Chapter Text
Clary ran as fast as she could after the demon. She could see the little girl dangling like a limp sack on his back. Her tiny pig tailed head bouncing on his scaled back. She clutches her seraph Blade tighter in her hand as she tried to push her legs to move faster and faster. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Jace, a burning beacon of angelic fury matching her pace and speed. The demon ahead pushed by the unsuspecting mundanes as it suddenly turned into the park.
"Where the hell is he going?" Clary shouts at Jace as they race in after the demon. Demons didn't typically like nature did they?
"Hell if I know," He yells back. The demon suddenly veers off the path and into a hedge. Clary growls and pushes forward.
"Clary! wait!"shouts Jace as she ran headfirst into the hedge.
"We can't let him get away!" She shouts back as she tried to fight her way forward through the hedge, pushing thorny branches out of her way as they grab and yank at her. It seems like an eternity to fight her way out. Finally,she comes out into a small clearing.
"What the hell?" she murmurs as she looks around. There's no sign of the demon at all. There's no sign of the demon. No steps, no growls.....She turns to look behind her and finds the hedge gone, replaced by tall oak trees that completely surround the clearing like sentries. Clary's eyes widen in shock as the danger of her situation dawns on her.
"Shit," she curses under her breath. Where the hell am I? she thinks. The glade is strangely quiet. No wind, no birds....nothing.
"Seraphiel," she quietly mutters under her breath. She holds the illuminated seraph blade in front of her as she tries to consider her options. She's obviously not in the park anymore....but where exactly is this? Idris?.....or the most possible location considering her shitty luck...Faery?
A cold chill of terror slowly builds up in her chest. She can here a soft rustle to her right along with heavy foot steps. She grips the blase tightly in her hand and quickly turns around.
"Who's there? she calls out. She holds the blade up and pushes her feet apart. The footsteps stop for a moment before resuming. She holds her position and gradually she can see a squat form materialize in the shadows of the trees. Clary takes a small step back as the thing finally emerges. She stares and blinks for a moment, not quite able to believe her eyes. Standing in front of her is a smallish old women. She has a rather long nose and is wearing pink and yellow striped stockings and wearing pointed buckled shoes. She can see beady small eyes staring at her curiously.
"Long way from home aren't you deary?"she asks cocking her head to one side. Her nose seems to twitch almost delicately.
"Where am I?" Clary asks,"and who are you?"
The old woman gently sets the basket in her hand on the ground and sits down with a thump by an oak tree. Clary watches suspiciously as she begins to scratch and pull at the exposed roots.
"You're in Faery, as you Nephilim call it, and I am Fandri, handmaiden to Lady Sarei," she says smiling with a touch of pride, "now tell me, who are you?"
Clary weighed her options carefully. She doubts that she was well loved among the Fae but the old woman did not seem disturbed by the fact that she was Nephilim. But one thing she had learned about the Fae and about people in general is that appearances can be deceiving.
Besides, she had a pretty good feeling that Fandri would be able to sniff out a lie.
"My name's Clary, Clary Fray," she said she watched as Fandri's eyes widen slightly.
"Born Morgenstern yes?" she asks eagerly getting up once more. Clary stared.
"Yes, but what-"
"Come with me, my Lady will want to meet you," she says beckoning at her with one long nailed finger.
"Huh? but what about-?"
"She'll be able to help you go home too, so hurry up and follow me," she calls as she begins moving off into the forest. Clary, after a moment of indecision hurries after her.
"Put that blade away! " Fandri calls as they move through the forest. Clary obeys hesitantly but Fandri seems to know what she's doing. Clary realizes that they are actually walking on a well trodden path, with tall trees on either side. The ground is covered in dead leaves but among the soft brown rot she can see something glitter and sparkle beneath the cover. As they move further away from the glade Clary begins to hear more animal sounds. The trees too seem to be getting bigger and bigger though there is much more space between them.The tops seem to curve up towards each other as if to form a protective canopy over the path. Only the most stubborn rays of sunlight seemed to be able to squeeze through the slight crevices between the interlocked branches.
"Eyes front Clary, you don't want to trip on a tree root," Fandri says turning to her briefly, her nose twitching slightly as she walked with surprising agility.
"How much farther do we have to go?"
"Not long," Fandri replies stopping to pick some herb at the side of the road. Clary sighs softly. This is not good....with the Blackthorns' problems with Mark the cold peace has already become fragile. The last thing she wanted to do was break the fracturing peace. She hoped against hope that this Lady Sarei would not report her.
"This way," Fandri says turning off the path. Clary follows her as they trudge through the thick undergrowth towards what looks like a curtain of vines in the distance. She wrenches her feet from the wiry sweet smelling vines as she tries to keep up with Fandri. Clary could swear that the vines were trying to grab on to her.
Clary turns to look back frowning. The path had looked much more clear from the track but now you could hardly see through a dense growth of trees. Magic maybe? Clary turns her eyes frontwards. It's getting much lighter in this part of the path as they near the curtain. Clary sees sudden flashes of bright gold which she finds to be butterflies. She watches in awe as they go and almost melt through the curtain.
"Clear you're mind and walk forward," says Fendri standing by the curtain of what Clary realizes is actually ivy.
"That looks pretty solid to me," Clary says reaching out to touch the rough surface. It feels warm and soft, almost like human skin. She pushes gently with her hand but the vines don't budge.
"It's enchanted obviously," Fandri says snorting. Clary frowns as she takes in the shear size of the curtain. It seems to extend upwards forever.
"It's not wise for you to linger out here more than you need," Fendri says shaking her head, "you best go in quickly before some court Fae decides to drop by."
"The cold peace," Clary mutters stiffly. Fendri nods.
"Yes...now go in," Fendri commands waving her hand towards the curtain. Clary swallows lightly and closes her eyes.
"Here goes nothing," she whispers to her self and presses forward.
As soon as she does, she feels as if she is engulfed in icy water. She tries to open her eyes but finds that she can't. Something seems to be probing and clawing at her mind, searching every nook and cranny. She sees memories flash before her eyes, seeing Jace for the first time, meeting her brother....she sees her mother and Luke arm in arm on their wedding day, Jace lying dead on the banks of lake Lynn, Jonathan dying with his eyes green like they were supposed to be. She tries crying out but as she struggles it seems to become harder-
She drops forward with a loud gasp, coughing for breath. She clutches the dirt with her hands as she tries to regain her breath.
"What the hell was that?"
"Come on girl, none of that now,"" she hears Fandri murmur as she with surprising strength pulls Clary to her feet.
"What was that?" she snarls still gasping for breath. Fandri scowls.
"A necessary precaution, my mistress is hated by many, she has to be careful," Fendri says, "now come along, she's waiting."
Clary straightens up and looks forward to find that they are in front of a mansion. It's made out of golden stone with delicate white turrets like something out of a fairy tale. She shakily follows Fandri as she takes in the shear beauty of it. There are carvings of small birds and animals along the pillars and walls along with what looks like a family crest, a single lily surrounded by a circle of thorns. She follows Fandri up the stone steps up to a wooden door that looks like it's made of dark oak. Fandri reaches up and, raps twice with a heavy iron knocker. A few moments later, the door opens revealing a tall blue skinned man with what looks like grass growing out of his head instead of hair dressed like a butler. With a start Clary realizes that he has four completely black eyes. he quietly pulls back the door and Fandri walks in. Clary follows her in uncertainly.
"The mistress is waiting for you," the man says quietly in a monotonous voice, "follow me," he says and begins moving up a sweeping wooden staircase with grass growing on it instead of a carpet.
"This is where we part ways for now,the mistress will take care of you" says Fandri moving in the other direction towards a smaller doorway to the right, " or else there might be no supper tonight,"
" I um..thank you?"Clary says uncertainly. She hoped that this didn't mean that she was tricking her.
"You can thank me sincerely later," Fandri calls out.
"Miss Fray if you will please accompany me," the butler says half way up the stairs. I follow him up quietly. At the top of the staircase they turn into a dimly lit hallway leading straight down to only one blue painted door. Small glowing glass balls sparsely line the the wooden walls along with one landscape painting. Clary stops to look at it. It shows a field of red flowers with a strangely familiar looking body of water in the distance. On the edge of it a small figure stands with its hand held high, grasping something.
Clary turns as the butler gently raps his knuckles on the door.
"Come in," Clary hears a soft melodious voice say," the butler opens the door and nudges Clary in before closing it behind her. She is instantly assaulted by a smell of fresh mint and honeysuckle. The room is brighter than the rest with an almost silvery glow to it which is increased by the soft lilac wallpaper and the white furniture. She stands still for a moments trying to adjust to the painfully bright light.
"I hope the light does not bother you too much," she hears the voice from before say. She turns her ahead to see a woman sitting on a white curtained window seat, book in hand. She is almost impossibly beautiful with long white hair and glacier blue eyes. She is dressed in a flowing lilac dress belted loosely at the waist. Clary wished that she could draw her. Despite the soft smile on her lips Clary sees that her eyes are sad.
"Clary Fray," she whispers breathlessly setting down the book and walking slowly towards her, "how long I've wished to see you."
"Who are you?" Clary asks stepping back slightly. The woman stops abruptly.
"Oh forgive me...I forgot how suspicious you shadow hunters can be, Fandri told you my name."
"You're Sarei," I say slowly. Sarei smiles again and nods.
" Please, you must be tired, sit down, I'd offer you some refreshments but if you took them...I'm sure you know the consequences," she says smiling apologetically. Clary does not move from her position.
"Fandri told me that you could help me go back to the mortal world," Clary says stiffly. Sarei nods slowly,her smile fading slightly.
"Yes,without a doubt...but first please grant me a few moments of you're time...you're the first outsider that's come here in years," she pleads softly, eyes wide and pained. Clary feels her heart twinge.
"Alright, just a bit but then you've got to send me home okay?" she says softly sighing. Sarei perks up immediately.
"Please sit down," she says gesturing at a white armchair. Clary cautiously sits down placing her seraph blade on the ground. Sarei watches intently as she sits opposite Clary.
"It's been a long time since I've seen one of those," she says gesturing with a silver ringed hand.
"You've met shadow hunters?" Clary asks. Hopefully she isn't connected to what happened with the Blackthorns.
"Many, in the time when we were all allies against the darkness which threatened to destroy us, this was a long time ago...when you connected to your root purpose, to destroy evil and keep our world safe from demons,"
"That must have been a long time ago."
"Indeed, it was in those days when the humans tore each other to pieces for treasure and glory and the demon horde surged into the world, it was a dark time before the wards were still weak, but we were strong and we kept them at bay...all those who you call downworlders today walked arm in arm with shadow hunters, most of them who saw sense that is...it pains me to see how divided they are now," she whispered softly. Clary watched as a small tear ran down her face. She looked down at her hands somberly.
"One of my best friends was a vampire for awhile and another friend, a warlock named Magnus Bane, is dating my boyfriend's parabatai," Clary says,"we're trying to make things better."
"And so I've seen...Clarissa Morgenstern, I saw you triumph over the evil you're own misguided family brought and I've seen you break convention upon convention," Sarei says smiling lightly.
"You were the one in my head," Clary says suddenly, "that's how you know these things."
Sarei sighs softly, "I'm deeply sorry but there are many that wish me harm...I see now that you are a kind and honorable person, truly honorable..Kaine would have been proud of you."
"Kaine?" Clary asks trying not to fell violated.
"Kaine Morgenstern, dedicated Shadowhunter and once inquisitor of the clave..." Sarei's eyes seemed to shine bright at these words, Clary couldn't tell if it was tears or something else.
"An ancestor of mine?" Clary asks curiously. She had never really looked at the Morgenstern family too much. It had always been a part of her that she'd resolved to never explore....Valentine and his experiments had driven away any desire to know about that side of her family. But not all Morgensterns could be evil.
"I suppose technically he is the brother of your direct ancestor but he did share your blood," Sarei sat up straighter and looked Clary in the eyes, "Kaine Morgenstern would have been proud of you and he would have wept to see how his family has decayed," she says frowning. Clary stares deep into her glacial eyes and see pain and anger seething beneath the surface, "and he will if you help me."