Distractions - Chapter 18: Chapter 18

The man stood up using the walls as support. Everest watched him carefully. She didn't trust him, not when Jace said he was supposed to be dead. People don't just come back to life after their kid saw them die, that's not how it works.
"Dad?" Everest stood beside her sister, resisting the urge to bundle Jace in a blanket burrito when she heard his voice crack in the middle of the word already full of so much hope.
"Son," the man breathed out.
That one word broke whatever resolve Jace had and he stumbled into the man's arms. Everest and Clary shared a look full of hesitance and confusion.
"Oh, Jace. I can't believe it." They pulled away and the man caught sight of Jace's wound. "Son, you're hurt. How'd you find me?"
Jace reached out and his fingers grazed the man's face, his body swaying slightly. Everest let out a huff and began to dig through her bag that had somehow made it to wherever they were. Why couldn't Jace resist the poison a little longer? Why did the poison have to kick in just then? Why not later when they had an actual infirmary to use? Everest shook her head and crouched on the ground to have a better chance of finding her first aid kit and not just missing it in her hasty search.
"...Valentine took off and left me," she heard the man say as she pulled out the red bag.
"And Jocelyn Fairchild?" Clary asked hopefully.
"He took her with him? You are?"
"I'm Clary, her daughter. Meliorn, the Seelie, told me that he was here with her." Everest flicked her sister's ankle. Why was she telling this stranger how they got there or how they knew Valentine was supposed to be there? Has she never seen a movie?
"Who's she?" the man pressed. Everest stood up with a fake, dazzling smile (that was far too bright and animated to even pass as real to a blind baby) to hide her panic as she realized that she did not have the proper antivenom to deal with Ravener venom seeing as she had no idea what the antivenom could even be.
"Everest," the purple haired girl said shortly.
Everest resisted the urge to scream in frustration as Jace nearly fell to the ground. His face was nearing a dangerously bright red and he was gasping for air. 'This isn't good,' she thought to herself in a sing-song voice.
"Jace, no!" Clary shouted, helping the man keep Jace upright. "It's Ravener venom. He kept telling me he was alright."
"We have to find your father, not my father. Valentine's..." Jace trailed off and the man began to search his pockets.
"His stele."
The man pulled out the Ace of Cups and Everest quickly snatched it from him. She shook her head and tucked it into her bag. "Stele's in his back pocket."
"Back pocket. Got it."
Nothing happened. Absolutely nothing happened.
"What's wrong?" the twins demanded.
"The rune is weak," the man told them, trying the rune again.
"The venom must be spreading. We have to get him help."
"We closed the Portal," Everest reminded Clary, her voice rising an octave in her distress. Jace was getting redder and more and more of a dead weight. Not good.
"Valentine's got a standing Portal." Everest didn't hear anything else the man said. She had dug out her headphones and put them on, effectively drowning out the sounds of the three's voices and the incessant buzzing that came from the machines around them. Too much noise, too much panic, too much of everything.
Clary tapped Everest on the arm and she took the redhead's place carrying Jace's weight. She moved her headphones so that one ear was free and let herself glare at the blonde boy.
"You are such an idiot Dye Blonde," she muttered, ignoring the questioning look from the man and the exasperated eye roll from Clary.
...
The Jade Wolf. That was where Clary had decided the best place to get help for Jace was. Sure Luke was there and he could deal with some minor injuries, but demon venom?
"We need help!" Clary shouted as they stumbled through the door.
Luke and...Simon??? rushed to help them, the latter avoiding the sunlight that streamed through the door.
"Clary, Everest what happened?" Simon demanded.
"We thought we found Valentine, but he was already gone," Clary hastily explained. Her voice was thick with restrained tears and Everest would have squeezed her hand if it had been a different situation.
Everest and the man set Jace down in a booth, and he slumped back, his eyes slipping shut. She stood up and sat herself in the middle of the floor.
"Michael Wayland?" Luke asked in disbelief. Everest knew the feeling.
"That's his name?" asked Everest, gesturing to the man who she still didn't trust.
Both of them were ignored.
"Valentine took our mother with him, but we found Jace's father," Clary told the vampire and werewolf. Michael Wayland, a name Everest recognized from one of Izzy's stories, gave the purple haired girl a curious look as he caught onto the 'our' in Clary's sentence.
"What?" Simon's brows furrowed. "I thought Valentine killed Jace's father?"
"Me too, Rat Boy."
"He tried," Michael said with far too much smugness than a man who had been kept prisoner by the man who tried to kill him should have. "Hello Lucian."
"This can't be. I never thought I'd see you again." Everest's uncle figure looked horribly confused—no. There was a better word. Bewildered, that was the word. Luke looked bewildered.
"Wh-huh?" Everest sputtered. "You know this guy?"
She let her head fall to the ground as she realized she had continued the cycle of asking someone if they 'know this guy.' She saw Simon give her a concerned glance at the thud that echoed through the restaurant but didn't even give a thumbs up in response.
Everest did not move until a pair of cold hands rested on her upper arm. She looked up and took off her headphones.
"Do you want to come with us Everest? We're going to the Hotel Dumort to get blood for Jace," Simon explained, his voice gentle as she looked up at him, eyes wide. "You're closer to Raphael than me or Clary and we thought you might want to get out of here for a bit."
Everest nodded and let Simon pull her to her feet. She didn't say anything to Jace or the men as she left the restaurant, but she did send Jace a text knowing he'd see it later.
Chaotic Mess
When you get fixed, I'm going to make you help me with research for a story. It's your punishment for making me freak out because you didn't keep an eye on the demon.
...
Clary and Simon stood in the room that Simon had been held in the first time he was at the Hotel while Everest laid on the floor with her left arm over her eyes. Her hair was splayed out around her head and her feet tapped against each other. They were waiting for Raphael and Everest could hear Clary keep pacing.
"Why can't we just take what we need and leave?" Clary asked. Everest wasn't sure if she was being genuine in her question or not.
"Think that is illegal Ritz," Everest mumbled.
"Everest's right. If we were transfusing goat blood, no problem. But human blood, that's against the Accords," Simon explained.
"Also against normal laws," added the youngest of the eighteen year olds. "I had to look it up once or twice," she said at the startled silence.
"I'm surprised you know that much," an accented voice said from the shadows. Raphael had arrived.
"Why do you keep doing that to me?" Simon demanded. Everest snorted. Looks like Simon fell for Raphael's silent approach. Probably not for the first time either.
"If you worked on controlling your enhanced senses, as you should, you wouldn't be surprised. Clary, you have to stop barging in here," Raphael said patronizingly. There was a pause. "Everest you do know that you don't have to bring these two whenever you want to visit right?"
Everest made a quiet noise of acknowledgement. "Yeah."
"Sorry, Raphael." Sometimes Everest forgot how snippy her sister could be. "We need blood."
"So I've heard. Human blood. Funny how those rules for Downworlders stop being such a big deal when you need our help." He said something in Spanish that Everest didn't understand. "No can do."
There was a slight squeaking noise as someone sat in one of the tufted gold chairs, then hurried footsteps. Everest had no idea what was happening—she still had her arm covering her eyes—but she wasn't sure if she wanted to. Simon and Raphael spoke in low voices for a while and Clary joined in after a minute or two.
"I can't believe you'd do this to me. Blackmail." Raphael snorted. "Why do you hang around these two, Escritora? They are bad influences on you."
Everest's mouth quirked. "Well, one of them is my sister and the other is my fanboy buddy; I can't very well get rid of them."
"You could too," the boy muttered. There was a beeping noise and a hiss. Everest sat up. "What's his blood type?" he asked, sounding resigned.
"Go for O." Everest scrunched her nose up at the unintentional Odd Squad reference she made. "Type O is the universal donor, so it should work for him."
"Why does she know that?" Clary hissed to Simon.
"She's a writer. And Everest," the boy hissed back. They needed to work on their whispering.
Raphael handed Clary the blood and Everest used the couch to haul herself upright.
"Thank you. Let's go Everest, Simon."
Everest hesitated. Raphael wouldn't let Simon go that easily, especially not after he apparently just blackmailed him. That wasn't how Raphael worked.
"Yeah, not so fast." Everest nodded at her correctness. 'Is that a word? It is now,' she decided. "I like the way you handled yourself in this negotiation. Stick around."
"I'm ambassador to the werewolves," Simon rebutted. "It's very time consuming."
"Let me take that burden off of your shoulders." Raphael smirked. "As of now, you've been recalled. You're advisor to the interim chapter president. Don't complain. My newest advisor stays here."
Simon's face hardened and Everest watched her brother figures carefully. They didn't like each other much and they were more likely to try and kill each other than Jace was likely to kill Simon. There was a really likely chance that they would kill each other for good if left alone.
Clary was glaring at the vampire in the blue suit jacket.
"It's okay. Just go. Really," Simon told the girls.
Clary's eyes shone as she gave Simon a kiss on the cheek. Everest facepalmed. She had a feeling that Simon would take that the wrong way. "Thank you. Both of you."
Everest gave Simon a hug, pressing a piece of paper that gave him a list of character names she needed his help deciding between into his hand, before turning to Raphael. He nodded and opened his arms wide. She buried her face in his chest with a sigh. She missed his hugs; missed him. He pressed a kiss to the crown of her head and they pulled away.
She gave him a smile and began walking out of the room. "I'll try to visit."
"Without your sister or him?" Raphael jerked a hand towards Simon and a laugh bubbled out from behind Everest's lips.
"Yeah Phae. Without Ritz or Rat Boy."
!!Trigger Warning: Everest has a Sensory Overload-Panic Attack type thing! Skip to next bolded lines if you are not comfortable reading that sort of thing!!
...
Everest stood in the corner of the Jade Wolf while Clary and Jace's father spoke in one of the booths. Her breaths were shaky and short and her hands were shaking. She closed her eyes against the tears that threatened to fall and her head hit the wall with a dull thud.
"Everest?" she heard Luke's voice ask. "Are you okay?"
She shrugged. The man stepped forward but did not touch her.
"Do you want to go outside?" She nodded. "Do you want me to guide you?"
His arm wrapped around her shoulders at her nod and he slowly led her to the front door.
"Is Everest okay?" she heard Clary demand from across the room.
Luke didn't say anything, but she felt him remove one of his hands before placing it back on her shoulder. She assumed he made some kind of hand motion.
The door chimed and gravel scuffed under her feet. The sun beamed down on her closed eyes but then it disappeared altogether.
"Everest, there's a wall behind you. Do you want to sit against the wall or not?" he asked gently.
She held up her shaky hands. She turned her palms so that they faced Luke and slid her hands apart; 'wall' in American Sign Language. (She had learned basic signs like eat, drink, meds, wall, no wall, and other signs that she might need when she was too overwhelmed to speak and didn't have her phone with her, or she just wasn't up to talking and didn't want to or couldn't use her phone. The signs had saved her from a lot of confusing situations over the years.)
Luke didn't say anything else until she was leaning against a brick wall. Her hands grasped at her upper arms and she tried to control her breathing.
"Everest, can you name five things you can see?" Luke asked. There was a rustling and she assumed he was sitting down. She shook her head. "I need you to try for me. I can go first if you'd like."
She nodded and he began. "Boats, crates, a sign, water, seagulls. Now you."
Everest squinted against the sunlight and her voice was shaky as she spoke. "Dock...shipping containers...songbirds..." she trailed off.
"Just two more Squirt."
"Cars, you."
"Now four things you can touch, I'll go first. Rocks, grass, my shirt, metal."
"Uh, dandelions," she mumbled. Her voice was less shaky than before. "Gravel, bricks, the pen in my pocket."
"Good. Now what are three things you can hear?" Luke prompted. "I can hear cars, birds, and a boat."
Her breathing calmed as she reached out with her hearing to find three things she could hear that Luke hadn't said already. "The waves, a frog, and wind."
"How about two things you can smell? I can smell Chinese food and gasoline."
"Rotting wood and the stuff on the barges."
"I can taste steak from my lunch. How about you? What's one thing you can taste?"
Everest's grip relaxed and she took a deep breath. "Dust. It's dusty over here."
!!Trigger Warning Over!!
The man laughed a little. "How're you doing Squirt?" he asked gently.
She shrugged. "Better I guess."
"Good. Do you want a fidget?" She looked up at him, blinking. He dropped a pouch into her outstretched hands. "I thought you might want one to help calm down some more."
She sifted through the pouch and took two, handing the rest back. She put the lollipop shaped chewy in her mouth and squeezed the stress ball so hard she thought it might pop. They sat there for a while longer while Everest calmed down. Eventually, she wiped her face and was glad that she hadn't worn makeup that day. Luke looked at her in concern as she handed back the stress ball.
"Everest?" She looked up from watching a rolly polly. "What happened in there that made you so upset?"
She shrugged. "Everything?" She sighed. "Some things happened in the other dimension that messed with my head I guess. And then we found Jace's dad who's supposed to be dead. People don't just come back from the dead Luke! That's not how that works!"
He scooted closer so that he was in front of her. "Hey. Hey, it's alright," he said softly. "Everything'll be alright. What happened in the other dimension?"
She chewed on the chewy for a while, thinking about how she would explain the other world to Luke.
"It was weird. Valentine and Mom were married and happy, but you weren't anywhere. And I didn't wake up at the apartment like Clary did. I was at the Karters'.  Apparently I came out to Mom and Valentine and got kicked out."
Luke sucked in a breath and held his arms out. Everest crawled into her lap like she did as a child.
She continued. "And then I found out that I, er, that Everest, was dating two people which was great for that Everest. Not so much for me."
"What do you mean? Who was that Everest dating?" Everest hesitated. Not because she thought Luke would judge or make comments, but because she didn't know how to say it out loud. "I'm not going to judge you no matter who you say, Squirt."
She took a deep breath. "AlecLightwoodandMagnusBane," she rushed out.
"What's that in English?" Luke asked, his voice laced with humor.
"Alec Lightwood and Magnus Bane," she said, a little slower than before.
Luke didn't do anything for a while. Then he asked, "Do you like them romantically in this world?"
She nodded slightly, biting down hard on the chewable fidget.
"Have you told them?" She shook her head. "Why not?"
"Alec's engaged to Lydia Branwell, pretty sure Magnus likes Alec, and don't think either of them like me," she said simply.
"How can you be so sure that they don't like you?"
She tilted her head back and stared at Luke like he was an oblivious idiot. "I just said."
The man shook his head in what seemed like fond exasperation. "If you say so Squirt. You ready to head in now?"
Everest shrugged but stood up anyway. She waited for Luke to stand, the pouch of fidgets in hand, before heading inside. His arm rested on her shoulders lightly, giving her the option of shrugging it off if she wanted to; she didn't.
Inside, Jace, Clary, and Michael were sitting at a booth. They all looked up when the two entered. Clary and Jace had concerned expressions, while Michael's was curious. Everest gave the blonde boy a once over and deemed him healthy enough to flick.
"Ow! What was that for?" the boy demanded, pressing a hand to his forehead.
"Being a dummy and not watching the demon," she retorted. "And for making me think you'd died and that I'd have to deal with Clary being mopey."
Clary chuckled at Jace's startled expression. "Be grateful she only flicked you and didn't twist your ear. She did that to Simon when he got the flu and didn't tell her until he got back to school a week later."
The boy blinked and looked back at the purple haired girl. "Do you...do you want a hug?" he asked, a little awkwardly.
Everest nodded and he embraced her. She smiled slightly as she caught sight of Michael pointing at her and Jace in an obvious question and the other two ignoring him in lieu of cooing over them. She could have sworn she saw Clary take a picture too. (She probably shouldn't be too surprised if Izzy had a new lock screen the next time she saw her if Clary did take a picture.)
"Thanks," Everest mumbled as she left his arms.
"Yeah," he mumbled back.
She sat beside Clary who gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.
"But why would Valentine tell a prisoner what he was planning to do?" Clary asked, likely referencing an early conversation Everest hadn't been part of.
"He didn't. Well, not directly. But he gave me a way to learn all about his plans," answered Michael vaguely.
"How do you mean?"
"Huh huh?" Everest was obviously much better at asking questions to get clarification than Jace.
"He injected me with Downworlder blood."
Everest stared at the man, her mouth slightly agape. The chewy would have fallen into her lap if Clary hadn't closed her mouth for her.
"The pain was excruciating. Sometimes I was sick for days. But it's not often you get a Shadowhunter to experiment on so I guess that's why he always stopped short of killing me." Michael chuckled humorlessly. "But, little by little, I developed enhanced hearing and vision."
"Who's Renwick?" Clary asked. Everest's gaze shot to the redhead and she blinked. Did she miss something? She probably missed something.
"It's not a who, it's a where," Luke said. The dots connected and Everest knew what he was talking about. Probably.
"Oh! I think I know what you're talking about." Her face lit up in realization and the information flew to the forefront of her mind. "It was a smallpox hospital from 1856 until 1875. It was used to treat patients suffering from smallpox after people were stupid jerks and purposefully gave people smallpox infested blankets during the French and Indian War—er, I think that was the war. There are a lot. Then it was a dorm for nurses because the island got too crowded and the hospital had to be moved to another island. North something or another. The hospital shut down in the 50s or something like that because there was no use for it anymore. Now it's just a tourist attraction."
Clary and Luke chuckled at the Waylands' startled expressions. They were used to Everest's random info dumps on subjects that they had no idea she knew about.
"In all of your random information, do you know where it is?" Clary asked.
Everest thought for a moment. "Blackwell's Island."
"That's not a thing," said Jace.
She blinked. "Yes it—oh. It was renamed Roosevelt Island. Anyway, it's an island in the East River."
"Under our noses is right," Clary remarked. "And we can't track over water."
"That should be fixed," Everest muttered. Jace snorted, but she was otherwise ignored.
"He left me to die in that cage," said Michael.
"Valentine never wasted time on compassion," Luke said, somewhat bitterly.
"He won't get any from me when the time comes," muttered Jace, standing up.
"Before it does you need a strategy," the elder Wayland said sternly. "Waiting a day could mean the difference between success and failure."
"I'd rather not die," remarked Everest lightly.
"Okay. The twins and I will scout Renwick's tonight."
Everest's jade eyes narrowed at Michael Wayland when he was unable to mask his surprise. Did nobody mention that she and Clary were twins to him? Everest couldn't help but feel a little bitter that, once again, someone didn't see the similarity between her and her twin sister, much less enough to assume that they were sisters.
Michael's eyes darted between the girls and Everest glanced at Luke with raised eyebrows. He shrugged.
"Jace, don't. Your runes are still weak. Me and Luke and Everest if she wants to go will scout Renwick's. Just take the extra time to rest and—" Clary was cut off by Jace.
"I'll be fine, Clary."
"Jace, please." Everest had been wrong earlier. The puppy dog eyes worked on Jace too.
Jace looked rather defeated as he sat back in his seat. "Don't let her get you into trouble," he told Luke.
Everest leaned over to Luke. "Can I curse real quick?"
He looked amused. "Have you ever asked permission before?" She just looked at him. "Fine, you can curse."
She gave him a mischief-filled smile as she turned to the blonde boy.
"Dye Blonde?" He looked up at her with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes Purple?"
"You're a whipped ass bitch."
"And you should really get started on that PowerPoint," he retorted. "I expect a full, multimedia presentation ready by the time we get back to the Institute."
"You're still a whipped ass bitch for my sister." She gave him a sarcastic smile.
Beside the bantering duo, there was a variety of reactions. Clary was outright laughing, Luke looked like he was trying not to bust a lung from holding in laughter, and Michael looked confused.
"How's that thank you card coming along?" Jace asked sarcastically, referencing the card she said she'd make for Jace days ago.
"Just need a signature," she shot back. "But I don't think I'll be getting one from the psychopath anytime soon, so I'll have to forge one."
"And how long will that take?"
"A little bit." She shrugged. "Depends on how much I want to impersonate my father, really."
That did it for Luke. He burst out laughing and Clary fell to the ground, clutching her sides. Jace's father looked bewildered—Everest still loved that word—and Jace and Everest shared a look full of mischief and pride.
...
Everest sat against the wall with her laptop on her lap and papers spread out around her. She was on the opposite side of the Jade Wolf's basement that Jace and his father were training on. She was doing research (i.e. searching through the Institute's database via help from Izzy that she gave her a few days back. It was only a bit illegal.) and trying to find Valentine's signature. She was going to finish that thank you card no matter what.
"Hah!" she exclaimed.
The two looked over at her and she waved awkwardly when she realized she had interrupted a heart to heart moment between them.
"Sorry, I just won a battle against technology. Carry on." She made a shooing motion and turned back to her computer.
She began the tedious process of learning a new signature and cursed Valentine's name and soul viciously in her head. Of course he had to have an incredibly complicated signature. Why would he have one that's easy to forge?
Twenty minutes later and Everest was running up to her favorite blonde Shadowhunter—and she still needed to figure out when he got that title—with a card in her hands.
"JACE!" she screamed, running into the main area of the Jade Wolf.
The boy shot up from his seat in a hurry. "What? What is it? What's wrong? Are you hurt? Do you need food? What is it?" He stared at her with wide eyes and scanned her for injuries. There were none.
"I finished the card," she said in an excited voice.
"I thought you were dying Purple!" Jace exclaimed. He made grabby hands, much like Everest did (and how she would never let him live down the fact that he had picked up that habit of hers). "Hand it over, let's see it."
Everest handed the card over with a grin and Michael walked forward to see it too. The outside of the card was black with white writing reading "A thank you note to Jace Wayland." Inside however, was full of glitter and confetti. "Thank you Jace Wayland for killing the demon I had sent to my wife and daughters' home. I appreciate not having to pay it seeing as it is once more in Hell. Much gratitude, Valentine Morgenstern aka a psychopath" was written on the inside.
Jace burst out laughing, even with glitter covering his shoes. "This is great Everest, thanks. I'm going to frame this one."
She beamed at him and settled in a booth to work on her PowerPoint. Jace might not have been serious when he said he wanted a presentation about how she was apparently "so connected to the Shadow World and yet had no idea it existed," but she was going to give him one whether he was serious or not.