Chapter 14

Simon finally woke up. It took a while for his eyes to focus, but when they did, he realized that he was on the couch of Jordan's apartment. He sat up, his head swimming as he did so.

"Ugh."

"How are you feeling?" a voice asked from behind him.

Simon turned around and gazed blearily at Jordan, who was eating a bagel.

"Like crap." Simon answered. "Ugh, my head hurts."

"It's called a hangover, dude." Jordan said knowingly. "You were wasted."

Simon's cell phone buzzed on the counter. He moved to get it, but Jordan was already there, picking it up and answering. "Hello?"

Simon could have listened to whoever was on the other end, but he didn't feel like it.

"No, I don't think so." Jordan said into the phone. "He's way too hung-over."

"Give me that!" Simon exclaimed. Jordan, who was not helping the situation, continued to withhold the cell phone from Simon. "Please." Simon added.

Jordan finally relented, and gave Simon the phone. "Umm… hi."

"Let me get this straight." Simon recognized Isabelle's voice right away. "You can't attend an important meeting about how to save your sister because you're too hung-over to come?"

"I'm not hung-over." Simon lied. If this wasn't the definition of a hangover, he didn't know what could be. His head was pounding as he spoke, and he was beginning to feel a bit nauseous.

Isabelle, predictably, ignored him. She had already started her rant. "Last night, you agreed to be my date to Magnus's party, and what did you do? You went straight to the bar to get wasted, and I had to hang out with Clary, who was dateless because her boyfriend had been kidnapped, and now, after all that's happened you can't even come to a meeting about how to fix it because you're too hung-over."

"Well, I'm not that hung-over." Simon amended. "And besides, Jordan was the one who said I couldn't come, not me."

Isabelle sighed. "Just be there, okay?"

She hung up before Simon could answer. He glared at Jordan, who was still chewing his bagel. "Seriously?" he said.

"Whah?" Jordan tried to talk around his breakfast. Now that Simon thought about it, this guy seemed to always be eating something.

"Why did you do that?" Simon asked incredulously. "Really, that was a dick move."

"Okay, I'm sorry." said Jordan, serious now. "Maybe I could have phrased that differently…"

"You could have—" what had previously been annoyance turned to anger. "Do you know what my life has been like lately? My sister's gone and my mom disowned me. And now my girlfriend's mad at me. Might as well add something else to the list. God, Jordan, you've got to stop meddling in my life all the time. "

He waited for a reaction from Jordan, but all Jordan did was just stare at him.

"What?" Simon asked, desperate to fill the awkward silence that had followed his tirade.

"Sometimes I wonder whether you're a real vampire." the werewolf stated.

"What do you mean?" Simon was beginning to feel uncomfortable under Jordan's scrutiny.

"Think about it." Jordan had moved to sit across from Simon. "You walk in the daylight. Yesterday, you just waltzed into the Institute, holy ground, like it was nothing. And just now the word "God" just slipped off of your tongue."

"So…" Simon trailed off.

"So, most vampires can't do those last couple of things, unless they don't believe in God, which I know you do."

"So…"

"So, what's your deal?"

"Well," said Simon. "Clary said that if I believed I wasn't damned, then I wouldn't be. So I tried it." he didn't feel like giving any more information than that. While Jordan nodded thoughtfully, he got up and started to make his way to his bedroom.

"Where are you going?" asked Jordan.

"Getting dressed." said Simon "I have a meeting to attend."

"I'm sorry for what I did earlier." said Jordan.

" 'Sokay." Simon muttered.

He disappeared into the bedroom and closed the door. In five minutes, he'd already thrown on something and was walking out the door. Jordan stuffed the rest of his bagel into his mouth and followed Simon.


" I am very disappointed in your actions last night." Maryse said.

The teenage Shadowhunters, Jocelyn, Luke and Maryse were all in the library. Maryse stood in the front, giving her parental lecture, something that was usually reserved for Isabelle.

"I would expect this from Jace, Clary or Isabelle," she went on. "But not from you, Alexander."

Clary knew that it was probably killing Alec to be reprimanded like this. But instead of apologizing, he just sat with his arms crossed, looking his mother right in the eye.

"And you two," she turned her attention to Jocelyn and Luke. "Condoned it all."

"If we hadn't, we wouldn't have been able to find a way to contact your son." Luke protested.

"Yeah, we had to go!" Isabelle chimed in.

"It's not that you went to the party, it's that you lied to us." Maryse said.

Clary could practically see Jace rolling his eyes and smirking at this moment. She peered into the back of her mind to see what he was up to.

Jace wandered around the castle. Now that Sebastian had given him freedom to roam the place, he'd probably figured that he should look around a bit. Clary trailed behind him, and once again, he didn't seem to notice her presence. The only light in the hallway was a trail of candles, which unnerved her.

Jace came to a wooden door at the end of the corridor. It was jammed shut, so he had to push on it a little bit in order to enter. A winding stare case greeted him, and it seemed to take him forever to make it to the top. When he got there, he opened the door, and electrical light streamed in.

Now, it looked like a regular house, minus the windows. It was still huge, with old wooden floor and dark green walls. There were so many hallways; it looked like a maze. Multiple chandeliers hung from above.

He came to a bedroom, which was large and spacious, and opened the closet. To Clary's surprise, it was actually filled with clothing. She noticed that he was still wearing the same tattered tuxedo from yesterday. He picked out a shirt, took off his jacket, and started to unbutton the shirt he'd been wearing….

"CLARY!"

Someone was clapping in front of Clary's face. Crap, she thought. She'd been just getting to the good part. She blinked and looked up at Isabelle, who had a look of annoyance on her face.

"Are you okay?" Luke asked with concern.

"Yeah." Clary said. "Why?"

"You were zoned out for about ten minutes." Alec said.

Clary looked around. It seemed like Maryse had been replaced by Magnus, who was gazing at Clary with an expression of cool amusement. Had it really been that long? It hadn't felt like it.

"Oh." She said. "Um, I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it, dear." Magnus reassured. "It was probably for your own good. If you'd been fully present, you would have had to endure the entirety of Maryse's rant."

She heard someone chuckle softly behind her. It took a moment for Clary to recognize the girl as Tessa, the warlock who'd performed the mind-binding spell on her last night.

"Whoa. When did you get here?" Clary asked.

"About five minutes ago," Tessa said.

"We're holding a meeting to discuss our plan for how to save Jace and Simon's sister." Luke said. "Speaking of Simon, where is he? He should have been here by now…"

"He's probably too hung-over." Isabelle muttered bitterly.

"Give it a rest already, Isabelle." Alec told his sister.

The doorbell rang and the sound reverberated through the institute.

"I'll get it." Alec said.

Luke and Clary followed him, and the door opened to reveal Simon and Jordan.

"You look like hell." Luke told Simon after he'd stepped inside.

Alec raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

Clary peered at her best friend. He did look disheveled, with rumpled clothes and un-brushed hair. The stark-white complexion of his skin made the dark circles under his eyes and the veins in his arms stand out.

"Thank you." he said.

"Simon," Alec said cautiously. "When was the last time you…ate?"

"Umm…" Simon trailed off.

"Simon!" Jordan exclaimed. Clary had forgotten about him. "We talked about this. Remember what happened with Maureen?"

"Sorry, mom." Simon said to his friend. His bitter expression was uncharacteristic of him. He followed Clary, Alec and Luke to the library and threw himself onto a chair with unnecessary force.

Someone's got a bad attitude. Clary thought.

"Listen up," Everyone had moved to a long table in the vast room, and Magnus sat at the head. "While Clary was asleep and some of you were absent, we formulated a plan. Most of which involves Tessa Gray."

Tessa gave a small smile and nodded at the rest of the group.

"Would you like to explain who you are, Tessa?" Magnus asked.

"Um, sure." said the youthful-looking warlock. "Well, I'm from New York. I was born in 1862…"

Seeing Simon's eyes widen, Magnus said, "Trust me, I was born way before that." Seeing Tessa's glare, he added. "Sorry, Tessa. Do continue."

"I came to the London Institute when I was sixteen and married Will Herondale after a while. We had children, and many, many years later I ended up here."

"Thank you," said Magnus. "for that extremely abbreviated summary of your life."

"Isn't Jace's real last name Herondale?" asked Simon, who was probably putting the pieces together in his mind.

"Yes." Clary answered.

"So you're like, Jace's great-great-great grandmother?" Simon asked Tessa.

"Something like that, yes." Tessa answered.

A long silence followed. Wait a second… seriously? Jace's voice crept into Clary's mind. She didn't realize that he'd been listening. It still kind of bothered her that they could at any time enter each other's private life. As much as she loved Jace, she wanted some of her thoughts and situations to remain secret.

Gazing at Tessa, Clary failed to see any resemblance between her and Jace. She knew it had been several generations, but it was hard to believe that this brunette, seemingly reserved person could be related to Jace, the fearless golden boy with a devil-may-care attitude.

"So…" Magnus tried to relieve the awkwardness. "On with the plan. Clary, you will create a portal to wherever Jace is staying, and—"

"Wait a second." interrupted Clary. "Why do I have to make the portal? Of course I care about saving Jace, but I've only made a portal once, and that ended in disaster. Why don't you do it?"

"Because," said Magnus. "In order to make a portal to somewhere, you must first know what the place looks like. I have no idea where Sebastian is keeping Jace, but now that you and Jace are connected, you will be able to look at the place through Jace's eyes. Ask him to go somewhere remote in the castle, where not a lot of people go, so the portal can go unnoticed."

"Oh."

Clary felt a bit nervous. What if she messed it up? She wasn't a warlock.

"Wait a second." Alec said. He'd been quite this whole time. "Shouldn't Clary draw a map or something?"

Everyone looked at him quizzically.

Alec rushed to explain himself. "Well, Sebastian must have a blueprint or something. And if he doesn't, Jace probably knows his way around by now, knowing him. So if Clary can read Jace's mind, maybe she can draw a map of the place. Then, once we go in, we'll know our way around, and we won't be stumbling around blindly. We'll be quicker to find Jace and Rebecca, and we'll be able to steer clear of Sebastian and whatever demons might be wandering around in there."

Magnus broke into a grin. He couldn't seem to help himself. "Brilliant plan, Alec!" he exclaimed, patting his former boyfriend on the back. Alec blushed. "Though, we won't be the ones going in there."

"Why not?" Alec looked indignant. Of course he'd want to help save his parabatai.

"Because." Magnus said. "Tessa has a rare ability that must take advantage of."

"What?" chimed three or four people at once.

"She can shape-shift."

All eyes immediately went to Tessa, whose cheeks turned pink. "Here's where I come in. I will change into Jace and impersonate him while Jace and Rebecca make their escape. You will leave the portal open so I, after hearing the majority of Sebastian's plan, can leave a few hours later."

"Impersonate him?" Clary interjected. "How will you be able to do that when you don't even know his personality, memories or interests?"

Tessa sighed. Clary could tell that she didn't really want to get into that much detail now. Clary almost felt bad for asking the question.

"Just trust me, okay?" said Tessa.

At that moment, Clary did.


After the meeting was over, Magnus and Tessa decided to meet up at the Moonlight's Den, a mundane pub. On their way out of the institute, Magnus noticed Alec lagging behind, apparently reading up on Pandemonium. His thin fingers sifted through the pages of the giant book, his brow furrowing as he read.

Alec looked the way he always did: endearingly disheveled black hair, piercing blue eyes and delicate features. But while his parabatai was aware of his beauty and flaunted it, Alec seemed completely oblivious to the effect he had on people.

"I see." Tessa said as she and Magnus were walking to the pub.

Tessa visited Magnus about every three years, staying for no more than two days in his flat. They'd catch up on each other's lives, rent a movie and chat as if they'd just talked yesterday. He remembered when he'd met her more than a century ago in London. She'd still maintained her intelligent, wary personality, but now there was age behind her eyes. Magnus enjoyed her visits, though they were infrequent.

"What?" asked Magnus. "What do you mean?"

"You love him." Tessa said matter-of-factly.

Magnus tried to play dumb. "Love him? Who? I don't love anyone—besides you of course; you're a sweetheart. But other than that, I refuse to be tied down!"

"I see the way you look at him. You can't fool me."

They walked in silence until they reached the restaurant. When they got there, Magnus scored them a seat by the window. The sun was beginning to set now, and it was wonderful to watch by the warmth of the fire. The pub had a fancy antiquity to it that he loved, and it always smelled like pinecones, with hints of cinnamon and red wine. The combination of the polished wooden floors with crown molding to match, beige walls and the fire place gave the whole place a warm feeling—Magnus needed a little bit of warmth now and then.

"Alec Lightwood." Tessa said. "I never thought a Lightwood would have black hair and blue eyes—especially after Gabriel hated Will so."

And just like that, Tessa began reminiscing about Will Herondale—his blue eyes and black hair, his rude, witty, flippant exterior hiding something deep, charismatic, but broken. Her eyes became distant as she reflected upon her life during the Victorian era, when Will was young, vibrant and alive.

"Where are you living?" Magnus asked Tessa after a few minutes of listening to her. "I haven't seen you in years. Maybe I can come and visit you."

"Nowhere." Tessa said. "Not anywhere permanent. Lately, we've just been going from place to place, Jem and I."

Jem. The name took him all the way back to the London Institute. Jem was Will's other, better half, his parabatai. He remembered a thin frail boy with eyes and hair like an untarnished shilling. His sickness—his addiction to the demon drug yin fen—failed to mar his beauty. He'd sit there playing his violin, beautiful music filling the room. But when the sickness had become too much for him, he'd become a Silent brother—Brother Zachariah.

"He left the brotherhood?" Magnus was astonished. "But the addiction—how did he cure himself?"

"That's the problem." Tessa replied. "He won't tell me. I've been trying to get it out of him for weeks. I try not to let it bother me."

"Hmm." What could Jem be hiding? Magnus decided to change the subject. "Where is he now?"

"He's in Los Angeles, visiting a great relative of his—Emma, I think."

Their drinks arrived; Tessa had ordered a beer and took a swig. Magnus had never been one for beer; it was too heavy, weighed him down, and most importantly, he'd heard that it could make you fat.

"Oh." Magnus sipped his Riesling. Such a classy drink, he thought. "When can I see him? I missed that guy."

"He'll be here soon. He dropped everything as soon as he heard about Jace. You know he has a soft spot for the Herondales."

Magnus was glad that Tessa had finally found someone else to love. But he kept going back to the memory of himself holding her shaking body as she'd cried about Will and how his life had slipped through her fingers. It had gone by much too quickly, Magnus thought now. He remembered the witty boy, the one who'd introduced the prospect of downworlders and Shadowhunters as friends. But before he'd known it, he was hearing news about Will's death; the only evidence of Will's youth had been the striking blue color of his eyes, that beautiful light that had never died, not even after Will's heart had stopped.

In eighty years, when Jem was finally gone, Tessa would have to endure the same grief. And no matter how much Magnus wanted to shield her from it, that was the life of a warlock.