City of Lost Souls

“Yeah.” He touched her face lightly.

“You came.” She stretched her arm across his chest, moving so that her head fit against his shoulder. “I didn’t think you would.”

His fingers traced patterns on her arm. “Of course I came.”

Her next words were muffled against his neck. “Sorry I’m asleep.”

He smiled to himself, a little, in the dark. “It’s okay. Even if all you wanted was for me to come here and hold you while you sleep, I would have done it.”

He felt her stiffen, and then relax. “Simon?”

“Yeah?”

“Can you tell me a story?”

He blinked. “What kind of story?”

“Something where the good guys win and the bad guys lose. And stay dead.”

“So, like a fairy tale?” he said. He racked his brain. He knew only the Disney versions of fairy tales, and the first image that came to mind was Ariel in her seashell bra. He’d had a crush on her when he was eight. Not that this seemed like the time to mention it.

“No.” The word was an exhaled breath. “We study fairy tales in school. A lot of that magic is real—but, anyway. No, I want something I haven’t heard yet.”

“Okay. I’ve got a good one.” Simon stroked Isabelle’s hair, feeling her lashes flutter against his neck as she closed her eyes. “A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…”

Clary didn’t know how long she’d been sitting on Luke’s front steps when the sun began to come up. It rose behind his house, the sky turning a dark pinkish-rose, the river a strip of steely blue. She was shivering, had been shivering so long that her whole body seemed to have contracted into a single hard shudder of cold. She had used two warming runes, but they hadn’t helped; she had a feeling the shivering was psychological as much as anything else.

Would he come? If he was still as much Jace inside as she thought he was, he would; when he had mouthed that he would come back for her, she had known that he had meant as soon as possible. Jace was not patient. And he didn’t play games.

But there was only so long she could wait. Eventually the sun would rise. The next day would begin, and her mother would be watching her again. She would have to give up on Jace, for at least another day, if not longer.

She shut her eyes against the brightness of the sunrise, resting her elbows on the step above and behind her. For just a moment she let herself float in the fantasy that everything was as it had been, that nothing had changed, that she would meet Jace this afternoon for practice, or tonight for dinner, and he would hold her and make her laugh the way he always did.

Warm tendrils of sunlight touched her face. Reluctantly her eyes fluttered open.

And he was there, walking toward her up the steps, as soundless as a cat, as always. He wore a dark blue sweater that made his hair look like sunlight. She sat up straight, her heart pounding. The brilliant sunshine seemed to outline him in light. She thought of that night in Idris, how the fireworks had streaked across the sky and she had thought of angels, falling in fire.

He reached her and held his hands out; she took them, and let him pull her to her feet. His pale gold eyes searched her face. “I wasn’t sure you’d be here.”

“Since when have you not been sure of me?”

“You were pretty angry before.” He cupped the side of her face in his hand. There was a rough scar across his palm; she could feel it against her skin.

“So if I hadn’t been here, what would you have done?”

He drew her close. He was shivering too, and the wind was blowing his curling hair, messy and bright. “How is Luke?”

At the sound of Luke’s name, another shudder went through her. Jace, thinking she was cold, pulled her more tightly against him. “He’ll be all right,” she said guardedly. It’s your fault, your fault, your fault.

“I never meant for him to get hurt.” Jace’s arms were around her, his fingers tracing a slow line up and down her spine. “Do you believe me?”

“Jace… ,” Clary said. “Why are you here?”

“To ask you again. To come with me.”

She closed her eyes. “And you won’t tell me where that is?”

“Faith,” he said softly. “You have to have faith. But you also have to know—once you come with me, there’s no going back. Not for a long time.”

She thought of the moment when she’d stepped outside of Java Jones and seen him waiting for her there. Her life had changed in that moment in a way that could never be undone.

“There never has been any going back,” she said. “Not with you.” She opened her eyes. “We should go.”

He smiled, as brilliant as the sun coming out from behind the clouds, and she felt his body relax. “You’re sure?”

“I’m sure.”

He leaned forward and kissed her. Reaching up to hold him, she tasted something bitter on his lips; then darkness came down like a curtain signaling the end of the act of a play.





Part Two





Certain Dark Things