Distractions - Chapter 20: Chapter 20

Clary's P.O.V.:
Clary stood beside Luke in the Infirmary, watching over her mom. She smiled sadly down at the woman.
"She looks so peaceful now. I wish I knew how to reach her," she murmured.
"It's gonna be fine." She looked away from Luke doubtfully. "I'm sorry, Clary. We should've told you all this before—"
"Luke, we can hash all that out when we wake Mom up. The important thing now is that we have her back."
Alec stepped into the room. Clary hadn't realized he was there. "I'm looking for Lydia. Have you seen her?" He gestured to the two of them. "I don't mean to interrupt or anything."
"No, stay a minute," offered Clary.
"I gotta get back to the station. Call me if anything happens." Luke told her. "Call me if you get word from Everest too."
She nodded and the men switched places.
"So, how is she?" Alec asked awkwardly.
Clary sighed. "The same, I guess." She was going to say more, was going to thank Alec, but he spoke again.
"How's—how's Everest? I haven't seen her since she ran out of the Institute yesterday." He looked away towards the floor and fiddled with the cuff of his sleeve.
Clary gave him a calculating look, trying to figure out if he was concerned for her twin because he was her friend or because of another reason. "I don't really know. She hasn't responded to my texts in three days, or something like that, and she didn't say anything to me when she ran out of the Institute."
Alec seemed to wilt. "Oh."
"Why do you care so much about Everest?" she asked, looking up at him curiously.
He froze and resembled a fish out of water for a few long moments. Finally, he shrugged. His phone chimed, breaking the awkward silence. "Magnus needs to speak to me. He might have some information about how to wake your mother up or stop Valentine. It's important."
Clary hummed in agreement and stared back down at her mom as Alec left.
"What is going on between Alec, Magnus, and Everest?" she whispered. She shook her head, chuckling lightly as she answered her own question. "It's a mess is what it is. Everest likes both of them and I'm pretty sure they like her and each other."
She gave her mom's hand one more squeeze. "I don't know what's going to happen with them, but I hope you're there to see it and that you accept it, Mom."
...
Third Person P.O.V.:
Everest leaned against the stone wall of the Institute and breathed deeply. "I can do this. I can do this." She stood up straight and saw Magnus Portal into the courtyard. She ducked back into her alcove. "I can't do this."
"Cupcake?"
She jumped, her eyes darting to the man whose eclectic blue eyeliner that was enviously even. "Hi," she said dumbly, trying to control the unnervingly fast beating of her heart.
"What're you doing out here?"
He peered at her curiously, taking in every detail of her appearance. She was wearing olive green pants, a black Ramones t-shirt, a pair of white tennis shoes, and a black bomber jacket. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail at the base of her neck now, revealing a silver stud in her right ear and a silver snake ear cuff in her left. A rabbit jumped from a bush and her head swiveled, causing purple strands to fall from the ponytail. Everest reached up to brush them behind her ear, and the silver rings on her hand sparkled in the sun. His gaze caught on one in particular that looked like a snake coiled around her finger.
Everest shrugged. "It's loud and there's a lot of people running around in there and I don't like it."
He hummed his acknowledgement and wondered whether or not he should bring up what she had said the night before. "Everest, about last night—"
"Save it. Please." She held up a shaky hand with a ring or two on each finger. "I—I'm not ready to deal with that stuff right now."
He sighed, but nodded. "Alright. Just, when you are ready, please call me and we'll talk about it, okay?"
She nodded, staring at a helicopter as it flew past.
"I'm heading inside now, you're more than welcome to join me if you'd like," Magnus said.
Everest just waved him off, watching the street. He walked away with a final glance back at her. She didn't turn around or go back inside until three minutes after the doors had closed behind him.
"I can do this," she whispered forcefully. "I can do this."
She ignored whatever was happening in the Ops Center and went to her room instead. She needed to be alone for a little while just to calm down completely and write down the scene that had been nagging at her brain for hours.
He was done. So, utterly and completely done. Wesley had tried everything in his power to get Nicholas's attention. He had befriended his friends, he had partnered with him in class, he had even talked to the guy and hung out with him—alone! Yet, nothing he did seemed to show Nicholas that he liked him as more than a friend. He had done everything he could think of besides simply telling the boy that he was falling head over Converse for him. And he really didn't want to just outright say it, at least not say it first, because to him that was too much too soon. Never mind the fact that it had been almost two years since Wesley had moved to Owl Creek High and a year and a month since he had realized that he was falling in love with Nicholas.
Wesley huffed as he scooped another spoon of cake into his mouth. What was he going to do? Should he just ask him out and hope he said yes? Continue pining over the boy in silence? He had no idea what to do. No idea at all.
Everest glared at the screen, trying to figure out what was wrong with it. There was something off about it, but she didn't know what. Wait...
"There!" she exclaimed. "That's it, that's what's wrong with it!"
She had written that Wesley 'scooped another spoon of cake into his mouth.' She frowned. What was that supposed to be instead? She shrugged after a while. 'Wesley only eats cake with a spoon now,' she decided. She scribbled that down on a piece of paper and leaned back on her beanbag-crate contraption, nearly falling off in the process.
She checked the time and sighed when she saw that it had only been twenty minutes. It felt longer than that. 'No wonder Jace and the others didn't come searching for me,' she thought to herself. Jace! A mental bell went off in her brain. She should probably talk to him about whatever happened the night before.
She stood in front of his door with her hand raised to knock again, wondering if he hadn't heard her the first time. But just before she could knock again, the door opened to reveal a disheveled blonde.
"Everest?" He sounded rather confused.
"We should talk," she told him seriously. "But also get pizza."
"What?"
She gave him her most serious expression that she could muster. "We need to talk, but I need to eat so we're going to get pizza too. And you deserve pizza, so there's that too."
Jace stared blankly at her, but snapped into action when she said "put your shoes on" rather forcefully. He followed her out of the Institute and down the street to a place called Peoria Pizza Works* in silence.
He didn't say anything as she ordered a "medium pizza, half cheese with herbs and half pepperoni without herbs and a side of bread sticks please" and didn't say anything until they sat down in a booth towards the back of the restaurant.
"So we're siblings," said Everest suddenly. Jace paused, a slice of pizza half in his mouth.
He swallowed and said, "Apparently."
She hesitated, dipping her bread stick in marinara. "Does it change anything?"
Jace thought for a moment before shaking his head. "No. You're still Everest, my sister figure that's now actually my sister and not just my sister figure. You're still the kid I have to make sure eats and takes care of herself, and you're still the kid I'd do most anything for."
"I'm not a kid," she protested around her lunch, but she smiled too. "By the way, you're still my bitchy, yet lovable, big brother no matter what."
Jace rolled his eyes as he jabbed his pizza at her. "You better eat pizza too, not just bread sticks. You need protein so that you don't collapse on the mission."
Everest froze. "What mission?"
"You haven't talked to anybody today have you?" She shrugged and he sighed. "We think we found the warlock who can wake up your mom."
Everest didn't say anything about how Jace didn't call Jocelyn his mom too; she knew how it felt to not think of a person as your parent. After all, she felt the same way about Valentine.
"How...fun. When do we have to leave for that?"
Jace checked his phone. "Fifteen minutes. Which means we're eating on the go."
Everest pouted but waved over a waiter with the practiced ease of someone who grew up eating in restaurants often and asked for a to-go box. Minutes later, Everest and Jace were walking down the streets of New York with a box of pizza and bread sticks in their hands as they tried to balance the box, eat their lunch, and make it to the Institute in one piece all at the same time.
"Ha!" Everest shouted as they entered the building. "We did it!"
Jace laughed. "Us one, streets zero."
Clary and Magnus stared at the siblings with wide eyed, slightly disturbed, expressions.
"I don't wanna know," muttered Clary.
"I don't know if I want to," whispered Magnus.
"You don't," Clary assured him. He looked as if he agreed, especially when Jace and Everest grinned wildly as they finished off their lunch.
...
"Where are we?" Everest asked, staring around at the fields and flowers around them. She wanted her notebook or laptop so she could write a description piece about it all.
"London. Ragnor's house is just across these fields," Magnus explained.
"Let's make this quick. We'll talk to Ragnor and Portal him back to the Institute before anyone knows we're gone," Jace said in a huff. Everest frowned. She had thought that the pizza had cheered him up.
"So, brother and sisters, huh?" Magnus said after a moment of silence.
"I don't want to talk about it," snapped Jace. Maybe the pizza hadn't cheered him up that much.
Everest frowned as she looked between her brother and sister. She didn't like where this was going.
"What, so we're just gonna be work buddies now? All about the mission, and totally ignore the huge bomb dropped on us?" Clary wore such a hurt and disbelief filled look that Everest had to look away. But, she had looked towards Magnus who was looking at her with an unidentifiable emotion and she looked away from him too.
"Yeah, sounds like a plan. What do you want me to say, Clary? That I was attracted to my sister?" He cast a glance towards the purple haired girl behind him. "Not you Purple."
"Glad to have that double check—no. Reassurance. Glad to have that reassurance," she told him sarcastically. "I really didn't already know that one."
"No—" Clary began.
"Point of fact, brothers and sisters are often attracted to each other. I once knew this couple in ancient Egypt—" Magnus was cut off by Clary. Everest thought it was retaliation for him cutting her off.
"Magnus, not helping." Clary's face was pinched and her nose was scrunched up. Everest stifled a laugh, Magnus grinned.
"Maybe this will all make sense when we wake up Jocelyn. Since she is..." Magnus's voice faded from Everest's ears as her hearing was overwhelmed by the sound of roaring fire.
She winced and covered her ears, flinching at nothing as she anticipated the sound of her rings and earrings clashing that never came. All she could hear was fire. It consumed her senses and then she saw her friends' concerned expressions in front of her. She waved them off and dug in her bag for her headphones. She might have said something, but she couldn't hear it. They probably said something, but she didn't hear that either.
She was pulled backwards and her vision filled with green fire. She still couldn't hear anything but fire, even though she was wearing her headphones. Clary and Jace stood to her left, Magnus to her right. They were saying things, things she couldn't understand.
But then Clary typed something on her phone and shoved the device towards Everest. She read it eagerly, desperately wanting to know what was happening and why there was green fire everywhere.
Rangor set up wards, Clary's phone said. Magnus said the fire's green because only the pure of heart and intention can pass through. (What's up with you two anyway?) We're going to go through it together. You ready?
Everest gave Clary the stink eye for what she put in parenthesis but nodded as she handed the phone back. She followed the other three through the fire but did not see Clary. She was in a strange living room beside Jace and Magnus. There was no fire in her ears anymore and she slowly removed her headphones, hoping that the fire wouldn't be there when she took off her headphones. It wasn't.
There was a thud and Everest's eyes shot to where Clary was yanking a very tall man out of a painting. He had pointed horns at his temples that contrasted with his green skin and white hair. Everest knew it was rude to stare, so she pointedly looked at her sister's displeased expression instead of at the tall, green man. For the moment at least.
"Well done, Clary Fairchild. I've been expecting you." He looked around with a frown until his gaze settled on Everest. "I must say, I was expecting your sister to pass through the fire with you."
"Well I can't help that I apparently don't have a pure heart or intentions," she said shortly.
He rolled his eyes before he spoke again. "Anyways. You have Jocelyn's talent, I see. Only a true artist would see the subtle changes in my eyes."
"You just need to stop moving your eyes," deadpanned Magnus, looking bored.
Ragnor turned to Magnus's chair. "Yes I know I need to work on not moving my eyes. You don't need to remind me," the warlock ground out. Clary looked at him like he was crazy.
"You knew my mom? So you made the potion that put her to sleep?"
Clary was completely ignoring Everest, Jace, and Magnus sitting in the chairs right in front of her. "She can't see us, can she?" Everest asked the two beside her. They shook their heads.
"At her request, yes. And I knew it was only a matter of time before you came looking for the antidote. Please, sit."
"My friends, Jace Wayland, Magnus Bane, Everest Fairchild. They were here with me, but I lost them in the fire." Clary's expression turned worried as she sat on the bench in front of the unlit fireplace.
"Just tell her we're here!" Jace exclaimed.
"Let me do this my way!" snarled Ragnor. He turned to Clary with a forced pleasant smile. "Your friends, are they true?"
Clary gave Jace's chair an odd look, making Everest snort. "Magnus said he's known you for centuries. He sent you a fire message."
"This is an act," said Magnus in a sing-song voice. He was teasing the other warlock and taking immense pleasure in it.
"This is not an act!" Magnus raised an eyebrow at the green skinned warlock. "It's not an act! It is essential."
Clary scoffed. "Alright, what is your deal? My friends are missing and if you can't help me, I'll find someone who will."
"What is it worth to you?"
Everest wanted to flick her twin on the ear so badly when she said what she said next. "If you find my friends and wake my mother, I'll give you anything."
Had this girl not learned anything from the many movies she and Everest had watched or from the many, many rants Everest had gone on about how stupid characters were when they said the exact thing Clary had just said?
Ragnor smirked. "That's what I wanted to hear."
He snapped his fingers and Clary looked startled as she saw the three of them. Jace and Magnus stood up in a hurry, but Everest stood up slower, making sure not to trip on a cat.
"Honestly, Ragnor, was that nonsense necessary?" Magnus gave the green skinned warlock an annoyed look as he dusted off his coat sleeves.
"Of course. She offered me anything. You were only up to a timeshare of your flat in Paris. Yawn." Magnus scoffed and rolled his eyes.
Clary glanced at Everest discreetly. Everest knew what that look meant; it was time to play the twin speak game. "All right, enough with the warlock games," Clary began.
"Can you really wake our mother?" Everest finished.
"Not without the Book of the White." What? What's that?
"What is the Book of the White?" Jace sounded just as confused as Everest felt.
"It's an ancient book of warlock magic containing spells more powerful than most warlocks could ever imagine," Magnus explained.
"So it's like having the entire Hogwarts library in one book, but for warlocks?" Everest smiled when the warlocks nodded in agreement and Jace looked even more confused.
"I possessed the book when your mother came to me, and I used its contents to create the potion. Regrettably, I no longer have the book. I asked Jocelyn to hide it so that Valentine might never find it." Ragnor spoke quickly and Everest had a hard time keeping up with his words.
She moved away from the others and towards the painting that Ragnor had been fished out of. She looked up as heavy footsteps passed her and saw the green skinned man passing her.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" he asked without missing a beat.
"Huh?"
"You're looking at me like I have green skin," he joked.
Everest blinked. "But you do."
Ragnor turned to her with wide eyes. He glanced down at himself then muttered something she didn't catch. "What about now?"
"You've still got green skin," she said slowly. "Why? Is that a problem?"
"Magnus!" Ragnor called. The man hurried over. "Is my skin green?"
Magnus's brows furrowed. "No, you're glamor is still up. Why?"
"Everest can see my warlock mark." Ragnor turned to the girl again as Magnus stared incredulously. "Is there anything different about me that you can see? Anything...not human?"
She frowned. "Your hair's white, but that's not that weird, and you have horns and your fingers look like they have an extra joint. Why? Should I not be able to see that?"
The warlocks stared at her like she had told them the sky was purple and made of hedgehogs. (For some reason she had a feeling that someone had said that before and she was stealing their line, but she resolved to apologize for it later, though she didn't know who she'd be apologizing to.)
There was a scream and Everest looked up to see Ragnor falling from the staircase. When had he gotten up there? Wasn't he just right next to her? Magnus, Clary, Jace, and Everest ran for him and a demon exploded into nothing.
Magnus cradled Ragnor's head in his lap. There was a large wound on his neck and Everest didn't think he would make it. "Creature took me by surprise," he gasped.
"How could a Shax demon get past Ragnor's wards?" Clary demanded.
"It must have followed us. Jumped through when the firewall reset."
Magnus's hands glowed that familiar blue hue as he tried to heal Ragnor's wounds. "Be still, my dear cabbage. Your wounds are deep. Hold on, please." The warlock's hand fell from Magnus's cheek as he took his final breath. "No."
Everest kneeled beside Magnus, a hand on his back, as he tried not to cry. "For centuries, this man knew me better than anyone," he said softly, staring down at Ragnor's still face.
"I'm so, so sorry Magnus," Everest whispered while Clary and Jace argued about what to do next.
He gave her a poor attempt at a smile. "Thank you Cupcake." Magnus snapped his finger and a purple Portal appeared behind them. "Get back to the Institute. I'll transport everything back to my place and find what you need. Now leave me to take care of my friend."
"Magnus I am—"
"Go!"
Jace pulled Everest through the Portal as she gazed at Magnus, resolving to get him a very large, very soft, and very green blanket sometime soon.