The road to Hell, though paved with good intentions, had not been decorated with such vigor. The tunnel's stone walls bled down from grey to charcoaled black, almost as if someone had tried to burn the tunnel from existence. Smoothened ground quickly became crumbled down rock and gravel. Soon enough, Alec drew his witchlight to provide light for the rest of the way.
Though, the bleaker the journey began to look, the more Eliza felt she was headed towards a place she was always meant to be. And considering they were on their way to the demon dimension of Edom, she didn't think that was a good thing.
She was at the head of the group. Every so often, she let her fingers glide against the charred wall. Jace and Alec were only a few paces behind her. The two fighting partners were enthralled in a quiet conversation with one another. Clary, Simon, and Isabelle were the rear of the group.
A slight, muffled noise broke her train of thought. Followed by that was a pained shout from behind.
Eliza drew her sword and spun around to face the others. As she did, Jace's own witchlight brightened the tunnel. Alec had his bow ready, arrow nocked and aimed. Isabelle's whip was uncurled from her wrist. The latter end found to be curled around the ankles of a young boy hunkered by the wall.
The curled ends of his hair that almost reached his ears weren't enough to mask the tell-tell point of said ears. Runes were scattered over his arms. Clothes ripped and coated in hardened dirt and grime. He wore no shoes. Several emotions passed over his face. Anger, terror, uncertainty. He looked exactly like Helen Blackthorn, elegant face ended in a sharp chin. Curly hay-blond hair. He looked younger than sixteen, but Eliza supposed fear did that to a person.
Quietly, Clary instructed Isabelle to let him go.
The whip unfurled from the boy's ankles and returned to its home on Isabelle's wrist. Alec slowly lowered his bow and slipped the arrow back into the quiver on his back.
Eliza put away her sword and leaned down to be at eye level with him. "Your name is Mark, isn't it?" She asked gently. "Mark Blackthorn?"
He nodded hesitantly. Under the witchlight, his Blackthorn family ring winked. A pattern of thorns roped together on the band.
"Mark," Jace's voice was soft, "how did you get in here?"
Mark's voice shook slightly as he told them how the Hunters had taken him underground. When he had heard Gwyn talking about the group of Shadowhunters who had burst into the Queen's throne room, he escaped from them. "Is my…is my family dead?" He murmured. "That's what the Hunters told me."
Eliza glanced back at her friends. Isabelle turned from the scene. Jace seemed unsure of what to say- a rare occurrence- and Alec looked stiff as a board. Clary even was silent on the matter.
"Is it true?" Mark asked quickly.
Jace shifted behind her. The movement of his witchlight caused a stream of light to pass directly over Mark's face. One eye was the same color as those of his siblings': clearwater blue. But the other…pure gold. Molten and melted through.
Eliza stood up quickly. She wiped her hands on her pants, looking to Jace. What were they supposed to do?
They couldn't lie to him. But they couldn't very well tell him the truth either. There was no guarantee it was safe to do so.
"All of your siblings are okay." Clary said, before anyone could stop her. Mark's face flushed pale. "They escaped to Idris. They're safe. But your father…he was Turned into an Endarkened."
Mark remained silent on the matter.
"Clary, maybe you shouldn't…" Jace warned her.
The redhead frowned at him.
"Mark, tell me the truth." Eliza ordered. Most of the politeness was gone from her tone. "When the fey gave you food and drink, did you accept it?" A formality. She already knew the answer.
Isabelle asked what was going on.
"He's one of the Wild Hunt now." Eliza told them. "They claimed him."
Jace stepped past her. He raised his witchlight, shining it over Mark's entire body. A scowl passed over his face and he flinched from the light. Jace instructed him to hold out his hands. Mark was quick to comply. Jace passed the witchlight over to Eliza. She held it as Jace examined Mark's hands and wrists. He was careful to avoid touching the blazing red whip marks that striped the boy's bare arms. Jace asked when he had been whipped.
"Meliorn did it when they first took me." Mark admitted to them. "He wouldn't stop until I agreed to eat and drink whatever they gave me. They said my family was dead. I thought they weren't able to lie."
Eliza sighed. Alec said that Meliorn was half-fey and he could lie. When he was alive, anyway. Mark asked how long he had been gone and Isabelle told him it had only been a week. Solemnly, Mark said it felt a lot longer than that.
"It's one of those occasions when Faerie time is slower than ours." Alec said.
"Is it true that I belong to the Hunt now? Gwyn said I wasn't allowed to go unless they said so." Jace was adamant when he confirmed the statement. "But my brothers and sisters are okay? Emma too?" Clary said they were all safe in Idris. "They still need me." Mark insisted. He said Helen shouldn't have to take care of them all alone. Julian was too young to care for Tiberius. "Please let me come with you. Please."
Jace grimaced. He looked away from Mark.
"You can't, Mark." Eliza stepped back in. "I'm sorry, but you swore your allegiance to the Wild Hunt. You can't return."
He begged them to take him with them. He needed to be with his family. His family needed him.
"You can't come with us." Eliza said again. "Where we're going, you don't want to be." He asked where they were going. "Hell. And I hate to say it, but you're better off in Faerie than in Hell with us."
"I'd rather die than stay here." Mark snapped at her. Alec said that was exactly what would happen if he tried to leave Faerie.
Jace's attention snapped back to Mark. His gaze was fixed with raw intensity. Fire blazed in his eyes. "You may be a member of the Hunt now, but you're still a Shadowhunter." His reminder was spoken low and calm. "You'll make it through this, Mark. And while you're at it, show them just how tough Shadowhunters really are."
Mark was crying. Thin trails of clean skin were carved on the dirt and grime of his cheeks. "What am I supposed to do?" Jace said he needed to get a message to the Shadowhunters that the Fair Folk weren't on their side and were allied with Sebastian. "What if they catch me? They'll kill me if they do."
Jace shook his head. "You're quick and you're intelligent. You won't let them. We-I believe in you." Alec said they needed to let him go before the Hunt realized he was gone and came after him. Jace passed his witchlight into Mark's hand. He whispered something to Mark and the boy nodded.
He stared back at them for a fraction of a second, mismatched eyes wide and uncertain. As he turned and ran away from them, he made no noise. They all watched silently until the light of the witchlight disappeared and darkness was all that was left of Mark Blackthorn.
"What did you say to him?" Clary asked Jace.
He met her question with silence.
Isabelle frowned back at Jace. "I can't believe you gave him your witchlight stone. You've had that since-."
"Doesn't matter." Jace snapped, cutting her off. He smacked his right hand on the wall. Fiery light blazed at the impact. His fingers curled into a fist as he drew his hand away. The violent contact left the burned imprint of his hand on the stone wall. "Don't need it where we're going, right?" His laugh was short and haywire.
Eliza took his other hand- the one not flaring with heavenly fire- and lifted it to her mouth. She pressed a soft kiss to his knuckles. "Mark will be fine." The whisper curved her lips against the rough skin of his knuckles. "And so will we."
His shoulders relaxed as she kissed his hand again. The light of his other hand dimmed.
"Hey, um, guys." Simon's voice was a welcome distraction from Jace's outburst. His arm was extended, index finger pointed at the end of the tunnel. "I see something at the end of the tunnel."
Jace cocked an eyebrow. "Would that be a light, Simon?" Ah, there it was. The age-old Jace sarcasm.
Simon moved on ahead of them, towards whatever he was pointing to. "Not exactly, no." Clary trailed after him.
Eliza saw that for a little way ahead, the tunnel continued straight. After that, it curved. And plummeted into straight, pitch darkness. No darkness dotted by stars in the night sky or the vague outline of buildings.
It was a darkness made of nothing at all. Shadows danced, darker than the void that surrounded them. Whatever it was, it rumbled loudly. The noise echoed off the stone walls of the tunnel. Clarry took Simon's hand. Isabelle took Simon's other hand, standing at his side. Alec flanked Isabelle's other side.
Jace and Eliza stood behind them, watching their friends stare into the abyss. Forcefully hot wind blew back on them from the mouth of the tunnel.
"This is insane." Alec breathed.
Around her neck, Isabelle's ruby pendant flashed red. And flashed. And flashed. It flashed so frequently, it soon just glowed red and didn't dim. "What if we go in and can't come out?" She asked quietly. "Or don't come back…?"
Jace squeezed Eliza's hand.
"We'll be stuck together." Clary told Isabelle.
Alec grabbed hold of his younger sister's hand.
"Jace," Eliza whispered, pulling him a few steps back, "you remember your promise?"
He swallowed audibly. "I don't want-."
"You heard the Queen." She quickly cut him off. "She can't lie, and she has a knack for knowing what's to come. If she says I'm not coming back from this, it could be the truth."
A gust of burning wind blew against them.
"You're making it out of here. We all are." His statement was firm. Reassurance for her and himself.
She smiled and then leaned up and kissed the corner of his mouth. "It's time we go through, don't you think?"
She looped her fingers through his and pulled him back towards the group.
"Liz-."
She gave him one final look before she released her grip on his hand. "I know. Me too." She joined at her sister's side and firmly grasped onto Clary's hand. She could feel Jace's gaze burning through her as he took his place next to Alec. The two parabatai joined hands.
Together, the six of them walked straight into Hell.
Not that Eliza had expected the whole trip-to-Edom thing to go smoothly, but she certainly hadn't expected this. A demon right upon entry.
The world around her was dark and grey. Ash and dust. It smelled no different than New York, burnt garbage and rotten sewage. Nothing lived and everything died.
It was a strange feeling, being in the dimension where part of her came from. It felt the way the Institute did. Like home.
"Hey!" She shouted in the air. The smoked, hazy cloud of whatever kind of demon hung over her. Her sword was out, poised high in the air, waiting for a strike. "I'm pretty sure we were supposed to get a complimentary hour of demon-free wandering!"
Her friends were gone. To where, she had absolutely no clue. One second, they'd been walking and then, demon. Well, almost. Her vision had gone blurry and for a moment, she had sworn she saw her father in the distance. Arms outstretched, platinum hair bright in the darkness of this strange world. He disappeared as quick as he had appeared. In his place hovered said hazy demon.
The yellow eyes of the demon gleamed down at her. Surely it wasn't…it was taunting her.
"Fine. Be that way." She snarled. Bending her legs, she used all her force to hurl herself up in the air. She found herself at eye level with the formless demon. In the split second she was steady in the air, she thrust her sword forward into the cloud of smoke. It let out a high-pitched noise that chilled her spine. Her feet smacked against the ground as she landed, sword still in hand. Long, thin trails of smoke reached down for her and then in a blink, the demon was gone.
Heaving a sigh, she swept pieces of hair from her face. She looked out in the direction of the dull sun. The light didn't cause her to wince or look away. It was just…there.
Eliza kept her sword out as she trudged on. A slight sheen of sweat had furnished her skin by the time she found Alec and Isabelle. The ink-haired siblings were hugged together between two small hills of blackened rock.
"Lightwoods, thank the Angel." She raised her sword in a half-wave.
Both looked in her direction. Even from feet away, Eliza could tell that Isabelle had been crying. Carefully, but swiftly, she made her way down to them.
"Where'd you disappear off to?" She asked them.
Alec explained the dream he'd had to her, Magnus' realistic warning for him to wake up. Coming back to consciousness and finding Izzy not so far from him. Even without speaking, Eliza knew Izzy had also experienced some sort of dream.
"Where are the others?" She asked.
Before either could answer that they hadn't seen them, Clary and Simon came from the other side of the hills. She ran to Clary, engulfing her in a bone-crushing hug.
"Okay?" She whispered, pulling away.
Clary nodded as Eliza fixed her hair.
"Did you guys…?" Izzy trailed off.
Simon said a quiet yes. "Weird dream sequence. Not very fun when you think about it."
Had they all experienced dreams? What would she have dreamt about?
"In mine, Magnus said it was a demon that feeds on your wishes and desires." Alec told them. "I wonder where it is…?" He looked around the area.
Eliza raised her hand slightly. "I think I handled it." She sheathed the sword. "Our welcoming committee got a little too frisky. I sent him back to…" She paused. They were in Hell so where did dead demons go? She glanced between Alec, Isabelle, Simon, and Clary. Where… "Where is Jace?" Her voice went quiet.
They all looked back at her. Both Alec and Clary admitted to thinking Jace would have been at her side.
Furiously, her head whipped around the landscape. All in the distance, she saw nothing. No sign of anything. No sign of Jace at all. Her heart sped up. She could hear the deep thud of it in her eardrums.
"He isn't hurt or anything." Alec sad quickly. "I can tell-."
The rest of his words were lost on her as she took off running. Dust tracked up under her boots, her feet barely touching the ground. As much as she wanted to call out for him, she knew better than to do so. There was no telling what sort of demons were running around and she didn't want to attract any of them.
Her heart was hammering in her chest as she ran up and over a handful of the earthen mounds of rock and ash. Every few seconds, her eyes darted around, hoping to see that familiar crown of golden hair.
Jace, where are you?
Behind her, the others were running on her trail. Coughing and sputtering.
At the top of the third hill, she skidded to a stop. Even under the dull sun of Edom, Jace shone out to her. She took a second to exhale, taking in the relief of the sight of him. Sitting beside a smoothened down grey stone, eyes glued to the ground. Had he dreamt too? What of? What desire had the demon fed him?
The stone near him was a mere fixture in a pattern. Several similar stones were laid out in a cairn. Jace on the outside of it, possibly none the wiser.
Eyes flickering to the circle, Eliza quickly walked over to him. The others were all watching her. Waiting. "Jace," she knelt down in front of him, "there you are." Slowly, he lifted his head. There was a void of any emotion in his eyes. Something she'd seen before, when he had been bound to Sebastian. "The dream wasn't real. There was a demon, I killed it. It's okay."
Emotion shifted in his eyes. Raw fear, a look from a nightmare.
"Did you see Max too?" Alec's voice carried.
Max. Whatever Alec had seen, his late baby brother had been there. And maybe Isabelle had seen him as well.
"Nothing." Jace said. "I saw nothing."
Eliza stood and pulled him to his feet. "It's okay if you don't want to talk about it." She assured him. Her hand captured his and she pressed a kiss to his shoulder.
Visibly, he relaxed. If only a minute amount.
"I saw Idris." Clary told them all. "I was at the Fairchild Manor. Mom and Luke were married, and we had a little sister, Valentina. Sebastian was there too. But he was normal, human. It was like a perfect world."
Simon grimaced at her words. "That's how you know it was a dream." He put his arm around Isabelle, pulling her into his shoulder.
Isabelle asked if there was a way back. Hesitantly, Alec explained that the tunnel had closed up after they exited. Onward they had to go. Clary mentioned that this was looking to be a one-way trip for them.
"I think as long as we find Sebastian and Jace blasts him with his heavenly fire or whatever," Simon gave him an apologetic look, "we'll be on the right track."
Jace didn't disagree with him. Alec said that when they found Magnus, Luke, Jocelyn, and Raphael, Magnus would be able to magic them back to their own dimension. Or they could find out how Sebastian was mastering interdimensional travel and use that to their advantage.
"Right." Isabelle said slowly. "What happens when we don't do any of that? Sebastian isn't going to just let us go. I don't think forgiveness and mercy are in his vocabulary."
Jace said that if that happened, getting home wouldn't be a concern for them because Sebastian would kill them.
"Let him try." Eliza said through gritted teeth. "I'm not leaving this life until he does the same."
Jace huffed an amused breath through his nostrils. He slipped the silver bracelet from his wrist and took his stele from his pocket. He held the bracelet between his thumb and middle fingers on his right hand, using his left to etch a tracking rune onto the back of his hand. He was silent as his eyes remained unwavering on the thin silver band. After a moment, he met her gaze.
"How far?" She asked him.
He shook his head. "On foot? Two days at most. We should get moving. Long trip." He slid the bracelet back around his wrist.
Eliza saw Alec eyeing the jewelry suspiciously. Jace gave a gentle tug on her hand and they set to walking.
"Can I ask you a question?" Jace murmured after glancing back to see how far behind the others were.
"Always."
His fingers were tight around hers as they walked. "What did you see? In the dream. What was your desire?"
Had she dreamt, it would have been of him. His golden locks and honey eyes. A dream she had seen before of their long and loving life together. Millions of I love you's whispered between them. Four beautiful children, each a perfect mixture of the two of them. A good life, a happy life. Had there been a dream, that would have been it.
"I didn't see anything." She said.
She didn't miss the frown that pulled his sweet mouth down. "Don't lie. We're off the lying thing, remember?"
"Jace," she drew his name out in a breath, "I'm telling you the truth. There was no dream for me. For a second, I thought I saw-."
"Sebastian?"
"My father."
Sharply, he inhaled. She looked away from him and focused her attention on the grey, ashen horizon.
"He was only there for a second. It was almost as if he was waiting for me to run to him. I swear…I swear he was smiling. A real smile, one he may have given you once. And then he was gone and there was a demon and I did what I do best."
"Look devastatingly beautiful?"
The offhandedness of the comment, the way in which he said it so casually, so truthfully, made her smile. He never missed an opportunity for flattery. Which, with her, never got him very far. He knew that, too.
"If you insist." She shoved her shoulder against his. "Why'd you ask?"
"Well, obviously, I wanted to know if I was the true heart's desire of my fiancée."
Quickly, she glanced back. The other were far enough away that they couldn't have heard his words. Jace grinned at her and leaned over, rapidly pecking a kiss to her lips.
"Jace Herondale, I've done a lot of things in the name of my love for you." She told him. "You shouldn't need a demon dream to know that you're all I've ever wanted."
She added another worry to her list: not exhausted.
So far, the list was long. Longer than Magnus' grocery list after he threw a particularly upbeat party. 1. Feels like home. 2. Can breathe (everyone else kept coughing from the ash and dust in the air). 3. Eyes (Clary had quietly mentioned that ever since they'd been in Faerie, Eliza's eyes had remained the same abysmal black as Sebastian's). 4. Energy (the others were worn out to even the point where runes did little to curb the exhaustion setting in, whereas Eliza felt as if she had never been better).
Edom was doing strange things to her. She couldn't help but wonder if perhaps Sebastian felt the same way while in the dimension and if that was part of the reason he took refuge there. And if so, was he truly unstoppable while in Edom?
"My boots are ruined." Isabelle's whine was half-hearted at best. The emotion was there, but drowned deep in weariness.
Every so often, the pitch was semiliquid in form, rather than hardened earth. In those places, it was difficult to pass through the muck. It went up to their ankles, effectively ruining any hope for their shoes after the trip.
If there was an after.
Overhead, the shadow of a mountain loomed. It barely kept them cool from the blistering heat of the dimension. It was good enough for their momentary pause as they rehydrated and drew fresh runes.
Eliza wiped the back of her hand across her face. It came back smeared with soot.
"This place sucks." She groaned. The books had been right when they said it was barren and all pitch. The only thing that seemed to interrupt the bland landscape was the occasional stream of molten lava.
Alec reminded them to be careful with their water, it needed to be rationed.
Her mouth was a little dry, but not unbearably so. She could go a little longer without the need to hydrate.
Jace was frowning down at Sebastian's silver bracelet. "What runes did we just put on?" He asked them.
Eliza raised her eyebrows at him. "Strength and sure-footedness. Don't tell me your memories are going."
He made a face at her and then thrust his hand out for her to see. The tracking rune that he had placed on his hand earlier was already fading away. So, had the others that Alec had just applied for him. "Our runes are going to fade faster while we're here. We need to watch carefully to see when they need to be applied again."
Isabelle noted that the Speed runes were already fading as well. The loss and constant reapplication of those would mean it would take longer to find Sebastian. Who knew what he would be doing to his prisoners in that time?
Eliza, Clary, and Alec all stiffened at the idea. Isabelle apologized quietly.
"He can't hurt them." Jace covered quickly. "They're the only thing he has to hold over the Clave. Without them, they can't hand us over."
Again, she raised her eyebrows at him. She gestured all around them. "Jace, babe, not sure if you were aware or not, but the Clave isn't going to be handing you over to him anytime soon."
"He doesn't know that."
Isabelle suggested the use of the Wakefulness rune. With it, they could go all night walking and shorten the trip by hours. Jace rubbed over his face, effectively rubbing more ash stains across his cheeks. He looked up at the burning orange sky.
"I doubt that's our best idea." Eliza told Izzy. "We'll crash like hungover college kids when the runes fade and we need to be at our best when we find Sebastian." She couldn't even try to imagine the massacre that would occur if they showed up for a battle laden with pure exhaustion.
"We need rest then." Alec told her. "We'll have to find somewhere to sleep."
Clary walked off, Simon on her heels. The two of them were birds of a feather. Weaved so close together from years of friendship. Eliza envied that. The closest thing she had was Jon-Sebastian.
She shook her head out. This dimension really was screwing with her head.
You belong here. Welcome home.
Eliza grimaced, pressing against her temple. Making it out alive was one thing. Completely sane was going to be a whole other feat.
You're part-demon, this is where you belong. Not in the world of the Nephilim. In Edom.
"Jace!"
Isabelle shouting her adopted brother's name snapped her out of whatever was happening in her head. They were all scrambled, looking at the sky. An airborne demon was hovering over them in the sky, tens of beady red eyes and leather wings. And…Jace. Right in the clutches of its claws.
Just lying there. Surely not…He couldn't be…
"Shoot it down!" Eliza screamed at Alec, his bow already out and notched with an arrow. His voice was frantic as he told her he couldn't without possibly hitting Jace.
Isabelle's whip unfurled from her wrist. The shining wire slung out in the air and slashed into a wing of the demon. The demon screeched out but didn't loosen its hold on Jace. Eliza couldn't tell if he was grasping the demon or if it was grasping him.
"Oh, hell." Eliza hissed. If Alec wouldn't try, she would. She snatched a knife from the brace on her left wrist. After kissing the tip, she looked up to the sky. The demon was moving around. A mixture of it and Jace in the sky, all wings and limbs and red eyes. Slinging her hand back over her shoulder, she waited half a breath. It was just like breathing, throwing a knife. She watched the sharp glimmer pierce through the air and plunge into the dark mass.
The mass fell from the sky. Dust clouded as it hit the ground.
It was larger than the winged demons Valentine had used to guard his ship. This demon had to be larger than a horse. Its body wasn't black, as she had thought, but a dark green. Long-spanning leather wings and six limbs. Its neck was thin and long, resulting in a circular head that was all eyes and pointed, mismatched teeth.
"Is it just me or are the demons here uglier?" Isabelle asked.
Eliza yanked her knife out of its side and wiped the dark ichor on her pants. As she straightened herself out, she met Jace's eye. He was knelt over the demon, repeatedly jabbing his seraph blade into its back. Ichor spurted up, dotting his gear and flecking his face. With the final stab, the demon went limp.
Jace got to his feet. He wiped the ichor from his face with the back of his hand. The seraph blade was molting and twisting in on itself. Jace pitched it to the ground.
"Why do you all look so worried?" He asked them. "I had it handled." Eliza reached out and punched his shoulder. "Ow! What the hell, Liz?"
"That's for almost getting eaten by some ugly hell beast, you idiot!" She yelled at him.
He rubbed the spot on his shoulder where she had hit him. Simon asked why the demon didn't disappear after it died. They always disappeared when they died.
Isabelle shrugged. "It didn't disappear so it must be originally from Edom." Izzy's eyes scanned over the area and the sky. "We need to find shelter. The demons here can come out in the sunlight."
Clary suggested the caves that she and Simon had spied that weren't too far off. Simon recalled that Jace had said the caves were a bad idea. Alec, on the contrary, said the caves were probably their best idea.
"Let's find a small one, then." Jace resigned. "We'll need to scout it out and I'll take the first watch while you guys sleep."
Alec led the group in the movement towards the caves. Jace and Eliza held back from them. She grabbed his chin and examined his face.
"What're you doing?" He moaned.
She released him and spun him around. No blood, no injuries that she could see. The only real damage was to his gear jacket. There were three large rips on the back of it. "Checking you for injuries. You did almost get eaten."
"Since I almost died, can I have a kiss?" His lip quirked up in a smile.
Eliza couldn't keep the smile from her face. Dirty face and all, she leaned up and quickly kissed him. "There. Your prize for not dying today."
He cocked his head to the side thoughtfully as he held onto her hand. They continued on after the others. The caves weren't far off from where they were. "Can I get one every day I don't die?"
Per Jace's wishes, Alec had found them a small cave to hide out in. There was only one issue: there was a thick metal gate just a couple feet into the tunnel.
"Maybe we should find another?" Alec suggesting, kicking the gate with the toe of his boot.
Jace shook his head as he knelt down in front of the gate. He ran a finger over one of the markings on the gate. "These are runes. I haven't seen them before, but I know for a fact that demons can't make runes."
Clary leaned over his shoulder. She squinted to look closer at the runes. "I think they're for protection…against demons."
"Thank G-." Simon's voice faltered on the God. "There are a bunch of demons coming right for it."
Eliza's head jerked back towards the entrance of the cave. Hordes of demons were hurtling through the darkened orange sky. And just as Simon said, they were headed straight for the cave. Jace gave two rough tugs on the gate. One broke the lock and the second pulled the gate open. His hands burst with golden light. He stood back, ushering the others through to the other side. He pushed Eliza through the gate before he went in himself. He slammed it shut forcefully. Clary ducked over him to add a locking rune to one of the bars.
Isabelle took out her witchlight and illuminated the rest of the tunnel they were in. From where they stood, the tunnel seemed to stretch back into the darkness for…well, forever. With the light, the runes that were carved into the smooth marble wall were gleaming. There were all kinds. Ones for religion, protection, and defensiveness.
"Come on. We need to move." Jace told them.
The group moved further down into the tunnel. The smooth stone floor was a welcome change from the uneven, jagged pitch of the dimension outside. Not to mention the air was much clearer. Not that the outside air had been such an issue for Eliza, but it was nice not hearing all her friends coughing up their lungs every few minutes.
The large chamber of the cave that greeted them at the end of the tunnel had a high domed ceiling. The ceiling itself was embedded with large white gemlike stones that gave off a soft glow. There was a little firepit smack in the middle of the floor. It clearly hadn't been used in a long, long time.
"This isn't strange." Simon mumbled.
"It looks like a last hope for whoever used to live here." Alec said, voice just as quiet. Isabelle muttered that it clearly didn't work.
"Whatever it was, it's our shelter for the night." Jace told them. He let his bag fall to the floor. "We should scout before we sleep. Just to be safe." Isabelle said something about just wanting to sleep. "Izzy and Alec, take the east corridor. Clary and Simon, stay and make a fire. Maybe make something to eat. Liz and I will do the rest."
They rid themselves of their bags and armed themselves with light weapons.
"I could stay back and cook!" Isabelle offered.
"No!" They all replied, a little too quickly.
The girl made an annoyed face and grabbed her brother by the elbow. Together, they trudged down what they all hoped was the east corridor.
"C'mon. Let's scout." Jace looped his arm through Eliza's and dragged her away. He wore the echo of a faint smile. Golden light doused by grime and ichor.
Eliza glanced back at Clary and waved warily.
"I'm thinking a winter wedding." He stated it with such vigor.
Eliza faltered in her step. Jace, not noticing, continued on down the winding path of the tunnel. Her witchlight stone was firmly grasped in his hand. With each movement, light blossomed over the walls in streaks.
He took a few more steps before he realized she was no longer beside him. He stopped and looked back at her. "What?"
"Why winter?" She asked, stepping quickly to catch up to him. Not that she had ever given much thought about what season the wedding would take place in, but when she did picture it, the flowers were just starting to bloom, and the weather was fair in temperature. "It's cold."
Jace shrugged noncommittally. "You've never seen what you look like in the snow. You look like an angel."
Eliza hesitated again. She had never once thought of herself as anything remotely angelic. That term, that honor, she had always reserved for Jace. He was of the angels, with his blood and heroism. His looks, so like Raziel she got them blurred at times.
"What do you think?" He asked. He extended his hand to her and she took it. She blinked. "You know, a winter wedding? Maybe…"
"Maybe what?" She prodded, sensing there were words he wasn't sure he should even say.
"It's winter now." He said quietly. "Well, not here. But back home. And Idris is beautiful when it snows."
That time, she fully stopped. At the rate they were going, they'd never finish scouting. At some point, the others would probably come after them. "You're serious?" She murmured. "I thought maybe we would wait a couple years…We aren't even adults by Clave standard yet and-."
The faint smile that had graced his lips when he spoke of their nuptials faltered. Disappointment clouded his eyes. "I know." He whispered.
"Why? Why don't you want to wait?" She asked.
His hand was warm in hers. Their steps fell in with one another as they walked on down the tunnel. "Is there a real reason to? Other than not yet being of age."
Was there? When she thought about it, really thought, their young age was the only obstacle. Until they both turned eighteen, they were still children according to the Clave. She wouldn't be eighteen until April. And Jace...he was younger than her by just less than a year. He still had two Januarys before his eighteenth birthday.
Shadowhunters died young all the time. It was overly optimistic to expect to live to a ripe old age. How many had died before getting to marry the person they wanted? How many had died without finding the person they were supposed to be with?
Death was something all Shadowhunters had to think about. It happened too often. It could be around every corner, just down the next street. Right in front of you. There was no way of knowing when, where, or how it would come. Just the certainty that it would be there.
Eliza didn't want to die with the regret of not marrying Jace Herondale heavy on her heart.
And there was a very real, very possible chance she wouldn't be leaving Edom. Sebastian meant to kill her. He had always said he would but this time, it felt different. It felt tangible. Something she could taste like rotten food on the tip of her tongue. He had promised Jace he would destroy him and ending her life was exactly how he meant to do it. He wanted Jace to see it, wanted Clary to hear her sister beg for the mercy of death. What better place to do it since they had all come traipsing into Hell together? Her mother would be there. Luke and Magnus would have to see. All the people she cared about would have to watch her die.
And she wasn't going to die a Morgenstern.
"There's no reason not to get married when we get back." She said, tongue heavy and thick in her mouth. She was about to suggest something completely, off the rails, ridiculous. "But," she paused, taking a deep breath, "there's also no reason for us not to get married right now."
This time, Jace was the one to stop. He stared down at her with wild, wide eyes. "You mean, right now right now? Like, here and now?"
Eliza nodded. She reached up and swept his hair from his forehead. "We've never been optimists when it comes to things like this: battles and wars, life and death. We both know we might not leave this place alive. I don't want to die without being your wife. Seventeen is young, but I know what I want. I've known it was you since the day you explained to me what a doggy bag was."
Jace laughed under his breath at the memory. They had been so new to each other just a few months ago. So much had happened since May, to them and to the world they lived in. Life was too short not to live it the way you wanted to, and she wanted to live what was rest of hers as a Herondale. His Herondale.
"You're serious? What, you want to do a little ceremony when we get back to the others? I bet Alec can officiate for us."
She shook her head. No, this was something she wanted for just the two of them. A secret, like their short engagement. "It may not be binding if it's just you and me, but that doesn't matter. If we live, we can do it right with all our family and friends. In the winter, when it snows. But for us, for now, it's just you and I. A secret we'll take to our graves, whenever we get there."
He smiled down at her. One of those rare smiles where he was completely, inexplicably overcome with joy. He placed her witchlight stone on the ground, centered perfectly between their feet. His hand shook as he held hers, skin clammy. His tongue swiped over his bottom lip. He took out his stele, the tip pressed gently to the skin on the back of her hand.
The demonic marriage runes that Lilith had used to bind her to Sebastian had faded. Not even a silvered scar was left behind, only the bitterness of the memory.
"Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm; for love is strong as death." He spoke softly, voice barely a whisper as he cautiously etched the Wedded Union rune onto her hand. Their eyes met as he pushed aside the collar of her shirt to draw the second marriage rune into the skin above her heart.
He pressed the stele into her hand. It felt heavy in her hand as she pushed the tip of it down onto the back of his hand. "Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm; for love is strong as death." The words came out sure-spoken and fluid as a running river. As she spoke them, she effortlessly drew the Wedded Union rune. With her bottom lip worried between her teeth, she moved aside his shirt to place the second rune above his heart.
Her eyes locked on it after she was done. The finality of their action heavy. There was something rich in knowing they were locked together in this life, bound by runes. In a way that was different than his deep parabatai bound with Alec or the demonic force that glued her to Sebastian. This was sacred and passionate.
"There." She murmured, handing him his stele. He placed his finger under her chin and lifted so that she was staring back at him.
"Stronger than death." He amended the vow. "Powerful enough to move the sun and other stars. Through hell and high water. I am yours, you are mine. Now and forever." He was slow leaning down, slow capturing her lips in his. Gentle in the way he cupped her neck and pressed her against the stone wall. Even in the dark of the tunnel, the stone was warm against her back. "Eliza Herondale."
She smiled against his mouth. The way her stomach fluttered when he said it. As if that was how it should have always been. How it would always be from then on. "It has a nice ring to it, don't you think?" She inquired demurely.
"Fantastic, actually. Couldn't think of a better name for you."
"Hmm, how about wife? Or, my darling goddess? Perhaps-?"
Jace chuckled. He leaned back and she saw he was shaking his head in that amused way. His smile lit up his features. "You are a force, you know that? A true force of nature and by the Angel, I'm the luckiest guy in the world."
"And I'm the luckiest girl. Smokin' hot husband." Anyone else would have rolled their eyes and let the compliment roll off. But not Jace. He soaked it in with pride. "Wow, look at that." She whistled. "Boyfriend, fiancé, and husband. All in less than a year. Not bad for a girl who was locked in a cottage for seventeen years, huh?"
At that, he rolled his eyes.