'Maybe it's better like this,' Alec's father said when he was finished explaining everything, including Magnus' transformation.
'What is better?' Alec asked.
'That the warlock is transformed into a cat now,' his father said, 'Surely, we'll be able to reverse it, but in the mean time... Surely you'll realise that he's not what you want.'
'What?' Alec asked, shocked that his father could suggest something like that. It had taken him long enough to convince himself that he wanted Magnus, and not Jace, so now he was sure of it. He had even started worrying about his mortality, since Magnus was immortal, so much did he want Magnus.
'I mean that apart from him, you'll realise you can't love him. I don't know what he did to you, but shadowhunters don't love people from the same gender, that doesn't happen,' his father said.
Alec somehow had the idea his father was lying. Alec had always been good at reading people, and he knew his father was lying.
'That's not true,' Alec said, 'You know that as much as I do.'
'Even if you're right, and it does happen,' his father said, 'That doesn't mean it's right. It's wrong. I know that, the Clave knows that. Maybe your mother and your sister won't accept that as the truth, but I do. I still have hope for you, though. I think you'll realise you don't love the warlock, and you'll find some shadowhunter girl to love.'
Alec didn't know anything anymore to say back, and he didn't. He just sank to the ground, fighting tears. He wouldn't cry in front of his father, he wouldn't, but it was too hard. Had his father no idea what it felt like? His boyfriend had been cursed, turned into a cat, and they still had no idea what to do about it. What was he supposed to do? Just stand and feel nothing at all? Wasn't that exactly what Jace taught them? What Clary taught them? That to love, to care, was something that made you strong? Alec could no longer hold back his tears.
'Don't you see?' his father asked, 'Loving this warlock, or thinking you do, made you weak. A shadowhunter wouldn't just collapse crying like you're doing right now.'

Isabelle walked into the library, mostly to see her father after months of not seeing him. She wasn't particularly happy to see him, since he had just left, it seemd like he didn't care about them at all. That he didn't care much about their mother, she knew. She knew he had cheated on her before Max was born, that he stayed only because of Max. Now Max was gone, he didn't stay with them anymore, he had just abandoned them. When she heard her father shouting at Alec, she was suddenly angry, extremely angry.
'Father! How can you do this?' she shouted at him, 'First you leave us, as if you don't care at all, and now you suddenly blame Alec for loving a man? What do you care? I know you don't care about mom anymore, I know you cheated on her, and you stayed because of Max, and now that he's dead, you don't have to stay anymore! So if you don't care about us anymore, just leave, but don't hurt Alec!'
Her father turned towards her now, he seemed angry as well, but she didn't care, not really. She cared about Alec, who sat against the wall, crying. Who could blame him? He was hurt, and Alec had never been good at holding things together when he was hurt. He either turned cold and cruel, or he just broke down. Alec looked up now, though, at her.
'Isabelle, behave yourself!' her father said, angrily, but he also seemed shocked. Simon and Clary had told her that it was normal for mundane teenagers to shout at your parents, now and then, but for shadowhunters, it wasn't normal.
'No, you behave yourself!' she screamed, 'All you care about is hurting people, and if people are good enough to you or not. You don't care about us at all, only you're afraid that people judge you because your son is gay. Maybe it would to just accept it. Alec isn't going to change, nor should he!'
Jace walked in next, and looked confused mostly. 'What is going on here?'
He saw Alec then, and walked towards him. 'Stay out of this, Jace,' her father said, 'And take Isabelle with you.'
'Alright,' Jace said, and he took Alec's hand, and Alec walked with Jace. Her father looked at them like Alec wasn't supposed to leave, but she didn't care what her father thought. Alec needed her and Jace right now.
'It's alright, Alec,' Jace said, 'I don't what happened, but it's alright. Sawyer is going to turn Magnus back as soon as possible, and then everything will be alright.'
'I'm tired,' Alec said, 'Can I sleep? For a while?'
'Yes, of course you can,' Isabelle said, 'Now I'm going to find Sawyer and Clary, see if they need help, with all those animals.'
Isabelle found them in the dinner room, at the table. Magnus was there too, asleep on blanket. It was so weird, unnatural, to see him as a cat.
'I just had a thought,' Isabelle said, 'Have you ever heard of the fairytale about the Princess and the Frog?'
Sawyer shook her head, and Clary nodded. 'In short: The frog used to be a prince, but was turned into a frog by a Wicked Witch.'
'Somehow I don't like the term "Wicked Witch",' Sawyer interrupted.
'Well, we study fairytales because a lot of those magic is real. The Wicked- Evil Sorceress, if you want, turned the prince into a frog, and then the beautiful princess found the frog, kissed the frog, and suddenly he was a prince again. I've never heard of any cases in which true love's kiss was the solution, but we could try.'
'So you suggest Alec could kiss Magnus,' Clary said, 'But what about the other animals? How do we find their true love?'
'Hadn't thought about that yet,' Isabelle said, 'But the princess had never met the prince before he was cursed... I don't think this is it. Have you any thoughts?'
'Not yet,' Clary said, 'Since runes can't be used on downworlders, I don't think a rune could be the solution.'
'But you did place the mark of Cain on Simon,' Isabelle said, 'And the Alliance rune was also for downworlders. Maybe you can invent a rune to reverse the spell. But for now, I'm hungry. It's dinner time already, isn't it? I still have this amazing recipe from this Faerie, Kaelie...'
'You're not cooking,' Clary said, 'Maryse is too busy, and therefore Jace decided Sawyer will be cooking. Her pancakes were amazing, so we know she can cook, and I'm really sorry to tell you, but you can't.
'Not fair,' Isabelle said, 'I want another chance. Cooking can't be that hard, and I was just starting to learn it.'
'Sawyer already learnt to cook, somehow,' Clary said, 'Who taught you anyway?'
'I taught myself how to cook,' Sawyer said, 'I started easy, baking pancakes, easy meals with potatoes, vegetables and vegetarian meat, I'm a vegetarian. Then I learned more complicated recipes. A witch needs a hobby, sometimes. Next to flying, and reading, and experimenting with spells.'

'You are going to teach me,' Isabelle said, when Sawyer had gathered all the ingredients in the kitchen. She'd summoned it all from her castle, because she still had a regular food supply there.
'Alright, you can help me. But first, can you give me a list of who'll be eating? And do you know if any of them has allergies?'
Isabelle took some paper and a pen, and wrote down the names. Both her parents, her father who was the new Inquisitor, and her morther. Her brother Alec, and Jace.
'Alec said he wasn't hungry, but I don't believe him. Alec often doesn't eat when he's sad, but that doesn't mean it's good for him. Besides, it's your food. I'll help you, and I promise I won't mess up, but it's not just my food, so he won't get sick.'
Next on the list Sawyer saw her own name, Christabel, who was coming too, and Collin. Christabel would arrive at half past six, and dinner was at seven o'clock.
'I think Clary, Jocelyn and Luke are here too,' Isabelle said, 'Luke wants to meet you, and Jocelyn wants to know what's going on.'
'That's eleven people,' she said, 'I'll need some more of that.'
Sawyer concentrated on summoning some more ingredients, and an enormous frying pan. 'Magnus snaps his fingers when he does that,' Isabelle noticed.
'I can't snap my fingers,' she said, 'But I learned it without having to snap my fingers, so I don't have too. We'll start boiling the water. After that, we put the spaghetti in the pan. Put some water in this pan, two third full, I think, and then the other pan.'
Isabelle did what Sawyer told her to do, and Sawyer put the cooker on, on the power stand, in both pans. There were so much people she needed both pans. Sawyer opened the pack with spaghetti.
'These are too long, break them in half,' she told Isabelle.
Isabelle broke all the spaghetti in half with her shadowhunter strenght, and asked if she had to put them in the pan. 'No, you have to wait until the water's boiling,' Sawyer said.
'That's what I always did wrong,' Isabelle said, 'Well, one of the things. My cooking was always following a recipe, but that recipe assumed you already knew how to cook, and no one taught me to.'
'No one taught me either, but I found out how to by myself,' Sawyer said, 'I've had some time and I had to cook every evening.'
When the water started boiling, Isabelle put the spaghetti in the pans, and a little while later, Sawyer turned the heat a bit down.
'The sauce isn't that hard. You put it all in the frying pan, both cans, and then you stir through it. Now we put in the vegetarian meat. This is the best vegetarian meat for sauce there is, so I'm sure you'll like it.' After they did that, they put in the mushrooms, and after that the vegetables.
'Now you just have to stir through it for some time, until it's hot,' Sawyer said.
When the food was finished, Sawyer and Isabelle carried the pans to the dining table, and Sawyer snapped all the plates and cutlery into place, for eleven people. Unfortunately, only Clary was in the dining room. Christabel walked in.
'Sawyer!' she shrieked, 'Thank Goodness you're alright. What were you doing there?'
'Causing a commotion,' she said, 'Collin was saved, but Magnus has been transformed into a cat.'
'That's horrendible,' Christabel said, 'I promise I'll try to get information out of the Wizard, now he still trusts me.'
'Thank you,' Sawyer said, 'Would you know were everyone is?'
'I've seen mr Lightwood and mrs Lightwood in the library, together with Collin. He's explaining some things to them. Where Alec and Jace are, I don't know.'
Jocelyn and Luke walked in next. 'Clary!' she said, 'What happened?'
'I'll go get everyone else,' Isabelle said, 'I think Jace is with Alec, in his room.'

Alec had slept for an hour or something, and then Jace came in, just when he woke. 'Good, you're awake,' Jace said, 'Feeling better?'
'A bit,' Alec said, but he still felt hurt. From losing Magnus, but also from his father's cruelty. He knew his father didn't accept him, but Alec somehow hoped he would learn to. His mother had been shocked at first too, but he had explained her how it worked, that you couldn't choose your sexuality, and that it wasn't wrong to be gay, and his mother had accepted that. She didn't want to lose another son, just because she could't accept him. But his father was different, he couldn't accept him. Maybe Alec shouldn't care, but he did. Alec had always been the kind of person who needed approval. He needed his parents to accept him, be proud of him, because he didn't have enough faith in himself. Jace lay down next to him.
'But still not exactly good,' Jace concluded. 'No, not really,' Alec said.
Alec wasn't really used to sleeping in the same bed with Jace, it felt a bit odd, but right. 'I can feel it,' Jace said. Alec knew he probably could, Alec could feel it too, when Jace felt extremely sad. He remembered what it had felt like, when Valentine had convinced Jace that Clary was his sister. They lay down like that for a while, and then Isabelle came in.
'Dinner's ready,' she said.
'I'm not hungry,' Alec said immediately, because the numb feeling that came with sadness, also caused that he didn't feel much like eating.
'You have to eat,' Isabelle said, 'And I didn't make it. Well, I did a lot, but Sawyer did most, and she told me how to, so you won't get sick from this food, or any further meals I'll make. I can cook now!'
'I don't have to eat,' Alec protested.
'Yes you do,' Jace said, 'Not eating when you're sad isn't healthy, now come on. I trust Sawyer not to poison us.'
Alec and Jace came with Isabelle to the dining room, where everyone was sitting at the table. Sawyer had cooked spaghetti. Alec still didn't feel much like eating, but he liked spaghetti, except for Isabelle's spaghetti.
'As a sign of good faith,' Sawyer said, 'I cooked for you guys, and I also taught Isabelle how to cook. I hope you like it. It's vegetarian, by the way. To those who haven't met me yet, I'm Sawyer, and I'm a warlock who's trying to save all the turned werewolves and warlocks, and I will never stop trying.'
'I'm Luke,' Luke introduced himself, 'I'm the local pack leader, and I heard most about you from Maia and Bat.'
'I'm Jocelyn,' Jocelyn said, 'I once was one of the Clave, but no longer.'
His parents also introduced themselves, and then they started eating. The spaghetti, Alec found out, was really good, and soon he did feel like eating some of it.