New World

6 | Truth

A narrow set of stairs led to a shadowy room under the eaves of the house. There was a cluster of desks, each with a lamp on it—so many lamps the room was filled with brilliance. Every book, every piece of paper with scrawled writing, every plate with half-eaten food on it, was harshly illuminated.

Uncle Arthur sat at one of the desks. He wore a long bathrobe over a ragged sweater and jeans; his feet were bare. The robe had probably once been blue, but was now a sort of dirty white from many washings.

"Uncle Arthur," Said Lila, arriving at the top of the stairs first. She moved aside for the others to step up.

He looked past Lila, past Livvy and Ty, and his gaze ended on Kit.

"Stephen," He breathed. He dropped the pen he held and it dropped to the floor, dark ink spilling everywhere.

"Uncle Arthur," Said Livvy, confused though not showing it. "That's Kit Herondale."

"Herondale indeed," said Arthur. He stood from his seat and walked over to Kit. "Why did you follow Valentine? You, who had everything? 'Yea, is not even Apollo, with hair and harpstring of gold, a bitter God to follow, a beautiful God to behold?'" Arthur whispered, "What kind of Herondale will you be? William or James? Tobias or Stephen? Jace? Beautiful, bitter, or both?"

"Uncle," Said Ty. His voice was loud but shaking slightly. "We need to talk to you, about the centurions. They want the Institute. They don't want you to be head of it anymore."

Arthur looked at Ty with what was a near-glare. Then he laughed, though it dropped to sound more like a sob. "Is that true? Is it? What a joke," He spat.

"It's not a joke," Livvy said.

"They want to take the Institute from me," Said Arthur, "as if I hold it! I've never run an Institute in my life! He does everything, writes the correspondence, plans the meetings, speaks with the council."

"Who?" Asked Lila. "Who are you talking about?"

"Who does everything?" Kit asked without a beat between Lila's last word and his first.

"Julian," said someone. They all turned to see who it was. Diana. "He means Julian."

Lila looked up to Kit, then between her brother and sister.

And she knew there was a lot of explaining needed.

—

It was dark outside, so the moonlight reflected off the ocean, giving it is a shining sparkling look. Lila stared out at it as they sat in Diana's office.

"I'm sorry you had to learn this about your uncle," said Diana. She was leaning back against her desk. She wore jeans and a sweater but still looked immaculate. Her hair was swept back into a mass of curls clipped by a leather barrette. "I had hoped—Julian had hoped—that you'd never know."

Kit was leaning against the far wall; Ty, Lila and Livvy sat on Diana's desk. The three of them looked stunned, as if they were recovering from having the wind knocked out of them. Kit had never been more conscious that they were triplets.

"So all these years it's been Julian," said Livvy. "Running the Institute. Doing everything. Covering up for Arthur."

"We should have guessed." Ty's hand twisted and untwisted the slim white cords of the headphones looped around his neck. "I should have figured it out."

"We don't see the things that are closest to us," said Diana. "It's the nature of people."

"But Jules," Livvy whispered. "He was only twelve. It must have been so hard on him."

Her face shone. For a moment, Kit thought it was reflected light from the windows. Then he realized—it was tears.

"He always loved you so much," said Diana. "It was what he wanted to do."

"We need him here," said Ty. "We need him here now."

"I should go," Kit said. He had never felt so uncomfortable. Well, maybe not never—there had been the incident with the five drunk werewolves and the cage of newts at the Shadow Market—but rarely.

Livvy wrapped an arm around Lila and then looked up, her tearstained face baleful. "No, you shouldn't," she said to Kit. "You need to stay here and help us explain to Diana about Zara."

"I didn't understand half of what she said," Kit protested. "About Institute heads, and registries—"

Ty took a deep breath. "I'll explain," he said. The recitation of what had happened seemed to calm him down: the regular march of facts, one after another. When he was done, Diana crossed the room and double-locked the door.

"Do either of the rest of you remember anything else?" Diana asked, turning back to them.

"One thing," said Kit, surprised he actually had something to contribute. "Zara said the next Council meeting was going to be soon."

"I assume that's the one where they tell everyone about Arthur," said Livvy. "And make their play for the Institute."

"The Cohort is a powerful faction inside the Clave," said Diana. "They're a nasty bunch. They believe in interrogating any Downworlders they find breaking the Accords with torture. They support the Cold Peace unconditionally. If I'd known Zara's father was one of them . . ." She shook her head.

"Zara can't have the Institute," said Livvy. "She can't. This is our home."

"I'll knock Zara out of she takes the Institute," Said Lila. Kit wasn't sure if she was joking or not.

"She doesn't care about the Institute," said Kit. "She and her father want the power it can give." He thought of the Downworlders he knew at the Shadow Market.

"The Cohort has the upper hand, though," said Livvy. "Zara knows about Arthur, and we can't afford to have anyone find out. She's right: They'll hand the Institute over to someone else."

"So we punch Zara in the face," Said Lila.

"Is there anything you know about the Dearborns, or the Cohort? Something that might discredit them?" said Kit. "Keep them from getting the Institute if it was up for grabs?"

"But we'd still lose the Institute," said Ty.

"Yeah," said Kit. "But they wouldn't be able to start registering Downworlders. Maybe it doesn't sound that harmful, but it never stops there. Zara clearly doesn't care if Downworlders live or die—once she knows where they all are, once they have to report to her, the Cohort has power over them." He sighed. "You should really read some mundane history books."

"Maybe we could threaten her by saying we'll tell Diego," said Livvy. "He doesn't know, and—I know he was a jerk to Cristina, but I can't believe he'd be okay with all this. If he knew, he'd dump Zara, and she doesn't want that."

Diana frowned. "It's not our strongest position, but it is something." She turned to her desk, picked up a pen and notepad. "I'm going to write to Alec and Magnus. They head up the Downworlder-Shadowhunter Alliance. If anyone knows about the Cohort, or any tricks we can use to defeat them, they will."

"Why doesn't she just call them?" Lila muttered to Ty. She was ignored again.

"And if they don't?"

"We try Diego," said Diana. "I wish I believed I could trust him more than I do, but—" She sighed. "I like him. But I liked Manuel, too. People are not what they seem."

"And do we keep telling everyone that Julian and the others went to the Academy?" Livvy asked, sliding off the desk. Her eyes were dark-rimmed with exhaustion. Ty's shoulders drooped. Kit felt a little as if he'd been hit with a sandbag himself. "If anyone finds out they went to Faerie, it won't matter what we do about Zara—we'll lose the Institute anyway."

"We hope they come back soon," Diana said, looking out at the moon's reflection on the ocean water. "And if hoping doesn't work, we pray for it."