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“I hereby render unconditional obedience to the Circle and its principles…. I will be ready to risk my life at any time for the Circle, in order to preserve the purity of the bloodlines of Idris, and for the mortal world with whose safety we are charged.” Jace made a face. “What was that from?” “It was the loyalty oath of the Circle of Raziel, twenty years ago,”
“They were a group,” he said slowly, “of Shadowhunters, led by Valentine, dedicated to wiping out all Downworlders and returning the world to a ‘purer’ state. Their plan was to wait for the Downworlders to arrive in Idris to sign the Accords. Approximately every fifteen years, they must be signed again, to keep their magic potent,”
“That was the Uprising,” said Jace, finally recognizing in Hodge’s story one that was already familiar to him. “I didn’t know Valentine and his followers had a name.” “The name isn’t spoken often nowadays,” said Hodge.
“Because,” he said, finally, “I helped write it.” Jace looked up at that. “You were in the Circle.” “I was. Many of us were.” Hodge was looking straight ahead. “Clary’s mother as well.” Clary jerked back as if he’d slapped her. “What?”
“What are you talking about? Why wouldn’t she have had a choice?” “Because,” said Hodge, “she was Valentine’s wife.”
Facilis descensus Averno; Noctes atque dies patet atri ianua Ditis; Sed revocare gradum superasque evadere ad auras, Hoc opus, hic labor est. —Virgil, The Aeneid
“That’s impossible! My mother would never—she was only ever married to my father! She didn’t have an ex-husband!”
That's your dad, girl
“My mother wouldn’t…,” she began, and trailed off. She was no longer sure how well she knew Jocelyn. Her mother had become a stranger to her, a liar, a hider of secrets. What wouldn’t she have done? “Your mother left the Circle,” said Hodge.
“Once we realized how extreme Valentine’s views had become—once we knew what he was prepared to do—many of us left. Lucian was the first to leave. That was a blow to Valentine. They had been very close.” Hodge shook his head. “Then Michael Wayland. Your father, Jace.”
“The Lightwoods? You mean Robert and Maryse?” Jace looked thunderstruck. “What about you? When did you leave?” “I didn’t,” said Hodge softly. “Neither did they…. We were afraid, too afraid of what he might do. After the Uprising the loyalists like Blackwell and Pangborn fled. We stayed and cooperated with the Clave. Gave them names. Helped them track down the ones who had run away. For that we received clemency.”
“Clemency?” Jace’s look was quick, but Hodge saw it. He said: “You are thinking of the curse that binds me here, aren’t you? You always assumed it was a vengeance spell cast by an angry demon or warlock. I let you think it. But it is not the truth. The curse that binds me was cast by the Clave.” “For being in the Circle?” Jace asked, his face a mask of astonishment. “For not leaving it before the Uprising.”
CLemency hm
We were banished here, the three of us—the four of us, I should say; Alec was a squalling baby when we left the Glass City. They can return to Idris on official business only, and then only for short times. I can never return. I will never see the Glass City again.”
“Why didn’t you tell me before?” she said. “That my mother was married to Valentine. You knew her name—” “I knew her as Jocelyn Fairchild, not Jocelyn Fray,” said Hodge. “And you were so insistent on her ignorance of the Shadow World, you convinced me it could not be the Jocelyn I knew—and perhaps I did not want to believe it.
“When I sent for the Brothers of the Bone City this morning, I had no idea just what news we would have for them,” he said. “When the Clave finds out Valentine may have returned, that he is seeking the Cup, there will be an uproar. I can only hope it does not disrupt the Accords.”
“But why does he want the Cup so badly?” Hodge’s face was gray. “Isn’t that obvious?” he said. “So he can build himself an army.” Jace looked startled. “But that would never—”
“Dear God,” said Jace, “the dread hour is nigh.” Hodge looked alarmed. “I—I—I had a very filling breakfast,” he stammered. “I mean lunch. A filling lunch. I couldn’t possibly eat—” “I threw out the soup,” Isabelle said. “And ordered Chinese from that place downtown.” Jace unhitched himself from the desk and stretched. “Great. I’m starved.” “I might be able to eat a bite,” admitted Hodge meekly.
Loooool
“Jace. Is he really a terrible liar?” Now Isabelle did turn her eyes on Clary, and they were large and dark and unexpectedly thoughtful. “He’s not a liar at all. Not about important things. He’ll tell you horrible truths, but he won’t lie.” She paused before she added quietly: “That’s why it’s generally better not to ask him anything unless you know you can stand to hear the answer.”
“Well, I think it’s kind of romantic,” said Isabelle, sucking tapioca pearls through an enormous pink straw. “What is?” asked Simon, instantly alert. “That whole business about Clary’s mother being married to Valentine,” said Isabelle.
“Isabelle,” said Hodge patiently, “this is the man who rained down destruction on Idris the like of which it had never seen, who set Shadowhunter against Downworlder and made the streets of the Glass City run with blood.” “That’s sort of hot,” Isabelle argued, “that evil thing.”
HAhaha
Before they can be turned, they must be extensively trained and tested—but Valentine would never bother with that. He would use the Cup on any human he could capture, and cull out the twenty percent who survived to be his army. An army he could use to attack the Clave.”
“and now was their time to repay us with their own sacrifice.” “Their lives?” demanded Jace, his cheeks flushed. “That goes against everything we’re supposed to be about. Protecting the helpless, safeguarding humanity—”
“The Clave will not be pleased to have been fooled. But more importantly, they will want to secure the Cup. And more importantly than that, they will want to make sure Valentine does not.”
“Valentine is dangerous. I know you’re a good Shadowhunter. You’re probably the best our age. But Valentine’s one of the best there ever was. It took a huge battle to bring him down.”
Aw Alec
“Except, Clary, they also said she was unconscious and that Valentine wasn’t happy about it. He seems to be waiting for her to wake up.”
“Everything we need to know is locked up in your head, under those pretty red curls.”
Okkk Jace
The Silent Brothers can help her retrieve her memories.” “You hate the Silent Brothers,” protested Isabelle. “I don’t hate them,” said Jace candidly. “I’m afraid of them. It’s not the same thing.”
“In order to strengthen their minds, they have chosen to take upon themselves some of the most powerful runes ever created. The power of these runes is so great that the use of them—” He broke off and Clary heard Alec’s voice in her head, saying: They mutilate themselves.
“I’ll go with you,” said Jace. “I’ll stay with you while they do it.” “That’s enough.” Simon had stood up from the table, red with anger. “Leave her alone.”
Yikessss
If there was one thing she was learning from all this, it was how easy it was to lose everything you had always thought you’d have forever.
Jace, who was wearing white, the material of his shirt a thin cotton; she could see the black Marks through it. There was a bronze chain around his throat, and his hair and eyes looked more gold than ever;
“Let go of me.” “Sorry.” His fingers slipped from her wrists. “You tried to hit me the second I said your name.”
Actually, he offered to wake you up himself, but since it’s five a.m., I figured you’d be less cranky if you had something nice to look at.” “Meaning you?” “What else?”
“I didn’t agree to this, you know,” she snapped. “This Silent Brother thing.” “Do you want to find your mother,” he said, “or not?” She stared at him.
Brother Jeremiah of the Silent City.”
“I decided you were right, Jace,” said Hodge. “I was right,” said Jace. “I usually am.”
It is likely that she had the assistance of a warlock in her disappearance. Most Shadowhunters cannot so easily escape the Clave.
There is truth to be learned here, if you are patient enough to listen to it.
No. I mean they have been blocked from her conscious mind by a spell. I cannot break it here. She will have to come to the Bone City and stand before the Brotherhood. “A spell?” said Clary incredulously. “Who would have put a spell on me?”
“You know, I’d feel a lot better about this if Hodge had come with us.” “What, I’m not protection enough for you?” “It’s not protection I need right now—it’s someone who can help me think.”
“Sarcasm is the last refuge of the imaginatively bankrupt,”
He indulged me. He taught me everything—weapons training, demonology, arcane lore, ancient languages. He gave me anything I wanted. Horses, weapons, books, even a hunting falcon.”
“I’m so sorry, Jace.” His eyes gleamed in the darkness. “I don’t understand why mundanes always apologize for things that aren’t their fault.”
But demons come from other worlds. They’re interdimensional parasites. They come to a world and use it up.
NEPHILIM: FACILIS DESCENSUS AVERNO. “Is that meant to be the Mortal Cup?” she asked. Jace nodded. “And that’s the motto of the Nephilim—the Shadowhunters—there on the base.” “What does it mean?”
‘Shadowhunters: Looking Better in Black Than the Widows of Our Enemies Since 1234.’ ” “Jace—” It means, said Jeremiah, The descent into Hell is easy.
Do not fear, said his voice inside her head. It would take more than a single human cry to wake these dead.
Those who die in battle are burned, their ashes used to make the marble arches that you see here. The blood and bone of demon slayers is itself a powerful protection against evil. Even in death, the Clave serves the cause.
Silent City: Its only inhabitants were the mute Brothers and the dead they so zealously guarded.
Two words leaped out at her, burning into her eyes: “MAGNUS BANE.”
“Is this when you start tearing strips off your T-shirt to bind up my wound?” she joked. She hated the sight of blood, especially her own. “If you wanted me to rip my clothes off, you should have just asked.”
