"I want to know why you hate the color yellow." Emerson's out of the blue question startled Clary.
She, Izzy and Simon had been sitting around in Izzy's room discussing everything when Emerson had burst into the room and stormed over to Clary. She had changed from the clothes Izzy had dressed her in and while Clary was glad, she found herself wondering why her sister dressed in such strange clothes.
Emerson was dressed in a soft yellow sun dress with a burgundy cardigan and a matching scarf wrapped around her neck. Her hair surprisingly was still in the same hairstyle Clary had styled it and Clary felt happy that she liked it. Alec and Jace entered behind her with Alec shutting the door gently behind him. It was the first time they were all in a room together and Clary could tell they were all uncomfortable with the turn of events.
"I just don't?" Clary's words came out more of a question than she had intended.
Emerson rolled her eyes before flopping down onto the floor next to her. She could feel the curious and confused eyes of everyone but it was nothing new to her. She had long gotten use to the weird stares her actions caused, instead she held out the stele towards Clary. She had decided to try and get close to Clary, if not for Rhamiel telling her too, then so Clary would stop annoying her.
"Is this yours?" Clary questioned in shock as she took the stele that was being offered to her. She briefly recalled seeing it when she had been younger but the image went as quickly as it had come.
"Jocelyn said it was mine, we were supposed to get them at the same time but obviously didn't." Emerson replied as her eyes focused on Clary only.
Clary handed the stele back offering a sad smile. Emerson, being sick of the sad smiles took her stele and stuffed it back into her coat pocket. Once she was certain it wouldn't fall out she sat on her knees, leaned forwards and pinched both of Clary's cheeks.
"If you're going to waste your smile on a sad one then let me make it better." Emerson said as she tugged on Clary's cheeks.
Clary tried to talk but her lips were squished together, distorting her words. She swatted at Emerson's hands, glaring at the girl who was surprisingly acting like an annoying little sister. Emerson continued to push and pull her cheeks, not hard enough to be painful but hard enough to be annoying.
She briefly wondered if this was what siblings were supposed to do, she found she enjoyed teasing and annoying Clary, it was pay back for her annoying questions; Emerson decided. Clary leaned forward and began pinching and pulling at Emerson's own cheeks. The girls tried speaking but it was apparent neither was going to let the other go any time soon.
"D-did we miss something?" Simon questioned from his spot on the bed. He was shocked to see Clary acting so childish, and to see her mirror image acting just as childish. Izzy found the moment almost as adorable as seeing Alec and Emerson being close.
"Emerson said she was going to give Clary a chance." Alec said as he leaned his back against the wall, watching as the twins acted like siblings for the first time since discovering the other existed.
Jace, standing beside Alec couldn't help but grin at the pair; he knew Emerson had a playful side, them having drowned Alec in water that morning. He was glad that the others were finally seeing it and despite his initial worry about Clary questioning the sudden change in Emerson, it seemed Clary didn't care.
"I think it's a bit odd, she hates her one day and the next their acting like sisters." Simon grumbled only to be slapped on the arm by Izzy.
"I think it's great and we are going to support it because that's what family does." Izzy spoke in a serious tone as she glared at Simon.
He quickly nodded, agreeing for the sake of him not being able to sleep that night. Jace chuckled at the couple before glancing to Alec and his eyes softened at the look on the serious man. His eyes were soft and seemed to glisten with a love that had never been there. His lips twitched as he fought a smile and his entire demeanor was relaxed as he stared solely at Emerson.
Clary and Emerson continued ignoring the others in the room as they carried on pinching each other's cheeks. Neither girl seemed ready to give up; both began to wonder why the other wouldn't let go. For Clary she didn't want to let go because she was worried this would be the first and last time Emerson would ever actively be around her.
For Emerson she didn't want to let go because it seemed with each passing day she was looking for more reasons to hold on and reassure herself that she wasn't sleeping. She was surprised to find that being close to Clary gave almost the same effect as being near Alec or even Jace and Luke gave her. It was the feeling that she wasn't dreaming and she wasn't alone, despite what she first thought.
However their cheeks were starting to hurt as well as their arms and with one final look they silently agreed to let go at the same time. Sitting back the girls rubbed their own cheeks and Clary grinned seeing Emerson giving a somewhat happy smile at her. Emerson quickly stood startling everyone but Alec and Jace, were getting more and more use to her sudden and random actions.
Emerson paused as she debated on if she should ask Clary to come with her, she had gotten hungry on her way to the room and had decided that afterwards she would go back to the Chinese restaurant to eat. Luke couldn't go with her seeing as he was still at work and she didn't want to ask Jace or the others. Nodding her head Emerson offered Clary a hand, taking the oldest twin by surprise. Slowly Clary placed her hand in Emerson's and the girl pulled her up effortlessly.
"We'll be back." Emerson said in a simple tone as she dragged the shocked girl behind her. She paused in front of Jace and Alec.
"Food," was all she said as she carried on walking, pulling Clary behind her.
~~~~~
"You really do have a terrible sense of direction." Clary stated as she stood in the middle of the side walk, her arms crossed and her eyes watching Emerson turn in place looking at the tall buildings that surrounded them.
They had stopped to get their bags and had left the Institute almost forty minutes ago. Clary was surprised that Alec and Jace hadn't come looking for them but, then again she doubted they could find them because Emerson had led them to a part not even Clary knew.
"I told you before, you just weren't listening." Emerson said as she turned to face Clary who lifted her eyebrow in question.
"Why don't we just google it?" Clary questioned as she pulled her phone from her side bag. Emerson huffed and shook her head before walking past Clary, her hand latching onto the girls arm and tugging her behind.
"No good, I don't remember the name of the restaurant." Emerson said in a sheepish tone as she looked back at Clary. Clary huffed and shoved her phone back into her bag and wondered how she seemed to be so forgetful.
"How about we re-trace our footsteps and just go back home and order in." Clary said as she pulled her arm from Emerson and offered the annoyed girl a warm smile.
"Do you remember how we got here?" Emerson asked.
She mulled over Clary's suggestion, she decided it would be good enough, however she couldn't recall how they got wherever it was they were at in the first place. Clary paused as her eyes widened at Emerson's question, all this time Clary didn't understand Emerson getting lost so easily and here she was, just as lost.
"Call Jace," Emerson sighed as she stopped walking and crossed her arms across her chest. The air was getting cooler and she could feel goosebumps forming on her bare legs. Clary herself looked like she could feel the cold through her dark red leather jacket.
"Good id-," Clary began but trailed off as she saw a shadow moving quickly up ahead.
It seemed to be large and in the form of a type of monster. It moved quickly and there seemed to be many of them. Emerson found herself clinging to Clary as both girls watched as what appeared to be a small army of shadows race towards them. As they got closer they took form of the same monster the girls had first encountered, in their own separate times.
"We have to run," they shouted in unison only glancing at one another before lacing their fingers together and running. Clary used her free hand to pull her phone from her bag and dial Jace's number while Emerson used her phone to call Alec.
"Jace? We're in trouble, I don't know where we are but there is a lot of Ravenors chasing us." Clary shouted into her phone as she kept a tight grip on Emerson's hand.
"Alec?" Emerson began as she heard his worried voice answer his phone. Her mark burned and her heart was racing; she realized that she was scared.
"I'm scared." She muttered into the phone just as she was tackled to the sidewalk. She let go of Clary's hand and her grip on her phone loosened.
At the last second she screamed as it landed in the center of the road a few feet from her. She felt a huge weight on her but only for a second, golden dust showered around her and she was yanked up. Clary stood with a blade glowing in her hand as she gave Emerson a worried look.
"We have to keep going; don't let them bite you no matter what." Clary instructed as they began running once more.
Emerson left her phone behind as she ran behind Clary. Her heart hammered in her chest and she wanted nothing more than to close her eyes and open them and find this was just a bad dream. To find herself at least lying in Alec's bed with him only a few feet from her.
A Ravenor demon lunged forward tackling Clary and knocking her blade from her hands. Clary fought the demon, pulling her stele from her pocket and stabbing the demon in the eye with it. The runes on the stele managed to blind the demon and Clary was able to kick it off of her.
Before she could get up she was being pulled by the leg by Emerson who was holding the glowing blade in one hand and dragged Clary with the other. She pulled them into an alley and helped Clary stand as she handed her the blade back and pulled her stele from her pocket.
The demons seemed to file into the alley and all rushed forward. As if pure instinct took over Emerson her body moved. Twirling, punching and kicking the demons, using her stele as a weapon as she stabbed the demons, blinding them. Clary fought her way through the demons.
She wasn't able to see if Emerson was safe or not. As she slashed her blade through one demon she caught sight of Emerson. Emerson was slammed against the back of the alley; she let out a loud shout of pain as three demons piled on top of her.
"Emerson!" Clary screamed as she fought her way to her sister.
Panic filled her chest as she managed to kill the three that had lunged at Emerson. She crouched down and seen that Emerson was bleeding from a bite wound on her shoulder, it was the exact same place Clary had been bitten a year ago. She spun and defended Emerson but exhaustion was starting to set in and the demons seemed to never stop coming.
Emerson's vision faded in and out, pain filled her entire body with every breath she took and she wondered if she was dying. She could faintly make out the outline of Clary, standing in front of her and trying her best to fight off the demons.
"Close your eyes." The voice of Rhamiel filtered through Emerson's head still she struggled to stay awake. She didn't want to die; she didn't want to leave Clary to fight on her own.
"Fine, focus on the light the blade gives off. How it's bright and warm, how it's constant and unwavering. Think of the light getting brighter and brighter, gradually but still as warm." Rhamiel whispered.
Emerson lifted her right arm as high as she could, her eyes focusing on the faint glowing the blade gave off. She held her palm outwards, her fingers straightening as she felt warmth flow through her. She pictured the light getting brighter and brighter, from her finger tips and her palm a powder blue glow began to form the blade glowed brighter causing Clary to drop it as it suddenly got too bright for her to hold. The light continued to get brighter and brighter until Clary shielded her eyes and the demons screamed vanishing from the heat of the light.
Alec, Jace, Simon and Izzy saw a huge beam of blue and white light appear from nowhere and vanish just as quickly. Alec and Jace shared a look before running towards the light, Simon and Izzy behind them. They were only a few blocks from where the light had appeared and they were all on edge.
Jace had run through the institute shouting for them to grab their weapons and follow him. He had a tracking signal on Clary's cell phone and that was how they had managed to locate them so easily. Alec himself felt as if he was going to faint, his mark burned with pain and fear.
He knew the pain was not his which meant Emerson was badly hurt; he could only pray it wasn't severe. Jace was the first to come to a stop, bending down to pick up something from the middle of the road. Alec stopped beside him and found his heart sink at the sight.
It was Emerson's phone, the screen was broke and his name still flashed on the screen. Her whispering she was afraid and her panicked scream ran through his head and he wanted to scream and bash his head against the wall, anything to get rid of the heartbreaking sound he heard.
"Clary?! Emerson?!" Simon and Izzy shouted together, they stood with their weapons ready as they surveyed the empty and dark road.
Alec's eyes widened as he saw Clary stumbling towards them, she was holding and dragging Emerson but stumbled and fell. Alec rushed forward just as Jace shouted for Clary. Alec fell to his knees as he pulled Emerson's limp body onto his lap.
His eyes saw the bite mark and the blood that was still seeping from the wound. His mark no longer burned and it frightened him. He felt cold and as if he could no longer feel Emerson, even with her lying in his lap. Clary clung to Jace for support; exhaustion took over her as she fought to keep her eyes open.
"Ravenor bite," Clary muttered before she passed out in Jace's arms.
Alec pulled his stele from his pocket and began drawing a healing rune on Emerson's shoulder and the side of her neck. Izzy and Simon stood next to him, holding their breath as they watched. Alec finished the rune before shoving his stele back in his pocket and stood with Emerson cradled in his arms.
"Call a cab; we need to get her back to the Institute, now." Alec demanded but was cut off by a portal appearing not far from them.
Magnus Bane stepped out of the portal and waved them forward, his eyes narrowed in worry as he stared at Emerson. His chest felt heavy and he worried that he would lose her if they didn't hurry. Without thinking Alec rushed forward with Jace carrying Clary and Simon and Izzy right behind him.
Magnus allowed them to enter the portal before stepping in and appearing at his and Emerson's home, everyone was silent as Alec carefully laid Emerson on the sofa. Magnus rushed forward and began using his magic to heal her completely. Jace laid Clary on the day bed and joined Alec who was rubbing the back of his neck and running his fingers through his hair as he stood anxiously next to Magnus.
"I can't feel her Magnus." Alec shouted as his mark remained cold. Magnus glanced at him and felt his breath catch in his throat. He hadn't seen Alec this heartbroken since he lost his little brother.
"Jace take Alec somewhere, I need to focus." Magnus snapped turning to glare at Jace. Jace nodded and went to grab at Alec but Alec shoved him away.
Before Alec could shout at him Emerson's body began to shake and Magnus cursed as he went back to focusing on healing her. With her being an Enochian Angel it took more magic to heal her, the venom seemed to affect her differently than it did others. Though the healing rune seemed to heal her fully of it he found himself healing her because she had used her power when she wasn't supposed to. This worried him because he didn't know if he could heal her or if she would die.