ʜᴇᴀᴠᴇɴʟʏ ꜰɪʀᴇ ~ ᴛᴍɪ

Chapter 24 - The Dim Past

"Honestly, if you were going to do some hero stuff, you shouldn't have been flung out of a ship," Isabelle commented. "I mean, you should first be in the place of danger. Not thrown out so soon."

The person to whom the question was directed, her brother, gave her a dirty look. Isabelle just continued sipping the jasmine tea her mother had brought.

"She is telling the truth," George concurred with her, leaning against the footboard of the bed. Alec just shook his head in defeat and looked outside the window.

The three shadowhunters, after being fussed in the infirmary had retreated to Isabelle's room for peace and quiet. The siblings invited him, much to his surprise. Then again, the three used to be good acquaintances as children. Maybe there was some atypical kind of friendship between them. With Alec, that is. He didn't want to think about Isabelle. Not that has stopped you before, his subconscious ridiculed, but he shoved that down. 

Nevertheless, George was restless albeit in the middle of healing the bad gash on his head. Turns out the blinding headache was because he'd torn open his forehead and didn't realize it for the initial few minutes. The things adrenaline does to you, he had thought bitterly.

Now his head was bandaged, sipping the tea Izzy too was drinking. Medicinal and soothing enough to make the pain reside.

"You can't blame me if I'm not gifted with special angel blood like Jace and Allison, Izzy," Alec said blandly.

"Sure," Isabelle snickered, her dark hair left unbound. Perhaps he did like her hair loose, which seemed to gobble up light from around. Such a dark shade, he thought. Not even a hint of brown. A stark contrast to her pale and high cheekbones. Her dark-brown flecked eyes were tired, not glittering as they usually did. She wore a loose sweatshirt after changing out of her bloodied gear and looked comfortable lying amongst the pink satin pillows with frills. He didn't know whether he liked her so laid-back, unlike her usual bravado. Not that he minded that, he loved the way she danced through life with such boldness. But it felt precious, a secret thing of great value, that she could be at such ease in his presence. Romantic fool, George could almost hear Allison mocking him. Izzy's light gaze, usually intense enough to make him sweat, drifted toward his with her beautiful smile. His heart almost stopped. 

That's when he realized he was staring at her.

"That doesn't mean I don't worry about my parabatai," Alec sighed and stood up from the chair he had pulled out beside the bed, saving George from embarrassment. "Who knows whether he got out of the ship? It burned into ashes."

"Don't forget Allison," George said dejectedly, concentrating on Alec instead. "She was near dead when I last saw her."

"Why aren't you both parabatai then?" Isabelle sat up straighter, though it seemed to take effort. The poison certainly took time to heal. 

"It's rather a stupid reason."

"Not as stupid as Jace pinning over Clary."

George gave an unimpressed look. Isabelle was not backing down.

"There's a rule stating that Investigators can't be parabatai." said George at last. "Investigators have a higher chance of death than others since we embark on far deadlier missions. Hence, having parabatai is strictly forbidden."

"So that if one dies, the other doesn't have to live with that pain," Alec said quietly. "I forgot about that rule."

"Jace will be back soon," Isabelle's voice turned soft, looking at her brother with concern.

"I would know," Alec smiled at her, for her sake.

"How do you know about Investigators this much?" she asked Alec instead, frowning. "I don't remember Hodge discussing them that much,"