They arrived in four separate cars, all different types of cars as well, at different times throughout the first half of the evening. They had purchased their tickets in the groups that they were going with, so that they would be sat together in their car load—all under alias names, of course, just in case Sebastian had access to the guest list, like they did. Sebastian and whoever else he was bringing with them were obviously taking the same precautions, because their names weren't on the list when Sebastian called Jem to use his pull as a police officer to get the guest list and seating chart from the security of the event. Jace hadn't really expected to be able to pick them out, but he had to check, just in case.

Will, Alec and Isabelle were the first to go in, all with their masks firmly in place, all with weapons concealed under their clothes, and a thin bullet proof vest underneath the dress that Isabelle was wearing. They were near the back of the building, next to one of the fire exits, and they would have a good view of the main entrance as people came in.

Hodge arrived at the charity event next, and the three noticed him as soon as he came in. Even with a mask on, the skilled eyes of the trio easily picked up on him and watched as he headed straight for the bar. Isabelle rolled her eyes as he ordered a bourbon and threw it down and then ordered another one.

Jace arrived with Magnus, Raphael and Max next. They were against the side wall, opposite to where the food was going to be served. They were about halfway down the room, so there was some space between where they were sitting and Will, Alec and Isabelle were.

Something else that Jace had done to ensure that they had plenty of back up was he had managed to insinuate several of his men in as the security for the event, and they had been there since before people started arriving. Jace had a lot of people on his payroll, although his inner circle was relatively tight. The people that he had working in security didn't know exactly what they were looking out for tonight, but they knew that there was the chance of trouble, and they would jump in to help Jace and the others if they needed to.

Clary and Gretel were the last ones to arrive. Jace had wanted Clary to arrive with Raphael and Alec, two of his strongest men and especially Alec, who was able to teleport her away as soon as there was a hint of any trouble. Isabelle had stepped and said that it would be better if she went with only one person, so it looked like a date or a night out with a friend. Jace grudgingly agreed, and that was how Clary and Gretel were pulling up just after eight thirty in a cherry red Porsche. Gretel was discreet when she sent out a group text to the rest of their people as they got out of the car, letting them know that they arrived.

"Alright," Gretel took out their invites from her purse. "Do you feel anything?" She asked quietly and Clary had to be careful to split her concentration, between walking forward and smiling at the people and reaching out and touching the minds around her.

"Uh," Clary swallowed hard. There were so many minds around her, a lot of them loud and colourful, which made it hard to work through. "I can't feel anything right now," she said. "I'll wait until we're inside and I can focus on it." Gretel nodded as they reached the door and she handed over their invites. When they got inside, Gretel lead the way to their table. There were already a couple of people there, however most people were mingling or at the bar.

Clary took in a deep breath as she rested back in her seat, trying to calm herself down before she began to scan the room. Gretel was already looking with her eyes—she was subtle about it, given that was what she was trained to do—but Clary was a lot less inconspicuous, given she was looking around with her mind. The first person that she found was Jace, because it was his mind that she was most used to, and she could feel worry for her almost instantly. He was trying to cover it, and he was focusing on the mission at hand, but he was still worried about her. Clary felt a small smile on her red painted lips but then took in a deep breath and moved away, looking for any anomalies.

It was still loud; there were a lot of very opinionated people in the room, which made sense. Even if this was a charity event, that was just another name for a social gathering where people could push their agendas. It was hard to wade through everyone's minds but she managed to filter a lot of them out. She found Hodge, and he was worried—petrified—of both Jace and Sebastian.

But then she saw someone, someone whose mind was very carefully covered in a way that Clary didn't recognize. It was clean, empty of everything other than what they were seeing in that moment. When Clary tried to push to see anything previous, see what the person had been doing before they were there, she was met with nothing. Not a wall, not like someone who had been trained to put up memory walls or who was wearing telepathic blockers, it was something different.

Clary blinked and leaned forward in her seat. She was vaguely aware of Gretel saying her name quietly, asking if she was okay, but she didn't respond. She remembered back to her school, the special mutant school that she had gone to, when they had been explaining her telepathic powers to her. She had asked once, what it would feel like for someone to look into her mind. She had met other telepaths before, but never ones as powerful as her. They were more like Hodge, where they could plant an idea and make suggestions, maybe create a mirage, but they couldn't control like Clary could. Her teacher had replied that it was something like a blank slate. Another part of her mutation as powerful as her was that her mind fought to keep her memories safe, presenting like a blank slate to anyone trying to intrude.

"Clary," Gretel's voice was a bit louder this time, and closer to her ear, an she reached out and touched Clary's hand.

"I think...I think it's the girl—the one made of diamond, who was able to block me?" Clary tried to explain and Gretel quickly nodded her head.

"Do you know where she is?" She asked as her hand went subtly to one ear. It looked as though she was just fiddling with her hair while she was actually touching her ear piece. "Guys, Clary has something." Are you okay? Jace was instantly in her head, asking her if she was alright. Clary didn't reply, trying to focus back on the person. She could follow where they were walking, and she recognized a couple of the people that she was looking at. She moved, into one of the other minds, so that she was able to look at who it was.

And it was definitely the girl.

Clary felt her breathing quicken as she saw her, and she projected it directly back to Jace. She walked with icy confidence, her face covered completely by her mask, but Clary already knew that she was gorgeous in a deathly sort of way underneath. Her blonde hair was curled, some of it twisted up above her head, more of it falling around her face and over her shoulders. She was wearing a silvery-white dress that clung to ever curve, and there were diamantes shimmering with every step that she took. Her whole body was pale and strong and through the mask she was wearing, Clary could see her glittering eyes.

Clary had been so caught up in the woman, projecting her directly back to Jace, that she didn't see the man that was walking half a step in front of her. It was only when she felt Jace pushing back at her—he had noticed the man in front of Clary, with only half a hazy image of him. He was pushing a single name back at her—Sebastian. Clary shifted her attention to the man next to the woman, and she blinked as she finally took in the man who had tried to kill her and Jace and the rest of his people. The person who had the nasty, cold voice on the other end of the phone with Hodge. The person who was Jace's half brother.

He was handsome, but in a completely detached way. Jace could be cold and closed off, but there was always humanity in his eyes. But the eyes that Clary could see through the half mask that he was wearing were cold, and his mouth was curled in a cruel twist.

The pair of them seemed to spot Hodge at the bar, although it wouldn't have been that difficult. Hodge looked like the most under-dressed person there, and he was already the most drunk. Clary skimmed his mind and managed to hold back her groan of annoyance as she realized that Hodge had already had more drinks that he could count. Part of her wanted to speak to him, tell him telepathically to pull himself together because he was about to be approached, but she held herself back.

The instant that Hodge saw Sebastian and the woman, he began panicking even more. Through the woman's eyes, Clary could easily see that he was shaking, fingers clamped around the empty tumbler of whiskey, and the woman knew that there was something was wrong. Clary tried to see into Sebastian's mind, except she couldn't get anything. She tried harder, narrowing her eyes and curling her fingers as she concentrated, but she couldn't see anything.

He's got some sort of blocker, Clary told Jace directly. I don't know if it's something to do with the diamond woman, because I can barely get anything from her, or it could just be some high tech blockers. I can't get anything at all from him. They're going to Hodge now. She heard Jace relay this to everyone else through the earpieces that they all had. Gretel was careful not to look toward the bar, not paying more attention to the three that were approaching each other than necessary.

"Is Hodge okay?" Gretel asked quietly.

"No," Clary commented under her breath. "I don't know if he's going to be able to hold it together. For someone who uses others fears against them, he sure has a lot of his own." Gretel took in a harsh breath and told this to everyone else with another subtle tap to the earpiece hidden by her hair.

Hodge's eyes were darting around frantically, and Clary let out a sharp exhale as she read in his thoughts that he was looking for Jace and his men. Neither Sebastian or the woman needed to be telepaths to know that there was something wrong with this situation. Hodge was sweating and as Sebastian stopped in front of him, and the woman's lips curled up in a nasty smile as she stood directly behind Sebastian.

"Sebastian," Hodge managed to say. "Kaelie."

"What have you done, Hodge?" Sebastian asked, his voice cool.

"D-done what?" Hodge replied and Clary sighed. It was only going to be a matter of minutes before things went wrong, he wasn't holding it together well enough to cover at all.

As it turned out, it was only a matter of seconds.

Sebastian turned around to scan the room, and to his skilled, dark eyes, it didn't seem to take him long to pick out certain people in the crowded room that he viewed as a threat—Clary couldn't help herself as Sebastian's eyes settled on someone, and he stopped looking any further. Clary followed the direction he was looking in, and she saw him looking directly at Jace.

Okay, so my top songs this week are as follows;

1) Walls - Louis Tomlinson. 2) Alanis' Interlude - Halsey and Alanis Morissette. 3) Venice Bitch - Lana Del Rey. 4) Fake Love - BTS. 5) Too Young - Louis Tomlinson. 6) Always You - Louis Tomlinson. 7) Mikrokosmos - BTS. 8) Caught Up In Your Storm - Mickey Guyton. 9) 8TEEN - Khalid. 10) Heebiejeebies - Aminé and Kehlani.

The song that my husband hasn't stopped playing is Dionysus by BTS. We've been on a total BTS buzz lately, totally jumping on that train, even if we're a little late. My hubby's faves are Suga, Jungkook and Namjoon—he completely swoons everytime Suga comes on stage or starts rapping. Haha. Mine would be Namjoon, who I, admittedly, swoon over everytime he comes on screen, and then Jungkook, even if he's too pretty to even exist.

In one of my reviews, KnivesOut recomended Anne With An E which I have actually watched before although I haven't finished yet, and I definitely want to recommend to you guys! I remember reading the books when I was younger and loving them, and there's just something about this series that has brought it all back. I've also started watching Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood when me and my husband are high, and I'm super into it. Haha.

I think my weekly updates are going to slow down a bit for a few weeks, although I think I had a good run! So I'll be doing previews of the next chapter if you leave a review and let me know if you want one or not.

Also, feel free to hit me up on my socials;
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Twitter: CalamitySerene

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