Sound of Destruction: Return of the Lone Wolf

11. Brotherly Talk

Malec stared in surprise at the girl down the hall, her eyes so blue they could have been sapphires, he'd seen them somewhere....that somewhere was definitely not here, but he felt a sense of familiarity. Nonetheless, why was this chick in the institute? 

She stared at them for a few more moments before whipping around and striding off, her golden mane flying behind her. Malec couldn't see his father's expression, but something in the way his muscles bunched beneath his shirt told Malec that Jace had on his 'surprise face'. 

"Who the heck is that?" Malec asked, crossing his arms as he looked at the back of Jace's head. 

Jace said nothing, still continuing to stare at the spot where the girl had rounded the corner. 

"Cool. Great talk." Malec gave up and started to turn in the opposite direction when Jace whipped around and gave him a look.

"We aren't done!" he snapped harshly before turning to follow in the direction of the girl, leaving Malec confused in the middle of the corridor. Did his father know her? Who knew. Jace wasn't great at sharing things that he might need to know. 

I need a pick-me-up, Malec thought dully, since he'd revealed that he'd sneaked out there was no way to go get coffee without getting caught and he wasn't about to drink the coffee Sizzy had made; she had about as much cooking talent as her mother, and Malec had vowed at a young edge to never again touch anything Isabelle Lovelance made again. 

Up in the attic of the Institute was the training room, where Malec spent most of his time. He'd always been a restless kid, never satisfied; it was how he'd become such a cunning warrior. His parents blamed it on the extra angel blood he'd inherited from the both of them, though if he had an abnormal amount of angel blood then why didn't he have any special powers? Clary could create new runes and Jace wasn't known as perhaps the best Shadowhunter of his generation for nothing. The thought ate at him.

Dressed in a loose black tank, Malec jumped from the beams set twenty feet up in the rafters, his long legs easily making the jumps. One was supposed to wear a chord to keep them from falling, but Malec liked the challenge. He'd never been afraid of heights, anyway. 

He did a series of twists and flips as he switched beams, his body as graceful as a cat's. One thing he had inherited from his father was his ability to be graceful during battle, as well as the ability to love battle; the adrenaline pumping through his veins, the thrill of the fight, the feel of a blade in his hands. Just the thought of it soothed his cluttered mind. 

He'd spent all night debating about whether or not he wanted to tell anyone about the chic he'd seen last night, or thought he had. He'd lain in bed for hours, his mind trying to wrap his head around what he'd seen. Nobody- not even Magnus- could just vanish on the spot. By morning he'd managed to convince himself that she was real, he wasn't creative enough to dream up something like that anyway. He'd debated who to tell, if someone really was stealing from the Clave, he couldn't just keep it to himself. Jace was the first person he went to, but even this morning, something about his father was off. Even when they didn't get along, his father still listened to him, but Jace didn't seem to hear anything Malec said.

"Careful. You might fall." 

Malec rolled his eyes as he stuck a landing onto another beam, whipping his hair back as he stood up and looked down, where his brother stood in the middle of the old training circle drawn on the floor of the training room, his arms crossed and one of his dark eyebrows cocked. Malec snorted and allowed his body to fall forward, tucking his head beneath him and landing lightly on the ground in a crouch. 

"Show-off," Jonathan muttered, looking unfazed. 

Malec stood up and crossed his arms. " Who's the blonde chick?" he asked demanding. 

Jonathan raised his eyebrows," Be more specific." 

Malec rolled his eyes impatiently," The one that's wondering around the institute." 

One thing that both brothers had was Jace's sense of dry humor as well the ability to just look beautiful in the middle of a battle and that's where the similarities stopped. Where Jonathan's personality was calm and strangely intense, Malec's was loud and external. Technically speaking, Jonathan was older- by twenty-eight seconds; they were fraternal twins, though they looked nothing alike. 

They were both built with broad shoulders and a lean torso with long legs that brought them a bit taller than their father. Jonathan looked like their mother's brother, Jonathan Morgenstern (who had been a psychotic maniac with demon blood until struck with the heavenly-fire-infused Heosphoros, which cleansed him of his demon-side). He had skin a shade paler than Malec's and his hair was a striking white-blonde color, he'd grown it out to where it it hung stylishly to the left of his face. He was also more angular, with a very sharp jawline and high cheekbones. His eyes belonged to their father: pale gold due to the angel blood that ran through their veins. Malec had been mistaken for Jace once or twice, he wasn't a carbon copy, but he certainly resembled him. He had his father's face, minus the chipped incisor. What threw most people off was Malec's strawberry blonde hair, a good chunk was shaved off on the right side so the rest just fell over in a semi-perfect fashion. His eyes were a bright green-gold, like his mother's, it was his favorite part about himself. 

"Her name is Sabria," Jonathan told him," She's Ezra's sister." 

Malec's eyebrows shot up. Ezra's sister? Where had that come from?

"Okay," he replied slowly," and she's here why?" 

Jonathan shrugged," Not really sure. Something to do with universal peril." 

Yeah, that explained everything. 

"That's not helpful. Like, at all," Malec said flatly, fixing his twin with a stare. 

Jonathan sighed, running a hand through his hair." I think they might be here to take him back with them, I don't really know." 

"Take him back? You mean Ezra?" Malec narrowed his eyes, Ezra was like their brother, there's no way he'd just leave." And they? What do you mean by they?"

"Ezra's sister isn't the only one here, two of their cousins are here too. Sizzy's talking to them in the library, I'm sure she's got their full life story by now." He looked irritated, though Malec knew that it was because he probably didn't want outsiders- who were probably much more powerful than anyone currently living in here- in the institute. 

"How'd they even get here?" Malec asked, not just anyone could see the glamour that concealed their safe haven. 

Malec's tone darkened," Dad found her, saved her from some demon called Nazar," Jonathan replied," and before you say anything I haven't heard of any demon called Nazar either, but they refused to tell us more."

Malec shook his head," How did dad even find her?"

Jonathan narrowed his eyes, looking as if Malec should no something he didn't. 

"What?" Malec said expectantly. 

Jonathan sighed."You don't know who she is, do you?" 

"Should I." 

Jonathan glanced over his shoulder and lowered his voice," She's the girl dad saved from the hellhounds eighteen years ago." 

Malec stared disbelievingly, that was a little too coincidental...but then again, neither of their parents had said exactly why they decided to take in Ezra. Only that he was an old family friend that they'd met years earlier, nothing else. They did know about the so-called girl that Jace had rescued, as their was an old picture of him and a little girl with blonde girls in him and Clary's bedroom that Malec and Jonathan had discovered while snooping years ago. Jace never said much about her, but Clary had told them that she was the reason Jace ended up wanted kids. Now this girl was here?