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Looking back, Clary could draw no other conclusion than that it had been a good day. They’d defeated a pack of Ravener demons with minimal effort, nobody had gotten hurt and now they were spread out in Magnus’s living room, still in their gear, because the loft had been closer than the Institute and Magnus had offered free pizza. He’d kept his promise, which had led to couches occupied by four Shadowhunters and a single Warlock, all in something of a food coma. Simon hadn’t eaten anything, but the general sleepy mood seemed to be affecting him just as much as the others. His eyes were drooping and he was leaning heavily on the side of Isabelle’s armchair, comfortable in his position on the floor.
“Hey, Clary,” Jace said, who had claimed a three-person couch for just himself by flopping down on it horizontally. It had worked until Clary had lifted his feet and settled them in her lap so she could sit with him. He hadn’t complained.
She took a few seconds replying. She hadn’t been far from actually falling asleep when he’d spoken. “Yes?”
Jace’s eyes were closed and he looked relaxed, as if he wasn’t far from nodding off either. “Tell us something about the other dimension.”
“I thought you were there too?” Alec said. He and Magnus were sharing a loveseat that seemed to have shrunk since they’d sat down, but Clary wasn’t entirely sure if that had actually happened, or was just a happy, pizza-induced hallucination on her side. Magnus had put his head on Alec’s shoulder and Alec was carefully running his fingers through the fluffy top part of Magnus’s styled hair. Clary wondered if he knew he was doing it.
“I was, but I didn’t see much,” Jace said. “Just the demon, Magnus, and our own Clary.”
Magnus’s attention had been grabbed by the use of his name. “Me? What was I like? I’ve always wanted to meet myself.”
“You were…” Jace seemed to be struggling to find an accurate description. “Glitterless?”
“You hadn’t used your magic in years,” Clary said, helping him out. “It was weird seeing you like that. Your magic had fallen asleep. When I found you, it was through a really awful TV commercial for psychic readings.”
Magnus gasped. The dramatic effect was lessened by the fact he wasn’t shocked enough to bother lifting his head from Alec’s shoulder. “Oh no.”
“No magic?” Alec asked. “I can hardly imagine a version of you like that.”
Magnus snapped his fingers and for a moment, blue and purple stars rained down on the small gathering of people. They dissolved into nothing when they stopped falling. “Me either,” Magnus said. “Tell me I at least still had an Alec. If I didn’t, I’ll have to figure out a way to magic some sense into my alternate self, entirely for his own wellbeing.”
“You weren’t together yet, but I’m pretty sure you were headed there,” Clary said. “But it wasn’t your doing.”
Isabelle jumped into the conversation at that, delighted. “Do you mean Alec initiated it?”
Clary glanced at Alec, but there was nothing to indicate he wanted her to stop talking. He raised his eyebrows at her, so she attempted to find a tactful way to describe his counterpart. “The other Alec was very, well, outgoing. A bit flamboyant? He was a party planner.”
“A party planner?” Alec repeated. He sounded like he couldn’t imagine a single thing he’d hate more, but Magnus and Isabelle suddenly sported identical grins.
Jace snickered and folded one leg over the other, feet still in Clary’s lap. “Sounds like what Clary is trying to say is that you were super gay over there, Alec.”
“I’m super gay over here too, Jace,” Alec said. He sounded unimpressed.
Magnus raised a hand, but it mostly seemed to be an excuse to let it drop to Alec’s leg after. “I can attest to that.”
“You were a bit of a stereotype, though,” Clary admitted.
“Okay,” Simon said, “so Alec and Magnus swapped personalities and still had a happily ever after, because their love transcends dimensional barriers, just as we probably all suspected. Did you meet me when you were there?”
“Yes. You were just Simon, I think.”
Simon pulled a face. “Just Simon, I think. That’s fun.”
Clary wrecked her brain trying to think of something that was clearly different between the Simons, but she mostly saw similarities. “Well, you weren’t a vampire, of course. You were still in a band, but I’m pretty sure you were best friends with Jace. I saw you do some kind of choreographed high five and finger snap combo together that looked like you’d practiced.”
Jace actually opened his eyes for that. He sent Simon a flabbergasted look, which Simon answered with a blinding grin. “Hey bestie,” he said. Jace growled something unintelligible in response.
“Oh, and you and Isabelle were a couple,” Clary said.
Simon’s grin dropped as his jaw did. “Whoa,” he said.
Isabelle laughed and leaned forward in her chair to pet Simon’s head. “Aw. Other dimension me had a nerdy boyfriend.”
It was a lot less challenging to see how the Isabelles differed. “You were pretty nerdy yourself, actually. You were wearing a Star Wars T-shirt, you worked at a tech company and you needed my help with your makeup.”
Jace snickered again. “Whether Magnus had magic or not, this other world sounds pretty magical to me.”
“Hey,” Magnus said, an innocent expression on his face Clary didn’t believe for a second. “Biscuit, you must have seen the other Jace before this one took over his body, surely? What was he like?”
“He worked in a Java Jones truck,” Clary said. Jace gaped at her in betrayal.
“Ah,” Simon sighed, “that explains so much. Of course I’d want to be best friends with someone who has the powers to grant me free coffee every day.”
Clary smiled at Magnus. “He also heard you call me biscuit when we were looking for the portal and thought I was cheating on him with you. He didn’t even give me time to explain myself.”
“Great taste in men, Clary,” Alec said.
Jace tried to withdraw his feet from Clary’s lap, but she was holding onto his ankles and he didn’t seem to want to try very hard. “Alec, buddy, I don’t even know if you’re being sarcastic or complimenting Clary’s supposed choice to swap me out for Magnus, but I’m insulted either way.”
“A bit of both,” Alec replied.
Simon couldn’t quite swallow a laugh, which earned him a poisonous look from Jace. “You know what,” Jace said, “I think we’ve suddenly heard enough about these other versions of ourselves. Clearly we don’t have much in common.”
“I don’t know,” Simon said. “I really feel a connection here, dude. I think we should try that snap thing Clary mentioned.”
“And I bet you’d make a great coffee truck guy,” Isabelle added.
“Ooh,” Magnus said, “did he wear one of those dorky little hats with the Java Jones logo on them? I can just picture it.”
Clary curled her fingers around Jace’s ankles a little tighter, not taking any chances in case he’d try to retaliate by playing at wanting to kick her. “No, but I do remember an apron.”
“I’m sure it looked fabulous,” Alec said, adding a little faux hair flip with his free hand.
Jace crossed his arms, which would have looked a lot more impressive if he wasn’t still lying down with his feet up. “You’re ganging up on me.”
“We are,” Isabelle said, “but only because we love you, whatever dimension we’re in.”
Simon shook his head. “I’m not sure I’d call that my motivation.”
Isabelle put a finger in front of her lips, like she was signaling him not to give away their secret, and they both dissolved into giggles. Jace looked straight at Clary when he rolled his eyes about his sister and Simon, because she was the only one still remotely paying attention to him. By now, Clary was pretty much certain the loveseat had gradually shrunk; Magnus and Alec were pressed together side to side, caught up in their own little world. Magnus was whispering something in Alec’s ear which made Alec smile at him like he’d just hung the moon.
And maybe, Clary thought, Isabelle’s words had had a kernel of truth to them, and that was why the other reality had often seemed strange to her, but never really alien: the same people still found a way into each other’s lives and hearts. Then Jace shook his left foot loose from her grip and poked her stomach with his toe, and she became too occupied trying to wrestle him for control to have sappy existential thoughts.