Legends (post 3x01)

Luke's expression is serious but gentle, like how he is with shocked witnesses or traumatised victims. Ollie isn't sure which one she is. "Everything you saw was real. I'm sorry I lied to you. All the legends are true."

All she can do is sit there, transfixed. After a moment, she snaps into detective mode. "Explain."

So he does. About demons, and the humans with their blood. When he tells her what members of the Shadow World call full-blooded humans, she is understandably offended. "Mundanes? You call us mundanes?"

"Hey, I didn't start it. Besides, 'mundane' isn't an insult. Do you know how many times I've wished for a mundane life?" He thinks of Jocelyn, who would be alive right now if she and Clary were still living a mundane life.

"Okay. So I'm a mundane, you're a werewolf, Tim was possessed by a demon. Got it. And what about the girl who threw a dagger into his skull? What's she?"

"Clary? I didn't think you saw her."

"Right before I passed out. For a second I thought she was an angel."

He smirks at that. "Only partly."

"What? I was kidding. Now you're telling me angels are real?"

"Clary is part of a race of humans whose blood is part angel. Their official name is the Nephilim, but they call themselves Shadowhunters. They're effectively the police of the Shadow World. I used to be one before I was Turned."

"Wow. So what does this angel blood do? Can she fly? Does she have a halo?"

"No and no. Nephilim have the Sight, the ability to see beyond glamours, and they draw Marks on themselves to get special abilities. Healing, speed, agility, stuff like that."

She scrunches her eyes up for a second. "Wow, this is. . ."

"A lot? Yeah. Sometimes I forget how jarring it can be for someone who didn't grow up with it. But you'll be fine. Clary learned about the Shadow World a year ago and she saved your life, so I'd say she's doing pretty alright."

Ollie catches something in Luke's expression when he talks about Clary. A fondness.

"Is she your secret girlfriend?"
"What? No!" A look of absolute disgust crosses his face. "She's the closest thing I have to a daughter. Her mother and I are - were - close."

Ollie has always pushed until she got answers, but it's clear this is one thing that Luke is not ready to tell her. So she brings the conversation back to the person it's clear he could talk about for hours. "Well, she sounds great. I'd love to meet her. Officially."

He smiles. "That sounds. . . oddly normal."

"Normal is good?"

"Yeah, it's good."

Somehow he manages to convince Clary that one night off isn't going to kill her. She brings Jace along - they never get time off, of course she's spending it with him too - and meets Luke and Ollie at the Hunter's Moon.

Ollie offers a hand, which Clary shakes. "It's so nice to finally meet you. And thanks. You know, for saving my life."

She smiles, if a little awkwardly. "Oh, sure. Just doing my job, I guess. Uh, this is Jace, my boyfriend."

Ollie shakes his hand too, before noticing the black Marks creeping up his neck. "You're one of them too?"

"A Shadowhunter, yeah."

"Can I see them? Your- symbols?"

"Runes," Luke corrects.

"Right, runes."

Jace raises an eyebrow at Clary, who shrugs off her leather jacket and hands it to him. She holds out her arms for Ollie to inspect and patiently explains what each rune does.

"Cool. So you guys just know them instinctively?"

She shakes her head. "There are thousands to memorise. Most Shadowhunters start learning them when they're kids, but I lived my childhood as a Mundane, so I've spent the past year playing catch-up."

Jace nudges her. "Don't sell yourself short." He turns to Ollie. "She's doing great. She's a bit of a rune savant."

Ollie grins. "This is so cool. You guys are like actual superheroes."

Jace and Clary share a look. "It's more trouble than it's worth sometimes," Clary says.

"Yeah, I can imagine. Demons and werewolves and vampires. Luke told me fairies are real, too, but they can't possibly be as bad as he said they are."

Ollie's eyes are wide and innocent and curious. She reminds Clary of a child, despite the fact that she's a grown woman and a detective. Clary supposes that the Shadow World makes you grow up quickly.

Ollie has not felt the burn of demon poison flood through her veins, or the particular agony of having to fight a possessed friend. When she falls asleep at night, she does not have nightmares of watching the love of her life be killed by her father and wake up knowing that it really happened.

But that is definitely too much to get into, so Clary just smiles a little. "There's a saying we have around here."

"What?"

"All the legends are true."