Isabelle should have known better than to expect anything to go as planned. If you planned a big emergency portal trip to Idris with almost all of the Shadowhunters in New York? Of course you were going to get mobbed by a horde of Forsaken while you were gathered there. As an added bonus, Clary had gotten left behind in New York somehow, and Simon – who'd only been there to see her off – had gotten badly injured and then dragged to safety in Idris by Jace.

So, that had been yesterday afternoon. But at least everyone was safe now. They were at the Penhallows' house, and even Simon had finally woken up again. Jace and Isabelle had just brought him downstairs to meet the others, in the big room with a crackling fireplace and a view of the canal. Alec stood by the fireplace, in dark Shadowhunter gear, drawing on a pair of gloves. He looked up as Simon entered the room and scowled his habitual scowl, but said nothing.
Seated on the couches were two teenagers, boy and a girl. The girl looked as if she was partly Asian, with delicate, almond-shaped eyes, glossy dark hair pulled back from her face, and a mischievous expression. Her delicate chin narrowed into a point like a cat’s. She wasn’t exactly pretty, but she was very striking. The black-haired boy beside her was more than striking. He was about Jace's height, but seemed taller, even sitting down; he was slender and muscular, with a pale, elegant, restless face, all cheekbones and dark eyes.

The girl spoke first. "Is that the vampire?" She looked Simon up and down as if she were taking his measurements. "I've never really been this close to a vampire before — not one I wasn't planning to kill, at least." She cocked her head to the side. "He's cute, for a Downworlder."

"You'll have to forgive her; she has the face of an angel and the manners of a Moloch demon," said the boy with a smile, getting to his feet. He held his hand out to Simon. "I'm Sebastian. Sebastian Verlac. And this is my cousin, Aline Penhallow. Aline —"

"I don't shake hands with Downworlders," Aline said, shrinking back against the couch cushions. "They don't have souls, you know. Vampires."


Sebastian's smile disappeared. "Aline —"


"It's true. That's why they can't see themselves in mirrors, or go in the sun."

Very deliberately, Simon stepped backward, into the patch of sunlight in front of the window. He felt the sun hot on his back, his hair. His shadow was cast, long and dark, across the floor, almost reaching Jace's feet. 
Aline took a sharp breath but said nothing. It was Sebastian who spoke, looking at Simon with curious black eyes. "So it's true. The Lightwoods said, but I didn't think —"

"That we were telling the truth?" Jace said, speaking for the first time since they'd come downstairs. "We wouldn't lie about something like this. Simon's... unique."


"I kissed him once," Isabelle said, to no one in particular. 
Aline's eyebrows shot up. "They really do let you do whatever you want in New York, don't they?" she said, sounding half- horrified and half-envious. "The last time I saw you, Izzy, you wouldn't even have considered —"

"The last time we all saw each other, Izzy was eight," Alec said. "Things change. Now, Mom had to leave here in a hurry, so someone has to take her notes and records up to the Gard for her. I'm the only one who's eighteen, so I'm the only one who can go while the Clave's in session."


"We know," Isabelle sighed, flopping down onto a couch. "You've already told us that, like, five times."


Alec, who was looking important, ignored this. "Jace, you brought the vampire here, so you're in charge of him. Don't let him go outside."



"That' s what you brought me down here to tell me? Don't let the vampire go outside? I wouldn't have done that anyway." Jace slid onto the couch beside Aline, who looked pleased. "You'd better hurry up to the Gard and back. God knows what depravity we might get up to here without your guidance."


Alec gazed at Jace with calm superiority. "Try to hold it together. I'll be back in half an hour." He vanished through an archway that led to a long corridor; somewhere in the distance, a door clicked shut.


"You shouldn't bait him," Isabelle said, shooting Jace a severe look. "They did leave him in charge."

"Did you ever think that in a past life Alec was an old woman with ninety cats who was always yelling at the neighborhood kids to get off her lawn? Because I do," Jace said, and Aline, sitting very close to him, giggled. "Just because he's the only one who can go to the Gard —"


"What's the Gard?" Simon asked. 
Jace looked at him. His expression was cool, unfriendly; his hand was atop Aline's where it rested on her thigh. "Sit down," he said, jerking his head toward an armchair. "Or did you plan to hover in the corner like a bat?"

"The Gard is the official meeting place of the Clave," Sebastian said, apparently taking pity on Simon. "It's where the Law is made, and where the Consul and Inquisitor reside. Only adult Shadowhunters are allowed onto its grounds when the Clave is in session."

"In session?" Simon asked. "You mean — not because of me?"


Sebastian laughed. "No. Because of Valentine and the Mortal Instruments. That's why everyone's here. To discuss what Valentine's going to do next."


Jace said nothing, but at the sound of Valentine's name, his face tightened.


"Well, he'll go after the Mirror," Simon said. "The third of the Mortal Instruments, right? Is it here in Idris? Is that why everyone's here?"


There was a short silence before Isabelle answered. "The thing about the Mirror is that no one knows where it is. In fact, no one knows what it is."


"It's a mirror," Simon said. "You know — reflective, glass. I'm just assuming."


"What Isabelle means," said Sebastian kindly, "is that nobody knows anything about the Mirror. There are multiple mentions of it in Shadowhunter histories, but no specifics about where it is, what it looks like, or, most important, what it does."


"We assume Valentine wants it," said Isabelle, "but that doesn't help much, since no one's got a clue where it is. The Silent Brothers might have had an idea, but Valentine killed them all. There won't be more for at least a little while."


"All of them?" Simon demanded in surprise. "I thought he only killed the ones in New York."


"The Bone City isn't really in New York," Isabelle said. "It's like — remember the entrance to the Seelie Court, in Central Park? Just because the entrance was there doesn't mean the Court itself is under the park. It's the same with the Bone City. There are various entrances, but the City itself —"

Isabelle broke off as Aline shushed her with a quick gesture. Simon looked from her face
to Jace's to Sebastian's. They all had the same guarded expression, as if they'd just realized what they'd been doing: telling Nephilim secrets to a Downworlder. A vampire. Not the enemy, precisely, but certainly someone who couldn't be trusted. 
Aline was the first one to break the silence. Fixing her pretty, dark gaze on Simon, she said, "So — what's it like, being a vampire?"

"Aline!" Isabelle looked appalled. "You can't just go around asking people what it's like to be a vampire."


"I don't see why," Aline said. "He hasn't been a vampire that long, has he? So he must remember what it was like being a person." She turned back to Simon. "Does blood still taste like blood to you? Or does it taste like something else now, like orange juice or something? Because I would think the taste of blood would —"


"It tastes like chicken," Simon said, just to shut her up.
"Really?" Aline looked astonished.


"He's making fun of you, Aline," said Sebastian, "as well he should. I apologize for my cousin again, Simon. Those of us who were brought up outside Idris tend to have a little more familiarity with Downworlders."


"But weren't you brought up in Idris?" Isabelle asked. "I thought your parents —"


"Isabelle," Jace interrupted, but it was already too late; Sebastian's expression darkened.
"My parents are dead," he said. "A demon nest near Calais — it's all right, it was a long time ago." He waved away Isabelle's protestation of sympathy. "My aunt — Aline's father's sister— brought me up at the Institute in Paris."


"So you speak French?" Isabelle sighed. "I wish I spoke another language. But Hodge never thought we needed to learn anything but ancient Greek and Latin, and nobody speaks those."


"I also speak Russian and Italian. And some Romanian," Sebastian said with a modest smile. "I could teach you some phrases —" "Romanian? That's impressive," said Jace. "Not many people speak it."


"Do you?" Sebastian asked with interest.


"Not really," Jace said with a smile so disarming that Isabelle would have known he was lying even if she hadn't known his knowledge of languages was more varied than hers. "My Romanian is pretty much limited to useful phrases like, ‘Are these snakes poisonous?' and ‘But you look much too young to be a police officer.'"


Sebastian didn't smile. "I do like traveling," he said, his eyes on Jace. "But it's good to be back, isn't it?"


Jace paused in the act of playing with Aline's fingers. "What do you mean?"


"Just that there's nowhere else quite like Idris, however much we Nephilim might make homes for ourselves elsewhere. Don't you agree?"


"Why are you asking me?" Jace's look was icy.
 Sebastian shrugged. "Well, you lived here as a child, didn't you? And it's been years since you've been back. Or did I get that wrong?"


"You didn't get it wrong," Isabelle said impatiently. "Jace likes to pretend that everyone isn't talking about him, even when he knows they are."


"They certainly are." Though Jace was glaring at him, Sebastian seemed unruffled. It was rare to find someone who didn't react to Jace's taunts. "These days in Idris it's all anyone talks about. You, the Mortal Instruments, your father, your sister —"


"Clarissa was supposed to come with you, wasn't she?" Aline said. "I was looking forward to meeting her. What happened?"

Though Jace's expression didn't change, he drew his hand back from Aline's, curling it into a fist. "She didn't want to leave New York. Her mother's ill in the hospital."


"It's weird," Isabelle said. "I really thought she wanted to come."


"She did," said Simon. "In fact —"


Jace was on his feet, fast. "Come to think of it, I have something I need to discuss with Simon. In private." He jerked his head toward the double doors at the far end of the room, his eyes glittering a challenge. "Come on, vampire," he said, in a tone that seemed that a refusal would probably end in some kind of violence. "Let's talk."

–––––

While Jace and Simon were off having a discussion, Isabelle had one with Sebastian. Which was to say she flirted to pass the time. He was intelligent and charming, in a vaguely Jace-like way. (Although not as charming as some people. Or at least not in a way that caught Isabelle's interest as much.) Jace and Simon returned while they were off fetching more wine together – and so did Alec. "I just came back to get — him," she could hear him saying, when she was coming back. "He's wanted at the Gard."


Aline sounded surprised. "Really?"

"Wanted for what?" Jace asked, with a dangerous calm. "I hope you found that out before you promised to deliver him, at least."


"Of course I asked," Alec snapped. "I'm not stupid."


"Oh, come on," said Isabelle. She had reappeared in the doorway with Sebastian, who was holding a bottle. "Sometimes you are a bit stupid, you know. Just a bit," she repeated as Alec shot her a murderous glare.
 "They're sending Simon back to New York," he said. "Through the Portal."


"But he just got here!" Isabelle protested with a pout. "That's no fun."


"It's not supposed to be fun, Izzy. Simon coming here was an accident, so the Clave thinks the best thing is for him to go home."

"Great," Simon said. "Maybe I'll even make it back before my mother notices I'm gone. What's the time difference between here and Manhattan?"


"You have a mother?" Aline looked amazed. 


"Seriously," Simon said, ignoring Aline, as Alec and Jace exchanged glances. "It's fine. All I want is to get out of this place."


"You'll go with him?" Jace said to Alec. "And make sure everything's all right?" 
They were looking at each other in a way that made Isabelle a little worried. Coded glances like that were a thing with them.

"What?" he asked Simon, looking from one to the other. "What's wrong?"


They broke their stare; Alec glanced away, and Jace turned a bland and smiling look on Simon. "Nothing," he said. "Everything's fine. Congratulations, vampire — you get to go home."

[ooc: NFB, NFI, OOC-okay. And here begins Cassandra Clare's City of Glass. Luckily it'll go by fast.]