Author's note:

In this chapter, I attempt to balance out an ordinary Clary and Jace day and the aftermath of a weird Isabelle night. I hope it worked well, I try. Please do enjoy it, it was fun to write.

"When you said you'd 'just take your stele with you'" Clary said, "I didn't think you'd just hold onto it the entire time."

They were sitting, side-by-side, on the edge of the pool, their fingers touching, but not intertwined.

"Well," Jace said diplomatically with a shrug, "where would I put it for safekeeping? I don't have a pocket."

"You have a point," Clary admitted.

"That I always do," Jace replied, golden eyes gleaming mischievously. "Often literally, I might add."

"Does a stele still function in water?" Clary asked, worried.

"Logic, Fray," Jace responded, eyes rolling a little. "The Angel himself rises out of a lake and gives the first Shadowhunter a stele. Steles have only ever improved since then."

Clary blushed. "I thought-"

"I know," Jace answered gently, and brushed a stray curl behind her ears. He then took her hand, sending electrical impulses through her nervous system, and slid into the water, the other hand still holding a stele. He smiled up at her. "Are you coming?"

Clary slid down the pool wall and into the water, still holding Jace's hand, and smiled back. "Does that suffice as an answer?"

"Your question? No", Jace answered. "Coming? Yes."

Clary rolled her eyes. "Jace."

"Clary," he murmured back, breathing into her ear. The arm holding the stele went around her back and pushed her into his bare chest, and Clary felt the power of the black Marks she was pressed against. His beautiful eyes made her feel unsteady, and her toes barely touched the bottom, but she felt more like she was sinking into his gaze rather than the pool.

"You know," she murmured back, breathless, "if we're here to make out, we didn't have to pay the entry fee. We could've just stayed in."

"Kissing is not against dating rules," Jace sighed, pretending to be put out. "In fact, it's a standard since the first date to have at least one kiss per date."

"Jace," Clary huffed, "dating rules also state that the kisses are a)not to happen in a public space unless outdoors and b)after the date, if the date takes place indoors."

He quirked an eyebrow at her. "Shy?"

"A little," Clary confessed. "We're here at a swimming centre, there are kids around."

"And they," Jace pronounced, "shall be riveted by my flawless kissing technique."

Clary squealed a little and splashed him in the face. Laughing, he let her go and splashed back, and so they ended up in their mock fight for a little longer.

"Isabelle."

Isabelle turned to her mother, expectant. "What?"

"Don't be impolite," Maryse chided. "You know that was irresponsible of you."

"How? I can take care of myself, I've proved it. Why do you keep on harping on about it?"

"Where were your brothers?" Isabelle's mother questioned. "When you decided to go out, where were they?"

"Alec was at Magnus's, if that's what you mean."

"And Jace?"

Isabelle frowned. "Why get Jace involved? He's more reckless than me, you know that."

"I know I can trust him with you," Maryse sighed, "and I know I can trust him to take care of himself. He's reckless, yes, but he has a usefully strategic mind, so his risks often earn him a reward. You, on the other hand-"

"I take less risks than he does!"

"Yes, but they come with dire consequences, you've proved that much. You can gamble everything away that way."

"I reckon Jace was a bad influence on me, then," she muttered.

"Isabelle, I know you're a talented warrior. The way you use your whip is extraordinary, given your age. But you follow at the front. You can lead the charge, but under orders of someone else. On your own, you can hunt effectively, I don't doubt it. But what happened last night-"

"It's not all out of the ordinary."

"The High Warlock found traces of extremely powerful dark magic, Isabelle. New York hasn't seen the like since Aldous Nix. Everyone but that warlock" she said with disgust and hatred, "perished if they were present at the time he started his pathetic project. Isabelle, you only just missed something very powerful, very dark-and whatever it was wouldn't have liked Shadowhunters. Those pixies certainly didn't."

"They're pixies, Mum," Isabelle snorted. "What kind of a Shadowhunter would I have been if I couldn't get rid of them?"

"How long did that fight last, again?"

"An hour," Isabelle sighed.

"My point exactly. They lasted an hour against a very powerful Shadowhunter-which you are, you realise-and when you beat them, they made sure you didn't follow them back. Not a single one of them died. Which reminds me, are you hurt? You don't seem to be."

"I'm fine," Isabelle answered, "back to those pixies-they were all huge, for pixies. And pale and silvery. And they did fight really well. Plus, I didn't hear a word, but they all fought in formations. Almost like, well, like-"

"Like what?"

"Endarkened," Isabelle hissed.

Maryse cocked her head to one side, driving around a corner. "It's possible," she considered, "if they were experimented on, in some way-"

"Like Clary and Jace?"

"Like Clarissa and Jace, yes-but more like Jonathan, I was thinking. I always thought the Endarkened fought with assistance from tricks like the ones the Silent Brothers used. It could just be a sensitive pixie reaction to whatever they feed on. Either way, we cannot trust the fae, not any more. And, Isabelle?"

"Yeah?"

"If you must hunt alone," Maryse sighed. "Don't do anything to stupid."

"So," Magnus called to Alec from the living room as Alec made coffee. "Did Isabelle call you?"

"Izzy called me, yeah," Alec called back. "She wanted me to come, but I told her I wouldn't. She called Mum after, than called me back. We spent a while talking about it, then I hung up."

"Ah," Magnus murmured.

"What's your conclusion?" Alec asked, setting down two cups of coffee on the round table.

"I can't conclude anything, yet," Magnus explained, frowning, "but whatever that warlock was up to, it was powerful. And illegal. I hope they identify him soon and access his bank account. Most warlocks don't mess around like this without a cheque with a five-digit number. Screw that, no way would it be only five digits. Seven to nine, possibly."

"Oh, yeah, and Izzy just texted me," Alec added. "She wants us to meet her at Taki's in an hour, if she can get to Clary and Jace in that time."