𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞
━━ 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈

Since the party did not start until midnight, the group had a whole day ahead of them. Jace and Alec said that they were going to train for a while, just in case they needed it, whereas Isabelle and Aria decided to show Simon the faerie circles of Central Park (much to Isabelle's dismay, who was still getting used to having a mundane around). Even though they asked Clary whether she wanted to come with, she claimed that she was too tired and left them alone.

The three of them walked in silence to Central Park, all of them unsure of what to talk about. I mean, what do you talk about with a mundane who understands one out of ten words you say and barely replies because he's scared shitless? In the same way, the two girls could not start gossiping about who Isabelle's latest hook-up was either, at least not with Simon there. It took them over twenty minutes and a thousand questions to get Simon to say more than four words without tripping over them. By the time they got to Central Park, he could almost formulate a whole sentence.

Central Park had always been a favourite of Aria's. As they walked in, she remembered how happy she had been there: her parents used to bring her there when she was very young and, then, she had spent many evenings playing with Isabelle and Alec, hiding among the trees. Years later, Jace had kissed her there for the first time, an innocent kiss that had marked Aria forever. She had spent hours there, walking, reading, with Jace, with Isabelle and, even on rare occasions, with Alec. She could pinpoint all the spots Jace and her had kissed, every single place Isabelle and her had sat down to talk about the boys that walked past them...

It took them some time to reach the faerie circles but, once they reached them, Aria could not keep her eyes away from Simon. He was completely enraptured by the place and everything that happened there, which was nice for a change. Aria had lived in the Shadowhunter environment her whole life and she had barely met any mundanes, at least not ones that she could bring there, so seeing him so excited made her feel warm inside.

Isabelle, who seemed to be warming up to Simon's presence, looked at her with raised eyebrows, making Aria flip her off. Isabelle's motto was 'one devil drives out another' and Aria knew that she was hinting that maybe she should leave the two of them together so that Aria could forget Jace by getting with Simon. Aria, however, was far from thinking about that. Instead, she ignored the girl and joined Simon to explain how the faerie circles worked.

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"Get up!" both Isabelle and Aria yelled as they entered the room where Clary had been sleeping until that moment. She got up so quickly that she hit Isabelle in the head, making Aria laugh out loud.

"Ow! You hit me in the head!"

"Well, nobody told you to lean over me like that," Clary complained, rubbing at her own head. "You practically scared me to death. What do you want, anyway?"

"It's almost midnight." Aria pointed at the window so Clary could see that it was already dark outside. "We've got to leave for the party and you're still not dressed."

"I was just going to wear this," Clary replied, indicating her jeans and T-shirt outfit. "Is that a problem?"

"Is that a problem she says." Isabelle turned to look at Aria, white as a sheet. "Of course it's a problem! No Downworlder would wear those clothes! And it's a party!"

"Yeah, you'll stick out like a sore thumb so casually dressed."

Seeing how Clary had no party clothes with her (and, to be honest, Aria doubted she owned any party clothes at all), the two girls offered to lend her some clothes for that night and that night only. Taking her by the hand in case she wanted to run away, they walked to Aria's room first so she could pick out her own outfit and let Clary choose some clothes for herself, seeing how she was just slightly shorter than Isabelle and, therefore, closer to Clary's height. Once that was sorted, they walked to Isabelle's room, all while hearing Clary's complaints that she would rather wear her own clothes.

"Well, you can't. You look eight."

"And worse," Isabelle continued, "you look like a mundane."

"I doubt these clothes are going to fit me."

"Well, you'll have to make do with them," Aria finished the conversation.

Isabelle opened the door to her room, letting Clary see her black and gold walls. Usually, Isabelle's room was fairly tidy, but it was blatantly obvious that she had spent some time rummaging through her closet looking for a suitable party outfit, because almost all her clothes were on the floor.

As Clary walked to the bathroom to put on the dress she had picked out, Aria and Isabelle decided to get changed in the bedroom. They had grown up together, there wasn't a smidge of embarrassment left between them anymore. Isabelle had opted for a sparkly short skirt and a lace corset top whereas Aria had chosen a black romper with a halter neckline that showed a bit of her cleavage. That, paired with black tight boots would work wonders in case they needed to lure a Downworlder as they had done in Pandemonium.

When Clary stepped out of the bathroom, both girls looked at her with a sincere smile. She did look good, even if she did not know it yet. However, they could not blame her, seeing how it was completely not her style. While Aria sat down at Isabelle's vanity to put some makeup on, the taller girl lent Clary some fishnets and combat boots that would make her look a bit older.

"Your hair. It needs fixing. Desperately. Get out," she told Aria as she directed Clary to the vanity. "No offence, babe."

"She definitely needs it more," Aria agreed, taking the makeup and sitting on the floor in front of Isabelle's full-length mirror. "So, Clary, tell us, how do you feel? This must be all pretty overwhelming."

"It definitely is. Luckily, Jace's been of help. When he is not being an asshole," she muttered while Isabelle took her braids out and started to brush it out.

"Yeah, that's Jace for you. I'm glad he's helping but, if you ever need a girl's day, just tell us."

Through the mirror, Aria could see Isabelle looking at her with a surprised expression on her face, but she simply shrugged and continued applying her lipstick. Clary coughed as Isabelle put glitter all over her face and urged her to stop moving as she did her eyeliner.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," answered Isabelle, as she continued working her way with Clary's eyeliner.

"Is Alec gay?"

Both girls stopped on their tracks, turning to look at each other with worry written all over their faces. Aria could see how, at the hearing of the question, Isabelle had drawn a line all over Clary's face, which she was now trying to erase.

"How did you guess?" Isabelle asked, after what seemed an eternity.

"I–"

"You can't tell anyone," Aria intervened, not really wanting to hear Clary's explanation.

"Not even Jace?"

"Especially not Jace!"

"Look, it would be a big deal to our parents. They would disown him and throw him out of the Clave–" Isabelle's voice was stiff, but Aria knew that her voice would usually be shaking at the mere thought of that possibility.

"What, you can't be gay and a Shadowhunter?"

"Well, there's no official rule about it but people don't like it," Aria took over the conversation, giving Isabelle time to recover. "I mean, less with people our age but... the older generation is another matter. If it happens, you don't talk about it."

"Oh," Clary whispered, suddenly wishing she'd kept her mouth shut.

"I love my brother, I really would do anything for him but... there's nothing I can do."

"Well, at least he has you two," replied the redhead awkwardly. "Do you really think that Jace would mind?"

"I don't think so, but it's really not our choice to make."

The topic remained there, in the air as a grey cloud in the sky, as Isabelle finished putting makeup on Clary. She, being the expert she was, put her own in just two minutes and then the three of them took a look in the mirror. Clary's face was painted with a faint smile, something that had not been very common since she first stepped into the Institute.

Before leaving the room, however, they drew some marks on one another and both Isabelle and Aria took some weapons. Isabelle opted for wearing them as jewellery and  Aria put her blade in a thigh sheath that remained hidden under her clothes.

The three girls walked outside, to the entryway where the three boys were already waiting for them. Not even a week ago, Aria had been in that same situation, but Jace's eyes had been on her instead of on Clary like they were at the moment. She, however, could not help but observe how beautiful yet dangerous he looked in his full-black attire and his freshly-applied marks. Alec seemed indifferent, whereas Simon did not know which way to turn.

"What is that?" Simon asked, looking at Clary. "That you're wearing, I mean."

Clary looked down at herself, suddenly self-conscious about her choice. She had put on one of Isabelle's jackets and grabbed her backpack to, reportedly, make her feel more at home.

"It's a dress, Simon," she replied, not wanting the boy to erase the feeling of feeling pretty she had had until a few seconds ago. "I know I don't wear them that much, but really."

"I like it," Jace intervened, lifting himself from the wall and looking at Clary up and down. "It needs something, though."

He drew out one of his own blades and handed it to Clary, who looked nervous and unsure as to what to do with it. She took it, nevertheless.

"We could give you a thigh sheath to put that in," Isabelle offered. "I've got tons."

"Absolutely not," Simon said, his tone raising a bit.

"What's wrong with it?" Jace taunted him, a playful smirk on his face. "Aria's probably wearing one. You'll see it if you get the chance to undress her tonight. Although I doubt it."

"You say it as if you weren't the one undressing her only days ago," Isabelle muttered, tired of Jace's attitude. The boy, however, only threw her a hard look, since he was busy walking up to Clary and taking down the elaborate hairdo that had taken Isabelle her sweet time. Aria felt her breath stop as Jace's voice trembled slightly while telling Clary that that was much better.

The group of seven walked out of the Institute and walked all the way to the nearest subway station. They went in small groups, Jace and Clary the last ones while Alec and Isabelle led the way. Simon, as always, was mostly silent but managed to hold a half-decent conversation with Aria, who told him how Downworlder parties are quite different from the all-age clubs he probably went to.

"How is it you're allowed to go?"

"Well, if you're talking about our parents, they have absolutely no idea and what Hodge doesn't know won't harm him. If you're talking about our ages, we are allowed almost everywhere as long as we look hot enough to make everyone think we're twenty-one," she explained, all while she felt Simon's eyes on her. "You'd look older if you put your hair up, by the way."

She did not expect Simon to actually listen to her, which is why she did not stop to look at him. However, she soon realised that he was no longer by her side and that he was looking in the window of a closed store, fixing his hair. Aria let out a soft chuckle and approached him, under Jace's and Clary's attentive look, and pushed his hair a bit up, taking it out of his face.

"Better?"

"Definitely," she replied with a smile, which was soon mirrored by the boy.

"Come on, lovebirds," Jace walked past them. He did not spare them a second look, but Aria did notice Clary's eyes squinting softly.

"I swear to the Angel that I will choke you with my own hands, Jace."

"That's more your thing than mine, isn't it?" he answered, his voice now harsher. Simon, advising Aria to simply not give him the time of day, took her by the wrist as she had done so many times, and walked ahead of them, returning to their original position.

The subway journey was short and, soon, they got to Brooklyn. Alec's nose scrunched at the sight of the city, which was far from being one of his favourites and, if it had been his choice, he wouldn't have come. Nonetheless, he knew very well that he could not leave all of them alone with Jace, lest he wanted them all to end up dead or kidnapped by the end of the night.

Isabelle took out the invitation and, with Alec's help, put herself ahead of the line and led them to where the party was supposed to be. It took them some time to reach their destination but, by the time they did, they realised that the party was going to be noting like what they had expected.

Aria had expected the party to take place in a large mansion with the music blasting so loud that they would be able to hear it from the street but, instead, they were on a narrow avenue lined with old warehouses, most of them apparently inhabited. Alec, stopping on his tracks, called for Jace as he pointed to a series of motorcycles parked at the door. They were completely black and shiny, the kind of motorcycles you would see in an ad, with the words 'NOX INVICTUS' painted on their sides.

"Vampires," Jace breathed.

"They look like motorcycles to me," Simon noted as Isabelle and Aria frowned at the sight of the bikes. Vampires were rarely good news.

"They are. But they've been altered to run on demon energies. They're faster than usual bikes," Aria explained to the boy beside her.

"I've heard some of them can fly. Or go invisible at the flick of a switch or operate under water." Alec was clearly amazed at what he was seeing, which made Isabelle smile lightly.

Jace approached them, as if trying to break them down with his eyes and, once he had taken his sweet time inspecting the bikes in front of him, finally let them all walk up the steps of the building and press the buzzer. Nobody answered, leaving them in the chilly air of the night, so Isabelle called again. She was on the verge of pressing it a third time when Alec caught her wrist, just in time for the door to open and reveal the most pompous man Aria had seen in her life.

Soon, he identified himself as Magnus Bane and took Isabelle's invitation with clear distaste on his face, allowing them to come in, much to their dismay. Aria looked around her, taking in the fact that most of those in attendance were Downworlders who probably did not like them very much.

Magnus's house was as pompous as he was but Aria could not help but thinking how the last party she had gone to had ended: with them killing a demon and meeting Clary in the process. She fell behind but she did not mind it that much, at least not as long as she did not lose any of her friends. In front of her were Isabelle, Clary and Simon, in that order, whereas Jace and Alec led the way, most probably trying to probe something out of Magnus.

She barely had time to register the fact that Jace and Alec had stopped in front of Magnus Bane that Isabelle took her by the hand and hauled her to the dance floor alongside Simon.

It soon became clear that Simon did not know how to dance. Instead, he bounced up and down on the balls of his feet, looking uncomfortable at being surrounded by so many creatures so foreign to him. Isabelle looked at Aria with her brows raised, surreptitiously pointing at Simon and mouthing something Aria did not even try to understand.

"Don't you like to dance?"

"I don't know how," the boy admitted, scratching his neck.

"I'll teach you," Aria replied with a smile, taking him by the hand and moving him away from the wall he had propped himself against. In between laughs, she twirled him and then allowed him to twirl her, their bodies grazing each other from time to time. Soon, Simon let himself break loose, moving himself with more confidence than he had shown up until that moment. Aria, on her side, was definitely enjoying herself, although she didn't know if it was because she actually enjoyed Simon's company or because she knew seeing them would make Clary pissed.

It did not take long for him to put her close and whisper in her ear that he was thirsty, to which Aria nodded. Isabelle was sitting at the bar, chatting with the barman. Upon arriving and without bothering to ask, Simon took one of the blue drinks that lay on the bar and drank it all before Aria and Isabelle could warn him against it. In the blink of an eye, Simon had disappeared from their sights and was now on the floor, moving his newly-acquired tail.

"Where's Simon?" Clary interrupted them, making Isabelle and Aria turn around to face her.

"He's a rat," Isabelle said darkly, drawing her words.

"Did he do something to you?" Alec looked at both of them, a look of concern on his face. "Did he touch you? If he tried anything–"

"No, Alec. Not like that. He's a rat."

"She's drunk," said Jace, disgust painted all over his face.

Aria spoke, letting Isabelle digest the alcohol she had indeed taken. "Well, I'm not. He drank one of those blue drinks. We didn't even have time to warn him. And he turned into a rat."

"A rat," Isabelle clarified. "Little. Brown. Scaly tail..."

"The Clave isn't going to like this." Alec was pacing back and forth, nervously. "I'm pretty sure turning mundanes into rats is against the Law."

"Well, technically they didn't turn him into a rat," Jace defended them, although it was not long before the tables turned. "The worst they could be accused of is negligence."

Clary took hold of Isabelle's and Aria's wrists, making them wince. "Who fucking cares about the Law? My best friend is a rat!"

"Let go of them," Jace asked Clary, but she claimed she would not do so unless they told her where Simon was.

"We didn't leave him. He ran under the bar," Isabelle protested, trying to get herself free from Clary's grasp. "Let go! You're denting my bracelet."

"I knew you two were bitches but I wasn't aware of how big ones," Clary said, her tone harsh. She flung their hands back at the girls, who stood there, dumbfounded. She didn't even stop for a reaction, even though Aria could have punched her there and then, and instead dropped to her knees and emerged with a small rodent on her hands.

She put the rat closer to her face, crooning as if he were a pet and not a boy, which made Jace snort. "I wouldn't feel too sorry for him. That's probably the closest he's ever gotten to second base."

Clary, however, was not in the mood for Jace's snarky remarks and basically ordered him to shut up. Normally, Jace would do exactly the opposite of what he was told, but the grin didn't erase from his face as the redhead told him to get Magnus so they could turn him back.

"You two, go fetch our magnificent host," he told the girls, who looked at him in surprise. "It's your fault the mundane's a rat and we can't leave him here."

"You'd be happy to if it weren't for her," Aria observed, venom spitting out as she said the last word. Jace did not answer, but Isabelle took the girl's hand and walked away with her, muttering all the insults she knew and directing them towards Jace, Clary and, above all, Simon.

"You should have made out with him and then he wouldn't have needed to drink."

"I don't want to make out with him," Aria answered.

"You should. Jace's blood will boil, hopefully evaporate." The two girls took a look around until they spotted Magnus, who put up no resistance as they led him to where the rest of the group was.

"No point," he concluded, which prompted Clary to begin to yell at him. "He'll turn back on his own in a few hours. A transformation spell would just traumatise him. Too much magic is hard on mundanes, their systems aren't used to it."

"Well, I doubt his system is used to being a rat either. You're a warlock, can't you reverse the spell?"

"Not for free, darling," Magnus answered, a smug smile on his face, "and you can't afford me."

Before they could come to a solution, however, Magnus left them to go break up yet another fight (as it appeared, Magnus enjoyed inviting problematic people to his parties). Alec, being the voice of reason once again, proposed that Clary put the rat in her backpack, so that no one would see it and she wouldn't be arrested on the subway. Although the girl seemed to be looking for another harsh comment, she could find nothing wrong with the idea and nodded and did as told.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, miserably.

"Why mundanes always insist on taking responsibility for things that aren't their fault is a mystery to me. You didn't force that cocktail down his idiotic throat."

"If it weren't for me," Clary explained, slowly as if he were talking to a kid, "he wouldn't have been here at all."

"Don't flatter yourself. He came because of Aria."

"Can you keep my name out of your Angel-forsaken mouth, Jace?"

Finally, they decided to get out of there and go back to the Institute, which proved a bit difficult when a horde of vampires stood by the door, once more complaining about somebody vandalising their motorbikes and some of his friends missing. Apparently, somebody named Gregor had turned into dust and they would not leave until they found him. Not that they could leave anyways.

Magnus, tired of Downworlders fighting and arguing constantly, decided to end the party, which caused an even bigger avalanche of people towards the door. The group of now five remained behind, besides Magnus.

"Honestly, I don't know why I have these parties," the warlock whispered.

"Because of your cat," Clary reminded him, making Isabelle and Aria look at each other in confusion.

"True," he agreed. "Chairman Meow deserves my every effort. You on your way out?"

"Wouldn't want to overstay our welcome."

"What welcome?" he asked, although no one could tell whether he was joking or not. "I'd say it was a pleasure to meet you but it wasn't. Not that you aren't all fairly charming, and as for you–" he turned to look at Alec and winked at him. "Call me."

Alec blushed and stuttered, so they decided to spare him the suffering and usher him towards the door, the rest of them behind him in a desperate attempt not to get lost. It took them some minutes to navigate the sea of people but, finally, they emerged into the street and took a deep breath. They hadn't realised how heavy the air was inside.

Clary, however, was nowhere in sight. The normal reaction would have been to panic, but there was no way that Clary could have exited without them seeing her, so they decided to wait.

Aria and Isabelle decided to stand a little way off the boys. Aria could not help but lament the fact that she had been too slow to warn Simon about the cocktail, and Isabelle, disliking mundanes as she did, shared her suffering. Alec approached them, trying to comfort the two girls and to assure them that it was not their fault that the boy hadn't been more careful, but it was no use.

"This will teach you two that Downworlder parties are more trouble than they're worth." He was right, as he almost always was. Every single time Isabelle and Aria had attended a Downworlder party (most of the times because one boy or another had invited them) had ended in disaster, whether it was because of the alcohol or because of the boy in question.

"If anything happened to him, I—" Aria sniffed.

"Well, you would do whatever it is you did before. You didn't know him all that well," Alec tried to reason.

"But that doesn't mean that I don't–" she began, although he cut her short.

"What? Like him? You don't." He pointed at Jace with a gesture on his face, signalling that she only missed him.

"I was going to say 'feel guilty', Alec, but thank you for the reminder."

Before Alec could say anything else, nonetheless, Isabelle changed topics.

"Did you have fun at the party, Alec?"

"No."

"I thought you might like Magnus," she taunted him. "He's nice, isn't he?"

"Nice?" Alec looked at Isabelle as if she had to be checked into a mental facility. "Kittens are nice. Warlocks are not."

"I thought you might hit it off, get to be friends."

"I have friends." Alec said, his eyes moving towards Jace, almost imperceptibly. The boy, however, was too busy with Clary. Both of them were hunched over the girl's backpack, rummaging through it as if they were looking for something.

"Shut up!" she screamed, which prompted the others to run towards them to see if everything was okay. "You were the one who said not to bother changing him back and now he's gone."

"The zipper's torn, from the outside. Someone ripped this bag open," he observed after having inspected the backpack.

"I didn't..."

"I know." His tone was gentle, caring, something Aria knew was not too usual coming from Jace. "You three go ahead, we'll catch up."

"What? No," Aria said. "We'll go with you and find him."

"This is none of your business," Clary replied, bitterness written all over her face.

"I thought that since this is supposedly my fault, I should help."

"You've done enough." Both girls looked at each other straight in the eyes, their jaws clenched. Before they could continue the argument, however, Alec and Isabelle took Aria away from the couple and started walking down the street with her.