Another chapter! I feel so proud of myself.
Thanks to the reviewers, followers and favouriters!
Simon frowned as he crossed a street in Brooklyn he'd never been down before.
He'd been looking for a new record store that Eric had recommended, but obviously, Eric wasn't entirely clear on where it was, either.
He sighed and swung his backup over his shoulder to dig his phone out. The junk in his bag made it hard to find- a packet of gum, a Dungeons and Dragons manual, old receipts. Finally, his finger connected with the smooth surface and pulled it out, touching the button to make it light up. He glanced around once more, but there seemed to be no one around except for a guy covered in sparkles and in flamboyant clothing standing outside an apartment building and tapping animatedly at his phone. Simon practically had to blink a few times to handle the fluorescence.
Oh, what the hell. No one else knew where the store was, so he might as well ask. This guy looked relatively safe, anyway.
Simon walked up to him tentatively. "Excuse me. I was wondering if…" He trailed off as the stranger looked up. His eyes were green-gold, and had slit pupils, rendering them distinctly cat-like. Simon cleared his throat. People had all sorts of crazy contacts. "I was wondering if you could direct me to Red Eye Records?"
He looked amused. "Oh good. You're only the third Simon that has a friend named Eric. I must've got about fifty of them to tell their friends to got to Red Eye Records."
Simon backed away. This guy was obviously crazy- never mind that he knew Simon's name, as well as Eric's. Maybe he was some sort of stalker. He was suddenly glad that his phone was still clutched in his hand. It was stupid to come out by himself today- for God's sake, he was still a sort of star. It was hard to remember that all sorts of people were actually interested in everything about his life.
"Ah, thanks for your help." He hesitated. "See you." He turned to cross the road again and head home, but a hand caught at his wrist. He looked down to see a set of lightly tanned fingers adorned with rings that felt cold against his skin. "I think you want to stay." Said the soft voice persuasively.
Simon started dialing. 9….
"You see, I'm not really up for convincing the cops that my intentions were harmless because they are, and I'm already fairly drained. "
1….
"I'm Magnus Bane, Sherman. Doesn't that sound familiar? " Magnus saw the look on his face. "It does. You may not have always liked me, but you do know that you can trust me. Because everything in your world is connected, and I'm far too entangled to let go now." Simon glanced again and the hand encircling his wrist. A heavy ring shone on Magnus' finger- a silver one, with a pattern of flames around the band. Lightwood. He thought involuntarily. He and Alec must've gotten serious.
WHAT?
Great. Now he was having arguments with himself. He should probably get himself checked into a mental institute after dialing 911. He couldn't believe he actually trusted this guy. Was he crazy?
1… The final dial tone rang out in the long silence. His finger hovered over the call button.
Magnus' gaze held his.
His hand started shaking.
And he pressed the call button.
Simon sat uncomfortably in the hard plastic chair. "He tried to convince me that I knew him, and he wouldn't let go of my wrist."
The officer was young, probably only a few years older than him. The short haircut made his blond hair look darker, and the shadows under his eyes indicated he hadn't slept in quite a few hours.
No wonder he was grumpy.
"What do you want to do about it? File a restraining order?" The gruff tone grated on Simon's nerves. Not only that, but the somehow familiar eyes kept surfacing in his mind. But surely he would remember if he had met the guy before? Eyes like that weren't common.
"Well?"
Simon looked at the wilting plant beside the desk. Anything here seemed to be lifeless- including the people. He wondered if all the stations were as depressing as this one. The smell of stale coffee hung in the air, and the low murmur of tired voices sounded outside. Somewhere, someone was yelling.
A sudden compassion welled up in him. He did know this… Magnus. He didn't know how, and he certainly didn't know why, but it was a bad move to call the cops.
"Kid, if you're going to keep wasting my time, then get out of here and let us deal with the stalker."
Simon stood up. "I want you to let him go."
The cop kept glancing back at him, shooting him suspicious glances. They walked to the holding cell, where Magnus was chatting with a heavily tattooed man in a vest. He looked up when the officer standing at the door jangled the keys. "Hey. You get to go home." He said to Magnus. "God knows why." He muttered as he passed Simon.
The flamboyant man stood up, grinning at the man in the vest. "Nice meeting you, Greg." He walked to Simon. "Ready to go?"
Simon blinked. "Uh… yeah?"
Magnus swept out of the station, leaving a trail of stares behind him. Simon guessed they weren't used to seeing someone being so chipper after leaving a holding cell. As they walked out into the fresh air and sunlight, he took a deep breath. It would be easy to forget that it wasn't a permanent night in there.
"So what's actually going on here? I obviously know you, even if I don't remember truly meeting you."
Magnus entered a nearby coffee shop, gesturing for Simon to follow him. "You know how you recognized me, and the ring on my finger? Well, it's a lot bigger than just that. This whole thing is bigger than me, really."
"Look, you're speaking English, and I know the words you're using… but they don't make sense."
"Samuel-"
"Simon."
"I'm hopeless with names. After the centuries, faces just start to blur."
"See? That does not make sense. People do not live for centuries." He held the s. "In fact, they're lucky to live a century."
Magnus sighed. "Believe whatever you want, vampire. I know what I know, and you should know it, too. But I'm not going to force you to believe anything."
Simon latched onto something. "Clary's a demon?"
"She doesn't have the same defenses the other do. While she might have been real at the beginning of the dream, the demon was forcing her to act in a certain way. Then, I think she let down her guard. It got to her. So, you can take solace in the fact that she was there for you in the beginning."
He almost couldn't handle it. He needed to keep going. "And now you need to find Jace."
Magnus hesitated. "I have another idea."
"Which is…"
"I can't find him. I've been searching for days. The quickest way would be to send the five of you into his dream and convince him to let go of the dream." Seeing Simon start to object, he interrupted. "I can get the approximate location of him, but I can't enter it myself. But none of you have a very amount of magic, so you may not register on the demon's 'radar', if you want to call it that."
"I'll do it. For Clary." He said immediately. "And I think the others will, too.
"Besides," he smiled. "How hard can it be?"
Oh, Simon. How sweet!
What do you think of the turn of events?