Magnus waved his hand and swept his magic across the long table. Objects from Ragnor's things began appearing as the flames of his magic burned down the length of the wood and then finished at the end.

"We pulled every item of magical importance from Ragnor's belongings. But, I can't determine which will lead to the Book of the White."

The Jace and Alec went for the weapons, a dagger and a sword respectively, while Magnus picked up a cup and Clary went for a pen.

"I didn't see this while I was searching," Shu admitted.

She reached for a box.

"The box is sealed closed with magic that isn't Ragnor's," Magnus explained.

"Yeah, I can tell."

She moved to the latch and it clicked open with ease.

"That's odd. Thought it'd be harder than that."

She opened it, and suddenly a black smoke came flowing out, moving to the side of the table before transforming into the shape of a person.

Instantly, Alec and Jace were reaching for weapons that weren't there, as they were still in their wedding outfits, and Magnus and Clary took a step back.

"Ugh, and I was just about to get a nice meal," Charon muttered.

"Chare?" Shu asked.

"A little warning next time you summon me, Namir. Almost gave me a heart attack. If I had a heart. Last time I agree to allow you to summon me with a box. I'd get a phone and allow you to call me every time you needed me rather than just be ripped out of whatever the hell I was doing before. It's almost as bad as summing circles, where I'm stuck there unless I make a deal. Ugh."

"I don't understand. You…you were summoned when I opened the box?"

"See, I take memories for a reason, and usually ditch before I have to deal with all this."

He waved his hand to motion to her face and she slapped him away. "Why did Ragnor have a way to summon you?"

"Quite the contrary, it was you who left the box with him and made sure no one could open it except you, and you had to do it willingly, too, with all your pure-hearted Scooby Doo club around as well."

"I'll try not to take offense to that," Magnus said.

"I didn't mean you, Warlock. Anyone over a century old and still looks like a 19-year-old has my stamp of approval. I'm happy to make business with you, Bane, but no more pentagrams next time. They're just uncomfortable."

"Back to the subject," Shu demanded. "Why did I leave a way to summon you? What did I have you take away from me?"

"Mems of making that potion thingy-ma-bobber to put Joselyn to sleep. Overcomplicated plan, in my opinion. I would've just done a sleeping curse. Y'all were seriously desperate to make sure that woman stayed comatose."

"What must I do to get these memories returned to me?"

"Nothin' little lady."

He held out his hand and flicked his wrist, a necklace appearing in his hand, an oval-shaped gem on a leather cord, each midnight black. He offered it to her, but she stood firm.

He rolled his eyes and sighed. "You already paid your ransom earlier when you asked for them to be taken away. The deal was I took 'em, kept 'em safe, and then returned 'em when you wanted 'em back and had Joselyn in safe custody. Circumstances fulfilled, I wanna get this little deal over with and go get a snack."

"What did I pay you to have such an agreement made?"

"That's the great thing about a memory demon, sweetheart. You'll never have to know."

"But I want to."

"See, this is why I like simple, one-shot deals, no long-term stuff where I have to give stuff back. Look, I keep the mem of what you lost, you don't get to miss it. Be happy I'm not taking back the mem that you paid up in the first place and not just dropping the thing on the table for you to find instead of the box."

"Why wouldn't you do that?"

"I like people to know I did them a service. Make sure they keep that in mind. I hold up my end of deals."

She looked to the offered pendant hesitantly, before slowly reaching out to take it. He nodded with a smile. "Besides, I won't pass an opportunity to visit you."

He stepped back, leaving the pendant with her. "Not every day a demon gets into the Institute of Shadowhunters without being prisoner," He continued.

"Yeah, well we should be arresting you right now," Jace said.

"First off, you're unarmed, kid. Second off, I can nope it out of here any time I want before you can even take a step towards those weapons hidden over there in the wall behind me. Third, I make clean deals. I'm just here for her and no one else. Just because I'm a demon doesn't mean you goody-two-shoes get to attack me when I mean no harm. That's what we all call segregation. Not that you Shadowhunters aren't guilty of it, but I hear you're supposed to be the good ones. I'd keep it that way, if I were you. I'll be on my way, if you hate me so much."

He turned to Shu and put up a finger phone to his ear. "Give me a ring when you need me again."

With that, a swirl of black magic wisps swirled around him from the floor up, and once it dissipated, he was gone.

"I…don't know how to activate this thing," Shu admitted. "I thought it'd be touch and go, maybe just put it on, but it's not working."

Jace sighed. "Is there anything else here that might help? You keep working on the pendant, but we're gonna have to assume that guy isn't trustworthy."

"Wait, this bookmark," Clary said, reaching for said bookmark made of a cloth with a fancy pattern. "I've seen it before. In the alternate dimension, you showed me a book of spells and this was in it. It must've been the Book of the White."

"If that's the case, we can use the bookmark to track the owner of the book," Alec pointed out.

Jace nodded. "Okay."

He reached for the bookmark, but Magnus snatched it up instead. "Warlock tracking is stronger."

"We can get over that pesky water problem you boys have," Shu agreed.

Magnus took a deep breath and concentrated, he and Shu closing their eyes.

Together, they saw a shaking coffin chained up, and the image zoomed in to reveal a very pissed off Camille banging on the coffin lid. "Let me out of here! LET ME OUT OF HERE!"

Magnus opened his eyes with a small gasped and looked to Shu, who had her eyebrows raised in surprise. "Well, then."

"What?" Clary asked. "Did you see the owner of the book?"

"Well, there's good news and bad news," Magnus admitted.

"The good news is we know the owner," Shu said. "The bad?"

"It's Camille."

"Camille?" Clary repeated.

"Looks like Raphael has her locked up in the basement of the Hotel DuMort."

She sighed. "Well, after I punched her, there's no way she'll help me."

"Yeah, girl," Shu said smiling, offering a fist bump.

Everyone gave her a look and she turned defensive. "What?! Punching Camille is one of my favorite pass-time hobbies. I broke her nose once."

"She won't have a choice but to help," Jace declared.

They all gave him a confused look, but he kept his eyes focused on Clary. "Trust me."

After another moment of silence, he shifted awkwardly from the attention, realizing he had a crowd, and walked off.

Alec shifted nervously, pacing around, Magnus barely restraining his smile as he thought about what had just happened between them. Alec did seem nervous, but at the same time he seemed more relaxed. He seemed like he'd had a big weight lifted off his shoulders.

Shu was fiddling with the necklace Charon had given her, still trying to figure it out as she leaned against the wall. He gave her the memories, but didn't tell her that they were somehow locked. There had to be some kind of specific condition that had to be met before her memories would be returned. Perhaps it had something to do with Camille.

Shu knew herself well enough after thousands of years of life, and she knew that if she wanted to keep something from herself, she would never make something a one-step process. Charon had to have been telling the truth then: it was her who wanted her memories taken by him. Not that she had really doubted him, inside, whether she stayed skeptical on the outside or not.

"I'm so glad we got away from that crowd, all those people," Alec said. "So intense."

Magnus shook his head, letting out his smile, not of some kind of coy satisfaction, but of pure joy that he could barely comprehend. "I have to hand it to you, Alexander. You certainly know how to make a statement."

Alec smiled back to him, before they heard footsteps approaching and turned to have that smile wiped away in an instant. Magnus turned and walked over to Shu as Alec confronted his parents.

"What have you done, Alec?" Maryse demanded. "To us, this family?"

"This isn't about you," Alec stated.

"Of course it is. You're either being selfish or naïve. This wedding was your plan from the start, and now you have humiliated us in front of the most respected members of the Clave. I don't even recognize you anymore."

Magnus shifted nervously, and Shu put her hand on his arm reassuringly. This was Alec's choice, and he deserved to be happy, no matter what the rest of the world said. If that was with Magnus, then the world could blame her brother all they wanted, but all he did was encourage Alec to follow his heart. Live his own life, not everyone else's.

"I'm the same person I've always been," Alec argued. "Now everything's just out in the open."

Maryse eyed Magnus, who lowered his head, feeling her gaze. "And all for a Downworlder," She spat.

With that, she turned and stomped off. Magnus eyed her as she left, and Shu rested her head on his shoulder.

"What's done is done," She told him. "I believe you did the right thing. Alec's making his own choices now. You've freed him from a life of being a slave to others, his obligations."

"At what cost? He might lose his family, his job, his life-"

"And do you think he would've been any happier with all of that if he had gone through with the marriage? 'I'd rather fight and lose than give up without even trying.' You remember when you said that? We were fighting that demon who wanted the two of us dead, back in the early days, around the time we'd met."

"I believe it involved a few more choice words, but yes."

"Point is, the Magnus Bane I know doesn't run from a fight. Don't you dare start now."

"Maybe me, but Alec's the one who has something to lose. Just because I don't flee doesn't mean I'm above 'Charging in the opposite direction.'"

"We can't change what's been done. All you have to do now is decide whether you're willing to fight the odds, or whether you're gonna give up."

"Just give her time," Alec's father said.

They both watched Maryse storming off, knowing that if time was going to heal anything, it was gonna take a lot of it.

"And you?" Alec asked.

He sighed. "I don't really understand this. But I suppose our world is changing."

He looked over to eye Magnus. "How long has this been going on? Are…you two in…love?" He asked hesitantly.

Alec scoffed nervously. "Love? What? No. No it's…it's uh…it's sort of different…it's uh-"

"It's all very new," Shu broke in.

"And you are…?"

"Asushunamir. I'm Magnus's…well, uh…"

"Sibling," Magnus cut in.

"Sibling," She agreed. "I just want Magnus happy. And Alec too. I want them both to just…be happy. Let them choose what happiness is to them, encourage them to pursue that happiness. There was a lot of happy in that statement…"

He eyed the three of them with an awkward nod. "Right."

He patted Alec on the arm. "I better go check on Mom."

Alec sighed, and Magnus struggled to find something to say.

"You know what I just realized?" He asked. "We still haven't gone on our first date yet."

Alec smiled and looked to him with a scoff. "Yeah. You're right. You wanna…I don't know. Get a drink sometime?"

Magnus smiled. "I would love that."

He nodded. "Great."

He paused in thought. "Sibling?"

"Sibling," Shu confirmed. "Sort of."

"Sort of?"

"We're not siblings by blood-"

"-but we still share a parent," Magnus finished. "Ish. Not to mention the bond thing."

"Bond?"

"It's long."

"And complicated," Shu added.

"How complicated?" Alec asked.

"Overcomplicated."

"Story of my life, really," Magnus muttered.

"Really, really long explanation. Promise to tell you sometime."

Alec sighed and walked up to his mother, who was working on a tablet. "Have you spoken with Lydia? No one's seen her since the wedding."

His mother didn't reply, tapping her tablet.

"Mom, come on."

Her husband walked up. "Maryse…"

"Mom, I understand you're upset, but this is-"

She set her tablet down. "Calling off the wedding would've been one thing…but kissing that Warlock in front of the entire Institute? You've embarrassed all of us."

"Why? Because he's a guy?"

"No. The fact that he is a guy, as you say, is the least of my worries."

Alec eyed his father, but he seemed to be on his mom's side at the moment.

"Then what's the problem?"

"That you chose Magnus Bane."

"His reputation proceeds him," Alec's father agreed. "And even for a Warlock, he's a bit of a lothario. Alec, there's so much that you don't know about him."

"It's your reputation they're worried about," Shu muttered.

"Would you stop eavesdropping?" Magnus requested. "Let Alec and his parents deal with their things alone."

"Well then, I plan to get to know him," Alec continued. "And if you have a problem with that, then I suggest you deal with it. Now, I have to go find Lydia."

"She's probably packing for Idris in your father's office," Maryse said harshly. "What she did-"

"Saved my life. So I should go thank her."

With that, Alec walked off.

Shu sighed. "No more secrets from Alec, okay? Well…we can probably laugh off the stele thing someday, but now would not be a good time to mention it. Just try and keep things honest."

"What did you see?"

"What I told you. They're worried about your reputation. Prove that you love him, Maggie. Don't you dare let this one get away."

"Why do I get the feeling you want this relationship even more than I do?"

"Please, hon. Izzy and I shipped that boat before it even made it to the harbor. And…basically all of the fandoms do as well…but not the point. You and Alec belong together, I can sense it, but like I said. It's not gonna be easy. Right now, keeping honest is the best way to keep him, and everyone else against this, at bay."

Magnus slowly paced back and forth. "What about Maryse? Any ideas on how to handle that?"

"Stay on her good side? Only time could possibly crack that nut. Just prove to her that you and Alec are serious. Keep things going with him, prove how much you care and how much what Alec did meant to you. Make sure that it she can't say 'I told you so.' Show her, and Alec, and everyone else, that you are not going to make this sacrifice go to waste. That you're willing to fight through whatever comes your way. I'll be here for you the entire trip, whether you like it or not, so chin up."

Alec came walking down the corridor with a sigh.

"So? On a scale of Dingo to Penance? How unpleasant was it?"

"What?"

"Sorry. One to ten."

"Off the charts either way," Alec said. "Yeah, I've never seen them so angry."

"Just give them some time," Magnus recommended.

"You're immortal. Time is on your side," He pointed out, beginning to walk them down the corridor. "After what I did, I don't think they'll ever forgive me."

"Don't underestimate a parent's love."

He slowed and Alec stopped, turning to face him.

"You don't…regret it, do you?"

He sighed. "Everything happened so fast. I didn't have time to think."

"When we can't think, it's usually when we make the decisions our hearts want, for better or worse," Shu said.

"I just wanna make sure Lydia's okay. Now I owe her so much."

"We owe her," Magnus corrected. "What she did was nothing short of heroic."

Alec looked down with a nod.

"Hey, look, maybe we can slow things down. Why don't we start with that date you owe me?"

He smiled. "Yeah. Let's do that."

Shu walked over to the door to the head office and turned the handle.

"I know this great Ethiopian place on 44th-" Magnus began.

"Lydia!"

Alec hurried past Shu to Lydia, who was knocked out atop a smashed table. Magnus checked her neck for a pulse and then nodded, before Alec took her hand and pushed up her sleeve to activate one of her runes with his stele.

"Go get help, he ordered."

Magnus nodded and ran out.

"You're gonna be okay," Alec assured her.

"Hodge…" She choked out.

"You're tough, girl," Shu said. "Survived a serious blow. We'll get you up in no time. I've healed worse, believe me."

"No doubt. You have that look in your eyes."

"What look?"

"That look when people are trying to burry things they'd rather forget, but in the end, don't want to."

"There's a look to that?"

"You're older than me. I'd say you should know it better than I do. And I see it every time I look in a mirror."

Shu sighed and sat down on Lydia's bed. "Yeah. Maybe there is. But when you've got millennia to work on it, you'd think it changes."

"Loss and misery are a part of everyone. There's no way to get rid of that look in your eyes."

"Well, I have to thank you. For what you did for Alec. Alec and Magnus were coming to thank you as well, before, you know."

"Alec deserves to be happy. I knew that the marriage was mostly for his family. He wanted to keep his parents happy, his sister, his little brother. I saw how far he was willing to go for that. I wasn't going to argue with him over the wedding, not if that's what he wanted, and I knew he wasn't in the wrong for doing what he was. I also could see that he was trying to hide his true feelings, but having a pretty hard time."

"Much harder than with the guy he liked before Magnus. Means it's gotta be true, right? And you don't know the half of what it took Magnus to watch what was happening right before his eyes. When you're immortal, you think you can get over stuff like that, especially if you have experience with heartbreak. But I've never seen Mags so…in love. Letting Alec go, being so okay with the ceremony literally moments before you were about to place the runes? I heard about what happened to your previous husband, and so…I don't know what else I can possibly do to thank you for what you did. I doubt I would've been able to console Magnus if things hadn't worked out. He's never loved someone like he does Alec, and I can vouch for that since I've been with him for centuries."

"I knew Alec wasn't truthfully happy. If he was finally ready to admit how he felt, do what he wanted and start being honest with himself, start being willing to fight for what he wanted, then who was I to stop him? I went along with the wedding even though I knew he was unhappy because that's what he wanted, but he wasn't being honest with himself, and everyone seemed to understand that except him."

"How many of us in the world really are? I've seen a lot of things, a lot of people, and I've studied the way people act. There's always been something that someone has to hide, even if they're doing it without realizing it, because society wouldn't accept them that way. Even small things, like being a more serious person in a group of less serious ones. Mundanes have social norms, and others just don't understand sometimes."

"What about you? Can I ask what it is you keep inside?"

"You can ask, sure. It's a lot. A lot of things that I've buried with time. Only Magnus has a clue as to what's happened to me in my past, and even he doesn't know the half of it. I keep it from him for his own protection, and he understands that."

"I can't tell you what to do, but I can share my experience. Telling someone always seems to help, whether you believe it will or not."

"I've tried before. Feels less like help and more like tearing open a healing wound."

"Like I said. I can't order you around. It's just a thought to keep in mind."

"I gotta go, but thank you again."

"Give Magnus and Alec my best."

"I will."

"And consider what I said."

"I'll try."