Hi there. This chapter is dedicated to anyone else who has read/watched the Prisoner of Azkaban after reading the Deathly Hallows and sobbed their heart out like it was the end of the world.
This contains spoilers- although not for the ending- of Artemis Fowl and The Last Guardian.
And Zaidkayson; everything's fine with the moth now, thanks for asking darling. :D
I don't own Mortal Instruments, Harry Potter or Artemis Fowl- if I did I would be in Alexander McQueen, shopping right now, not writing and hoping my laptop won't die because the electric's off. Happy times. XD
Clary's rune shimmered at the back of her mind as though it was impatient to be used. Try me out, try me out, it urged, itching to be on her skin.
It probably wouldn't be a life changer to the Clave- not like Alliance, though Clary doubted anything would ever trump that, shame she'd peaked so soon really- but it could certainly be interesting.
She was pretty sure it enabled people to read minds, which, come to think about it, maybe could be useful. She could find out Sebastian's plans, for example, or discover where Magnus had hidden Jace's favourite shoes.
As she and Simon walked arm in arm to the Institute, slightly more cautious than last time, she decided to test it. Immediately.
"Simon, have you ever wished you could see what other people are thinking?" He looked at her suspiciously, black-coffee eyes narrow and curious.
"Well of course, Fray, for instance I'd like to know what the hell was happening in the minds of the people who robbed Pluto of its' planetary status. They messed up the best mnemonic ever. Why?"
She untangled their elbows and fumbled in her jacket, closing her fingers around the stele that was always cold to the touch, like the walls of an old stone building, only infinitely smoother. Drawing it out, Clary licked it swiftly across the skin of her inner arm, wincing a little as it seared power into her veins.
"Because I made a new rune."
A little window, like a mini TV screen, had suddenly appeared above Simon's head- the picture cloudy and unfocused, wibbly monochrome like the end of an old video. Concentrating, Clary willed herself to see his thoughts.
"Uh, a mind reading one? Damn, that's cool. So what am I thinking?"
A book appeared on Simon's screen, with an orangey-gold dustjacket. The new Artemis Fowl book. And a voice, Simon's own, echoed in her mind, not unlike when the Silent Brothers spoke.
I hope it all turns out okay- if Opal opens the second gate they're all toast. And then we'll never find out about Artemis and Holly, I always shipped them.
"You ship Artemis and Holly? But they're not even the same species!"
"Neither are humans and demons, but they make awesome babies." A picture flickered across the screen- of Magnus, turquoise sparks shimmering from his fingertips.
"True." Clary smiled. "Wait till you read the end, I cried!"
"First time Prisoner of Azkaban crying, or all out post-Deathly Hallows Prisoner of Azkaban crying?"
"First time. Maybe a little less, but it was still very dramatic. Hey, do you identify with Pettigrew now, now you know how it feels to be a rat?" Simon shoved her playfully, but she sensed from his memories, dulled now by amusement but still there, the terror he'd felt as a rat, huge shoes and mammoth flakes of glitter clear in his mind.
"No way. Hey…Luke is SO Remus!" Clary giggled, then frowned. "No. No he isn't. Dammit Simon, are you trying to make me cry?" She took his arm again, clomping up the Institute's stone steps. If Clary had been alone she would have just walked in, but in Simon's company they'd just ring the doorbell and then make their way around to the Sanctuary.
She reached for the bell, when suddenly the doors opened and three Clave members surged out, a fierce, dark-haired man knocking Simon slightly as they did so.
"Sor-" he stiffened in the middle of the apology. "Vampire?" he managed, before the Mark of Cain booted the man roughly down the steps. He got up; but groaned thickly, applying a quick iratze to stem the blood flow from a broken-looking nose.
"Are you all right, Mr Branwell?" Izzy called from inside, her tone strongly implying that she hoped his legs were broken too.
"Fine." He grunted, and all three of them were whisked away in a Silent City carriage.
"Hey, guys," Izzy grinned, a wicked glimmer in her dark eyes. "I'll go and open up the Sanctuary."
Clary perched on a sofa that covered up three deep, scorched parallel scratches in the floor, where something big and powerful had obviously tried to claw it's way out. Jace sat next to her, and though he gave her a quick hello kiss and made conversation, he didn't take his eyes off of Alec.
Alec, however, seemed to be avoiding his parabatai's gaze. He and Magnus had the air of people who had something else they needed to do- in fact they had only joined the gathering because of Clary and Simon's interest in how the murder investigation was going.
"Oh, you wouldn't believe what a bore it was," Magnus gushed, waving one slender hand, the other tangled in Alec's hair. "Without proper evidence they've got nothing on me or Camille, and there was quite an unpleasant moment where I told them Alec here had slept with the deceased. Other than that, nothing of interest at all. Now if you'll excuse us-"
"So they're just giving up?" Simon asked. "Love the poncho, by the way."
"Thank you, Seamus. And yes, they aren't looking into it anymore." His free hand toyed gently with Alec's wrist; both of them looked far away. "Come to think of it, this poncho is far too warm. I'm just going to change." He shot a look at Alec, before swirling out in a shimmer of black, white and gold.
Simon looked confused.
"But he changes clothes by clicking his fingers." Alec rolled his eyes.
I think it's time to reactivate the mind reading rune, Clary thought, discreetly tracing the existing mark with her stele.
Jace's screen had Alec in it, wearing pyjama bottoms and a tight black t-shirt that hugged the muscles of his biceps and chest nicely, black hair in rumpled disarray around his face. He would have looked very attractive, had he not been staring at Jace, horrified. That same expression played over and over again in Jace's mind, accompanied by the words You were so distracted you nearly cut my throat!
Clary quickly looked away, to Isabelle. She was fuming, her mind muttering curses against the dark haired man Simon's mark had knocked down the steps. Clary could see him, glaring disapprovingly at Alec, which certainly matched some of Izzy's threats. Being rude to my brother…if you weren't a senior Clave member I'd kick your sorry homophobic ass so hard your mum'll feel it… who's probably dead you decrepit glob of Ravener dung…
A thought suddenly occurred to Clary, and she leaned over Jace- who didn't seem to care, his golden eyes drilling holes simultaneously into Alec's forehead and the empty demon cages, as though some invisible monster could at any time leap out and attack Alec.
She grabbed Simon's cool fingers, pressing them to the mark on her inner arm.
"Whoa!" he gasped, eyes wheeling wildly round the room. "It's like…" Clary shushed him, gaining a quizzical look from Isabelle. He looked at her. Then Jace. Then Izzy. "Tiny screens…" His eyes widened as they found Alec, and he let out an uncomfortable giggle, nudging Clary to look too.
In Alec's thoughts, a shirtless Magnus was flinging ornate candlesticks off of the long, polished table used for Clave meetings, slamming Alec face down on it's surface and shedding his stripy trousers.
Clary and Simon shared and incredulous look. "Whoa. That's, um, large. How-" she elbowed Simon in the ribs to stop him finishing the sentence, then yelped as an invisible force sent her tumbling off the sofa. Simon hastily took his hand off the rune, helping her up, while Izzy whined for someone to tell her what was going on.
Clary tried desperately to ignore Alec's thoughts, instead carrying on a conversation with Isabelle, but even when she wasn't looking she could hear: and despite how wrong it was –Alec and Magnus, for God's sake- she couldn't deny it was extremely hot, Alec moaning as Magnus held him down by the hair, licking wet stripes up his back.
"Excuse me, I have to, er, check on Magnus." Alec stood, and walked out, leaving Clary and Simon to dissolve in a fit of giggles.
"Seriously, what's funny, I just- am I missing something here?" Izzy tossed her hair in frustration.
"Well, Clary invented this new rune, it-"
"I need to see if Alec's okay!" Jace leapt to his feet, sending Simon spluttering again.
"Not just now, man." He choked, through his laughter. "You really don't. Trust me." Clary couldn't laugh any more, not with Jace like an Alec-obsessed zombie; it seemed to be getting worse every day. He sat down again, clutching Clary close as if for comfort.
"What is this mysterious rune?" Izzy whined. "I hate it when people have secret jokes, I feel like a peasant right now!"
"Okay, it's a mind reading rune." She explained. This sparked an interest even in Jace's eyes. "Simon and I just got a rather… intimate … scene from Alec's thoughts…but that doesn't matter now, look at Jace. He's not right. We need to fix this, Izzy, and quickly." She nodded thoughtfully, scrunching her nose. Simon couldn't look away.
"You're right." Simon patted Clary's hand supportively. "We know Camille wants to cause trouble for us, and we know the Seelie Queen's helping her, right."
"Right." Clary and Simon said in unison, sharing a surprised grin.
"But we don't know why."
"Well she wants something from Alec, that's why she's sending Jace the dreams, but that doesn't explain why she attacked Simon and I, or why she killed Raphael."
"Or why that faerie bitch is involved." Simon added. Izzy pondered, twirling the beaded fringe of a cushion idly in one pale hand.
"The Seelie Queen doesn't get involved in downworld business, especially not personally, if there's no obvious benefit to her. So either we have something she wants, or Camille does. Or both."
"We do have Magnus," Simon suggested. "Maybe she's hoping for a big reunion?"
"It can't be just that, for one thing Magnus would never do that, he has Alec and-" Izzy stopped, the colour slowly draining from her face, leaving it the colour of baby sick. "Clary, you said it 'was a taste of what is to come'. What was that dream? Jace, what was that dream?"
"She said Alec was being hurt, more with every second of being mortal…she said it was revenge… Jace, wasn't it something about blood?" Jace's face was whiter than Izzy's, his eyes startlingly gold and flat like new pound coins in a bowl of cream.
"She was turning Alec-" Izzy gasped, hands flying to her open mouth.
"Into a vampire?"
"Into a subjugate."
(The song for this section is 'Keep Your Shoes' by the Scissor Sisters.)
Magnus looked up from the long, flickering candles that adorned the table to meet Alec's eyes as he stalked in, long legs taking powerful strides so as not to waste time. Magnus licked his lips, and in one fluid move, swept the contents of the table to the floor, then sat calmly in a chair, inspecting his nails.
"Mags, have you ever heard of mixed messages?"
"I have, yes."
"Well, that's what you're giving me now."
Magnus just grinned, stretching out one impossibly long leg for Alec to admire.
"I'd love to get down to it, darling, it's just I have these boots on that lace all the way up to my knee…" Alec slid to his knees, resting one of the platforms on his shoulder and glancing mischievously up at his boyfriend, fingers sneaking up his leg to unlace the boot.
"I'll take them off for you…but you're going to put them back on in a minute." He placed a gentle bite on Magnus' thigh.
"Mmm, something tells me this is going to be fun." He chuckled, unzipping his own trousers. "Alec, hurry up with the laces!" When he didn't a flick of the fingers ensured they came off immediately, and Alec's cool, slender fingers smoothed the skin over his hip bones, his trousers and underwear sliding to the floor.
Alec glared challengingly until he dutifully put his boots back on- by which point he didn't really see the point in clothing, and with a flutter of blue sparks, his shirt and all of Alec's clothing was gone.
"The next time my family eat around this table it's going to be so awkward."
"How can you even eat on it?" Magnus asked, sliding a hand over it easily. "Don't your elbows slide off?"
"No elbows on the table, Alexander!" Alec said, in a perfect imitation of Maryse. "Honestly, where do you think you are?" Magnus stroked the table again, this time with just one finger, staring at Alec so sensually he swore he felt the touch on his spine. "Mags, we can't do this here."
"Of course we can, silly Alec. Think about it in terms of science, okay? You live here, so the Alec-saturation levels are high, and therefore needed to be dispersed with Magnus-saturation levels, as the universe, like electrostatic charges, like to even out-"
"Mags. Mags, you lost me-"
"Wait, I'm explaining! And due to the high levels eventually certain areas become saturated and therefore we will eventually run out of places to have sex, so in fact this is necessary to prevent-"
"Magnus, seriously-"
"So over the course of time, we will inevitably have sex here, it's an inescapable fact of nature, and you can't fight nature. Face it Alec, the only logical thing we can do in this situation is have sex on the table." Alec tried to think about it, decided it wasn't worth it, and gave in. Which of course was Magnus' intention. He pulled the warlock in for a kiss. "What, no handcuffs? I'm a murder suspect, you know."
"There's some in that display cabinet, grab them if you want."
Magnus sneezed in shock. Alec?
The reason this is up so early is because I have to stay in and babysit when I was supposed to be going out with this girl I know…yep, it's like my parents have a sixth sense for when I'm going to get laid so they can plan for those specific times. But I hope you enjoyed anyway.
REVIEW IF YOU KNOW THE TERM FOR THE LESBIAN EQUIVALENT OF COCKBLOCKING! I'd be interested to know and can't be bothered to google it.
And a question, do people listen to suggested songs as they read? Because I don't do that…do you actually, or does it just add a feel or whatever…let me know.
Love China xxXx