A soft knock on my door twenty minutes later snapped me out of the daze I was in, staring out the window. I looked around to find Jace waiting for permission to come in. I jerked my head, letting him know he could, and he sat on the bed next to me.
"Hey, you know Alec doesn't really think-"
I cut Jace off. "Yes he does, don't apologise on his behalf."
Jace sighed, but dropped it. "Anyway, we're going to rescue Simon from the vampires at Hotel DuMort, you coming?"
"Sure," I shrugged and stood up, gesturing for him to lead the way.
"Oh," Jace stopped and turned back to face me, "We're just making a quick stop first."
Everyone piled into Simon's van again, and with Clary driving, and Jace upfront, I was left a space in the back. Luckily, Isabelle climbed into the middle, but I don't think she realised when she did that she would be literally right in the middle of the tension. I stared at my hands the whole way, not looking up once, even when I could feel Alec or Isabelle's gaze.
"All right, Mary Milligan, born January 10th, 1802. Died, January 10th, 1878," Isabelle read from a scrap of paper once we had all stepped out into the churchyard.
"Okay, Alec, let's go," Jace waved for the taller boy to follow him.
"Wait, what are we looking for?" Clary asked.
"Cache of weapons," Isabelle answered with a smile.
"Stashed here with Mrs. Milligan," Jace finished.
"Why are there Shadowhunter weapons in a churchyard?" She replied.
"Because all of the ancient religions recognised demons," Isabelle said, "Or at least they used to."
"They forgot about the threat because we've been here to protect them," was the first thing Alec said the whole way here. "Typical mundane failure of imagination."
"Are you saying we did too good a job?" Isabelle asked, in disbelief. "You just can't let up, can you?" She accused.
Jace broke them up before they started a full-blown argument. "You know what? Alec, why don't you go check out by the angel?"
I wandered off on my own, repeating the name Mary Milligan over in my head after I saw Isabelle leave to find us an in to the hotel, trying not to find the whole situation too creepy.
I saw Jace cross over, away from Clary towards Alec and before long, their conversation floated over. Rolling my eyes at their inability to whisper, I leaned against the headstone I had just found with Mary Milligan's name on it, and listened with a raised eyebrow.
"...That's the problem. You're not listening. Not to this or anything else I've said tonight. You don't even know this girl." Of course, Alec had something to say about all this again. "Why do you trust her?"
"Is this about her being Valentine's daughter? What about Sam? Haven't we been through this?" Jace was quick to respond while Alec's eyes scanned over Clary, not too far from us, "Alec, look at me. You can trust her, or not. I don't care, that's not my business, but if you don't trust me-"
"Found it!" I hollered, cutting off their conversation, "Jace, Clary, over here."
"Beloved servant? Who wants that on a headstone?" Clary asked, turning her nose up.
"Someone who was in service to a cause greater than themselves," Alec said.
"Well, at least she is now," I muttered, earning a grin from Jace.
The boys heaved the stone lid from the grave, revealing a few seraph blades and some throwing knives. Clary reached for a seraph blade and Alec let out an exasperated sigh. "Don't touch that. You don't know how to use it."
"What, like at Pandemonium when I killed that demon?" Clary shot back.
"You didn't kill-" Alec protested, but Jace interrupted him.
"Alec. I'm gonna show her the right way to use it. Do you see what you need in here?"
"No. There's no bow here - I need one. I have to rune some arrows and that's back at the Institute. I gotta go." He started walking away when Jace spoke again.
"Well, how are you gonna get back in the Institute?"
"Go in the back," Alec replied as if it was the most obvious thing ever, "Won't bother me if I'm alone."
"Okay, good, but you won't be alone, you're taking Sam with you," Jace added, looking at me with a somewhat apologetic look in his eyes. Neither Alec nor I said anything, but he gave a stiff nod. "I can finish up here."
Before we made to leave, Alec walked closer to Jace and with a sigh said, "Hey I understand what we need to do and I trust you, parabatai but don't ever doubt me. No matter what I said."
Jace smiled and held up his hand, "It's already forgotten. I'll see you at dawn."
Alec clasped his hand and agreed, "At dawn."
Alec turned and walked towards me, "Lets go," he said, and carried on walking straight past me towards the van. He headed for the driver's side but I walked straight up and pushed it closed before he could open it any further.
"I'm driving," I said, leaving no room for arguments. I still hadn't looked him in the eye so I opened the door, effectively using it to push him out the way and climbed up into the driver's side. He made his way round to the passenger side and slipped in with no further protests.
The drive was silent. Alec opened his mouth once or twice but never said anything, whilst I kept my eyes glued to the road. I had never been more thankful to arrive at the Institute and quickly departed the van, walking straight inside.
Alec was right, nobody bothered us and he made a beeline for the training room to start on his arrows while I made for the stairs, to collect the belt I had claimed as mine, and my kindjal from my room. Alec gave them to me and said they were mine, because they responded to me and nobody else at the Institute. After rejoining Alec in the training room, just as Hodge was walking away from him, I grabbed a leg strap and shoved some throwing knives in the holsters. Finally I took out a seraph blade from the wall of weapons and discreetly tucked it into the back of my jeans. Taking my place, leaning against the table opposite Alec, with my arms folded across my chest, I watched him rune his arrows wordlessly. I felt him look up at me a few times but my gaze was solely on his arrows and I refused to look at him.
I was never good enough for anyone. That's what hurt the most about this. Clary was always Mom's favourite, and I was shoved off to the side. Now, Jace was completely wrapped up in Clary and Alec had turned his back on me.
Eventually Alec's phone told me that Isabelle had the in, and we were off again, making our way to a dark strip of crumbling buildings. We climbed through a broken window, heading up a metal flight of stairs in one of the empty buildings, following Isabelle's directions until we caught sight of her on the landing.
"Izzy," Alec called, "I got your text. Where are we exactly?"
We reached the grim landing and came face to face with his sister, who replied, "It's an old meatpacker's service entrance. If we go back there, we come up into the basement of the Hotel DuMort," She said proudly. "Perfect, right? We distract the vamps, Clary and Jace have time to find Simon."
"Okay," Was Alec's nonchalant answer.
"Okay? It was hard work interrogating Meliorn to get this Intel." She was a little put off at her lack of praise.
"Great job, Izzy," Alec congratulated sarcastically, adding, "You have faerie dust on your dress," before walking on. "And I hate being the distraction."
"I don't," Isabelle laughed. We carried on through the tunnel like passageways, Alec and I still avoiding conversation. "You guys really aren't going to talk to each other are you?" She said with narrowed eyes. Alec's steps faulted a little and he looked round at me, but I carried on as though nothing was said, focusing on the mass of grey ahead. "Come on, why not?" She pressed.
I whipped around to face her, startling her a little, "Why not? Here's why, because I thought that you guys were going to help me, I thought I was helping my sister who, incase nobody else has noticed, doesn't care about me, I thought you needed me for something but really, I have no idea why I'm here. You were the ones who dragged me into this, then you accuse me of being a spy, hello? Did it not occur to you that I wouldn't even be here if it weren't for you coming to find me. More than that, I spent my whole life in Clary's shadow, my mother never cared for me like she did Clary so when I finally thought I found some people who might care enough to train me, or look after me, or walk into a literal city of death with me, and they turn around and treat you like dirt because of something you didn't even know about yourself, ITS A LITTLE DISHEARTENING." I pointed at Alec when I mentioned him training me, and he flinched, a look of guilt crossing his face.
"Samara I-" Isabelle and Alec both started but I held up a hand to stop them.
"This is not the time or the place." I turned and started back down the corridor.
"I don't know. Looks pretty smooth so far," She said to Alec, who - from the silence it seemed - wasn't impressed with her comment. Isabelle took the lead and we crept under some low leading pipes to a door. "This must be the way," She declared, wrenching open the door, only to be met with a crowd of snarling vampires.
Alec slammed the door shut, digging for his stele. I looked around him to Isabelle.
"Smooth huh?" I said.
She ignored me and hurriedly pressured Alec, who couldn't get his stele out, "Any day now."
"Yeah, if you hold the door still, it might be a lot easier," he retorted.
I quickly moved his hand away from his pocket where he was still struggling and pulled his stele out, handing it to him.
"Thanks," he muttered, but I didn't acknowledge him. The door rejected his runes and he panicked. "It's not taking it."
Looking up, I saw a pipe small enough that it would fit through the handle and I took out my seraph blade, slashing it in two places. It dropped into my hand and I shoved it between a loop in the wall and the door handle, temporarily keeping the vampires out.
"Whoever said, the pen is mightier than the sword, was an idiot," Isabelle said.
"When you're right, you're right," Alec agreed.
Again though, I didn't acknowledge either of them, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw them share a look at my silence.
"Do you think they know where we are?" Isabelle joked, trying to diffuse the building tension.
"That's the idea, right?" Alec replied before asking, "How long do you think we have to distract them for?" The three of us gravitated towards each other, stepping away from the door and taking stance.
"Ten more minutes," The younger Lightwood shrugged.
"Ten minutes? Are you kidding? We're liquid lunch in five," I muttered to myself.
"So let's distract them," Isabelle said.
"So let's distract them," Alec agreed.