FROM THE SHADOWS

[06] RESOLVE

The vampire who'd taken Simon earlier was now holding a knife against his throat, forcing them all to head to the roof. Mabel couldn't help but think that that was a stupid idea on the vampire's behalf, considering that the sun was up already. If only they could get Simon free, they could pull him into the light and the vampire wouldn't be able to follow. It made her question what the vampire was actually planning.

Once they'd reached the door that led to the roof, the vampire snarked, "Now, get out! Go!"

"Not without Simon." Again, Clary was trying to jump towards the vampire to get to Simon, and again Mabel held her back, a vice grip on the redhead's waist to prevent her from doing something stupid.

"Clary, stop it."

"Open that door right now or I'll kill him right here," The vampire threatened. Mabel narrowed her eyes. He must know that the sun was up. What was he doing?

Alec opened the door and the vampire hid from the sun behind some pipes, knife still pressed to Simon's neck. Getting Simon back would be easy with this much sunlight in the hallway. The vampire must've known that.

"Clary, go!" Simon told her. Mabel dragged Clary out with the help of Izzy. Jace brought up the rear and the vampire pushed Simon towards them.

"Take him. Go!" Mabel heard him shout as she got onto the roof, blinking against the sun. She let go of Clary and turned to the door, seeing Jace emerge with Simon after a few seconds. Clary ran towards him and Mabel let out a breath of relief. He was okay. She'd hug him later. Right now, he and Clary needed each other. So, she followed the other three up the stairs, knowing full well what conversation was awaiting her, but despite her ignoring it up until this point, she wasn't going to avoid it now.

"We need to talk," Jace said, looking between his two soulmates as he walked a bit further away from the others to the other side of the roof so they had some privacy. Alec raised a questioning eyebrow. "She knows."

Alec looked at Mabel in surprise, who just gave a sheepish smile in return. "You know? About..." He looked at Jace, making sure he meant what he thought he meant. Jace nodded. "About soulmates?"

"Yeah."

"Since when?" Alec frowned.

Mabel shrugged, "I don't know. My dad told me about them when I was like... thirteen? Maybe twelve? I'm not sure."

"No, he—he means us," Jace interrupted. "When did you know about us being soulmates?"

"Oh," Mabel realized. She should've known that's what he meant. "Uh, not right away. It dawned on me as we were walking back to the Institute when Clary was unconscious."

Alec's brows were furrowed, "Why didn't you mention it after that?"

"I didn't want to."

"You—Why not? Do you not want us as your soulmates?" Alec asked, sharing a look with Jace. Both of them looked hurt by those words, but Mabel quickly shook her head.

"No, no. No, that's not why. I promise."

"Then why?" Jace prompted.

Mabel let out a breath and ran a hand through her hair, "Because, in the last 48 hours, my sister was thrown into the Shadow World; I found out my Dad may have been lying to me my whole life; Circle members threatened to find and kill me; the only mother figure I've had since I was five got kidnapped by her maniac ex-husband, who is also the one after me and my sister; a close family friend has been kidnapped, tortured and probably killed; the boy I've known all my life was kidnapped by vampires; and my dad's been blowing up my phone but I don't know how to confront him. I'm overwhelmed and stressed and, frankly, I'm on the verge of breaking down, but I can't because my sister needs me," Mabel ranted, stopping herself when she realized how much she'd spilled. She closed her eyes for a second when she felt tears rise. "I just couldn't handle another big thing being thrown on top, even if it's a good thing, you know?"