she got closer, Eliza side-stepped wordlessly, refusing to look at her. She took a seat in the large maroon armchair. She trained her eyes on the large picture window across the room. The harsh sunlight streaming through burned her eyes.
She heard hushed whispers and then the door open and close again. She looked away from the window, her eyes searing. Aline had left the room.
"Hi, Jace." Clary said cautiously. She took a slow step towards him and he backed up.
"What in the Angel's name are you doing here?" Words coated in acid, his golden eyes were dark with anger. He shot a poisonous glare in Eliza's direction. "What the hell is she doing here?"
She got comfortable in the armchair, her chin propped up on her arm that rested on the arm of the chair. She returned a lazy, hateful look but said nothing.
"The two of you can't even act like you're happy to see me? Just a little?" Clary asked them.
Both of them looked at her. "No. Not at all." Jace told her rudely.
Clary frowned at him, shaking her head slightly. "I can't stand when you act like this." She told him.
"Oh, right, of course." Jace replied snippily. "I should clean my act up right this second if you hate it so much. I mean, it's only fair considering you do everything I ask of you."
Eliza burrowed a little further into the armchair, getting more and more comfortable. She'd let them duke it out until it became a little too much. But in the moment, it was nice to see someone else argue with Jace. She got very tired of doing it herself.
"This is different!" Clary yelled. "You didn't have any right lying to me and keeping me from coming here!" Eliza supposed that may have been directed at her as well, but she left it alone. Better to let Jace take all the blame.
"I did!" Jace shouted at her. Eliza straightened up. She'd never heard him yell at Clary before. Not like that. "You dumb, stupid girl, I had every single right. I'm your brother and-."
Dumb and stupid? She let her hand fall to rest on the end of the arm rest. She watched them carefully, her eyes flitting from Clary to Jace.
"What?" Clary questioned sharply. "Own me? It doesn't matter if you're my brother or not, you don't own me."
Behind Clary, the door burst open. Alec was standing in the doorway. His hair was moussed, and she didn't think purposefully. Alec wasn't one to dwell too much on his hair. His long blue jacket fell stiffly at his sides, complementing his eyes nicely. His boots were caked in mud. His eyes drifted from Clary, to Jace, to Eliza. "What the hell is going on here?" He demanded.
Jace's face molded from rage to calm in a matter of seconds. "Clary's leaving. That's what's going on." He replied smoothly.
"I'm not." Clary said defiantly.
Jace said yes, she was. Even if he had to drag her out. Alec interrupted whatever Clary was about to say. "Eliza." Her eyes snapped up to meet his gaze. "Do something."
"Alexander, whatever do you want me to do?" She simpered.
His eyes flashed. "Something. Anything to get them to quit arguing with each other." He waved his hand haphazardly towards Clary and Jace.
She leaned forward slightly in the chair. "Not my problem." She told him in a cool voice.
His lip trembled in what she could only assume was pure Alec anger. "What do you mean it isn't your- Never mind. Clary, get out. I need to talk to Jace and Eliza."
"I'm assuming it isn't Shadowhunter custom to greet guests, then." Clary grumbled.
Alec's face softened when he looked at her. Pushover, Eliza thought. "Right. Sorry. It's nice to see you again." He told Clary politely. "But you aren't supposed to be here. Izzy said you managed to get here on your own and I think that's really impressive-."
"Don't encourage her." Jace ordered.
Alec's eye twitched. "Anyways, I really have to talk to Jace and Eliza. Just a few minutes, please." He begged her.
"I also need to talk to them. About our mother. Which I think is more important, probably." Clary told Alec.
"As it so happens, I don't really feel like talking to anyone." Jace announced to them. "Which seems really convenient for me and not convenient for anyone else." She rolled her eyes, shaking her head. Alec said that Jace would want to talk to Alec about what he had to say. "Doubtful." Jace told him. He turned his attention back to Clary. "I know you didn't come alone. So, who came with you?" He spoke slowly, trying not to sound completely furious with her.
"Luke." Clary said simply.
Jace paled.
"You've got to be kidding me." Eliza muttered. The three of them looked at her as she rose from the chair. She walked over to them, a despicably horrible expression on her face. "Clary, Luke is a werewolf. Downworlders are not allowed in Alicante without permission and I know he doesn't have it." Quietly, Clary said that she knew. "You have no idea what the Clave does to unregistered Downworlders who enter the Glass City." Just as quiet as before, Clary said she didn't know. "Of course you don't." Eliza snapped at her. "You hardly know anything at all about the Clave and the Shadow World. You have a complete disregard for the Law and our customs. You only care about what you want and how to get it."
Clary seemed so small to her, like a child being scolded. That was what she was. A child, being reprimanded by her older sister. Eliza huffed a breath.
"If you and Luke don't go back to New York right now, I'm sure you'll find out exactly what the Clave does to unregistered Downworlders in Alicante." Jace told Clary.
"Guys." Alec's voice was pleading. "I know you've been wondering where I've been all morning." His words were rushed. He sounded panicked.
Jace didn't bother looking at him when he answered. "You're wearing a new coat. You were shopping. Is there a reason you're bothering everyone about it?"
She watched Alec's nostrils flare. Oh, he was in a right mood. "No, I wasn't shopping." As if shopping were the most absurd task he had ever heard of. "I w-."
The door burst open yet again. This time, it was Isabelle. She fluttered into the room in a flowy white dress, kicking the door shut softly. "I warned you." She sang out. "I so told you that they'd both freak about you being here." She told Clary.
"Now isn't the time, Isabelle." Alec told his sister.
"Oh, no. I think an 'I told you so' is perfect. Keep going." Jace told Izzy.
Clary's mouth gaped open. "How are you joking right now?" Clary asked him shrilly. "You threatened Luke! Luke likes you and he trusts you and he offered to let you sleep on his couch! And you're threatening him because he's a Downworlder?"
Isabelle's face twisted. "You brought Luke with you? Jeez, Clary, what have you done?"
Clary shook her head rapidly. "No. He left this morning. I don't know where to." She told them. She looked down at the floor, a defeated child. "You guys are right. We shouldn't have come. I shouldn't have made the portal."
"What?" The other four said simultaneously.
Eliza grabbed Clary by the shoulders. "What do you mean?" She asked harshly. "You can't make a Portal, Clarissa. Only warlocks can do that."
Isabelle agreed. "Plus, there aren't that many. There's only one here in Idris. At the Gard." She added.
Clary glanced at Eliza's hands on her shoulders. Quickly, Eliza withdrew, backing up several steps.
"That's exactly why I need to talk to you." Alec said, looking between Eliza and Jace. "About that…errand I went on last night. The package I delivered to the Gard." His words were clipped and uneven. His face was pale. What was wrong with him?
"Shut up, Alec." Jace snarled. Alec stared back at him, blue eyes wide. His lip worried between his teeth in impatience. Jace was glaring Clary down. "I know we were right." He finally said to her. "I know that Eliza told you that we didn't want you to come because it wasn't safe. That's not why I didn't want you to come." His words were hard as steel, cut and even. "I didn't want you to come because irrational and reckless. I knew you would mess everything up." He told her.
Eliza's eyes widened. She couldn't believe he had said it.
"What?" Clary whispered.
Isabelle softly said Jace's name, her dark eyes downturned sadly. He didn't bother to look at her.
"It's true." Jace went on. "You don't ever think before doing anything. If it hadn't been for you, we would have never ended up at the Dumont that night."
Her neck burned just thinking of that night. Was it bad that she hoped Raphael would slip up one day so she could get him back for ruining her neck?
Clary's glare hardened. "Simon would have died! It may have been rash, but we saved his life!"
"May have been?" Jace repeated.
"We?" Eliza said at the same time. "Sorry, I seem to remember not much effort on your part, Clary. Sure, I'll give you credit for the little hostage scenario that didn't work and sticking one good throw on a werewolf, but that's it. I got bitten. I almost died, trying to distract that damn vampire while the two of you ran off with the rat."
Her sister's face didn't change. "You guys act like every single decision I've made since we've known each other has been a bad one. Both of you told me that what I did on the boat saved everyone."
If Jace could have paled anymore, he did. "Shit." Eliza muttered.
"Clary, SHUT UP!" Jace shouted down at her viciously.
Alec looked between the three of them. "Wait, what happened on the boat?" He asked. "What did she do?"
"We only said that so you wouldn't whine." Jace snarled at her. His anger felt just the way a storm did when it was about to erupt. "You need to realize that you'll never be like us, you'll never be a Shadowhunter. You're a mundane, through and through. You think like a mundane, only about what's best for yourself. You can't seem to think about what's best for everyone else. There's a war happening now and no one has the time or the desire to hang behind with you to make sure you don't get yourself or anyone else killed."
The room fell quiet. Clary was staring at Jace, Jace staring at Clary, Alec staring at Jace, Isabelle staring at them, Eliza staring at Jace.
"Clarissa." Eliza's voice broke the silence. Clary managed to tear her gaze away from Jace to look at her. "Go home. You don't belong here. You've put Luke in danger, you've put yourself in danger, you've put all of us in danger by coming here. As usual, you didn't think about the consequences of your actions. Only yourself." Clary's green eyes seemed to deflate and break. The usual spunk behind them had faded away. Eliza supposed that getting yelled at by two people relentlessly did that. "I know you want to be one of us, but you can't. You won't. So, just go home."
Clary spun around on her heel without saying a word. Alec and Isabelle moved so she could get through to the door. Eliza sucked in a breath just as Clary turned back around, her hand on the door knob. Eliza was reminded of a time, not so long ago, when Clary had tried to stop them from killing a demon. Albeit, Clary had thought the demon was boy. The same demon had warned Eliza of Valentine's arrival in New York. That night, everything had changed.
"You know," Clary spoke, "when I learned that the two of you were Valentine's children, I couldn't believe it. I didn't think either of you were anything like him, I never have. But now…Now, I know I was wrong because you are like him. More than anything." Without saying anything else, Clary left the room, quietly closing the door behind her.
Eliza told herself it had to be done. There wasn't another way.