12. Dance with somebody
12. Dance with somebody
Jace spent at least 10 minutes getting away from Imogen, who seemed angrier and clingier than usual. Alec was patiently waiting behind him, even though he clearly wanted to follow the warlock from before. Finally, Consul Branwell approached the Inquisitor, and Jace slipped away from Imogen Herondale.
“Don’t say a word.” He hissed to Alec, who was looking at him like he found the entire thing deeply amusing. Alec grinned, and then they finally reached the house that Jia Penhallow had lent to Magnus and the two Morgenstern.
Once inside, they found a little celebration already in progress. Magnus was drinking something with Tessa Gray and Ragnor Fell, while Izzy was so close to Clary that the red head was almost sitting on her lap. Sebastian was sitting not too far away from his sister, and seemed to be glaring at an empty space next to him. He looked up when he saw Alec and Jace walking in the room, but quickly looked away again, busying himself with his phone. Jace knew for a fact that phones did not work properly in Idris, but swallowed away the hurt and sat next to Izzy.
“That was so fucking badass.” He told the girl, and she winked at him, arms never leaving Clary’s shoulders.
“She healed just fine, thank god. But honestly, your grandmother is awful.” She complained. Clary frowned at him.
“The Inquisitor is your grandmother?” she asked, and Jace shrugged, his eyes still slipping to where Sebastian was blatantly ignoring him.
Magnus interrupted them, sitting next to Sebastian and pushing him in the empty space on the couch. The blond boy yelped as if he had just knocked into someone, and Clary stifled a laugh, and promptly looked away. Magnus’ eyes narrowed at the two siblings, but they both refused to meet his eyes. “Doesn’t matter who’s uncle is who. I have a great idea!” he intoned.
Tessa looked at him in suspicion, while Ragnor groaned. “Here we go again.” Grumbled the green warlock. Magnus flipped him off.
“We should party. We won a case, we are supposed to be out partying!” Sebastian’s eyes lit up at that, immediately sitting upright and grinning widely at the warlock. Clary tried to get more comfortable on the couch, pretending to groan in pain.
“I’m still oh so sick. I think I should recover and that the party is a bad idea.” Said the red head. Sebastian threw a pillow at her and ignored her.
“I know a place.” He said to Magnus, both of them smirking in delight.
Tessa cleared her throat. “I am not sure that a party is a great idea.” She said.
Ragnor nodded. “A party is an awful idea. There is no reason to party. We should be getting ready to leave in a week or so.”
Sebastian sighed, making a show of sitting back down and glancing out of the window. “I mean, I was going to invite Brother Zachariah too…” he didn’t need to finish.
“Well, I mean, a party wouldn’t even be actually that bad now, would it?” rushed Tessa, her cheeks going a little pink.
Magnus glanced at her with an amused expression, before schooling his face back into a stern look. “I mean, if you approve…?” Ragnor shook his head, but Tessa was already nodding, still blushing a little. “Well then, Ragnor, you’ve been outvoted 2-1, we win and you lose, ah! Eat a cabbage.”
Ragnor huffed. “I’ll have you know-” he started, but was interrupted when the front door opened and three teenagers walked inside the room.
The one in front was a tall girl with dark hair and fox like features. Jace remembers seeing her and her friends at the Clave while they were discussing Clary and Sebastian. She was wearing a leather complete and grinning at Sebastian.
The girl behind was blonde and slightly taller. She had some elvish look on her that made Jace think that she had some sort of Fair Folk heritage in her somewhere. She was looking at them curiously, and had a hand on the dark haired girl, as if trying to restrain her in case she did something.
The last boy was standing a little in apart, with blonde locks and a curios expression on his face. When he noticed Clary, his mouth curved into a more natural smile. Clary frown deepened instead.
Magnus was the first to recover from their irruption in the room and smile pleasantly at them. “Who are you and what do we owe the this visit to?” she asked, and the first girl just smiled sunnily.
“Oh, I live here. I’m Aline Penhallow.” She explained, and something seemed to click on Sebastian’s face. He stood up and glanced at the girl, a huge genuine smile appearing on his face. Jace couldn’t help the disgruntled feeling he got. Sebastian never smiled at him like that.
“Holy shit, really? Aline?” he asked, and the girl shrugged out of the blonde’s grip and flung herself at him, hugging him.
“Yup, it’s all me.” She laughed, hiding her face in his shoulder.
Jace looked around, and found Magnus and the warlocks looking at the blond boy with fondness. Izzy and Alec were just as dumbfounded as Jace. The blonde boy walked up to Clary and offered her a smile. “Hey, Clary.” He greeted.
She looked at him shyly. “Mark, uh, right? Ehi.” She said in the end, reaching out to give him a brief hug. He looked at her almost as shyly, and Jace couldn’t help a snort. They were totally adorable.
Sebastian stepped away from Aline, finally, who flung herself at Clary and pushed Mark out of the way. “Holy shit, Clary!” she said, kissing the girl on both cheeks. The red head stared at her wide eyed, but Aline held her tight. “I haven’t seen you since you were like a very small bean of fluff. You are all pretty and shit now.” She complimented.
Clary wrinkled her nose. “Thanks?”
Mark gave a laugh, but just smirked when Clary pouted at him. The last girl smiled. “Clary, Sebastian.” She said. The blond boy rolled his eyes and grabbed her by the waist.
“Damn, Helen. Just as beautiful as the last time I saw you.” He greeted charmingly, kissing her cheeks. She flicked him on the nose.
“Still as annoyingly charming and Casanova as you were as a baby, I see.” She answered, and he blushed smirking. She turned her smile on Clary, and the girl was suddenly in her arms, wrapping herself around Helen like a small monkey.
Izzy stiffened a little next to him, while Sebastian, Aline and Mark beamed at the sight. “Helen!” almost squealed the girl, and the blonde laughed.
“Missed you too, chipmunks. I knew you weren’t dead.” She answered brightly, peppering her face with kisses. “My little Clary.”
Sebastian flashed a smirk at Mark, and threw an arm around both him and Aline. “Suddenly we have 100 more reasons why to party. Whatcha say now, Clarissa?” he asked.
Clary didn’t turn around, let alone let go of Helen. “Party hard!” she called excitedly and Ragnor sat down with a huge sigh. There wasn’t anything more he could do, really.
Simon was silent as he watched Clary walking around the room, the clothes that Lily had forced her to buy on the floor and a hair straightener in her hands. She was happier than he had seen her since her meeting with the Clave a few days ago, and she almost seemed excited for this party.
Almost as if she could hear him sulking in the background, she turned around towards him. “Si? What’s wrong?” she asked, combing her hair first.
Simon twirled a lock of hair around his finger, frowning a little at her. “Why are you even straightening it? Curly hair rocks.” He decided, and she hit him with the brush.
“I like my hair straight. Since I’m not.” She half joked, but Simon just arched an eyebrow at her. She blushed a little. “Well… Helen used to comb it straight when we were younger, and it was really nice and uhm… yeah.”
Simon almost smirked. “So you wanna get all pretty for Helen?”
She pulled a face. “Nasty. Helen is like an older sister. I might have hero worshipped her a little when we were younger, though.”
Simon pretended to be interested in his fingers. “What about Izzy?”
Clary chocked on air and hit herself in the head with the straightener, and then proceeded to nearly fall of the bed. The brunette laughed out loud at that, watching her scramble back on the bed and glare at him. “Oh fuck, you totally have a crush! This is so great!”
She huffed, but didn’t look at him in the face. “I don’t have a crush.” Simon just stared at her until she let out another sigh. “It’s just… She stood up to the Clave and carried me out just like that and it was… Nice.” She finished lamely, staring straight up ahead.
Simon tried to keep a composed face, but damn was it hard when she acted like this. “Nice?”
Clary seemed to be considering her words carefully. “She is nice. Like, she’s lonely, but also brave, you know? And she’s pretty. Aesthetically pleasing. And maybe…. I don’t know, I would… If she were to kiss me, I wouldn’t punch her.” Simon just laughed it off, but she looked at him earnestly. “Si. I kinda… I kind of want to kiss her. But it’s not big deal.” She rushed, but this was enough to make Simon stop in his tracks. Because this was huge.
Clary didn’t do the whole romantic thing. Hell she didn’t even do the whole sexual thing. She mostly acted like no one in the world was worthy of her (which Simon secretly agreed on) and had never expressed any attraction to someone else before. The one and only person she had admitted to liking, was an angel, for god’s sake!
He told her as much. “No big deal? Clary, this is the first person you have actually had a crush on since forever! The only other person you’ve ever liked was an angel!”
Clary chewed on her lower lip, blushing a little. “Well, Izzy does kind of look like an angel, doesn’t she?”
Simon laughed at this. “Damn, you’ve got it real bad.” (Izzy did look like an avenging warrior, but Simon liked his balls where they were and was not going to admit it)
Clary shrugged, embarrassed. “Yeah, but you and Raph-” she stopped abruptly, looking chagrined at the way Simon’s face fell at the mention of his sire and former boyfriend.
The vampire blinked away the tears welling up in his eyes and took a couple of breaths that he didn’t need. He couldn’t afford to think about Raphael. It was bad enough that he couldn’t even feel him anymore through their vampire bond without having to think about his perfect face or his perfect smile or his awful taste in movies or-
“Simon, I think you should send him a fire message.” Said Clary. Simon’s eyes snapped on her and he shook his head mutinously. They had had that talk countless times before. She would tell him that he should try and contact the Vampire Head Clan. He would tell her that he couldn’t just send him a message after what happened and that they needed a face to face. This time, she put down the hair products and glared at him.
“Simon, if the situations were reversed” he let down a whimper that she ignored “would you want him to ignore you? To wait until you come face to face? What dumb things would you do meanwhile?!”
He glared back at her, ignoring the feeling of hurt in his chest. “Raphael is older, okay, he can take care of himself! He’s not worried, okay? Sad, maybe, perhaps, but not worried.”
Clary stood up on her feet, looking at him from her vantage point. “How can you say that he’s not worried, what is wrong with you? He loves you, Simon, whatever happened is something that can be fixed and-”
“HE THINKS I’M DEAD!” Exploded the vampire in the end, fresh tears rolling down his cheeks. “He thinks I’m dead, how can he be worried about someone who should not even be alive someone-” He cut off at the look Clary was giving him, the fear in her eyes.
She slowly sat back down, close but not touching, concern etched on her face. “Simon, tell me what did you do. Why does Raphael think you’re dead? You said you were out with some other vampires, Simon, and that you stayed out too late.” The vampire said nothing. “You lied.” Clary seemed to contemplate that for a second, before taking another breath. “Okay. Si, it’s okay. Let’s do something else. You get ready, I’ll put the rune back on you and we’ll go dancing.” He tried to say something, but she held up a hand and kept talking. “Then, after that, once you are okay, we will talk. And we will fix it. We will fix it, Simon, Okay?”
The brunette stared at the girl for a few seconds. He stared at his best friend, taking in her concerned expression and the determined light in her eyes. He took a deep breath and unconsciously leaned forward, letting his forehead rest against hers. “Okay.”
Despite her wariness, Clary had let Sebastian and Simon convince her to attend the party nevertheless. The vampire was dancing, invisible to everyone else, but her and her brother, and he was ridiculous. No one could be that awful in real life, he had to be kidding her.
Sebastian had disappeared once they got to Lake Lynn where the party was going to take place, Aline Penhallow in tow just like the old times. There weren’t many people invited, and she would probably be able to find them just fine if she wanted to but preferred not to bother as she danced alone at the edge of the party.
“Still shy of being around people you don’t really know?” asked a voice next to her, and Clary smiled even before opening her eyes.
“I am not hiding. I am just… strategizing.” She told the girl, who laughed. Her blonde hair was as straight as usual and she was wearing a simple black dress that made her eyes shine brighter. She looked ethereal.
Helen took her hand in hers, still grinning. “Come on, little one, let’s dance!” she commanded, and Clary grinned right back, letting the older girl set the pace to the song.
“I am like one year younger than you.” She pointed out for the sake of it, as she twirled around with Helen. The blonde girl ignored her as they danced around. “What about Aline?” she asked then, and Helen nearly tripped over her own feet.
She stared at Clary with huge eyes, and the red head just arched an eyebrow, looking smug. Helen looked around her for a second, making sure no one was too close and then moved closer to Clary. “Is it that obvious? How do you know?”
Clary smirked. “I have eye for these things. And also, you were always kinda in love with her, weren’t you? You never liked my brother that much, but always went around with them when you could. I did the maths.” Helen grimaced, and ran a hand through her hair.
“I forget how smart you are, sometimes.” She settled on, and took Clary’s hand again to dance. The red head just arched another eyebrow, and Helen gave her a weak shove in retaliation. “She doesn’t see me like that. It’s cool.” She explained, making her do a spin.
Clary looked at her sceptically. “I’m pretty sure she does have a crush on you and just doesn’t know how to address it.” She informed her. “That and she doesn’t know you like her back.”
Helen rolled her eyes. “I am the most obvious person on Earth. What do you think I’ve been doing all these years, if not pining after her?” she asked, almost pouting.
Clary just laughed. “Trust me, I’ve seen how bad you’re pining after her. It’s almost like my friend Simon all over again.” Her eyes darted towards the area where Simon was bobbing his head along with the music, drinking away from other people’s eyes. She bit down on her lip, and turned back toward Helen. “I’ve seen how he is with the guy he’s in love with. How they both were. So trust me on this, just tell her how you feel.”
Helen still didn’t seem convinced. “She had a huge fat crush on your brother, though. What makes you think that she won’t take the chance, this time?” she asked.
Clary grimaced and nodded towards were a blond boy was dancing with another young Shadowhunter. “Trust me: I know my brother.”
Jace was not having fun. The party was great, okay he could give them that, but there weren’t that many people. Which meant that it wasn’t hard seeing what everyone else was up to. Which meant, he basically had front row view of Sebastian and Aline flirting and giggling with each other.
He almost missed when Alec appeared next to him, too busy glaring daggers at the couple. “Want something to drink?” asked the black-haired Lightwood.
Jace shook his drink in front of Alec’s face. “I’m covered.” Only then he noticed the look on his parabatai’s face. “Alec? Are you okay?” he asked, turning to face him fully.
Alec gave him a lopsided smile. “Nothing goes past your eye, eh?” he muttered, before sighing. “I’m confused.” He confessed. He took a sip of his drink, while Jace nodded at him to continue. “It’s Magnus.” Explained the boy.
Jace turned around to glare at where the warlock was holding court with the two other warlocks. “Do you want me to go and confront him?”
Alec rolled his eyes at him. “It’s not his fault, you idiot. I just…” he scowled at the drink in his hands. “I asked him for a dance, all right? And he said yes, but you have to answer one question before. And obviously I agreed. But… I couldn’t answer it.” He explained.
The blond moved closer to him. “And what was the question?”
Blue eyes met his steadily. “He asked me why was I pursuing him. If it was because I genuinely liked him, because he was the first guy who seemed interested in a relationship with him or because he was someone that my parents dislike.” Jace grimaced, but Alec shrugged. “And obviously he said that he’d dance with me only if the answer was the first one, and who can blame him? I really don’t know what I want.”
Jace put an arm around his shoulders, bumping their heads together. “You’re a smart boy. You will figure this out.”
Alec glared at him half-heartedly. “You are really awful at giving advices, anyone ever told you that?” he asked, wrapping his arms around the younger boy and hugging him.
“Nope, they are too busy gloating about the fact that they got advice from the great and amazing Jace Herondale.” He sniffed, making the other boy chuckle.
“By the way, what did you to Sebastian? Don’t turn around,” he stopped him “but he’s like staring at us weird. Is he jealous or something?”
Jace didn’t turn around, but glared at his drink. “I am pretty sure he doesn’t care enough to be jealous. It’s not like we’re together or anything.” Alec raised an eyebrow. “We just kissed. And made out. And then he ignored my existence, which stings: usually I’m the one who ignores other people’s existence.”
Alec seemed surprised. “So you like him?” he asked, aiming for subtle and failing miserably.
Jace rolled his eyes, standing back up. “Fuck off. Let’s dance.” He ordered.
“Yo, Sebastian?” called Aline’s voice, as the dark haired girl appeared in front of him with two cups filled with a weirdly coloured drink in her hands. He grinned at her, and she winked back. “Thanks for the advice with Helen.”
He shrugged, putting an arm around her shoulders as they made their way somewhere more secluded. He could feel Clary’s disapproving eyes on his back, and ignored her, sitting down next to where Simon was. Aline sat on the other side.
Aline put her feet on his lap with a smirk. “No, really. I noticed her a few months ago, and she’s just… she doesn’t seem invested in me? I don’t know, she’s really pretty, she could easily have anyone.”
“She managed to resist my charm,” said the blond, affronted. “Obviously she has someone else on her mind.” Simon snorted next to him, and Sebastian glared at him from over his drink.
“Talking about charm.” Said the dark haired girl, eyes glinting as she turned to look at him. “What about the fact that my childhood dream was to get one kiss by you?” she wiggled her eyebrows, making the older boy snort.
“Was it now.” He asked, eyes twinkling in amusement.
She elbowed him in the stomach. “It was, you know. Come on, do it.” She whined, and he gave another laugh, ignoring Simon who was making faces next to them.
He turned to face Aline and took her face in his hands, never breaking eye contact with her. She didn’t blush, just stared at him expectantly and groaning when he kissed her cheek instead of her lips. He laughed again.
“Have you never read a book or seen a movie? You know exactly what would happen if I were to kiss you right now. Helen would appear, miscommunication would happen and shit would go down.” He said dramatically. Aline pouted, but let him help her on his feet.
“Dream crasher and party pooper!” she called, and he turned around to tell her how very untrue those words were. He turned around, and opened his mouth, but she wasn’t behind him anymore. There was no one behind him.
Only then he noticed the stillness and the lack of noise around him. Everything was eerily quiet. The moon was high in the sky and everything was still. Sebastian reached inside his jacket and pulled out a kindjal. The night was cold.
He scowled at the place around him, finally starting to walk closer to the water. Lake Lynn was flowing undisturbed, the mirror of the Mortal Instruments. He heard the creak of a branch, and looked up in time to see a boy standing there, grinning up at him. He looked like an elf, and was staring at Sebastian with wide unblinking green eyes.
“Who are you? What is happening?” he asked, as the green eyed boy walked towards him smirking and tilting his head to the side.
“Uoy era Naitsabes Nretsnegrom.” Spoke the creature, his voice barely more than a chirp.
Sebastian’s eyes widened in confusion. He knew a couple of words from most downworlders language (and one demonic language that Magnus made him promise to never use), but that didn’t sound like anything he had ever heard before. “I don’t understand.” He said.
The creature rolled his eyes. His skin was yellow and if he were to need to hide, he could completely hide in the trees. “Ruoy retsis si Assiralc Nretsnegrom. Drol Nretsnegrom sah railucep setsat.” he added, studying Sebastian with his unnaturally green eyes. “Era ouy ydaer?” he asked.
Sebastian looked at him helplessly, still clutching the blade in his hands. “I have no clue what you are saying.”
The creature grinned, and for a moment all Sebastian could focus on were the pearly white razors in his mouth. Then it moved, quicker than anything Sebastian had ever seen and fucking pushed him, making him fall straight into Lake Lynn.
Normally Sebastian was a pretty quick swimmer, but this was Lake Lynn. The lake from where a fucking angel had risen, the lake were no fish could even live. There was nothing but death in Lake Lynn.
He tried to moved his feet and arms, flailing a little, but everything hurt and everything was dark, and Sebastian couldn’t see, he couldn’t breathe, and he didn’t know where Clary was, and he was going to die and he was drowning, his lungs hurt, his throat clenched and he couldn’t, he couldn’t…
For a moment everything went dark, and Sebastian thought this was it. He was dead. And then light shone from everywhere, and there was a man standing next to him.
He was wearing a white suit and standing next to Sebastian with a bright smile. His hair was long and dark and his eyes, they were like carbon. “God?” he asked, and was surprised that he could speak at all. His throat didn’t even hurt, when minutes prior he had been certain he was dying.
The man laughed, which was certainly anti-climactic. “Tried that, didn’t work out.” He confided and chuckled, like it was an inside joke. He moved his arm, probably to help him on his feet, and Sebastian’s eyes focused on the man’s hand. On the ring with the letter M engraved in it. Then he let him pull him up.
“Where are we? Is Clarissa okay?” he asked, and the man glanced at him speculatively.
“Sebastian Johnathan Morgenstern. Can’t say I’m not honoured. It’s an honour, finally meeting the sword of Heaven.” He told him, completely ignoring his question.
Sebastian furrowed his eyebrows. “Sword of…? Whatever, where am I? Where is my sister? And everybody else?” he demanded, but his vision shook.
The man was moving around and Sebastian couldn’t focus on him anymore. “Look around you.”
And his breath hitched in his throat. There was no image that he could focus on, but he had lived with Clary enough to understand the meaning of the shapes and colours around him.
Pain. Loss. Sorrow. War. Blood. Regret.
Death.
They swirled all around him, with the flash of happiness and brightness and they vortexed around him faster, and faster, and faster… Mocking him with words they couldn’t speak, taunting him in voices that didn’t exist.
“The road ahead of you is sharp and filled with pain, Sebastian Morgenstern. You’ll shine among the chaos, fighting the enemies like the true Sword of Heaven that you are. The bloodbath will only end when the Sword and the Shield of Heaven appear on the battlefield, glorious and indomitable.” Everything was shaking and moving quicker, and Sebastian was starting to feel dizzy. It was too much, everything was too much, the noise, the colours, the voices, the whispers.
Ave Atque Vale, Sebastian Johnathan Morgenstern.
Sebastian screamed.
Sebastian opened his eyes, the noise of the party sounding stronger in his ears. Someone was holding him up, and he could see Aline and Clary with Izzy and Simon. They were in a secluded angle, along with Mark and Alec. Sebastian blinked up at them.
“Holy shit, never pull something like that again!” hissed Clary, hugging him tightly. He staggered back, but two firm arms held him upright. His throat hurt and his head was pounding in pain. All he wanted to was lay down and sleep for a century or two.
“What happened?” he asked, directing the questions to Aline. She was the last person he was talking two before… whatever the hell was that, happened.
Aline scowled at him. “You just stood up to get a drink, I think. And then you went… I don’t know, blank, like you weren’t even seeing us, and you stopped breathing at one point, and then you screamed. If it wasn’t for Jace…” she trailed off.
Clary let him go and gave him a look. He was familiar with that. We will talk later. He gave a small nod, and she stepped back, Izzy moving automatically closer to her.
Only then he noticed who he was leaning on for support, and jerked away. Jace just glared at him. “Are you going to tell us what was that about?” he asked him instead.
Sebastian scowled right back at him. “No.” he said simply, and started walking, waving away the others concern, but not pushing Simon away when the vampire started following him. “Just enjoy your party. I’m going to sleep.”
Clary watched him leave with a small frown on her face. “I wonder what happened?”
Jace shrugged right past her, hands clenched into fists. “I don’t know. And personally? I don’t care.” He answered, ignoring the bitter taste that the lie left behind.