The Other Morgenstern

(City Of Heavenly Fire) Chapter Fifty: Bargain

During the consul meeting something..unbelievable occurred. An endarkened was here, holding a blade against Jia's neck as he spoke.  "Nephilim!" He roared loudly, looking at everyone who stood in the crowd. Skylar looked at Alec, whispering for him to get ready to shoot this man after he finished talking. The eldest Lightwood nodded before he turned around, walking away from the crowd to get a cleaner shot. "I am here to collect Skylnn Morgenstern and Jace Herondale! It is all Sebastian asks or he shall take what is his...with brutal force!" He announced, Jace looked back at Skylar who held her blade tightly and watched. "He wishes to have his sister and adoptive brother at his side! This is all you have to do in order to avert disaster." 

"We are nephilim! We do not trade our own!" Robert shouted, did Sebastian believe that anyone would agree to such a thing? 

"We of the Infernal Cup have in our possession five of your allies, Meliorn of the Fair Folk, Raphael Santiago of the Night's Children, Luke Garroway ofthe Moon's Children, Jocelyn Morgenstern of the Nephilim, and Magnus Bane of theChildren of Lilith. If you do not give us Skylnn and Jonathan, they will be put to thedeaths of iron and silver, of fire and rowan. And when your Downworld allies learn thatyou have sacrificed their representatives because you would not give up your own, theywill turn on you. They will join with us, and you will find yourselves fighting not just hewho holds the Infernal Cup, but all of Downworld." He roared, Skylar had dropped her blade and the sound of it hitting the floor echoed. 

'Magnus, Luke and Jocelyn.....' Skylar had repeated those names in her head, those were the three people she cared about a lot. She couldn't lose them...it wasn't right. All they did was help her in their own way.  Everyone looked back at Skylar and before she could speak, she felt a warm kiss pressed onto her cheek and...Jace whisper those three words with eight letters.  

"I will go!" Jace shouted, as he walked forward but was pulled back by Skylar almost immediately.

"No, he doesn't want you without me." She said before glancing at the endarkened who nodded at her...she was right. She was the one Sebastian truly wanted by his side...Jace was just going to be someone..he would need to get rid of. Why? Heavenly fire courses through Jace's veins.....it would make sense that the one thing that could kill Sebastian, he would want to get rid of him.

"There's no bargain without Skylnn, master wants her...and I shall deliver." Matthias hissed

"Then come and get me." The blonde said as she walked forward. "Go ahead, swipe me...take me away...deliver me then...if you survive."

"What is she doing?" Clary asked in a whisper, looking at Isabelle and Simon who both...simply remained silent...because of what happened next. An arrow flew through the crowd and knocked the blade in Matthias's hand which allowed Jia to jump towards the crowd. Before Jace could make his way, Alec had stopped him..and what they saw was flames. Pure flames taking over the platform and when they died off...all that was left was a message on the floor. 'Veni.'

I HAVE COME

~ 

While Skylar and Isabelle were speaking...they had saw someone at their window. It was Emma, and that girl had given her one hell of a heart attack. She held her by the wrist as they walked into the room the boys were in. "Did you kidnap Emma Carstairs?" Jace asked as he sat up straight and looked at Skylar who shook her head.

"No! She came to us on her own..sneaky little girl."

"Some may say....she is just as sneaky as you were as a child." Isabelle mumbled, she raised an eyebrow as she looked from Simon, and then to Alec. Clary was the one who pointed out that something weird was going on before the girls had gotten here. Skylar let Emma's wrist go and crossed her arms over her chest. "Anyways, she has information."

"How did you get here?" Jace asked, this time...he looked directly at the girl. It made him think of Max, but then he shook that memory away. He didn't-no he couldn't think about Max Lightwood...not now. It was still painful..Emma was slightly nervous but remained to stand up tall and proud. 

"I climbed over the rooftops, It wasn't that hard.Dormer windows are almost always bedrooms, so I climbed down to the first one, and—itwas Skylar's." Emma explained, Isabelle shook her head as she walked towards the trunk of Alec's bed...taking a seat.

"That was mine...Skylar's just staying with me. She would have been at Luke's." Isabelle said, Emma gave her a look that simply said that she had no idea where that is. "But let me guess...you heard that we were all here."

"Yes." Emma replied with a nod.

"They want us to be safe yet everyone is well aware of where we are..." Clary mumbled, and ran a hand through her long red hair. She glanced at Skylar who remained silent, and watched. She could tell that her sister had a lot on her mind, and that she was having a hard time for some reason. 

"Edom is a place," said Emma. "When they attacked the Institute, I heard them. I heardone of them say that they could take Mark to Edom, and sacrifice him there. And whenwe escaped through the Portal, I heard her calling after us that we'd burn in Edom, thatthere was no real escape. The way they talked about Edom, I know itwas a real place, or a real place to them." Alec and Jace shared a look, a good look...they may...have an actual lead. Alec had slipped out of the room while the others began to speak with Emma. They were surprised that she had trusted them more than the Clave but it made sense after the Clave had the Blackthorns touch the Mortal Sword...burning their little hands. How awful. Emma had even managed to get Alec to laugh...which was good to hear for everyone. 

Clary was the one who sent Emma away after they all thanked her, Isabelle had noticed the silence from Skylar the entire time. She was inhaling deeply, the pain was back but...Skylar had a bad feeling that it wouldn't being going away. Why? She could feel something moving in her back, it was time...wasn't it?