After everything that happened we came back to the Institute, the mood was heavy the entire way back here. Not only we were upset we lost Clary's memories forever, but I was muddled thinking about what happened to me, and Alec was also guilty about breaking the bond.
The moment we arrived I finally got the courage to ask my friends what happened to me back there, they explained about my eyes. Alec also questioned me about the weird man who was in my memory which the demon took from me, and I told him that I had never seen him before. The suspicion that I had my memories erased like Clary's was raised but quickly dismissed, because if that were the case, the demon wouldn't have been able to take it from me. Furthermore, they had never seen a person with eyes and runes like the man from my memory.
After our discussion, we all separated ways to take a shower and rest after a very long day. It was exactly what I did, although, I wasn't tired at all, and couldn't fall asleep, especially because I knew what was waiting for me in my dreams. So I just took my phone and sat by the window to admire the night and the starry sky.
Izzy lent me some gray sweatsuit to sleep on, so I'm at least feeling cosy. But I need to go by my house to get some clothes since I don't know how much longer I'll have to live here. My eyes drops to my phone, and I see a missed call from Steph. I try to dial her back, but it goes straight to the voicemail, she must be asleep. I check to see if my parents sent me any message, but there's none, probably because they are really busy with their business in Brazil.
There's a knock on my open door and when I look up from my phone, I see Alec leaning against the door frame, with his arms crossed over his chest. He's wearing a black tshirt, and black sweatpants. And I almost choke on my drool when I notice his raven hair, damp and messy.
"Hey, can't sleep?" His voice is low.
"Uh, yeah. I'm feeling restless." I explain to him, hugging my legs to my chest. He studies me for a while, but then adjusts his position, standing straighter, breaking the silence "Do you... want to see something?" He hesitates. Omg, this totally had double meaning on my mind, and I start to blush immediately. I divert my gaze away from him, staring outside the window.
"It'll depends on what it is." I answer him, playfully.
"You'll see." He states to me, with a unreadable tone. I stare back at him, thinking about it for a moment.
"Alright." I get up, making my way towards him, and I can see the corners of his lips slightly lifting upwards.
Alec leads me towards a spiral staircase on the top floor of the Institute, which we climb, and soon I see myself surrounded by dozens of plants, such as green hedges with blue violet blossoms, vines with buds like jewels, and the majority I had never seen before, but they're all beautiful. Lots flowers fills the space, and I'm sure we're at a greenhouse. The dome's ceiling looks like a inverted lake. It's beautiful. And the smell in here is so fresh and earthy.
"It smells just like springtime in here." I had to comment, amazed.
Alec is ahead of me, still leading me somewhere further back in the greenhouse, but I can listen to him slightly chuckling at my statement, "For me it smells like Idris." We pass by a stone bench in the center, next to a stone-bound rock pool with trees surrounding it.
"Idris?" I ask him when we come to a stop. And he spins facing me.
"The Shadowhunters home country." He explains, while I keep looking around.
"This place is -" My gaze stops wandering when I glance at something I wasn't expecting to see here at all. A upright brown piano is placed between some plants and flowers, there's vines going up all over it. "Breath taking" I finish almost in a whisper staring at the instrument I missed playing this couple of days.
"You can play if you want." I jerk my head towards him. "Is this what you wanted to show me?" I ask softly. He just briefly nods, stuffing his hands on his front pocket, staring at me intently. I quicklg move to seat in front of the piano, opening eagerly the fall board, and making my hands to wander on the keyboard, feeling it. I play one note to see if it's tuned and surprisingly it is. I grin widely.
I adjust my posture, sitting straight, placing my right foot on the pedal, adjusting my fingers on the keyboard. I close my eyes, exhaling slowly, and the silence was ended by a sweet sound, that I've longed to listen, to feel and play again these last couple of days. The notes of River Flows in You by Yiruma echoes throughout the greenhouse, the vibrations of it tingles my skin, and with each key I play my heart pounds faster.
When I finish, I inhale in a deep breath, feeling much calm right now, as if I stopped breathing since that day at Pandemonium when I fell into this hidden world, and playing now brought back my oxygen. I open my eyes, and turn my head to check on Alec, who I almost forgot was here listening to me. He's looking blank as always, but his mouth is slightly ajar.
I clear my throat, "Thank you. I'm feeling much better now." He clears his throat, and looks away. "Good. I should go sleep, don't stay up late playing, try to get some rest soon." He commands, seriously, and walks away, leaving the room. I sigh, glancing back at the piano. Why does he mask his emotions so much? Is he still feeling guilty about earlier? Or is something else?
»»————-————-««
I really tried to sleep, I did, but everytime I closed my eyes, the same nightmare from last night would haunt me again, and again, so I just gave up trying and spent all night playing the piano, and writing a new song on my phone, since my notebook is at my house. When I realized, the sun was already rising, I went down to change my clothes for a set of black cargo pants and a white crop top of Izzy's, and of course my chuck taylors. After I get dressed, I went to see if anyone else was up, and found Alec and Jace chatting at the training room, they apparently are practicing, and Alec has his back to me. I walk to them, trying to scratch my back, which I struggle to do. My back's been itching since we summoned the demon.
"Hey, already up?" Jace asks panting when he notices me approaching. Alec immediately turns around, facing me, and I instantly stop trying to reach my back. He's sweating, and normally I would not find this attractive, but he is an exception to everything, apparently.
"Yeah." I shrug, looking away. They don't need to know my lack of sleep. Especially Alec. "So, you guys always wake up this early?" I ask, trying to make conversation, and change subjects.
"Not always, but because of last night, we can't take anything for granted, especially when it comes to training." Jace tells me, swirling his seraph blade around.
"What happened last night?" I frown.
"Clary saw Valentine through a portal shard, and he spoke to her." Alec replies, casually.
"Hold on. Wait. Portal shard? And... what? He spoke to her?" I tell him, waving my hands.
"The necklace she got from her mother, is actually a portal shard, that's why she knew where Dot was that day, and that's how she saw her mom last night." Jace explains to me, more patiently then Alec of course, who is now in a corner arranging his arrows.
"Wait, her mother? Is she alive?" I ask Jace, anxiously, raising my eyebrows.
"She is unconscious but alive. The thing is, Valentine was there, and he sensed Clary's presence, he even spoke to her." Jace tells me, while Alec is still entertained by his arrows.
"What did he said?" I ask him, apprehensive.
"Well, her name and 'your mother for the cup.'" Jace emphasizes the last sentence with a dark voice, normally I'd laugh, but the situation doesn't let me.
"If Valentine could speak to her through the necklace, isn't that kind of dangerous?" I tell what's on my mind.
"Thank you. Someone who understands" We hear Alec remarking, still focused on his thing. My blonde friend rolls his eyes.
"Yes, that's why Alec took the necklace from her to a safer place, but still, I think we should use it." Jace ignores him, crossing his arms over his chest. Alec finally join us.
"Come, let's practice." He tells me, placing a hand on his front pocket, changing subjects abruptly.
"Shoot an arrow?" I query, I've been eager to try since he mentioned it.
"Not now, you need to work on your defenses first." He starts to walk and stops into a spot on the tatame.
I pout, "But I wanted to shoot." I almost whine, moving to the opposite place, trying to itch my back again, Alec frowns at me, but shrugs right after.
"No. First self defense, then if you're good, you can try shooting." He states, bossy, getting on attack position.
"You know I'm going to suck." I imitate him, positioning myself in the same way. He grins.
"I'll practice up front." Jace announces to us, walking away.
"Ready?" Alec asks me, raising one eyebrow.
"No." I seriously state to him. But he ignores me, and launches himself at my direction.
"Wait!" He just takes me by my waist, lifting me up, and in a second I'm on the floor.
"First lesson, never hesitates." He tells me getting up, but at least he offers his hand for me to take.
"You did that on purpose, you knew I wasn't ready." I say, accepting his help and getting up. He goes to stand into his original position.
"Perhaps." He smirks
»»————-————-««
After a while, we're both panting, lying on the floor side by side. My arms are sprawled.
"Tell me, we're done." I plead him.
"We're done for today." He agrees. I chuckle, and turn my head to look at him, but he's already staring. We're so close, that our noses are almost touching. We stare at each other for a while, and I get myself lost in his ocean eyes, so much that I don't even realize I'm smiling at him. But he notices and instead of a blank expression as always, he gives me a wide smile, and we both chuckle together.
We're interrupted when we hear Jace greeting someone. "Marysee." Alec's expression fade into his normal serious one, but slightly troubled this time and he quickly gets up. I frown at him, not understanding his quick mood change. Once again, he swiftly helps me to my foot, pushing me to follow him, and right after releases my hand.
When we get to the front of the training room, Jace is talking with Clary and Izzy, and also to a woman I've never met, she looks to be on her forties. She's wearing a sheath elegant black dress, and black scarpin high heels. Her raven hair is slicked pulled on a ponytail. She exhales elegance. Because of the resemblance I can tell she's related to the Lightwoods.
"Mother. Welcome back. We didn't expect you." Alec greets her, approaching, corteous. I stop besides Jace, stuffing my hands on my front pockets, sending Clary a questioning look, she shrugs, confused as well.
"You should be prepared, whether you expect me or not." She replies with a serious tone, greeting him with a kiss on the cheek, and right after he steps back, standing between me and Jace, with his hands clasped behind the back, and a really straight posture, almost like a soldier.
"I am. We are." He tells her, convinced. But I can tell he's nervous on the inside. Actually, not only him, but Jace and Izzy are uncomfortable. His mother turns her gaze to me, and I feel Alec worriedly glancing at me.
"And you must be Aster Hope." She states, almost bored. I nod smiling, raising my hand to greet her, which she ignores analyzing me from head to toe "We heard all about you in Idris." She continues, raising one eyebrow in a judgement look. "But you look pretty... normal to me." She finishes looking me in the eyes again, Alec shifts his weight from one feet to the other. I drop my hand to my side, after holding up for while.
"Thanks, and you look pretty... beautiful to me. But I guess it runs in the family." I smile at her, and I can see she's taken aback by my words. Definitely not expecting that answer. I learned the best way for you to baffle a rude person is by not giving them the reaction they're expecting, but by giving them kindness. I can tell Marysee uses arrogance to hide insecurities. Izzy grins at me.
She clears her throat. "Anyways. We have a big problem." She begins, serious. "The Seelies have stopped communicating with the Clave and won't explain why. My guess is they're still upset we asked them to send scouts to look for Valentine. But no one in their realm will talk" She explains while she walks around us, with arms crossed.
"I have Seelie friends." Izzy tells her, and Marysee stops moving, glancing at her. "Yes, I know about your friends." Her mother states with a judgmental tone and a raised brow.
"Isabelle, we stay separate from the Downworld for good reasons. The wrong move, the wrong word. Do you think there is such a thing as harmless rebellion? Who knows what offends these creatures? Maybe you told him... them... something they shouldn't know. " She states definitely blaming Izzy.
"Wait. I don't understand. You're laying all of this on Izzy for having a friend in the Downworld?" I query her, indignant, furrowing my brows.
"When someone upsets the natural order, everything falls apart." She replies. I frown.
"Natural order? What are you saying?" It's Clary's turn to step in, annoyed. "I can help. I know how to talk to Seelies." Izzy insists, confident.
"She's right. She can visit with Meliorn and see what he knows." Alec begins with authority, "I'll go with her if you want." He tries to convince his mother.
"I'd rather Jace goes along this time. Alec, you stay with the Hope and Fairchield girls." She orders, and inhales deeply annoyed after continuing. "I want them under control. They'd caused enough trouble already." She finishes, arrogant. I raise an eyebrow at her, crossing my arms over my chest.
"Maybe that's because we weren't even a Shadowhunter until a few days ago." Clary retorts quickly.
"And what an exciting few days it has been." Marysee states sarcastically. I start to feel really annoyed at her, my back itching again, so I raise my right hand trying to reach the spot which is bothering me. Alec notices my discomfort, frowning at me. "The Clave counts on us Lightwoods to maintain order here." She says stern, and Alec's head jerks towards her after hearing this.
"You don't have to tell me that. If the mission is important to the Clave, I would prefer to be the one who goes with Isabelle." Alec tells her, with knitted brows, but his mother chuckles.
"You're all so eager to do what you would prefer. It's time to face the truth. Life is not about what you want to do, it's about what must be done." She tells overbearing, raising her voice more and more at every word she says. "I have given you your assignments, now carry them out! You and you, with me, now!" She finishes severe, almost shouting, pointing at Jace and Izzy, and takes off.
We all exchanges distraught looks, and right after Izzy and Jace decides to follow Marysee, leaving Me and Clary behind with Alec.
"Well, that was a window into the weird." I state to light up the mood, glancing at Alec who is static.
"What did you do to piss off your mom?" Clary asks him, and I facepalm myself, cause I know this is not the best thing to ask him right now.
"I'd guess, for a start... all the unsanctioned missions on your behalf didn't go over that big with the Clave." He snaps at her, detached and walks away. Me and Clary stare at each other, with raised eyebrows.
»»————- Alec's POV ————-««
"You're the acting head of this Institute. If there's a diplomatic mission you should go. Let's switch assignments." Jace tells me while we get out of the elevator and make our way to the Ops Center.
"Nope. This time I'm actually gonna obey orders, and babysit your girlfriend." I tell him, slightly annoyed.
"Clary? She's more like a responsibility." He replies. "Besides, you'll be babysitting Aster as well... What is she to you?" He halts facing me.
"A responsibility just like you claim Clary to be." I retort in defensive, but I know that's not really the case anymore.
"Are you sure? I've never seen you so relaxed around another person besides me and Izzy. You worry about her."
"She's an empath, perhaps is that." I try to find an excuse. "I can see right through you, Alec." Jace states, and I just scoff, moving to walk away but he prevents me.
"Hey, hey. You'll keep an eye on Clary, right? On both of them." I don't answer him right away. "Swear to me you won't take your eyes off of Clary and Aster. They both are important, especially now we know Valentine wants As too." He queries, seriously.
I inhale, and nod at him. "I can't believe I even asked you that. You won't let me down." He chuckles, hugging me, and goes away. I exhale deeply watching him leave.
»»————-————-««
I found Aster and Clary trying to practice fighting with each other using training sticks, so I approach them to help. When Aster notices me she stops and opens a bright smile, that I swear by the Angel has some kind of power over me. She can easily lighten up my mood with just that. Clary glances to where Aster is staring, and turns around to face me.
"Looks like we're stuck with each other." Clary sighs, bringing back my bad mood. I sigh deeply.
"Come, you two need to practice. Plant your feet wide." I order them, wanting to get this over with, picking a stick. They both do as I say.
"For what it's worth, I think your mother was too tough on you out there." Aster sighs to me, probably noticing my mood.
"Mothers are like that." I shrug. "Mine's not." Clary is quick to point out.
"Why did you let your mom tell this awful things about Izzy?" Aster queries me with knitted eyebrows. I swing my stick towards her, and she raises hers, blocking my blow.
"Don't step into the strike. Step through it." I gesture demonstrating to her. She sighs. "Izzy was out of bounds. The law is hard but it's the law. Even I forget that sometimes." I answer her question.
"So, you're just gonna let her send Jace out instead of you?" Clary raises her eyebrows. I move to attack her this time, with two blows. Her defenses are sloppy, just like I predicted.
"If I screw up, I expect to be punished. I'm supposed to be a leader." I step away, and she grunts. We all start to walk in circle, waiting for the next person to charge.
"You know what a leader does, Alec? Makes decisions. You need to find Valentine and stop him. I need to find Valentine and help save my mother." I launch myself towards her and Aster, both of them blocking each one of my blows, and at some point, I'm able to trap Aster and Clary's stick on the floor, preventing them from any more attacks against me. I stare at Aster smirking, the corners of her lips tilt up slightly, and suddenly she kicks my stick, swinging hers to strike my head, but I'm quick to duck, dodging the blow. She swirls around to strike me again, but I grab a hold on her stick, pulling it to the side with force, making her somersault, falling on her back, grunting.
We're all panting. "I told you need to work on your defense." I tease her, helping her get on her feet. She chuckles while getting up, and tries to reach with a hand the middle of her back. I frown, it's the fourth time I see her doing this today. I step closer to her, leaning to whisper, "What's wrong with your back?"
"Nothing, it's just scratching a little bit. Must be a mosquito bite or some skin allergy." She shrugs, whispering back. I nod to her, and turn to face Clary.
"What do you think? Do you think we haven't been trying to find your mother? Or to find more about Aster and the Prophecy?" I ask her, slightly stern, turning to pick up the sticks from the floor.
"Of course you have. But I know you can color outside the lines. You're just not letting yourself think that way." She tells me.
"Oh, yeah? What's the big thought I'm not thinking?" I query mocking, handling each her and Aster a stick.
"We can still find Valentine. I might know a way." She states, now catching my and Aster's full attention. Clary sighs, and continues, "My mother hid a lot from me, but I did see one thing... there's a box. She didn't think I knew about it. But she opened it once a year and cried." She explains.
"'Cause?" I raise my eyebrows, questioningly.
"It belonged to my father. Had his initials, 'JC' on top." She revealed. "But your father is Valentine. Why JC?" Aster remarks stepping closer.
"Because for 18 years she told me his name was Jonathan Clark. It was a lie, but... whatever was in that box meant a lot to her." She replies.
"Maybe there's something that could help us track him." Aster shares her thoughts. She is right, I have to agree on that.
"Where can we find the box?" I ask Clary.
"I think it's still back at the loft." She answers, and Aster adds, "Let's go get it then." She tells us, eagerly. But my phone starts to ring, "Absolutely not." I state seriously to her, "Not without permission." I add before turning around to answer the call.
»»————- Aster's POV ————-««
While Alec has his back to us talking on the phone, Clary pokes me, gesturing for us to leave him, probably to find the box. I hesitate looking back at Alec. He will be pissed off with us, but if we wait for permission, it can take too long, and we could lost the box, which is now our mainly clue. I nod to Clary, and we both move to place the sticks cautiously on the floor, taking off right after, trying to make no sounds whatsoever.
We made out of the Institute without any trouble and we're already walking through the streets of Brooklyn without being noticed since we drew an invisibility rune that Clary saw in one of the Shadowhunters books.
Clary's phone starts to ring slightly startling us, and all the people walking around start looking for their own phones. Clary hurries to get the device to make it stop, fumbling with her things.
"Why'd you run out?" I hear a voice says behind us, making me jump, placing a hand on my heart. I look back and see Alec standing behind me, with an unhappy look on his face. "Jesus Christ. You scared the hell out of me!" I tell him, exhaling deeply.
"And what's the point of an Invisibility rune if you don't silence your phone?" He ignores my statement, glaring at Clary, who finally manages to find her phone. "That was childish sneaking out like that." He remarks with his gaze back at me. I open my mouth to answer him, but I'm interrupted by Clary's voice.
"Simon, Hey. I know I should have called you right back. I'm really sorry. Are you okay?" Clary answers the call, walking away from us. We both follow her though, but Alec turn his attention back at me, "I thought you trusted me." He says with slight disappointment on his voice, making me tuning out of Clary's phone conversation, and halt facing him.
"Of course I do. But we cannot afford to lose another clue because we're waiting for permission that may not even be granted. Besides, it's not your fault we sneaked out. It's on us." I tell him.
"It is actually my fault, cause I let my guard down and two new Shadowhunters sneaked out in my watch. How does it sounds for the acting head of the New York Institute?" He states to me, crossing his arms over his chest. I have to agree with the last part.
"You're right, that doesn't sound good." I sigh, but quickly add, "But still Alec, we need to find that box, to track Valentine. He knows something about me. And now that we're already outside, let's get it. The Clave won't find out." I almost plead him. He frowns, probably pondering my words, he slightly shakes his head and turns to Clary.
"I'm on my way to-" She is interrupted by him. "Hang up. That's it, we have to go. Right now." He commands her, and I sigh deeply this time.
"No. I'm on my way to the loft." Clary says to Simon on the phone, insisting to stick to our plan. "There's something there that I think could help me find my mother." There's silence while she hears the other line, me and Alec exchanges glances. I can tell he's really annoyed right now.
"I'm fine! I'm with Aster and Alec." She states for Simon. "No. Simon, you've been through enough already." I see Alec rolling his eyes at this, and then he scans around with a grimace. Clary finally hangs up.
"Mundanes. Look at them. Running around like ants." Alec sneers unnecessarily and it's my turn to roll my eyes. "Let's go." He adds, walking away and I scoff.
"Why do you always looks so miserable?" Clary interrogates him, making him halts his steps, and turn to face us again.
"I don't." He states convinced. "You kind do, Alec." I trail off, agreeing. He sends me a bombastic side eye, to which I just shrug.
"It must be hard being confused about your sexuality. You've being in love with Jace all your life and he's straight and everything. And now there's Aster." He is taken aback by Clary's statement, and so am I when I hear my name at the end of the sentence.
He hesitates for a moment, but finally manages to voice out, "Excuse me?"
"What's the big deal?" She chuckles, "I was there when that memory came out. Busted, no? You're confused, I get it."
"We're parabatai and Aster is only my responsibility." He states to her on defensive mode. Ouch. That hurted, I thought we were at least friends now. Clary glances at me, noticing my hurt expression.
"Forget it." Clary dismisses the subject.
"Guys, we have a real problem to solve." I step in, deciding it's enough of discussion.
"Come on." Clary gestures us to follow. I pass by Alec and send a tiny reassuring smile. He doesn't need to be ashamed of anything. But I can't deny that I'm disappointed about what I am to him. But it's okay, I guess, we just met and even though it feels like I've known him all my life, for him it may not be the same. I think my dreams eluded me.
»»————- Author's Note ————-««
So sorry for the lack of updates, I had a writer's block, I wrote this chapter and another one, but I wasn't pleased with how they turned out, I am still not really happy with them, so I'm still working on the next to be better than this one.
Thanks for all the support!
Don't forget to VOTE!
~x Binx