New World

36 | Brocelind Forest

Lila packed her duffel bag full of warm clothes, pyjamas, a blanket and pocket-warmers shed bought from a store by the beachfront one winter and forgot she had them. She dropped her earphones into the bag before she shrugged on a jacket.

She slung her bag over her shoulder and left her bedroom, instead heading across to Livvy's. She hadn't even looked at her sisters door since she'd died, but for some reason she wanted to before she left.

The door was red with chipping paint. Livvy had wanted to paint it red one time, and so red it stayed. The door had been closed ever since everyone returned home from Alicante. Lila dropped her bag to the ground before she placed a hand delicately on the door handle and pushed the door open carefully.

Livvy's room was still, and too silent. Lila's eyes filled with tears as she looked around the room. Livvy's jewellery was hanging peacefully on the wall, her bed was still made from the morning before they'd left for London. Her curtains were still drawn open, letting light into the room. Her closet remained closed tight, her pictures on the walls were tacked up, though one had fallen down to the ground where it sat waiting to be picked up.

Lila walked over to it silently, a tear sliding down her cheek as she sniffed, trying hard not to cry. Livvy's room was never quiet—Livvy, Ty and herself were always laughing or talking, or Dru and Livvy were laughing together, or Tavvy was having a story read to him before bed, or music was heard for hours. It wasn't right for it to be quiet.

She picked the photo up, finding it was a picture of Livvy and Tavvy, and tacked it back up on the wall. She wiped her eyes and looked around the room, at the stillness of it, at the headboard decorated with a design of teacups, at the shoes which had been kicked off in the corner, at the t-shirt she'd chosen not to wear some day, which had been dropped into the corner of the room, never to be worn again. With a heavy heart, Lila couldn't find it in herself to fix anything else.

She left the room, closing the door carefully and quietly behind her. She sniffled and wiped her eyes, picked up her bag, cooled down in the bathroom to get rid of her puffy eyes, before she headed downstairs to meet the others.

-

They'd set up camp in Brocelind Forest once they'd reached Idris, the tents full of borrowed carpets and blankets. Lila had her own tent, between Jem and Tessa's and Diana's.

"Everyone, don't set your tents on fire! They're not ours!" Magnus had called. Lila had simply smiled and unpacked her blanket, leaving it next to her borrowed pillows.

They'd made a small fire that night and sat logs around it, eating s'mores.

"Has anyone ever tried ketchup on a s'more?" Isabelle asked.

"This is why you're a bad cook," Alec replied.

"I like ketchup and s'mores," Simon told her loyally. He mouthed something to Clary.

"I know," she said in turn, "I can feel through the parabatai bond how much you don't like them."

"Julian is an excellent cook," said Emma.

"I am also an excellent cook," Mark proclaimed. He put an acorn on his s'more, and Lila smiled at her older brother.

"He can't help it," said Cristina loyally. "He has lived with the Wild Hunt for years."

"That is no excuse," Kieran told, "I have also lived with the Wild Hunt, but you don't see me putting acorns on my s'mores."

"I never pictured Shadowhunters eating s'mores," said Kit from where he sat beside Lila. "On the other hand, this is the first s'more I've had that hasn't come out of a box."

"Then that's not a s'more," Ty said lightly. "That's a cookie. Or some cereal."

Kit and Ty smiled at one another. Ty was sitting beside Julian, leaning against him, Julian's hand ruffling Ty's hair.

"Excited for your first battle?" Jace asked Kit. He was sitting on the ground with his arms around Clary.

"He's not going!" Clary exclaimed. "He's too young." She looked at Kit. "Don't listen to him."

"He seems old enough," said Jace. "I was fighting when I was ten."

"Stay away from my children," Magnus warmed Jace. "I'm watching you, Herondale."

"This is great. I haven't been camping in so long. You can't go camping on Wrangel Island—your fingers will get so cold they'll freeze and fall off," Helen said.

"Where's Cristina?" Emma asked.

Beside Lila, she noticed Kit glanced around.

"She shouldn't be walking around the edge of the forest," Magnus said. "There are booby traps here. Quite well-hidden, if I do say so myself." He started to stand. "I'll get her."

Mark and Kieran both stood. "We will find her," Mark said hastily. "In the Hunt, we learned much about traps."

"And few know more about the ways of the forest than the fey," Kieran added.

Magnus shrugged his shoulders with a glint in his eyes. "All right. Go ahead."

As Kieran and Mark headed off, Aline raised her plastic cup of water. Lila couldn't stand Aline. She was too bossy for her to like—the frittata story from Dru ran through her mind—but she was Helen's wife, and as long as Helen was happy, that was all that mattered.

"Let's make a toast," Aline said. She held her cup high. "To never being parted from our families again. Once tomorrow comes, we're never going to let the Clave do that again."

"Not to be parted from family or friends," Helen added with a slight smile.

"Or parabatai," Simon said winking at Clary.

Alec and Jace cheered, and Lila raised her half-eaten s'more, clashing the uneaten side with Kit's.

"To never being parted," Kit said, a small smile on his face to Lila, before he looked up and said the same to Ty.

"To never being parted," Ty replied, with an emphasis which Lila—in her tiredness—didn't seem to understand properly.