Chapter 6: Of Men and Angels

When we got to Magnus' lair, he and Kyler met us at the entrance. Simon helped Clary and I get Luke out from the backseat and followed us inside. I faintly heard Jace say that he was going to stash Luke's car while Clary helped me practically drag Luke inside. Magnus opened the doors to the main area of his lair and demanded what happened. Clary and I dragged Luke inside as he groaned in pain.

Simon, who was trailing behind us with Kyler, was the one that answered. "He was attacked!"

"My magic isn't doing anything," I informed him with a hint of panic in my voice. "He needs a warlock. He needs you."

Magnus placed a sheet over one of his couches. "Put him here," he instructed.

Luke started to mutter to himself, and it made me worry about how the poison was affecting him. Clary knelt next to him and held his hand while I stood on the other side with Magnus. "Jocelyn…" he trailed off as his eyes opened and looked directly at her.

"No, Luke, it's Clary," she corrected him. "Can you hear me?"

"Listen… Clary…" he trailed off as he grunted in pain but then turned to grab my hand as it hovered over his bite and startled me. "Kala… You both have to listen to me. I have to tell you, just in case…"

"No, don't even say it, don't," Clary said.

I placed a hand on his forehead, and he turned to me with desperation on his face. "Everything will be all right," I told him, trying to calm him down. "You're gonna make it through this."

"No, listen to me," he grunted in pain. "No, you need to know! Listen…"

He trailed off again with another groan in pain and Magnus pulled my shoulder to make me look at him. "Was he bitten by an Alpha?"

"Yeah, why?" Simon questioned, not understanding.

My eyes widened as it clicked in my head. We both turned to Luke and began to count. "Three, two, one…"

Luke shot up, growling with his eyes glowing green, he began to yell in pain as he seemed to fight against the poison. I could feel tears fill my eyes as Magnus ran off into another room. Simon asked where he was going. "Hold him down," he called out over his shoulder.

Kyler and I held down one side while Clary and Simon tried to hold down the other. Magnus came over to my side and placed a bowl of bark on top of the couch. I helped him place one between Luke's teeth and he bit on it immediately. "We don't have a lot of time," Magnus was saying, mainly to me before he spoke to the others. "It'll take a few moments to take effect."

"What's happening to him?" Clary demanded with panic in her voice.

"Random werewolf transformation," I explained, and my voice cracked as a few tears fell. I could feel Kyler's hands on my shoulders as he squeezed a little bit to ground me. "It's a side effect of the poison in the Alpha bite."

When Luke stopped struggling and calmed down, I helped Magnus bandage his wounds. Once that was done, I sat on the back of the couch, just staring at Luke. He had always been there for me as a child. When he found us again, he would come to check on me throughout the year that I spent with Magnus. He would bring me pictures of how my mother was doing in her pregnancy. Luke had even taken a video for me to watch after Clary was born.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to see Kyler looking at me in concern. I tried to smile in reassurance, but I chocked on a sob and covered my mouth with my hand as tears fell down my cheeks. Kyler pulled me into his arms as I tried to get myself together. Taking a deep breath, I pulled back and let out the breath slowly. I mouthed thank you to Kyler, who smiled at me in response.

Magnus' voice brought us back to the matter at hand, coming into the room with a small caldron and a few items. "The bark will stop the transformation for now, but Luke needs an antidote to stop the poison in his system."

"Please tell me you have everything for that," I begged moving to his side.

Magnus gave me a regretful look. "I don't have all the ingredients here," he told me, his tone full of sadness as I gave him a look.

"Just tell me what you need and how to get it," Clary insisted.

Magnus stopped from going onto the balcony and pointed at her. "No, you stay here. Luke will need you if he wakes up."

"When he wakes up," Clary and I said together, but I continued speaking. "I'll go. I'll know what everything looks like."

Magnus came back and came over to me, taking my hands in his. "You need to stay here adik . I will need your magic to help me, but I will also need you to help with the potion. Luke thinks of you as a daughter as well. He needs you."

"I'll go," three voices spoke up after I nodded with reluctance. Simon and Kyler shared a hostile look, but Clary and I turned to the door as Jace came in. I narrowed my eyes at the faint trail of blood coming from his nose.

I grabbed a tissue from the table and walked over to him quickly. "Jace, babe, what happened to you?"

"Luke's car may have found its way into a pole while I was stashing it," he shrugged. I gave him a look and he took the tissue from my hand, looking away from me. "I don't do mundane driving."

"Yeah, apparently," Simon said sarcastically as he put an arm around Clary when Kyler came around to stand next to me.

Kyler gave him a look with narrowed eyes as I rolled my eyes at their male pissing contest. Jace rolled his eyes as well and wiped at the blood under his nose. "What do you need for the antidote?" he asked.

"Hey, I got this," Simon objected.

"Phoenix eyes, moon salt, and Idris fulgurite," Magnus listed off, walking in between all of us and ignoring what was happening.

"One trip to the pharmacy, it'll take two seconds," Simon said as he went to walk out the door.

Kyler grabbed Simon's arm to stop him and pulled him back into the room. "I know a guy," he said. "And, uh… I don't need him."

"Too bad," Simon argued. "You're getting me. We'll be right back."

"I'll come too," Jace offered, and Kyler nodded at him in agreement. I put a hand on Jace's arm in concern, and Jace looked over at me with a reassuring smile. He place a hand on my cheek and stroked my cheek with his thumb. "I promise to be safe. I'll be back."

I sighed and nodded. Magnus stopped the three of them from leaving. "One more thing," he said, and we all looked at him. "I need Alexander."

Jace and Kyler looked almost startled. "Uh, why do you need Alec?" Jace asked in confusion.

"Virgin Shadowhunter energy," Magnus said quickly, and I narrowed my eyes at the fact that he was lying. But I didn't have any time to think of why he was lying because Jace looked worried.

"That explains so much," Simon scoffed.

Jace cleared his throat a little bit. "Um, Alec, yeah… I can't."

"Jace, just ask, please," Clary came over to stand next to me.

"You two need to talk," I agreed with my sister. I could tell that something had happened with them while we were in the werewolf den, and I knew that Kyler was a part of it as well with how he was acting. But I would worry about all that after Luke was better. I just knew that they needed to work out whatever had happened.

Jace sighed as Magnus walked behind them to the table, pausing long enough to tease Jace. "Trouble in paradise?"

Sighing again, Jace walked out while grabbing Simon to pull him along. "Just don't speak to us," he told him with Kyler following behind them.

I looked over at Clary as she watched them leave and then looked over at Luke over her shoulder. Clary came over and gave me a tight hug. "They'll come back in time," she whispered.

I couldn't tell if she was trying to convince herself or me.

*Roaring Fire*

NO ONE'S POV

After his father had ordered him to call Jace, Alec stepped into the hallway and called him on the phone. The moment that Jace answered, he got right to business. "You need to get back to the Institute."

"You need to help me first," Jace countered.

"No, I'm not messing around," Alec said in frustration.

"Me either," Jace insisted. "I need your help."

"You okay?" Alec asked in concern.

"I'm fine," Jace reassured him. "It's Magnus. He needs your powerful Shadowhunter energy, or something like that."

"Magnus…" Alec trailed off and started to stutter a little bit. "Why does Magnus need me?"

"To help save Luke's life," Jace reminded him.

"No, I told you at the wolf den, no more Downworlder business," Alec told him firmly. "We can't be seen as interfering with a pack Alpha dispute. How can you even ask me—"

He was cut off by Jace's frustrated voice. "I shouldn't have to ask you, Alec. We're Parabatai."

"That's exactly my point."

"Alec, you're a man of honor, and the only person in the world I would trust with something like this," Jace told him. "I'm counting on you to do the right thing. You didn't see the broken look that Kali had on her face at seeing Luke. I'm not just asking for me, I'm asking for her."

Alec sighed as they both hung up. He began to pace the hallway again. His mind began to remember all the times that he had ever seen Kalavati looking absolutely broken. There had been a few times that he wouldn't tell anyone about when he would find Kalavati absolutely broken-down crying on the floor of her room. Alec had never asked why she was crying, just held her until she had exhausted herself, and then put her in bed.

Every time it happened, it tugged harshly at his heart. It had hurt to see the strong-willed, independent, and sharp-tongued Kalavati so broken and torn down. He had always promised that he would do anything to stop that from happening again, but he wasn't sure what he could do that wouldn't go against what everyone was telling him.

*Roaring Fire*

Kalavati's POV

I had just finished bandaging Luke's wounds again. It seemed like with the poison in his system, it was keeping his healing from working. I knew for a fact that werewolves healed really quickly, and Luke wasn't healing fast at all. My eyes watered, and I had to fight to push it down again. It seemed like I was doing that a lot recently.

It was just so hard for me to see Luke like this. Luke had always been there, even before the Uprising. I had seen him as an Uncle back then, but he quickly grew into the father that I needed. Despite not being a Dragon, he understood the struggle that Kyler and I went through with our dragons. He had been a mentor to both of us, helping us to gain control.

Seeing that strong man in pain and fighting for his life, it was tearing me apart. I noticed that Clary had walked away towards Magnus as he messed with ingredients for the potion. "What's all this for?" she asked with worry in her tone.

"The base for the potion," Magnus answered absently as he poured something into another bottle. It lit up with a white glow that caused Clary to gasp. Magnus poured it into the caldron. "Stir," he instructed as he went to get another ingredient on the balcony. "We need to have it ready before your boy toys get back."

"What if they don't get back in time?" Clary asked in shock as she slowly stirred the mixture.

"You can't think like that, biscuit," Magnus tried to reassure.

Normally, I would make a joke about the fact that she didn't deny that Kyler and Simon were her boy toys, as she knew that Jace was with me. But we weren't in a normal situation, and the worry about them getting here in time was getting to me as well. I made my way over and wrapped an arm around Clary's shoulders. "They'll make it back Clary," I reassured her weakly. "Kyler wouldn't want to betray both you and I."

"That's all I can think about," Clary told us before she scoffed softly. "Magnus, Kala, I don't know if I can do this anymore. Okay, I'm an art student. All my adventures are supposed to be two-dimensional."

"Who says?" Magnus asked distantly with a scoff to his voice.

"Me," Clary insisted and moved towards the balcony to argue with Magnus. I took over stirring the potion for Clary as she seemed to be on the verge of a breakdown. This is what I was worried about with my little sister, that she wouldn't be able to handle it. "Look, it is one thing to draw monsters and demons, but it is completely different to see them up close and personal." Magnus came over to put another ingredient in the potion and smiled at me for stirring. I tried to smile back, but I'm sure that it wasn't that convincing. "I don't know what I'm doing."

Clary looked between us, trying to find something. Magnus looked at her with a small smile. "Don't sell yourself short. You forget, I've seen you in action, Clary Fairchild."

"You'll get there Clary," I jumped in next. "It will take some time to get used to it, but I promise that you'll get there."

Luke then started to shout and call out for our mother. He looked like he was fighting something with his arms twitching. Magnus, Clary, and I all ran to his side. Clary went to take Luke's hand, but I pulled her back at the same time that Magnus pushed her back. "Let me take your pain away," Magnus insisted.

"No," Luke gasped, grabbing onto Magnus' arm to stop him. "No."

"Agitation only makes the venom work faster," I told Luke seriously. "You have to let him do something."

"I need to tell them," Luke gasped again.

"Save your strength," Clary urged him.

"No, you need to know," Luke insisted. "No, please."

"Magnus, do it," Clary said instantly.

Luke groaned before tugging on Magnus' arm to make him look down at him. "You need to tell them, all of it," he groaned out. "Promise me."

Magnus took a glance towards me over his shoulder before looking back at Luke and nodded. He then snapped his fingers and activating his magic. Scanning Luke's body, Magnus spread his magic at the same time. "The poison is spreading," he said in worry. "Your suitors need to hurry."

Clary and I shared a worried look. I pulled Clary to me, and she buried her face in my shoulder. My eyes never left Luke's form, and my mind unconsciously went out to Kyler. 'Please hurry.'

*Roaring Fire*

NO ONE'S POV

'Please hurry,' Kalavati's voice rang in Kyler's head. His brows furrowed and his eyes narrowed at the pleading and broken tone. He knew how much Luke means to the older redhead. He had always made the effort to reach out to her and make sure that she was okay. Luke would take her out for lunch ever so often just to have some quality time, and so Kalavati would be able to decompress from everything. Kyler turned to his two companions. "We need to hurry," he called out.

"Keep up, mundane," Jace called back to Simon.

"Would you stop calling me that?" Simon wondered in frustration. "I have a name."

"Well, learning it would mean we care, so, no," Kyler told him as he kept walking.

"Yeah, and God forbid either of you care about anyone but yourselves," Simon said sarcastically.

"We both care about a bunch of people," Jace said with a smirk on his face. He was having a little bit of fun making fun of this mundane. "Just don't care about you."

"Me, or what… What's it called, your… your Parabatai?" Simon questioned in annoyance.

"Woah, watch your mouth," Jace said as he and Kyler both stopped and rounded on Simon. "You don't know a thing about me and Alec. We clear?"

"You don't know anything about Parabatai bonds," Kyler growled. "So don't act like you know everything."

"Twenty bucks says he leaves you hanging tonight," Simon said in a smug voice to Jace. He then moved between the two boys and kept walking.

"Not a chance," Jace countered with confidence as he and Kyler followed.

"Really?" Simon inquired sarcastically. "Come fetch, roll over. You know. Lie down. You treat him like a lap dog."

"Guess it takes one to know one," Kyler commented which caused Simon to stop. Jace and Kyler kept walking, completely ignoring him.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Simon inquired in a startled tone.

Kyler looked back at him and rolled his eyes. "It means, you're like a yippy dog nipping at Clary's heels."

"I don't nip," Simon defended. "And she's my best friend."

"That's all she's ever gonna be," Jace countered. "Have you seriously not figured that out yet?"

"Look, I don't want Clary as anything more than a best friend," Simon justified. Both Kyler and Jace exchanged disbelieving looks before rolling their eyes. "And I'll have you know that there are tons of women who have more-than-a-friend feelings for me."

Kyler looked around them before looking back at Simon with a smirk. "Where are they? Because Jace is here for Kali."

"I don't have to introduce either of you to them," Simon snapped, and both of the other boys rolled their eyes again before walking away. "And my point is, Clary and I have always had each other's backs. We had our entire lives. That's more than I can say for you or Alec."

Jace rounded on Simon in anger this time with a raised growl in his voice. "You do not get to talk about Alec, mundane," he spat.

He turned back around to walk away but Simon got angry and went after him. "I told you, don't call me mundane!" he shouted as he grabbed one of the knives that Jace had and backed Jace against a brick wall. He held the knife to Jace's throat and had a growl to his own voice. "Are we clear?"

Kyler watched with calm eyes, taking in how Simon's scent and attitude changed in an instant. He knew that Jace could handle himself, so he wouldn't need to get involved just yet. But it was concerning to him that Simon was acting like this. He may not like Simon at all, but it was worrying that he was acting like this after being in the vampire hotel.

Jace held his hands up. "What are you gonna do now?" he asked before moving forwards a little bit. "You gonna cut me?" Before Simon could react, Jace had disarmed him and put him on his back on the ground. "Do that again, and I'll kick your ass."

"I'm sorry," Simon stuttered and stammered. "Dude, I'm sorry. I don't know why I did that. I'm sorry."

Jace stood and held out his hand to pull Simon up. He narrowed his eyes at the guy with the glasses in suspicion. "What happened to you at the vampire hotel?"

"Nothing, I told you, I was a hostage," Simon brushed off.

"You sure?" Jace questioned before he tried to look at Simon's neck.

Simon shook him off quickly. "Leave me alone! I told you, it's nothing, it's… You just piss me off."

Simon walked off and Jace walked up to Kyler to walk next to him. "Is that how Simon usually acts?"

Even though Kyler didn't like him, he had been around Simon before all this. Kyler shook his head as he watched the Mundane. "Not even close. There have been times that he can go off, but not like that."

"So, you noticed it too huh?" Jace asked.

Kyler nodded at him. "Not just that, but his scent changed in that moment. That's not supposed to happen to a mundane."

Jace shared a suspicious and concerned look with Kyler before they both quickened their steps to get their task done quickly.

*Roaring Fire*

Kalavati's POV

I was patting the sweat from Luke's forehead with a cold cloth. His body was trying to fight off the poison, but it wasn't working too well. Something cold was placed against my shoulder and I looked over to see a glass of bourbon being held out for me. My eyes turned up to see Magnus giving me a reassuring smile. I gave him a small smile and took the glass, taking a large gulp. I moved over to the chair across from the couch and stared at Luke's form.

During my eighteenth birthday, Magnus had me try several different alcoholic drinks and we found out that I have a very high tolerance to alcohol. He was always getting me to try new concoctions that he would make, trying to see the limit to my tolerance. All we really knew was that it would calm me down and take the edge off of my nerves. There were times that Magnus and I would sit and drink, just talking about anything and everything.

"Tell me what?" Clary cut in from her spot, stirring the potion. "What's so important that Luke risked his life?"

"Everything Jocelyn hoped to hide from you," Magnus told her before glancing at me. "From both of you."

"What does that mean?" Clary asked, looking over her shoulder. "Wouldn't she know everything?"

I shook my head. "I was a three-year-old when everything happened. My memory wouldn't be as accurate, and mom kept a lot of things from me too."

Magnus snapped his fingers before creating two sketch pads, one appearing on the table next to Clary and the other one appearing in my lap. Clary looked at it in surprise before slowly moving towards it. I immediately opened up the pad and began to sketch with the charcoal that appeared as well. Glancing over the top, I noticed that Clary opened it up slowly.

"Why?" she asked distantly.

"When you were younger, I'd watch you and your sister sketching," Magnus sighed as he took over stirring the pot. "It was the bliss that you both had. You're gonna need some bliss now."

"Back then, there wasn't a day that I didn't draw," Clary commented with a sigh and chuckled. "It was like breathing. Now, I look at this blank page and I barely even know what to do." She then looked out the window as if in a daze. "Sometimes I feel like my art, my memories… my life, it… it all vanished with that Memory Demon."

Magnus motioned for me to stay seated when he noticed that I went to stand, and he moved closer to Clary. "Your art, everything you are… they're all still here. You're the woman your mother always knew you could be."

"But tried to keep me from being," Clary whispered.

"That's why you and Kal need to know how you got here," Magnus said.

"Will it help us find our mother?" she asked.

"That's the only reason I can think of why Luke would be so adamant," Magnus replied with a sigh as he went back to stirring.

I watched as Clary took a deep breath and let it out slowly before turning to Magnus with a determined look. "I'm ready," she declared, and Magnus looked over at her. "Bring it, warlock."

Clary sat in the other chair with the sketch pad and began to draw as he spoke while I turned back to my own sketch. "When I first heard about your father, around the time he and Jocelyn first got together, long before the Uprising and the Circle, Valentine elevated the Morgenstern name to be synonymous with virtue. And your mother was at his side.

"But by the time my people came to know him, barely two year later, his name had become synonymous with devastation. Your mother told me it was then she first saw the signs. They never found all the bodies. We all stood with the Clave for centuries."

"How could that not matter to him?" Clary interrupted.

"He was obsessed with ensuring purity of blood," Magnus told her, coming to stand beside her. "Convinced that the impurities were a threat to peace."

"He was the threat to peace," Clary muttered.

"Mad men rarely make sense," I cut in as I drew Valentine standing above a child's bed. "Mostly, they just hate. And he hated the Downworlders, for the gifts that they possess that he could not have."

"And he hated us enough to kill us all," Magnus commented.

Clary looked to me. "You're half Dragon Kala. What about you?"

I sighed as I looked over my sketch and didn't look up. "He was one of the few that understood that Dragons possessed Angel blood as well. He had treated me as his own child, but there were times that he turned his anger to me as well. The fact that I could have magic would cause him to go into a rage."

I glanced up at Clary's shocked look. "Did he ever touch you?"

I shook my head as I stood up and turned my drawing towards her. "My magic, while it was harder to control back then, would protect me whenever he actually tried."

I then put my drawing on the table and Clary came up to put hers next to mine. She stood and began to pace around the room as Magnus came to sit next to me. He ran his fingers over both of our drawings with a look of awe that we could do that. When Magnus looked over my drawing, he looked up at me in worry. I tried to give him a reassuring smile, but it didn't look as if he was convinced.

"Ever since our mother was kidnapped, and the Shadow World invaded my life, so many Downworlders have helped me, not even thinking about what it might cost them," Clary ranted. "How could Valentine not see good in any of them?"

"He was blinded by his ambition," Magnus reminded her.

Clary came rushing over to Magnus and practically growled in his ear. "Why didn't the Clave stop him?"

"He was clever," Magnus sighed. "He and his followers, they managed to convince the Clave that the Downworlders that they killed on their special missions had violated the Accords in some way. Complete fabrications."

Magnus got up as he spoke and walked further into the room in frustration. Clary looked absolutely lost as she stared down at the drawing she made. "How could the Clave not see?"

I placed a hand on her shoulder to make her look at me. "Shadowhunters believe in the Law as absolute," I explained to her. "They could never conceive of one of their own going astray."

Clary let out a humorless shot laugh. "My father didn't go astray, Kala. He went insane."

"What happened back then is happening again," Magnus jumped in, walking up to us, and I put my arm down. "The Clave refuses to believe that Valentine's a threat. Nineteen years ago, their lack of vision allowed the Circle to almost decimate the entire Shadow World."

"That was the Uprising?" Clary asked.

"Yes," Magnus answered. "Valentine wanted to create a new Shadowhunter army. And for that, he needed the Mortal Cup. He knew it would be on display at the signing of the Accords as a show of the Clave's power. He seized the opportunity to accomplish everything he ever wanted. Destroy the Accords, murder Downworlders, and secure the Cup."

Clary walked away and began to pace back and forth in front of the couch that Luke was laying on. "How could my mom and Luke be a part of something like this?" She then turned to me. "Did you know about this? Do you remember it?"

"I didn't find out later what had happened," I shook my head at her. "I only remember mom coming into my room in a panic, hastily packing a bag before picking me up and taking off with me. She didn't explain anything to me for a little while until I came back from being with Magnus, and even then, I knew that she didn't tell me everything."

"But how could they even be with him?" Clary repeated in frustration.

"Jocelyn and Luke tried to prevent the Uprising," Magnus told her as he walked up to us. "They tried to change Valentine's mind about Downworlders."

"Obviously, they didn't," Clary almost growled at him.

"Clary, if it wasn't for your mother and Luke, the Circle would have won," Magnus told her firmly and Clary looked shocked.

Magnus told us about how Luke and our mom had fought against Valentine after he got the Cup. How our mom grabbed the Cup and ran with it. Clary had picked up her sketch pad again, sitting in one of the armchairs. I sat on the arm of the chair she sat in and looked down at the drawing of our mom with Valentine and Luke in the background.

"Ever since I found out Valentine was my father, I wondered how our mother could be married to someone like that…and why she stayed," Clary commented before looking between me and Magnus as he walked up to us. "She had to stop him."

"And safeguard the Cup," Magnus said. "Everything Jocelyn did, she did to save the people she'd sworn to protect. She took her oath as a Shadowhunter seriously."

"I understand, but how does that help me find the Cup?" Clary asked looking up at him.

"Maybe Luke thinks if you know your mother better, you'll know where she hid it," Magnus suggested.

"Then, tell me why she gave up being a Shadowhunter," Clary wondered.

"Because the things in the world she loved more is you and your sister," Magnus told her as he knelt next to her. "She had to protect you both."

"From my father, the lunatic," Clary sighed.

It was then that Luke began to groan, and Clary stood to go around the couch as I came to the arm of the couch next to his head. Magnus sighed to himself. "The magic's wearing off."

"It was our fault!" Luke shouted. "It was our fault!"

"Luke!" Clary called. She peeled off the bandage on his bite and we both saw the yellow puffy liquid in the bite holes. Clary gasped in response. "It's worse."

Magnus snapped his fingers before pushing his magic into Luke's body. The whole room began to shake at the resistance of the bite and the amount of magic Magnus was using. Clary and I were having a hard time staying up right. "I'm running out of magic," Magnus voiced.

"What do we do?" Clary asked as she struggled to stay standing.

"I can't leave him, but the potion stock still needs Komodo scale," Magnus instructed. "Find it, add the rest when they get here. You'll have to feed it to Luke."

"What about you?" I asked in concern.

"I'll hold on as long as I can!" Magnus called to us. "Go!"

Clary went off to find the Komodo scale while I made my way to the other side of the couch. "Let me help," I insisted, and Magnus looked up at me. "I can help keep the poison from spreading."

He nodded at me, and I summoned my magic immediately. I pushed it into Luke's body. Due to the connection, we had through our magic, our magic blended together. I focused on slowing down the poison, but I was still able to notice when Magnus was about to pass out. Reaching my hand out, I tried to grab his hand when someone else caught him. I smiled when I saw that it was Alec.

Alec sent me a small smile before turning his attention to Magnus, who was panting in his arms. "Help me," Magnus pleaded and held out his hand. "I need your strength."

Alec seemed to debate for a second before he took Magnus' hand. "Take what you need."

He then helped Magnus sit upright and Magnus' magic joined mine again. We both focused on keeping the poison in check and it felt as though my magic was straining to keep up with it. In that moment, Clary came up next to me with a cup and fed the potion to Luke. It took a moment before I felt the poison disappear and I was able to let go of my magic.

I stumbled a little bit and began to lean backwards. Hands caught my shoulders and helped to stead me, but I knelt on the ground to catch my breath. I looked up to see Jace holding me and looking rather worried. I smiled at him in reassurance, and he smiled back before helping me stand. Looking over the couch, I met Luke's worried looking eyes and I gave him a reassuring smile.

Jace made me sit in one of chairs while he helped to change Luke's bandages. The four boys helped Luke into one of the side bedrooms while Clary and I seemed to just stare at the couch that still had the bloody sheet on it. Not much later, I looked up as Clary began to speak to Alec. "Alec, if you hadn't gotten here in time…" she trailed off, not wanting to think about it. "Thank you, and I'm glad that you, Jace and Kyler are better now."

"I didn't do this for either Jace or Kyler," Alec corrected her.

"Then we're both glad you did it for you," I spoke, and he looked at me with a smirk. I smirked back before Alec turned to Jace and Kyler as they entered the room. Jace walked towards him, and Alec held out his hand. The blonde smiled and took his hand before bringing him in for a bro hug. "Thank you," he whispered.

When they let go, Jace walked over to me as Kyler approached and he just stared at Alec, who stared right back. Almost simultaneously, they both smiled before bro hugging as well while chuckling. Kyler patted Alec's shoulder with a heavy hand. "Thank you for helping Alec," he said.

Alec nodded, patting Kyler's shoulder before walking away to put away some things that fell over from before. Kyler then turned to Clary with a playful look as he crossed his arms. A hand on my shoulder brought my attention to Jace next to me. He still looked worried as he reached to caress my cheek.

"Are you sure that you're, okay?" he asked. "You still look pretty drained."

I reached up and took his hand with a smile. "I'll be okay babe. Holding back the poison was hard but I just need a few minutes to rest."

"If you're sure," Jace relented, not looking convinced.

I laughed softly at his worry when my name was called by Simon. "Clary, Kala," he called, and we both looked to him in the doorway. "Luke's asking for both of you."

"Of course," Clary said, clearing her voice and I noticed that she had a little bit of pink in her cheeks. Jace helped me stand and made sure that I wouldn't fall over. I squeezed his hand with a reassuring smile as I followed after Clary. She gave a Simon a quick hug. "Thank you, so much," she whispered.

She went past him, and I gave him a quick hug as well. I patted his shoulder as I went past him and followed Clary down the hallway. I stopped next to her as she stood in the doorway, watching as Magnus made himself busy with fluffing the pillows that Luke was sitting against.

"Thank you, Magnus," Luke said in exasperation.

"You're welcome," Magnus replied before he saw the two of us in the doorway. "I'll leave you three alone." He then walked towards us as Luke glanced over before looking away and clearing his throat. "Go easy on him," Magnus suggested to us before he left.

The moment that Magnus left Clary cleared her throat softly. "You know you can't avoid the question, right?" Luke glanced at her, and she scoffed as she stepped closer to the bed. "I know Mom swore you to secrecy, but I've seen you stand up to her before. Why didn't you tell me about any of this?"

"Even if you weren't able to tell Clary about it, why wasn't I told about it?" I jumped in with a frown at the man I considered a father. "I could have helped her with all of this, and you wouldn't have gotten hurt."

Luke sighed. "None of us wanted to tell you about this because it could trigger you." I looked at him in confusion as I sat on the edge of the bed. "Magnus helped to put a barrier around your memories that way you could live normally. At least as normal as you could get. He's had to strengthen the barrier every year, but we wanted to make sure that you could handle everything." I was in shock as Luke sighed again before he continued. "We were also scared that you both would hate us."

"Not possible," we both said immediately. Luke gave her a look and Clary sighed. "Okay, the last few days, neither of us have had all of the information."

"And you still don't," Luke told her before glancing between us. "Neither of you do. But you need to know everything. It'll help you two find the Mortal Cup."

"How?" Clary asked in confusion.

"You're just gonna have to trust me," Luke insisted.

"And I always will," I told him.

"I do, more than anything," Clary reassured. "Nothing you say is ever gonna change that. Okay, but you have to trust us too."

Luke sighed again before relenting. "All right. Magnus told you about the Uprising?" We both nodded. "About the Valentine who murdered all those people?" We nodded again. "The reason he became that man was our fault… mine and Jocelyn's."

I was shocked by his words and Clary scoffed at that. "I don't believe you," she said as she went to leave the room.

"We betrayed him, Clary," he called after her. "Your mother and I. We fell in love."

"Did you…" Clary began to stammer as she walked back towards the bed. "Wait… Are you my…"

"No," Luke said immediately. "No, we never…"

"Slept together?"

"Yeah. I mean, no!" Luke said before he sighed. "You parents were married." Both Clary and I scoffed at that as Clary leaned against the post behind me. "Valentine was my Parabatai. We both love him. But as his rhetoric got more violent… and he became more combative with the Clave… we started to worry. We tried to help him, tried to temper him, but he just kept pulling away. That just drew us closer together. We knew it was wrong, but we couldn't deny it, or hide it.

"Valentine became convinced we were having an affair, especially after she had you, Kala." I looked at him in surprise. "They were still getting to know each other when she got pregnant with you. Valentine was able to forgive her for it, but I think he always thought that she would eventually go astray. He was obsessed with winning Jocelyn's heart back. For love, he was willing to do anything, even compromise his own principles.

"He became fixated on becoming a better soldier," Luke sighed, and I reached over to place a hand on his. He looked up at me before he took a deep breath and continued. "That led him to do the unthinkable experiment with Downworlder blood. Once he crossed that line, we never got him back again."

I shared a look with Clary as she walked around to the other side of the bed to lean against the post. We were both thinking the same thing, that he had been gone long before that. Luke's voice drew our attention back to him. "In the end, our love did more damage to Valentine than anything anybody else could have done. We broke his heart."

"At least now we know he had one," Clary commented. "Before his crazy, distorted world view set in." She then got curious. "What was he like back then?"

"In the early days of the Circle?" Luke asked with a small smile, and she nodded. "Oh, he was honorable. Idealistic. He was charismatic."

"Just mom's type," I smirked at him. "Sounds almost like my father, but that also sounds like you Luke."

"Oh, no," Luke denied with a smile. "No. I never came close. He was a leader. Devoted to protecting us from dying pointless deaths."

"And you believed in him," Clary concluded.

Luke chuckled. "If Simon told you he had the cure for cancer, you'd want to believe him, too."

"Well, I'd probably give him the benefit of the doubt at least," Clary smirked with a small laugh.

"Which is what I did," Luke pointed out. "What we all did. The demons were winning. We couldn't train our people fast enough to keep up."

"What about the Dragons?" Clary asked as she turned to me. "If they are allies to the Shadowhunters, then why weren't they helping out?"

"It wasn't until recently that the Dragon Council has actually tried to be friendly," I frowned as I answered her. "Over the years, the Dragons have become more and more arrogant and prideful. Thinking that they were superior to the Shadowhunters. It wasn't until both Kyler and I were born that they realized that we had to work together and that the Dragons needed to help."

"And since they weren't really helping, Val wanted the Clave to use the Mortal Cup to create more Shadowhunters, but that just made them angry," Luke agreed.

"Isn't more Shadowhunters a good thing?" Clary inquired.

"Not the way he was proposing," Luke murmured.

"Clary," I said, and she turned to me. "Ever since the Angel Raziel created the first Shadowhunters with the Cup, it's been forbidden to use the Cup again to rebuild their forces."

Luke hummed in agreement as he looked down at the bed in thought. "Jocelyn and I, we tried pulling him back, but he just misconstrued that as…"

"The affair," Clary finished as she stood behind him. "It's not your fault, Luke. There's no way you two could have pushed him over the edge. He did that to himself with the blood injections."

"And the more injections he took, the deeper it seemed he descended into madness," Luke said and he began to explain what Valentine had told Jocelyn after he had killed warlocks.

"Magnus never told us that part," I frowned as I thought about him giving himself injections. I felt like that was familiar and that I should know something about that, but nothing was connecting.

"He didn't know," Luke reassured me. "If he had known, he would have told you Kala. There are some things Jocelyn and I never talked about."

Clary walked over with her sketch pad and stared at it as she walked around the bed to sit on the other side. "Why would she hide that she's an artist, especially from me?

"Because after that night, she locked that part of herself away," Luke explained. "She never wanted their lives to affect either of you."

"What did my father do?" Clary had to ask.

Luke sighed as he looked down at the sketch pad in her hands. "Your mother is the only other person I ever told this to. I never wanted it to burden either of you."

"Tell us," I insisted.

"Valentine asked me to back him up on a mission," Luke started before telling how Valentine betrayed the Parabatai bond. I looked at him in utter shock. I had heard of Parabatai getting into fights, but they were always able to work it out. Even Kyler and I fought from time to time. Luke then began to get up from the bed. "And then he betrayed everything else he believed in."

He told his side of the Uprising and what all happened with Valentine. Luke leaned heavily on the post of the bed. "For a while, I thought he'd killed her," he said in despair before he turned serious. "He wanted us both dead. He killed thousands. Turned Shadowhunter against Shadowhunter. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"God only knows what he'd do if he got the Cup," Clary whispered.

"Alright, you need still need to rest," I told Luke as I stood from the bed. "You're still healing."

Luke shook his head and grabbed onto Clary and my hands when we got closer. "We have to get the Cup before Valentine does."

"But I don't know where it is," Clary countered with panic in her voice. "Or even where to start looking."

"It all starts and ends with you two," Luke told us, looking between us.

"How do you know that?" I inquired in confusion.

"Because I know Jocelyn," Luke insisted. "You two are the only other people that she would have trusted with the location of the Cup."

"If she trusted me so much, why didn't she tell me any of this?" Clary countered angrily as she sat on the bed.

"She didn't think this was gonna happen," Luke told us as he got back onto the bed. "The potion, Dot… Jocelyn said that I should tell you everything about our past. That it would unlock you both."

Clary stood from the bed in frustration. "What does that even mean?"

"I don't know!" Luke said, raising his voice before he lowered it and pointed at both of us. "But you two do."

"Memory's wiped, remember?" Clary pointed out, throwing her arms out.

"There are clues," Luke insisted. "They're inside the mundane world. Think, Clary."

Clary turned away in frustration while I just looked at Luke with narrowed eyes. "Why would Mom trust me with the location?" They both looked at me in confusion. "Clary, I can understand. She spent the most time in the Mundane World, but I didn't. I've spent the last nineteen years going between the Mundane and Shadow World. I've gone from the Mundane World with Mom and Clary to being in the Shadow World with the Institute and Downworlders.

"She didn't trust me enough to tell me anything about this." Luke went to argue but I cut him off. "It doesn't matter that I have a barrier in my mind. Someone should have said something. But that also could discount me from knowing anything."

Luke looked at me sadly. "I know that you remember sometimes where it could get bad." I nodded at his statement as I looked down at the bed. "But it could get worse than that. There are plenty of things that you still don't know about, but I can't risk breaking the barrier if you're not ready."

I sighed as I stood from the bed to turn away and Clary spun around. "I don't remember anything. If Mom hid the clues, I don't know what they are."

"You two have to figure this out!" Luke insisted.

"You said you had to tell me everything," Clary reminded him. "Maybe… Maybe there's something you forgot." She then paused. "Wait." She went over to her bag that sat on a chair in the corner. Clary took out the box and went back to sit on the bed. She held out the box in front of her. "What is this?"

Luke began to shake his head and mutter no again and again. Clary kept going though. "Mom said this belonged to my father, but Valentine in my father. Who is JC?"

"I want you to remember your father could be a good man," Luke snapped at her.

"Luke," I called as I could feel the tears that had gathered in my eyes spill over. He and Clary looked over at me in surprise. "After everything he's done to the one's that he claims to love. You can't honestly defend him. You can't keep making excuses for him, he's done too much."

"Kala is right," Clary agreed before she turned back to Luke and set the box on top of her sketch pad. "Luke, I want to know. I… I need to know. You said so yourself. You have to tell me everything."

"JC stands for Jonathan Christopher," Luke said before looking into her eyes. "Your brother."

Clary gasped a little bit. "We have a brother?"

I walked over and put a hand on Clary's shoulder to get her to look at me. When she looked up, more tears fell from my eyes. "We did," I managed to get out, trying not to sob. "He died in a fire at Fairchild Manor."

"A fire that your father set," Luke finished for me.

Clary gasped and leaned on the box, pushing the box into the blank page, and creating a 3D drawing of the box. I stared at it in surprise, while Luke reached over to touch the page.

"That's it," Clary stammered. "That's the ending of the story that our mother needed me to hear, but… Is that what she meant to unlock?" Luke didn't answer her as he picked up the page. "How did I do that?"

"There are Shadowhunters that have unusual Angelic Powers, but I've never seen anyone do what you just did," Luke told her.

"I can," I jumped in, and they both turned to me in surprise. "When I lived with Magnus, I had a bad nightmare, and I accidentally put one of my toys in my sketch pad. It created a 3D sketch, just like that. It took some time, but I learned how to take things in and out of a drawing if they it had been an actual object."

Clary turned to the paper and took it from Luke and looked it over. "Can these abilities be inherited?"

"I think so," Luke confirmed.

Clary chuckled a little as she looked at the paper before she looked between Luke and I. "I know where our mother hid the Cup."