"I pulled every item of magical importance from Ragnor's belongings. But I couldn't determine which will lead to the Book of white," Magnus informed after gathering the crew minus Isabelle who was doing damage control with her parents on Alec's behalf. "Lucky for us, Calliope has a spot on memory and pointed at this piece amongst all of them," Magnus added, pointing at the cloth of blue and yellow.
"I've seen that before," Clary pointed out, taking the cloth from the table before turning to Calliope who was now sipping on the hot chocolate Magnus let her bring from his loft. "In the alternate dimension, this was in the book of the white."
"Among other things, this was inside that dimension," Magnus mumbled under his breath, giving Calliope a teasing look on his face, only to earn himself a glare from the brunette. This of course resulted in the redhead giggling at her sister's reaction, leaving the two men clueless.
"We already tracked who the book belongs to now, only this time we need a vampire to show us," Calliope spoke up, ignoring the look that Alec had been giving her. Ignoring the fact that he looks amazing in white and gold, ignoring the fact that she wanted to look back at him without the impending heart ache.
"Good news, I know the owner," Magnus smiled before it morphed into a frown once more, "bad news, it's Camille."
"Camille?" Clary blinked in surprise.
"Raphael probably has her locked in the basement of the Hotel DuMort."
"Where she belongs, by the way," Calliope perked up, setting down the empty mug on the table, swiping the dagger that Jace had been playing with.
"Well, after I punched her, there's no way she'll help us," Clary sighed.
"Wait, you punch Camille Belcourt? Like actually?" Calliope stared at her sister in astonishment, pride filling up her chest while Clary shyly blushed at her sister's enthusiasm. "Damn Claire-bear!"
"Camille wouldn't have a choice," Jace tells Clary, "trust me," he says before uncomfortably walking away from them.
"Well, if we want this to be over by tonight, we should get Simon to contact Raphael and get dressed," Calliope concluded, following behind Jace for a moment before she turned a corner. Hoping to keep her record of avoiding Alec intact as she maneuvered through the crowded halls of shadowhunters she's never seen before.
"Calliope, wait."
Calliope stood still in the hall where not many people walked around considering the time, she turned around to see Alec, still in his tux, standing behind her. "Yes? What is it?" She asked him.
"I wanted to say I'm sorry," he tells her, "I'm sorry for letting things go as they did, I'm sorry for not communicating with you. For making you feel like you don't belong here—"
"It's fine, Alec," she tells him, crossing her arms over her chest anxiously. "It's not that big of a deal."
"It is to me," he tells her, "I never thanked you for being there, for trying to take some burden away. Validating my feelings, not allowing me to feel like I'm alone. And it's unforgivable for me to just allow you to go through so much again after what happened to you the first time."
"Alec, like I said it's fine—"
"It's not," Alec frowned. "Jace and I talked it out, and I want us to talk it out too. If you allow me to make it up to you," he paused, thinking of a way to make it up to her, and he only thought of one. "I'll even tell Lydia to not transfer your or your sister and Clary to Idris."
Calliope pursed her lips, "I can't have you do that."
"Why? Don't you want to stay here? We can all mentor you and Clary, it will be fine."
Calliope walked up to him, her eyes sad for some reason, Alec couldn't tell why. "I've decided to take her offer."
Alec's heart dropped, "what? Why?"
Calliope gave him a small smile, "Lydia is right. I'm not mundane anymore, Alec. I'm a shadowhunter, and if going to Idris can ensure my future in this world, I can protect my mom and my sister. And in order to do that, I can train under whoever is willing to accept me despite who my father is."
"We'll accept you, Calliope. I accept you."
Alec didn't understand, he was confused. He thought that maybe he only needed to persuade Lydia, but it turns out it wasn't Lydia he needed to persuade.
"Alec, you can't say things like this," Calliope frowned, "not when you're already a married man—"
"But I'm not married," Alec tells her, he could see her brows scrunch in confusion, "I didn't finish the ceremony, I walked out. I—"
"You left her at the altar?" Calliope asked him, but something in her tone gave him the impression that she was a bit pleased with what he did, but he couldn't be so sure.
"I know it sounds bad, but yeah. She's okay with it though," he tried to defend himself. Instead of answering, Calliope gave him a small smile, taking a step back, "I have to go look for Lydia," she tells him before leaving him in the hallway, alone.
Walking ahead, as fast as she could, her shoes thumping against the carpet, she turns to the Head's office and knocks. The door opens to reveal Lydia, her hair still in an intricate bun, holding a bag in one hand. "Calliope? What are you doing here?"
"I wanted to ask you something," she replied, catching sight of the bag in Lydia's hand. "Are you leaving?" She asked the blonde.
"Yeah," Lydia answered, opening the door further to let Calliope in, "since the wedding is canceled, it's my chance to leave with a little pride," Lydia added, placing the bag on the table near a painting.
"I'm sorry that happened to you," Calliope tells her, looking down on her hands.
"Don't be," Lydia chuckled, "I knew it wasn't going to work out, at least not when Alec doesn't seem to keep his mind empty from you."
"Excuse me?" Calliope asked her, confused.
Lydia chuckled, "of course neither of you are aware," Lydia says, turning to Calliope before reaching for both of her hands. "Alec froze when my stele was about to draw the rune on his hand, he froze, Calliope."
"Why would he? Didn't he want this?"
"He didn't," Lydia answered. "and it would've been wrong of me to allow him to make the wrong choice, and both of you deserve better than that."
"Lydia," Calliope's voice was quiet, "I'm so sorry—"
"Hey, it's okay," Lydia smiled, "Treat this as my apology for not being the best cousin in your circumstance."
"Honestly? You're the only cousin I'm sure is willing to take me in," Calliope smiled, "and if it's not too late, I would be honored to be under your mentorship."
Lydia's smile widened, pulling Calliope into a hug, both women's hearts were beating in excitement. Taking a couple more seconds, the women let go of each other, one brimming in happy tears, while the other was smiling from ear to ear, chuckling to themselves.
"Well, I have to transport the cup tonight," Lydia spoke up, "but I will come back to get you after you wake your mom. And I will tell you now, you will love Idris," Lydia grinned. Taking out her stele turning to a wall.
"I can't wait then," Calliope smiled, "I'll see you off at the ops center, I have to get ready to retrieve the book of white with Clary and the others."
"I'll see you later, Calliope," Lydia smiled, waving goodbye at Calliope who walked out the door. If only she didn't, then maybe things wouldn't have happened the way it did.
Alec sat in his room, his tux jacket off, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, he stared at his carpet. His mind wandered back to Calliope and the thought of her leaving. Did the things he say not enough? Should he have been clear that he liked her? He wasn't sure. All he knew now was that Calliope was eager to leave New York and he couldn't help but blame himself for it.
"What have you done, Alec?" His mother's voice sounded in his room, he turned to the door to see his parents furious and disappointed. "To us? This family?"
"This isn't about you," he simply answered, turning away from his mother.
"Of course it is," his mother snapped at him, "you are either being selfish or naive. This wedding was your plan from the start. And now you have humiliated us in front of the most respected members of the Clave."
'Of course that's what you're worried about,' he wanted to scoff. He still refused to look his mother in the eyes and kept his mouth shut.
"I don't even recognize you anymore," his mother gritted.
"I'm the same person I have always been. Now I'm just so full of your expectations and your criticism, and I realized that I don't care about what you two think," he finally snapped, glaring at his mother.
"Do not speak to your mother that way," his father warned.
"Why? Because that's not something I should do?" He scoffed. "I have followed you, I worshiped the ground you walked on, I have tried to please the both of you. You treated Jace more as your kid than you ever treated Isabelle and me!" he added, resentment coursing through his veins.
"Is this about Valentine's daughter?" Maryse asked in disbelief.
"Do not mention Calliope, she has nothing to do with all this," Alec threatened.
"It is about her, that brat—"
"Keep her name out of your mouth, mother," Alec growled, catching Maryse off guard. Now was truly a version of Alec she could not recognize. Without another word, she walked out of his room, leaving his father and him.
"Give her time," Robert tells him, watching his wife walk away, her heels now clicking faintly into the halls.
"What about you? Don't you have anything to say?" Alec asked, waiting for his father's woes, hoping to be left alone.
"I don't understand all this and what you're going through, but I do think our world is changing. And so are you," he says, "and I don't think I can stop you from what you want to do."
"I'm still your son, I can still make you proud. But not like this," Alec tells him, this time his tone is more quiet, broken almost. Confused at what he needed to do.
"I better go check on mom," Robert tells him, allowing Alec to himself.
"Luke? Are you going home?" Calliope asked Luke as she almost walked past him on her way to the infirmary. "Who's with mom?" Calliope asked.
"Yeah, Hodge is with her right now," Luke tells her, stopping for a moment to really look at Calliope who seemed restless. "Are you okay, kiddo?" He asked her.
"I'm… I'm going to be okay," she tried to smile, "I just don't know if I'm making the right choice."
"Whatever choice you're going to make, make sure that you're happy and that you won't regret it, okay?" He tells her, "I'll say good night to Clary and be on my way."
"Okay, good night Luke," she nods, hugging Luke once before she leaves to go straight to the infirmary.
She thought about what Luke said as she walked towards the infirmary towards where her mom was, will she be happy if she left New York? Why did she want to leave New York? Then her mind flashed an image of Alec…
She's crazy, surely Alec doesn't like her. This wasn't the other dimension.
'Of course neither of you are aware,' Lydia's words echoed in the back of her mind. 'He froze, Calliope.'
Calliope shakes her head, she's going crazy.
"Calliope, what are you doing out here?"
She looks up from the floor, stopping herself before she crashes into Hodge who stood by the door to her mom's room. "Hodge," she greeted, "I uh, I was coming in to see mom," she told him.
"You look exhausted, I can stay here on your behalf," he offered her, which she shook her head at.
"No, it's fine. I have too much energy which is why I'm here," she gave him a tight lipped smile, then she spotted something different about him. "Hodge?" She called to him, eyeing a particular spot on Hodge's neck. "Where's your circle rune?"
The moment Calliope caught a look on Hodge's face, her gut clenched, his usually cool face morphed into a grim one. "No hard feelings, Calli."
After that, she felt a strong force hit her face before she fell back on the wall, everything went black once she hit the floor.
Everyone in the institute was in a panic when they realized that the mortal cup was missing, when they found Calliope Fairchild and Lydia Branwell unconscious. Clary was frantic at the sight of her sister on the infirmary bed with a cut on her cheek and a bruised and with a busted lip, everyone was yet to see the wrath from Isabelle Lightwood who dearly cared for the brunette Fairchild. But unbeknownst to them, it wasn't Isabelle's wrath they needed to look out for…
"I want every surveillance we have in the institute, Brooklyn, and New York looking for Hodge Starkweather. Now!" Alec gritted, resisting the urge to yell when he didn't need to. The fact that he was the one who saw Lydia on the floor in his father’s office was enough to round his gears to think that something was indeed wrong.
“How’s Calli?” Isabelle asked while her eyes stayed on the monitor for the surveillance in the infirmary where Calliope was found. Her blood boiling at the state her friend was found in as she non-stop looked through hours of footage. “Alec—”
“She’s as fine as she can be,” Jace assured the raven haired woman, “We need to focus on finding Hodge,” he reminds the siblings while glancing at Clary who was worried out of her mind.
“The cup is definitely missing,” Alec added, almost glared at the monitors that Isabelle was focused on.
“Woah, wait,” Clary pointed out at the image where Lydia was knocked out. Hodge’s figure standing over her as he fell on the coffee table breaking it. Clary gasped, while the three veteran shadowhunters’ breaths hitched. “He took it, he betrayed us…”
“And to think we treated him like family,” Isabelle bitterly said, this time allowing the footage to play again until he left the office.
“Where is the footage of Calliope’s attack?” Jace asked.
“Here,” Isabelle stiffly says, playing the footage, this time it was of Calli, the only difference was that before she was attacked, Hodge was talking to someone in the room where Jocelyn was. “Who is he talking to?” Isabelle scrunched her brows.
“I can bet who it is,” Jace gritted his teeth.
“Valentine,” Clary finished bitterly.
“Now the question is, how did he get that ring,” Alec found himself asking, it didn’t take long for Isabelle to quickly start typing something on her keyboard. “What? Izzy, what is it?”
“Before Meliorn was falsely arrested, Calliope asked me to look into the forsaken attack in the training room. And with me being on trial for high treason and the wedding, I didn’t get to… check,” she froze when she found the footage. There Hodge was, slipping off a ring from a forsaken finger.
“It wasn’t some random attack,” Clary points out.
“No, and Calliope saw right through it,” Isabelle frowned, “I should’ve checked—”
“Now is not the time for the blame game we need to find Hodge and the cup,” Alec says, “If he gives that cup to Valentine, he'll create an army of shadowhunters. With that kind of power behind him, he’ll kill thousands.”
“He’ll kill thousands by just creating an army,” Isabelle pursed her lips, “most mundane don’t survive that.”
“We won’t give him the chance,” Jace declared.
She woke up in a daze, beside her there was no one in particular as expected, she knew that she was in the infirmary. And she needed to get out of here.
She sits up, ignoring the pounding headache she was having, she glanced to her side and saw her stele, taking it and walking out. Generally ignoring the personnel who were trying to put her back in the infirmary, she doesn't care for her well being, Hodge has the cup.
"Calliope?" Isabelle calls just as she gets in the ops center, Clary and Isabelle looked like they were talking about something important, she doesn't remember what it was at the moment. "Where's Hodge?" She asks the two of them. Her mind was still in a daze, head pounding as she tried to remember what the hell happened to her.
"You don't need to worry yourself about that, you should be resting," Isabelle scolds her, eyeing the bruise the brunette had on her cheek as well as the cut on her lip.
"I can't rest, tell me where he is," Calliope winced when Isabelle lightly pressed on her bruise.
"He's gone, and he took the cup with him," Clary answered, brows scrunched in worry for the brunette who looked like she was going to refuse to stay put.
"Where?"
"We don't know." Calliope cursed under her breath, clenching her fist as one of her hands went up to her head to soothe her hair. She couldn't help but blame herself for all of this happening. This was more complicated than she had hoped.
"We need to follow them, they might need help—"
"You're staying," Isabelle says, turning to Calliope with a stern look on her face. "Alec told me to not let you anywhere near the site-"
"I don't give a damn right now, Isabelle," Calliope fiercely says. "Hodge got away with the cup, I was the last one he faced. If only I caught on quick enough, I could'v—," she paused, really blaming herself for letting Hodge get away.
"Calliope, Alec and Jace have this under control," Isabelle counters, placing a hand on her shoulder, "you need to rest, you were out for hours."
"The more reason for us to go and help them—"
"Then come with us," both ladies turned to the red head who stood behind Izzy. "We're going to the DuMort and we need all the help we can get to convince Camille to give us the book of white. We can wake mom up, and maybe she can help."
"Valentine is after mom and us, if you help us look for the book of white the faster it is for us to get the cup and stop Valentine," Clary reasons.
Clenching and unclenching her fist, she was torn, unsure which was more important, her mom or the cup. But with Valentine, it made sense to catch him when he doesn't expect it. Her only choice was to go with them and wake her mom up and pray that Alec and Jace would be with them.
"Fine," was all she said, her gut feeling told her that it was right, but something was going to go horribly wrong, she doesn't know what.
"You don't have clearance to be here, Shadowhunter," The vampire Rafael calmly tells the three Shadowhunter women, Clary being the one upset with the decision while Izzy and Calliope on the sidelines aware that if things went down the wrong path it will break the accords.
"We need Camille to give us something, please Rafael," Clary begs again, this time glancing at Simon who was her best friend turned vampire.
"Maybe we should-" Simon began but was cut off.
"Camille has been a pain in all our asses lately, so if you could help us and get what we need from her, we promise you that nothing will happen to your coven," Isabelle began.
"I don't trust you," Rafael narrowed his eyes on her. "A Shadowhunter like you will never-"
"Either let us in and do what we aimed to do, Rafael, or I swear to god," Calliope threatened, her nerves being picked on as she was purposefully aware of the time being wasted arguing around.
"Fine," Rafael's gaze glared at the three women, "but consider this a favor."
"Deal."
"Camille Belcourt," Calliope coldly says, looking straight at Camille who was being held by the vampires, she was struggling to get out of their hold. "Where's the book of white?"
"How would I know?-"
"We both know that you do, now tell us where it is," she interrupts again, this time growing impatient, if ever, she was pissed at how the vampire in front of her was the same vampire who broke Magnus' heart. After hearing Magnus' story after she crashed at his place on Alec's wedding, she contemplated going in and avenging Magnus' broken heart by punching her as hard as Clary had when the vampire turned Simon.
"It's in my apartment, but I won't give it to you that easily, Shadowhunter."
"Why not?" Clary snapped.
"You see, I don't want to be accused to turning Darling Simon over there into a vampire unwillingly," she slyly says finally calming down.
"Well, you did actually," Simon glared at her. "And news flash, I'm not happy about it."
"Then I won't help you," Camille scoffs.
Calliope didn't have time for this, "you don't have any privileges for asking favors from us."
"Fine," Camille raised her brow at Isabelle, unsure what 'fine' meant to her anyway.
"We'll ask a warlock to issue that paper, under two conditions."
"You're asking for too much-"
"Two conditions or you go straight to the Clave for turning unwilling vampires for over two centuries, I can pull up documents with my clearance, you do not want to test me," Isabelle threatened.
Condition number one, they find the book of white as soon as the paper has been made. It was that simple, once they get the book then Camille was free to do what she wishes and that was where condition number two comes in. Camille will never, ever make another contact with a mundane for as long as she lives, drink their blood from bags, sure, but she will never talk not be in the same street as them ever again.
Calliope wished the vampire chose another warlock, it just had to be Magnus and she hated that she didn't see it coming. She wasn't aware that only a high warlock can issue said papers, and if she had known maybe she would have suggested to Isabelle for another warlock but no, it doesn't work that way.
"I'm sorry that it had to be you, Mags," she apologised to Magnus, standing beside the desk where Magnus did the work, she wished that he didn't have to.
"It's alright Ardea, we'll do what it takes to bring Jocelyn and the cup back," he says. The pit of her stomach made it difficult for her to manage the odd feeling that she was having, it wasn't nice.
Before she could speak, her phone rang, partially startling her as it had been out of nowhere, she took it out revealing it to be Alec. Unsure why he called her and not his sister, she turns to Magnus who glances at her phone. "Could you-"
"Go ahead, I'll be done with this soon," Magnus nods, motioning for her to go and she did. Answering the call, her heart had been hammering to hear news hoping that they got the cup.
"Alec, where are you?" She answered, she had no time to ask how he was though she wished she asked him that first.
"We're by Brooklyn, going up to Magnus' apartment—"
"Where's Hodge and the cup?"
"Valentine has the cup and Jace went after him."
Her heart dropped to the put of her stomach, the bad feeling swelling, jaw clenching, she hated the feeling of defeat that she bit her lip in frustration. "How far are you from Magnus'?"
"Just around the corner why?"
"Hurry up, we need to find the book of white and get Valentine."
"Wait— Where are you?"
"Magnus', and hurry up," she says, ending the call and walking in the apartment again to see Camille lip locking with Magnus who was uncomfortable with the setting. Both ended the lip lock, Magnus frazzled, and saw dangerously angry Calliope looked.
"It's not what it looks like."
Just as he said that Alec, Izzy, Simon and Clary entered the apartment to see a very angry Calliope staring at Camille. Taking a few long strides towards the vampire, grabbing hold of her collar her nostrils flared. "You have the audacity to kiss him after you destroyed a million times over, make another wrong move blood sucker and I will not hesitate to rip that piece of paper and send you to the Clave," she threatened oh so dangerously.
"You are a Shadowhunter threatening a downworlder—"
"I'm a shadowhunter who's not afraid of breaking you and your ugly face. Once you get that paper and when we get that book, make sure I never see your pale face ever again. Understood?"
The deed was signed, they were in Camille's apartment that was filled to the brim with books, none of the shadowhunters spoke about Calliope's outburst towards Camille, no one had the heart to address it. She was deathly silent from the ordeal, she only ever did speak when she informed everyone where she was going to search in the apartment.
She rummaged through every book on the shelf with Alec, he only watched her as he did his own search. Her exterior was a shield, he knew that much, but inside, she was fierce, a protective person, compassionate, he knew that fragility was not a trait to describe Calliope Fairchild, not after what she threatened Camille.
"Have you found anything?" He snapped out from his trance and found her staring back at him, growing conscious at her demeanour. He never noticed how close they were, not intimately close, but enough to see each other's underlying expression. She looked worried.
"We will find it," He tells her, she nodded. She didn't need the assurance, she needed her mom awake, she needed the cup back, she needed to stop all this. Alec knew that, he sees her disappointment in herself.
"It wasn't your fault, Calliope. None of us thought that it would be Hodge to betray us-"
"I should've," she interrupted him.
"Had I known sooner, Valentine wouldn't have the cup now." She trained so hard to protect those she loved most, only for one she considered family to betray her and steal one of the most important instruments known in the shadow world by the same man she thought to be her mentor. Calliope felt like she let everyone down, even herself.
Before Alec could say anything else, Clary's voice rang in the apartment.
"I found it!"
Both Calliope and Alec turned to Clary who emerged from one of the libraries in the apartment. "It was glamored by a cookbook that mom always opened in the kitchen," she says walking towards Magnus. But soon fell short when a portal appeared, and soon they were surrounded by men, runed men in dark shabby clothing with seraph blades glowing brightly.
Calliope tensed up, instinctively shielding Clary behind her, as her gaze stared directly at the man who finally emerged from the portal. Valentine.
"Calliope," Alec reached behind him, revealing a seraph blade which he handed to her, knowing that she lost her weapon from her last encounter with Valentine.
"Ah, my girls. So nice to see you two again," Valentine grinned as he walked towards the group. "Trying to wake your mother? Where's your brother?"
Both girls didn't answer, still glaring at the man in front of them. "Ardea, sweetheart. Tell me where your brother is."
"Like I would know, your lackey knocked me out didn't he?" She scoffed, "why didn't you just order him to finish the job? Kill me?"
Valentine chuckled, looking at her amused with the words that came out of her mouth. "Oh my sweet girl, with something as precious as you and your blood, I wouldn't dare have someone kill you."
Her breath hitched, the thought of being experimented on weighed heavily on her shoulders. "What are you talking about?"
"My sweet girl, it's too early for you to know the truth—"
"Stay away from her!" Simon yelled, attempting to push Valentine away. Clary shrieked as she saw Valentine pull out a seraph blade, ready to plunge it into her vampire best friend who was knocked down. But before he could, Isabelle coiled her whip onto Valentine's hand, without much thought, Calliope kicked the blade away. Unfortunately for her, Valentine pulled her onto the ground, something pierced her neck that she felt it being injected into her body.
"Calli!"
"Stop!" Jace's voice rang in the room. "Let her go, and this time you're not getting away," he threatened.
Valentine smirked, pulling Calliope up by her shirt, he scoffs at Jace, "finally ready to kill your own father?"
"You abandoned me," Jace gritted.
"I was protecting you." Valentine says, pushing Calliope onto the floor, not caring about the loud thud he made when Calliope was essentially pushed to the floor once more. "Back then you weren't ready, but you've grown. You've become the warrior I trained you to be."
"You trained me well," Jace clenched his jaw, his seraph blade still raised.
"And yet, I still have so much to teach you. To you and your sisters."
"Like I would want to learn anything from the likes of you," Calliope sneered, struggling to lift herself up as her vision blurred from when she was tossed aside.
"I brought you here for a reason," Valentine said once more, "fight me, and your friends die."
"Calliope, are you okay?" Calli heard a whisper, she looked up to see Clary giving her a worried look, helping her up as she was unnoticed by the men that surrounded them. "What did he do to you?"
She shakes her head, her headache, the blurriness still fogging her vision. "Crap, I can't see."
"Let us go," Clary turned to Valentine once more, anger filled her eyes when she heard what her twin was feeling. "You can have the book, we wouldn't be able to stop you if you have it."
"Claire, no!" Calliope tried to stand but couldn't, her knees felt weak. Her whole body grew weak, her eyes blurred as if her eyes stopped working.
"Ah, Clarissa. So like your mother, willing to do anything for those you love."
"Stay away from my sister—" Calliope winced.
"Oh, I will, Ardea. Because the time for us to truly reunite is not tonight," Valentine steps back. "Go on, wake your mother. I know you will all join me eventually, it's fated," he tells her, turning to Jace once more with a smug look on his face. "You ready?"
"Don't do it Jace!" Calliope spoke up, with Clary helping her up, she tried to glare at the back of Valentine's head despite the blurriness. "He's a liar."
Jace looked around. He could see Alec, Isabelle, Magnus, and Simon held by circle members, while Clary was holding up Calliope who looked like she was struggling to stand upright. Conflicted, he needed to kill Valentine, but the cost of doing so was too great, it would cost him his friends. He drops his sword, "if I go with you, do you promise that you won't hurt them."
"You have my word," Valentine smiled widely.
"Jace! No! What are you doing?" Clary gasped, "This is insane!"
"I'm sorry, Clary," Jace apologized, his eyes filled with guilt.
"No! You can't be serious— You're not Valentine, you're not like him! We aren't—"
"We don't know that, Clary. We can't know that for sure," Jace frowned.
"Let them go," Valentine ordered, having every circle member release everyone restrained. On instinct, the shadowhunters advanced forward to attack Valentine, only this time, Jace raised his blades again, this time against them. "Get back! Get back, Alec. I mean it," Jace turned to his parabatai.
From there, everyone fell silent, only the boots against the tiles sounded. Calliope tried to see what else was happening, hearing Clary call out to Jace over and over again.
"Calli, are you okay?" Alec turned to her, holding Calliope by the shoulders, checking for new injuries. "How many fingers am I holding?"
"Two," Calliope replied, blinking her eyes rapidly, her vision getting blurrier, and blurrier, until all she could see was white.