Distractions

Nineteen: She Said Yes

AHHH! So much exciting stuff happens in this chapter!! You might want to keep some tissues ready, but it's gonna be an amazing chapter plot wise!! Please let me know if I got any definitions or anything wrong in this chapter regarding terminology, labels, and such! Enjoy the emotional roller coaster of this chapter! (The rings that show up later are shown above.)

Everest was still trying to process what had happened at Ragnor's when she and her siblings (that was still weird to say or think that Clary and Jace were siblings, her siblings) walked into the New York Institute. Magnus's Portal had dropped them off in Central Park and they had walked all the way back to the Institute because Jace refused to get a cab.

"We'll get mugged or killed! You don't know who's driving that thing!"

"We're Shadowhunters, Jace. We hunt demons and deal with psychopaths, and you're scared of riding in a cab?"

Izzy seemed to have known they were on their way back as she was waiting for them in the entryway. "Jace, you're coming to Alec's bachelor party, right?" she asked in greeting.

Everest hurried to fall into step with her friend and Izzy laced their fingers, squeezing tightly in comfort. Everest leaned into Izzy's shoulder for a moment before the group kept walking.

"No, he doesn't want me there and I'm swamped," Jace snapped. He rolled his eyes and his jaw clenched like he was biting back a rude comment.

"You two seriously haven't worked things out yet?"

"There's nothing to work out. If he wants to talk, we'll talk."

Everest thought that Jace needed a guidance counselor, preferably one that didn't know anything about him so that they didn't automatically love or hate him based on his reputation. A mundane one would be even better.

"He's your Parabatai."

Izzy's hand left Everest's and her grip moved up to her wrist, the older girl's fingers tracing a pattern on her wrist that she had grown familiar with over the time she had known Izzy. It was a pattern that she hadn't fully understood until she was brought into the ShadowWorld and learned what runes were, but one that she wanted to ask Izzy about sometime soon.

They stopped by a monitor and Jace stared at something on the other side of the room. Everest followed his gaze and her eyes landed on Lydia. She turned to Jace and was going to say something but Izzy's slight shake of her head stopped her.

"We have more important things going on than a bachelor party. Come with me." The girls followed Jace into an empty training room and then there was no grip on Everest's wrist as Izzy crossed her arms. "We have a mole in the Institute."

"We were attacked by a Shax demon when we went to see Ragnor Fell," Everest explained.

"The attack couldn't have been a coincidence. Valentine must have been tracking us," Jace bit out.

"You don't think someone from the Institute told Valentine where you were going," Izzy accused.

"There's no other explanation!" Clary said sharply. Everest's hands moved in a so-so motion. She could think of a few other explanations, though those used mundane methods and Valentine didn't really seem like the type to resort to mundane ways of doing things.

"No one would betray us like that. This is our family," Izzy defended.

Jace's glare landed on Lydia and Everest scoffed. "Not everyone's family yet." He sneered at the blonde woman. "I swear if Lydia's the leak—"

"Slow down. We don't even know if she did anything," said Clary in an attempt to calm Jace. It didn't work.

"And wrongfully accusing someone of a crime is dangerous. Trust me, I've been through it." Izzy mouthed 'later' when Everest gave her a sharp look. She had heard that Izzy had been on trial from Magnus just before they went to Ragnor's but had absolutely no details at all.