Next chapter! I actually have no idea how long this story's going to be, but I'm estimating around 15-20 chapters.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters. They belong to Cassandra Clare.
Thanks for all of the reviews and followers and favoriters!
There were a few Guests that made my day! One Guest- I really wish I knew who to thank- who wrote about how my writing meds right into Cassie's, thank you! EvanSol0919: Sorry, you might have to wait a few more chapters :)
Isabelle woke without the normal comforting warmth of Simon curled against her.
For a moment, she looked at his lazy form across the bed. Why the distance? She couldn't help but remember the odd glances Magnus and Simon had been throwing each other all night at her party. And Magnus. He couldn't have been acting more strangely if he tried- asking her to come to his apartment and not to tell anyone, purposely annoying Simon (not that he didn't do that normally, but he had been going out of his way). It was more than enough to make Isabelle question why she was considering getting out of her soft, warm bed to trek all the way to Brooklyn.
With a sigh, she pulled herself out of bed and ambled to the closet. She heard Simon roll over.
"Where are you going, Iz?" His tone should have been full of the remnants of sleep, but it was sharp and full of possessiveness. She turned to look at him abruptly. Immediately, his face smoothed over into something more typical, but there was still a trace of the hard demand in his expression. She spun back towards her clothes as if that was all that was on her mind, but something needled at her. The way Simon spoke to her- he hadn't ever spoken to her like that before.
"So, where are you going?" He repeated, but this time more softly. She didn't face him, considering the stark white top with dark jeans.
"Just out shopping." She lied, some instinct keeping her from telling him exactly where she was headed. Besides, it probably wasn't going to be a lie. They had the some amazing vintage stores in Brooklyn.
"Mind if I join you?" Simon had come to stand behind her- funny. She hadn't heard anything, and her Shadowhunter ears were finely tuned. She dressed, giving him a flippant smile.
"Oh, Si, thanks for the offer, but I know you'd prefer to be with Eric and your friends." She wrinkled her nose distastefully. "I was sure I heard him mentioning plans last night."
Simon nodded reluctantly. He slipped into his own clothes silently and walked down the narrow hallway to the kitchen.
Isabelle sat at her dresser and started to do her makeup, letting the familiarity wash over her. There was something- something that she kept trying to grasp as it slipped further and further from her reach.
The cold wind whistled through Magnus' street, cutting through Isabelle's soft coat and her thermis rune. She drew her jacket more tightly around her, watching as the red-gold leaves blew by. Even the flashes of colour couldn't lighten her mood- it seemed to be permanently set on negative. She stepped gratefully into the entryway and pressed the buzzer, waiting for an answer. A familiar voice crackled out from the speaker. "Hello?"
"Hi, Alec."
The bell sounded, signifying Isabelle's approved entry and she laughed to herself as she slipped into the elevator. Of course Alec would be here. She shouldn't have expected anything else.
The door opened, revealing her brother and admitting a rush of warm air. "Well?" She asked. "Are you going to let me in, or watch me turn into an icicle out here?" Alec smiled, and allowed her inside.
"What brings you here?" He inquired once she had a hot cup of coffee in her hands and was seated on one of the many comfy lounges.
"Oh, this and that." She said airily. "I just couldn't stay away from you and Magnus."
A door opened somewhere in the apartment and Magnus tumbled through the door, a mess of crazy hair and canary yellow pajamas. Isabelle raised an eyebrow. She'd rarely seen him less than presentable, if ever. He misinterpreted her quizzical expression- or more likely, ignored it- with a careless flip of his hand. Alec rose and pushed another coffee cup into his hand. Mumbled thanks were faint as Magnus flopped beside her. She'd never seen him so pale and drawn-out. After shooing Alec and his worried expression away, she cleared her throat.
"You asked to see me?" She said delicately. He obviously didn't want help or questions, so she left them for the moment. Many years of living with Jace meant she knew when to leave something well alone, and so did Alec, he just didn't care. Magnus murmured incomprehensibly into hid mug. He looked at up and met Alec's eyes briefly.
Alec nodded and got up to do something or other. Isabelle wasn't focused on him at the moment, because as soon as he was out of earshot, Magnus turned to her. None of the tiredness left his face as the urgency chased it across his lilting features.
"Isabelle. I need you to stay here for a little bit."
She was a bit puzzled, but agreed readily enough. "Sure. How long? And why?"
He sighed. "I don't know if you quite understand. I need you stay here for… let's say, a week?"
She was usually pretty good at keeping her face blank, but this time she couldn't stop her expression wiped clean of anything but surprise. He looked at her face and sighed again, more heavily. "You won't just do this, will you?"
Isabelle shook her head. "If you want me to stay here for a week, you better give me a damn good reason." She met his cat eyes with her own steady gaze, which was usually just the right amount of penetrating and firmness to make people crack.
But Magnus was a…. three hundred- Magnus was centuries old. An underage Nephilim's scrutiny was certainly not going to be a fright to him. He met her gaze without flinching.
"Isabelle... you can't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you. Yes?" She wavered, not liking the instruction. "Please?" Magnus added.
She nodded. If Magnus was pleading, it was important. "Go ahead, then."
He rubbed a hand over his face. "I wish your brother was still alive." He said softly. "I'm so sorry. But he's not, and this isn't real."
Alec was… what? "Alec!" She yelled. "ALEC!"
He ran into the room out of breath, black hair tumbling all over the place. Isabelle's brain struggled to keep up with the events. If not Alec then… "Max." She whispered, tears filling her eyes. She pushed the balls of palms against her closed eyes roughly. In the distance she heard Alec's panicked questions and Magnus's reassuring answers.
He convinced Alec to leave. Of course this was all fake. Something was terribly, terribly wrong. Isabelle pulled herself together once she felt the heavy weight of Magnus's pitying stare rest on her.
"So, what, this is some dream I've conjured up?" She asked unevenly. Magnus hesitated. She obviously wasn't okay, but she made an impatient gesture for him to continue. Respect glittered in his eyes.
"Not exactly. There's a demon controlling this- dream, as you call it. The demon is appearing to you as Sherman."
An icy shock went through Isabelle, and she completely ignored the wrong name. The cool tone, the distance- none of it was right, and none of his gestures screamed Simon like they usually did. How had she not questioned it before?
"So, that's why you need to stay at my place." Magnus sounded finished. But Isabelle was far from done. She could feel her cheeks flushing with anger.
"How are we all meant to get out of here? Is that why Alec's staying here, too?" Before the words were even completely out of her mouth, she saw Magnus readying himself to deliver another hard truth. But at least she knew he wouldn't lie.
"There's no one with their own mind here but you and I. Alec, Jace… all of the others are stuck in their own alternate realities."
Isabelle steeled herself. "Okay. So how are we meant to get out of here?" There wasn't any time to fall apart. They needed to get out as quickly as possibly and get Alec, Jace, Simon and Clary.
"I think I might know how to do it. I mean, it's purely theoretical, but…"
"But it's the best we've got right now." She finished. "Go on."
Magnus got up silently and gestured for her to follow. She walked briskly after him to a small study that was an explosion of colours and glitter so bright that she had the impulse to shield her eyes. He flipped open a book at the desk. Scrawled on the page was obviously a demon language, harsh and spiky-looking. Chthonian, maybe.
"Maybe…" Magnus mumbled to himself. Isabelle forced herself to be patient.
She gave up after a few seconds. "So…?"
"There are a few different ideas that I'm working on right now. I think the one most likely to work is when all six of us are together in every single dream in the same place. Then, I would have to force my way into Clary, Simon and Jace's hallucinations and cast a spell. It's going to take a lot out of me, but I should be able to do it."
Finally, Magnus may have figured out how to get them out of the dreams! But Jace still hasn't made an appearance...