Dang it guys, I had this done and ready to post on Tuesday, and was so excited that I was going to get it out on time, and then just completely forgot about it when Friday came around! Oh well, at least it's here now, right?
Anyway, the typography below was created by the wonderful @weirdpurplepanda and I cannot thank them enough for putting up with my fussiness. I was super annoying, constantly asking for tiny changes, and in the end it turned out so perfectly!
All three of the Lightwood siblings sat on a bed in the infirmary, with Alec in the middle of them. Even though his injury wasn't anything life threatening, the girls had both been worried and wanted to stay with him.
"Don't squirm." Robert scolded as he was drawing the Iratze on Alec.
"I'm not." He denied. "It doesn't even hurt."
His phone began vibrating before anyone else could respond, and when Alec took it out, Izzy immediately snatched it from his hand.
"No talking. Just healing." She said, and left the room with it.
Less than a minute later, a ping came from Robert's own phone and he quickly checked it.
"It's your mother." Robert informed them. "Celeste, can you bandage him up for me? His rune is done."
Celeste nodded, and quickly got to work, pulling out everything she would need.
Robert thanked her and quickly left the room to talk about strengthening the wards.
Celeste sighed as she started cutting strips of bandage to use to wrap his wound in.
"I can't believe Valentine created a forsaken with angel properties in their blood. How is that even possible?"
"Izzy thinks it had Seelie blood in it."
She nodded. "That would explain it."
With enough pieces of bandage, she reached for his arm, but the second her fingers touched him, Alec quickly pulled away.
"Ow!"
"Sorry!" Celeste squeaked out. "I tried to be gentle."
Alec nodded. "I know you did. I just wasn't ready. Try again."
She frowned, but did as he said. She could see him grimacing and squeezing his eyes shut in her peripheral vision as she tried again.
The wound was pretty deep, and it was no wonder that it hurt when anything touched it. In fact, Celeste assumed it probably hurt even when left alone.
She was practically holding her breath as she tried again, focusing on being as gentle as possible. But this time, the second her skin made contact with his, both her fingers and the wound lit up a blinding white.
She dropped the bandages in surprise as she pulled her hand away with a quiet gasp.
Alec looked over at her confused.
"What is it?"
"Did you see that?" She asked, wide eyed.
He shook his head. "See what?"
"Nevermind." She dismissed, figuring it must have been her imagination.
She grabbed the bandage from where it had landed on the bed and reached for his arm once more. Just like the first time, it lit up.
"Are you seeing this?" She asked Alec, refusing to take her eyes off of his wound. She was afraid that if she moved her gaze, the light would stop.
"What am I supposed to be seeing?" Alec asked, glancing between her and his wound.
Frustrated, she broke her gaze and looked up to her brother again.
"You didn't see the--" She cut herself off as she noticed a tiny amount of movement on his arm.
When she looked down, her eyes continued to widen. She watched the skin slowly crawl back together and knit itself into one piece starting from the bottom up.
Alec followed her gaze again, and this time he saw what she was looking at.
"By the angel." He breathed out.
The two of them sat in silence until the skin was completely unmarred, save for the remaining blood on the surface. After a few seconds of them both staring at it, Celeste gently reached out with just one finger and wiped some of it off to get a closer look at the skin.
It was as if nothing had ever happened in the first place.
The two of them made eye contact again, and despite the fact that neither of them knew what to say, their mouths opened as they searched for words.
A set of footsteps began approaching them, and they both jumped and glanced up in alarm.
When Izzy came through the doorway, she raised her eyebrows.
"Why do you two look like I just caught you doing something you shouldn't be?"
The two of them relaxed, almost in sync. Alec wasn't sure how they would have been able to keep this from the Clave if it had been anyone else.
"Because Celeste just healed me." Alec said, sounding like he still didn't believe it himself.
"Wait, what?" Izzy asked, coming over to look at it.
Alec sighed. "We need to get this covered before anyone else comes in here."
Izzy nodded and even Celeste understood the need to keep it a secret.
As much as she wanted to tell someone in order to be able to help others, she wasn't sure if she'd be able to repeat it. She didn't even know how she did it in the first place. If she couldn't reproduce the situation, she was certain the Clave would do whatever it took to try to get her to do it again.
As much as she liked to deny it, she knew deep down that the Clave didn't always use methods that she agreed with. She would rather not be on the receiving end of it.
Alec stood with his father watching Magnus check the wards.
"Are the wards solid now? Nothing will get through?" Robert questioned.
"Even my magic has limits." Magnus told him, spinning around. He quickly walked to the next area to work on the wards. "The wards won't hold off that forsaken attack. But my protections will slow them down."
"Extra time is priceless."
Magnus looked a bit amused. "No, say that after you get my bill."
"Lydia will take care of that." He said, walking away.
It wasn't until Magnus began talking to him that Alec realized that the two of them had been left alone.
"A forsaken wound often needs a little warlock TLC. May I? Uh, free of charge."
Alec's eyes widened and for that half a second he looked like a deer caught in headlights. "No!" He exclaimed quickly, knowing exactly what Magnus would find if he tried to heal his wound.
Magnus raised his eyebrows in shock at such an immediate response.
"I mean... It's okay. I'm fine." He tried to correct himself.
"If anything were to happen to you--"
"Magnus." He quickly cut him off, needing to end this conversation as soon as he could. Not only did he not want to be alone with the warlock, but Magnus already knew about Celeste's runes disappearing. He didn't know how Magnus would react to the other strange things happening to her, and he didn't want to find out. "I'm good. Alright? I gotta--"
This time Magnus cut him off. "Go? Of course. You're a busy man. And I should find this Lydia person. Payment upfront is just smart business. Where might I find her?"
"Haven't seen her." Alec shut the conversation down completely. "But if I do I'll send her your way."
He walked away from the conversation and into the Ops room, where Meliorn had just walked through the door.
"Meliorn?" Isabelle asked, getting up from her place at a computer beside Celeste. "What are you doing here?" She asked, going right over to him.
"The Clave called me in for some kind of conference."
She pulled him into a hug. "I'm so happy to see you."
He made no move to return the hug. "Spare me. You're fire message clearly stated you never wanted to see me again."
Celeste was shocked to hear that, and walked closer to them to support her sister after the conversation. She had no idea that they had broken up, and she knew that her sister might need her after seeing him again. Izzy had really liked Meliorn, so she was sure the breakup must have been a bad one.
"My family--"
"Despises Downworlders?" Meliorn cut her off. "That's common knowledge."
"That's not true." Celeste couldn't help but cut in. She hadn't even realized she had said it until they both turned to look at her. She blushed a bit in embarrassment, knowing that she'd interrupted a conversation that was so obviously between just the two of them.
"And even if it were, I'm not like that." Izzy added.
"I'm not here to talk about us." Meliorn said, feeling uncomfortable at the interruption. He looked over Izzy's shoulder and noticed a blonde woman walking in their direction. "I believe that's your Clave envoy."
The two girls glanced behind them, and sure enough, Lydia was making her way over with two other Shadowhunters flanking her.
"Isabelle, Celeste, please step aside." She said when she came to a stop beside them.
Celeste immediately did as she was told, but Izzy held her ground, crossing her arms over her chest.
Ignoring the obvious defiance in Izzy's actions, Lydia continued anyway.
"Meliorn, the Clave has ordered that you be placed under arrest."
Izzy and Celeste quickly shared a glance of confusion. While Celeste was shocked into silence, Meliorn and Izzy both shared their thoughts aloud.
"What?"
"What for?"
"Soliciting state secrets from a Shadowhunter on behalf of Valentine Morgenstern." She paused for only a second to let that sink in before making another order. "Guards."
Meliorn was roughly grabbed and dragged away, while the girls watched in shock.
Celeste's heart was racing as she watched the scene, and it wasn't until he had been pulled completely from the room before she found her voice.
"You can't possibly believe that. Do you?" She asked almost breathlessly.
Lydia took a good look at the Shadowhunter in front of her for the first time, and immediately realized that this must be Celeste Lightwood. She'd heard of her back in Idris. She and Jace Wayland held a somewhat legendary status for their skills in the field. She hadn't expected her to be so small in stature though, and she definitely didn't expect her to stand up for a Downworlder.
Before she could form any sort of response though, Izzy was speaking.
"Have you lost your mind?"
"Me? You're lucky you weren't arrested along with him." Lydia said matter of factly, and began walking away.
The two sisters quickly shared a glance before following the blonde.
"What are you talking about?" Izzy asked.
"It's our understanding that your long standing relationship with the Seelie Meliorn may have led to the disclosure of state secrets." Lydia said, turning around to face them once they got to a more private area.
"What? No!" Izzy quickly denied. "Meliorn told us how to get into the Hotel Dumort so that we could save a mundane."
Celeste quickly nodded her agreement. "Without that information, we wouldn't have been able to save the mundane and he would have been killed and the vampires would have broken the Accords. Then the Clave would have had to deal with the entire clan."
"And you told him nothing in return?" Lydia asked Izzy.
When Izzy hesitated, Celeste quickly continued. "Nothing important or worthwhile to someone like Valentine." She said with absolute certainty.
Lydia sighed and looked back to Izzy with a soft expression. "Nobody is blaming you for the attack." She assured. "Meliorn and the Seelies were likely working with Valentine all along."
Celeste shook her head, not believing that for a second. "Valentine hates Downworlders. Why would he have been working with them?"
"Valentine is extremely resourceful and convincing. He'll use whatever leverage he can get. We learned that much about him in the Uprising." Lydia said.
"Valentine has been murdering Downworlders and draining their bodies for months." Izzy pointed out. "He probably killed those Seelie scouts and used their blood--"
"Do you have proof?" Lydia cut her off.
"Do you?" Izzy countered.
"I have orders. That's all. I never wanted any of this." She tried to defend herself.
Izzy just glared at her. "I don't believe you for a second." She said, and quickly spun on her heel, walking off.
Celeste glanced over her shoulder and watched her sister walk away. With a sigh, she turned back to Lydia.
"I don't believe that Meliorn or the Seelies are siding with a man that wants to murder them all. I don't think you do either. Please, try to help the Clave see reason." She said softly, and followed her sister before Lydia could respond.
Celeste and Izzy had found Alec in the training room, where he had been using the punching bag to get rid of his frustrations and confusion over the feelings he was developing for Magnus. Izzy had immediately begun venting her own frustrations about the Clave envoy to him.
"She calls Meliorn in and arrests him, then acts like it's all out of her hands." She said, pacing back and forth.
Celeste sighed. "It's not completely her fault Belle." When Izzy glared at her, she quickly held up her hands in defence. "What I mean to say is that the Clave did send the order, but she should have at least tried to help them see that there's no reason for the Seelies to work with Valentine. The Seelies are just a scapegoat for their anger at Valentine, and I think that she knows this. But she's not doing anything about it."
Izzy's glare softened a bit, hearing her sister's explanation, but her anger at the situation still didn't fade. She looked back over to Alec and sighed, seeing him continue to go at the punching bag.
"Alec, if you keep going at this rate, someone is going to notice that your arm is healed." She said just loud enough for Alec to hear, but not loud enough for anyone in the Ops Center to overhear.
Alec's eyes widened a fraction, and he quickly pretended to grunt in pain and grab his previously injured arm.
Before any other words could be spoken, Jace came jogging up the steps and over toward his family. He immediately wrapped an arm around Celeste's shoulders and looked worriedly at Alec.
"Hey. You alright?" He asked.
Alec nodded, and the group of them all came closer in order to talk a bit more in private. "Yeah. I'm not actually in pain. Celeste healed me." He jerked his head towards her with his words.
"Wait, what?" Jace looked down at her in confusion. "How is that possible?"
Celeste shrugged. "I have no idea. Apparently it's another of my weird powers."
"Powers?"
"That's right, you weren't here when we figured it out." Izzy said. "I did some tests in the lab on Celeste's blood. She's an angel."
His eyes widened. "Okay, apparently I missed a lot while I was with Clary. I just spoke with Robert and Maryse. They're being sent back to Idris."
The three siblings were almost as shocked with his news as he had been to theirs.
"What?" Celeste and Izzy chorused.
"Yeah."
Izzy whipped her head around toward Alec. "Another order from Lydia?"
"Who's Lydia?"
Izzy made another face. "She's in charge of the institute."
Jace's eyes widened, wondering what else had happened while he was gone. "She's what?"
"Temporarily." Alec said, defending her.
"And now she's convinced the Clave that mom and dad aren't doing their job?" Izzy asked angrily.
She had expected Celeste to stick up for the girl. That was kind of her thing, trying to see things from everyone's perspective. But Alec, she had assumed he'd be just as upset about the girl as she was. It angered her that he seemed okay with her coming in and stepping all over their family.
"Well maybe they aren't." He said.
Celeste's eyes widened at Alec's harsh tone. "Al..." She whispered, shocked at his behavior.
"The institute was under their control when the forsaken got in." He explained.
"What are you talking about?" Jace asked incredulously.
It almost sounded like Alec was blaming them for the attack, and he couldn't understand why he would think their parents were in on it.
"That wasn't their fault." Celeste defended. "No one could have expected it."
"Mom and dad were members of the Circle." Alec informed them seriously.
All three of them were shocked at the news.
"What?" Izzy was the first to speak after a beat of silence. "They don't have circle runes."
"That's because they made a deal with the Clave prior to the Uprising. In exchange for their cooperation, they were pardoned." Alec explained.
Izzy quickly put together his weird attitude and mood as well as his defense of Lydia.
"You're questioning their loyalty?" She asked. She could hardly believe it. Her own brother.
"Valentine is back. The Circle is rising. They're under suspicion." He said, as though that were all the explanation anyone needed.
"No way." Jace quickly interjected, crossing his arms over his chest. "Robert and Maryse took in both me and Celeste. They raised us as their own. I know what kind of people they are."
"Are you sure?" Alec narrowed his eyes, digging in his heels in the argument. "They lied to us. For years, they've been telling us how to act. That we have to uphold the Lightwood name. Well they're the ones who tarnished it. They're hypocrites."
"Al, take a breath for a second. Let's think this through. There's gotta be a reason they didn't tell us." Celeste said, finally coming out of her silent thought process.
Alec had just opened his mouth to snap a response back to her when Lydia came up behind Izzy and Jace.
"You must be Jace Wayland." She said with a smile, making her way to Alec's side. "Lydia Branwell." She introduced, holding out her hand for him to shake. "You're quite the legend back in Idris."
Jace didn't even look at it and kept his arms crossed. "Don't believe everything you hear."
There was another beat of silence before Celeste cleared her throat.
"Um..." She awkwardly began. "I'm Celeste. We didn't really get a chance to formally meet." She said, offering a somewhat strained smile and taking her still outstretched hand.
Lydia nodded. "Pleasure. I've heard a lot about you too." She was relieved to have at least one person who was welcoming to her in this institute. She turned to Alec. "Did you tell them?" She assumed that he must have, judging by their responses to her presence.
"Tell us what?" Izzy asked, her eyes narrowed like a predator eyeing its prey.
Alec hesitated, trying to figure out how to break the news lightly to his siblings, when two of them quite obviously hated the blonde next to him. He'd been hoping to have more time to do so, as he hadn't had time to even begin to think about how to bring it up earlier what with Celeste's healing powers throwing them for a loop.
Unfortunately Lydia had made the decision on timing for him.
"Lydia and I are engaged."
No one spoke for a few seconds as they all tried to process that.
"We're getting married." Lydia reiterated.
There was another pause before all three siblings voiced their thoughts aloud.
"What?" Celeste breathed, somewhere between shock and confusion.
"You can't be serious."
"You were supposed to tell them 'no.'" Izzy accused.
This caught Celeste's attention. "Tell who no?" She asked, glancing between the two dark haired Shadowhunters.
Izzy simply turned to Alec, waiting for him to explain.
"Mom and dad have asked me to marry for political gain."
Celeste's eyes widened, realizing that this had to do with the meeting that the three siblings had been at earlier that day.
"Al, you don't have to do this. Maybe we should tell-"
Izzy cut her sister off, both because she had a feeling she knew what the next words would be, and also because the words had been bubbling up inside of her ready to burst for a while now.
"It's your life to ruin." She whipped around, hair flying behind her and marched out of the room, unable to stand being in the same room as the blonde any longer.
"I'm not sure what to say." Jace said after a moment of silence.
"How about, 'None of this matters'?" Alec suggested. "We have to stop Valentine."
"Finally. Something we agree on."
Jace left the room after that too, leaving Celeste with the newly engaged couple. She sighed, looking between them.
"I know that I can't stop you, so..." She paused, trying to find the right words. "So I just hope you know what you're doing."
I hope you guys enjoyed that chapter! Celeste finally got to meet Lydia. I really like Lydia's character, so I'm trying to figure out some ways for her and Celeste to interact more in the story, so if you have any ideas, let me know! Maybe I'll be able to fit it in the story.
I don't know about you guys, but life has been pretty crazy lately. I just had a job interview for an extremely prestigious internship and was supposed to hear back about it on Friday but never did (which is probably why updating slipped my mind). So my question of the chapter has to do with that:
What do you guys want to do for a career? What is your dream job? Or what are you already doing for work?
I find it so crazy to think about how soon in life we're supposed to decide what we're going to do for the rest of our lives! When you think about it, we're only like, 1/5 of the way into our lives when we graduate from college (assuming you go right after high school). I don't know for sure what I want to do yet, and that's why I'm hoping for this internship! Hopefully I get it and then it'll help me figure it out.
End of the semester is coming up for me, I've got just over a month left. So since I need to focus on that, the next update is going to be after classes are over.
Next Planned Update: May 10th, 2019