Okay, I have had what was a very very exhausting day and I am completely beat. Which is why I felt like I need to update this fanfic, it always makes me feel better.

ICraveYou - I like confusing people lol Thanks
AlejandraMartinez - Magnus cracks me up as well lol You'll find out what's going on with Izzy :)
Lexilovespickles - Your wish... my command ;)
Whip and Fangs - Thank you! You'll find out what happened SOON, I promise!
ilyreid - Where did you get Vampire from?^^ Since that's out of the question I can reply with a clear "No" to that :) Regarding your other questions, you'll have to keep on reading!

CITY OF CRYING ANGELS
chapter five: What to expect from a Lightwood (Part 1)

Simon didn't care that Izzy had turned him down, like Magnus put it - okay, maybe he did, but he tried very hard not to care because there were bigger problems to worry about. He stepped away from the door and asked in a low voice: "Did you notice anything different about her?"

Magnus looked at him as if he had asked him which letter came after A and replied with a counter question: "Did you notice anything normal about her?"

Fair point, Simon thought, there had been almost nothing normal about Izzy. Except of course the part where she had faked it.

"She was different, yes, but Sebastian's-" Alec started but Magnus signaled him to shut up and lead both of them into the kitchen, which, Simon thought, was probably just for decorative purpose. He had problems imagining the Warlock actually cooking. As soon as they were there all the kitchen Alec continued: "I'm just saying… Sebastian's been here."

"How can you use just and Sebastian in the same sentence?"

Alec ignored Simon, like he did most of the time. "He's stronger than Isabelle and she is very proud. Losing, especially against him, could easily cause her to behave the way she did."

Magnus nodded, crossing his arms and leaning against the fridge. "That's right: He's stronger than she is. In a physical confrontation none of us stands a chance against him. And – I do hope this doesn't come out the wrong way, but don't you think for facing someone like Sebastian Isabelle was a bit too fine? Physically I mean."

"She probably used an Iraze."

"An Iraze doesn't raise the dead." There was a moment of silence before Magnus continued: "Setting the institute on fire, well knowing that we would never take Isabelle with us, and taking down the wards I put up seems like an awful lot of trouble to go through – just to pound on Isabelle a little bit and leaving her perfectly capable of healing herself again."

Magnus was right. That made absolutely no sense. He must have figured this out when Izzy told them, Simon thought, when he and Alec had been too busy panicking over her behavior, instead of thinking about whether or not any of this made sense. Why didn't he see that himself? He felt like an idiot and thought, Alec probably shared this feeling.

"Why didn't you say so before?" Alec asked.

"Isabelle seemed shaken up enough as it was. I didn't want to pressure her even more. Besides, she wouldn't have told us what really happened. Whatever it was – she needs to process it herself, before she can share it with anyone."

"Do you have any idea what could have happened? You seem to be able to figure out everything." Simon managed not to call him Yoda just in time. He wasn't all too sure if the Warlock would like being associated with a little green Yedi. Yoda was very cool, but didn't exactly look like Brad Pitt and Magnus cared about his looks in a way, which Simon considered to be unhealthy.

Magnus hesitated. "Ideas, yes. But none of them seems very likely."

"So… what do we do now?" Alec relied completely on his boyfriend and Simon wasn't too far behind him (except about the boyfriend-part). Magnus seemed to be the only one who was able to get a hand on this situation.

"We sleep. It's been a long day. We need to rest and we'll figure out what to do next in the morning." He looked at Simon and thought for a moment (it seemed to be getting harder to think of names to call him, by now Simon thought Magnus was doing this in purpose). "Seamus. You can use the other spare room."

"Maybe I should go to Isabelle." Alec said. "I don't want her to be alone tonight."

"If she wants to be alone there's not much you can do about it." Magnus said.

"I have to try. She's my sister."

Magnus sighted. Simon was sure he understood but that didn't keep him from saying: "What do I have to do for you to stay with me?"

"Behave weird." Alec teased him.

"I always behave weird."

"Fair enough – behave normal."

As they walked out of the kitchen Magnus thought about it and he put an arm around Alec until he finally came to the conclusion: "Näh. Not worth it."

Alec playfully pushed his elbow into Magnus' chest. The situation seemed to be funny and relaxed at first sight, but Simon felt that everyone, including himself, was still very strained. Alec gave his boyfriend a goodnight kiss, before he knocked on the door to Izzy's room.

"Iz? It's me. Alec."

Simon held back a grin. Sometimes Alec was so accurate that it wouldn't surprise him if he would have said he was Alec Lightwood, even to Isabelle.

"Izzy?"

There was no answer. Magnus sighted and muttered "Please tell me she didn't climb out the window."

"Why would she do that?" Simon asked but started to panic.

"Well, she's a Lightwood…"

"And?"

Magnus shrugged his shoulders. "That's it, really. Alec would never do such a thing but he's not a typical Lightwood. Sometimes I like to think that he's adopted. Isabelle, however, is exactly what you'd except from a Lightwood."

Simon didn't get to ask what that was because Alec, who had entered the room by now, stepped out of it again, looking horrified. "She's gone."

"I should have put bars to the window…"

Simon panicked. He couldn't think clearly and was almost immediately out the door to go looking for Izzy when Magnus said: "Good thinking - why not run around town like a mentally disturbed Flash, with no idea where to look for a Shadowhunter, who knows how to stay hidden when she doesn't want to be found."

Usually Simon liked mentions of comic book characters, but this was hardly the time. He did, however, re-think his action and found that Magnus was right (again – this was getting annoying, he started to feel like a 12-year-old). Running off like this was completely pointless. "Can you track her?"

Magnus snipped his fingers. "See, I knew you'd get it. Next time: Think first, do crazy things later." Magnus was already gathering some things he needed for the tracking spell and Alec brought him Izzy's broken phone.

Simon paced nervously around the room while Magnus was preparing the spell as his phone rang. Being pulled out of his thoughts he jerked but then looked at his phone – maybe it was Isabelle? Considering that the pieces of her phone were lying on Magnus' dinner table that was highly unlikely, but Simon had learned to rule not even the impossible out.

The real caller, however, was very much possible. He answered the phone saying: "Hey Jordan. No offense but I don't have time right now. We're kind of in the middle of something."

"Yeah, me too... and I think you should drop whatever you're doing and get over to my place." He almost whispered.

"Why?"

"I can't really talk right now. If Maia knew I'm calling you she'd kill me."

"Look, I can't play Dr. Love and not just because I have no idea how to keep your ex-girlfriend from killing you. Maia's pretty feisty. - I have to stay here. Isabelle's missing, Magnus is about to do a tracking spell and-"

"Simon I don't think you understand. That's why you have to come! Isabelle's here! Sitting on my couch and talking to Maia. Or, Maia's talking, Isabelle might me looking for a way to shut her up, I don't know."

Simon froze. Before he could say anything he heard a door open and Maias voice in the background: "Hey, who are you... oh no. You didn't call Simon."

"Uh... no. I was ordering a pizza. Want some?"

"That pizza better not turn out to be a certain vampire we both know."

"I hardly think he passes as a magherita... maybe hawaiiwan. You know, because of the sun thi-" He broke off and suddenly Maia was on the phone.

"Simon? You stay were you are, do you hear me?"

For a moment he thought about pretending to be taking a pizza delivery order, but decided that Maia was mad enough as it was. "I hear you. But I'm coming over."

"The girl climbed out of a window to get away from you – take the hint! Isabelle. Doesn't. Want. To see. You! Any of you. Do you understand that or do I have to get a restraining order?" Boy, Maia could get all mother lion when she was defending her friends... even if it was against her friends.

Simon swallowed. "Why doesn't she want to see us?"

Maia hesitated. "I... can't tell you that. Look, just stay away, okay? Give her some space."

"From what?"

"I'm going to hang up now. Bye."

"No, wait-" but it was too late, Maia had already hung up. Simon stared at his phone for a moment and when he looked up, saw that Magnus had stopped doing preparations for his spell.

He said: "Why do I get the feeling we don't need to track down Isabelle anymore..."

Simon told them everything Jordan and Maia said but neither of them understood why Izzy suddenly didn't want to see any of them anymore. Sure, she had been weird before she left but running away and refusing to talk to everyone who cared about her was something Simon would have thought maybe Clary would do – but not Isabelle.

As if Alec could read his mind he said: "I don't get it. This isn't like her at all. There was only one time where she didn't want to talk to me and that was after Max... - And even then she was willing to talk to you" he pointed toward Simon and then sat down on the couch, next to Magnus.

"Not exactly... I mean, I didn't ask for permission to talk to her. I just went."

Magnus nodded. "Good point. It's easy to say you don't want to talk to anyone over the phone, or let's say over one or two other people. But it's a lot harder to say no when that person is standing in front of your door. Especially when you really do want to talk. You just don't know how to express yourself."

Alec frowned. "Say, what are those ideas you have in mind of what happened here?"

Magnus ignored him. He simply stood up and said to Simon: "I think you should go. Just you. You were the one who got through to her before, when no one else could. I believe you can do it again."

: : : : : : :

"Dude, Maia is going to kill me dead if she finds out I let you in. And then you. And then me again. Until she gets bored." As it turned out Maia had actually wanted to stay up all night, to make sure Simon didn't show up. But she had gotten tired eventually and had forced Jordan to take over the guard, whom Simon had found playing The Fast and The Furious, when he opened the door.

"Maybe you didn't see me. Maybe you fell asleep." Simon suggested.

Jordan thought about it for a moment. "That could work. Perhaps she'll just maim or seriously injure me then."

Simon grinned at the Harry-Potter-Implication but then got serious: "Do you know what happened to Izzy?"

"No. Maia send me out of the room the second Isabelle showed up here. Can you believe that? She threw me out of my own living room!"

"Yeah, well, that's... Maia. - Where's Isabelle?"

"Your room. You know, for someone who claims not wanting to see you she's way too much curled up in your stuff."

Simon swallowed and was suddenly very nervous. He had been so worried about Izzy that he had hadn't noticed how nervous he was about going to talk to her. He walked toward his room and opened the door as silently as he could.

Isabelle was lying on his mattress and didn't move as he walked in, but he could hear that she was holding her breath as he did, so he knew she was awake. He softly closed the door again and took a view steps into the room, very careful to keep enough distance to Isabelle, which was hard for him, because all he wanted to do was go over to her and take her into his arms.

"Hey." he said in a soft voice but didn't get a response. Her eyes were open but she didn't look at him, just stared on the floor in front of her.

He had never needed more than the mattress in his room, because all he ever did when he was at Jordan's was sleep, but right now he wished he at least possessed a chair or something. But he didn't want to leave her again to get one, so he sat down on the floor, his back leaned against the wall.

"I'm sorry I'm here. Maia told me you didn't want to see me... but I couldn't not come." Still no response. "Is that okay?"

Finally he got an answer, but it wasn't what he had been hoping for. "No." There was a certain tone in her voice that seemed to say: Of course not, you were specifically told not to come, how hard is it to stay put?

He lowered his head and bit his lip. "Do you want me to leave?" He would. If she told him to go he wasn't going to bother her. Of course he would stay in front of the house to at least be near to her.

After a while she replied with another "No." This time her voice sounded broken again. The kind of broken that couldn't be repaired.

"Okay, we just ran out of options here... so I'm going to pick the answer I like better and stay. I'll just sit here." For some reason he thought that was what she needed right now. Of course she was never going to admit it but the fact that she didn't even have the strength to decline showed him that he was right.

For a couple of minutes there was nothing but silence. He simply sat there and listened to her breathing in and out while trying not to stare at her. To his surprise it was Isabelle who broke the silence after a while: "Can you tell me another story?"

Simon smiled gently. "Of course." The thought about what to tell her this time but it didn't take him long to find something. "Once upon a time there was a boy, whom everyone would one day refer to as: The boy who lived..."

That's it for today. The next chapter will contain an explanation of what exactly happened with Sebastian, I promise. Some of you may already be on the right track, but I'm pretty sure you don't know everything yet ;) So stay tuned & tell me what you think about this chapter by leaving a review!