14. Shine
“So?”
Once outside the Morgenstern Mansion, Clary, Simon and Sebastian had stood quietly for a few minutes, each of them deep in thought.
They had then proceeded to walk away still in complete silence, until Simon had apparently enough.
Sebastian looked at the vampire between them, invisible to anyone else, and arched an eyebrow. “So what?”
Simon glared at him. “So! Are we just not going to say anything about what we saw?” He then waved towards the cards in each of their hands. “Or what these are?”
“This is the Mortal Cup,” started Clary, twirling the card between her fingers. “Or rather, a version of it. The original was definitely not this pretty silver colour. It’s used to turn humans into shadowhunters, by making them drink from it.”
“And this,” continued Sebastian, sharing his own card. “Is the sword of the Archangel Michael.”
Both Clary and Simon turned to look at him in astonishment. “What?!”
Sebastian stared at the card in his hand instead of looking at them. “Mom used to tell me a story when we were younger. About the precious swords of the three archangels: Gabriel, Michael and Lucifer; the Fair one, the Gentle one and the Beautiful one.
Each of them had one special sword made for them: Gabriel’s was made of gold, with a ruby on it’s handle, and it was the deadliest sword; Michael’s was made of silver, with an emerald on its handle, and it was the fastest sword; and Lucifers was made of white gold, with a fire opal on its handle, and it was the sharpest sword.
Do you see the colours on this one?” he continued, showing them the sword drawn. “It’s Michael’s.”
“Stop saying Michael like he’s your friend,” complained Simon, holding a hand to his head. “I’m Jewish and this is shaking my faith violently. Come on.”
Sebastian rolled his eyes but didn’t speak on that further. Instead, he turned his attention back on his sister again. “But the things we saw… was that real?”
Clary bit her lip, the anxious look she had been sporting earlier returning. “I have never been shown anything like that by Ithuriel, if that’s what you’re asking. So, I don’t really know. But…” she turned to Simon and him. “It looked real, didn’t it? I don’t know if it has all happened yet, but-”
“-we need to talk to Magnus,” finished Sebastian, nodding slightly. We might not be sure what is happening, but something is.
Simon remained apprehensive. “What about other shadowhunters? Maybe we could show them this…” he trailed off when Clary shook her head.
“Wether it was mom and dad,” she spared a glance at Sebastian, but the blonde wasn’t looking at her, “or someone else, I am pretty sure the fact remains that it was a shadowhunter who locked Ithuriel in the basement. The only reason he likes me is because I have basically been in love and devoted to him for a large part of my childhood; I don’t think he’s in a hurry to do shadowhunters any favours.”
“Have you considered that perhaps they are fake?” finally said Sebastian a few minutes later, as they stepped inside the house.
At Clary and Simon’s expressions he shrugged. “Ithuriel is an angel, sure. But he has also been locked in our basement for more than 13 years, maybe since before the Uprising. And the mortal cup is still at the Shadowhunters Academy. How would he get ahold of that?” He snorted. “Yes, I actually did read the shadowhunters books that Tessa recommended. Stop looking shocke - what are you doing here?”
Clary stopped chuckling and looked in surprise at the shadowhunters sitting down in the living room. Her brother was glaring at them, suspicion clear in his sudden fighting stance, but the trio in front of them immediately put their arms up in surrender.
“Do you even have a flight response?” wondered Izzy, alarmed and amused. “Or are your instincts just fight or fight.”
“I tend to be suspicious of strangers at my place.”
“Jia’s place,” corrected Jace, and Sebastian rolled his eyes.
“What do you want?” then, without waiting for an answer, “Magnus!”
“He’s not here,” informed him Alec. His expression remained blank as he explained. “We came by to get Izzy, but she insisted on waiting for Clary to come back so that she could thank her. Magnus got a letter at one point, and disappeared in one of the rooms for a while. Then he came out, burned the letter, told us he had to go back to New York and disappeared.”
“New York?”
“What did the letter say?” questioned Sebastian, walking towards the fireplace. “And how well did he burn it?”
“How well did he- what kind of question is that?” asked Jace, staring at him in confusion.
When Sebastian didn’t expand, Alec spoke up.
“Made sure it was burned to ashes. Does it matter?”
“He didn’t want us to be able to read it,” finally said Clary, her expression becoming clouded. “He’s hiding something.”
“Privacy?”
“If it was just about privacy, he wouldn’t have waited for the letter to turn to ashes. That means he didn’t want us to have even the chance of reconstructing and finding out what the letter said.” Sebastian turned to his sister, “We have to go to New York.”
The moment her feet touched the cemented ground of New York, Clary twisted the ring on her finger, anxious.
Simon, can you hear me?
Although Sebastian’s plan of going to New York had been sudden, Clary and Simon both knew he was right. But unlike Clary, Simon couldn’t bring himself to come along with the siblings.
Clary understood. Of course she understood.
To the whole New York Vampire Clan, Simon Lewis was dead. He couldn’t simply go back to the Dumort. The unexplainable fact that he now could walk under the sunlight also remained.
Walking in the sunlight was the dream of like 90% of vampires, and there was no way they would simply allow Simon to exist without at the very least checking why he was able to do what he did.
The logical conclusion? Seelie rings.
I am here Clary. Can hear you loud and clear. Are you already there?
Yeah. We are now going to go look for Magnus. Well, me, Izzy and Alec are.
Oh-oh. Jace and Sebastian?!
Clary snorted, although a little worried about her brother. Although their plan had been to just go and get Magnus, the Lightwoods had immediately decided that they needed to be escorted back.
Sebastian had tried to shutdown the idea, but then they had played their trump card: Clary and Sebastian’s swords were still at the New York Institute. And while they could find a way to get inside the institute - they had done it before - it would take time from finding Magnus and talking to him.
So, they had agreed to divide in two small groups, and, since Izzy insisted on being paired up with Clary, and Alec wanted to find Magnus, Jace and Sebastian ended up in one duo.
Keep the ring on yourself, Si.
Don’t worry about me so much, Clary. I’ll be okay. Just come back safe, soon, and actually explain what’s going on.
Pinky promise.
“Are you sure you can track Magnus with just your stele?” asked Alec then, staring doubtfully at where Clary was passing the stele over her neck. “Don’t you need something that belongs to him or a parabatai?”
Clary opened her mouth to answer him, but Izzy was quicker. “Have you not seen the things she can do with her runes alone? The mortal sword shows that she was telling the truth, and we literally came here in a portal she made.”
The red head smiled gratefully at Izzy, a little embarrassed, before showing a small necklace around her neck to Alec. “Birthday present from the High Warlock of Brooklyn. He’s had this long enough that the tracking rune I placed will work.”
“A used gift?”
“Most of Magnus’ gifts are things he has accumulated in all the years he has been alive,” she explained, starting to walk confidently. “He has lived so many lives, met so many people, had so many lovers and hoarded so much that even the bidet he had in his bathroom could probably be worth thousands. He’s a creature of habit.”
“Not with that hair, he’s not,” joked Izzy, and Clary laughed too.
Alec however, was too busy thinking about the words she had just said, the question Magnus had asked him a few days before ringing in his ears.
“Why are you pursuing me?”
But, according to Clary, Magnus had had countless of lovers before. And many friends. He was immortal, and had lived many lives.
Did he ask all of the people he dated why they liked him? Or was it just about Alec?
Or perhaps was it just because of Alec’s parents and the fact that he couldn’t trust them.
Did he not trust Alec?
Sure, they weren’t even that close, yet. They had met maybe a handful of times, and one of them ended up with Magnus knocking him out.
So Magnus not trusting him, shouldn’t come as a surprise.
And yet, it somewhat did, and Alec… he didn’t like the feeling.
He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he almost collided with Clary, who looked at him with a slight frown on her face.
Then she clicked on her phone, answering an upcoming call from Sebastian. “Hey, I found where Magnus is.”
Alec looked up, the word ‘PANDEMONIUM’ staring back at him from the entrance.
+
“Clarissa found Magnus,” said Sebastian, turning off the call as he followed Jace past the hidden door of the Institute. “Pandemonium.”
“Okay.”
The blonde had been completely silent and basically avoided any direct look or touch with Sebastian the entire time it took them to arrive at the Institute, and it was lowkey very amusing to Sebastian.
It was clear that Jace was trying to communicate something by not talking to him and avoiding looking at him longer than necessary; he was probably trying to show to Sebastian the effects of his actions and his lack of regard for the other Shadowhunters in general or himself in particular.
However, the only effect this was having was to make Sebastian enjoy the sound of his own voice and how tense Jace was in front of him. Call him an asshole or whatever, but Sebastian was actually having fun.
Which would probably kill poor Jace if he found out about it.
“I don’t think he’s partying there, anyway,” he continued to muse, stroking his chin. “He wouldn’t do all of that, including leaving me and Clarissa behind if the motive was just partying. And despite how ‘cool’ Pandemonium is, especially for the Downworlder company, he wouldn’t go there for a party that important he had to burn the invite in the fire. No, this is proof that something weird is going on.”
“I don’t care,” said Jace through gritted teeth, not turning around.
Sebastian looked around him for a moment, frowning slightly. “Where is everyone? Last time me, Magnus and Clarissa had to be so careful not to alert the shadowhunters that we were here.”
That did make Jace pause momentarily, and he looked around, confused. “I don’t… know.” he finally said, slowly starting to walk again. “Did they send everyone to Idris for you guy’s trial? And if so, why aren’t they back already?”
Sebastain stepped away from him, touching the table where the map of New York was displayed. “Dust. They haven’t been here for a hot minute.” he turned again to Jace. “Where are the leaders of the Institute?”
“My mom and dad are both in Idris,” he explained, looking around perplexed. “There is no sign of a fight or something. No blood anywhere, nothing broken or misplaced. They just…”
“Disappeared.”
Jace glared. “I was going to say ‘left’.”
The other blond tutted. “There is nothing ominous about people leaving. People disappearing, however… that’s a real page turner.”
Jace’s expression went hard again, and he turned his attention to the armoury in the corner, quickly retrieving the twin blades. “Here,”
Sebastian’s eyes gleamed as he snatched the arms from Jace. He run his hands on Heosphoros, and put the sword now turned hair clip in his pocket. Then he carefully inspected Phaesphoros, before smiling approvingly. “Here you are, my precious,” he cooed.
Jace’s lip quivered in a small smile at that, and Sebastian pointed his sword at him immediately. “Oh-oh. That is not very good ignoring there, Mr. Lightwood.”
The blonde glared at him, and started towards the door in annoyance, making Sebastian snicker, before stopping in his tracks. “It’s Herondale.”
Not it was Sebastian’s turn to scoff. “You call the Lightwood’s mom and dad. You can’t, at the same time, use another surname.”
“I am not going to ignore my birthright just because the parents who raised me have another surname.”
“Then they aren’t your parents. They are just the Lightwoods.”
“You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about-”
“Sure I do,” Sebastian walked past him towards the door. “Magnus raised me, and so did Ragnor and Catarina and Tessa. But they are not my parents, obviously -”
His words were suddenly cut off when he found himself slammed against the wall, Jace’s angry face a few centimetres away from him. His sword made a clacking sound as it fell on the floor beside them, but Jace had both of Sebastian’s hands pinned at the sides of his head, and he couldn’t move them.
(Well, if he tried, he could. But he was more interested to see where this was going to free himself immediately.)
“Listen, Morgenstern.” Sebastian’s eyebrows went up at the use of his surname, but Jace was still talking. “When I told you my sob story about my dad and the falcon, I was not trying to equate our situations. We are not the same, our experiences are not the same. You made it pretty clear when you passed out at that party that we aren’t friends or whatever. I am me, I was raised a shadowhunter, and I’m proud of it, while you are-”
He stopped talking, taking a huge breath to calm himself down.
Sebastian’s eyes bore into his, a reckless light in his green eyes. “What. I’m what?”
Jace didn’t speak, instead staring at him, something akin a warning in his face.
But the older of the two didn’t seem to be able to read that.
“I’m what, Herondale? Little Lightwood wannabe? Mr. coddled since birth but still-”
He didn’t see it coming when one of his hands was freed and, instead of a punch connecting with his cheek, it was a pair of lips pressing on his.
One of his hands was still being held at the wrist by Jace, and the other hung awkwardly at his side, too shocked to do anything with it, as Jace violently bit down on his lip, his free hand building small bruises on his collarbone.
Jace’s teeth on his lower lip felt like they were trying to leave indentations forever, like they were actively trying to hurt him, but, and call him a masochist if you want, Sebastian liked it.
When Jace’s tongue intruded in his mouth, his almost bruising touch on his neck close to asphyxiate him, he just welcomed him, letting him take control and guide him around, letting him decide what he wanted to take from him.
He wanted Jace to hurt him. He wanted him to choke him until he lost consciousness, until his wrist and neck were red with new bruises. Until he fell on his knees in front of him, until he couldn’t control a single thing anymore.
But then as quick as he had attacked him, Jace let go of him, staring at Sebastian in shock, like he couldn’t believe what he had done.
“Oh. I-”
Sebastian could feel the tears of pain just burning behind his eyes, but they wouldn’t fall no matter how little he blinked. He brought his hand to his wrist and simply stared at Jace. “What.”
The blond stared at him for a few more seconds, before grabbing the sword and handing it back to Sebastian. When, finally, the other took it, he turned around, and started towards the exit.
After a second or two, Sebastian followed him out.
The only thing Magnus could do when he spotted a very decided Clary walking towards him was groan.
He had tried to be as inconspicuous as possible when he left Idris, but he really should have expected the two Morgensterns would follow him.
At least, he knew that they hadn’t read the letter yet.
But that only prolonged the time until Clary and Sebastian found out that Simon and Raphael, both their best friends, were dead. And god, he really didn’t want to be the one to have to give them that news, especially when it looked like the Downworld might be in danger.
“What are you doing here?” he hissed, barely taking noticed of Izzy next to her. “You are just going to get in trouble, and neither Tessa, nor Ragnor, nor Catarina-” he tried to keep his voice level while saying the other warlock’s names, no matter how much it hurt him inside, but Clary interrupted him.
“Magnus, something isn’t right,” she hissed immediately, taking a quick look at Izzy and Alec - ALEC!!! - behind her. “Me and Seb, we… we both saw it. Felt it.”
Was she perhaps referring to Simon and Raphael? Did they feel their deaths?
Clary sighed, trying to make her thoughts less convoluted. “I think something happened to Ragnor. I think he’s in trouble.”
Oh.
He really needed to investigate how she figured that out, but for now, “I know. That’s why I’m here.”
“Patrying at Pandemonium?” asked Alec, and was Magnus mistaked, or was he able to detect some sourness in his tone?
“No,” he turned his attention back to Clary. “I am meeting with the heads of the Downworld. Something is going on around here, so we need to discuss it together, and see if we can figure out what - and who - is doing what they are doing.” And more importantly, why, he thought. Because what if it was another uprising?
Magnus had lived many lifetimes, but he had had enough uprising to last all of them.
They needed to be ready; that was why, on the room on top of the Pandemonium, he had invited the Seelie Queen, leader of the children of the fey; Lucian Greymark - Luke Garroway - leader of the children of the moon; Maureen Brown - newly appointed but still - leader of the children of the night; and he himself, High Warlock of Brooklyn.
Whoever was doing the kidnapping had clearly been going after downworlders and there was no way they were ready to go to the Shadowhunters to deal with the situation. They needed to regulate it among themselves first, and for that all of the downworlders needed to be together.
He turned his attention back to Clary, planting a kiss on her cheek. “Don’t worry, Biscuit. All of us are going to just be downstairs, and you’ll be able to tell if something goes awire. I trust you.” He smiled. “Ragnor will be okay.”
Clary stared at the older man for a second, then gave him a sad smile. “You don’t usually lie to me, Magnus.”
The warlock stared back, his eyes also turning sad. “Not if I can help it, I don’t.”