The Fray Sisters (Book 1)

Coming to Terms

I went to the library and said "Clary?" she said, "Tia come here." I walked over and she showed me a picture "I just found it." I said "Is that mom?" she nodded I said, "Who is that?" I pointed out the guy in the middle, next to mom she shrugged, and then we heard Hodge's voice behind us "That's Valentine When he was seventeen." she backed up as I spun around, she said "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to pry into your things." she set it back on the desk. He touched it and said "It's all right. It's a piece of your past, after all." I said "He looks at her like she is the only woman in the world. Hodge said, "He truly did love your mother." Clary said, "Valentine looks ... sort of nice." Hodge said "No, he wasn't, but he was charming and clever and very persuasive. Do you recognize anyone else?" we looked again and Clary pointed one kid out "Is that you?" he nodded "And?" She said "Luke," Hodge said "Lucian. Catia?" I looked down at the picture of me and my siblings, then back at Hodge's picture, and pointed out Robert saying "That's Robert... or rather my dad? Which would make her, Maryse?" 

Hodge said "Very good. The Lightwoods, And there... is Michael Wayland." I said, "He doesn't look anything like Jace." Clary said, "But mom was right, you do look like Robert." Hodge said, "Jace resembles his mother." Clary said, "Is this, like, a class photo?" Hodge said "Not quite. This is a picture of the Circle, taken in the year it was formed. That's why Valentine, the leader, is in the front, and Luke is on his right side... he was Valentine's second in command." Clary said, "I still don't understand why our mother would join something like that." Hodge said, "You must understand..." Clary cut him off "You keep saying that, I don't see why we must understand anything. You tell us the truth, and we'll either understand it or we won't." 

Hodge said "As you say. The Accords have never had the support of the whole Clave. The more venerable families, especially, cling to the old times, when Downworlders were for killing. Not just out of hatred but because it made them feel safer. It is easier to confront a threat as a mass, a group, not individuals who must be evaluated one by one ... and most of us knew someone who had been injured or killed by a Downworlder. There is nothing, quite like the moral absolutism of the young. It's easy, as a child, to believe in good and evil, in light and dark. Valentine never lost that... neither his destructive idealism nor his passionate loathing of anything he considered nonhuman." I said "But he loved our mother," he said "Yes. He loved your mother. And he loved Idris..." Clary grumpily said, "What was so great about Idris?" Hodge said "It was... it is home... for the Nephilim, where they can be their true selves, a place where there is no need for hiding or glamour. A place blessed by the Angel. You have never seen a city until you have seen Alicante of the glass towers. It is more beautiful than you can imagine." she said "Were there ever... dances in the Glass City?" 

Hodge said "Every week. I never attended, but your mother did. And Valentine. I was more of a scholar. I spent my days in the library in Alicante. The books you see here are only a fraction of the treasures it holds. I thought perhaps I might join the Brotherhood someday, but after what I did, of course, they would not have me." she said "I'm sorry, Can we keep this?" he hesitated then said, "I would prefer you not show it to Jace, He has enough to contend with, without photos of his dead father turning up." She said "Of course. Thank you." she hugged it to her chest he said "It's nothing. Did you come to the library to see me, or for some other purpose?" She said "We were wondering if you'd heard from the Clave. About the Cup. And... our mom." he said, "I got a short reply this morning." She said "Have they sent people? Shadowhunters?" He turned away from us "Yes, they have." I said, "Why aren't they staying here?" He said "There is some concern that the Institute is being watched by Valentine. The less he knows, the better. I'm sorry I can't tell you more, Clarissa. I am not much trusted by the Clave, even now. They told me very little. I wish I could help you." she said "You can, I can't sleep. I keep thinking too much. Could you..."