It felt like the floor had dropped out from beneath me. In a good way.
"Really? You're serious? Me?" I spluttered into the receiver. Isabelle's face lit up and she pressed her ear to the other side of the phone. Jace was signing to her – not real signing, mind, but a well-honed, unofficial language they'd mastered over the years – about what she could hear. I grabbed Isabelle's hands to still them.
"You make it sound like you've won the lottery." Dr Zachariah laughed. I could picture him sat behind his desk with that light smile of his. Maybe he thought I was way overenthusiastic.
Maybe I didn't care.
"It really means a lot to me." I told him. Izzy made a squeaking noise and rocked back and forth on her heels.
"I thought it would." The Doctor said. "That's partly why I wanted you. Also that Cleo girl was completely pretentious."
Take that, Book Girl. I might have smirked. Jace and Izzy were exchanging one of those 'Who are we talking about?' looks. Really, Jace was just as bad as she was for gossip sometimes. At least he wasn't already texting about it. I suspected Isabelle had already informed Simon and Clary with the mobile in her hand.
"You won't regret this, Doctor." I said. "Thank you for calling."
"No problem. I didn't want you to have to wait for the postal service." Explained Dr Zachariah. Wow, my luck was turning around. I had a job, now, doing something I loved, with a boss so considerate he wouldn't make me wait a couple days for a letter.
It was definitely cause for the celebration Isabelle insisted we have. I hardly had time to call my parents before she wanted to get going. When I got back from the stairwell of the Mall which was just about quiet enough to talk in, she was chattering away on her own phone and waving her hands in wild gestures.
Jace climbed up to sit on the backrest of the bench - he always fidgeted when he had nothing to do - as I approached.
"She wants to drive out to the woods." He said.
I raised an eyebrow. Not exactly her scene. I was expecting her to try dragging me out to a minors-friendly club or something. "The woods?"
"She wants to light a bonfire and stuff." Jace explained. "I had to talk her out of the beach."
Listening to Isabelle I could hear that she was actually convincing Simon to gut all the instruments from his band's van so we could pile a bunch of people and blankets into the back. It actually sounded like a really good idea. The kind of fun that I could actually get on board with instead of the typical parties she dragged me to with empty promises of a good time.
"She's kind of making a huge deal, isn't she?" I thought out loud. Like Dr Zachariah had said; I hadn't won the lottery. It wasn't like when our cousin Aline got her first-choice University place.
Jace slapped me on the back none-too-lightly. The same way he did when I used to treat silver medals like a loss.
"Why not? It's about time something went right for you." He grinned. I rolled my eyes back.
We piled into the back of the van laughing like it was the most exciting thing ever. In a matter of hours we'd collected our little group and everything we needed to keep Izzy from turning into the whiniest girl on the planet when we got there. You know: blankets, snacks, extra hoodies because she would inevitably want one by the end of the night even if it didn't match her outfit.
Clary had this retro-looking CD player from when she was a kid. It had a handle and took package batteries instead of charging up. It looked like a pain to lug around but Izzy declared it 'totally cute', with fading stickers all over it, and started pouring through the discs Simon kept in the glove compartment while Jace fiddled around with the buttons.
The sun was setting by the time we arrived; Jace was the only one who knew the way to a good spot. He went camping a lot as a kid. Simon did not. He wasn't even a little athletic and tripped on damn near every tree root along the way. My sister was in fits of giggles.
"Are you sure we should be going so far from the van?" Simon complained after ten minutes of walking a winding forest path.
Our electric torches and camera phone flashlights were starting to come in handy. I could only see the back of Jace's head, but I was sure he threw in an eye-roll as he said "If you want to light up a fire close to a gas tank, be my guest."
Besides, we were practically there anyway. There was a circle of rocks and logs around a makeshift fire pit left behind for anybody who wanted it. More to do with people being too lazy to make the place look natural again than it did with being helpful for other campers or party makers. It didn't matter why it was there, it only mattered that Clary had been a girl scout once and she and Jace got flames blazing in record time.
"We should tell horror stories!" Izzy gasped, gripping hold of Simon's arm excitedly. He was going to have tiny crescent marks from her nails through his hoodie.
He didn't seem to care when he smiled at her. Thus far Simon had yet to do anything to prove he was secretly a jerk, so the two of us got along just fine. I was still happy he and Izzy were a still couple.
"Like what?" He asked, snapping open the top of a fizzy-pop can. The group had been kind of moody I'd vetoed alcohol, but I didn't want to have to be the oldest in a group of tipsy minors I had to get home. Not tonight anyway.
"Like..." Isabelle thought for a few moments, then put on her best 'spooky voice' to announce; "The tale of the evil Historian who leads unsuspecting young men to their doom!"
"I've heard that one already." I cut in, smirking. "Only it was about a Photographer."
The group erupted into a chorus of 'Oooh's. Which was good, because if they didn't take it in good humour that remark was going to throw the night into a pretty awkward mood.
But the mood stayed just as good. Jace, as always, felt the need to one-up me and Izzy. He grabbed his torch to light up the angles in his face from the bottom. Clary found him hilarious. The rest of us thought she was the funny one for thinking that way. Whatever we were laughing at, we were laughing until the early hours of the morning when I couldn't remember why I ever wanted to be separate from this group.
I drew the short straw, so come morning time I had to do the rounds driving everybody home. I wasn't sure how that made sense, given that Simon would have to come get his van from my Father's building in the morning, but we were dumb kids at heart. We didn't feel like thinking logically.
Even in my easy-going state, I still couldn't help but notice the strange car parked outside my Mother's house. Another photographer? Why? Nobody had any reason to seek me out anymore.
Camille was the one they wanted; they'd started chasing after her instead. I'd faded back into obscurity, just where I wanted to be, with the latest Camille stories focusing on her own affairs. There were a fair few. I couldn't help but notice. Magnus hardly got mentioned anymore. When he did it was more of a 'Doesn't she have a Husband?' situation, as opposed to the 'How could this guy cheat on our Cammie?' mess that I had to deal with. Double standards for celebrities. Always the same.
"Ignore it." Isabelle told me with a roll of her tired dark eyes. "This guy has been showing up every day looking for you. I tell him to buzz off."
"Who is it?" I asked lowly.
In the back of the van, Clary and Simon had both fallen asleep. Jace's house had been the first stop on the list so he'd collapsed into bed by now.
Izzy bit her lip. It didn't take a genius to see the guilt on her face plainly. That was worrying.
"Iz? Who is it?" I prodded.
The man seemed prepared to answer the question himself. When he caught sight of me he opened his car door and began to cut across the lawn towards us.
"Go away!" Izzy yelled. The sleeping passengers stirred, so I shushed her. She would probably wake half the people on the street if we left her to it.
"Alexander Lightwood?" Asked the man. His face was sunken and sallow; like somebody who didn't eat enough. He looked tired as I felt. How long had he been waiting, anyway?
"That's me." I answered. "And you are?"
"Here to arrange a meeting." He said, without giving me his name. Isabelle was pulling on her hair tips and gritting her teeth. "Madame Belcourt would like to speak with you."
"And what if he doesn't want to see her?" Izzy snapped defensively. She looked about ready to hit the guy.
Geez. Not only was my sister planning to shoot the messenger, he was the messenger of somebody innocent. Camille hadn't been the one to hurt me, after all. Not that I really wanted to speak to her, but..
"Madame insists." The man stated frankly.
This couple was going to be the death of me. What could Camille even want?
I was going to find out. Whether I liked it or not, there was something big going on. Maybe I was a horrible person in a past life and now I was getting karmic throwback; but no matter what I thought about it fate wasn't done with me. It felt like my whole universe was shrinking down; collapsing inward towards Magnus like he was the only sun in my galaxy.
It would keep closing in on me until I dealt with the problems instead of ignoring them.
"So much for celebration." I let myself sigh.
"You don't have to go meet her, Alec." Izzy tried to reason.
All I could do was shrug. "When and where?"
...And with that I'm officially out of 'reserved' chapters. Writing in real-time, now, so I'll have to thank you all for your patience and ask you to have a little more. The next chapter isn't written yet so it has no title, but thanks for reading everybody. I'll try to get back to posting before too long.