Me: Life stuff has been piling and piling and sucking my desire/ability to write but last night these SCENES just wrote themselves and tada! A chapter!
I hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: Since being away, I have bought the rights to Mortal Instruments.
Just kidding. Obviously. I own nothing but the complex OCs and universes that occupy my head.
…
Chapter 25: Parabatai Trust
Electricity was scarce in Idris, mostly because it was hard work making appliances and magic mix. So at nighttime, witch-lights lined the hallways of the Accords Halls as opposed to lamps, casting their golden aura all around and making wispy shadows. It gave an air of a haunted place, though Robert wasn't usually given to such feelings.
Maryse frowned back at him. ''Hurry up,'' she said lowly. ''We don't have a lot of time. What are you so worried about? There's no one around.''
''Then why are we hurrying?'' Robert muttered, softly enough that Maryse didn't catch it. This whole night, doing what they were doing, it reminded Robert of another time.
He opened the door without warning, making the young girl inside jump. ''You!'' He shouted, pointing and glaring at her. ''You have ruined my life. Are you happy now?''
Cèline cocked her head at him. ''Wow.'' She counted off her fingers. ''That makes you, Stephen, my family, Stephen's family, and Jocelyn. Anyone else's life that has been irrevocably ruined by my mere existence?''
''It's your fault. I did what you said and now I will get caught and it will be your fault. Your's!''
''Did what I said? Why would you do that?''
''Because the meeting went on and on and the questions and the badgering…and I had your voice, going round and round in my head…''
Cèline smiled. ''It's kinda like the 'It's A Small World' theme, right?''
''-So I did it,'' Robert concluded. ''I went and changed the documents.''
''For Angel's sake, why?'' Robert opened his mouth to yell again. ''I mean, I'm flattered, Lightwood, really. If not a little concerned at your inability to make a good decision.''
''I listened to you!''
''What about my life made you think that was a good idea?'' Cèline shook her head and grabbed her bag. ''Come on.''
''Where are you going?''
''Well, I ruined your life, so now I am going to fix your life. Come on.''
''Here we are,'' Maryse announced.
They stopped outside the office door. Robert stared at it and tried to ignore the feeling of wrong in his stomach. ''We need a key.''
''Obviously.'' Maryse procured the key from her pocket. ''Steeles don't work on these doors.''
''What are you doing?''
''What does it look like?'' Cèline came to a halt outside the office door. ''If you changed the documents, you can unchanged the documents. Then everything is fine!''
Robert stared at her. ''So your solution to committing a crime is to commit another crime to cover up the first one?''
''The Circle's motto,'' Cèline nodded. ''Of course, we say it Latin cause how else would everyone know how pretentious we are?''
Robert watched her dig in her bag. ''Steeles don't work on these doors.''
''No fooling'?'' Cèline took a pin out of her bag. Robert caught her arm before she could go to the lock. ''Hey!''
''What are you doing with that?''
She blinked at him. ''Carving something really dirty into the Accords Hall wall?''
''Cèline!"'
''Got anything that rhymes with 'Nantucket'?''
''Cèline!''
''And in we go.'' Maryse opened the door and entered.
Jia's office was empty, as expected. And there on the desks were the files, all with missions and posts for individual Shadowhunters. Robert went to the desk and began searching for the one he was looking for. He smirked and handed it to Maryse when he found it. Geoffrey Whitesnake.
''Oh, a post in Maine,'' Maryse mused as she pursued the file. ''Lucky. I hear it's beautiful this time of year.''
''What is he doing there?''
''Boring stuff. Recon, tracking demon levels, etc. And…'' she flipped the page, ''oh, this is good.''
Robert went to read over her shoulder.
Cèline watched as Robert shifted through the papers on the shelf. ''Here.'' He took down the folder he was looking for and laid it on the desk. ''Here's the paper I changed.''
''Change it back,'' Cèline said.
Robert stared. ''No, you do it.''
''I can't,'' Cèline protested.
''Why not?''
''My handwriting sucks. Your's is perfect. The way you dot those i's, cross those t's, put the line through the x in words like ex-ecution!''
Robert glared at her. He put the pen to the page.
'' 'Suspected demon ring in the outset of the woods by vampire clan','' Robert read. ''He's going to check it out.''
''Indeed he is.'' Maryse read the mission one more time before closing the file. ''Well, I think we got what we need now.''
Robert watched her put it away, exactly where they found it. ''This is wrong, you know,'' he stated. ''Doing this, letting them do this…it's wrong.''
Maryse gave him that look, the one that always seemed devoid of emotion, so set and so…angry. ''The lines between right and wrong for us have always been blurred,'' she said. ''I see no reason for not blurring them once again.''
''They could get in trouble.''
''There's no way they will leave a trail.''
''Aren't we letting them make the same mistakes we made?'' Robert pled.
Something in Maryse's eyes flashed. He suddenly realized this had the potential to spiral into one of their fights. But Maryse's tone was restraint, painfully so. ''If I had the chance to go back in time and rip the hearts out of everyone who wronged us…who wronged our children and our friends…I would take it without a moment's hesitation.'' She made her way out of the room. ''Wouldn't you?''
Robert took in the surroundings of the office before making to follow. He could almost catch Cèline's scoff of exasperation, as if she were still in this room. He sighed, closing and locking the door behind him. Would you still take the chance, considering it's our hearts as well you would have to rip out?
…
Alec and his family had been trekking to and from the Institute for the past couple days. His parents were still in Idris, still mopping up the mess of the Inquest, no doubt. Three weeks they had been home now, and business seemed some semblance of normal. Yet there was this feeling in Alec that put him on edge.
He, Clary, and Jace spent a majority of their time in the library, attending to the jobs Maryse usually took care of as head. Max jumped back and forth from studying and doing small tasks to causing mayhem with the boys. Simon and Isabelle…well, Simon seemed to take every opportunity to get out of the Institute, and Isabelle went with him. Alec suspected something had happened between Simon and Clary. What, no one divulged.
There was no reason to be on edge he supposed, though his conversation with Isabelle replayed in his head a few times as he watched Jace and Clary. Could they be planning something? They hadn't given any indication. They were starting to do missions again, leaving Moriah with the other while the other went out to hunt. Never for long, but still, it was progress.
Then again, maybe the answer to his being on edge was right there. Moriah herself, who lurked like a silent ghost, never far from her parents' shadows.
Alec didn't want to be scared of Moriah. She was different, and it wasn't her fault she was different. Those fairies had hurt her. She had been a victim. It was his duty as Jace's brother and parabatai to treat Moriah in the same manner his family treated his own children.
Despite these and many more arguments he replayed in his head, the fact remained he was scared of her.
Her large black eyes were off putting. She was such a small thing, but her eyes were so big. Black pupils and irises, boring into everyone she looked at from whatever corner she was standing in. But even her eyes were not the worst of it.
She was almost always quiet, Moriah. Not 'child playing quietly' quiet, but pure, deadening silence. It was all one could expect from her. She would purr at Jace, whine for Clary- but never any other noise. Ever since that night in Idris, Moriah had refrained from speaking entirely. Her age was hard to pin down for her time in the fairy world, and though she was small, Alec thought her mannerisms made her have to be at least two or three.
But toddlers speak…they play…they smile…
Her movements were always unpredictable. One minute she would be lurking in a corner, only coming out when prompted. And then the next she would be tearing from room to room, hardly stopping to look around. Either she'd make you jump in surprise from not noticing her or make you jump from noticing how fast she was going.
Alec wasn't proud of it, but he also was frightened by her relationship with her parents. If one of them were in the room, there was no contest on who Moriah would pay attention to. To get Jace's attention she would run to him and wrap her arms around his legs, rocking back and forth on her heels until he picked her up. Then she would prop her chin on his shoulder and ignore everyone else. For Clary, Moriah would whine at the sight of her and outstretch her arms, tugging her mother's sleeve so Clary would hold her, upon which Moriah would play with Clary's hair by twirling it around her fingers until Clary often had to ask her to stop. They were the only two people she cared about.
She's just a child, Alec would remind himself. He would watch as Simon and Isabelle both made progress with Moriah, smile politely and try not to cringe whenever Moriah touched them. But it didn't work. Something about her always seemed to make Alec jolt in realization that regardless of fault, Moriah was a demon. She was wrong.
He hated himself for thinking it, but he didn't know what to do. He didn't want to talk about it, and even if he did who would he talk to? He couldn't speak to Jace and Clary. Simon and Isabelle were making such an effort, and honestly they were coming around if all the Pokèmon toys were anything to go by. He didn't want to give his parents any reason to doubt their decision to support Moriah, and going to Jocelyn would be a huge betrayal to Clary. As for Magnus, well…how could he discuss his fear of Moriah's demon blood to his warlock husband?So Alec kept his mouth shut.
And then the fire message came.
''There's an influx of demons to the north,'' Jace announced, reading the letter. ''Maryse wants at least two people going to check it out.''
''The north?'' Alec repeated. ''That will be an all day thing. Why not ask the Shadowhunters who are closer?''
''The Clave's paranoid about the demons that invaded Idris. Better to have people who were there to make sure they aren't the same type of demons.''
Alec relented. ''I guess it won't take too long. I'll ask Izzy when she gets back.''
''Jace and I can go,'' Clary offered.
Alec's shock at this statement must've been more obvious than he realized, because Clary looked up from her paper with a raised eyebrow. ''I'm curious to see if these demons are the same,'' she explained.
''Oh.'' Clary went back to her work. ''What about Moriah?''
Clary reached to touch her daughter's head. She was standing right behind her. Alec bit his cheek. How did she manage to cross the entire room without being noticed?
Clary fiddled with Moriah's hair. ''Well…'' she looked to Jace. ''Maybe…''
''Could she stay with you?'' Jace asked.
The hair on the back of Alec's neck stood up. ''Um, I don't know-''
''It won't be long,'' Jace reminded him. ''We'll leave tomorrow night and be back early morning. It will be quick. That okay?''
No, but Alec could't say that. Especially not with Jace asking as if it were the most natural thing in the world. His brother was asking a favor, what could he say?
''I'll ask Magnus,'' he answered evasively.
And when Magnus showed up later and Clary asked, he accepted without hesitation. Alec resisted the urge to scream. That thing in our home? Around our children?
But he raised no objection and managed to make it through the rest of the day without letting it slip that the mere idea of the impending evening made him cold inside. No one suspected, though Alec thought the way Moriah stared at him from the corner was more intense than usual. He hoped that was his imagination.
…
Isabelle watched lazily as Simon walked over to her perch on a bench, demon dust on his clothes. She straightened up with a sigh. ''Last of them?''
''Yeah.'' He removed his glasses to wipe them on his shirt. ''Anything else?''
''Anything besides the chen, swats, and likë demons we killed? All in different locations? Nope. Gotham is safe, Batman.''
Simon made no response to that. Not for the first time, Isabelle contrasted with how he was now compared to how he had been when she met him. No longer was he a wimpy mundane, but a fit, strong warrior in both body and spirit. Or maybe not. Maybe that mundane spirit was his problem right now, and that's what he was trying to distract himself from by this sudden desire to take on every mission.
Simon put his glasses back on. ''So, Institute?'' He suggested, his body language making it clear he wasn't exactly thrilled at the idea.
Isabelle rested her chin on her hand. ''What are you thinking?''
''Nothing.''
''Are you still worried about Clary?'' Simon didn't answer. ''It's okay to be. I am too.''
''You haven't been her best friend since kindergarten,'' Simon said bitterly. ''You're not her parabatai.''
Isabelle waited, knowing him well enough to know that he didn't mean to be mean. ''She just needs time,'' she said.
''I know.'' Simon let out a heavy breath. ''I know she needs time, she deserves time. She's been through hell and back this year. Again. I can give her time. It's…''
Isabelle held the silence. ''What?''
Simon scuffed his shoe. ''I want her to trust me. I want her to know that I'm on her side, no matter what. The way she is…no offense, but it's like she's a Shadowhunter and I'm a mundane. She think's I will look at her and Moriah differently. That I will think they don't belong. And- and I hate it. I hate her not trusting me.''
''Tell her then.''
''No. Then that makes it about me and it's not about me. I have no right to dump that on her and make her feel guilty.''
''She probably wants to know.''
Simon closed his eyes and put his head back. ''She's shutting me out, Izzy. She's shutting me out and I don't think she has any intention of letting me back in.''
Silence settled over them. Isabelle got to her feet and took his hand. ''You want to find more demons to beat up?''
He gave a deflated scoff before looking at her. ''Sure.''
…
Me: Thank you for reading! If you have a moment, please leave a review!
Happy Writing!