𝗨𝗟𝗧𝗜𝗠𝗔𝗧𝗘 | 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐰 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝

𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧: 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒘𝒐𝒐𝒅, 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒔, 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒕𝒔

♕

There was a long and awkward silence as the group of Shadowhunters watched the Blackthorn carriage vanish into the fog.

"Well," said Alastair at last. "I think it's time for Cordelia and I to be going."

"I cannot go yet," said Cordelia. She held out her arm,  a long, bloody cut ran from her elbow to her wrist. "I need a healing rune. If I return home like this, Mother will faint."

"Several of us are wounded," said Christopher. "Unless we want to explain what happened here, and it seems that would be a bad idea, we should probably apply iratzes." He looked down at Dahlia. "I will do yours."

"Please don't," said Dahlia, shifting. Christopher did not always have the best of luck with runes.

Christopher looked to Thomas, he shook his head wildly. "Please no-"

"Oh, bloody hell, I'll do it," said Alastair, and stomped heavily over to Thomas's side. Thomas watched in what seemed to be shock as Alastair produced a stele and began to draw on the bare skin of his arm where his shirt had been torn.

Beside Cordelia, Lucie produced her stele with a flourish. "Our first healing rune!" she announced, putting the tip of the stele to Cordelia's wrist. "A historic moment for a pair of soon-to-be-famous parabatai."

Dahlia laughed soundlessly.

"I hate to seem ungrateful for the assistance," said James. "But what on earth brought you all here? How did you know what was going to happen?"

"I heard about the Cerberus from Jess—Jessamine," said Lucie, putting the finishing touches on Cordelia's rune. They were both leaning against the low wall that ran along the Embankment. "Ghosts, they gossip." She repeated for James the story she'd told the rest of them on the way to Chelsea, finishing with: "So, it seems the demon you killed in the greenhouse had time to multiply, and the new demons came looking for Grace when she left Chiswick."

"There were certainly a lot of them," said Cordelia. "Much worse than just the one in the greenhouse."

"Perhaps they all had secret assignations with Grace," said Lucie.

Alastair snorted. "That Blackthorn woman must be mad, letting Cerberus demons run wild in her shrubberies," he said, putting his stele away. Thomas touched his own arm with a sort of wondering look; his wound was already beginning to close up. Alastair might be snappish, but he was handy with a stele.

James and Matthew had sat down on the ground so James could properly steady Matthew's face with his hand. He drew an iratze lightly on his cheek while Matthew squirmed and complained. "It's hard to say how much she knew," James said. "I'm sure she was aware of the original demon in the greenhouse, but likely not its vengeful progeny."

"She knew enough to come here," Christopher pointed out. "Though she may just have been following Grace."

James looked thoughtful; Dahlia could not help but wonder what Tatiana had said to him by the pony trap. He had looked stunned, as if she had hit him in the face.

"They disappeared because you told them to, didn't they?" Dahlia said.

"So it seems." James was examining Matthew's cheek, apparently considering his rune work. Satisfied, he sat back. Matthew produced a flask from his pocket with a relieved air, unscrewed the top, and took a long drink. "They went back to whatever dimension Cerberus demons hail from. In the name of my grandfather."

He sounded bitter.

"How nice for you to be related to such an important sort of demon," said Alastair dryly.