Distractions - Chapter 22: Chapter 22

The three walked into the Institute hand in hand, each with happy—if somewhat mischievous—looks on their faces. Everest was fighting the urge to jump around and squeal like a fool in her elation, but she wasn't sure it was working because Alec and Magnus looked amused and several of the Shadowhunters in the Ops Center were looking at her like she was a zoo exhibit. But as much she hated being looked at like she was a zoo animal, her elation mostly overshadowed the uncomfortable feeling of being watched.
"You're very bouncy," Magnus mused quietly as they made their way to Clary and Jace.
"I'm happy," Everest replied. "I bounce when I'm happy."
"Good to know."
"Everest!"
The purple haired girl was pulled away from Alec and Magnus and into a tight embrace by her sister. Everest chuckled and patted Clary's back, silently asking to be let go of when she began to lose the ability to breath. Jace pulled her into a short hug when she was released and Jace flipped Izzy off and Everest stuck her tongue out at her when she took a picture as she passed. Izzy only laughed.
Alec cleared his throat, "Right, Magnus said he found something."
They were in a room just off the Ops Center that opened into a private training room. Magnus snapped his fingers and as blue fire swept over a table, items of all shapes, sizes, and categories appeared on the table. Clary caught Everest's arm when she tried to touch a very aesthetic-looking dagger.
"No touching, Ev," she said quietly. Everest stuck her tongue out.
"I pulled every item of magical importance from Ragnor's belongings. But I can't determine which will lead to the Book of the White," Magnus explained.
The others began to examine the items and Everest shot Clary a small glare. "Hypocrite," she muttered, watching Clary pick up a bookmark.
"Wait, this bookmark." Clary held the bookmark for everyone to see. "I've seen it before. In the alternate dimension you showed me a book of spells and this was in it, right Everest? It must have been the Book of the White."
"Yeah, I wouldn't know." Everest shrugged. "I wasn't exactly part of that conversation. I was more focused on playing a woodturning game instead of whatever you were saying. Oh, and petting the cat."
"The cat you tried to take?" Clary raised an eyebrow.
"Church was a very nice cat!" Everest protested.
Magnus blinked and shook his head. He muttered, "Church isn't a nice cat, where'd you get that idea from?" before getting them back on track.
"If that's the case, we can use the bookmark to track the owner of the book," Alec said.
Jace shrugged. "Okay." He went to take the bookmark but Magnus stopped him.
"Warlock tracking is stronger."
Magnus closed his eyes and a faint blue glow encased the bookmark. When Magnus opened his eyes he looked like he regretted ever getting involved. "Well there's good news and bad news. The good news is I know the owner. The bad? It's Camille."
"Camille?"
"Looks like Raphael has her locked up in the basement of the Hotel DuMort."
Everest clapped slowly. "Phae one, Ms. Kidnapper zero." Clary laughed and the others smiled.
"Well, after I punched her, there's no way she'll help me," Clary sighed.
"You punched Camille Belcourt?!" Everest clapped loudly. "Damn Ritz, you're not a wimp anymore." Clary playfully shoved her into Alec who wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
"She won't have a choice, trust me." Jace gave Clary a look full of poorly hidden longing before leaving the room with a huff. Clary followed after him a moment later.
"Has nobody noticed our shirts?" Everest asked, watching Magnus banish everything except the bookmark back to his apartment.
"I don't think so."
"They better notice soon. It took a lot of effort to get them perfect," Magnus grumbled.
"They're amazing," Alec assured the sparkly man. Magnus smiled and pecked Alec on the lips. "Now let's go face the music."
...
"I'm so glad we got away from that crowd and all those people. So intense," Alec said, pacing the room slightly having returned from getting a few protein bars from the kitchen.
Magnus smiled. "I have to hand it to you Alexander. You certainly know how to make a statement."
"You both know how to make a statement," Everest said earnestly, recalling the numerous texts she had gotten in the last hour and a half from Brad, Jay, and Harper of them freaking out and fanning over the three of them and their confessions.
Footsteps echoed through the room and the three looked over to see the Lightwood parents approaching. Magnus sighed and leaned back, allowing Alec to face his parents. An annoyed look settled on Everest's face when she saw the expressions on Maryse and Robert's faces. Maryse's eyes were alight with an angry fire and her mouth was set in a firm scowl, Robert's expression full of disappointment and sadness.
"What have you done, Alec? To us? To this family?" Maryse seethed.
Alec responded without hesitation, "This isn't about you."
"Of course it is. You are either being selfish or naive. This wedding was your plan from the start." Was it? Or was it a plan you two came up with and forced onto Alec in a way that he thought that it was his idea? "And now you have humiliated us in front of the most respected members of the Clave." Maryse scoffed. "I don't even recognize you anymore."
Everest's fists clenched as she glared at the floor. Who did she think she was, thinking that this was about her? Was her pride really more important to her than her son's happiness? Did she really care so little that she blames Alec for doing what makes him happy, for being true to himself? Was she so out of touch with the world and society that she thought being anything but straight was selfish and naive? Everest was going to punch that woman given the chance and another reason.
Magnus seemed to realize that as he unclenched her fist and gripped her hand tightly, grounding her to reality and keeping her thoughts from controlling her actions, stopping her from punching Maryse Lightwood. That wouldn't end well for anyone.
"I'm the same person I've always been. Now everything's just out in the open."
Maryse's gaze landed on Magnus and Everest. "And all this for a Downworlder."
'So she doesn't know about me,' Everest mused. 'Wonder if she'll have a stroke when she finds out.'
Maryse turned on her heel and walked away, each step echoing in the quiet room.
"Just give her time," Robert said, standing in front of Alec. Everest and Magnus were still standing awkwardly in the corner.
"And you?"
'Oh this man better be at least a little accepting,' Everest snarled in her head. 'Otherwise someone will get punched.'
Robert looked at Alec with just enough care that Everest gained the smallest bit of hope. "I don't really understand this. But I suppose our world is changing. How long has this been going on? Are you two in love?'
Magnus's eyebrows raised at the question and Everest had to assume that she looked like a cartoon character who had just been scared half to death when she had to focus to make her face go back to a somewhat normal expression. Her heartbeat was oddly loud and she hoped that no one else could hear it. That was such a loaded question with no right way to react to it. 'Damn Robert, way to ask the big questions.'
Alec began to sputter and even Everest, who worked with kids a lot and had become somewhat proficient at deciphering sputtering, couldn't make total sense of what he was saying. 'He's going to crash and burn,' she thought with a sigh.
Thankfully Magnus seemed to realize the same thing and walked up to stand beside Alec. Since he was still holding Everest's hand she was pulled along with him, though she wasn't complaining much.
"It's all very new," Magnus said, saving Alec and hopefully ending the conversation.
Robert nodded slowly, his raised eyebrows falling back into place before furrowing as he looked at Everest and Magnus's entwined hands, and then at the hand Magnus had placed on Alec's shoulder. He shook his head before giving Alec a smile that was closer to a grimace than anything else.
"Right. I better go check on Mom."
All three of them watched Robert walk away. Alec exhaled slowly, Everest rocked back and forth on her heels, and Magnus blinked rapidly before turning to Alec and Everest.
"You know what I just realized? We still haven't gone on our first date yet. Any of us."
Everest hummed in acknowledgement as a smile formed and began going through possible scenarios of how, when, and where the three of them could go on a date.
"Yeah, you're right." Alec smiled and his entire posture changed. Where he had been tense and nervous he was now happy and relaxed. "How about...how about we go for a drink sometime?"
"I'd love that," Magnus said happily.
Everest didn't really drink, but if they went to a bar rather than a club she'd be content so long as she was with the two in front of her. "That'd be fun," she said after a moment of thought.
"Great." Alec smiled even broader and Everest couldn't stop the widening of her own smile even if she wanted to.
...
"This is going to go up in flames," Everest whispered to Magnus as they waited in the hallways while their boyfriend talked to his parents.
"Have a little faith."
"...embarrassed all of us...."
She looked up at her boyfriend with raised eyebrows. "Are you really telling me that you don't think this will go up in flames?"
He shrugged and motioned for her to keep listening.
"Then what's the problem?" she heard Alec demand.
"That you chose Magnus Bane!" Maryse exclaimed.
Alec muttered something she didn't fully catch but Everest did hear the outraged gasp from Maryse and the sigh from Robert.
"The Fairchild girl too?" Maryse huffed angrily.
"Maybe I don't have that much faith," Magnus whispered. Everest snorted softly.
"...there's so much you don't know about them," Robert said.
"Well, then I plan to get to know them. And if you have a problem with that, then I suggest you deal with it. Now I have to find Lydia."
Everest and Magnus backed up so it wasn't so obvious that they had been eavesdropping (even though they already knew that Alec knew they were eavesdropping) and waited for Alec to enter the hallway. They fell into step beside him as they headed towards the offices.
"On a scale of one to ten, how terrible was it?" Everest asked.
"Off the charts." They both sucked in a breath. "Yeah, I've never seen them so angry."
"Just give them some time," Magnus advised.
"You're immortal, time is on your side," Alec told him, stopping to lean against the wall outside of the main office. "After what I did, I don't think they'll ever forgive me."
"Don't underestimate a parent's love."
Everest looked up at Alec, doing her best to hide the worry in her eyes. "You don't regret it, do you?"
"Everything happened so fast, I didn't have time to think. I just wanna make sure Lydia's okay. I owe her so much." That didn't really answer Everest's question, but it'd have to do for now.
"We owe her," Magnus corrected. "What she did was nothing short of heroic."
"I should probably apologize to her for shooting her. I don't think I did that yet," Everest said, thinking out loud.
"Can I have that story later?" Everest nodded. "With that wonderfully vague statement out of the way, how about we take things slow?"
"Why don't we start with that date?" Everest suggested.
"Yeah, let's do that," Alec agreed, opening the door to the office Lydia was in. "Lydia!"
They all crouched by the unconscious blonde in worry. Magnus felt for her pulse and nodded. It was like someone rid the room of a smothering fog as it was confirmed that she was alive.
Alec ran his stele over her healing rune and turned to Magnus and Everest. "Go get help."
They ran off, Magnus to the left and Everest to the right. She nearly crashed into the Lightwood parents when she turned the corner.
"Lydia needs help!" she rushed out. "She's in the main office, hurry!"
They ran off and Everest continued to look for another person, hopefully one of her friends. Thankfully, luck was on her side that night and she found Jace leaving the bedroom hall.
"Lydia's hurt."
"Where is she?" he demanded.
"Main office."
He ran off and Everest allowed herself to breath for a moment before returning to the main office. By the Angel, she needed to get some stamina. 'I sound like Izzy,' she thought. She wasn't sure if it was a good or a bad thing.
...
"How's Lydia?" Jace asked as Alec joined him, Izzy, Clary, and Everest at the monitors.
"Better. Magnus is doing what he can to help her, but it's bad. And the Cup is definitely missing." Alec sighed. Everest grabbed his hand and he gave her a small smile.
"I'll apologize for shooting her later then," she said.
"You did what?" Jace looked like he couldn't decide between being bewildered or impressed.
"When she first got here, she wanted to test us and so she was glamoured to look like Valentine and I shot her," Everest explained. Izzy and Clary smiled a little.
"Hodge is missing too," Jace said, bringing them back to the conversation.
"Maybe he was attacked too." Izzy looked nervous as she pulled up the security footage and Everest couldn't blame her. This footage could destroy whatever idea they had of Hodge or anyone in the Institute once they watched it.
"Maybe he's the one who attacked her," Clary said gently, leaning forward to get a better look at the screen.
"Hodge? No way. We've known him our entire lives. He would never do that to us," Izzy protested.
The footage fast-forwarded until it showed Lydia putting the Cup in the office and Hodge coming in behind her. The five watched as Hodge attacked Lydia, taking the Cup and leaving the room without so much as a glance back at the unconscious blonde.
"I led him right to the cup," Jace said, horrified.
"We treated him like family. How could he do this to us?" Alec's grip on Everest's hand tightened, but she hardly noticed. She was too busy trying to figure out Hodge's motives. It wasn't going well.
Izzy pulled up another clip, this one minutes after the last, and they watched in tense silence as Hodge stood over Everest, Clary, and Jace's mom. He twisted a ring on his hand and turned to someone the camera couldn't see.
"That's how. What's that ring?" Clary asked. Nobody answered.
"Looks like he's talking to someone," Izzy noted.
The man lifted the Cup to whoever he was talking to.
"And I can bet who it is," snarled Jace.
"It's Valentine," Everest breathed out. "He's talking to Valentine."
"Well, that explains how he deactivated the Punishment rune, but it doesn't explain where he got the ring."
"Did someone smuggle it past the wards?" Clary asked.
"Maybe. Hodge wasn't the only ex-Circle member around here." Alec exhaled slowly at the mention of his parents' pasts and Everest leaned closer, trying to comfort him.
Izzy turned to look at Jace. "Look, I know I don't always see eye to eye with my parents, but I know they're not traitors."
Jace glared slightly. "Really, isn't that what you just said about Hodge?" Izzy looked away. "It'd have to be someone we trusted, but if there was an intruder inside the Institute, we'd have found them by now."
"Not necessarily," Everest interjected. "There's been a lot of people coming in and out of the Institute recently."
"What about the Forsaken attack?" Clary suggested, distracting the others from her sister's suggestion. It was probably for the best, it wouldn't help anything for everyone to be panicking about someone betraying the Institute and being gone.
"No." Alec shook his head. "We killed that thing and I didn't see a ring."
"It didn't have one in the autopsy, but maybe there's something in the footage."
Izzy pulled up the footage from the attack; it seemed like a lifetime ago that it had happened, but it had only been five days. They watched as Hodge took a ring from the Forsaken's hand and Everest facepalmed.
"So it wasn't a random attack," huffed Clary.
"It was playing delivery boy," scoffed the purple haired girl.
Alec was still staring at the screen in shock. "If he gives that Cup to Valentine, he'll create an army of Shadowhunters. With that kind of power behind him, he'll kill thousands."
"He'll kill thousands just creating the army. Most mundanes won't survive that." Izzy sighed.
"We won't let that happen," Clary said, shaking her head.
"I'll make sure of it." Jace stalked away and the rest could only watch him.
...
"Are you sure you're alright with going after Jace like this?" Everest could hear Izzy pacing over the phone. "You know the werewolves are out looking for him, right?"
"Yeah, but I'm going to make sure Jace doesn't do anything too stupid or get himself killed or anything. The pack isn't going to do that, they'll just knock him out and drag him back somewhere. I'll be alright, I promise."
Izzy sighed. "Okay, I trust you. But you better be alright when you get back or by the Angel I will make you regret going back on that promise."
Everest laughed softly. "I'm sure you will Dusk. But really, I'll be fine. I'll finish tracking Jace's phone, get him back to the group, and it'll all be fine."
"I just got you back Sunny, I can't lose you again. Clary can't lose you again, Alec and Magnus can't lose you. Don't think I didn't see your shirts."
Everest smiled. "I was waiting for someone to say something. But, how'd you find out about what Clary calls losing me?"
"She told me about it when you were kidnapped by Vampires."
"Oh." Everest grimaced. "Well, none of you are losing me or Jace."
"Good. Be safe please."
"I will. Bye Dusk, love you."
"Love you Sunny, bye."
Everest's shoulders slumped in defeat as the dot representing Jace's phone got further away. As she went to put her phone in her pocket (and oh how she was glad that she had gotten a custom made jacket because women's clothes don't have pockets and pockets were a necessity) her phone rang again. Her expression brightened slightly when she saw it was Roslyn. She hadn't spoken to her in a while.
"Hey Lyn, what's up?"
"Hey Glitz, there's something I need to tell you."
Everest's expression fell past what it had fallen to earlier. Nothing good ever followed those words. "What's wrong?"
There was a pause. "You remember me telling you about my parents and the way I was raised?"
"Yeah..." She frowned. "Didn't you run and move here to get away from them?"
"Yes, but—" Roslyn cut herself off.
"But what?" Everest pressed.
"They found me, Everest. They found me and now I have to run."
Everest exclaimed, "What about your family, Gino, me?"
"I don't want to leave, I really don't, but I have to. For your safety, for Gino's, for my family's."
Everything bad that had happened in the last few days burst from the box of negativities Everest kept in the back of her mind and forced their way into her words, making them harsh and angry. "This is ridiculous! Not only has my world been flipped upside down, now you're telling me that you're leaving me?" She scoffed. "Of course, because why not make my life even harder than it is already by making me lose another person to this hellish world?"
She knew her words were harsh, but she couldn't take them back once she said them. Roslyn gasped. "Everest, I—"
"Save it. Just go. Everyone does, don't make this harder than it already is."
"I'm sorry."
"I know you are, but that doesn't change the fact that you're leaving. Goodbye Roslyn."
"Everest—"
She ended the call with a heavy heart and stinging eyes. Roslyn was leaving and there was nothing she could do about it. Everest understood the reason she was leaving, understood that she didn't want her birth parents to taint the life she had built for herself in New York, but that didn't mean she liked it.
Everest swiped away the stray tears that had fallen and checked her phone. Good, Jace was still heading to the docks. She'd catch up with him, bring him back to the others, and then they'd all get the Book of the White, and things would fall into place from there. Everest should have known it wouldn't go that smoothly, should have known it from the moment she had to go back to the Institute to get her second gun and more ammo after getting separated from the others going to the Hotel DuMort.
"Jace!" Everest shouted as she ran towards the blonde.
"Everest? What are you doing here?" Jace gripped her upper arms tightly as he gave her a disbelieving stare. "How did you find me?"
"I tracked your phone, growing up with a cop as an uncle helps a lot sometimes. Where are you going?" There was blood on his jacket, but she didn't think it was his; he wasn't injured from what Everest could tell.
"To the others, they're in danger. Valentine's coming for them."
Everest had to jog to keep up with Jace's quick steps. "Shit. This day was starting to go uphill and then this happened. Damn it."
"Pick up, come on. Pick up, damn it." Jace huffed angrily when his phone went to Clary's very cheerful voicemail. "Clary, call me as soon as you get this."
He slammed his phone into his pocket and began to run. "We have to hurry, Everest!"
"No shit!"
...
"Jace? Are you okay? Did Everest find you?" Everest nodded gratefully when Jace put his phone on speaker so Everest could hear the conversation too.
"I found him, Ritz. We're both okay."
"Where are you?" Jace demanded.
"Camille's apartment."
"Address Clary." Everest rolled her eyes but had to admit that she would have answered in the same way as her sister.
"Upper East Side, Alucard building, 13th floor," Clary elaborated.
"You're in danger, Valentine's probably already on his way. You need to get out, now."
Jace led Everest in the direction of Camille's apartment, grip tight on her wrist and steps fast enough that she was stumbling every other step as she tried to keep up.
"We are so close to finding the Book of the White, I'm not leaving without it," Clary protested.
"Clary, I don't know exactly what's happening, but Jace looks like he's gonna have a stroke if you guys don't get out of there now," Everest yelled, narrowly avoiding getting run over by an old guy on a bike.
"Jace said it himself, we need to stay on mission." Clary hung up on them and both Jace and Everest swore.
"We're so dead!" Everest yelped as Jace pulled her out of the way of the semi truck.
"Don't say that! And stop almost getting run over!"
"I can't help it that people don't see the running girl with purple hair who's LITERALLY INVISIBLE!"
"Stop shouting!"
"You stop shouting!"
"Ugh, you're impossible."
"Says the stereotypical blonde self-sacrificing idiot," she shot back. Jace rolled his eyes and motioned for her to be quiet as they approached Camille's apartment.
Jace and Everest ran into the room, Jace with a glowing seraph blade and Everest with her gun, only to find Izzy and Simon on the ground and Valentine standing over them with a sword.
"NO!" Everest wasn't sure who screamed, it might have been her, or Jace, or both of them, but it distracted Valentine long enough for Simon and Izzy to get off the ground. Only for them to be grabbed and held at blade point by Circle members. Because what else would have happened? Them be alright and able to fight Valentine? Not in this world.
"This time you're not getting away," Jace snarled, approaching the bald man.
"Finally ready to kill your own father?" Valentine taunted, beady eyes flickering between Jace and Everest.
"You abandoned me."
"I was protecting you. You weren't ready then, but you've grown. You've become the warrior I trained you to be," Valentine said. His voice made Everest sick.
"You trained me well."
"And yet, I still have so much to teach you." Ah, the classic villainous father line from every movie and book ever made. "I brought you here for a reason."
Jace sneered and took a step closer, Everest half a second behind him. Valentine stopped them. "Look, fight me, and watch your friends die."
A door opened and Everest watched with horror as Alec and Magnus were brought into the room. Her eyes stung and her heart felt as if it were being tugged in half a dozen directions when she couldn't do anything to help.
"See, you are strong, but they make you weak," Valentine continued, seeing the worried looks Jace and Everest were giving their friends. "They make you even weaker, Everest."
"Let us go!" Clary shouted. "You can have the book. We won't be able to stop you without it!"
Valentine smiled. It was full of satisfaction and pride; it made Everest want to vomit. "Ah, Clarissa. So like your mother. Willing to do anything for those that you love. I'm touched but...the book was never part of my plan. I want you to wake up your mother. I know that you'll both join me eventually, as will your sister. It's fated."
Clary looked like someone had vomited all over her in Homeroom and she didn't have a change of clothes. Everest felt a very similar way. Valentine was too good at monologues for her not to feel sick. He let cards he had already played fall to the table, showing old hands to his audience while keeping his new hand and better cards to himself, ready to play his way out of any situation at a moment's notice.
Valentine turned back to Jace and Everest. "You ready?"
Everest looked at Jace, not knowing what to do. His expression stayed the same as he looked at their friends. Her gaze turned to them as well, even as she felt her heart come closer to shattering as she looked at them, inches away from having their throats slit. Jace lowered his seraph blade, and forcefully lowered her gun when she didn't move. It occurred to her then, just how out of place she probably looked with her mundane weapon and clothes that weren't at all meant for fighting.
"If I go with you," Jace began. The others gave him wild eyed looks, trying to get him to be quiet. "—promise me you won't hurt them."
"You have my word." There better not be a 'but.' "But only if Everest comes with us too." There it was.
Everest avoided looking at her friends, instead focusing on the details of Valentine's jacket. "They cannot be harmed in any way, shape, form, or capacity if I go with you," she said after a moment.
"You have my word," Valentine repeated.
"This is insane," Clary scoffed.
"I'm sorry, Clary," Jace said.
"What are you doing Jace? What are you thinking, Everest? You can't be serious! Valentine is wrong! You're not like him, neither of you! I'm not! You're not!" Clary's voice was thick and her green eyes were filled with tears.
"You don't know that, Clary," Jace said, voice a little rough.
"You're not like him!" Clary cried again.
"That's not what Mom said," Everest said, fighting against the tears in her eyes and lump in her throat.
"What are you talking about?"
"Mom always said I was too like our father for our own good," Everest explained, looking at the floor when the pain filled gazes of those around her became too much. "I'm really sorry, but I'm not letting you guys get hurt if I can stop it, any of you."
"Let them go," Valentine commanded.
Magnus, Alec, Simon, and Izzy were released, stumbling slightly at the lack of pressure holding them up. Simon ran to Clary and Izzy tried to go to Jace and Everest, but Jace held up his seraph blade again.
"Get back, get back!" He held up a hand in Alec and Magnus's direction. "Alec, I mean it."
"Everest, don't do this!" Izzy shouted. "You don't have to do this, you don't have to prove her wrong!"
Everest's teary eyes met Izzy's teary eyes and she held up her hand, tapping the ring with the engraved sun twice with a watery smile. Izzy returned the gesture, but she did not smile. "I'm not doing this to prove her wrong, Dusk, I'm doing this so that I don't lose anyone else today."
"And you say you're not a Gryffindor," Simon whispered.
Valentine grabbed Everest and Jace's arms, pulling them to the Portal that had appeared behind them.
"Jace, Everest. Jace! EVEREST!"
"Everest, no!"
"NO!"
"Everest, Jace!"
"Jace! Everest!"
Everest's heart shattered and her tears fell as she saw her friends and family's pain-filled expressions just before being pulled into the Portal. 'I'm so sorry,' she thought.
...
Everest stood beside Jace and Valentine on a platform above more people than Everest could count, each of them standing in uniform rows, not a single person out of place. Valentine held up the Mortal Cup as he began to speak.
"Join me, and my children! Pledge me your loyalty! Together, we can preserve our race and rid the world of the demons who plague it. You are the chosen ones. The new breed of Shadowhunters!"
Everest and Jace shared a look full of emotions and silent pleas that could not be put into words. Valentine looked over at them and they masked their emotions, returning their gazes to the people on the ship. They would talk later, but for now, they just had to survive long enough to figure out exactly what the hell they got themselves into.