«---CHAPTER NINE---»
"I'M IMPRESSED LIGHTWOOD."
THE FIVE SHDOWHUNTERS WALKED into the Institute as Clary threw her hands up in frustration. "I still don't understand. How can Shadowhunters be better than what you people call mundanes?" She turned to the group behind her.
Clary was really getting on May's nerves. The whole car ride back, she had been whining, not panicking, whining the whole time about what to do. The girl didn't understand this world and just like back in the loft she asked question after question, not helping the situation at hand. May tried to understand but she just couldn't deal with Clary when she was like this. She never could, even when growing up the girls didn't agree often when it came to arguments.
"Because we protect humans," Isabelle explained.
"You're right. Humans. You protect humans. You left Simon all alone in the van. Great job, guys. You rock." Clary spat and May drew the line there.
"Hey. You of all people can't be going around and criticizing other people's work right now. Simon is missing and we should be working on getting him back. They want the cup and last time I checked we don't have it. So keep your 'constructive criticism' to yourself and give us a minute to think of a solution." May snapped.
Clary's glared at her best friend and took a step forward. "Do you even care about Simon?" She asked, her tone whiney and childish.
May took a step back, genuinely hurt by the girl's accusation. "Oh my God." She sighed at the girl's immaturity and pinched her nose bridge. She turned away from the younger redhead and rolled her eyes. Neither of them knew when this argument started but they were in it and the eldest one was too stubborn to back down from it.
"Look, they won't do anything to Simon. They just wanted to draw you out. They want the Cup, and they think you have it." Jace explained.
"But why do they think that? Why does anyone think that? What, my mom lies to me my entire life except, Oh, by the way, there's this magic cup, I hid on, like the planet Bongo, but don't tell anyone. What am I supposed to do now?"
"We have to report to the Clave." Alec shrugged.
"Great," Jace grumbled.
"They have to know what we learned about Valentine," Alec added, ignoring Jace's muttering and heading to the heart of the Institute.
"What, that he's my father? Great. Fine. Tell them. What good does that do Simon?" Clary asked.
May took a step forward calmly. "Red, this place is a system. We can't do what we want when we want. And besides, it's all connected. The vamps want the Cup." She explained but it flew over Clary's head.
"Why? It makes new Shadowhunters." She shrugged.
"Nobody wants Valentine forming an army loyal to himself." Alec sighed, putting his hands in his pockets and leaning against the brick wall behind him. "Plus, it controls demons."
"They'll purpose a trade. Simon for the Cup." Jace said.
"So, vampires will trade Simon for the Cup and Valentine will trade my mother for the Cup. Either way, I lose someone I love. What if I just toss it up in the air and let them fight it out among themselves?" Clary sighed, done with the situation.
May rolled her eyes, annoyed with the fact that the girl was not taking any of it seriously.
"So, this doesn't matter to you?" Alec asked.
"Yes, of course, it matters!" Clary snapped. "Listen... when you saved my life, I put my trust in you. Now, I need you to put your trust in me. I can't turn into what you are overnight."
"It's true. She was raised as a mundane." Isabelle sighed. May closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
May kept telling herself that. She knew that Clary wasn't trained to think right in a pressured situation and she doesn't know how the Clave worked. Keep telling yourself that, May...
"What are you, her spokesman now?" Alec asked Isabelle.
"I don't need a spokesman, I need a plan," Clary said before heading into the ops center. "Uh, look at all this stuff, these screens. I mean, can any of this help me find Simon? Where is he, anyway? Some kind of crypt in Transylvania?" She questioned as she led the group to a table that sat in the middle of the room.
May took a seat in one of the chairs, being the only one out of the group to need a break.
"Actually, no. That was Camille's outfit, right? They're locals." Jace corrected.
May's mind raced a mile a minute just worrying about Simon. She knew that they wouldn't do anything, they couldn't because of the Accords. But also at the fact that they didn't know it yet, but if that sweet boy had even one scratch on him she will rip every one of those vampires apart. With her bare hand if she must.
Isabelle pulled out a chair, resting her heeled foot on it as she took a seat on the table. "They're at the Hotel DuMort, down in Gansevoort Street."
"And we came back here? Why? We have to go there. Let's go, now. Come on." Clary demanded.
May closed her eyes and held her hands to her head. "Clary, that's not how it works. We-" "We need a Clave resolution for that." Alec finished the sentence as he saw she was too busy fighting off a simple headache.
"The four of us can't declare war on the vamps all by ourselves." Isabelle reasoned.
"And we can't react without considering our options. Downworlders are slaves to their impulses. We're not." Alec explained calmly.
May kept her head down and her fingers on her temples. "I really hate to say it but, Alec's right. Downworlders are fun that way." She joked.
Isabelle smirked. "You can't stomp on all the Downworlders."
"Oh, that's right. Seelies have their charms, apparently." Alec smiled, giving his sister a knowing look.
May dropped her hands on the table with an impressed smiled on her lips. "Wow, Izzy, a Seelie?" She asked. The raven-haired girl gave her a proud nod and May laughed. "I'm impressed, Lightwood."
"Seelies?" Clary asked with a furrowed brow.
"Think faeries. The Fair Folk. Add pixies, nixies, elves anybody half-angel, half-demon to the list." May motioned.
"It's pretty much a catch-all term." Jace nodded.
Alec turned to his sister with a teasing smile. "Izzy can tell you all about them. She's got a thing."
"We've all got out things, don't we?" Isabelle teased Alec. His smile quickly falling.
Clary rolled her eyes and threw her hands up in frustration. "Okay, I can't listen to this. Simon's been kidnapped by vampires. I guess I'll just take care of it myself." She started to walk away and May let out a genuine laugh at the thought of Clary fighting off a whole nest of vamps.
"Clary, you're gonna get yourself killed," Jace called after the redhead who just kept moving to the door.
May got up and crossed her arms over her chest. "Red, you'll get Simon killed too."
Clary froze and spun on her heels before walking up to May and glaring at her. "Then help me. While we consider other options, my best friend is suffering." She then turned to Jace and the rest of the group. "Is that something Shadowhunters understand or am I just being a mundane?"
May scoffed and took a step closer to her best friend. "Simon is my best friend too." She said, her argument was very childish but if Clary is going to act immature May will play the game.
"Is he? You don't seem to care." Clary pushed.
May didn't respond. Instead, she shook her head and leaned on the chair next to Alec. She let out a deep breath and looked at Jace. "What's the plan?"
Jace looked at the girl for a second, seeing if she's alright before nodding and continuing. "Well, Clary's right. They made the first move. We're gonna take care of this ourselves, right now."
"This is a bad idea-" Alec argued but was interrupted by Jace. "What, have you got a better one? Look, the vamps broke the Accords. They kidnapped a Mundie. That's a big no-no. The Clave will give us a lecture and then they'll be glad we did it. Come on."
Isabelle shrugged her shoulders. "Hard to argue with that."
"Even if we went ahead, I don't see how we get out of here without having to explain where we're going. We need weapons, and we can't let anyone see us get them." Alec explained. May tapped her fingers on the chair.
Jace thought for a second, looking to the weapons room and thinking how he could get anything out of there without raising suspicion. Then he realized that the Institute wasn't the only place with a cache of weapons. He smirked. "I know where to get what we need."
He saw May's uncertainty and he knew they would need her. "Mayla, what do you think?"
May was silent for a second, biting her lower lip as she thought about her next move carefully. She knew the Clave wouldn't like it. But then she thought of Simon. Suddenly, she didn't care much about the Clave or their rules or what they though of her.
She shrugged. "The Clave already hates me. What do I have to lose?" She smiled.
"See?" Jace asked Alec as he shot him a look. He may have had his doubts but Jace seemed completely confident in not just Clary but her guardian as well.
«-----»
Clary pulled the van onto the cemetery parking lot and hit the breaks hard enough to cause them to squeal. May scowled as she held onto the seat, trying not to fly out the window. "I could've driven." May grumbled. Clary rolled her eyes as they all got out of the van.
"Whose grave is it?" Alec asked. May attempted to get out of the van, but her foot hooked on the ledge, causing her to fall. She got her balance with Alec's assistance as he took hold of her arm. "Thanks." She murmured.
"'Mary Milligan, born January 10th, 1802. Died January 10th, 1878.'" Isabelle read off the piece of paper she had in her hand.
Jace turned to the raven-haired boy. "All right, Alec, let's go."
"Wait, what are we looking for?" Clary asked looking for anyone to answer yet another one of her questions.
"Cache of weapons," May explained, she had read about the history of religions and their beliefs connected to demons. She knew about the graves where weapons were buried for those who protected them from what went bump in the night.
"Stashed with Mrs. Milligan," Jace added.
Clary asked. "Why are there Shadowhunter weapons in a churchyard?"
"Because all of the ancient religions recognize demons. Or at least they used to." Isabelle explained, strutting next to her brothers and new friends. She had a plan of her own and she was waiting for her cue.
"They forgot about the threat because we've been here to protect them. Typical mundane failure of imagination." Alec grumbled. May gave him a side-eye. He really didn't like mundanes, huh?
"Are you saying we did too good a job? You just can't let up, can you?" Isabelle raised her voice, done with Alec's hate. Giving him a look that could start its own argument.
Jace, who was tired of everyone around him arguing raised his hand. "You know what? Alec, why don't you go check out by the angel?" Jace asked.
May gave Clary an annoyed side-eye and quickly moved to look around for a name and a death date. She looked from headstone to headstone, looking for any kind of rune engraving or saying that would help her with the search.
The chime of a phone got her attention away from the carving of a baby angle. "Excellent. He's home. I'm outta here." Isabelle smiled. May let out a laugh from the girl's strange excitement.
"Wait, aren't you coming with us?" Clary asked.
"Oh, I wouldn't miss it for the world, but I gotta find out how to get into the vampire's lair." She explained. May smiled and sent her a wink. "Have fun." She joked. Izzy had mentioned something about having to meet one of her Seelie 'friends' for that special information.
"Yeah, don't do anything I wouldn't do," Jace called back to the girl who's walking away, heading to someone she was very excited to see.
"Jace, over here," Alec called, wanting to speak to Jace.
May moved to another stone and found nothing. Clary kept letting her eyes linger over to the annoyed best friend and only saw someone who seemed to be serious at the moment.
Clary was genuinely confused. Now that she understood Shadowhunters, her best friend was changing in significant ways. Clary had never seen the girl so serious in her life, and the way she snapped at her in the Institute was shocking to her.
A carving on a stone caught May's eye and she went over to the stone grave. She found a large Angelic Rune carved on the top and she smiled. She read the name and almost jumped with joy. She missed holding a duel-wielding set of blades.
"Hey, over here." She called over to the boys, making them cut whatever conversation they were having short.
Clary approached first and brushed some of the dirt off the stone. She looked at the side of the table-like structure and read out loud. "'Beloved servant?' Who wants that on a headstone?" She asked May, hoping to get a non-hostile response but the boys got to them in time.
"Someone who is in service to a cause greater than themselves," Alec explained.
"At least she is now. Abracadabra." Jace joked as looking at the group with a smile. May let out a chuckle and Clary raised a brow.
"Wait, you people actually say that?" Clary asked, her tone laced with genuine curiosity. May let out another laugh and leaned on the stone. "No, Clary. He's kidding." May corrected, shaking her head, amused.
Jace traced the angelic rune with his stele, leaving a gold shine over the important symbol. May admired the small magic, always finding it beautiful.
Alec and Jace push the grave open to reveal a box, Jace blew off some of the dust and opened it only to find a display of simple weapons like Seraph blades and steles, or what May would like to call boring.
"Wow. Where's Mrs. Mulligan?" Clary asked but it goes unanswered as she picked up a blade.
"Don't touch that. You don't know how to use it." Alec scolded, seeing that the girl is basically pointing it at his face.
"What, like at Pandemonium when I killed that demon?" Clary asked, acting like she did something that night. Alec rolled his eyes. "You didn't kill-"
"Alec. I'm gonna show her the right way to use it. Do you see what you need in here?"
Alec looked into the grave before the same expression May held, fell upon his. "No. There's no bow here. I need one. I have to rune some arrows. That's back at the Institute. I gotta go."
May leaned on the ledge of the empty grave and rolled her eyes at the disappointing stash. "What?" Clary asked, seeing the girl's discontent.
"They don't have what I'm looking for. I need throwing knives." She explained. Clary raised a brow, asking another question. "Why? Don't you already have two?" She pointed to the push daggers attached to her holster. May laughed.
"These are push daggers. Trust me, they don't fly well." She said. She grabbed a seraph blade and let it compact in her hand before slipping it into her holster.
"Go with Alec, we have some back at the Institute." Jace insisted.
May looked at the raven-haired boy, almost as if asking for permission, he just nodded. "Come on, let's go."
May held a victorious smile before following the tall boy. Jace stopped them when he realized the flaw. "How are you gonna get back in the Institute?"
"Go in the back. Won't bother us if it's just us two." Alec shrugged. Jace thought about it for a second before nodding. "Okay, good. Go. I can finish up here. Take the van, we'll find another way to get there." Jace offered.
May held out her hand silently, waiting for Clary to drop the keys in them. When the cold metal touched her hand, she smirked. She loved driving the van, she didn't know what it was about it but she jumped for the chance to drive the big clunk of metal whenever Clary, Simon, Maureen, and her went anywhere.
Alec started to head to the van when he hesitated and turned back around to Jace. "Hey, I understand what we need to do. And I trust you, parabatai, but don't ever doubt me. No matter what I said."
The two clasp hands. "It's already forgotten."
"I'll see you at dawn."
"At dawn."
Clary and May share a look and May pushed a resistant smile, knowing all the apologies she had to say. May placed her hand on Clary's shoulder before pointing a finger at her. "You know how I am about this stuff."
Clary playfully rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah."
"I am sorry though," May whispered.
Clary nodded and May spun on her heels, heading back to the van with Alec.
May waved to the puke worthy duo as she steeped off the grounds of the cemetary. "Bye, Red. Bye, Blondie." She called back, not bothering to turn around.
As she walked along Alec, she him very carefully. He felt her eyes on him and he raised a brow. "What?"
"I need to think of a good nickname for you."
"It's not gonna happen."
"You can try to fight it, but it's gonna happen."
"Not happening."
"Oh, you don't know my power, buddy."