REBECCA
The rattling of the elevator was alarmingly loud as it jangled to a stop at the third floor of the Institute. Rebecca had never liked elevators. As a child, all she had been able to think about while riding one was how easy it would be to get trapped inside. She could feel her heart thudding away in her chest; it was so loud she was sure that Clary, who was right on her heels, was able to hear it.
"Come on," she whispered to Clary, sliding open the gilded elevator doors and stepping out into the hallway.
"Rebecca," Clary said nervously. "You're sure the library will be empty?"
As her heart gave another nervous flutter, Rebecca turned to Clary with what she hoped was a reassuring smile. "It'll be fine. Don't worry, Clary."
I'm one to talk, she reflected, as her heart continued to thud away inside her chest.
They hurried across the hallway, reaching the library without encountering anyone. Even though Rebecca had lived here all her life, the library gave her chills every time she walked inside. The sprawling ground floor was tastefully decorated with tables and desks and comfortable-looking armchairs; despite the vast number of bookshelves, it still looked spacious. In contrast, the railed second-floor gallery was smaller, crowded with bookshelves, and much cozier. Rebecca had been very fond of spending afternoons here, curled up in an armchair in the corner, but ever since Hodge had left, she had stopped enjoying the silent company of the library. His desk stood in the center of the room, almost exactly as he had left it. She half-expected Hodge to stand up behind it with Hugo perched on his shoulder.
Shaking off the memory, she turned to Clary. "The rings are up there," she said, gesturing to the staircase that led up to the gallery. They had both donned rubber-soled sneakers, and Rebecca had marked herself with a soundless rune just to be on the safe side. The heavy silence seemed eerie rather than comforting as they bounded up the steps and walked past rows of bookshelves, heading for the display cases at the far end.
Clary stopped to gape at a few of them. A delicate glass flacon whose stopper was an enormous emerald; a crown with a diamond in the center that did not look as if it would fit any human head; a pendant in the shape of an angel whose wings were clockwork cogs and gear; and, the objective of their mission - a pair of gleaming golden rings shaped like curling leaves, the faerie work as delicate as a baby's breath.
Trying to control her shaking hand, Rebecca pulled out her stele and set it to the smooth glass surface of the display case. Is this really me? she thought. Stealing from the Institute, my home, to pay the Queen of the Fair Folk, who, as I very well know, are like scorpions, with a barbed sting in the tail?
Unbidden, the words of the Seelie Queen came back to haunt her. For as is often the happenstance with that which is precious and lost, when you find him again, he may well not be quite as you left him. They had been sitting in the back of her mind ever since their meeting with the Seelie Queen. Now, the words bubbled to the surface, drowning out almost everything else.
"Rebecca?" Clary's voice brought her out of her reverie. She was looking at Rebecca anxiously, her green eyes clouded with concern.
"You should do it," Rebecca said, stepping away from the display case. "You're the best at runes, after all."
Clary nodded, moving forward confidently. Then she stopped to look back at Rebecca. "Are you sure you're alright with this?"
Rebecca nodded, biting the inside of her lip. "I'll do anything it takes to get Jace back."
The words seemed to fill Clary with a renewed sense of confidence; her green eyes hardened, and she began to move the stele against the glass, tracing out a simple opening rune. Before she could complete it, however, they heard a distant scraping sound, followed by a low creak. Rebecca instantly knew what it was. The door to the library was opening.
Instantly, the two girls froze, mutely exchanging looks of horror. Signaling to Clary to finish the rune, Rebecca silently padded over to the gallery railing, and carefully peered over the edge. Two people had entered the room - two people she recognized instantly. One was Jace. The other was Sebastian. Her blood turned cold.
Clary had opened the display case and was in the process of stowing away the rings, but she looked up as Rebecca came over. "What is it?" she whispered.
"You know the lost person we're all looking for?"
"Jace?"
"He's not so lost anymore."
"He's here?!" Clary's voice rose an octave.
"Quiet!" Rebecca gripped Clary's arm in an effort to keep her quiet; from the sudden wince that crossed Clary's face, she could tell that she was gripping too hard, but they had more important things to worry about at the moment.
The two girls peered over the edge of the railing. Luckily, it seemed that neither Jace nor Sebastian had heard or seen anything amiss.
"You were right, Jace," Sebastian was saying. "The place is deserted." The two of them were standing right below the gallery, on a mosaic image of Raziel presenting the Mortal Instruments to Jonathan Shadowhunter. The light from the skylight in the roof lit up the mosaic, making it seem like they were standing in a spotlight on a stage.
Clary's look of horror mirrored exactly what Rebecca was feeling. Sebastian had been very much dead, but now he looked very much alive. His face was all planes and angles, his hair now silvery white. Rebecca's heart gave an involuntary squeeze as she gazed down at the top of Sebastian's head. Having gotten over the initial shock of seeing him, all she could think about was the last time she had seen him - on the banks of a river at the bottom of a valley in Idris. She could remember his hand whipping up to meet her face, his sword glinting as he raised it above Isabelle, all while Jace lay dying near the water's edge.
Jace's golden hair shimmered in the sunlight as he threw his head back, seemingly enjoying the warmth of the sun on his face. Ever since he had gone missing, Rebecca had been plagued by the thought that he might be hurt, or bleeding, or starving to death. But this Jace standing below her looked whole, healthy, and happy.
"I'm always right, Sebastian," he said. "You ought to know that about me by now."
Sebastian gave him a measured look, and then a smile. It had every appearance of being a real smile, but he had smiled at her before, and that had turned out to be one big lie.
"So where are the books on summoning?" he said. "Is there any order to the chaos here?"
"Not really. It's not alphabetized. It follows Hodge's special system."
"Isn't he the one I killed? Inconvenient, that," said Sebastian. "Perhaps I should take the upstairs level and you the downstairs."
Rebecca's stomach gave a sudden, unpleasant lurch. She pulled Clary backwards, to the far end of the gallery. Hidden behind a huge wooden bookshelf, concealed so cleverly that you couldn't find it unless you knew it was there, was a trapdoor set into the floor. Rebecca pulled up the trapdoor, hoping against hope that it wouldn't creak - it didn't - and pushed Clary ahead of her into the darkness. Rebecca dropped down, landing catlike on the floor, and pulled the trapdoor shut, just as the sound of footsteps grew louder on the stairs.
Barely breathing, Rebecca and Clary stood perfectly still, listening to Sebastian move around upstairs. A faint smell, something like old books, filled the space they were in. It was barely three feet wide and was mostly used to store books that were too delicate or worn to withstand light and air. It also housed some of the more dangerous books - books about ancient warlock magic, books about demon languages.
All too soon, Rebecca could feel the darkness around her begin to press against her eyes, like a living being threatening to envelop her. A high, ringing sound filled her ears.
No, she thought blindly. No, this can't be happening - it's too soon-
She couldn't think anymore. Couldn't breathe anymore. She could no longer feel Clary beside her. The darkness had consumed her completely, cutting off her breath. She stumbled blindly, and immediately walked face-first into the wall right beside her. She thought she heard Clary say something but couldn't make out any words.
The ringing in her ears was building to a crescendo. The walls began to close in on her, suffocating her. Rebecca desperately tried to calm herself down, will herself to take deep breaths, but her body didn't listen. The memory of her last time here was too much. Suddenly, she was a ten-year-old girl again, trapped in the darkness.
So, she gave in to the panic.
She scrabbled for the trapdoor in the pitch blackness, found the handle, and yanked it open. In a flash, she was up and out of the tiny room. Bright sunlight blinded her for a second, and she took an involuntary step back, knocking the trapdoor shut again. It settled into place, invisible among the dark wooden planks that lined the gallery floor.
Too late, she realized she had made a huge mistake. Sebastian stood in front of her, a dangerous smile on his face. He looked like a cat that had cornered a mouse. "Well," he said silkily. "This is a pleasant surprise."
Rebecca immediately took a step back, resting both feet firmly on the trapdoor so that it would be impossible to open. She hoped Clary would take the hint and wait until the coast was clear.
"Sebastian," Rebecca said coolly. "I wish I could say the same."
Sebastian simply smiled in reply. Then he moved, so fast that he was little more than a blur. He came up behind her and expertly seized both of her wrists in one hand, the other gripping her shoulder tightly. Rebecca struggled furiously, but it was simply no use.
Sebastian prodded her in the back with a long white finger. "Let's go." He pushed her ahead of him, past the bookshelves and down the stairs.
"Hey, Jace!" he called out gleefully.
Jace appeared from behind a bookshelf, an expression of polite interest on his face. It changed to one of surprise as he recognized his adoptive sister.
CLARY
Clary had struggled to open the trapdoor and had failed. It simply wouldn't budge. She listened with growing despair to Sebastian's voice - the words were muffled, but she could tell that Sebastian had found Rebecca. She stood still, listening as the footsteps above them eventually faded away.
Clary slowly pushed the trapdoor open and peered out. The gallery was empty. Quickly, silently, she climbed out and pushed the trapdoor shut. She could hear voices from the floor below; her hand immediately went to her weapons belt, but of course, she didn't have it with her.
Rebecca, Jace and Sebastian were standing on the floor below. Sebastian, a smirk on his face, had a tight grip on Rebecca's wrists, and she looked simply furious. Jace's face was simply passive.
"Rebecca?" Jace was saying. "What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same thing," Rebecca snapped.
Jace turned to Sebastian. "What are you going to do to her?"
Sebastian's eyes were fixed on Rebecca, narrow and calculating. "Kill her, obviously. She's seen and heard too much."
Jace frowned, as if he knew that something about what Sebastian had said should bother him, but he did not know what. Rebecca's mouth was now set in a grim line. She had stopped struggling and was simply gazing at her brother. "Would you really let him kill me, Jace?" she said, her voice low, almost challenging, daring him to do it.
Jace didn't reply.
Clary tried to steel herself to do something. She couldn't just stand by and watch while Sebastian murdered her friend - but what could she do? At that moment, she caught Rebecca's eye. As if she knew what Clary was thinking, the Lightwood girl shook her head, almost imperceptibly. We can't take them down on our own, she seemed to be saying. Get out, get help.
Rebecca turned back to Jace; her lips pursed. "Well, what are you waiting for?"
Sebastian raised his eyebrows. "Little spitfire, isn't she?"
Jace was staring at his sister, frowning. "You can't kill her, Sebastian."
For the first time in Clary's memory, Sebastian looked flustered, as if he hadn't expected Jace to disagree with him on any account. But he regained his composure almost immediately. "Do you have any better ideas?"
"We take her with us," Jace said steadily.
Sebastian looked at him, eyebrows raised. "You can't be serious."
Rebecca took advantage of Sebastian's momentary distraction and freed one hand from his grip. She whipped her fist up, landing an expert punch to Sebastian's nose. He stumbled back, more in surprise than shock. Jace immediately bound his sister's hands in an iron grip.
"Son of a..." Sebastian started to say. He dabbed at his face, but of course, there was no blood - he didn't bleed that easily, not anymore. "Enough of this," he said to Jace, his voice tight with anger. "Let's leave before anyone sees us in here."
No! Clary wanted to scream. But she forced herself to stay silent. Jace nodded, and then it all happened so fast that Clary couldn't move a muscle. Sebastian gripped Jace's arm and twisted the silver ring on his finger. And, like a mirage, the three of them vanished.