Who I am

Close Call

Jace look at Magnus. "What did you do? You saved her." He says.

"I gave her something that will help counteract the demon poison." He says, holding something in a small vial out. "It seems to work." He gestures to me.

"Thank you. I mean it. You saved her, I am grateful." Jace looks over at my unconscious figure.

"Give this to her when she wakes up. It will help even more." He hands over the vial with an emerald green liquid. "That's all I can do to help. Now all that needs to happen is just rest. You say it was a Greater Demon?" The three nod.

"She will need a lot of rest, and some of your Shadowhunter treatments. You have Hodge?" They nod again. "Good. He will help a lot. Now go. Get her to your infirmary. I've done all I can."

"Thank you, Magnus." Alec says.

"Your welcome, Alexander, be lucky I owe you for all you've helped me with." Magnus says, pointing a finger with rings on it. Jace picks me up, and Magnus shows us to the door. We walk down the stairs, and Jace is the first to speak.

"How do you know the high warlock?"

"He needed help with something. Something only a Shadowhunter can do. So I took the job. Every Saturday, I would come help with chores, cleaning rooms, the cat boxes, cleaning the Portal. I never wanted anything in return. But he always insisted on the fact that he owed me. So I guess this was the payback he was waiting for."

"You did all this behind our back? Alec!" Isabelle shouts. She seems more surprised and hurt than angry.

"I'm not the only one who had kept secrets from us. Jace kept the fact that he was spying on Ari since he moved here, five years ago. Then he acts all strange and she was hiding under our noses the whole time." He huffs.

"You're right. But look, she saved our lives, and is dying because of it, or almost died. Let's just go." They walk the rest of the way in silence. They climb the stairs up to the Institute. The whole way, Ari makes no noise, or any notion that she's OK. 4:45. They don't go to the library, where Hodge is waiting. Instead, Jace takes me to the infirmary where he lays me on the bed. The same one from when the Oni attacked me. The same one after I saw the vampire.

A chair screeches across the tile floor and stops next to me. Jace sits there, looking down at me, his hair falling into his eyes. "Come on. We need to talk to Hodge." Isabelle coaxes. He shakes his head.

"I need to be here. For Ari. She might get worse. I can't leave." He replies. Izzy starts to walk over, to take Jace by the arm and drag him to Hodge.

Alec appears next to Isabelle and puts an arm on her shoulder and guides her away. He looks back at Jace, sorrow in his eyes at seeing his parabatai so hurt. The door closes. They walk down the hall. "What do you think Hodge will say?" Isabelle attempts to start a conversation. He shrugs his shoulders.

"He'll want to see Ari. But I can't shake off how scared Jace seems for her. It's the most depressed I've seen him. Not counting three months ago." He adds. They walk the rest of the way deep in thought.

"Alec! Isabelle! Where's Jace and Ariella?" Hodge orders.

"That's just it. Ari's in the infirmary, and Jace is watching her." Alec says in a small voice, not looking into Hodge's stormy grey eyes.

"Tell me what happened!" He barks.

"On the way to the infirmary, now. Ari could be getting worse." Hodge jogs to the door and the others almost have to run to keep up.

Jace sits there, watching her. He scans her face, her body, anything that might give a clue she's ok, or alive. Ari's breathing is even, but at times it becomes ragged. His tawny eyes don't leave me, not even when the door open.

"Jace! What happened? Where's Ariella?" Hodge storms in. Alec and Isabelle trail behind. They walk straight over to Jace. He doesn't even look up. "What happened?" Hodge repeats. Alec told the story, he even seemed to know what happened when she was fighting the demon alone.

"Then the thing leaned over her, and touched her cheek, I think. Then she was tossed and didn't get back up until she killed it, but was thrown again. Her breathing was ragged and not doing well, she seems to have calmed down."

"Do you know what happened when the demon knelt next to her?" Hodge questions, now looking at my pale figure.

"Demon poison." That's the first thing Jace has said, and he says it with certainty.

"How do you know this?" Hodge looks at them suspiciously.

"Magnus Bane told us." Jace speaks quietly, still not looking at anyone else.

"When did you get to know Magnus Bane?" His eyes are narrow.

"Don't look at me. Look at Alec." He rounds on Alec. Alec told him about his job.

"So you went to a warlock and not back here?" He demands. Only now does Jace look up.

"If we didn't go to Bane first, then she would be dead! She would not need to be here! He saved her!" He snaps, then looks back at me, not daring to look up again.

"Alec, Isabelle, Jace, come with me. I need some ingredients." Hodge waves his hand for them to follow. Alec and Isabelle walk over next to Hodge. "Jace. Now." Hodge orders. He shakes his head. "Jace Wayland-" Isabelle whispers something in his ear and he walks off without another word.

Once they come back, they hand the poultice to Jace and he dresses the wounds. He doesn't speak. He doesn't look up. "Now all she needs is rest." Hodge states. Alec and Isabelle walk over.

"She'll be fine." Alec attempts to say. Hodge walks out, with the two trailing behind him.

He sits there, leaning over her. This is the first time Jace Wayland has ever shown fear as far as they know. Of all the things he could be afraid of, he's afraid for Ariella, the girl lying motionless on the bed. "Ari. Ari. Ari. Ari. Ari. Ari. Ari." Is all he says. He whispers her name over and over, like the constant ticking of a clock.

"Ariella." The name brings me from the dark. He never uses my entire name. It brings me back to the surface. Everything still hurts, but it's less than before. I groan, and try and open my eyes. "You're alive!" The relief was evident in his voice.

I nod, and a sharp pain come up. The fire returns. I start to go back under. Blackness creeps into the edges of my vision. "No, no. Don't leave." He pleads, but it sounds far away. "Ari. Ari. Ari." He goes back to muttering my name, the constant ticking back.