For my unnamed guest reviewer, who was the only one to leave me a review/comment in the first part of this series.
This is a sort-of... I wouldn't call it an interlude, exactly. There's a lot of worldbuilding, and character developing, and essentially getting some of our main characters to where we need them for the upcoming pieces. Hope you'll enjoy it!
Dreamcast for the Original Characters: Astrid Berges Frisbey as Terri Dale, Emily Browning as Silbhé, Tom Hiddleston as Lucas, Jose Zuñiga as Max Triggs.
A bit of a warning, there's some Bad Parenting and Child Neglect in this. I'm portraying certain people in very specific ways, you might or might not agree with me. In this specific piece, I'm talking about Jocelyn, but in coming pieces I might also give that same sort-of treatment to other characters. You might not agree with me, and that's just fine. But that's how I wanted to handle them in this verse.
The Girl on Fire
Everything is red. So very red. The sand, the rocks, even the sky is red. The fire is red too. It's… she doesn't know where she is. Could have never imagined a world as the one around her even existing! But it does. There's the sand and the rocks at her feet; there's something else in the distance, sticks, like maybe they were once trees, a forest, but no more, not for a very, very long time. But closer than those maybe-once trees, is the tower. It's right in front of her, and it's burning. It's always burning…
She knows she's dreaming… or well, she's pretty sure at least. Mostly because of how strange the world all around her is, and also… she hears the screaming then. And just like always, she reacts to it by reaching for the tower, ignoring the flames entirely she grasps a hold where she can, first one hand, then the other, then one foot, and the other, and then she's climbing. It's… the tower is burning, and the flames are all around her, but they don't hurt her, almost as if they can't…
She's halfway up when the screams get louder, more urgent. It's a boy, she can tell that by his voice alone. And while she has no idea who he is, has never actually seen him, his screams still pain her. She moves faster, trying to get to the top. She has to get to the top! Has to save him! She's getting closer, closer… and then her left foot slips, making her fall a bit.
"No, no…" She manages to hold onto an outcrop before she can fall too far. He's still crying out and she can hardly believe that no one else is listening, is no one else trying to help him? "Hold on… I'm gonna save you!" She has no idea how, not the slightest, but she's gotta… she's gotta at least try, right? "I swear… I…"
She tries to climb faster, but it doesn't work as planned. A piece of tower seems to crumble right under her hand and this time she falls further.
"Nononono…" She holds on tight, with all her strength, she cannot give up. She cannot! "I'm coming… I promise… please…"
She's holding on so tight, and it seems like it just won't be enough. She's too small, too weak. She starts to cry in desperation. She wants to save the boy, the little prince, but she's just not strong enough! She's not… and he's still screaming! Why is it that no one else can hear his screams? Why won't someone come and save him?!
It all changes, in a heartbeat, though it takes her a moment to realize it. Suddenly she can see that she isn't alone anymore. There's someone else there, a young woman, she's dressed in black and her hair, her hair is red, just like the sand, and the sky… and the fire. But her most striking feature are perhaps the pearly white wing coming out of her back…
"Shhhh…" The angel whispers to her. "It's okay, it's okay little one. I'm here… I'm here and I promise you I'm gonna save him. I'll save the prince…"
And with that, she shoots up, straight to the top of the tower. The rock Clary's been holding onto crumbles under her right then, making her fall straight down, but she doesn't care anymore, because she knows the angel-lady's going to save the prince. She's going to make everything right… she never feels herself hit the ground…
It's the first time since she began having those dreams that she doesn't wake up screaming, or gasping for breath. She notices something, a noise, like shuffling? Someone's in her room! She's still half-asleep, which might explain why despite her wanting to sit up and call out to whoever's in her room, in the end all she can do is open her eyes a sliver. She sees a figure, red-haired, in a dark-blue top with sleeves to her elbows, dark-jeans and boots; though what sticks most with her are the stark black markings on the skin of both her arms, and even the side of her neck.
She's gone in a moment, slipped out the window before Clary's even fully awake. The girl sits up in bed slowly, reaching for the sketchbook she's made a habit of keeping on her night-table, going for the first blank page she can find, then she picks up her charcoals, also on the table, and starts to draw. Slowly at first, lines here and there, and as the picture begins to take shape she draws faster and faster. A tower, wreathed in flames, someone, a child, screaming at the top… She moves to the next page and starts drawing again, a close-up of the top of the tower. She can still feel as she did back then, the pain in her hands as she fought to hold on even as the stone started to crumble under her, the despair that she just wasn't strong enough…
Clary doesn't know when she falls asleep exactly, though at least the second dream turns out to be much better than the first one. Even if it too sends her into a drawing-rush, an imperious need to put what she can remember of the dream into paper. When she's finished she's left with three new pictures, the last being enough to make her smile: the woman with hair as red as the fire on the burning tower, and white wings on her back, carrying the boy, the captive prince, away from the tower, away from that terrible, terrifying red world… Another of the pictures shows the boy jumping out of the tower and into her arms. Though it's the last that causes the biggest reaction from her. Clary cannot even remember drawing it, though as she sees the product of her own work she cannot help but recognize the woman seemingly floating amidst the flames from the burning tower, wide wings sprouting from her back; it's the markings on her skin though that pull and keep her attention. Make her realize that it's the same lady from her dreams, and not just that, she's also the one who was in her bedroom last night!
"Clary! Time to get up." Her mom calls right then, just outside of her bedroom. "Hurry up sleepyhead or you'll be late for school!"
Clary snaps her sketchbook closed almost on instinct. She doesn't know where the thought comes from, but she has this feeling that she cannot let her mom see these drawings. That it'd be a very, very bad idea. It's… strange. It was her mom's idea that she draw what she's been dreaming in the first place. Probably in the hopes that drawing it would help understand it, or make it less terrifying or… something. She's shown her mom all her drawings until now, both of the burning tower, and before. Clary's never been one to keep secrets from her mom… unless it's about some mischief she and Simon are involved in. And those secrets never last long, Simon's too much of a blabbermouth for that! So it feels odd, intentionally keeping something like her drawings a secret from her mom. Not wrong though, which is perhaps the strangest part. Still, she decides to follow her instincts and hides her sketchbook inside her pillowcase, taking a new one and placing it on her night-table so nothing will look amiss.
xXx
She's absolutely furious, beyond furious even. Simon is so… so… such an idiot! He's supposed to be her best friend, hers! Not her mom's little spy! It's… why would he do that?! He says that she was acting oddly, and he just wanted to help and… and he didn't know it was supposed to be a secret (then he had the gall to demand since when she kept secrets from him! The little rat!). And now here she is, with her mother taking her somewhere she doesn't want to go. It's… she supposes they're going to the shrink or something, again. Clary has never seen the point. It never works! Well, she doesn't think it does, not like she remembers much of the previous times… but anyway, she doesn't want it! She was just fine keeping her dreams to herself and…
"Jocelyn…" The man who opens the door greets her mom. "Back so soon?"
He looks nothing like any doctor she's seen, either in real-life or TV. With that semi-transparent shirt almost completely unbuttoned, and the tight pants, and all those rings and necklaces… just who is this man, this… Magnus Bane? Why does the name sound familiar?
"It's necessary." Her mom snaps at the man. "She's seeing things again? Why is this even happening? This is supposed to last longer!"
Seeing things? That makes it sound like she's crazy! And she's not!
"I told you, mind-magics are very complex." The man points out. "Her blood is strong, it fights back. The older she gets, the more it fights."
"This wouldn't happen if you'd just locked her blood down from the start like I asked you too!" Her mom sounds really angry for some reason.
"And I told you that'd cause irreversible damage!" The man retorts. "This, altering her memories so many times is already bad enough. Too many more times and her mind will be permanently damaged. You're already making her vulnerable by refusing to tell her the truth, to teach her to defend herself at all…"
"Shut up!" Her mom has passed angry, she sounds like she's about to do violence, and Clary cannot understand, she's never heard her mom like that. "Don't try and tell me how to raise my daughter! What do you even know about being a parent?! I know you warlocks are infertile. You know nothing about having children a…"
The shift from vicious ranting to dead silence is sudden enough that Clary cannot help but flinch. One second passes, then two, then three… and that's when she finally moves, turning to look at her mom, wondering what's happened. Her mom is frozen in place, completely. As if her body has been suspended in time somehow. It's strange and fascinating at the same time… Shockingly enough, the situation doesn't frighten her. She has no doubt that the man… Magnus? Is the one keeping her mom 'frozen', but she's not scared of him. Also, from what little she understood of their argument, her mom wanted him to do something, something to Clary! And he kept telling her it was a bad idea but… it was like she didn't care or… or something…
"Biscuit…?" The man… Magnus, calls to her.
She turns in his direction, except instead of focusing on him, her eyes are drawn in the direction of someone else, a figure standing by the big glass-doors leading to an open balcony. Her reaction is immediate, almost more instinctive than conscious. Her heart recognizes him even before her mind does and in a second she's running. Throwing herself at him, wounding her arms around his neck and burying her face in the crook of his neck.
"You're here!" She squeals in delight. "You're here! She saved you! She really did! Like she promised she would!"
"Oh…" The boy breathes out quietly, and then his own arms are around her and he's hugging her back just as tight.
"Wait, biscuit, you know him?" Magnus asks, confused.
So she tells them, about the dreams, of red sands and redder skies and a burning tower which she climbed every night, yet never making it to the top… and her last such dream, with the lady with angel-wings, and how she promised Clary that she'd save the boy in the tower…
"And she… wanted you to forget that?" The boy asks, a mix of emotions: confusion, anger, even sadness, on his face. "Why…?"
"I don't know, I…" Clary hesitates before adding, very quietly. "I think mom's afraid… I don't know why, or what or… who of. But she seems to be afraid, all the time… It's… she always wants to know where I am, where I'm going. If I'm ten minutes late home, or don't answer the phone by the second ring, she completely blows a gasket! I cannot go to any sleepovers. Cannot invite any friends home unless she's there, and even if she is it can only be people I've known over a year and she has to have met their families. I mean, who does that anymore? She hates, and I mean really hates, having her picture taken. I used to believe it was just superstition but…" She's ranting, and she knows it, but she just doesn't care anymore. This is the first time she's had the chance to let it all out. "If I didn't know any better I'd think we're in some kind of witness protection and she just hasn't seen fit to tell me!" She notices the looks the boy and the man exchange. "No, don't tell me…"
"It's not exactly witness protection, or at least not in the… mundane sense of it." Magnus says with a shrug. "But it's the idea's somewhat similar."
"I… think… I always known something wasn't right I mean." Clary murmurs. "And it's not just how obsessive she is about the strangest things but… more than once when Luke was visiting, when they got talking, I'd hear him say something about how she needed to be honest, how she needed to tell me… something. But she never did. I used to believe that it was about my dad. And that the grief over his loss was why she just couldn't bring herself to talk about it but… it's not that at all, is it?"
"It's about your father, yes, but…" Magnus seems to have no idea how to even begin to explain.
It's one thing to teach newly-turned vampires, werewolves, newly manifested warlocks, about the shadow world, about what they've become (or what they've always been, even if they might not have known it before). Trying to explain to a young girl not just about her heritage, the blood of the angels that runs in her veins; that her mother was once a shadowhunter, and the circumstances in which she left (ran away); that her father is a genocidal, racist maniac who kills all with demon blood, who's seeking to eliminate such individuals entirely (which happens to include both Magnus and the 'little prince' she's so happy to see out of that tower), who's experimented on many individuals, including said boy… and probably her as well (because the young woman who visited him recently, the other, older, harder version of the girl in front of him might not have said as much, but Magnus isn't blind, or stupid); that she has a brother, one her father experimented on, her mother abandoned, and who wants nothing more than to get to know her…
It's not the easiest thing he's ever done, but Magnus does it, because it needs to be done. Clary deserves to know the truth, and apparently he's the only one with the strength of will to tell it to her. He also goes a step further and returns all the memories he's ever taken from her (it was probably a good idea that after the talk with his 'visitor' he decided that feeding them to a demon might not be the best idea after all).
"But… but why?!" Is the first thing the girl says after recovering from the return of her memories. "Why did she do that?!"
"I'm sorry biscuit, I don't know…" Magnus admits quietly.
Jonathan's still with her, holding her tight, the two of them sitting on his couch by now and Magnus cannot help the feeling that that mutual touch, that hug, is the only thing keeping both of them grounded for the time being.
"Tell me everything." She orders after a moment.
"Are you sure biscuit?" The warlock asks her quietly. "I won't take your memories again, I promise you that. And some things… you might come to regret knowing them."
"No I won't." She denies. "I might not like them. But I won't regret it. I… please Magnus. I feel like this is how it's gotta be."
"Very well," Magnus sat on the couch opposite from them. "Lets start with the basics, shall we? Like nephilims like to say: 'All the legends are true'…"
xXx
Everything changes after that day. After a long, very involved talk, some screaming, a lot of ranting on Clary's part, and a lot of patience, understanding and care on Magnus and Jonathan's parts, decisions are made. Later that afternoon, when Clary returns to the apartment with her mom, Jocelyn has no memory of getting in an argument with Magnus. All she remembers is telling him to deal with Clary's memories and him doing exactly that. She also believes that he did something different, a new spell, that might make it so Jocelyn won't have to worry about such things anymore. While her original idea of rendering Clary blind to the Shadow World is still impossible (and unconscionable), the new spell will make it so whatever she sees, she will either dismiss as made-up, a mistake, or simply pay it no attention, like it's not there at all. Of course such a spell doesn't exist, Clary just agreed to keep such things to herself. He also promises to help her keep in touch with her brother, because if there's one thing she refuses to do it's give up on him, having learned the truth. The next morning Jocelyn asks Clary about her dreams and she just shrugs dismissively, saying they're 'just dreams'; it's the honest truth, and it allows for Jocelyn to interpret it the way she wants, keeping Clary from having to lie (while she, very boldly, told the guys she'd have no trouble whatsoever lying to her mother after all the times she herself's been lied to, neither Magnus nor Jonathan want her to feel that she has to). After that Clary makes sure to never react to the Shadow World, whenever she might come across it, or signs of it, especially when either her mother or Luke or Dot might be around.
Other things change as well. Clary's friendship with Simon comes to an abrupt end. She knows now that she cannot trust him, not with her secrets, and especially not with the secrets of those she's come to hold very dear in a shockingly short amount of time. She will not put her brother at risk, not for anything. Her mother seems to worry at first, enough to comment on it in any case. Clary just tells her that people grow apart, it's normal. Jocelyn doesn't seem too sure at first, but in the end decides it might be better this way, one less thing to worry about.
Dot makes a point of spending more time around Clary in the following weeks. The girl isn't sure if it's worry or pity about her, about her seemingly no longer having any friends, or if perhaps she too is keeping an eye on Clary to report back to Jocelyn… It hurts Clary. She used to see Dot as a friend, almost an older sister. Clary's not stupid, or blind, she's long since noticed that Dot isn't like other women, years have passed, yet she never changes… She changes how she dresses, how she does her hair, even her makeup, but she isn't aging. Meeting Magnus, learning about the Shadow World, explained that. Clary knows now that Dot is, like Magnus, a warlock, she has magic and is immortal. And in learning that truth, Clary feels like she's lost another friend. She can never trust Dot either, and that realization hurts.
Clary's class gets a new substitute teacher a month later: Miss Terri Dale. With her abilities now fully unlocked and growing the girl realizes she's a warlock from the moment the woman first enters the classroom, yet she says nothing; until the woman approaches her instead:
"I'm a friend of Magnus's." She whispers to Clary while everyone else in the class is busy pulling out their homework. "Your brother sends his love…"
When Miss Dale offers some tutoring for her most gifted students, Clary is among them. Also, when she has to take her little brother to work once a week because his medical condition means he doesn't take PE, no one at St. Xavier's really cares, more than one person even comments on how Chris should transfer to their school, how they'd all love to have him…
Chris… because the boy made a choice, after he was mostly recovered from his ordeal in Edom. He looked mostly human, with hair the same shade of red as Clary, and skin just slightly lighter than hers (though that might be because it was 'newer' skin, and not yet as exposed to the sun; his eyes though, those were entirely black, pupil, iris and sclera, all black. Magnus taught him how to glamour them, into blue on white, not quite the same color as they'd been before, and there was a hint of green in them, but still, they looked good enough. Clary always made sure, whenever his glamour fell and his 'real' eyes showed, not to flinch, or treat him any different. While she'd admit to feel unsettled at his eyes, that was less about the color, and more that she was never sure what he was looking at when they were like that. In any case, one of the first decisions the boy made, was that he was Jonathan no longer. And it wasn't just about the Morgenstern name (or the Fairchild one), but he didn't want to be the boy Valentine tried to raise him into, for ten years; nor did he want to be the monster Lilith wanted to turn him into. Yet he didn't want to let go of his whole identity either, Clary was his sister, and he refused to let her go. So he chose to keep the name of Christopher. And legally that's who he came to be: Christopher Bane, Magnus's son. With his black eyes and other demonic traits, he could easily pass as a warlock. None of them knew yet if he'd eventually be able to use magic; if, in such case, he might lose his ability to use runes, or keep it. Tessa herself had magic, though aside from her remarkable talent for shape-shifting it wasn't too strong, she could also use runes, though they were weaker than a normal shadowhunter's, and vanished relatively fast.
Near the end of the school-year comes the biggest surprise. When Clary's among the students being offered scholarships for some of the best middle-schools in the country. Some are local, like Calhoun, Booker T. Washington, or the Salk School of Science; some are from other parts of the State, and even a couple in other states. Clary's the only one offered a scholarship to the New Salem Academy; about half an hour west of Albany, NY.
It takes a lot to convince Jocelyn to let Clary go. Even with the offer of a full ride, board, food and all other expenses paid (the Academy has dorms for students that do not live in town). It's until she takes Clary out for walks, lunch, or dinner, several times during the summer, always to different places, always having them pass by downworlders, and Clary has no visible reaction whatsoever to them (the most being her question once if her mom knew if there was a fair nearby and if they could please go, after seeing several seelie in particularly festive ensembles in Central Park). That seems to convince Jocelyn once and for all that Clary's now as good as blind to the Shadow World, so she finally gives her permission.
In August Clary, Jocelyn and Luke spend three weeks in Luke's farm in Upstate New York. It's a good place, one that carries happy memories for Clary (starting with the slightly faded flowers a much younger Clary once drew on the sign at the farm's entry); yet, like many other things, those memories now carry a bittersweet tint. She remembers now, remembers seeing Luke as a wolf, even playing with him, when she was little. Remembers feeling so loved, so safe… losing that memory didn't only take away the knowledge that werewolves existed, or that Luke was one, it also took away her sense of security, both in relation to the farm, and to Luke himself. And while her memories are all back now, that security isn't. Because if she lost it all once, who says it cannot happen again? At times she wonders if her mother truly realizes what she did, what she ordered done to her, if she even cares… She knows she's afraid, like she told Magnus herself, her mother is always afraid. But if she's so worried about their safety, shouldn't she be ensuring that Clary isn't vulnerable? Ignoring something exists, being 'blind' to it, is not being safe, it's just denial. It's as if she thinks that if she ignores something long enough that'll somehow make it go away. That's not how it works!
On the day after her 11th birthday Clary wakes up early. She's so excited. While classes begin until the 1st of September, all new students have to arrive a week early for some additional placement tests, introductory courses, meeting their tutors, and so they can build their schedule not just with the required subjects, but any electives and clubs they might be interested in. So, before getting back to NY city themselves, her mother and Luke are driving her to the Academy. Her bags are in Luke's truck already.
Clary's so excited, and not just at the prospect of a new school in general, but because she knows that Chris is going to be there! That's Magnus's plan. While the scholarship offers were in no way a lie, and several of her classmates will definitely be attending very good schools starting this coming term. And she certainly has the grades to get such offers, Magnus made sure that the only offer that'd be made to her, would be New Salem's. And that she knew from the start why exactly no other school was vying for her attention (despite the fact that one of the schools in question, one that was right there in Brooklyn in fact, had an excellent Art Program, and would have been Clary's first choice otherwise).
Clary's so very excited, so it's no surprise that she'd wake up, shower and get ready earlier than usual. As she approaches the stairs she's wondering if she should just have cereal, or wait a bit longer to see if Luke gets up anytime soon to prepare some actual breakfast… and then she hears them, and realizes that not just Luke but also her mother are up and about already:
"I really do think you should tell her Joss…" Luke's saying.
"Tell her…?" Her mother murmurs in return, like she doesn't know what Luke's talking about, or doesn't want to.
"The truth, about you, about the world, about her…" Luke enlists.
"She's just a child Luke," She says dismissively.
"She is, a child who's going to be away from home for an extended period of time." Luke reminds her calmly.
"What? You think I should have refused this opportunity?" Her mother retorts.
"No! Of course not! She deserves this chance, I agree completely with that. But well… you know the world we live in. And sooner or later, so will she. Don't you think she should hear all about it from you, instead of some stranger who might end up feeding her lies?"
"That won't happen."
"We both know there are a lot people who don't have the best intentions…"
"That's not what I mean. It won't happen, because she's never going to find out."
"You don't know that…"
"I do. I do know that. Warlock Bane did something new this time. Whenever she's around the Shadow World, she either doesn't notice it, or her mind automatically finds a logical explanation for it. Like happens with most mundanes. He explained it to me. And I know it works. I made sure of it before I ever signed the papers for her transfer to this Academy."
"Joss… you know I just want what's best for Clary. It's all I've ever wanted."
"Yeah, but that's not something for you to worry about. Clary's my daughter and I've made the best choices for her."
Clary freezes entirely at the top of the stairs, a fist pressed against her mouth, stopping the shocked gasp from escaping her. Her mother's words just now… did she truly just… just dismiss Luke's thoughts? His wishes? Tell him he didn't matter? The mess with her memories, lost and returned might make it so she has a hard time deciding what she feels for Luke exactly, and she doesn't much like her mother at the time but she still believed that the two of them… that they loved each other! Even if they might never say it. Luke spends practically every few moment with them, he's always helping them, helping her mother, any way he can. It actually makes the girl wonder about his pack, does he even have one? Anyway, Clary's not blind, she's seen the way Luke looks at her mother. And yet… does she even care?!
In the end Clary decides to go back to the room for a while. When she comes back out she makes sure to make enough noise for everyone to hear her long before she makes it to the stairs. Luke agrees to make some of his 'famous' omelettes, and while he smiles as he makes small talk about her new school and how eager she's to get there, to learn new things, make new friends, she can tell it doesn't reach his eyes… It makes her kind of sad, actually, because Clary does care about Luke. Even if she might never see him as her dad, not now, not after… everything. But regardless of that detail, Luke doesn't deserve to be treated the way Clary's mother treats him. She can only hope things will work out between them. Who knows? Maybe once she's gone they will finally get things straightened out and get together…
xXx
It takes them about two and a half hours to get to New Salem. There Luke helps get Clary's two suitcases and three boxes (one filled entirely with art supplies) out of the back of his truck, though he isn't allowed to go past the main lounge in what they're told is the visitor's building. Only direct family can access the rest of the building and only the students, staff and authorized guests can get past it and into the rest of the Academy. It's a matter of security. Luke seems to like it, think it's good for Clary, safer.
They're met with a girl, a bit older (though shorter) than Clary at the doors leading past the visitor's building. She has skin like roses and cream, auburn hair that falls in waves to her shoulder blades and hazel eyes, her features almost delicate.
"Hello!" She greets them with a gentle smile. "My name's Silbhé Salani, you must be Ms. Fray, and… Clarissa?"
"Clary, please." The younger girl requests.
"Sure." Silbhé nods. "I'm your roommate."
"Awesome!" Clary smiles at that, she already likes the girl.
When Silbhé asks Jocelyn if she wants a guest-pass, which she'll need in order to get past the visitor's building (in case she wants to see the dorm, or any other part of the Academy), the woman refuses, saying that they still have to get to NY. Clary feels embarrassed, if only a little, at her mother's excuse, but says nothing about it. Silbhé doesn't seem particularly surprised, though she doesn't say anything about it until after both Jocelyn and Luke are back in the truck and driving away.
"It's perfectly alright, you know?" She tells Clary.
"I just…" Clary doesn't even know what to say, how to explain, especially when even she doesn't understand it.
"Not everyone feels comfortable stepping into the Academy, it's a whole new world, after all!" She smiled, like it's some kind of private joke.
"What do you mean?" Clary asks, honestly confused.
"You don't know?" That clearly surprises her.
Before Clary can tell her that she doesn't the two of them step off the deck at the back of the visitor's building and fully into the Academy properly. Clary gets a sensation, almost like her ears popping, like some kind of release of pressure, or something. She blinks and then… then she understands exactly what Silbhé means by a whole new world!
What she first thought were some dogs running around in the big yard in between the visitor's area and the buildings she deduces must be the dorms, they turn out to actually be wolves, or rather, werewolves. And it's not even just them. She can see a girl with blonde hair with pink highlights; her hair pulled back into a high-ponytail, leaving her pointy seelie ears quite visible. And then there's two boys who're clearly new arrivals as well, their luggage floating behind them, showing that at least one of them is a warlock.
"Is… is everyone here…?" Clary's speechless.
"Supernatural or supernatural adjacent, yes." Silbhé answers.
Clary gets her whole explanation as they start walking (Silbhé reassuring her that one of the prefects will have taken all her luggage to their dorm). New Salem Academy, or simply The Academy, as most of its students refer to it, is a school exclusively for those who are either supernatural themselves, or closely connected to it. Most students are werewolves, warlocks, half-seelies, they even have a few young vampires and a few descendants of 'lost nephilim lines'; the only fully humans who attend the school are siblings or children of supernaturals who for some reason or another cannot attend normal school (like, if they happen to be the child of the enforcer of an important wolf pack, or vampire clan, it might not be safe for them).
The werewolves, vampires and part-seelies each have their own buildings, conditioned in ways that work for their groups. The fourth dorm is where everyone else ends up. New warlocks aren't born very often, and even then, most don't actually find out they're warlocks until later in life, so it's rare for them to end up in the Academy really. Silbhé doesn't think they've ever had more than a handful at a time. That's why those fully human and the descendants of nephilim lines live in the same dorms.
By the end of the basic explanation the girls are on the third floor of the last dorm-building. There's a common area for the floor, which includes a sitting-room/dinning-area and a kitchen. A couple of door lead into the bathrooms and showers, then there's two hallways, each going in opposite directions, leading to the bedrooms (one set for girls and one for boys, with magic at the entrance of each to ensure no one will go where they don't belong). It turns out the bedrooms are singles, small even compared to the apartment; just big enough for a twin bed against one wall (with a window over it), a night-table with a lamp beside it, then a dresser, some open shelves, a vanity table and chair against the opposite wall. It's small, but cozy nonetheless. Clary likes it a lot. Her things are already there, as promised, and Silbhé helps her unpack relatively quickly. All her clothes go into the dresser, her toiletries and few beauty products on the vanity table. All her sketchbooks and art supplies on the shelves. The older girl even helps her do the bed with the brand new sheets Dot bought her, 100% Egyptian cotton, the palest blue with a design of flowers in many different colors; they're beautiful and very, very soft.
Once Clary's room's ready Silbhé takes her on a bit of a tour of the Academy. After the visitor's building and the dorms, with the yard in the middle, there's another yard separating that area from the buildings with the actual classrooms, workshops and everything else. Silbhé points out which buildings are for each different school level: from elementary (though they rarely have students that young), middle school (which is where Clary will be attending) and high-school (where Silbhé will be going next term). They also have contacts with several colleges for those who might be interested in going down that route.
"This is all so amazing…" Silbhé murmurs fascinated.
She wishes she'd known such a place existed before, that she'd been able to attend the Academy from first grade… though she knows such desires are pointless, not just because there's no way to change the past, but because her mother would have never let her attend the Academy back then. Even now, if her mother knew the truth about the Academy Clary wouldn't be there!
Eventually they end up in one of the many many gardens that have clearly been influenced by the part-seelies. Clary knows she's going to have to bring her supplies one day and draw. The place is just so gorgeous…
"You mentioned lost nephilim lines." The redhead remembers. "How does that… what does that even mean, exactly?"
"Nephilim end up living as mundanes in one of two ways…" Silbhé explains as the two sit under the shade of a huge jacaranda tree. "Well, three. But far as I know, the whole 'switching babies' has only involved a baby nephilim once so…" She shakes her head. "The first happens when a young nephilim tries to take their first rune, and it's too much for them. While sometimes the shadowhunters might choose to let the young nephilim's body fight it out, and either endure, live to become a full-fledged shadowhunter, or fail to take the rune and die under the weight of it; they may instead choose to scratch the rune. Doing that is so traumatic it'll make the angel blood of the young nephilim go dormant, effectively turning them into mundanes. When that happens their memories are usually altered and they're sent to live among mundanes for the rest of their lives. In these cases, the closest Institute is supposed to keep an eye on them, especially because there's a pretty good chance that either a child, or a more distant descendant will be, at the very least Sighted, might even have the potential to become a shadowhunter. That's how the Clave used to get new shadowhunters, those not of established families. Lately they seem to just not care anymore. Some believe it might be connected with the disappearance of the Mortal Cup. I personally don't care. It is what it is."
"And the other possibility?" Clary cannot help but feel fascinated by the whole thing.
"Exile." Silbhé answers. "It's the Clave's favorite punishment, I've found. For those that haven't committed such grievous crimes they can justify executing them directly, but whom they don't want around anyway. A shadowhunter deprived of the safety of their city and Institutes… their runes are a beacon for demons, and since those who are exiles aren't allowed to take anything that is seen as belonging to the Clave (which includes weapons, unless they're personal, and that's only really seen in the oldest, richest families). Shadowhunters never live long in such circumstances. In fact, many of them see it as… honorable, to die in such a way. Like they're redeeming themselves from whatever crime saw them exiled."
"That's… that's… barbaric!" Clary's absolutely horrified.
"I know," Silbhé nods. "Of course, exile isn't always a punishment. Or even always that barbaric. Some shadowhunters might choose to be exiled, usually those who've fallen in love with a mundane; there's also the chance that the Clave might decide to show mercy to one of those 'criminals' whom they've chosen to exile, and derune them first. A deruned shadowhunter is more likely to survive. It's not perfect, but at least not as much of a death sentence."
"That's…. fascinating if horrifying." Clary decides eventually. "How do you know so much on the topic? Doesn't seem like something many downworlders would be interested in… exactly."
"No, you're right." The older girl nods. "But I'm not a downworlder."
Clary blinks. Truth is, she doesn't actually know what faction Silbhé might belong too exactly. Through their whole conversation thus far she didn't ask because it seemed a tad rude. Though with the explanation about the various dorms it's become more than obvious that she cannot be a werewolf, vampire, or part-seelie. Warlock is a possibility, though Clary cannot help but think that if that were the case they wouldn't have needed someone else to take her luggage, Silbhé could have moved them herself. Which leaves…
"My whole life I've been able to See things no one else could." Silbhé explains. "At first it seemed all very… magical. I've seen both wonderful and terrible things. Especially since meeting Lucas… He's my boyfriend, part-seelie. He's not immortal but has a 'knack' with plants, I guess you could say, and some skill with elemental magic. Nothing to the degree full-blooded seelies or warlocks are capable of, but still. He was the first to suspect I might be more than just a human with the Sight. Took me to a friend of his, a warlock. After some tests we eventually discovered that I have nephilim blood. A lineage ritual revealed that while my mother lived her whole life as Aislinn Kinross, she was born Aislinn Castel. Ragnor Fell researched the name. Turns out that she was a born nephilim, would have been a shadowhunter, only she'd trouble taking her first rune. In the end her family chose to let her go, rather than risk her dying if the rune became too much for her to bear. So they scratched the rune, altered her memories to erase all knowledge of the Shadow World. Unlike most they went as far as contacting a mundane family and making arrangements for her adoption, so there's that. So… I'm nephilim blooded… just like you."
That… Clary has trouble finding the right words to express what she's feeling in that very moment. From the moment she found out about the existence of the Shadow World she's been happy, the idea of maybe finally finding a place where she can belong has been a heady thing, especially knowing she has a brother waiting there for her. And now… now there's also Silbhé, someone who isn't just another member of the same world, but more, someone who understands Clary, because she's just like her. It's more than Clary ever imagined having. Now, here, she has found where she belongs…
xXx
Clary meets Lucas when he drops beside them with lunch shortly after the girls have strayed from their original, somber, conversation to easier, happier topics. He's a couple of years older than Silbhé and about to begin junior year of high-school. Tall (over 6ft!), with alabaster skin, blue-green eyes and raven-black hair to his shoulder blades; the only sign of his seelie blood is the slight point to his ears, not quite as pronounced as in full-blooded seelies, though still different from a human's. The redhead's particularly fascinated when hearing his plans for after he graduates from school:
"I'm not going to college." He says. "My grandfather… he was a metalworker, his specialty was jewelry. Each piece he ever made was beautiful, delicate, and absolutely unique. That's how Nana fell in love with him. She was a seelie. Loved him so much… she died of grief after we lost him, when I was just a boy, no older than you Clary. My parents died when I was a baby, car accident, It was Gramps and Nana who raised me. They loved me, and each other, very very much… I came to New Salem after they passed away. Met Silbhé the following summer, and the rest, as some might say, is history."
"Sounds like they were amazing people, your grandparents." Clary murmurs gently.
"They were." Lucas agrees. "I decided since I was a child that I wanted to follow in Gramps footsteps. So I decided that one day I'll be like him, a jeweler. I have all his tools and what raw materials he still had, stored in a safe location. When I graduate here I have someone, a former apprentice of his, who's promised he'll teach me the trade. He lives in London, so I'll be going there; I'll study with him one or two years, then come back."
He doesn't say that he won't come back just because he wants to be in NY, but because of Silbhé. He doesn't need to. While Clary has just met them there's something about those two. It's like they're just made for each other…
Some time later, Lucas is returning after throwing the trash from the lunch, and Clary and Silbhé are both on their feet, talking about taking another walk, maybe, when the younger girl gets an odd feeling, like someone's approaching. She realizes what's causing the feeling at the same time she feels a pair of arms wound around her waist.
"Christopher!" She cries out, trying to sound chiding yet failing by a mile, she's much too excited to see him again.
They haven't seen each other since two days before the end of the school year at St. Xavier's, when she had her last class with Miss Dale.
"Hello sister," He greets her with a very noisy kiss on the cheek.
"Hello brother," She greets him in turn, kissing his cheek as well. "Here, let me introduce you to my new friends. This is Silbhé, one of my roommates, and her boyfriend: Lucas." She turns to her friends. "This is my brother: Christopher."
She's noticed in the hours since her arrival that surnames aren't something most people around them really care for. Silbhé gave hers when first meeting her mom, but only then; she doesn't even know what Luca's surname is, and it doesn't seem to matter either. She supposes that when some of the students might not have families, been rejected by them, might not feel like they belong entirely (those with mundane families who aren't even aware of the Shadow World, especially), and of course the warlocks who prefer to make up their own names.
"Just Chris is fine." The boy says immediately.
"It's nice to meet you Chris." Silbhé's the first to reply, offering her hand immediately.
"I'm actually in the same dorm as you." He points out, looking mostly at Clary. "On the other hallway of course, but Papa said that I'm more nephilim than I'm a warlock, so I'd do better in your dorm."
And Clary's already in that dorm so…
"That's great!" Clary cries out in delight.
Really, as far as she's concerned, in that very moment life is absolutely perfect.
xXx
Clary and Chris attend New Salem Academy for a total of seven years. It's a bit of a bumpy ride at times, but they love every minute of it anyway. While in paper Clary's still Clarissa Fray, only child of a supposedly mundane family, everyone in the Academy know that she and Chris are siblings, and that they tend to go everywhere together. It's not that they don't have a life, they do. Silbhé quickly becomes Clary's best-friend, and Chris gets along fairly well with a few boys, both from their dorm and other factions, but there's no denying the siblings' closeness.
Things at the Academy are arranged so in the mornings the students learn all they need from the mundane educational system, they even have extra-curriculars (sports, clubs and the like) a couple of afternoons a week, and some times on Saturday. They also learn things related to their specific faction, to make the best of the abilities they've been born with. In Clary and Chris's (and Silbhé's) cases that means learning about nephilim society. While they might not be a part of it, technically (and none of them are interested in ever being so) they know enough to be ready in case of an emergency. It's unlikely the Clave would take kindly to trained nephilim, who aren't shadowhunters, going around; individuals with the same power as them, whom they cannot control… It's why most of the nephilim-blooded students only ever use temporary runes, at least, those who use runes at all. Some choose to learn all they can about the heritage, but only use it in the case of an emergency (which is a perfectly valid choice).
Chris also takes some warlock classes. While his percentage of demon-blood isn't too great, and he's still seen as more nephilim than warlock, he does still have some of the blood, and as such some access to warlock-abilities, like some magic. He also learns how to keep the glamour on his eyes in all but the most extreme circumstances. Clary tags along on those classes whenever she can. While she might not have any demon blood, she promised to always stand by her brother, and she'll never go back on her promises.
Clary still goes home for school breaks; only winter and summer though. The first spring break she doesn't go home, claiming she has a lot of work, homework, projects and the like, it's only half a lie, as while she does have some of that, the main reason she wants to stay is Chris's birthday, it's the first they'll have any chance to spend together and she doesn't want to miss it. Truth be told Jocelyn doesn't insist too much either. And matter of fact, in subsequent years she never does ask her daughter if she's coming home for spring-break. Clary never does.
The Academy, or at least, the dorm section, is open all year round. Mostly in consideration to those who might not have families able and/or willing to take them during the breaks. Like Lucas, who has no family left, or Silbhé, whose father is always traveling for work and thus she doesn't see much of a point in going to a place he won't be anyway. The school-breaks Clary spends with her mother Chris goes to Magnus; it allows the warlock to teach the boy some things, but mostly it allows them to grow closer, become a real family.
"You know, I never expected this," He admits to the boy one day.
"This…?" Chris questions vaguely.
"To ever be… well, a father." Magnus admits, quiet, almost vulnerable.
"Do you regret it?" Chris's voice sounds as even as it possibly can, but it's precisely that which gives away his own nervousness, he only tries so hard to hide his feelings anymore when he's feeling particularly vulnerable.
"Never," there's no hesitation in Magnus's answer and that, that means more to the young boy who's been either rejected, abandoned and/or tortured by every single parental figure until him. His tone turns abruptly humorous as he adds: "Forcing me to be respectable on the other hand…"
"I don't think anyone could ever force you to be anything Papa, certainly not 'respectable'." Chris says the last like it's a dirty word, and the both of them laugh.
Clary creates her first rune halfway through seventh grade. She calls it a sunlight rune, and that's pretty much what it does, create sunlight. There's almost an accident with some vampires that were nearby, and while no one ends up hurt in the end Clary does promise to never again experiment when around any downworlders. She also starts looking for a way to make amends, though that takes her quite a few years…
Early on in their third year in the Academy Clary and Chris approach Mr. Triggs, one of their nephilim professors, and the one with the greatest knowledge and experience:
"Parabatai?" The man echoes when they finish explaining things to him. "The two of you, you want to be parabatai."
"Yes," the two children reply in unison.
"You are aware that this kind of thing will have far-reaching consequences?" He wants to confirm. "It's not the kind of thing that can be easily undone. Also, for the two of you to share your abilities… already you're not mere nephilim…"
"We're aware Mr. Triggs." Clary nods. "We know that my higher concentration of angel blood, and Chris's demon blood will probably affect any possible bond. But we still want to do it."
"Whatever consequences, we'll take them," Chris adds for good measure.
"How long have you been thinking about this?" The older nephilim asks.
The man, unlike most of the nephilim in the Academy, including the other two working as teachers, isn't a descendant of exiled shadowhunters, or product of one of the (rare) mixed pairings. It doesn't happen often, but on occasion certain shadowhunters have been known to have flings, or even just night one stands with mundanes, ending with children; such is the case of both Callie and Mandy, whose single mothers had them after one-night-stands with 'handsome young men whom they never saw again'; Roy for his part, according to his tests it was his paternal grandmother who was nephilim, his dad was abandoned on the steps of a church in Boston as a baby, and while the older man never showed any special nephilim ability, Roy's proven to have quite some power. Max Triggs is very different, he was born and raised nephilim, he was a shadowhunter even, until the day he fell in love with his beautiful, mundane, wife. He refused to give her up, even when that meant giving up his whole life instead. He was deruned and exiled. He never really left the Shadow World. His Ella had a younger brother, a warlock, whom she loved as if he were her own child. That's how Max discovered the New Salem Academy; there he found people who accepted him as all he was, who didn't care if his love was 'only human'. It was more than he ever imagined possible.
"Almost a year now." Clary answers his question.
Max knows what that means. That this idea of theirs isn't something that just popped into their heads. They've thought about it, have probably discussed it among themselves, perhaps even with their friends, more than once.
"Will you help us?" Chris finally asks.
"I'll be honored to." Because really, what else can he say?
The parabatai ceremony takes place that very weekend. Clary chooses to have her rune drawn in the nape of her neck, so as to be able to hide it easily under her hair (from her mother), while Chris chooses to have his own on his chest, very close to his heart, to show how dearly he holds his sister, his parabatai…
xXx
Silbhé and Lucas become engaged the day before his graduation. He gifts her a beautiful pendant made of faerie-silver, mithril: a small bird with its wings spread, hanging from a delicate but sturdy chain. It's an heirloom. Apparently his grandfather made several unique pieces for his beloved, she was buried in all of them, except for that pendant. Which she took off herself and placed on her grandson's hand, for him to give to the love of his life when the day came… That love is Silbhé. While rings might be the more traditional engagement tokens, with Silbhé's first weapon of choice being a bow, it's probably not surprising that Lucas would choose something she can keep on her even while practicing her archery.
Over the course of the next two years the young woman never takes the necklace off, Clary sometimes catches her touching it with the tips of her finger, or pulling at it this way or that when she's nervous. Always when she notices she's doing it a gentle smile forms on her lips as she remembers the man who gave it to her, his promise to always love her. Clary cannot help but wonder if she'll some day find such a love for herself…
The next time they see Lucas it's the day before the end of yet another school year. Silbhé's about to graduate, while Clary and Chris have just finished 9th grade. Lucas gets a guest-pass to visit the dorm, where he and Silbhé request Clary and Chris meet with them. The four sit in the living-room, the siblings don't really understand what's going on, but it seems important, so they wait for their friends to explain:
"It's technically a seelie practice." Lucas explains. "They call it Annar Neldë, which means Gifts Three. It's… all the factions in the Downworld have certain courting traditions. Some can be very long and convoluted, though in all the most important parts are the declaration of intent, announcing that the person you've chosen isn't just a temporary fancy, but the one you intend to spend the rest of your life with."
"That sounds… strange but romantic." Clary murmurs, unable to find better words.
"It is." Lucas nods. "Keep in mind that the tradition comes from the seelies, who are immortal. And more than that, seelies are… very open with their affections, they rarely choose to commit. When they do… it's a big thing. For those who posses magic, both seelies and warlocks, marriage implies a bond the likes of which cannot be broken. There's no such thing as divorce for them… for us. While I'm more human than seelie, I do believe that love can and should be eternal. It's why I decided to do a formal courting with Silbhé, and not just that, but the Annar Neldë."
"So, you give her gifts?" Clary summarizes.
"They're gifts, yes, but it's not… it's… more than that, for more than just her." Lucas takes a deep breath before pulling three boxes out of a bag beside him. "First you need to know this is completely separate from the pendant that I gave her as an engagement gift before I left for my apprenticeship two years ago. In the Annar Neldë, the first gift is for the beloved one. It's known as the melanna, the love-gift."
He hands Silbhé the first box: inside it there's a charm bracelet. The bracelet itself is a braid of three golds (yellow, white and red), while each charm is made from a number of non-ferrous metals and precious stones. Thus far there is a pair of angel wings (in honor of her nephilim heritage), a flower (for his seelie one), a tiny piano (because her mother was a concert pianist), an open book (for her love of reading), and a Celtic heart (for obvious reasons)… and of course, there's more than enough space to add others in the future.
"This was one of my final projects, when I finished my apprenticeship." He explains as he touches the edge of it, even as they all contemplate it.
"It's gorgeous…" Silbhé murmurs, fascinated.
"It's also enchanted." Chris points out, able to feel the magic woven into the pendant.
"It is." Lucas nods. "The bracelet only has enchantments to make it unbreakable, and so no one can take it off other than us."
"I'll never take it off." Silbhé hurries to reassure him.
"Each of the charms has a different spell meant for protection." Lucas adds for good measure.
Each spell in a separate charm because he doesn't have the kind of power or skill that allows for spell-chains, or to be able to layer them without ruining things, but that's okay, as long as the charms touch her skin, that's enough for them to work as he wants them to.
"The second gift, nosanna, is the family-gift," Lucas offers the other two boxes to a baffled Clary and Chris, who take them more on automatic than anything else. "You might not be my love's family by blood, but you are her family by choice."
And the only ones who'd understand what he's doing…
Inside the boxes Clary and Chris find necklaces: long platinum chains from which crystalline pendants with the indefinite forms hang.
"These are faerie crystals…" Clary whispers, shocked.
Due to a long term project she's been researching a lot about different materials, especially the kind of things that can only be found in certain places (certain realms even). Faerie crystals are called such because they can only be found in said realm and only the seelies can find them. It is said that the permanent portals are anchored with faerie crystals. They're extremely rare.
"They are," Lucas nods. "I've traveled to Faerie the past few years, met with some who knew my mother, including… including her brother. I explained to him what I wanted to do and he gave them to me. The crystals are spelled to allow you to open the gates into Faerieland despite not having any seelie-blood yourselves. It's the greatest protection I can give you, the ability to reach someplace safe, no matter where you might be."
"Lucas, this is…" Clary has no words. "Thank you."
"You accept his present then?" Silbhé asks, very interested.
"I…" Clary knows the obvious answer is yes, but with this being so important, ceremonial, she believes she should word it better: "It's our honor to accept this gift to family, from one who loves the sister of our hearts."
Lucas's eyes go slightly wide, while Silbhé's smile is blinding. It's clear they know Clary could have given a simple answer, and why she chose to word it as she did and they're grateful for the attention. Especially when Chris adds his two cents:
"You are now and forever shall you be our family," He states with a small but very honest smile. "The both of you."
"Thank you." Lucas smiles at them. "Truly."
He and Silbhé go to stand then, and Clary just cannot help herself.
"What about the third gift?" She blurts out.
The couple turn to look at each other, then at the siblings.
"I'm not trying to make demands of you, I promise!" Clary hurries to reassure them. "I just… you said it's called Annar Neldë, that it means Gifts Three. Which means one piece of the tradition is missing?" At the continued silence she asks. "Is there something wrong?"
"The third gift is called alyaanna, the blessed-gift." Silbhé's the one who explains quietly. "It's given by the family of the one whose hand is being petitioned, to the one doing the petitioning, in response to the previous gifts. A show of acceptance. It's the family essentially giving their blessing to the match." She exhales. "We'd never hold you to that when an hour ago you didn't even know about the Annar Neldë."
Silbhé truly believes this was their mistake, not her friends' (siblings'). Usually, by the time a couple gets to the point of actually doing the Annar Neldë the families would be well aware of where things are heading, so they might be ready. She never thought about telling the siblings about any of it, because she never expected Lucas to do something like that. The only blood family she has left, her father, she hasn't seen since he remarried and moved to Spain, leaving her the house where she grew up, in Maine; and she has no other family. Clary and Chris truly are the closest she has to a family by choice, and Lucas choosing to see them as such for the Annar Neldë is more than Silbhé could have ever wished for. Though the lack of foresight certainly seems to be putting her soul-siblings in a bit of a quandary, which is something she never wanted.
"Wait a minute…" Clary cries out as she jumps to her feet.
"Clary, really…" Silbhé starts.
"No, really," the younger girl cuts the older one off. "I have something, just give me a minute."
She bolts from the living-room and straight to her bedroom.
With all her things packed already, as she's going back to NYC the next day, it actually takes her more than one minute to locate what she wants. As soon as she has it she's running back to the living-room. Where Lucas and Silbhé are still on their feet, looking somewhat uncomfortable. Chris is still on the coach, he looks at Clary, arching a brow, to which she nods. They don't need words to be on the same page.
"Sorry, I just wasn't ready," the younger girl apologizes as she goes to stand before the couple, raising a hand to stall any response as she takes a deep breath and states, as formal as she can: "I present to you our gift, and with it our blessing."
It's not like Lucas said any particular words when presenting his, but still she wants to make it clear that she takes things seriously, they both do. Hers isn't in a box, but a cloth-bag. Still Lucas doesn't hesitate as he takes it, pulling out its contents. It too is a piece of jewelry, though it's not made of metal. Instead it's formed by twine, and wooden painted beads.
"Clary…?" Silbhé asks, curious.
"Why don't we all sit and my sister can explain?" Chris suggests.
They do. Lucas studies the bracelet closely. It looks very nice, the twine and wood both natural materials, and while the painted designs are clearly abstract, just a mix of colors (mostly shades of green, blue and brown, befitting a someone of seelie blood), that doesn't stop them from looking nice. Also, it fits him perfectly.
"The summer before my fourteenth birthday there was something… I don't know how or why but handmade jewelry suddenly seemed to be very 'in'." Clary does her best to explain. "Everything from rings to necklaces made of string, plastic beads, anything you can think of. In an attempt to get us to bond Luke convinced my mother that we should do some pieces together. He and Dot bought all sort of things for us to use, mostly string and plastic but… Luke's good at woodwork, and he apparently had some pieces leftover from some project or another. He carved the beads for us. We didn't use them at the time. Really my mother lost interest a week in and that was that. But I kept some of the stuff, especially the beads. I painted them. Had been planning on giving it to you as a gift sometime, maybe for your wedding. Though I think now's the best time."
"It's beautiful Clary, thank you." Lucas cleared his throat a bit before stating: "You honor me with this gift, and with your blessing, Nésa (sister), háno (brother)."
Those words they do know, so no clarification is needed.
"Clary," Silbhé calls suddenly, though her eyes remain on her fiance's bracelet, which she has been studying closely, moving the beads a bit to better look at each. "Is that a good luck rune?"
That calls everyone's attention.
"They're all runes." Clary clarifies. "There's one on each bead. Not just for good luck, but also for family, friendship, fortune, success, several for shielding and protection, both traditional runes and ones created by me. One in particular is new, meant to act as a shield from demons."
"I'm not nephilim," Lucas cannot help but point out.
"No, you're not." Clary agrees. "I cannot guarantee that this will work, the way I wish it to. It's… a bit of a prototype if you want to call it that."
"Clary…?" Silbhé asks, confused.
"We know that it's possible to carve runes into objects and into places to make them stronger, sharper, for better aim, glamour, protection, and many other things." Clary explains. "I've been wondering for a while now, if it might be possible to create… talismans, so-to-speak, to grant such blessings not to a place or on a weapon, but to an individual. Even downworlders…" At their wide-eyed looks she hurries to add: "It won't hurt you! I've done tests. The reason why runes cannot be used on downworlders has less to do with the runes themselves and more with the steles, or more precisely, the adamas in them, and the way they react to the demonic traces in them. There is a trace of adamas on the beads, from when I carved the runes before painting over them, but with the paint and the lacquer covering them none of it touches your skin, so it's perfectly safe for you to use."
"What about the risk of demons going after him?" Silbhé asks, worried. "Derunement is seen as a mercy for a reason…"
"I did think of that." Clary nods immediately. "According to my research, the trouble is not the runes themselves. If it were, how could there even be an anti-demon rune? Also, Institutes and Idris itself would be under attack all the time! No, the trouble comes with one specific rune, the Enkeli rune, particularly when on a nephilim. On weapons and places it makes them angelic, on nephilim, it gives off an aura that reminds demons of the angels, mostly because it's what binds shadowhunters to their 'creator': Raziel… We know that Greater demons hate angels, while lesser demons are ruled by their instincts so…"
They are all left speechless at that. Except Chris, who looks particularly smug. He's so proud of his sister! In such a short time she's managed to clear mistakes and misunderstandings that have ruled the whole Shadow World for generations! Things like the belief that all runes are a beacon of danger, that runes cannot be used to protect downworlders, that nephilim have to be shadowhunters… And that's without counting the new runes she has created and keeps creating…
Whatever she might have been planning on saying next is lost as Silbhé throws herself at the younger girl, hugging her tight. She says nothing, but really, no thanks are necessary. They're family. In the end that's all that matters.
xXx
The wedding takes place a few days before the start of the new school year. In Faerieland, at Lucas's uncle's request. It's a beautiful ceremony, with the bride and groom wearing flower crowns (following seelie tradition), Lucas in traditional seelie garb in shades of green, Silbhé in nephilim gold and with runes of love, fidelity, family, friendship, commitment and devotion painted on her skin; they each pronounce the traditional vows of their factions. Clary serves as Silbhé suggenes, while with Lucas stands a seelie cousin called Meliorn (representing family, blood, as the seelies consider bloodlines very important).
It's mostly people from the Academy at the wedding, though there are a few seelies: Luca's uncle, a few cousins (Meliorn included), and some that seem to be curious about the outsiders getting married in one of their glades. Clary notices one of the females, a redhead with hazel eyes with elaborate markings on her face, flirting with her brother and can only roll her eyes. She knows that some seelies, especially the oldest and most powerful, can change their forms to whatever age-range they choose, but she has to know Chris is not a seelie, so he's most definitely a teenager… right? She decides it's her brother's choice in the end, and she'll respect that.
The remaining three years in the Academy pass almost in the blink of an eye, or it seems that way sometimes, to the siblings. Jocelyn stopped making the trip to leave and pick up her daughter when she started high-school. Then it was a matter of getting a bus from the apartment to Pennsylvania Station, then a train to Albany, and finally a bus to New Salem. Mundanes look oddly at her sometimes, probably considering her too young to do such a trip on her own, but she doesn't care much. Once she creates the portal rune things become easier, as she can get to her destination faster, and doesn't have to deal with judgmental mundanes. She always makes the return trip to the closest bus station, so as to arrive to the apartment in the manner others expect. Even when her mother isn't there in the latter years (sometimes she's at work, others out with friends, a couple of times in vacation out of town) there's always Dot.
Clary can see the way she and her mother keep growing distant, and she cannot help it. Truth be told, she isn't sure she wants to, even if she could. It's… Clary knows her mother's not a bad person, not really, and yet every time she sees her brother she remembers that he was abandoned, by both his parents, that even before that their father experimented on him (before he was even born), and their mother never wanted him, believed that the demon blood he never chose to have running through his veins made him a monster… Clary hates to think what would have become of Chris if the angel-lady hadn't gone to Edom and rescued him from that burning tower. Even with Clary's own dreams, what could she have done at ten years old?! Nothing at all. And it's not even just Chris. Clary can still remember the way her mother treated Magnus that day, the way she spoke to him. Like he was some kind of servant who was supposed to obey her, no questions asked. Like she believed herself better than him, just because. (It's not the only time her mother has acted like that, in fact, she acts like that so much, towards so many people, that Clary didn't realize for the longest time that there was something wrong about her attitude at all). And then there's Luke. Clary cannot help but hate the way her mother treats him. It's clear as day to the girl that Luke loves her mother, and she keeps stringing him along, giving him hope, without ever actually committing to him. She only talks about it with Luke himself once, he doesn't take it well, at all. There's arguing, and even some screaming, it gets bad. Clary isn't sure if love is truly making Luke blind, or if he's just deluded himself into believing that Jocelyn will one day give him a chance… Clary knows it'll never happen.
So time passes, Clary and Chris keep attending classes. They grow up, make choices regarding what they'll do with their lives. Clary's been interested in art her whole life, and has thought about trying for an Art Academy after graduation. Magnus already promised that if they don't give her a scholarship he'll pay her tuition, he loves her, as much as she loves him, as family. He will give her anything, everything, if she just lets him. Chris tries several things before eventually falling into tattooing. He's good at it. Truth is, he's as good an artist as his sister, even if he's not interested in any of the more… traditional forms of art. He likes tattooing, starts on himself, then on Clary, who realizes that tattoos are the perfect way of hiding runes, like the abstract designs on the bracelet she gifted Lucas; which, as they find out, most definitely work. Which is how she and Lucas enter a partnership of sorts, where he makes jewelry pieces, which she then runes. Such works are only done for custom orders, and they're expensive (mostly because she's the only one who can do them, and it takes both time and effort to do them right); still, they're worth it. The most requested one, aside from the protective runes, are the glamour ones, it's mostly seelies that request them, as the glamour is light, but enough to hide their pointy ears and the markings on their skin; young warlocks like them too, especially those with warlock marks that are hard to conceal, or who haven't yet learned how to keep their own glamours up all the time.
Because their generations are so small, there are no graduation ceremonies at the Academy. Still, they have a deal with the local High-School, so those among the students with mundane families actually interested in attending a graduation can be part of that. Clary and Chris aren't among that number. While Magnus seems quite willing to make a party out of it (he barely seems to even need an excuse most of the time!), Chris doesn't care enough for what he sees as 'pointless mundane traditions'; as for Clary… she isn't quite sure her mother even remembers she's about to graduate high-school. The previous summer the two of them barely spent any time together! Sometimes the redhead cannot help but feel that her mother is far happier when she can pretend she's alone: an independent, single woman living her own life…
xXx
Clary moves out of her mother's place, for good, on the day of her 18th birthday. It takes next to no time for her to pack all the things she really wants to take with her. Truth is, there's not much. She has no interest in the clothes and shoes still her closet, hasn't used them in years (most don't even fit her anymore!). Her sketchbooks Chris took with him when they vacated their dorm for the last time, as she knows better than to keep them where her mother might find them. There are a few books, old toys, mementos and knickknacks but that's about it. It all ends up packed neatly in a few boxes which she sends straight through one of her portals and into her brand new bedroom in her apartment. At Magnus's (and Chris's) insistence she's moving with her brother into an apartment a floor bellow Magnus's penthouse. While her brother lived with the warlock they both consider their papa whenever he wasn't at school, after graduation Magnus thought he might need his own space, they were also very interested in Clary moving in with him. He didn't even allow her to feel the slightest bit self-conscious about it:
"We're family biscuit," Magnus told her as he embraced her right before she left for her mother's place for the last time. "I think it's about time you came home."
Neither of them mentioned the fact that her mother's apartment isn't home, hasn't been for many years. That's obvious enough.
All she has with her is a backpack with a couple of changes of clothes, her toiletries, her latest sketchbook and a couple of drawing pencils when she steps out of the apartment for the last time. She makes a point of locking the door and leaving the key in the mailbox. While she could have left the keys inside and locked-up with a rune, she doesn't want to imagine the kind of response such actions might have garnered her. While there's a chance Jocelyn woouldn't even notice, Clary doubts Dot would miss something like that. And where Jocelyn might choose to pretend that if she ignores it the Shadow World will somehow cease to exist, Dot is a different matter entirely, as is Clary herself. She doesn't need to go borrowing trouble.
She's about to step fully out of the building when she sees the last person she expects jogging up the stairs and straight into it.
"Luke!" She exclaims, evidently surprised.
"C…Clary?!" He actually does a double-take when he sees her.
She knows why: her tattoos. She has quite a bit of art on her skin, starting with the colorful wings that cover the upper half of her back, all the way to her shoulders, where feathers seem to almost be coming off, 'floating' around her upper arms and the edges of her collarbones; on her arms the feathers themselves seem to almost dissolve, leaving what look like faded brushstrokes of various colors, which are followed on her left arm by several fairies, each in unique clothing and wings, 'flying' among stars; on her right arm she has a delicate vine with a few flowers and even a couple of small birds. Finally, on her front, between her collarbone and her left breast, she has a yin-yang made out of feathers, with red-orange flames as a backdrop (that particular design is her brother's creation, a reminder of their bond, and their past).
Clary has a theory that nephilim, either due to the way they're raised, or perhaps some sort of inborn instinct, have a distaste of tattoos, because they're taking a place that should be only for the angelic runes. It's the only reason she can think of why even knowing what they now do about runes, she and Chris are the only ones with any real amount of them on their skin. Even Silbhé, she got Chris to tattoo a gladiolus branch on the inside of her left arm (the one opposite from where she wears her charm bracelet), in which she hid several runes for protection and a single iratze. The wedded-union rune she chose to have carved behind the nightingale pendant Lucas gifted her before, while Lucas wears his own in a locket Silbhé gifted him, an heirloom that once belonged to her mother.
"Where… Why…?" Luke seems to be having a hard time deciding why or how to ask anything, then he notices the bag on her shoulder. "Are you leaving again so soon? But you just got back!"
"I'm moving out." Clary says simply.
"What…?!" That takes him completely by surprise. "What does your mother have to say about this? Does she agree…"
"I don't know." Clary shrugs.
"Wha… Why not?" Luke moves past Clary, heading for the stairs to the upper floors.
"She's not here." Clary calls to him before he can get halfway up.
"What? Where is she then?"
"I've no idea." Clary deadpans. Her tone softening as she adds: "Luke, I was at an art workshop out of town until two days ago. I arrived to find the apartment empty."
"Did she know…"
"About me moving out?" Clary sighs. "Right now I'm not even sure if she remembered I was graduating this June."
"She didn't go to your graduation?!"
"Luke, my mother has barely been around in years! I… I've no idea what things are like when I'm at school. But during the breaks, she's barely home. If she's not at work, she's on a trip, or just… busy. Last year she left two days before New Year's Eve, and didn't come back before my break was over." Not like she stayed in the apartment, Magnus offering to have her stay with him and Chris for the rest of the holidays. "She wasn't here when I left for my workshop, and she's not here now. I told her I was moving in with Chris, to an apartment in Brooklyn. Whether she remembers, even paid attention at all at the time, I've no idea!"
"Oh Clary…" It's clear Luke has no idea what else to say.
For a moment she actually considers telling him the truth, about herself, not Christopher, never him, she won't put him at risk; but she doesn't think Luke would hurt her. Yet what would the point be? Will it change anything? Maybe. Will it be for the better? She doubts it. In all the years she's known Luke, especially since learning about the Shadow World, about the various factions, there are some things she's never understood: like, Luke's a werewolf; and she remembers the wolves at the Academy, the way they all banded together into a sort-of temporary pack, even those who had actual packs waiting for them, which they went back to during breaks, and after graduation. In fact, some of the others ended up tagging along with one person or another to join their packs after their graduations. Point is, she understood that pack is very, very important for werewolves. And what about Luke's? She supposes there's the chance things might have changed since she started at the Academy; in the end, it's none of her business, Luke and her are nothing to each other: not family, not pack. And on that note, she has a family waiting for her.
She says nothing else to Luke, just turning around and walking out the door and out of the building. He doesn't even try to follow her, which is a good thing as it means she can turn the first corner and once out of sight open a portal and cross it to get straight to the apartment. Magnus and Chris are right there waiting for her, smiling at her in such a way she cannot help but smile back. Chris takes her bag, allowing Magnus to hug her tight:
"Welcome home biscuit," He murmurs warmly.
"It's good to be home… papa."
So, what do you think?
Originally this was as far as I was planning on getting this series, at least for this round. But then... well, my muse happened. So you must know that the plan's changed, I just finished writing the next piece (it still needs some polishing and editing, but still!), and I have a pretty solid plot for two more pieces, and am halfway there with one more. If all works as planned now the series will consist of either six or seven parts. Thus far it looks like they'll all end up being One-Shots, though that might change.
So, next piece will go into (a very changed version of) canon events. For those wondering, Malec is coming! In fact, the focus of the next piece will be none other than our favorite nephilim! (I mean, of course, Alec Lightwood). Anyone would like to guess what's coming? If anyone tries and manages to guess one of the big plot-points I promise a fanart (only shadowhunters, though it can be of the character/ship of their choice, as long as it doesn't break Malec; that pairing is set in stone for me, on the rest I'm pretty flexible).
Regarding certain characters who I might treat as being less than good. Jocelyn might be the first but she won't be the last. If you're particularly worried about some character, and you think that my handling of them could be a deal-breaker, ask me and I'll do my best to answer without giving any spoilers. If you prefer to ask more privately you can find me in Discord as Lalaith#2551 and in tumblr:
As always, blanket permission, yadda, yadda.
See ya next week!
