GUYSZZZZ Thank you for the reviews. PLEASE CONTINUE TO COMPLIMENT ME AND MY STORY HHNGNNGHHH XD K, I'll stop. Anyway, enjooyyyy
Jasmine didn't go back to sleep that night. Instead she did everything she could to keep her mind and hands occupied. Seeing as she hadn't unpacked yet, she lifted her two duffel bags - one of which hadn't been opened yet - and set them down on her bed. She unzipped the heavier bag, and frowned when she noticed an envelope sitting on top of her folded clothes.
She carefully reached into the envelope and pulled out two black-and-white photographs. The first one made her crack a sad smile. It was of her maternal grandmother, her late grandfather and Darya. She was holding the both of them tightly. Grandmother Mehnaz was in the middle of stroking Darya's face, and Jasmine's grandfather was grinning from ear to ear.
The second photo was of Darya pulling a goofy face as she was sprawled out on the couch, her wild curly hair spread out around her head where it lay in Luke's lap. The two of them were positioned on that same couch Jasmine had seen at her grandmother's house. Luke was laughing with his head tipped backwards as Darya held his nose between her thumb and forefinger. Luke was good-looking enough, but Jasmine couldn't help but think of her mother as angelically beautiful. While it was true that the two girls looked alike, Darya had been something else back in the day. She'd had smoldering dark eyes, a romantic smile and smooth, golden-bronze skin - not that she could tell from the photos, but that had been her skin color in Jasmine's dreams.
Jasmine gently put the photograph of her parents against her heart and sighed, before sliding both pictures back into the envelope. She scooped out an armful of her clothes and set them aside, and was startled by a pair of twin swords with curved blades sitting at the bottom of the duffel bag. Those were most definitely not Jasmine's. Had her uncle Arash put those in there? If he had, then he was clearly not the most careful person, because the blades were unsheathed - they could have cut a hole in the bag. She could have accidentally stabbed someone.
She pulled them out and stood upright, testing the weight and length of them. The swords were easy to work, and only a little longer than her forearms. They were perfect for her size. Had they been Darya's weapons? Turning the swords over, she read two words: Nigrum was engraved in the left blade and Lux in the right one. While Jasmine had only taken a year of Latin, she understood the words. Black and Light. Sia and Noor.
Jasmine set the swords down, her spirit having lifted a bit. She was even smiling. Her concern for Simon and hurt over Jace were still there, but they didn't lord over her anymore. It was as if she was slowly realizing something - something she couldn't express in thought or words. It was a feeling. Something like satisfaction, something like relief, but not quite.
She lay down on her side, and felt herself drift off into a state between sleep and wakefulness. It was only when dawn came that she got out of bed, got dressed and went down to the kitchen to make herself some coffee.
"Heaven and hell," Jasmine sighed, remembering the Seelie Queen's words. "A bridge between dimensions..." As she poured herself a mug, the sounds of murmured chatter and boots clicking against the hard tiles of the hallway were heard. Jasmine poked her head around the corner of the kitchen and sucked in a breath of relief. She set down her mug and waved at the Lightwood siblings.
Alec and Isabelle looked exhausted, their skin paler than usual. They waved back with a little less enthusiasm, but that was understandable. "How'd it go?" asked Jasmine, walking up to the pair.
"Fine," said Alec.
Isabelle rolled her eyes. "It was a terrible thing to see. Simon went absolutely crazy for blood. Thank the Angel that Magnus and Alec brought some. It was messy."
"Is he okay now?" asked Jasmine with a frown. "Simon, I mean."
"I don't think so." Izzy sounded regretful. But then she perked up. "I smell coffee."
At that, Jasmine grinned. "I made some. It's in the ki-" But Isabelle was already gone, dashing past Jasmine to get to the kitchen. Alec and Jasmine exchanged a surprised look, and then gave tired laughs.
"Have you been up all this time?" asked Alec.
"I rested for a bit, but I didn't really get any real sleep in," said Jasmine. "I couldn't. There's too much to think about."
Alec nodded. "I understand." He took a breath, and hesitantly spoke again: "Izzy told me not to bring this up, but she - I know about you and Jace."
"ALEC!" Isabelle cried around the corner.
Jasmine smiled a bit. "It's okay," she said. "I'm okay."
Alec's eyebrows went up. "Really?"
"Yes. Now is not the time to lose myself in somebody else," Jasmine said. "And that is so goddamn easy to do when you have somebody as wonderful as Jace to hold your hand and guide you through the dark. I need to learn to hold my own hand." Alec was looking at her as if she were a puzzle piece he was trying to place.
"I'm - I think I'm going to my room to rest for a bit," Alec said, rubbing the back of his neck. Isabelle emerged from the kitchen, sipping on the coffee Jasmine had made for herself.
"Me too," said Izzy. "One cup of coffee isn't going to make me feel any less tired. That, and the Inquisitor could get back at any moment."
"Good call," Jasmine said, and watched the Lightwoods walk off. Jasmine herself went the other way, because if there was one thing she really wanted to do, it was to sit behind a desk and completely lose herself in the pages of a good book. She hadn't done that in God knows how long. She felt a pang of guilt in her chest. How long had it been since she'd spoken to Marielle? What had happened to her old tutor anyway? Reason told her she would be in Idris now for a trial, considering she had worked for Amir for over sixteen years. But then Jasmine wasn't sure if Marielle had really worked for Amir in the way most would expect. She was sure the old woman had done nothing but teach for the past one and a half decades.
For the next few hours, Jasmine had her fun in the library. There was such an enormous amount of information and stories, and everything in between in that library. She wondered if she would ever get bored in there.
She found a spell book then, in the oddest way possible - she bumped her shoulder against one of the shelves in the back of the library, and a book jumped out. She caught it almost effortlessly, and for the first time, she didn't like her new way of moving. She was quick, and she was graceful, and it wasn't her. She had never been any of those things, and while she'd always supposed to be those things, she had always lacked the skill that came along with being a Shadowhunter. Until Valentine had given her that demonic rune on her forearm.
With a sigh, she slid down the wall and pulled her knees up to her chest, flipping open the spell book. She wasn't sure why she was so interested in what the pages had to say, but she was. Or maybe she was just bored. She looked at the title of every chapter, and felt her fingers move over the letters until she saw the word 'summon'. Assuming that it had to do with demons, she slapped the book shut. Dark magic freaked her out. Besides, even if it were seraphic magic, she would never be able to get into it the way she'd want. She was Nephilim, not a warlock.
She tipped her head back, and closed her eyes. Jasmine didn't care if a library was no place to fall asleep. She was tired, and books relaxed her.
o0o0o0o
Jasmine woke up to a vibrating butt cheek - err, pocket. She didn't have to open her eyes to know she had somehow landed flat on her back, and was now probably crushing her phone. Sitting up, she took out the black Nokia flip phone and put it against her ear. "Hello?" she said groggily.
"Jasmine," said the voice on the other end. "This is Luke. Am I - is this a bad time?"
"No, you're... it's a good time. I mean, it's an okay time," said Jasmine. Words are hard, she thought, sighing internally. "I wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary. How are you?"
"Good, good. I was going to ask you that, considering that the past few days have been very eventful. Clary filled me in," said Luke. "I, uh, I've been meaning to call you, but I've been stuck at the hospital and I figured you'd call when you could. I didn't even know you were back in New York until this morning."
"Ah," said Jasmine. "Yeah, no, I've been meaning to call you as well." Lies. She hadn't even thought about talking to Luke. Her main priority had been Jace since returning to the city. "I'm... all right. Worried."
"Do you think the Inquisitor would mind if you left the Institute for a few hours? I would like to see you."
"I don't know," said Jasmine. "I'd rather wait a day or two, just in case."
"I see. Alright, well if you need anything, you have my number. Be careful, okay? Valentine and Amir are still on the loose and more dangerous than ever."
"Right. Thanks, I will be. It was good talking to you again."
"You too," said Luke, and hung up.
Jasmine's heart was pounding in her chest when she put her phone away, and it was driving her mad. Why was she so awkward with Luke all of a sudden? She used to be so comfortable with him. She supposed it was because she had no idea how to behave towards a father. Her real father. Amir had always been distant with Jasmine as a way of disciplining her. But she and Luke had been casual from the get-go. She didn't need to show massive amounts of respect. She didn't need to keep her head down while talking to Luke. But how was she supposed to act if not submissive?
Later, Jasmine didn't join the Lightwoods for dinner, because Maryse was always looking at her with intense eyes. Maryse's gaze wasn't distrustful, it was wondering. It was curious. It was thoughtful. Jasmine didn't feel like dealing with that - that and the glare of the Inquisitor. Besides, she wasn't all that hungry anyways.
It was around seven p.m when she got a call. Jasmine was lying in bed, picking off pieces of the power bar Izzy had dropped off at her door just after dinner. Her fingernails were almost long now, compared to a couple weeks earlier when they had been short and bloody, leaving her fingers to look stubby. As she disinterestedly munched on a piece of the power bar, the screen on the back of her flip phone lit up with Clary's name.
Jasmine picked up.
"Hey," she breathed, sitting up. When there was no response, Jasmine frowned. "Clary?"
"No," said a hesitant voice on the other end of the line. "This is Simon."
"Simon! Oh my God, are you okay? I'm so happy to hear from you!"
"... You are?"
"Of course! By the Angel, I was so worried about you." Jasmine blew a piece of hair out of her face. "Is there a reason you called or did you just want to chat - oh, God, has something happened to Clary? Is that why you're calling me from her phone?"
"No, she's fine," said Simon. "It's just that-" And then he launched into a description of what had happened to a girl named Maia, who was now at Luke's place, wounded half to death. "-and Clary and I figured that you could help her out, since you have healed us before."
"Goodness," said Jasmine. "I'm really not the right person for this. I don't have control over it. Not always." She breathed a sigh, and got out of bed. "Forget it, I'll be there as soon as I can." She hung up before Simon could say anything else, because she wanted to be gone quickly, and be back quickly. The Inquisitor would not let her go if she knew where Jasmine was going.
She threw her curls into a ponytail, dressed into gear (just in case), grabbed her daggers and stele, and headed out. Thankfully, she did not have to slip past the Lightwoods or the Inquisitor, because she didn't see them anywhere. Perhaps they were in the office down the hall. Jasmine took the subway to Brooklyn. She texted Alec on the way:
On my way to Luke's house - there's a situation and I think we need Magnus.
She would have messaged Jace, but that didn't seem like the most appropriate thing to do at the moment. Besides, Alec had been at Magnus' place since noon. That's what Isabelle had told her anyway.
She arrived at Luke's front door and found it to be unlocked, so she went inside. The first thing she saw was Clary, perched on the coffee table in the living room, a curved dagger in her hand. A medium-skinned girl with curly hair was pinned to the couch. Jasmine recognized the girl's face immediately - she was the girl from Luke's bookstore. The werewolf girl. And although Jasmine hadn't remembered the girl upon hearing her name, she remembered her now. Maia looked sick - sick and wounded and weak, and Clary was hovering over her with a knife.
"What the hell is going on here?" Jasmine demanded. "Clary, put that knife down. Jesus Christ." She hurried over and yanked the blade out of the redhead's hand.
"We had an incident," Clary said. "I took care of it."
Jasmine sighed, threw the blade down on the coffee table and said, "Where is Luke?"
"He's outside," said Simon. "He was moving the truck off the lawn."
"Okay, well..." She shrugged off her gear jacket, leaving her in only a black thermal tank top, and threw it to the side. She kneeled down in front of Maia, whose cheeks were a bright red. "How are you?" But Maia wasn't answering - her eyes had fallen shut. Jasmine cursed and placed her hands over the girl's lower arm, which was oozing a mixture of blood and demon poison. She felt slightly disgusted at the slippery feeling under her fingertips, but pushed through it. Her palms lit up against Maia's skin, and she took a couple of deep breaths. The wound started mending itself, and Jasmine felt a sense of relief pass through her. But Maia herself didn't look a lot better.
The front door flew open, and then Magnus, Alec and Jace were all in the living room. "You came," breathed Jasmine in relief, pulling away from Maia. She put her hands in her lap, blood-stained palms facing up."Magnus, thank God. Maia's really hurt and I don't know if I can handle this on my own. I healed the wound, but I think the demon poison is still coarsing through her veins."
Magnus threw the cape he was wearing aside, the way Jasmine had done with her jacket, and said, "Get out of the way, mundane." He pushed past Simon and stalked over to where Maia and Jasmine where. "I take it you're my patient?" he said to Maia. Jasmine got to her feet and walked into the kitchen, careful not to touch anything. She got to the sink and leaned forward on her elbows, squeezing her eyes shut when she felt an overpowering wave of nausea wash over her.
She heard slow footsteps behind her, and then he was standing next to her. His presence alone was enough to make her heart skip a beat.
"I didn't know you were coming here," she said, and looked up to meet Jace's tawny eyes.
"I didn't think it would be a problem for you," he said.
Jasmine frowned. "It's not. It's just that I wasn't expecting it. That's all," she mumbled. Jace turned on the sink for her, looking close to annoyed. Jasmine thought nothing of it and let the lukewarm water pass over her hands.
"You look like you're going to be sick," Jace observed.
Jasmine was aggressively scrubbing her hands now, using even dish soap to get the blood off. "I've seen more blood in the past month or so than I have in my entire life - and I'm a girl, for the Angel's sake. I should be used to seeing blood."
"That's different." Jace looked mildly grossed out.
"It's just - I'm okay with blood. It doesn't usually make me squeamish," Jasmine said. "But this just seems excessive. First I let Alaric die, and then the Silent Brothers were slaughtered, and then Simon was turned into a vampire, and now Maia. All in ten days. And everytime, my hands get covered in the blood of others."
"You didn't let Alaric die," Jace said, sounding as if he were genuinely angry at Jasmine. "So why blame yourself?"
"You don't get it!"
Jace's eyes were blazing. "Don't get what?" he snapped. "Seeing a dead body for the first time? Watching somebody get murdered in front of you? Because I do get it. Except in my case, I thought it was my father. I couldn't stop seeing him in a pool of his own blood for half a decade."
Jasmine didn't know what to say. She recalled him telling her about that, about seeing his father get murdered in front of him. Though that turned out to have been a big scheme of Valentine's, because he wasn't really dead. But Jace had thought it, and he had only been ten years old.
Jasmine was lost for words. "Jace, I-"
"I know," he said wryly. "You didn't mean it like that."
"Jace, I'm sorry-"
"I'd better go and check the front of the house for Luke. He should have been back by now," he said, and he had that same disinterested, detached edge to his voice that he always did when he was hurt. She called his name one more time, but he didn't turn back around.
"Damn it!" she said, smacking an overhead cupboard with the palm of her hand. She turned the water off and walked into the living room. Alec was sat in a chair nearby and watched Magnus heal Maia. The warlock had put a blueish glow around himself and the werewolf. He turned to face her.
"Having a lover's spat?"
The glare Jasmine threw his way was cold enough to turn his glitter-crusted eyelashes into tiny icicles. "Please shut up," she snapped. Magnus looked at Alec with surprise in his eyes, but Alec only shrugged.
"At least she said 'please'," he said.
Magnus sighed and muttered something under his breath about ungrateful Shadowhunters. Jasmine wasn't interested in what he had to say. Instead she asked where Clary was.
"She followed Jace outside," Maia said, looking a lot better already. "Simon, too."
"Since when does the mundane care about Jace?" Alec asked, almost indignantly.
"He doesn't," Jasmine said simply. "He cares about Clary. And he's not a mundane anymore, remember?" She tightened her ponytail and leaned against the wall. Magnus finished with Maia, and asked Alec to put her to bed in Luke's room. Alec reluctantly did so, scooping Maia up in his arms and walking her out. Magnus turned to Jasmine.
"I didn't know you were part warlock," he said.
Jasmine frowned in confusion.
"The healing of Maia's wound," Magnus explained. "I didn't know you could do that."
"I'm not a warlock," Jasmine said.
"Then how-"
"I don't know," said Jasmine with a half-smile. She walked over to the sofa and sat down in front of Magnus. "I got attacked by a demon once, in an alley next to the book store, and I got hurt. Instinctively, I touched the shoulder that had gotten hurt. I healed myself - well, the wound. I couldn't get rid of the demon poison, much like I couldn't rid Maia's body of the Drevak poison. It happens naturally, the healing. Something guides me to do it. When I try to force it - it doesn't work."
Magnus was staring at her intently, like he was trying to figure her out. And then his eyebrows went up, and he sat back. "You're channeling something. Or someone, rather," he said. "I see waves crashing against the shore when I look at you closely. Does that mean anything to you?"
Jasmine shook her head.
"I'm pretty sure there is a spirit around you that is connected to the ocean. Or maybe you are," Magnus said, and lifted a hand to inspect his nails. "Water is a healing element, you know. It stands for emotions, flexibility and health."
He didn't have to continue.
"Darya," Jasmine said with a tense laugh, remember the Persian word her mother had been named after. Darya meant 'ocean' in Farsi. "You think I'm channeling Darya?"
"Who?"
"My mother! She's around me?"
Magnus dropped his hand and looked at her. "I'm not sure," he said. "I'm not much of a medium. But I get visions sometimes. What I can tell you, though, is that your senses are not fully in this dimension. They shift between r-" He didn't get to finish his sentence, because Alec was back in the room.
"Is Jace still not back?" asked the Lightwood boy, cutting Magnus off mid-sentence. "I'm starting to worry."
Magnus offered to go and check the front of the apartment, and Jasmine said she would check the book store's surroundings. They didn't get as far, though, because Clary, Jace and Simon burst into the living room with a pale, limp, wounded Luke on their arms. Jasmine was horrified. She jumped to her feet, but Magnus didn't let her get to him. He was quick to lay Luke down on the sofa.
He looked half-dead, and it scared the living daylight out of Jasmine. She kept losing parents. First the mother she'd never known about died, then Noella had committed suicide, and then she'd run away from home, leaving her supposed father behind. And now her real father looked as if he were only minutes away from joining her two mothers in the afterlife.
Jasmine cursed. "What the hell happened?" she asked. Her heart was beating a mile a minute. Nobody offered her an answer, but Magnus promised he knew what he was doing. She heard the words 'Raum demons' come out of Jace's mouth, though he wasn't talking to her - he was talking to Alec. Suddenly Simon was standing next to her, and for the first time, Jasmine noticed that his glasses were gone. She couldn't bring herself to comment on it, though, and instead turned to him and said, "Are they gone? The Raum demons?"
Simon nodded, but said nothing. And then the two exchanged small, reassuring smiles, which relieved the tension between them. Jasmine patted him on the shoulder and edged closer to the couch to get a better look at what was happening. Luke's skin was slowly regaining color, and his breathing pattern had gone back to normal. Jasmine made a relieved sound that seemed more desperate than she had felt like she was.
"He's all right!" Clary exclaimed, and everybody came running. Jasmine took an automatic step back, and silently questioned herself. She should be flinging herself at Luke, right? Wasn't that what family did when they were glad you were okay? And yet Jasmine felt wrong for wanting to be that close and comfortable with him. She felt as if she were at a friend's house for a first time, careful not to upset them or the parents, careful not to be impolite, and to make a good first impression. She was always treading with caution.
Magnus sat back, looking exhausted and pale.
"So he'll live?" Simon said. "You're sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure," Magnus said. "I'm the High Warlock of Brooklyn; I know what I'm doing. Which reminds me," he continued stiffly, "that I'm not exactly sure what it is you think you're doing, calling on me every time one of you has so much as an ingrown toenail that needs clipping. As High Warlock, my time is valuable. There are plenty of lesser warlocks who'd be happy to do a job for you at a greatly reduced rate."
Clary looked taken aback. "You're charging us? But Luke is a friend!"
Magnus took a thin blue cigarette out of his shirt pocket. "Not a friend of mine," he said. "I met him only on the few occasions when your mother brought him along when your memory spells were being refreshed." He lit the cigarette with a spark of his fingers. "Did you think I was helping you out of the goodness of my heart? Or am I just the only warlock you happen to know?"
Jasmine frowned and shook her head. "I just thought since you helped me once..."
"You paid me to do that," said Magnus.
"You gave me a discount," Jasmine said, crossing her arms. It was true. The Portal Magnus had created for her, the one that had taken her to New York the first time, would have costed her everything she'd had if it hadn't been for Magnus' generosity back then.
"Right," said Magnus, his cat eyes even more slitted than usual. "I gave you a discount, because you were desperate for help. But you cannot expect me to keep doing favors for you. I am not your pet warlock. I'm the High Warlock of Brooklyn." His eyes moved to Clary, then Jace, and then Simon.
Nobody said anything, though Jace looked as if he wanted to call Magnus a long string of unprintable words. His eyes were blazing.
Jasmine looked around for her gear jacket, and found that it was no long lying on the floor. It lay neatly over the armrest of a chair nearby. Jasmine glanced back at Jace, and realized that he must have been the person to pick the jacket up off the floor. This made Jasmine sad, even if she didn't understand why.
"Where are you going?" Alec asked when Jasmine went to retrieve her jacket.
"The Institute," she said, and heard the drawnness in her own voice. "I should get back."
"Hold on," said Luke, opening his eyes. He was holding his shoulder in a painful manner.
"Luke!" Clary exclaimed, dropping to her knees next to him. "Do you remember what happened?"
"Not really." Luke passed a hand over his face. "The last thing I remember was going out to the truck. Something hit my shoulder and jerked me sideways. I remember the most incredible pain—Anyway, I must have passed out after that. Jasmine," he said, and looked up at her. "I would like you to stay here until we know the coast is clear. We might still be under attack."
Jasmine's facial features didn't change, but her mind did - immediately. "Okay," she said, and felt her mood lift a bit. "I'll stay."