Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
───────────────────
CHAPTER TEN:
❝ The Hostility Of Dreams ❞
Esme watched Clary as she leaned against the refrigerator, biting her lip like she always did when she was upset. Then she looked down at her hands. I wanna go home, she thought. I want my mother. She closed her eyes, only half-listening to Clary and Simon converse about who was going to call Jace. Simon, unfortunately, had the privilege. As he called the blond Shadowhunter, Esme felt arms snaking around her waist and a head full of thick red locks came to rest on her shoulder. Clary said, "I'm so sad."
Because of course, she was sad. And so was Esme. Because even in these little sunshine moments of happiness, it was all covered by a dark blue stroke of grief. And she did not know how to describe grief, how to write sadness down, penned on paper in any other way except, She was sad. Because she was, and she did not see herself finding any light at the end of this tunnel. She twisted her head slightly and pressed a feather-light kiss to Clary's scalp. Sisters.
"He's coming here," Simon said, as he handed the phone back to Clary who untangled herself from Esme's body and sagged against the sink.
"Now?"
"Now. Magnus and Alec will be with him."
"Magnus?" she said dazedly, and then, "Oh, of course. Jace would have been at Magnus's. I was thinking he was at the Institute, but of course he wouldn't have been there. I — "
A harsh cry from the living room cut her off. Esme's eyes widened. Simon felt the hair on his neck stand up like wires. "It's all right," he said, as soothingly as he could. "Luke wouldn't hurt Maia."
"He is hurting her. He has no choice," Esme said.
Clary was shaking her head. "That's how it always is these days. There's never any choice." Maia cried out again and Clary gripped the edge of the counter as if she were in pain herself. "I hate this!" she burst out. "I hate all of it! Always being scared, always being hunted, always wondering who's going to get hurt next. I wish I could go back to the way things used to be!"
"But you can't. None of us can," Simon said. "At least you can still go out in daylight."
She turned to him, lips parted, her eyes wide and dark. "Simon, I didn't mean — "
"I know you didn't." He backed away, feeling as if there were something caught in his throat. "I'm going to go see how they're doing." For a moment Esme thought Clary might follow him, but she let the kitchen door fall shut between them without protest.
