New World

26 | Ave Atque Vale, Livia Blackthorn

Lila stood between Kit and Ty as they stood on the Imperishable Fields, where the two funeral pyres stood tall, white banners on either side of them. There was nobody up there yet.

Until the sound of a low horn blew. Everyone turned to look back at the city, and saw Silent Brothers and Council guards. The biers were carried at shoulder height by the Council guards while the Silent Brothers walked in two long lines. Lila couldn't make out which was body was Livvy until they got closer, and then she saw one was much smaller than the other.

"I'm sorry," Kit said then. "I'm so sorry."

One of Ty's hands was opening and closing, his knuckles tightening and then relaxing then tightening again. "There really isn't any reason for you to be sorry," Ty said. "So don't be."

The procession went through the crowd, and then the Silent Brothers went over to a pyre for each body.

Mark came over and was talking to Ty, but Lila didn't bother listening. Kit stood beside her with his shoulders hunched. He glanced at her, and she almost asked him to either say what he wanted to say or go away.

The words "Ave atque vale, Livia Blackthorn" passed through the crowd. Kit seemed wretched at the words, and Mark paled. Ty was staring at the pyres and Lila was pulling at the sleeve cuffs of her jacket.

"Did they take her necklace?" Lila asked Diana when she came over after Livvy had been left at the top of the pyre, Robert Lightwood on the other.

"I don't know, I'm sorry," Diana replied regrettably.

"Fellow Shadowhunters," Jia said, her rich voice carrying across the Imperishable Fields. "A great tragedy has come to us. One of our most faithful servants of the Clave, Robert Lightwood, was slain in the Council Hall, where our Law has always prevailed. One of our youngest and most promising Shadowhunters was murdered, her blood spilled in front of us all. We will not let these deaths go unpunished. We will not forget who was responsible. We are warriors, and we will fight, and fight back. They are gone. The Nephilim have lost two great souls. Let Raziel bless them. Let Jonathan Shadowhunter honor them. Let David the Silent remember them. And let us commend their bodies to the necropolis, where they will serve forever."

Then Horace Dearborn began to speak. Lila zoned out and stared at her shoes. Until...

"Young man—get down from there!"

Lila looked up and noticed Ty was gone. She frowned. Kit was tense beside her and Diana muttered, "By the angel."

Ty was climbing up the side of Livvy's funeral pyre.

"Oh no," Lila said quietly. They watched as. Julian ran over to the pyre, starting to climb up after Ty. "Ty!" She called, unaware of whether or not he could hear her.

Julian reached Ty at the top, and Lila could only watch from the ground. She could just see the top of their hair. Emma and Mark ran over to them, grabbing ladders which had been used to get up the funeral pyres, to help Julian and Ty down.

They climbed down the ladders only moments after the ladders had been placed there.

When Ty returned to her side, Lila clutched his hands tightly in her own. He relaxed slightly, the stiffness of his shoulders deflating a bit.

"It is time," came the Silent Brothers voice in Lila's mind. They all heard it. She felt a pang if pain in her chest.

And then she watched the funeral pyres be set alight. And the fire raced on the wood, and Livvy's body vanished behind a cloud of smoke.

"Vale, vale, vale," Lila just about managed to hear over the roar of the fire. "Farewell, farewell, farewell."

The pyres were still burning by the time they had to turn around and leave. It was customary to go to the city and stay with other Shadowhunters, but Lila knew her family wouldn't do that.

She stared at the ground as they walked out of the fields, staying between Ty and Kit.

—

Kit looked out the window of the room he shared with Ty, watching the smoke ride in the distance from the pyres.

He'd seen Lila grab her pillows and bed covers and drag them down the stairs. He'd heard her proclaim she was sleeping in the living room. He'd seen Lila wipe her cheeks before leaving the room. He'd seen her utterly broken expression and longed to hug her again like they had on the rooftop in London.

Ty was different. Lila was moody and upset. Ty seemed his normal self.

"I know how this is going to sound," Kit told Ty as Ty sat down and kicked his boots off. "But you're not acting the way I thought you would."

"Because I climbed the pyre?"

"Actually, that was the most expected thing. I just..."

"I did it to get this." He held up the golden necklace around his neck. Kit realised it was Livvy's necklace. Lila's words rang in his head: "Did they take her necklace?"

"Livvy's necklace." He said. "It makes sense. I just thought..."

"You thought I'd cry like Lila?" Kit though that seemed a little harsh. "Everybody is sad because they accept that Livvy is dead. But I don't. I don't accept that she's gone."

"What?"

"I'm going to get her back. Lila wants Livvy back, too. I know she does"

"How are you going to do that?" Kit sat down on the windowsill.

Ty raised his phone. "These were on Julian's phone."

Pictures of the Black Volume popped up on the screen. Kit looked closer, seeing scribbles of writing and endless pages of pictures.

"When did you get them?" Kit asked.

"Julian's phone is backed up to mine. I guess he didn't realise. You won't tell him, will you?"

"Of course not."

When Ty asked Kit, he sat down beside him.

"Even though Livvy's body isn't here, we can still get her back because this is the most powerful spell book in the world for bringing back the dead." He looked at Kit. "The spell needs to be done when we get back to Los Angeles."

"Didn't Malcolm kill people to bring Annabel back?"

"Correlation, not causation, Watson. The simplest way to necromancy is with death energy. Life for death, basically. But there are different sources of death energy. Neither me or Lila would kill anyone."

"I don't think Livvy would want you to do necromancy," Said Kit.

"I don't think Livvy would want to be dead."

And Ty's words felt like a punch to the stomach.