Distractions

Thirty-Three: Good Talk, Good Shot

Everest sat down against the wall and Magnus and Alec gracefully followed suit. "When I was fourteen, on my birthday actually, he was...taken from me. Uhm, Camille threatened him and said she'd kill me if he ever saw me again, basically. Then he left to keep me safe and she broke my leg and tied me to a chair."

"That's why you refuse to sit in chairs," Alec said, rubbing her knee gently since her hands were preoccupied spinning her rings around her fingers.

She nodded. "Yeah. Uhm. Life got really shitty for a while after that and I got really depressed. I got a lot of panic attacks at school because I saw someone who looked even vaguely like Camille or because I was forced to sit in a chair. It got to the point where I couldn't even think of going to school without breaking down. Then I was mugged on the way home from school on the first day I managed to go to school in two weeks. It was also the year I dated Steve Evans—" Alec scoffed. "—and so that probably didn't help anything. Then things got worse. I was put in self defense classes and I was active which sometimes helped, but when I wasn't in those classes or active in general, my thoughts spiraled really far. Far enough that I did things that left scars and was later hospitalized for."

Her eyes burned slightly and she swallowed back tears.

"The scars on your stomach..." Magnus trailed off as Everest nodded.

"Yeah," was all she managed to say before she was being embraced by Alec and Magnus.

She froze for a moment, having not expected the hug, but then she relaxed and let herself soak up the warmth that radiated from them. She wrapped her arms around them as well, burying her face in the crook that formed in the space where their shoulders met. Alec's black zip up—which had a collar for some reason—was soft on her cheek and Magnus's silk button up was cool against her arms. The sensations soothed her like being wrapped up in a fuzzy blanket would.

"Promise us you'll tell us if things ever get that bad again," Alec said quietly. She could feel Magnus nodding on her shoulder. "Or bad at all."

"Please." Everest hated how tight Magnus's voice sounded. "We can't lose you."

Everest swallowed before answering. "I promise. You won't lose me. Just...promise me the same?"

"I promise," they both said softly.

Trigger Warning for discussions of self harm and suicidal actions over

Trigger Warning: On/off page death continued

The front door opening ruined the moment and had all three of them sighing and rolling their eyes, but standing nonetheless. Clary and Jace were running into the apartment and briefly Everest wondered why the door hadn't been locked.

"Don't you people have phones?" Magnus huffed, but Everest's gaze locked on the way Clary was clutching her hand, which was slowly turning burnt and black starting at the tips of her fingers. That wasn't right. Worry tugged at her sides with an ache similar to the one she got after doing crunches.

"We need your help," Jace said with an edge to his words.

Everest knew the exact moment Magnus saw Clary's hand because his entire body tensed and he went into professional mode. He made Clary sit on the small couch and grabbed Clary's hand as Jace sat next to her. Alec and Everest hovered worriedly. Magnus ran what Everest assumed was a scan of some sort over Clary's hand. Nothing changed.

"La Chair Brulee."

"I'm guessing that's not a dessert?" Clary mused, not without bitterness.

"It means 'the burnt flesh.' It's an old blood oath spell," Magnus explained.