Chapter Four
Aiden:
Before the van could come to a complete stop, Clary jumped out and started speed walking through the back alleys of Pandemonium. "Wha- Clary!" Simon stopped the van abruptly and went after her, leaving the rest of us to detach ourselves from one another.
Clary was leading us with speed, and being the shortest person here, meant I was practically jogging... in heels. She stopped walking and held onto her necklace. I've never seen her with that one before, must've been a birthday gift from Simon.
I changed my mind when I saw her gasp. Mr. Simon Lewis was completely human. That thing must've come from someone with supernatural power to wield.
"Dot... DOT!" She ran off once more, leaving the rest of us to follow her lead. After a few bends and turns of no one knowing where the final destination was, Jace stopped her.
"Clary. Clary, stop! Where are you going?" They stopped right under the Pandemonium sign and looked around.
Clary breathlessly answered him. "Two men, Circle members... the same ones who came to my house, who took my mom. They have Dot. They're gonna hurt her or kill her. We have to stop them!" Aaannnddd off she was again, through the Pandemonium's doors. We ran through the whole establishment and found nothing, no one. The place was completely empty.
"No. She was just trying to help me." I stopped next to Izzy and caught my breath. "Now, she's gone." There it was. Another pang in my chest. I knew the all too familiar feeling of losing family. Being the last one. Being alone.
"Clary, I'm sorry." Simon put his hand on her shoulder.
"You don't understand. Dot's like my big sister." I shook my head, catching her attention.
"I think I understand it a little too well, Clary." I whispered. A tear fell down my cheek and I cleared my throat as I wiped it away. I could feel Alec's gaze on me, but I didn't look.
"It's not safe here. We have to go back to the institute right now." This made my head snap up though.
"So, what now? Valentine has my mom and Dot, and we're just gonna give up? What about my memories? They can't just be gone?" She looked agitated. I felt agitated. I took out my phone and checked the time. It was already 11:29 p.m. We were moving too slow.
Right now, Alec needs to chose a route and stay on it. Just a couple hours ago, he was talking about following me under the bridge to meet whoever the fuck threatened Jenny and to go see the Silent Brothers... but now he wants us back at the institute ASAP? What changed his mind?
Jace spoke up, breaking the silence. "There's another option." He shrugged his shoulders and looked at Alec, then Clary, then me.
"Don't even—"
Absolutely not."
I rolled my eyes. What could the Silent Brothers help do that could be so bad? "The Silent Brothers. You were the first one to say that we're going Alec. Don't catch cold feet now."
Jace looked at me then shook his head at his adoptive siblings. "I'm not afraid of the Silent Brothers."
Clary perked up inquisitively. "Who are the Silent Brothers?"
"They're Shadowhunters with superior powers." Jace answered immediately.
"Who possess the ability to recover memories." Izzy picked up the sentence and looked at Clary daringly.
Alec stared me dead in the eyes. "A process that can also kill you, so there's that." Does he not think I'm strong enough for this?
His hostility wasn't hidden in the slightest and Simon was not happy with it. "Your bedside manner is abysmal."
Alec rolled his eyes and turned completely to Jace. "We've broken at least eighteen Clave rules and now you want to go to the City of Bones? There's no way. I won't allow it."
"This isn't your choice to make. This is Clary's decision." I wasn't going to remind them of the other person that was in desperate need of some Shadowhunter tarot reading or some serious answers to what the hell is going on.
"You can't ask her to do this. She doesn't know what she's facing. She's not prepared." I looked at Isabelle quizzically. What the hell is all this drama about? Were the Brothers going to crack our skulls open for the answers we need?
Clary's face distorted in anger. "If anyone can tell me another way to recover my memories and still get the answers I need, I'm listening." Dead silence followed her sentence. "That settles it."
Jace looked at Alec and smirked. "See? I told you she's one of us." I was the first person to turn away and head back to the van. I don't give a shit if the others don't support this. I need to get under that bridge and in the City of Bones. I wasn't taking no for an answer.
When we all stood under the bridge, I wondered what the hell was going through my mind to tell someone, who wasn't afraid of murder, to meet me here, under a fucking bridge, away from human eyes, for an instrument I most definitely did not have.
"Yeah, this place isn't creepy. Not at all." Seems like Simon and I shared the same thoughts.
Isabelle chuckled, "Don't tell me you're afraid." We spread out a bit. I walked a bit farther than I intended because now I could barely hear them. A branch cracked behind me and I swung around, but there was no one there.
I headed back to the group but stopped when I felt the chill of a seraph blade against my throat. "Keep walking." No doubt about it now. This was the man. His voice was indescribably itchy. The pressure of the blade increased and I took my first step forward.
Stupid stupid stupid. This is how the dumb white chicks die in movies. I just had to be a dumb white chick, hadn't I?
I started thinking of all the ways I was taught to disarm a man while taking even, slow steps towards the group.
Alec saw us first. He grabbed the small seraph blade he tucked into his boot and adjusted his stance. This made everyone else go on guard.
"Now, if you want the tiny one right here to stay alive, I suggest you drop your weapons. All of them." The blade pressed deeper into my skin, drawing the slightest bit of blood. Instinctively, I took a step back to alleviate the uncomfortable pressure I was feeling and ended up flush against the man's chest. "Sweetheart, if you're trying to initiate something, it ain't gon' work."
Using my best nonchalant tone, I stalled, "Why not? I saw the way you were looking at me days ago. You didn't take your eyes of me once." He chuckled.
"I watch anyone and everyone that seems suspicious enough to have the mortal cup." He paused, trying to build tension. "Now tell me, what's more suspicious than a full blooded, fully grown shadowhunter doing without runes?"
This man was a lunatic, but I'm crazier. "I might have just pulled the right card out of the deck... Do you think, if I brought you back to Valentine, he'd give me a promotion?" I kept my face blank as I watched the others anger significantly. He was smiling now. "Now I'm glad I didn't tell a soul about finding you! The bitch keeping the mortal cup! I get to have all the credit!" Big fuck up on his part.
I took his moment of early celebration to elbow him in the solar plexus, step on his toes and punch him in the nose. He was faltering heavily now, so I took the chance of turning to face him and kneeing him in the nuts. He fell to the ground and landed on his stomach. I twisted his wrist and listened to him grunt in pain before taking the seraph blade out of his hands. The blade grew brighter, with a vengeance.
I stepped on his back and touched the point of the blade to the back of his neck, "Move and you say goodbye to your life." I felt abnormally calm doing this. "Did you do anything to Jenny?"
He took in a jagged breath. "N-no! I swear I—"
"Good. If you decide to call me a bitch, make sure you put crazy in front of it" I cut him off... literally. I watched as his head rolled a few inches away from the rest of him, then looked up to the rest of the group. They looked stunned. Deep in my core, I was definitely stunned, but if I freak out now, they will too. I flicked the blood off the blade and looked back up at them.
Still as statues. "So where's the entrance to the City of Bones? Clary... and I need to have a little 'talk' with the Silent Brothers." Jace was the first to recover, but Alec was the first to speak.
"Let's check it out." He and Isabelle walked off and Jace was about to, but stopped when he saw Clary following. He patted her on the shoulder.
"Wait here a minute. I wanna see if it's safe." He looked at me pointedly and I put up my arms in a surrender then watched as he jogged off.
I walked over to the remaining two. "Why are we doing this? We don't even know these people." Simon whispered.
"We have connected goals, Simon." He gestured for me to continue. "Clary wants her memories to save her mom. They wanna know if her memories can give them relevant information about the cup. I wanna know who and what I am, and maybe the Silent brothers can tell me." Simon looked away and nodded his head.
"I just wish my mom trusted me enough to tell me about all this.... What is it? What's wrong?" Simon was analyzing her face, searching for Angel knows what.
"How are you not ultra freaked out by all of this?" He turned to me. " And you. You just chopped of a man's head like it was the crust on a tuna fish sandwich. How are you calm at all?" Poor thing looked traumatized. I leaned against the van.
"I guess I just always felt like there was something missing." Tears began to form as Clary stared off into space. "Some void I couldn't quite explain. Things are finally starting to make sense." She sniffed then looked back at us. "But none of its gonna matter unless I get my mom back"
"Then let's do that." Simon smiled wryly at her. I kept quiet and let those two have their moment.
"Clary!" Jace called out. "Come on, it's all clear."
She stepped off and motioned towards us. "Let's go."
I followed their lead through the woods under the bridge while ease dropping on their conversation. "You have to understand, the Silent Brothers aren't like us." Jace whispered.
"They lack your charm and superior people skills?" Clary stated sarcastically.
"Yeah. Most people do." We chuckled. "The Brothers communicate without using words, using just their thoughts."
I thought about it a bit. "That doesn't sound so bad" looking back a few days ago, I heard a voice in my head that definitely wasn't mine.
Clary agreed and Jace glanced at us. "Don't let their silence fool you. They'll hold the Soul-Sword to your head, and with its blade, carve the truth from your mind. If you're not strong enough... you will die."
Clary gaped at me. I just rose my eyebrows in boredom, I wasn't changing my mind on this. "I-I take it back. That sounds level ten bad."
Jace cut her off. "Clary, you should know, the pain will be excruciating. You don't have to—"
"I'll do anything. Walk through fire, battle demons, whatever it takes. I have to get my mom back. I can't... I won't lose her."
"You won't" Jace looked at me, "We won't."
The gate had a fucking skeleton on it. The designer got the creepy part down pat.
Clary gasped when she caught sight of it. "I can do this."
Simon stood beside her, "Yeah, you can. You're Clary freakin' Fray. You can do anything." He took a step forward but Jace pulled him back.
"Alright. Hold up."
Simon huffed, "Surprise, surprise. No mundanes allowed, just like in the training room, right? Wrong! I've seen every horror movie ever made and the funny best friend who gets left behind... dead man."
Clary laughed and Jace spoke up. "You're not that funny, but by all means, go ahead." I rose my eyebrows and stood beside him. Simon turned to walk but Jace continued, "Of course, the minute you enter, you'll die."
Simon faced us with skepticism. "Problem is, now I don't trust you."
Alec subconsciously shifted to my side. "He's not lying."
"Now" Izzy added. "He was before"
"Rune energy in the city of bones will kill any mundane who dares to enter so, please..." Alec stretched out his arms, gesturing for Simon to continue.
Rune energy... I guess that's what the white mist surrounding the institute and this place is. I can finally put a name to it and stop sounding like some paranormal nerd in need of glasses.
"The brothers creep me out." She turned towards Jace and reached out to Simon. "I'll mind the mundane."
"Your sacrifice is noted, Izzy." He smirked and watched Simon's face crumble.
"Talk about sacrifice. I'm missing a financial analysis class." He complained animatedly.
Alec looked like he was having a headache. "I can't be here anymore, so, Jace, I'm gonna mind the perimeter." He glanced at me and walked off.
"I don't wanna leave you." Clary held on to Simon's elbows.
"Go be a badass shadowhunter, all right?" He peeped around her to look at me for a second then returned his attention to her. "I know Aiden already is." They both smiled and looked at me. He held her hand. "Go get your memories back, save your mother. I'll be right here... guarding the entrance to hell." She hugged him.
"Clary, you don't keep the Silent Brothers waiting." I almost laughed! Not Jace being jealous.
I walked up to him and patted him on the back. Simon whispered something to Clary before she caught up with us. I took a deep breath and through the gates to Hell we went.