It was a house as any would expect and as we entered the hall Jace led us into a dining room. There were six places set at the table but it could have easily sat a dozen people.

Jonathan sat at the head, Jace and George sat on either sides of him. "Alec you will sit by your Parabatai, won't you?" The Wayland suggested.

I saw Alec stare at the empty seat next to Jace for a moment before he went to sit down in it. That only left the two seats next to George. I ended up sitting next to him with Izzy at my left.

"Then let breakfast be served." Jonathan rang a little bell that was on the table. Food suddenly appeared on the plates in front of us. Eggs, bacon, and the sorts. "Courtesy of my warlock, though she does not want to make herself known."

I stared at the food as the three boys started to dig into it. When Jonathan noticed the three of us weren't eating he sighed. "It's not poisoned. There are much easier, and more fun ways, for me to kill you, trust me."

I stared at him as I stabbed a piece of ham and started to chew it. When I didn't keel over dead, Izzy and Alec started eating too.

It was only when we finished eating that Jonathan spoke again. "Now you're probably wondering why I brought you all here and I just want to clear the air."

"Clear the air?" I exclaimed before I could stop myself. "You killed my parents and you expect me to forgive you?"

"Not forgive no, understand," Jonathan said. "I didn't wake up one day and decide to kill the Morgansterns, no. Did you know Valentine killed my father?" He was lying, he had to be. My father wouldn't hurt anybody, not in that way. "I'll spare you the details but my father found out something Valentine didn't want anybody to know so he killed my father for it. Would have killed me too in that house fire if Hodge hadn't rescued me and brought me to the mundane world."

I didn't believe a word of what Jonathan was saying. Other than today with Amatis when had he earned the right to my trust?

"You're probably wondering why I'm doing all this," Jonathan kept speaking. "Why I recruited most of the Ascended world-wide and had them kill their brother and sister Nehpilim, why I've aligned myself with the downworlders when we shadowhunters are supposed to fight against them.

"The answer is simple: the Clave is corrupt. They wouldn't listen to my father when he attempted to have Valentine punished for his actions. They did nothing to investigate my father's murder. I cannot tell you how many Nephilim that have joined my ranks who have the same experience as me with the Clave." He looked at George. "How many of your fellow would be-Ascended died thanks to the Clave."

"Fourteen this year," George answered. "Not counting the two who died earlier this week." I realized something at that moment. Jace had been so adamant that George was the mole. Was he trying to warn us then?

Jonathan smiled. "And Jace? What did the Clave do instead of throughly investigating your parents death? Hmm?"

"They wrote it off as a simple house fire to the public and wouldn't investigate the perpetrator when they figured out it was arson," Jace answered.

"And what about you, Clary?" Me? What was Jonathan talking about? "The Clave stopped investigating your father's death. They insisted that it wasn't a fellow shadowhunter and wouldn't question anyone." What he said was true but-

"And Alexander, Isabelle, isn't it the Clave who are forbidding you from contacting those special downworlders?" The Lightwoods didn't speak but I saw Izzy grip her napkin tighter.

"Everyone in this room has some grievance against the Clave, five young shadowhunters who have only been subjects of the Clave for eighteen years at the most," Jonathan said. "Can you imagine what the Clave has done to other shadowhunters? How they've neglected them? How they forced them to conform to their laws with a simple sed lex dura lex."

I hated a tiny part of myself that believed what Jonathan was saying...some of his points made too much sense. I was mad at the Clave for not investigating, until we found out it was Jonathan that was behind everything. I was angry at them for not allowing my Parabatai to see the one she loved. But...they were also the Clave.

"Sure, I had my own reasons for wanting to kill the Morgensterns and the vampires. But when it comes down to it, Clary, you and your brother as just as much a victim of the Clave as the rest of us are. There was no way I could justifiably kill you."

Those words snapped the tiny part of me that had started believing Jonathan away. He wasn't trying to kill us? As if I believed that. He was going to kill Sebastian before Simon arrived. And he had tried to kill me before that. All that he was saying was lies.

"I only want to bring in a new age of Nephilim," Jonathan continued. "Do away with the corrupt Clave. Find a way to stop the death of would be-Ascended during the ceremony, fix our relationships with the downworlders, and do our jobs as shadowhunters."

"Are you done?" I finally asked. I was fed up with him trying to justify his actions, his cause. There was no way I'd ever believe him. He was a murderer, a psychopath.

Jonathan sighed. "Mull over what I have said before you make a decision. I'm hoping you'll make the right one." He stood. "Jace, could you show them out?"

Alec caught Jace's arm in the hallway, halting us as we neared the front door. "Jace, please, come back with us." I hadn't thought Alec would utter those words. "I'll forgive you. He's manipulating you, can't you see that? You don't need him. You have us, you have me. Isn't that enough?"

Jace sighed. "You don't understand, Alec. Jonathan has never made me do something I don't want to do. He's the one who's going to lead the Nephilim to greatness."

Alec let go of Jace and stepped away. "You're lost..." he realized.

"I'm sorry you feel that way," Jace said as he began leading us again. As we approached the front door he opened it and stepped aside. "Have a safe trip to Idris."

Alec didn't so much as glance at his Parabatai as he walked past Jace. I took a glance at the blond as he closed the door. I sighed and made my way over to the car.

"Clary!" Luke exclaimed. "I'm so sorry, they had Amatis and I-"

"It's fine," I told Luke. I knew something about Jonathan stealing a sibling. I knew firsthand how it felt to want to do anything to get them back. "I understand."

"What did he want?" Ashton questioned.

"They illogically thought we'd sympathize with their cause," Alec said as he climbed into the passenger's seat. It was the only way the six of us would fit now in a five person car. Us three girls and Ashton would have to squeeze in the back.

"Which was...?"

"They're trying to bring down the Clave," I told him. We were faced with a dilemma. The car was too small; there was no way four of us could sit in the three seats. One of us would have to sit on somebody's lap. And me being the smallest... "They think they're corrupt or something." Amatis was sitting in the middle, there was less room, so that only left two options: Izzy or Ashton. I chose the lesser of the two evils as I sat on Izzy's lap on the left side of the car. She didn't object.

"You should tell the Clave everything, at least where they are maybe-" Luke was cut off as he begun to drive away from the house, seeing us situated in the backseat.

"We can't," Izzy was the one to speak.

I nodded, on the same page with her. "We're not chancing Jonathan kidnapping or hurting anyone else. What he said is true: he can freely go to Idris."

I heard Alec let out a slight gasp of pain. He touched his Parabatai rune and looked up when he noticed we were staring at him. "I- Jace is gone. Probably teleported somewhere with Jonathan again, somewhere far." We wouldn't have been able to tell the Clave where they were anyway.

We were powerless against Jonathan. We were powerless against the Clave, thinking of their downworlder ban. I was powerless to help Sebastian. I glanced at Izzy. I was powerless to seal the rift between us. I didn't know what to do. There shouldn't have been any hesitation today when I needed to find a place in the car. Before everything, Izzy would have been probably sat on me for the laughs. Now I tiptoed around her as if on glass, scared of saying the wrong thing.

So lost in my own thoughts, I didn't hear Luke shout a warning about the pothole we were about to hit. Even without the warning I was still a Shadowhunter, trained for my entire life. I should have had enough coordination to grab onto the safety bar. But next thing I knew my head was an inch from the glass window on the right side of the car. I realized as my face turned red the only thing that had stopped me from going out of it was Ashton's grip on me. Somehow, I had slid across the entirety of the back seat.

"Are you okay?" The boy I was sitting on asked me. I managed a "mhmm" and a slight nod. I could practically feel Izzy grinning and snickering on the other side of the backseat. Save for family and the blond I didn't want to think about I had never been this close to a boy before.

We had come to a red light. It would have been easy for me to scoot my way back to Izzy, to actually hold onto the safety bar this time. But something anchored me. Perhaps it was Ashton tightening his grip around my waist as the light turned green and we were off.

A/N: Here's the chapter I promised! It has probably one of my favorite scenes of this story thus far :D How do you all feel about Clary and Ashton? Hehe. Next update hopefully coming soon! Let me know your feedback, I'd love to hear it!