After an hour of scanning books, Jace had left Isabelle to search on her own for a while. Never before had she appreciated the full size of the library with all its masses of books. If only she knew where to look…

Her eye was caught by a heavy, ancient looking book. Its cover was red, the color for Shadowhunter ceremonies. Deciding it was as good of a chance as any, she pulled it off the shelf and heaved it onto Hodge's desk and began paging through it.

The sheer number of ceremonies outlined in the book amazed her. Some she'd never even heard of. Instead of quickly scanning the text like she'd planned, she found herself reading each page and itching to try each ruin the ceremonies called for. She was reading about the Ascension ceremony when Jace returned.

She glanced up when she heard his footsteps approach the desk where she sat. In his hands he was holding what looked like a shard of glass.

"What's that?" Isabelle asked.

He glanced down at the object in his hand and then held it out for inspection. It looked like a piece of a picture, showing a landscape of grass and trees.

"Is that a piece of that Portal?"

Jace nodded. "I kept it. I keep thinking maybe I'll see my father in the reflection. Figure out what he's up to. But he's not in Idris anymore."

"Have you tried tracking him?" Isabelle asked, handing the piece of Portal back to him and returning her gaze to the book.

"Magnus has been looking," Jace answered. "He has my ring to help him." He flexed his hand briefly. "Have you found anything?"

Before Isabelle could answer, the sound of the Institute's doorbell rang through the air.

"It's three in the morning!" Isabelle cried in surprise, glancing at the clock. "Who's ringing our doorbell at three in the morning?"

"Maybe it's Magnus," Jace suggested.

"At three in the morning?" Isabelle asked.

Jace slipped the piece of glass into his pocket. "We should go look."

In the hall, they ran into a confused looking Clary. "What was that noise?" she asked them.

"The Institute's doorbell."

Clary paled. "Could it be the Inquisitor? Are they really still looking for clues?"

Jace shook his head. "The Inquisitor has her own way to get in. Any Shadowhunter could. The Institute is closed only to mundanes and Downworlders."

"Simon!" Clary cried. "It must be him!"

Isabelle yawned and wrapped her robe tighter around herself. "Oh for goodness' sake, is he really waking us up at this ungodly hour just to prove his love to you or something? Couldn't he have called? Mundane men are such twits."

Clary turned away from her and moved towards the foyer. If that was Simon, then why hadn't he called first? He wasn't really one to be this melodramatic. Then it occurred to her that he could be in trouble and she broke into a run.

"Running won't make the elevator come any faster," Isabelle commented, coming to a halt next to Clary in front of the elevator doors.

The elevator doors opened and immediately Clary stepped inside. Isabelle shot her a puzzled look. "It won't take all of us to answer the door."

Remembering Jaci's request, Jace wordlessly stepped into the elevator. Whoever it was at the door, they could be dangerous and Clary would be no match for a surprise attack. With a sigh, Isabelle followed Jace into the elevator.

To Clary, the ride down seemed to take longer than usual. Her heart was pounding; the thought of Simon in trouble was stuck in her mind. The instant the doors began to open, Clary forced her way through the gap and ran to the heavy double doors. She seized the bolt and heaved it back as the bell tolled again.

Jaci probably would've made some literary reference.

And it would've been terrifyingly accurate, Clary realized as she – with Jace's help – pulled the doors open. On the steps to the Institute stood Raphael, his head bowed over the burden he carried in his arms. Clary stared in fascination as a drop of some dark liquid dripped from what Raphael held. Blood.

Simon's blood.


"Green?" I stared at the clothing handed to me. It was similar to Shadowhunter gear except with a distinctly Fair Folk twist. For one, it was green. For another, it was designed to look sort of natural with an overriding leaf theme. And instead of a jacket, I was pretty sure the big wad of fabric was actually a cloak.

Caelia nodded. "You are the Shadowhunter who represents the interests of the Fey. This is what the Queen wants you to wear."

"Does she realize that I'm going to need more than just this one outfit?" I asked. "And when can I sleep? What time is it?"

Caelia was the picture book version of a faerie. She had brilliantly blond hair that fell to her waist, pearly skin, and four delicate, transparent wings sprouting from her back. She was beautiful and slight with disconcerting black eyes. And by black I mean solidly black. "The Queen is aware of your needs," she said in a flat voice. "You may sleep when you grow tired. Which time are you asking for?"

Um…? "The time of day."

"Time moves differently in the Seelie Court than outside of it. I will leave you now. We will start when you wake." And with a flutter of wings, Caelia was gone.

I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket. Miraculously, it still worked despite its trip into the pond. Maybe it was some weird faerie mojo or something of that sort. According to my phone, it was almost three in the morning. Remembering Caelia's comment about differing times, I stared at the digital display and waited for the time to change. But then I remembered that I'd never been good at estimating periods of time anyways. I opened my phone's stopwatch and started it.

I counted five Mississippis before one second passed. So. Time moved five times faster in the Seelie Court. Marvelous.

My next test was to see if I could contact anyone but the message I tried to send to Jace refused to go through. The little electronic device beeped at me and then died. Of course.

Without anything better to do, I crawled into bed. I was exhausted to my very bones. I'd been awake for hours, listening to the Queen tell me about Light magic and trying to think of a way to get out.

But you can't trick faeries. You can't escape from them. They're too smart for that. My only chance was with Jace, Izzy, Clary, and Simon. Or maybe hell would freeze over and the Queen would willingly let me go.

Valentine was still out there. He'd killed a child of the Fair Folk and next he needed a vampire and a werewolf. He needed to be stopped before it was too late.

My head was spinning and I forced my eyes shut but I was too tired to fall asleep. In my mind, I kept seeing shadowy figures, just out of my line of vision. If time moved five times faster for me in the Seelie Court then that would have to mean I'd only been missing for a few hours – three at the most – instead of the entire night. The Inquisitor wouldn't even know I was gone. Did Magnus know yet?

And what would happen once the Inquisitor found out? Oh, she'd be furious, no doubt. But who would she be most upset with? Would it be me for leaving? Or Magnus for letting me go? Or the Fair Folk for keeping me captive? Well, the Inquisitor had been keeping me captive so I figured she'd probably be least upset with whoever was presently holding me prisoner. Not to mention that I literally couldn't escape.

I rolled onto my side and faced the wall. No one would be wandering in in the middle of the night to check and see if I'm having trouble sleeping. That fact made me feel hopelessly isolated. But worst was knowing about not knowing. I had no way to know what was happening to my friends, what was going on in the outside world.

For the second time in a very short timeframe, I was essentially exiled from the Shadowhunter world.

The quiet, steady hum of the earth filled my ears. I couldn't understand why I was so calm. My greatest fears were faeries and being underground and yet here, in the midst of both, I was almost comfortable. There was something about being surrounded by the earth that was comforting. I didn't feel exposed here. And Jace had made the Queen promise that I wouldn't be harmed. In any way. That promise couldn't be broken.

What was it about the Fair Folk that made it impossible for them to lie? And if I had active faerie blood in me, than shouldn't it have logically been impossible for me to lie? But I could. Maybe the honesty thing was a trait that was passed down directly and didn't really have much to do with the actual magical powers thing.

I sighed. My future inability to lie wasn't what mattered at the moment. What mattered was for me to sleep so I could think of a way out. What I needed was an ally among the Fey.

And then I realized, I had one.


Clary screamed.

"Don't look," Jace said, trying to pull her back inside the Institute and to where she couldn't see. "For God's sake, don't look."

Isabelle leaped into action and seized the nearest thing she could use as a weapon; a candelabra. "What have you done to Simon?" she hissed, brandishing the candelabra at Raphael.

The vampire stooped and laid the limp body that had once been Simon on the top step of the Institute, just outside the door. "El no es muerto."

"Speak English!" Clary snapped even though she knew exactly what he'd said. She couldn't handle anyone acting melodramatic. "He's not dead," she repeated to herself as she dropped to her knees and crawled over to Simon's too-still form. She cradled his head in her lap but he didn't respond to being moved. Using the sleeve of Jaci's shirt, she wiped some of the blood of off his face, trying not to stare at the torn flesh of his throat. No one could survive that, a small voice in the back of her head said.

She ignored it.

"Simon. Simon, it's me." She gently moved his hair back from his forehead.

"He can't hear you," Raphael said. "He's dying."

Clary didn't respond. If she answered Raphael, it would mean he had actually spoken which would give the words a terrible truth she couldn't handle.

"We should take him to the infirmary," Isabelle said, moving closer to Clary. "Then we can call Magnus."

"That won't do him any good," the vampire said. "You don't understand."

Jace stepped forward threateningly. "Then you'd better explain because otherwise I'm going to assume you're a rogue bloodsucker, and cut your heart out. Like I should've the last time we met."

"You swore not to harm me, Shadowhunter. Have you forgotten?"

Isabelle waved her candelabra. "I didn't."

Raphael turned his attention to Clary. "I remembered that night you brok into the Dumort looking for your friend. It is why I brought him here when I found him in the hotel, instead of letting the others drink him to death. You see, he broke in, without permission, and therefore was fair game for us. But I kept him alive, knowing he was yours. I have no wish for a war with the Nephilim."

Clary froze. "He broke in? Simon would never do anything that stupid and crazy."

Raphael sounded resigned and almost… remorseful when he spoke. "But he did because he was afraid he was becoming one of us, and he wanted to know if the process could be reversed. You might remember that when he was in the form of a rat, and you came to fetch him from us, he had bitten a member of our coven."

Clary felt her blood run cold. Now that Raphael brought it up, she could remember – vaguely – the conversation. "So what?" she demanded, trying to keep back the tears that were threatening.

"In any case," Raphael continued, "he took some vampire blood into his mouth when he did it. You know that is how we pass our powers to each other. Through the blood."

Suddenly, all the small signs of Simon acting differently made sense to Clary. "He thought he was turning into one of you. He went to the hotel to see if it was true."

The vampire nodded. "The pity of it is that the effects of the blood would probably have faded over time had he done nothing. But now…"

"Now what?" Isabelle demanded. Her dark eyes held Raphael's.

"Now he will die and rise again. Now he will be a vampire."


Something was wrong.

Or maybe just different.

I noticed it the moment I woke up. I had no way of knowing how long I'd been asleep but it felt as though during that time the world had shifted. Trying to shake off the feeling, I slowly crawled out of bed. Sitting in the middle of the room, next to the pile of odd, green Shadowhunter gear, was a new, neatly folded stack of clothing.

Changing definitely seemed like the best course of action, given the muddy/damp state of my clothing. The strange faerie clothes were exactly my size, I noted. And green. Well, the shirt was green with three-quarter length sleeves and the pants were brown capris. Not my usual look but at least the outfit was clean.

The moment I was changed, the curtain to the room was pulled open and Caelia appeared, dressed similarly.

"Good morning," I said, trying to be pleasant.

"We are going to begin," she answered and ducked back out of the room.

Catching the hint that she didn't exactly want to chat, I followed her. Part of me questioned the fact that no one was trying to keep this underground city secret from me. In fact, Caelia was pointing out where different places were located, telling me to memorize my way around so that she wouldn't have to babysit me anymore.

"Whenever you are awake," she said, "you will train."

"And when do I eat?" I felt my skin turn cold. "Eating something won't trap me here forever, will it?"

Caelia glanced over her shoulder at me. Her gaze was filtered through her clear wings. "If you were any other Shadowhunter, yes. But you are the Queen's elect. No Fey food will harm you or ensnare you."

I had to admit, that was a huge relief.

"So, when do I eat? Or shower?" I glanced around the corridor we were moving down. "Is there a bathroom anywhere nearby? Or how about a phone charger?"

Caelia giggled. "You ask so many questions. Can't you just trust?"

I was still trying to accept the fact that she had actually, genuinely giggled. "Nope."

"The Queen has given orders that your every need should be provided for. I will show you where you can bathe after we train today," she assured me. Then she smiled again.

Weird.

She was actually acting friendly.

"I'm part human," she announced at random. "That's why the Queen selected me to train you."

I nodded, not knowing what to say to that.

"Here." She turned sharply to the right into a partially hidden cavern. "This is where we will train."

During my extended stay at the Institute, I'd only been up to the training room maybe twice but I was able to see a plethora of similarities between there and here. There were different targets and elements set up around the large space and the entire far wall was covered in weapons. Heavy, oak beams crisscrossed the high ceiling and I could see what looked like safety harnesses up there.

"First, you warm up and stretch." Caelia crossed the room and picked up a sword. "Then, we practice. Then, once you are strong enough, I will teach you magic."


I sighed heavily as I gingerly lowered myself into the steaming water. Everything in the room smelled like rose petals and I would have probably enjoyed the bath if it weren't for the fact that every inch of my body ached. And even after hours of exercise, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. Well, something besides the obvious being-stuck-with-faeries wrong.

Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and dunked myself. The water was so warm, it felt uncomfortable on my eyelids and my skin felt as though I were in the middle of a full body acupuncture.

My everything hurt. And, according to Caelia, I wasn't done with training for the day yet. I groaned at the thought. A wave of panic suddenly washed over me and I had a terrible feeling that I was running out of time. Feeling panicky, I finished my bath quickly and got dressed. Something was going on and I wanted to know what.

Fully clothed – this time in a simple green dress – I ventured into the corridor, fighting the urge to run. Maybe I'd just been holding back my fear of the place and it was finally threatening to overwhelm me. But somehow, I doubted it.

It struck me as odd that the court would be so deserted. I'd only seen Caelia, the Queen, a handful of knights, and the occasional elf or sprite running around. Where were all the Fey? Did they only convene at certain times?

And thinking of Caelia, I turned a corner and ran straight into her.

"Watch where you're going," she snapped, needlessly brushing herself off.

I glared at her. She was the reason everything hurt. She had kept giving me drills while she had spent the time lounging on one of the rafters.

She glared right back. "The Queen will teach you to be courteous."

"Fantastic," I said sarcastically. "Now, will you tell me what's going on? Something's happened, I know it."

Caelia's mouth twitched slightly. "So," she said slowly, "my Lady was right."

Um, what? "About what?"

"You," she answered simply. "Come on, there's someone here to see you."