Chapter 7

Simon jumped up when the door opened. "It's about time you guys came home, I've been waiting all day, literally, it's midnight and I've been here since about 10am."

Magnus turned towards Alec as Isabelle pushed her way inside to give her boyfriend a kiss. "Whose idea was it again of giving the daylighter a key to our home?" Alec's tired gaze rested on the now clean apartment.

"He's our babysitter, and apparently our well deserve maid. You should give him a raise." Alec said, sliding out of his jacket trying not to wake his little blueberry that was cradled in his arm. Little Max was only three.

"What? When have I ever gotten paid? I was volunteered by their aunt." Simon complained.

Isabelle gave him a peck on the cheek "And what a great job you do too. You have natural caring instincts." Simon was just lucky they decided to drop the kids off at the institute to see their grandparents. He needed a day off.

Rafael, the little five year old tugged on Simon's pant leg. "Can I have a cookie?"

"It's too late for a snack. It's time for bed." He said automatically.

Isabelle leaned in for another kiss. "See, you have natural talent." Isabelle then pulled out an animal cracker from her pocket, and looked down at the little boy. "Always know you can come to your auntie, okay?" The little boy snatched the cookie out of her hand.

"Rafael!" Bellowed Alec

"Thank you!" Screeched the boy as he ran giggling down the hallway.

"Rafael, give back the cookie. Damn it Isabelle." Isabelle gave a slight smirk

Magnus placed a hand on Alec's shoulder. "Shh language Alexander. Go sit down, I'll take care of it, he needs a bath anyways."

Simon waited while the room calmed down before continuing. "What happened at the meeting?"

Alec sighed. "We found a survivor, she gave us details on the new demons weaknesses."

Simon looked up. "Do they work?"

"Jace is testing it out now."

Isabelle pressed her lips in a thin line. "He's going to get himself killed."

Alec slouched deeper into the seat. "I think he would prefer a demon slay him than his own people. When he lost Clary, he went on a rampage and the Clave wanted him put down for violating the law. It was a good thing he went on that quest and waited for it all to blow over and they forgot all about him."

"Wouldn't it benefit him to stay low and live like Clary as a mundane?" Simon said.

Alec shook his head. "You're talking about teaching a bear on how to be a squirrel. It's not going to work."

Alec waved for Isabelle to come over as he passed the sleeping baby onto her lap. He got up and grabbed some books off of the shelve, flipping through them at the kitchen counter.

Simon began to pace in the living room. "The necklace that Clary had on this morning, that was the relic?"

Isabelle replied. "Yeah, it holds the soul down, it makes it she won't forget or lose consciousness. It's, I guess, a coping mechanism for magic for mortals. An angel fell in love with a mortal and never wanted to be forgotten. So a necklace was created so they could be together on earth." Are all shadowhunters good at telling stories? Simon wondered. He texted Clary, he knew she was awake, she had work tonight.

~! !~

Clary was in her work car. As a parking lot security guard it was freely given. It was almost midnight and she was bored. She pumped up the music on the black stereo. She flipped through the stations until a popular fast paced song appeared. It was a mix between pop and techno. At first she was tapping her fingers on the steering wheel, but once the chorus came on she was bobbing her head and entertaining herself by dancing.

She drove into Lot Number Two (out of three) and was going up and down the aisles looking for suspicious activity. A bright blue light shined to her right, against the patch of grass at the other side of the lot. Clary hit the gas and went to find the source.

When she got there, there was no light in sight. She shifted the car in neutral and waited. She could have sworn she saw something. There it was again, she saw it from the corner of her eye. The blue light flickered next to the building doors. Clary got out and went to investigate. It really did look like blue lightning. Someone was out after curfew. Clary had one hand on her cell phone as a flashlight, and the other one had her pencil and paper to write out a ticket if needed.

She's never been in this building before. She looked up at the university's chapel. Why would they be going in a church this late at night? She pushed open the door and quietly closed it. She wandered the halls. It was almost hot inside versus the cold fall night. Her footsteps echoed against the tile floor. Dim lights lit up the main room. She peered through the main room to find it empty. She moved onto the next room. This room only had a set of stairs going up. Flickers of light and shadows danced. Someone was moving up. Clary took the spiraling staircase up to the top floor to find it was an abandoned music room.

The room was huge; it held music stands and chairs against the one wall and to the far end was a French door that led outside. It was open, leading out onto a balcony. What caught her eye though wasn't the door. In the center on the room was a grand piano made out of what looked like emerald stone. She stared at the beauty of it. It was trimmed in gold. The carvings on the outside were very delicate and precise. She's never seen anything like it before.

Voices from the open doorway made her jump. She wasn't quite sure if she should still intervene. It would be so much easier if she left now. It felt like she was the one trespassing. She froze, it was too late, and knowing there was no place to hide she stood still as the two figures ambled inside. Her hand clenched at the pencil but she kept her head up.

The first guy she saw was Jace, he was dressed all in black, and currently shoving a small glowing thing into his pocket. The second guy was shirtless but was covered in silver scales and- were those wings? Clary blinked rapidly, still trying to adjust her eyes. She blinked again and the scales were gone. It was him that recognized her presents first.

"Clary, what are you doing here?" said Brock. She felt confused. Was she dreaming? It felt real. He smelled the same, he was about the same height. It was still weird seeing him without his baggy sweatshirt that he wears at school. "Are you okay, you look flushed." Brock looked over at Jace who was trailing behind slowly. Jace ignored her as he sat at the piano, studying it closely.

"I'm working." She heard herself say. "I thought you guys were trespassing, I was going to write you up."

Brock laughed. "Well technically we are I suppose." He looked back over at Jace. "You are a poor Shadowhunter. You got caught by a mundane."

"She's not a mundane." She heard Jace mutter. "Come over here." He said back to Brock.

Clary didn't know what to do. She wasn't going to write up her friends. She had no idea what they were talking about. Jace seemed so cold, he didn't even say 'hi'. She moved closer to him.

"What's a mundane?" She said trying to get in on their conversation. Both of them ignored her.

Jace pointed to the side of the piano. "Over here is Chinese script, early 1920's. But this over here is New Mongolian. It doesn't really make much sense." He dragged his finger along the inside of the keyboard lid, careful not to touch the keys.

Brock shrugged. "What does it say?"

"Nonsense about how a song can guide you home."

"Like a portal?"

Clary looked at them skeptically. "Or like breadcrumbs." Clary said looking at them strangely. "I don't think portals really exists."

Jace stiffened. "She has a point about the breadcrumbs. We're going to need help if we end up getting flocked by a ton of them. What exactly do you know about this Brockerson?"

"I told you, I found it and brought you here. I did what I could. It won't work for me because it clashes with my magic. However there might be another person in this room that it might work for…"

Clary looked between the two guys getting bored with their nerd talk. Magic? Must be a D&D trait. Jace's voice was cocky. "Have a little faith in me. It's not the right time. The Instruction says during a full moon, which we have three days until that happens."

"There are instructions?" Brock said.

"No, but it's something Alec would say." Jace closed the piano carefully. " Clary, I think this is the longest time I've seen you not play on your phone."

She looked down, she was still gripping it tightly. "I didn't realize I had it." Instantly she checked the time, a light was blinking saying she had a text message but she ignored it. Her shift was almost up. "I have to go. "

"We're all leaving." Brock said.

She waited for them at the door as the boys talked quietly among themselves. Brock ushered her out the door and down the stairs. "What about Jace?"Clary said, more anxious than concerned.

"He'll be down in a second Duchess." He reassured her. Jace was kind of scary when he wasn't smiling. Did he always have all of those tattoos? Maybe they were fake as part of their game. Clary stumbled down the steps in the dark.

A light flared behind her. "Oh thanks." She said to Brock who was behind her.

She looked back to see he held a fireball in his hand and she screamed.

~! !~

Simon was still pacing the floor, back and forth. Isabelle was lounging on the couch with Max. Alec was researching something in a ancient book while Magnus was sipping on hot cocoa in his bathrobe. The cookie monster fast asleep.

"It bit me!" Simon said finishing up his story of why he was lingering around all day. He held out his hand as proof but they bite marks were hardly visible.

Isabelle was not impressed and laughed at him. "Oh Simon, don't be such a baby. You're fine."

Simon frowned. "Well, I'm pretty sure I'm not going to turn into a little troll thing, but it's in Clary's house!"

Magnus rolled his eyes. "It's only a matter of time before she finds out, the necklace won't sugar coat anything so the glamours will wear off the longer she wears it. When she finds out that it's in her house, she'll call us. If worse comes to worse, it's a form of Raido Dingo and it's stealing her stuff. But it sounds like it's bringing things into her house. There's nothing to worry about. I made sure myself that her place is secure."

RING RING. Simon pulled out his cell phone. It was Clary.

Simon swiped his thumb over the green talk sign "Hello?"

"Simon! There's a dragon chasing me! It ate Brock, the guy in my art class." She was talking so loud that Simon had to pull the phone away from his ear.

"Where are you?"

"At school. I stabbed it in the paw with my pencil. Jesus, Simon I lost my keys."

Typical. Simon thought. "Can you make it to the train station? I'm on my way."

"I think so, Hurry."

Everyone stared at Simon. With their sensitive hearing they all heard their conversation. Simon went to Alec first. "I need to borrow your bow."

"You can but the dragon isn't your problem. That's the wizard's true form. I prefer if you don't attack our guest of honor. It's the demons you'll need to watch out for." Alec said simply.

Isabelle was behind him. "I'll come too."