Since Alec had taken Simon to the Gard yesterday, things had been quiet and calm. (Or as quiet and calm as things could be in a city bustling with Shadowhunters.) So when there'd been a knock on the door, Isabelle had been quick to get to it. Maybe it would be news of some kind.

But when she'd yanked the door open, she'd been surprised to see Clary standing there. "But you're supposed to be in New York!" she exclaimed even now, that they'd had a moment to establish that yes, they were both here. "Jace said you'd changed your mind about coming. He said you wanted to stay with your mother!"


"Jace lied," Clary said flatly. "He didn't want me here, so he lied to me about when you were leaving, and then lied to you about me changing my mind. Remember when you told me he never lies? That is so not true."

"He normally never does," said Isabelle, who had gone pale. "Look, did you come here — I mean, does this have something to do with Simon?"


"With Simon? No. Simon's safe in New York, thank God. Although he's going to be really pissed that he never got to say goodbye to me." She was starting to look annoyed. "Come on, Isabelle. Let me in. I need to see Jace."

"So... you just came here on your own? Did you have permission from the Clave? Please tell me you had permission from the Clave."


"Not as such —"

"You broke the Law?" Isabelle's voice rose, and then dropped. She went on, almost in a whisper, "If Jace finds out, he'll freak. Clary, you've got to go home."


"No. I'm supposed to be here," Clary said, not even sure herself quite where her stubbornness was coming from. "And I need to talk to Jace."

"Now isn't a good time." Isabelle looked around anxiously, as if hoping there was someone she could appeal to for help in removing Clary from the premises. "Please, just go back to New York. Please?"


"I thought you liked me, Izzy," Clary said, going for the guilt.


"I do like you. It's just that Jace — oh my God, what are you wearing? Where did you get fighting gear?"

Clary looked down at herself. "It's a long story."


"You can't come in here like that. If Jace sees you —"


"Oh, so what if he sees me. Isabelle, I came here because of my mother — for my mother. Jace may not want me here, but he can't make me stay home. I'm supposed to be here. My mother expected me to do this for her. You'd do it for your mother, wouldn't you?"


"Of course I would," Isabelle said. "But, Clary, Jace has his reasons —"


"Then I'd love to hear what they are." Clary ducked under Isabelle's arm and into the entryway of the house. 
"Clary!" Isabelle yelped, and darted after her, but Clary was already halfway down the hall. Isabelle swore under her breath, and called out to Sebastian, seated on a couch by on eof the windows, reading a book.
 "Sebastian! Don't let her go upstairs!"


The boy looked up, startled — and a moment later was in front of Clary, blocking her path to the stairs. Clary skidded to a halt. Sebastian wasn't even out of breath; in fact, he was smiling at her.
 "So this is the famous Clary." His smile lit up his face. 
Then he looked puzzled. "I don't think—have we met before?"


Speechless, Clary shook her head.


"Sebastian!" Isabelle's hair had come out of its pins and hung down over her shoulders, and she was glaring. "Don't be nice to her. She's not supposed to be here. Clary, go home."


Clary wrenched her gaze away from Sebastian and shot a glare at Isabelle. "What, back to New York? And how am I supposed to get there?"


"How did you get here?" Sebastian inquired. "Sneaking into Alicante is quite an accomplishment."


"I came through a Portal," said Clary.


"A Portal?" Isabelle looked astonished. "But there isn' t a Portal left in New York. Valentine destroyed them both —"


"I don't owe you any explanations," Clary said. "Not until you give me some. For one thing, where's Jace?"


"He's not here," Isabelle answered, at exactly the same time that Sebastian said, "He's upstairs."
 Isabelle turned on him. "Sebastian! Shut up."


Sebastian looked perplexed. "But she's his sister. Wouldn't he want to see her?"


Isabelle opened her mouth and then closed it again. She was weighing the advisability of explaining her complicated relationship with Jace to the completely oblivious Sebastian against the advisability of springing an unpleasant surprise on Jace. Finally she threw her hands up in a gesture of despair. "Fine, Clary," she said, with an unusual amount of anger in her voice. "Go ahead and do whatever you want, regardless of who it hurts. You always do anyway, don't you?"

Yeah.

Clary shot Isabelle a reproachful look before turning back to Sebastian, who stepped silently out of her way. She darted past him and up the stairs. Isabelle stayed to yell at Sebastian. He was the closest person to pin the blame on for her anger right now, so that was what she did.

–––––

Isabelle let Clary and Jace have their privacy for only a little while before she darted in after Clary, shutting the door behind her. Alec had beat her there, and ot didn't even surprise her. Neither did the look of anger on Jace's face. She looked at Clary and shook her head. "I told you he'd freak out," she said. "Didn't I?"


"Ah, the 'I told you so,'" Jace said. "Always a classy move."


Clary looked at him with horror. "How can you joke?" she whispered. "You just threatened Luke. Luke, who likes you and trusts you. Because he's a Downworlder. What's wrong with you?"


Isabelle looked horrified. "Luke's here? Oh, Clary —"


"He's not here," Clary said. "He left — this morning — and I don't know where he went. But I can certainly see now why he had to go." She could hardly bear to look at Jace. "Fine. You win. We should never have come. I should never have made that Portal —"

"Made a Portal?" Isabelle looked bewildered. "Clary, only a warlock can make a Portal. And there aren't very many of them. The only Portal here in Idris is in the Gard."


"Which is what I had to talk to you about," Alec hissed at Jace — who looked as if he were about to pass out. "About the errand I went on last night — the thing I had to deliver to the Gard —"

"Alec, stop. Stop," Jace said, and the harsh desperation in his voice cut the other boy off; Alec shut his mouth and stood staring at Jace, his lip caught between his teeth. But Jace didn't seem to see him; he was looking at Clary, and his eyes were hard as glass. Finally he spoke. "You're right," he said in a choked voice, as if he had to force out the words. "You should never have come. I know I told you it's because it isn't safe for you here, but that wasn't true. The truth is that I don't want you here because you're rash and thoughtless and you'll mess everything up. It's just how you are. You're not careful, Clary."


"Mess... everything... up?" Clary couldn't get enough air into her lungs for anything but a whisper.


"Oh, Jace," Isabelle said sadly, as if he was hurt. He didn't look at her. His gaze was fixed on Clary.
 "You always just race ahead without thinking," he said. "You know that, Clary. We'd never have ended up in the Dumort if it wasn't for you."


"And Simon would be dead! Doesn't that count for anything? Maybe it was rash, but —"


His voice rose. "Maybe?"


"But it's not like every decision I've made was a bad one! You said, after what I did on the boat, you said I'd saved everyone's life —"


All the remaining color in Jace's face went. He said, with a sudden and astounding viciousness, "Shut up, Clary, shut up —"

"On the boat?" Alec's gaze danced between them, bewildered. "What about what happened on the boat? Jace —"


"I just told you that to keep you from whining!" Jace shouted, ignoring Alec, ignoring everything but Clary, in his sudden anger. "You're a disaster for us, Clary! You're a mundane, you'll always be one, you'll never be a Shadowhunter. You don't know how to think like we do, think about what's best for everyone — all you ever think about is yourself! But there's a war on now, or there will be, and I don't have the time or the inclination to follow around after you, trying to make sure you don't get one of us killed!"


Clary just stared at him.

"Go home, Clary," he said. He sounded very tired, as if the effort of telling her how he really felt had drained him. "Go home."

No words came from Clary. She crossed to the door. Alec and Isabelle moved to let her pass. Neither of them would look at her; they looked away instead, their expressions shocked and embarrassed. She turned at the door and looked back. "When you told me the first time that Valentine was your father, I didn't believe it," she said to Jace. "Not just because I didn't want it to be true, but because you weren't anything like him. I've never thought you were anything like him. But you are. You are."
 She went out of the room, shutting the door behind her.

The moment the door shut behind Clary, Jace slumped back against the wall, as if his legs had been cut out from under him. He looked gray with a mixture of horror, shock, and what looked almost like... relief, as if a catastrophe had been narrowly avoided. "Jace," Alec said, taking a step toward his friend. "Do you really think —"


Jace spoke in a low voice, cutting Alec off. "Get out," he said. "Just get out, both of you."

"So you can do what?" Isabelle demanded. "Wreck your life some more? What the hell was that about?"

Jace shook his head. "I sent her home. It was the best thing for her."


"You did a hell of a lot more than send her home. You destroyed her. Did you see her face?"


"It was worth it," said Jace. "You wouldn't understand."

"For her, maybe," Isabelle said. "I hope it winds up worth it for you."


Jace turned his face away. "Just... leave me alone, Isabelle. Please."


Isabelle cast a startled look toward her brother. Jace never said please. Alec put a hand on her shoulder. "Never mind, Jace," he said, as kindly as he could. "I'm sure she'll be fine."


Jace raised his head and looked at Alec without actually looking at him — he seemed to be staring off at nothing. "No, she won't," he said. "But I knew that. Speaking of which, you might as well tell me what you came in here to tell me. You seemed to think it was pretty important at the time."


Alec took his hand off Isabelle's shoulder. "I didn't want to tell you in front of Clary —"


Jace's eyes finally focused on Alec. "Didn't want to tell me what in front of Clary?"


Alec hesitated. They'd rarely seen Jace so upset, and Isabelle thought that was why Alce was holding off on saying whatever it was he was about to say. "Yesterday," he said, in a low voice, "when I brought Simon up to the Gard, Malachi told me Magnus Bane would be meeting Simon at the other end of the Portal, in New York. So I sent a fire message to Magnus. I heard back from him this morning. He never met Simon in New York. In fact, he says there's been no Portal activity in New York since Clary came through."


"Maybe Malachi was wrong," Isabelle suggested, after a quick look at Jace's ashen face. "Maybe someone else met Simon on the other side. And Magnus could be wrong about the Portal activity —"


Alec shook his head. "I went up to the Gard this morning with Mom. I meant to ask Malachi about it myself, but when I saw him — I can't say why — I ducked behind a corner. I couldn't face him. Then I heard him talking to one of the guards. Telling them to go bring the vampire upstairs because the Inquisitor wanted to speak to him again."


"Are you sure they meant Simon?" Isabelle asked, but there was no conviction in her voice. "Maybe..."


"They were talking about how stupid the Downworlder had been to believe that they'd just send him back to New York without questioning him. One of them said that he couldn't believe anyone had had the gall to try to sneak him into Alicante to begin with. And Malachi said, 'Well, what do you expect from Valentine's son?'"


"Oh," Isabelle whispered. "Oh my God." She glanced across the room. "Jace..."


Jace's hands were clenched at his sides. His eyes looked sunken, as if they were pushing back into his skull. In other circumstances Alec would have put a hand on his shoulder, but not now; something about Jace made him hold back. "If it hadn't been me who brought him through," Jace said in a low, measured voice, as if he were reciting something, "maybe they would have just let him go home. Maybe they would have believed —"


"No," Alec said. "No, Jace, it's not your fault. You saved his life."


"Saved him so the Clave could torture him," said Jace. "Some favor. When Clary finds out..." He shook his head blindly. "She'll think I brought him here on purpose, gave him to the Clave knowing what they'd do."


"She won't think that. You'd have no reason to do a thing like that."


"Perhaps," Jace said, slowly, "but after how I just treated her..."


"No one could ever think you'd do that, Jace," said Isabelle. "No one who knows you. No one —"
But Jace didn't wait to find out what else no one would ever think. Instead he turned around and walked over to the picture window that looked over the canal. He stood there for a moment, the light coming through the window turning the edges of his hair to gold. Then he moved, so quickly Alec and Isabelle didn't have to time to react. By the time they saw what was going to happen and Alec darted forward to prevent it, it was already too late. 
There was a crash — the sound of shattering — and a sudden spray of broken glass like a shower of jagged stars. Jace looked down at his left hand, the knuckles streaked with scarlet, with a clinical interest as fat red drops of blood collected and splattered down onto the floor at his feet. 
Isabelle stared from Jace to the hole in the glass, lines radiating out from the empty center, a spiderweb of thin silver cracks. "Oh, Jace," she said, her voice as soft as her brothers had ever heard it. "How on earth are we going to explain this to the Penhallows?"

[ooc: NFB, NFI, OOC-okay. Continuing with City of Glass.]