Everyone was back at the Institute now and things were very quiet around. Not surprising since there was pretty much no one there. Nyah pulled on the red leather jacket – that she was now claiming as her own – and went to go look for Clary before checking in on Simon. She felt far more relaxed now in jeans and a tank top as opposed to the skin tight dress she had to wear last night.

Nyah walked through the halls on her way to the Infirmary and imagined what it'd be like to have more Shadowhunters walking the halls. It didn't feel right having so few within the Institute. It just felt like there had to be more – that there should be more.

Nyah was pulled from these thoughts when she heard Clary said in an elevated tone, "And if you were as half as brave as you pretend to be, you'd admit that you're in love with Jace and that's what this is really about."

After hearing that she quickly followed the voices and turned the corner in time to see Alec throw Clary against the wall and say, "If you ever say anything like that again, I'll kill you."

After Alec said this, the next thing he knew he was being pulled back then punched right in the jaw. He was rubbing his jaw as Nyah firmly pointed at him and threatened, "If you ever threaten Clary like that again then I will shove your Stele so far down your throat you'll be shitting Runes!"

Alec realized his error in that moment – he had gotten them mixed up. Without a word, he stormed off down the hall.

"Thanks," Clary said gratefully to her sister.

"What is with that guy!" Nyah shouted, waving her hand to where Alec was just standing.

"He's in love with Jace and doesn't like you because of it," Clary answered as she walked with her sister towards the Infirmary.

"If Alec has a problem with me then he can take it up with me." Nyah was practically seething now.

"He thought he was," Clary replied. "He called me Nyah and went off before I could correct him."

Nyah scoffed incredulously. "Sounds like you're defending him. Don't tell me you're becoming devil's advocate."

Clary scoffed herself, "Hardly."


While Clary was off getting something, Nyah laid next to Simon on his bed in the Infirmary until he woke up. When he finally did, she smiled. "Hey, you. Feeling better?"

"Oh yeah," Simon answered, chuckling, "I'll be ready to receive your piggyback attacks in no time."

Nyah laughed and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "You better." She didn't notice that Jace had seen this and became jealous of it to the point where he had to leave instead of checking in.

Clary came in through the other door and smiled when she saw Simon was awake. "My turn," she said with a 'move it' hand motion so she could take Nyah's place beside Simon.

"I'll check back in on you later," Nyah assured before giving up her spot. She was walking out of the Infirmary as she heard Clary tell him that she found his glasses.

Nyah hoped that Clary would open up her eyes one day and see how much Simon loved her and not as just a friend.

With no real destination in mind, Nyah started to wander around the Institute. After walking around for a little bit, she heard some music coming from the Library and became intrigued. Nyah was curious as to who was playing it but if she found it to be Alec, she wouldn't be sticking around to listen.

It wasn't Alec who was playing, it was Jace, so she walked down the staircase and listened. Jace apparently had messed up a couple times so she slammed down on the keys a bit.

"What did that poor piano ever do to you?" she teased as she leaned against the said instrument. "You're playing it like you've lost your true love."

Jace scoffed lightly. "Unfortunately, my one true love remains myself."

"Good for you," Nyah said with a teasing grin. "You don't have to worry about rejection that way."

Jace answered without missing a beat. "Not necessarily. I turn myself down occasionally just to keep it interesting."

Nyah laughed a bit because he was so serious when he said that. "I really want to make a movie reference right now, but you probably wouldn't get it."

"Thank you for sparing me," he replied.

"You sounded incredible, by the way. Very passionate." Nyah may be skilled with a pencil and paper in two forms but she could never play an instrument like that.

Jace sighed briefly. "Well, that's the problem. I play it with too much emotion. It's supposed to be played with with a simple representation of notes, no interpretation."

Nyah sat next to Jace on the piano bench as she said, "Music is art and art is supposed to have emotion. It's meaningless without it."

Jace's eyes locked on hers for a moment before looking down at the keys. "Demons react to certain frequencies when two tones cross." He played the notes on the piano, "It drives them crazy." Going to the sheet music, he further explained, "You see, Bach discovered this and put it into a system using a mathematical progression of tonal combinations that allows us to expose demons."

Nyah's jaw literally dropped when Jace told her this. "Hold up...are you telling me that Bach was a Shadowhunter?"

Jace nodded a little, "Yes."

Nyah thought that was the coolest thing ever and her expression practically screamed it. "That has to be one of the greatest things I have ever heard."

Jace chuckled at her amusement to this. It was fascinating to her but simple history to him. "Wait until you hear about Picasso."

Nyah's face brightened up when he gave her that little teaser. "I want to know everything."

Jace smirked, "Another time."

Nyah dramatically rolled her eyes with a sigh. "You're mean."

Jace shrugged a little. "I've been called worse."

A laugh escaped Nyah as she stood up and walked over towards the golden doors beneath the Library's staircase. "So, what's behind door number one? More musical instruments with accompanying secrets?"

Jace walked over to Nyah and whispered, "It's way more fun." He cocked his head towards the doorway. "Come on." When she followed him he explained, "It's a Portal. Like the Bermuda Triangle, it's a natural phenomenon. The Institute was built around it. Some say that the Institute was the first building in New York."

Jace started turning the dial on the doorway and explained further, "Dimensions aren't all just straight lines. There's bends, folds, and nooks. It's a little bit difficult to explain but, the Portal can take you to wherever you want to go in this dimension." As the doors started to open, Jace stood beside Nyah. "So as soon as you break that surface, you're transported to wherever your deepest thoughts lie."

Nyah started walking towards the Portal. "So...this Portal could take me to my mom?"

It wasn't that simple, so he explained. "We spend our entire lives training how to use it, visualizing where it will take us before we step into it and that takes incredible focus. If you were to step into it without proper training, you could end up in Limbo, lost in your own mind forever."

"Then you shouldn't have shown me this." Nyah felt like he had gotten her hopes up and didn't appreciate it. She started to walk away but he caught up with her.

"Wait," Jace asked of her, "let me show you something."

Nyah crossed her arms with a sigh as she looked at him. "Fine, what is it?"

Jace smiled a little. "No peeking."

Nyah rolled her eyes and turned around, looking away from the Portal. When Jace came over to her with a piece of the Portal and placed it floating beside her, she was starting to wonder what she'd just agreed to. A light gasp escaped her when Jace's hand came through the piece of Portal and gently touched her hair. If Nyah didn't know any better, she'd swear she was blushing.

Jace finally pulled back his hand with a smile. "Pretty cool, isn't it?" He closed the door to the Portal, locking it, and said, "Now, we have a birthday to celebrate."

Nyah bit her lip a little when she smiled. "How did you know?"

"Research," Jace answered. "When I was trying to find you."

"But ended up finding Clary instead," Nyah pointed out.

Jace looked at Nyah and told her, "Believe me, Nyah, that is a mistake I will never make again."

Nyah ran a hand through her hair since hers was borderline black where Clary's was a dark red. "Isn't that hard to tell us apart."

That may be true for others, but that wasn't what Jace was saying. "I wasn't talking about your hair."

Nyah looked at him and tried to figure out what it was then and honestly couldn't put it together or maybe it was that she was afraid to.


"Where are you taking me?" Nyah asked as Jace led her through the Institute. "Clary and I have the same birthday, you know. Shouldn't we be getting her?"

"We can celebrate with her later, if you like," Jace answered as he led her up the staircase, "but this is for you." At the top of the stairs, Jace opened the door and led her into the the conservatory. "No one comes up here anymore. We have the place to ourselves."

Nyah gasped when she walked in, seeing all the different kinds of plants and flickering lights that looked like fireflies. "This is incredible."

Jace walked over to Nyah with a cut apple and a lit candle in it. "Sorry, there's no cake."

Nyah thought it was great and her smile said as much as she accepted it. "It's the thought that counts. And I'm not much of a cake person anyway."

"Well, everyone should get something on their birthday," he replied, leading her over towards a spiral staircase.

"What did you get?" Nyah asked as she walked up a bit then sat down on the steps.

"Weapons mostly," he answered, "but I'm sure that doesn't surprise you."

"Not much surprises me anymore," Nyah admitted with a light chuckle.

Jace stood on the the steps in front of Nyah and told her a story about his life. "When I was nine, my father gave me a falcon. He told me to make it obedient. I was supposed to keep the bird blind, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Instead, I touched and stroked its wings until it trusted me. I tamed it to perfection. I took it to my father, expecting him to be proud of what I'd done. He said 'I told you to make it obedient. Instead, you taught it to love you. You didn't tame it, you broke it.' Then he took the bird and he broke its neck. I cried all night and I never cried again."

Nyah sniffled a little before asking, "Did you ever forgive him?"

"He did it to make me stronger." Jace gently moved some of Nyah's hair out of her face and looked at her softly. "Just as your mother has done with you. You are one of the strongest I have ever met."

Nyah didn't feel crazy for feeling like there was a kind of parallel between her and the falcon anymore. She cleared her throat and changed topics as quickly as she could. Nyah took Jace's hand in hers and looked at the ring on his finger. "Does that stand for Wayland?"

Jace nodded slightly then the clock started to strike twelve. "Midnight." He helped Nyah to her feet, "Watch this."

Nyah looked around and had to catch her breath as what she could only refer to as fairy dust to float around the plants causing all the blossoms to bloom. "It's incredible..."

Jace had never felt anything like what he was feeling with her. "You're incredible." He opened his hand to reveal a glowing crystal. "Every Shadowhunter deserves their own Witchlight."

Nyah took it in her hand like it was the most precious thing in the world to her. She couldn't find the words to say, so she didn't speak...she acted. Before giving herself a chance to talk herself out of it, Nyah brought her lips to Jace's.

Jace more than willingly returned the kiss and when their lips parted, he looked at her breathlessly. Just as he was about to kiss her again, he heard a crow cawing. Jace turned around to look at it, "That's Hodge's bird. We should go."

In that moment, Nyah thought he was regretting their kiss and changed the subject so she just said, "Okay," and followed him down the stairs.

Jace saw her change in demeanor and had a good idea what she was thinking. After all, he'd have thought the same if their roles were reversed. Jace couldn't let her think that so before she got too far, he took her hand and pulled her close. With his arms wrapped around Nyah, he rested his forehead against hers for a moment before kissing her deeply.

Nyah kissed him back and smiled as they pulled apart for a moment to laugh before bringing themselves together once again. Their laughter grew when the sprinkler system turned on and water start spraying from the ceiling.

"Okay, now we really should go." Jace practically beamed as he took Nyah's hand and ran out of the Conservatory with her.

And Nyah, well, Nyah felt the happiest she had ever been and prayed it wouldn't be short lived.

Jace didn't let go of Nyah's hand the whole way back down to her room. "Sorry about the sprinklers," he smiled, "I forgot about those."

"It certainly makes for a memorable first kiss," Nyah admitted without really thinking.

Jace stopped outside her bedroom door to look at her because he couldn't believe that. "No," he stated in disbelief.

Nyah thought she was blushing all over again and couldn't even look him in the eye. "The opportunity never presented itself."

Jace cupped her face with his hand. "I am honored." That was the truth and he felt so much more, something he expressed by bringing his lips to hers once more. When they parted, he asked, "Are you going to sleep?"

Nyah shook her head. "I couldn't if I tried. I don't think I've been more awake in my life."

Jace smiled. "I feel the exact same way." He noticed how she was looking at him almost as if she was debating something with herself. "What is it?"

Nyah didn't realize she was being so obvious. "It's nothing, I just..."

Jace wanted to know, "You can tell me."

Nyah felt nervous to say this, "I was just wondering...if another opportunity would be presenting itself." In case she didn't make herself clear, she opened the door to her room and held it open for him to come inside as well.

Jace had a pretty good idea as to what she was getting at but had to be certain. "Are you sure?"

Nyah reached out and took his hand to guide him inside her room. "I've never been more sure of anything in my life." And coming from her, that really meant something.


Jace laid beside Nyah on her bed and looked at her like he'd never looked at anyone before. "Are you alright?"

Nyah smiled as she faced him. "You've already asked me that. More than once."

Jace gently traced over her Gemini Mark upon her chest. "I wanted to be certain."

Nyah leaned forward and kissed him softly. "I am more than alright and I don't regret it for a second. I wouldn't have had anything different."

Jace was about to say something but there was a pounding on Nyah's door that prevented him from doing so. Instead of talking, he moved to get dressed while Nyah did the same.

Nyah quickly pulled on some underwear and a tee-shirt before going to answer her door. She should have figured it was Clary but still wasn't expecting her to be standing there. "What's going on?"

Clary was about to answer but took in her sister's appearance and saw how Jace was zipping up his pants inside her room. "What did I just interrupt?"

Nyah closed her door a bit to block Jace from Clary view as much as possible. "I'm the overprotective sister here. Now, what's going on?"

Clary got down to business, knowing that they'd be talking about what happened between Nyah and Jace later. "I know where Mom hid the Cup."


That morning, Nyah sat on the table in the Library as Clary explained what happened. "You pushed your teacup into the paper?"

"And I was able to reach in and pull it out," Clary told her again. "Hodge said Mom was the only other person who could do that. Can you?"

"I can do a lot of things, Clar, but that's not one of them. My special skills are more of my paternal blood variety." Nyah could see the questioning look on her sister's face so she looked around to make sure no one else was there before flashing her cat-like eyes.

Clary gasped when she saw this. "What the hell was that?"

"Magnus is my father, remember? I got Shadowhunter and Warlock blood. One of the perks of being a Gemini." Nyah popped the collar of her red leather jacket after saying that.

Clary was trying to wrap her head around that. "Wait, so you're telling me that you can use magic?"

Nyah winced a bit in an 'eh' way as she tilted her hand back and forth in front of her. "I can, but it's complicated. Using magic is like exercising. If you don't keep at it then it hurts like hell when you push yourself. Mom wouldn't let me use magic unless it was absolutely necessary so I could never exercise it. Depending on the spell, it could kill me. As in dead-dead."

Clary let out a deep exhale upon hearing that. "You know, a part of me wants to be pissed at you for keeping all these secrets and another part of me just understands and accepts it. I can't imagine how hard it must have been for you."

Nyah sighed, "You don't know the half of it."

Clary took that moment to switch conversational gears. "So, you and Jace had...you know? Don't you think that's a little soon. You just met the guy."

"It doesn't feel like that." In fact, Nyah would swear that she's known him her whole life. She couldn't explain it, but it felt...right. Turning the tables, Nyah asked, "What about you and Simon?"

Clary cleared her throat a little. "He told me he was in love with me."

Nyah was getting into 'fangirl' mode because she absolutely 'shipped' them. "And?"

Clary threw her hands up in the air. "And I froze! I didn't know what to say. I honestly had no idea he felt that way about me."

Nyah's face screamed 'you're kidding me, right?'. "Seriously?"

"Don't judge me and I won't judge you." Clary extended her hand for a fist bump.

"Deal." Nyah bumped her fist with Clary's then they both made an exploding noise.

At that moment, Jace and the others walked into the Library. "It's time to go," Jace informed them.

Nyah hopped off the table and walked up the stairs with Clary. She was about to follow her out of the Library but Jace stopped her.

"Maybe you should stay here. I'll keep an eye on Clary." Jace was concerned for Nyah's safety even moreso now and couldn't even imagine anything happening to her.

Nyah appreciated the sentiment but she had to go. "If Clary's going, then I'm going. I gotta protect her, whatever it takes. Remember?" She closed her eyes and leaned forward, resting her forehead against his as she whispered, "I'll be fine."

Jace really wished she could have stayed behind but there was nothing he could do about it, so he didn't say another word.


The group headed back to Dorothea's place because she had the deck of tarot cards that Jocelyn painted. The deck that had the Ace of Cups that looked exactly like the Mortal Cup. That had to be where Jocelyn hid it.

After bumping into Simon's friend outside their building, they headed inside. Alec and Izzy went to check things out upstairs where Jace, Clary, and Nyah went on to see Dorothea.

Clary was just about to knock on the door when Dorothea opened it. Upon seeing the girls there, Dorothea said, "Clary, Nyah," in greeting.

"We came for the tarot cards," they answered in unison.

"Why?" Dorothea asked in reply.

"We need them," Nyah answered and Clary went on from there, "You know, the ones that our mom painted. I just need to look at them really quickly and I'll give them back. I promise."

Dorothea turned to Jace and saw how many weapons were on his person. "Those can't come in here. This is a peaceful house." She gestured to the nearby umbrella stand. "Put them in there."

Jace reluctantly pulled out all of his weapons from their obvious and no so obvious locations. Nyah thought it was pretty hot, actually. And it reminded her of a scene from that Pirates of the Caribbean movie where Elizabeth Swann had to surrender all her weapons.

After placing the last weapon inside the holder, they were about to enter but Dorothea stopped them and turned to Nyah. "Your turn."

"I don't have anything on me," she lied.

Dorothea raised her brow in disbelief, making Nyah sigh. She went over to the umbrella holder and pulled out the two smaller daggers she had hidden in the inner pockets of her jacket. "Happy?" Nyah all but sassed.

Dorothea nodded and stepped aside for them to enter.

When they walked into her apartment, Nyah noticed that Dorothea locked the door behind the – something she didn't do the last time they were there. It wasn't really anything but it started to peak Nyah's suspicions.

As Dorothea went to retrieve the tarot cards, Nyah went over to Jace. She didn't say a word but her face told him that she thought something was up. Jace returned the expression and went over to the nearby piano.

Nyah stood behind Clary's chair as Dorothea handed over the cards. Clary looked through the cards one by one as Jace started to play the Bach Demon detection music.

Dorothea was not reacting well to that and tried to get him to stop. "Young man, that piano is out of tune." That didn't stop him from playing. "Please don't."

Nyah could see how the music was affecting Dorothea and that wasn't good. "Hurry up, Clar, and let's get out of here."

Clary was so taken with getting the Cup out of the card that she wasn't even paying any attention to anything else. It was almost as if she was in a trance.

"Clary, let's go," Nyah said firmly to her sister but Clary didn't react to her. Instead, Clary reached into the tarot card and pulled out the Mortal Cup.

The Demon possessing Dorothea was showing it's 'true colors' now. They hissed at Clary before shooting out their hand, "Let's have a look!"

Nyah pulled Clary out of her seat and made sure she was behind her. When the Demon started attacking, Nyah fought back but she was overpowered. The Demon grabbed Nyah by the throat and threw her into the wall with such force that she was rendered unconscious.

By the time Nyah awoke she saw that Alec was injured and Jace and Izzy were unconscious. It took her a second to realize Clary was talking to her. "Wh – what?"

"The Demon is out there with Simon and the Cup!" Clary shouted because they needed to stop this.

"Stay in here," Nyah ordered and quickly got to her feet. She stood in front of the piano that blocked the door and did whatever it took. Nyah's cat-like eyes glowed as she channeled as much of her magic as she could. With a wave of her hand she practically threw the piano aside. Nyah stormed out of the apartment to find Simon tackling the Demon on the stairs. Nyah waved her hand again to get Simon out of the way then used her magic to bring the Cup right into her hand.

Nyah knew the risks of doing what she was about to do but that didn't stop her. Nyah thrust her free hand forward and cried out as red auraed magic glowed around her hand before shooting out of it right at the Demon.

The Demon screamed in agony before dropping to the ground and disintegrating. Simon was too shocked to say or do anything and just looked at Nyah with wide eyes during the whole ordeal.

Nyah's hand dropped as she breathed heavily. It was then that she saw Clary standing in the doorway. "I got the Cup." She smiled and handed it over.

Clary practically threw herself at her sister and hugged her tightly before returning the Cup to the tarot card and going to check on Simon.

Jace was conscious now and went out to see what was going on. The Demon was nowhere in sight and had to assume that Nyah was responsible for this. "Nyah, are you alright?" Jace was very worried because she didn't look well.

"I'm fine," she lied before her legs gave out beneath her.

Jace caught her quickly and eased her onto the floor. "Nyah? Nyah!" he tried to get through to her but she was completely motionless.

Clary and Simon rushed over to her as well. Simon pressed two fingers to Nyah's neck but didn't feel anything. "I can't find a pulse!"

"No...no!" Clary screamed. "Why did you do that!"

Jace didn't understand what was happening. "What did she do?"

Clary held tight onto her sister's hand as she cried. "Nyah told me if she used her magic that it could kill her – really kill her."

Jace didn't understand the magic part but that didn't matter, he couldn't accept that she could be dead. In an effort to save her, he pulled out his Stele to give her a healing Rune again but it wasn't taking. He felt his heart breaking as he looked at her.

Clary clutched onto Simon as she cried over the loss of her sister.

Just when they thought they'd lost Nyah forever, her Gemini Mark started to glow and suddenly she gasped awake. Nyah didn't understand what was happening and was starting to freak out into fight mode.

Jace quickly held onto her, saying, "Nyah, you're alright. You're alright!"

Nyah leaned into Jace as he body trembled even though she just died, she didn't lose her sense of humor, "Dying sucks."

Clary pulled Nyah from Jace and hugged her tight. "Don't you ever scare me like that again!"

"I'll try," Nyah answered, hugging her back. After giving Simon a hug as well, she got to her feet with Jace's help. When she looked around, she realized Alec and Izzy weren't out there with them. "Where are the others?"

Jace was the first to go back into the apartment to find them. The Demon had driven something in the back of Alec's neck and he wasn't responding to anything. Izzy was cradling Alec as she cried, "The Runes...they aren't working."


End Part 4