little santiago (shadowhunters) - SLOW UPDATES

chapter seven

c h a p t e r s e v e n ; reborn

Elizabeth lied to her parents when she walked into the apartment during the sunrise. "I was on the roof watching the sunrise," Elizabeth stated. It was half-true. She had stayed up all night, and when she came back to her apartment building, she went to the roof just in time for the sunrise.

"Are you ready to go back to school?" Her father asked as they sat eating breakfast at nine in the morning. Elizabeth was tired, but was on her second cup of coffee. She wanted to talk to Clary, try to talk some sense into her. "Elizabeth?"

"Hm? Sorry, I was just thinking about- you know, school," Elizabeth lied. "I'm excited to start senior year. I've been working on the admission essay for Yale," she said.

"And here I thought, you'd be at NYU with your big brother," Manuel frowned. Elizabeth gave him a face. "Yale's good, too."

"You are applying to NYU, too aren't you?" Her father questioned.

"And Columbia," Elizabeth added as she stabbed her scrambled eggs with a fork. She was always interested in Political Science. And that's what she wanted to do in life. She also wanted to stay on the East Coast.

"That's my girl," her father smiled. "You'll have to keep up the good work. Straight A's again, keep your extracurriculars."

"Yes, I know." Elizabeth yawned.

"How's Clary and Simon? They haven't been around lately," her mother asked, joining the conversation.

"They're good," Simon's currently dead and in transition to become a vampire and Clary's now a shadowhunter. You know, normal stuff, Elizabeth thought. "We've just been to busy to see each other lately. I've been seeing the debate club before school starts. And art club, since Clary graduated, we needed a new student leader. And band. I got a busy year."

"Don't overwork yourself too much, mija," Ester added. "If you feel overwhelmed, let us know. And if you need to drop a elective or an extracurricular, do it."

"I understand," Elizabeth nodded. "Oh, is that the time?" She glanced at the grandfather clock in the dining room. "I told Clary I would meet her and Simon today. You know our annual back to school thing we do every year? Uh, can I be excused?"

"Yes, be safe. Keep us updated," Ester said. Elizabeth pressed her lips against her parent's cheeks as she went out of the apartment.

⁂

Elizabeth walked towards the Institute. She was calling Clary's phone. She had been calling Clary's phone since she left her apartment.

"What are you doing here?" The tall shadowhunter- Alec questioned when he saw Elizabeth walking up to the doors of the Institute.

"I want to talk to Clary. Where is she?" Elizabeth asked.

"She and Jace went to talk to the mundane's mother," he responded. Elizabeth sighed. She felt tired and overwhelmed. And if Clary was talking to Elaine Lewis, she was telling her that Simon had died. And that made Elizabeth cry. "You're not crying, are you?"

"What does it look like?" Elizabeth shouted, wiping her eyes. "God! If Clary hadn't met you guys, Simon would still be alive and I wouldn't be in this mess!"

Alec looked at Elizabeth. "Clary hasn't told you, has she?"

"Told me what?" Elizabeth's tears kept falling down, and she kept wiping them with her sleeves.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Alec mumbled. "Why don't you come inside, and I'll make you a cup of tea. You can wait for Clary to come back, too." Elizabeth agreed and followed him into the Institute.

Elizabeth sat at an empty table and Alec was busy making two cups of tea. As Alec set the tea in front of Elizabeth, Isabelle walked into the room.

"What is she doing here?" Isabelle asked, staring at Elizabeth.

"It's not her fault Clary dragged her into this," Alec responded.

"She came with Raphael last night. It seems suspicious that she's back by herself, doesn't it?" Isabelle stated. "For all we know, she could be working with Valentine!"

"Who's Valentine?" Elizabeth asked, curiously, taking a sip of her tea. It was warm, and soothed her crying.

"Clary's father," Alec answered, sitting near Elizabeth.

"Alec!" Isabelle tried to stop her older brother.

"If she is with Raphael, she's not with Valentine. And why would someone still in school work with someone evil as Valentine?" Alec questioned. "Clary talks about you and Simon a lot. And unfortunately, I have ears."

"Clary's dad's name is Jonathan Clark. I thought he died before she was born," Elizabeth said. "That's what she told me anyways."

"That's what she believed, too. Her father is an evil Shadowhunter. Her mother was one, too. Not evil, just a Shadowhunter. Believe it or not, Clary belongs to this world and not the mundane world," Alec explained. Isabelle was shaking her head.

"Why are you telling her all this?" Isabelle demanded. "She's a mundane and someone we don't know."

"Her two best friends are in this world and they dragged her into this," Alec defended the girl. "And we don't know what happened that night at Hotel DuMort or if she's the next one to transition."

"Hey, guys I- what are you doing here?" Clary rushed into the room. Her eyes landed on Elizabeth.

"She's here to talk to you," Alec responded before Elizabeth could. "Privately," he added. Elizabeth was grateful. It seemed both Isabelle and Jace respected him enough to leave Clary and Elizabeth alone.

"I don't want Simon dead," Elizabeth said once they were alone. "He's our best friend and I don't want to lose him."

Clary nodded. "I talked to Elaine. I was going to tell her that he was dead, because I didn't want him to be a vampire. But she- she shouldn't lose a son after losing a husband. You're right, I don't want to lose Simon, too."

"So we're going to do this? We're going to bury Simon tonight?" Elizabeth asked.

"We don't really have a choice, unless we want to lose him."

⁂

The moon was high, and Elizabeth stood in between Clary and Raphael looking at the grave that Simon was buried in.

"You'll help him, won't you?" Elizabeth asked Raphael when she stopped by Hotel DuMort before meeting Clary at the cemetery. She offered to get Raphael and tell him the decision. "He's like family."

"I'll be there to help you, and-"

"Helping him is like helping me," Elizabeth interrupted. "Are these bags of blood?" She asked as Raphael filled a cooler with blood.

"He'll be hungry when he resurfaces," Raphael explained. "It's better this way- to keep you-mundanes safe."

Elizabeth was nervous, to say the least. She jumped back when she saw Simon's arms and he was finally climbing out of the grave. Once he fully resurfaced, Raphael tossed a blood bag towards him, which he tore open and poured it straight into his mouth. Elizabeth looked fascinated but terrified at the same time.

"Drink up," Raphael instructed tossing another bag of blood his way.

thoughts?