Next chapter! Please don't be mad that I had to take so many lines from the book again, but this scene was essential to the plot, especially since I've heard that not everyone reading this story knows the book. I'll make the next one my own again, I promise!

I don't own the characters or places!

In the end, the group gathered in the library once more. On their way there, Cordelia took Matthew aside. "How did it go?" She asked quietly. Surely, he knew that she didn't mean the conversation with Charles.

He sighed. "He's not mad at us." Matthew whispered, looking pained. "But I didn't expect it. In a way, that makes things even worse."

"Or better." Cordelia threw in. "Give him time, Matthew. I'm sure everything will go back to normal. At the moment, it's just a lot. The situation with his family. Grace and the bracelet. The two of us." She had only hesitated for a short moment before adding the last sentence. "You're James' parabatai. He could never be mad at you for long."

Matthew didn't look convinced. "He kept repeating that this isn't my fault. Nor yours."

She smiled. "Which is true. Please stop blaming yourself. It's hurting me to see it."

After looking around to make sure that they were alone, Matthew took her hands and squeezed them. "You shouldn't feel that way, Daisy. I'm sorry."

"If you also start apologizing endlessly, you'll have different problems than a sad parabatai." She warned him in a low voice, though she was still smiling.

Matthew smiled back at her, even if it looked tired. "Maybe we should join the others. I'm sure that they also want to know what Charles said."

It turned out that the conversation with Charles didn't give away much. He'd admitted that he was being blackmailed, but it didn't look like he'd change his mind about admitting the truth. After the conversation, Alastair had been so furious that he'd left the Institute together with Thomas. It surprised Cordelia, but at the same time, she also felt a spark of hope. If her brother searched Thomas' company in such a situation, maybe he'd soon realize his feelings. Or stop fighting them.

Outside, a storm was coming. Cordelia could hear thunder roaring and sometimes, the room was illuminated by lightning from outside. She hoped that Alastair and Thomas would be all right, but Bridget had assured her they'd taken the carriage, so she shouldn't worry.

The conversation in the room drifted to Grace and the bracelet again. James looked weary of the topic and Cordelia understood why too well. It was like discussing her being Lilith's paladin over and over again. She couldn't stand it anymore.

In the end, the discussion about the bracelet ended when the door to the library slammed open, revealing Charles, his hair a mess and an angry look on his face. He was pushing someone ahead of him and when Cordelia realized who it was, she froze. Next to her, Matthew did the same, inhaling sharply when he took in the scene in front of them.

Cordelia glanced at James to see him stiffen. "Grace." He said in a cold voice.

The only person who rose to his feet was Christopher, his expression hard. But Cordelia suspected that the look was directed at Charles, not Grace. "Charles, what on earth -?"

"I found her creeping around the entrance to the Sanctuary." Charles explained, his expression furious. "She's broken out of the Silent City, clearly." For a moment, Cordelia wondered if Charles knew what Grace had done to him. That she'd used her power to make him propose to her. From the way he looked, it was possible.

Then her eyes drifted to Grace. There was no resemblance to the cold and self-possessed girl she'd always been. Cordelia had always thought of Grace as very collected and calculating in her actions. She was none of that now. Instead, she was cringing back from Charles. She looked awful, even more so than in the Silent City. Back then, her appearance had been plain, but still neat. Now her hair was a mess, hanging in wet strings. There were stretches up and down her bare arms and she was shivering violently. "Let me go, Charles. Please, let me go -" She pleaded, her eyes drifting to the others, as if she wanted to call for help.

"Let you go?" Charles asked incredulously. "You're a prisoner. A criminal."

"I hate saying this, but Charles is right." Matthew said, his voice unusually cautious. "We should contact the Silent City -"

"It's gone." Grace whispered, interrupting him. "It's all gone."

For a moment, no one reacted to that. Cordelia saw Lucie exchange a puzzled look with James.

"Grace, what do you mean? What's gone?" She asked when it became obvious that the others wouldn't say anything.

"The Silent City." Grace was shaking violently. "It's been taken -"

"Stop lying." Charles interrupted. "Look here -"

Now Jesse also rose to his feet. "Charles, stop." He snapped. "Let go of her." To everyone's surprise, Charles did just that with a reluctant expression on his face. "Gracie." Jesse said carefully, walking over to his sister and placing his jacket over her shoulders. "How did you get out of the Silent City?" His voice was soft when he asked the question.

Grace clutched Jesse's jacket around her tightly and didn't say anything.

"She needs runes." Jesse said, looking over to the others. "Healing runes, warming runes. I don't know how -"

"I'll do it." Christopher offered even before he could finish his sentence. Ari and Anna rose to help him and soon enough, Grace was seated on a chair, with Christopher drawing on her left arm with his stele. She still didn't let go of Jesse's jacket, holding it tightly with one hand.

"Grace." James said in the end, his voice steady. It must be hard for him, having to face her again so soon after telling them all the truth. Cordelia wanted to go to him and comfort him in some way, but she couldn't leave Matthew's side. Not with the way he was glancing at Grace from time to time. "You need to tell us what's happened. Why you're here."

"I hate to say this, but ought she be restrained while we question her?" Anna asked. "She does have a very dangerous power."

Grace pushed some of the wet hair out of her face. "My power's gone. It was taken."

"And why should we believe that?" Charles asked with a frown.

"Because it's true." Christopher's voice was calm when he said it. "She told you to let her go, Charles. And you didn't."

"He's right." Matthew added. "I've seen her use it before. Charles should have had to do whatever she asked."

Charles frowned. Cordelia also glanced at Matthew. When had he seen her use her power? For a short moment, their eyes met. I'll tell you later, Matthew's expression said.

"Well, that's good, isn't it?" Lucie asked. "The Silent Brothers were supposed to take it away."

"They didn't." Grace whispered. "It was my mother. They brought her into the Silent City. I told them she would find me and she did -"

She lifted her hands, as if she could ward something off, something terrible and invisible. Christopher caught at her wrist as Jesse's jacket slid to the floor. To Cordelia's surprise, his touch seemed to calm Grace. She leaned towards him - it seemed instinctive, unconscious. "She ripped the power out of me. Not with her own hands. She had some kind of creature with her, some kind of demon."

Charles sighed. "This is nonsense. Tatiana is safely locked in the Silent City, and this is some tale Grace has contracted to explain why she has escaped from prison."

"I don't think it's nonsense." Cordelia said sharply. "If she had truly escaped from the Silent City, this is the last place she'd come." Next to her, Matthew nodded in agreement.

"There's only one way to be sure." James said. "Charles, we must reach the Silent City."

There was a long silence. In the end, Charles sighed once more. "Fine. I'll summon the First Patrol. We'll ride out to Highgate, see what's going on. If anything at all." He glared at Grace once more before leaving the room, slamming the door behind him.

Once Charles was gone, Jesse walked to Grace and stood on her other side, opposite Christopher. He put his hand on his sister's shoulder. Cordelia thought that there was some reluctance in the gesture, but she couldn't blame him. Not after everything Grace had done. Grace relaxed at Jesse's touch anyway and when she brushed her hair out of her face once more, Cordelia realized that she was crying.

She reached for Matthew's hand under the table. When their fingers entwined, he squeezed her hand softly. A reassuring gesture. I'm here, it said.

Grace told them the whole story with a shaking voice. How Tatiana had found her in the Silent City, together with someone who looked like a Silent Brother but was something else entirely. The eyes had been open and shone with a green light. Tatiana had asked him to take away Grace's power and he did. After it was done, Grace ran away from them and Tatiana had let her. On her way, she'd seen many of the creatures, looking like Silent Brothers and Iron Sisters. They were attacking the real Silent Brothers and it seemed impossible to kill them. In the end, Grace ran into Brother Enoch and he helped her to get away. "He kept saying I had to tell the Institute something."

James straightened. "What was it? What do we need to know?"

Grace flinched back when he addressed her. She was afraid of James, Cordelia realized. Because he had been angry at her? Or because he had sent her to the prisons of the Bone City? Cordelia knew that James would have never hurt her, no matter how furious he'd been about everything.

"Grace." Ari said, her voice gentle but firm. "What did Brother Enoch say?"

"He said that my mother must have found the key." Grace whispered. "And taken it from the Citadel. He said they had come from the Path of the Dead. Then he pushed me through a door, and I fell out into the night. I was alone. I was in London, and I was alone in the graveyard."

"What of the other Silent Brothers?" Matthew asked. "Jem is in Idris, but Enoch, Shadrach -"

Grace shook her head. "I don't know. I couldn't get back into the City, couldn't even see the door. I ran until I found the road. A hansom cab pulled over, asked if I was all right. He felt sorry for me, the driver. He brought me here -"

She was cut off by the sound of the Institute gate slamming open, a harsh, metallic thud. Lucie walked over to the window and looked outside. "It's Charles." She said, relief obvious in her voice. "He's riding Balios out to Highgate." Grace's story had made them all tense, Cordelia realized.

"The key." Anna said with a frown. "What does that mean, that Tatiana took the key from the Adamant Citadel?"

"My mother was looking for a key." Jesse muttered grimly. "She and Belial. It was in her notes."

"A key to the prisons of the Silent City, perhaps?" Matthew suggested. "Tatiana must have let herself out of her cell. And let these - these things in. These false Silent Brothers and Iron Sisters."

"We know from what James saw in the mirror that Belial was trying to possess someone." Jesse said. "That he was using Chimera demons. They must have possessed the Silent Brothers, and be acting on Belial's orders -"

"Silent Brothers can't be possessed." Cordelia threw in. "They have the same protections we all do. If anything, theirs would be stronger."

Christopher was still holding Grace's wrist. "It sounds as if they were fighting with each other, isn't that right, Grace? As if some of them were defending you and the City?" He asked softly.

She nodded. "Enoch was still himself. And the others that I recognized. The dark ones, the glowing ones, they were strangers. I'd never seen them before."

"Were they dressed differently as well?" James asked. "Try to remember, Grace. It's important."

Grace looked away from James when he addressed her. "Yes. Their robes were white, instead of parchment, and they had different runes on them."

"White robes." Lucie exchanged a look with James. "Burial garments."

"The Iron Tombs." James said. "That's how Belial managed it. Most Silent Brothers would be protected from possession, but not the ones in the tombs. Their souls have left their bodies, and those bodies have been taken to rest under the volcanic plains, near the Adamant Citadel. They're empty vessels."

Anna cursed loudly at this. Cordelia herself felt like she was going to be sick. Under the table, Matthew's hold on her hand tightened. "There is a key to the Tombs." Ari explained. "I've seen drawings of it. It's kept - oh, it's kept in the Adamant Citadel." She covered her mouth with her hand.

Jesse was pale. "My mother must have stolen it. She would have unlocked the tombs for Belial, let him in. He would have brought the Chimeras there. Possessed the bodies of the Iron Sisters and Silent Brothers who were lying there, undefended. And once that was done, he marched them to the Silent City to attack."

"They wake." Cordelia whispered. "They rise. They march. All those messages, they were telling us what step Belial was at in his plan. But we didn't realize."

"We've been outplayed." James said quietly. "That business of Tatiana's, appearing at the Christmas party, throwing out those accusations, even kidnapping Alexander…"

"It was too easy, capturing her." Cordelia threw in. "She wanted to be arrested. She wanted to be thrown into the Silent City so she could do whatever this is."

"I don't know if it's what she wants, precisely." Jesse sounded thoughtful. "All of this is what Belial wants. He used her, as a pawn in his chess game. A piece he could move into the Silent City, a sort of Trojan horse, filled with his evil, his will -"

He was interrupted by the sound of thunder, so loud that it seemed to shake the entire Institute. Cordelia gasped and instinctively tightened her hold on Matthew's hand. On the other side of the room, Lucie turned to the window to look outside. Suddenly, she froze and her hands gripped the windowsill to tightly that her knuckles were white.

Cordelia was on her feet in an instant, running over to her friend. Matthew followed her without hesitation.

"Daisy…" Lucie whispered and Cordelia felt the urge to reach for a weapon, anything to defend her friends. Because outside, in the courtyard, stood Tatiana Blackthorn, surrounded by what Grace had described earlier. Silent Brothers, in white robes, their hoods pushed back to show their eyes, which shone in a green light.

Lightning illuminated the sky once more and Tatiana threw her head back. "Come out!" She called and her voice echoed through the Institute. "Come out, Lightwoods! Come out, Carstairs! Come out, Fairchilds! Come out, Herondales! Come out and meet your fate!"