Simon was woken by the sound of somebody sitting down beside him. He scrambled back when he saw Maureen sitting over him, looking grave.
"Simon, I have to break up with you," she said.
"You...what?"
She shook her head, as if pained by his passionate protests. "I'm sorry it has to end this way, but I've found somebody else."
"But I thought...What?"
"We can still be friends. It's not you, it's me."
"It...what?"
Maureen stood up, sighing. "Bye, Simon," she said, walking away.
Simon just sat there, baffled.
A laugh started somewhere behind him. Simon turned around to see a weary-looking Percy Jackson. "Were you just dropped from a relationship you weren't actually in?" Percy said, looking amused. "That's rough."
"You speak from experience?" Simon guessed.
Percy's eyes took on a faraway, almost comically-haunted, look. "So much experience," he said.
"Why are you awake?" Simon asked.
Percy pointed at his head. "Demigod dreams."
"About what?" Thalia asked, startling Simon by just sort of appearing amidst the trees. Even with his vampire senses, the huntress was stealthy.
"Lady Hestia," Percy said vaguely. "And I think Annabeth is right. I think she's with Clary. Or in Clary. Or however it works."
Simon squirmed a bit at the reminder that Clary was now in a place where he couldn't help her. "Um, I'm pretty good at mythology and I don't know who Lady Hestia is."
"Goddess of the hearth," Thalia explained in the reserved tone she adopted around strangers. "She was an Olympian, but she gave up her seat to keep the gods from going to war. That's probably why you've never heard of her." She made circles in the dirt with the toe of her boot. "What was your dream, Percy?"
"It was mostly dark," Percy said slowly. "Lady Hestia was tending to some coals, trying to get a fire going. Then suddenly she was Clary, and the flames caught and spread. Then Sebastian appeared, and he grabbed Clary's arm, and the fire started to cover both of them."
"That's like the prophecy," Simon said in a dead voice. "The Catching Fire part." If he weren't a vampire, he might have blanched at Percy's retelling of the dream. The image of Clary covered in flames all alone with Sebastian hit the trifecta of nightmare fuel.
"That's after the part about the storm withering to an end," Percy pointed out.
"Storm," Thalia said. "That's Zeus or Poseidon or both. And we left Edom. Maybe that's what it meant: the daughter of Zeus and the son of Poseidon ditching the battlefield."
"Doubt it," Percy said simply.
"So, did your dream just end like that?" Simon asked, unable to stop himself. "They were just...on fire?"
"That part of the dream ended," Percy said. "Then it flashed to Nico."
"Nico...doing perfectly fine and figuring out a way to leave Edom?" Thalia guessed with dead sarcasm.
"Well, he wasn't in Edom," Percy said with forced optimism. "He was...sort of fighting the shadows, trying to keep them from hurting anyone, I think."
"Clary fighting fire, Nico fighting shadows?" Simon synopsized.
"What about fire?" said a voice, and Leo suddenly crawled over from his corner of the campsite.
"Team Good isn't doing too great right now," Simon said. "Percy had a dream that Clary and Sebastian are covered in fire and Nico's trying to keep shadows at bay."
"Well, would you look at that. Must be Tuesday," Leo chuckled mirthlessly. "That fire wouldn't happen to be heavenly fire, would it? Like...Jace's heavenly fire?"
"It was Hecate's fire," Percy protested, but Thalia held up a hand, apparently thinking it over.
"Hecate tending to heavenly fire...I mean, it's not exactly absurd, is it?" Thalia said. She looked from Percy to Simon, both of whom sported expressions of befuddlement, and then shook her head in exasperation. "Somebody wake Annabeth; you boys are morons."
"Hey," said Leo indignantly. "The whole heavenly fire thing was my idea."
"Don't worry about it," Percy replied with a ghost of a smile. "She was a pine tree for so long, her personality now imitates pinecones."
"But if Clary is channeling Hecate, albeit unknowingly, and Hecate tends the flames of Olympus, and the Olympians are essentially angels, then that has to mean the heavenly fire isn't exactly out of Clary's league right now," Thalia surmised.
"That's a convoluted trail of logic," Simon pointed out. "And how is that helpful?"
"If it comes to a burn-off between Sebastian and Clary..." Leo said, absently guiding a tiny flame to wriggle between his fingers.
Isabelle startled everyone by suddenly sitting up and crawling over without even a trace of sleep in her eyes. "Well, this is all great, but does it tell us where they are?" she asked.
"You were awake?" Leo reeled.
"I'm a Shadowhunter, matchstick," Iz sighed. "We're light sleepers, and I wasn't exactly far away."
"Is everyone awake?" Percy asked.
"I am," Alec said.
"I've been awake since you sat up, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said without opening her eyes or shifting position.
Jason crawled over. "I am. But Piper needs her rest."
Percy glanced over. Right now, Piper, Magnus, Frank, Hazel, Rachel, Grover, and Will were all asleep, but Alec, Jem, and Maureen were awake, with varying degrees of alertness.
"We need a destination," Jason said. "Sebastian's been let off the hook too many times."
"I'd say he's forcibly let himself off the hook by being steps ahead of all of us," Leo mused. "But then, I'm just a casual observer."
Annabeth, who was not fond of the notion that another human being (well, enhanced human being) might be out-maneuvering her, deemed it time to sit up. "The only reason he's doing so well is because he knows exactly what each of us is capable of and has 100% uniformity in his brainwashed ranks. Over here, we have no idea what he can do and we have all the uniformity of oatmeal."
"Gee, tell us how you really feel," Simon murmured.
"He's just playing cat-and-mouse, and occasionally landing blows, to get us all spread out," Annabeth said. "We've been in such a state of flux, we have no idea where the grown-up Shadowhunters are, we've lost most of the cabins, and our friendly neighborhood werewolves are missing."
"Percy," Jason said, as the two of them had been making silent eye contact for several seconds. "He killed Reyna. Did you see anything in your dream that might indicate where he is?"
Percy shook his head mutely.
"We need to find him," Jason said, standing up and pacing. "I already failed at taking him out. I need my honor back."
"So, we've got Clary fire bending and Jason going Prince Zuko on us," Simon murmured. "This is going great."
Suddenly, Hazel woke up. "Guys!" she said, her golden eyes wide with panic. "I had a dream. I know where they are."
...
Clary felt warm. It wasn't the cozy kind of warm; more like the kind where you wake up and realize you've wearing your warm pajamas and three layers of blankets on a night that didn't turn out to be as cold as you thought it would be. Except that she's still in her regular gear with no blankets at all. She was just...running a sudden fever?
A glance at her surroundings told her that they were in some kind of cavern or something, all lying in a circle, equidistant from one another. Sebastian and Jace got to their feet, but no one moved as fast as Nico, who sprang up and unleashed a torrent of shadows to bind Sebastian in place.
"You make a single move, I've toss you into the mouth of Tartarus," Nico said, in a cold sort of way that made Clary shiver.
"Because if there's one thing I've demonstrated, it's that I can't hold my own in Underworlds?" Sebastian snarked. "If anything, I'll be dragging you into Tartarus."
Nico tilted his head. "You sure like to do that thing where you pretend you have power in a situation, don't you? If you're so clever, tell me where we are?"
"The House of Hades," Sebastian replied, his expression unreadable.
"And tell me how we got here," Nico persisted.
Sebastian donned the slightest of smiles. "Divine interference, I'm sure." Then, bizarrely, he turned to Clary. "C'mere, little sister."
"Clary?" Jace whispered, kneeling at her side. "Are you okay? You're sweating like crazy."
Clary sat up and was surprised to find that, other than a certain dizziness in her head, she didn't feel half bad. She felt powerful, even. It was just that strange warmth that unnerved her.
Relax, said a voice in her head, and Clary would've freaked out if the voice weren't as calming as childhood memories of baked cookies and pillow fights. You have been burned, but I can help you hold the flames.
Clary looked around to see if anybody else could hear the voice, but it didn't seem they could; Jace was staring at her with concern, and Sebastian and Nico were still bantering away.
Who are you? Clary asked with her mind. Are you...one of the Silent Brothers? No...you're a girl, right?
I am Hestia. Some might name me Greek goddess of home and the hearth. I used Sebastian's strong feelings of familiarity towards you in order to aid you in this way.
What do you mean?
Since you are the solitary thing that Jonathan believes will give him a home, I am able to add myself as a benign presence. His feelings about you are concentrated, whereas most would have various things that give them home: people, foods, smells. He only has you. That is powerful, and I can harness that power.
I...Okay. But what did you mean about holding the flames?
In battle with Jonathan Morgenstern, Jace Herondale released some of his heavenly fire, albeit unwittingly, into you. I am enabling you to hold the flames within you so that you may have the choice to use them.
Is that why I'm so warm?
You are warm because you are a mortal, and even very powerful mortals cannot serve as hosts to beings like me for very long. I will have to leave you soon.
Can't you just...attack Sebastian?
I represent one's sense of home and security, Clary. It is against my nature to attack. I can at times cause harm- The hearth does burn -but I do not engage in battle. I have given you the remnants of Jace's fire that you might have the choice to use them or abstain.
Remnants? So...does Jace not have his fire anymore?
He's lost all but the most benign of traces. They can live within him, but they cannot be weaponized. Yours can.
Clary frowned. So I can burn Sebastian, then. Would that kill him?
Consider all of your choices, Clarissa, and discuss them with your friends. I have led you to a place where you will be able to buy time for yourselves. Do not waste that time.
And then the presence was gone, and with it the dizziness and most of the warmth.
"Clary?" Jace repeated. "Are you okay? Can you not hear me?"
"I'm fine," she said faintly, "but we have to...get somewhere."
"Where?"
"Someplace where we can talk without..." She broke off and turned. Nico and Sebastian had just fallen silent and were looking at Jace and Clary. Clary looked down at herself and saw that she was producing light. Orange light, much like the light that Jace had produced when he carried the heavenly fire.
"Clary..." Jace marveled.
Nico's reaction was a particularly out-dated swear word. "Run!"
Clary was confused before she saw that her light was removing the shadows that bound Sebastian. She and Jace sprang to their feet and ran down one of the tunnels. Nico di Angelo followed.
"Can you transport us somewhere?" Jace asked Nico.
"Not with Clary producing light," Nico said. "She's repelling the shadows."
"Hestia gave me the heavenly fire," Clary told them.
"What?" Jace said.
"Turn it off," Nico suggested at the same time.
"I can't," Clary growled. "I'm panicking."
"Think happy thoughts," Nico said.
"That's not Clary," Jace replied. "Her happiness gets more passionate than her anger does. Think sad thoughts. Didn't you always want to go to art school?"
"I have you now," Clary said, although the light did dim some. "You're all I need."
"You were going to be such a great artist, before I came and ruined your life."
That didn't work; her light brightened at the thought of how important Jace was in her life now.
"Leave yourself out of it," Nico advised, panting now.
"Didn't you always want a brother?" Jace asked, and Clary actually did feel something deep inside her snuff out like a candle. "A real brother? An older brother who wasn't half demon?"
The light went out, and all three of them slowed to a trot. Clary felt like a part of her had just died at the reminder.
Then she was falling through space and reappeared in a completely different tunnel.
"I can't hear him pursuing us," Nico breathed. "We've bought ourselves some time."
"Now, Clary, what is it that you wanted to discuss?" Jace asked, leaning against one side of the tunnel.
"Hestia told me that you don't have the heavenly fire anymore," Clary said. "But you transmitted some of it to me, and she's enabled me to hold it."
"Is Lady Hestia still in there?" Nico asked, pointing to Clary's head.
"No. She left."
Nico sighed. "Pity. She's nice. So, you've got the heavenly fire, now. Did she tell you what to do with it?"
"She said that I could use it to kill Sebastian, but that it's a choice I should discuss with my friends."
"Not exactly a hard choice," Jace said. "I give you my blessing to light him up and kill him dead."
Nico was silent, though, for a moment, and appeared to be deep in thought.
"Di Angelo?" Jace prompted.
"Sebastian's only like this because he has demon blood, isn't he?" Nico murmured.
"Yes," Jace replied, "along with all of the soul mutilation and demon energies that that entails."
"I had a thought, back in Edom," Nico said. "Percy, Thalia, and I are the children of the big three, and we all seem to control one of the things that prevents dark Shadowhunters from being brought back to the light: soul, blood, and energy."
"You think you can make them good?" Clary gasped.
"I think there has to be some reason that Sebastian decided it was essential to keep us under lock and key."
"Your plan is to bring Sebastian back to the light?" Jace assessed, his tone strained by his rampant disbelief.
"Lady Hestia is a pacifist, but she isn't stupid," Nico said. "If our only option was to kill Sebastian, she wouldn't have said that there was a choice. She wouldn't have had us discuss it at all. We could've killed him while I had him down."
"Instead, she thinks we can convert him," Clary breathed.
"This is all guesswork," Jace protested. "And if we fail, then we'll have opened ourselves up for attack."
"We need to get me to Percy and Thalia," Nico said. "I'd shadow travel us, but I don't think I'm strong enough."
"Thank goodness they have a devastatingly handsome warlock who knows how to Portal," drawled a voice from further down the tunnel, and a second later, Hazel was hurling herself at Nico, hugging him the way a boa constrictor might. Jace got no better treatment from Alec and Isabelle, but Nico was soon flocked again by Percy, Thalia, Jason, and Will Solace.
"Nico, are you okay?" Hazel demanded.
Will Solace had his arms crossed. "The problem is that I can't even blame you for this one."
"I can," Hazel said. "You could've gone back with Percy and Thalia!"
Meanwhile, Magnus was giving Clary a clinical once-over. "Clary, as your family's physician of choice, I would advise against going to shadow realms with your psychotic demon brother for at least six to eight weeks."
Simon pushed past Magnus. "Hey, Fray," he said, looking relieved to see her alive.
"Hi," Clary breathed.
"You okay?" Simon asked.
"Oh, you know. Same old, same old."
Of course, Simon noticed the uncharacteristically-high pitch to her voice, but he chose not to mention it. Instead, he hugged her.
Clary glanced over Simon's shoulder at Jace, Alec, and Isabelle, who stood off to the side, conversing very quietly.
"We're making too much noise," Nico said suddenly. "Sebastian will find us here."
Without another word, they were plunged into the shadows and then brought out into a different tunnel.
"There," Nico said weakly, then sat down.
Will Solace knelt by his side immediately. "What did we say about shadow travel?"
"Maybe I should make apples my fruit of choice instead of pomegranates," Nico mused. "An apple a day keeps the son of Apollo from obsessing over you every time you use your powers."
Percy knelt beside Nico, too. "What was it you wanted? I heard you say that you needed to see Thalia and me."
Nico told him about his thoughts on Sebastian's fate.
Isabelle joined the conversation suddenly: "So you're saying you want to keep that creature alive?"
"Sebastian would be destroyed. Jonathan Morgenstern would remain. And Jonathan Morgenstern never hurt anybody."
"Neither did Max," Isabelle mumbled.
"The heavenly fire would kill him, though."
"I vote heavenly fire," Isabelle said wearily. "But it's not like it's my choice. I suppose you guys can decide amongst yourselves."
"Even if it works and you turn Sebastian good," Alec interjects, "what would the Clave do? He wouldn't be pardoned; he's caused too much harm."
"I never got to have a brother," Clary said. "My mother never got to have a son."
"And you could forgive Sebastian for what he's done to you?" Jace asked.
"I couldn't forgive Sebastian. I'll never forgive Sebastian. But it's my brother that I want to save." Claire's green eyes were swimming, and Jace's expression softened.
"What would we do with him after, though?" Alec persisted. "He can't live in the Institute. He can't live in Idris."
"If Olympians are angels and Shadowhunters are part angel, that makes him a demigod," Annabeth pointed out. "He could take a desk job on Olympus, file paperwork in the Underworld..."
"That would be nice," Nico said. "We can always use more secretaries. That Tom Riddle guy alone is causing a pile-up; I think, once this blows over, I'll have to swing by England-"
"It's Clary's choice, ultimately," Annabeth said.
Everybody fell silent as Clary blinked the tears out of her eyes.
"What about my choice?" a voice suddenly asked, and heads were just turning to face Sebastian when a blade flew from his hand and pierced Thalia's back, emerging from her chest red-soaked and lethally-sharp.