Shadowhunters City of Love (English Version)

Chapter 29

"Can we help you?" asks Magnus. But decline. "No thank you." They all sit at the table and watch me work. Typical! Izzy would just shake her head while Amatik would scold her brother for not helping. At Amatis I get a big lump in my throat. I try to swallow it but can't. Jace seems to sense it. For he stands up and takes the knife from my trembling hand. I curse and look at the wound. But he only takes out his stele.
"Maybe I should cut the food instead," he says firmly. I accept the suggestion with a nod. Together we set the table.
"What's the plan?" I ask. I see my Aöec flinch.
"We should look at the apartments again."
"Or not," I say. Everyone looks at me immediately.
"Oh yes?" comes from Ragnor. I look at him. Turning to him and the others, I say, "There's another place we can look!" I say.
"We hear..." says my brother-in-law. I look at him.
"Because I know another place where we should look. The place you don't know, only me."
"And where should that be?" asks Magnus. I look at him.
"You'd rather not know that," I reply.

Three hours later I'm back on the weather-beaten terrain. Samuel and Janik take a critical look around.
"And what, um..." begins my son.
"Wait," I reply. I pull out my stele and take a couple of steps forward. So I cover the others. Thanks, I take a deep breath and trace the faint glowing rune. Brick by brick and brick by brick, the former manor house is being built as if by magic. Like the first and last time. All I hear from behind is traffic jams. When I'm done I turn around.
"How about this?" I get astonished looks at that. Jace steps forward.
"How did you do that?" he asks in astonishment. I smile at him.
"I can say what I want, but thanks to Valentin I'm able to do stuff like that now," I reply.
"And what do we do now?" asks Samuel. For this, he gets his sister a slap in the ribs. In return, she receives a warning look from her father.
"I suggest we search the house again for any useful leads. And if we don't find anything then...", I let the saying hang in the air unfinished. But the others also know what I mean.
"Well then, what are we waiting for?" says Simon.
Just like last time, the sight of the imposing entrance hall totally blows my mind. Except for Jace, the others look around in complete surprise.
"What is this?" Maria says hesitantly. I turn to my niece. I exchange a look with Jace. He thinks the same thing as me, which is why he silently agrees with me.
"Here here..." I begin. "...this is the old Waylands estate."
"Valentin raised me here for 10 years before I came to New York," he adds himself. Alec, his adoptive brother, looks at him in surprise. "You lived here."
"Yeah, but it wasn't a junk heap like it is now," he adds with a smile.
"My God...."
"...that's a big house." Markus finishes Max's sentence.

"What do you want to find here?" Jace asks me a little later. We are standing in the equally impressive library. I look at him.
"Remember the old cookbook?" I ask him. His forehead wrinkles for a few seconds. But then his face brightens. "Of course! I remember," he replies. But then a questioning expression appears on his face.
"Thank you that Luke is right. And I also think we should look for a nondescript book," I answer his unspoken question. Neither of us moves for a few moments, but then he starts moving and gestures for me to go in one direction while he's in the other leaves. I search through long bookshelves. Full of old and dusty stories. Occasionally I also pull out books and leaf through them.

"Clary!" I hear him call out after a while. Just as I was about to answer him, he's behind me. I turn around, startled. He's triumphantly holding some loose sheets of paper in his hand.
"What is that?"
"You said Luke mentioned that Valentin left something of a curse."
"So what?" I ask.
"I think I've found some of the really important pages," he explains, rolling his eyes. I give him a withering look.
"Give it to me!", I take the loose sheets from his hand. I quickly scan the handwritten page. It's the same writing as in the diary. After the first three words, my stomach turns. Whoever wrote this diary also invoked the curse. Out of instinct, I take a closer look at the bold writing. And suddenly I feel like the ground is being torn from under my feet...