Chapter 4
Clary fell asleep in Jace's arms like that, but her dreams were vivid and restless. She was with Sebastian again, in the forest near where her mother's home had burned to the ground, and there was something disquieting about his face. It seemed familiar, somehow. And when he'd kissed her, it felt so wrong. Like deep-in-her-bones kind of wrong, and not just because he wasn't Jace. She'd kissed Simon when she was still in love with Jace but it hadn't felt wrong like that to kiss Simon.
Then she looked down to her wrist and saw the ring of red from where Sebastian had grabbed her, like his grip had burned her almost.
And then she saw a different vision, Sebastian climbing the demon towers. He looked down at her and his eyes blazed red.
Then they were outside the Guard, having just saved Simon. Sebastian had killed Hodge and Hodge was looking at Sebastian when he said, "Jonathan." Jace had responded but Hodge wasn't looking at Jace. "No," he'd said to Jace, who though Hodge was rejecting him. But was it possible he'd been talking about Sebastian?
Then Izzy was saying Sebastian's dark hair had left residue on her fingers, as if he'd dyed it.
Then she was in the hall with Sebastian again, who was pleading with her to go outside with him. She felt the familiar unease in her stomach, the prick of recognition. She looked at his face again, but instead of blonde hair, Sebastian's hair was dark, a dark brown almost black. And he looked just like a younger version of Valentine…
And then the scene shifted and she was in the ruins of the manor with Jace again, and Ithuriel was giving her a vision again. She and Jace could see the same vision from Ithuriel, he was seeing what she was seeing, and his voice echoed in her head, "My children, my children, children of my blood, this is not the first dream I've sent to you…"
And then it clicked.
Clary sat up immediately, gasping, suddenly awake and alert.
"What is it?" Jace mumbled, his voice sounding sleepy. "Clary are you okay?" His arms reached up to wrap around her.
"Jace!" she whispered harshly, and she saw his eyes become alert immediately. "Jace it was a lie!"
She was shaking with the shock.
"What? What was a lie? Clary, what are you talking about?"
"Jace, remember how my jacket still had Sebastian's blood on it, and it was still fresh even when it was over a day old?"
Jace looked confused. "Yeah…"
"How can that be?" she said again. "How can blood look fresh when it's over a day old? And you don't know this but after he kissed me, when I pushed him away, he grabbed my wrist and later, my wrist was ringed in red. Almost like someone had burned it."
Jace's eyes flashed with anger. "He hurt you?" he said quietly, but his voice sounded dangerous to her ears.
"Yes but this isn't about that," she said impatiently. She held up her wrist. "My wrist was ringed in red, Jace, like I'd been burned. How could he do that?"
"I'm not sure…" Jace said.
"And when he kissed me, Jace, it felt wrong."
Jace looked angry again but Clary went on quickly. "Look, set aside that for now, okay? It felt wrong but not just because it wasn't you. When I kissed Simon, when Simon and I were… dating…"
"I remember," Jace said flatly.
"Well when I kissed Simon it didn't feel wrong. It wasn't at all like when I kiss you, but it wasn't wrong. But when Sebastian kissed me, it felt wrong. Like my whole body rejected it. I could feel it. How wrong it was."
"Huh…" Jace said, looking puzzled again.
"And Jace, when we found Ithuriel in the basement, and he showed us that vision. How could you see the vision too? You saw exactly what I saw. Why?"
"Because Ithuriel wanted us to see…"
"No, Jace, you're not hearing me. Ithuriel has been sending me dreams for months now. Remember how he said in the vision 'This isn't the first dream I've sent you'? We assumed he was talking to me, because we assumed I was injected with his angel blood. But what if he was talking to both of us? Have you had any prophetic dreams lately?"
Jace was silent for a while, dawning recognition coming over his face. "Actually, yes." he said.
"And at the Guard, with Hodge?" Clary said excitedly. "Hodge said, 'Jonathan' right after he saw Sebastian after Sebastian stabbed him. He wasn't talking to you, Jace, he was looking at Sebastian when he said it.
"And remember Max said he saw someone climbing the demon tower? We know now that it was probably Sebastian. And everyone was so confused at how he did it. The only way to take the demon towers down would be to bring demon blood into them, but how could Sebastian get demon blood into the demon tower without setting off the wards? Jace, what if he was the demon? What if it was Sebastian all along. He has demon blood. That's how he got past the wards, because he's still a Shadowhunter, even if he has some demon blood in him. That's how he took down the wards. And that's why he's so abnormally strong and fast!
"Jace, I think Valentine lied. He lied about us being siblings. And he lied about injecting you with demon blood. Jace, I think Sebastian is my brother, and I think you, well, I'm not sure who your parents are, but I think he injected you with angel blood just like me. And that's why you could see Ithuriel's vision. That's probably also why you are so much stronger and faster than most Shadowhunters. And he injected Sebastian with demon blood."