FROM THE SHADOWS

[04] BREAKING POINT

Mabel wasn't sure how much more she could take. How much more emotional hits and mental blows she could stand before her armour cracked. Her armour was thick and her mask was strong, but even they could shatter and crumble to the ground after a while. Mabel was supposed to be the strong one. The fiery girl with the short temper and the sharp words. She was supposed to hold it together to be there for her friends, her sister. But when Clary told them Dot was gone too, that Valentine had taken her? Well, Mabel wanted the world to disappear then and there, she wanted the ground to swallow her whole, just so no one would see her crumble.

Her hands were clenched into tight fists and her nails were digging into her palms, drawing blood. It took everything she had not to let the mask slip for even a second. Her balled up fists were the only sign of how close to breaking she actually was. She couldn't even comfort Clary, but at least she had Simon to do that while Mabel struggled behind her stoic façade.

A warm hand grabbed hers, unfurling her fingers to stop her nails from digging into her palms. She jumped at the action and found Jace at her side. He gave her a small, reassuring smile and looked back at Clary and Simon while he reached across to grab her other hand, which was still balled up, and unfurled that as well, stopping her from hurting herself further.

"We have to get back to the Institute right now," Alec spoke up, looking between them all seriously. When his eyes landed on Mabel, the curly brunette thought she saw some worry flicker in his eyes.

"So, what now? Valentine has my mom and Dot, and we're just gonna give up?" Clary demanded. Mabel shook her head. No, they weren't. She hated how she couldn't find the words to actually say so. She had to get it together. Fast. "What about my memories? They can't just be gone?"

"There's another option," Jace said, somewhat hesitantly.

"Don't even—"

"Absolutely not."

The Lightwood siblings chorused. Mabel raised an eyebrow, looking between the siblings and Jace, who let go of her hand to cross his arms. Mabel got a feeling he did it to look more confident when he said, "I'm not afraid of the Silent Brothers."

Now, Mabel knew her father had told her about them, but she had no clue who those were. In her defence, she was pretty sure he'd talked about them after telling her about the Iron Sisters, so she was a bit preoccupied daydreaming about badass women.

"Who are the Silent Brothers?"

"They're Shadowhunters with superior powers," Jace answered Clary.

"Who possess the ability to recover memories."

"A process that can also kill you, so there's that."

Simon pointed at Alec for that comment, "Your bedside manner is abysmal. You're worse than Mabel." Mabel faked a smile and reached over to punch his arm, but Simon had already jumped back, holding his hands up in defence. "I'm kidding. I'm kidding."

Mabel huffed, "That's what I thought."

"We've broken at least eighteen Clave rules and now you want to go to the City of Bones?" Mabel heard Alec talk to Jace. "There's no way. I won't allow it."

"This isn't our choice to make," Jace shook his head. "It's Clary's."

Now, Mabel was all for people having the right to make their own choices in all aspects of life, but even she had to admit that she wanted to lock Clary away in the Institute to keep her from going to the City of Bones. There was no doubt in her mind that Clary would want to go there to get her memories. Clary was desperate. Desperate to get her mother back. And Mabel knew that a desperate Clary was a reckless one.