Distractions - Chapter 45: Chapter 45

It was cold on Valentine's ship, and Everest couldn't stand it. She had found warm clothes in the closet of the room she had been told was hers. She had put a hoodie on over her sweater, but still the cold consumed her. Everest had huddled under all the blankets in the room for a few hours before deciding it wasn't helping and left in search of a coffee maker or even the stuff to make hot chocolate.
"How does a ship with this many people not have a coffee maker?" Everest grumbled. "There's not even a kettle."
"Check under the sink," said a low, amused voice. Everest whirled, expecting to see an adult who would haul her back to her room, but instead saw a boy around her age with dark blonde hair cropped close on the sides and a mop of messy curls resting atop his head. He was wearing jeans and a plain T-shirt which Everest thought was ridiculous seeing as it was so cold.
"What?" she asked, finally regaining the ability to form coherent words.
"I think there's a coffee maker under the sink," he repeated.
Everest's brows furrowed. She'd checked under the sink, at least she thought she had. She tugged at the poorly designed cabinet doors until they opened and low and behold, a tiny coffee maker sat among cleaning products.
"This wasn't here when I checked it," she scowled as she dusted the machine off. It was such a small coffee maker that it would only brew two cups at a time, but that was fine—given there was coffee to brew at least.
The boy leaned against the wall, watching as she climbed on the counters to reach the upper cabinets and search for coffee of any kind. Cabinet after cabinet she rifled through shelves of food and supplies, but there was no no coffee to be found.
"Check the cupboard above the fridge," the boy suggested. He still sounded amused.
She gave him a dubious look but climbed on top of the fridge to check. And there it was, her savior and source of life: coffee. Everest cheered and did a small victory dance that consisted solely of bouncing around and trying not to fall off the fridge. The boy chuckled and she turned to him, head tilted in confusion.
"Why'd you know where the coffee stuff was?" she demanded. She had been searching for ten minutes before he showed up and hadn't found a single trace of coffee or a coffee maker.
"Because I'm the one who put it there," he answered. He elaborated at her deadpan stare. "Valentine heard about how much you like coffee and sent me to get some."
"Who are you? Why'd he tell you to do that?"
Everest climbed down from the fridge and gathered her coffee supplies. Thankfully there were outlets on every wall in the kitchen so it didn't take her long to find one that was free. She was less than twenty minutes away from having coffee.
"I'm Cyprus Fallis," the boy said after a moment. Everest froze. Cyprus. That was the name of someone who used to be very dear to Roslyn. Fallis. That was Roslyn's parents' last name. It had to be a coincidence, right? No, that was too odd of a name combination to be a coincidence. Besides, when was anything in Everest's life a coincidence? "As for why he asked me to get coffee for you, well. He heard about your lack of functionality and your irritability when you don't have coffee and decided he didn't want to deal with that."
Everest was surprised when she laughed at his blunt words. She had had a horrible last few hours and as it had steadily declined, she had thought that laughing was going to be the last thing she would be doing. "That's fair. I'm Everest by the way."
"I know. The hair and desperate search for coffee kind of gave it away," Cyprus chuckled.
"I never would have thought," she said, sarcasm coloring her words.
"Fallis," said a cold voice from the doorway. Everest looked up from where she was sitting on the counter, watching the coffee maker eagerly. It was Valentine. Dressed in a navy long-sleeved shirt and jeans tighter than they needed be. Everest was pretty sure the nine year old she babysat a few years ago could fit into those jeans. "Everest, I didn't expect to see you in here."
His voice was kinder when he spoke to her, she didn't like it. "You should have. After all, you showed up before I could do my nightly coffee run and in case you hadn't noticed, I need coffee to function."
Valentine chuckled and Everest was pretty sure she saw a flash of fear in Cyprus's eyes—she didn't blame him. "You can go, Fallis," Valentine said in his usual cold tone.
Cyprus didn't waste a second getting out of the kitchen. Despite the high chance that he was who Everest thought he was, she was tempted to follow him to get out of whatever conversation she was about to have with Valentine.
"I'm sure you have questions, Everest," Valentine said, bringing out a myriad of ingredients and beginning to prepare them.
"That's one way of putting it," she muttered. She reached up to an open cupboard and grabbed a thermos for her coffee to go in. Everest felt Valentine's eyes on her as she twisted around on the counter, pouring her coffee, dumping the filter and grounds into the trash, and as she set up the coffee maker to brew more coffee.
"Well ask away," Valentine prompted.
"Why am I here?" was the first thing she blurted out.
"You are my daughter, why wouldn't you be here?"
"Because I have a life and I prefer not to associate myself with lying, cheating, assholes," she snapped.
Valentine looked sad. "That's how you see me?" She didn't say anything. "I'm sorry you feel that way, Everest."
Everest shook her head. She tried to grasp onto thoughts and memories long enough to form a question. She could only come up with one. "Why?"
"Why what?" Valentine didn't look at her as he started water to boil and began to make what looked like pasta sauce.
Why what indeed. There were so many things she wanted to know why he did them. Why he was trying to create an army of Shadowhunters, why he did the crazy things he did, why he didn't care enough about his relationship with her mom to not destroy himself, why he did the experiments he did. There were so many questions that started with why.
"Why did you do those experiments on yourself?" she asked at last.
"I wanted to make the perfect warrior," he said. "And it wasn't just on myself."
Everest didn't think she was supposed to hear that last part, he had lowered his voice and mumbled his words slightly. "Who else did you experiment on?" she demanded.
He looked up at her, though he didn't seem surprised that she had heard him. "A few. I'll show you." He grabbed her arm before she could stop him and drew a rune on the back of her hand.
Everest's vision faded and she was lost in a spiraling feeling of nothing. Until she wasn't, Her vision returned full force and was filled with the image of Valentine injecting a suspiciously gold liquid into her mother's very pregnant belly, and then into her food, before finally she saw Valentine holding a baby girl with pale strawberry blonde hair and bright jade eyes. He was feeding her a bottle tinted gold and then footsteps approached. Just before the vision or memory or whatever it was faded, Everest saw Valentine run his stele over a glamor rune and change into a short man with mousy brown hair and dark brown eyes—the same appearance Everest's babysitter had until he had quit when she was six.
She gasped and scrambled backwards on the counter until her back hit the fridge. The cold feeling that washed over her constantly grew colder; she hadn't thought that was possible.
"What did you do?" Valentine stayed silent. "What did you do!"
Valentine didn't answer as the door to the kitchen opened and Jace was hauled in by the guards. He looked hesitant as Valentine stirred the sauce he was making and tasted it.
"Hmm, needs pecorino." Valentine turned to Jace, who was watching Everest worriedly. "Do you remember your fifth birthday? And I made you a spaghetti bath? You loved it."
Amusement made the panic on Everest's face lessen. "Spaghetti bath?"
Jace shook his head. "Long story. Michael Wayland used to make me spaghetti and a spaghetti bath."
Valentine sighed. "Just try some."
"You really think I want to have a meal with you?" Jace scoffed.
His gaze landed on something, Everest didn't know exactly what, but then he moved quickly. Jace grabbed something and threw it at Valentine, but the man dodged it. There was a thud and Everest's head whipped to the left. A knife was buried in the wall beside her head.
"Jace!" she yelled, the panic and anger from before not allowing her to lower her voice.
"Didn't I teach you not to play with knives?" Valentine chided. "Look, I know that head of yours is full of questions. So, go ahead. Don't be shy."
Jace didn't answer until he had moved to stand beside Everest, who was distracting herself by pouring the new pot of coffee into her thermos and adding sugar and milk—there was no creamer. He gave her a worried look as he rested a hand on her shoulder in an attempt at comforting her.
"Why did you fake your death and pretend to be Michael Wayland?" That was a better question than the ones she had asked.
"To protect you from my enemies. As Michael Wayland, I knew you'd be safe," Valentine answered without pause.
Jace scoffed, "Safe? You made me an orphan. I spent my entire life mourning a father I thought died in front of my eyes."
"Well, it made you stronger, didn't it?" Everest gaped. That wasn't how that was supposed to work! That wasn't how it worked at all! You didn't pretend to die just to make your kid stronger!
"No, the Lightwoods made me strong. They took me in, they trained me. If anyone's my parents, they are."
Everest grabbed Jace's hand to keep him from doing something stupid as Valentine spoke again, "I had no choice, Jonathan. My enemies were closing in. I sent you to a place I knew you'd be cared for."
"Father of the year," Everest drawled.
"We had ten years together, and sure, I may have been hard on you, but it's because I loved you, son."
Everest laughed without humor. "That's the same excuse my friend's parents gave when she asked why they beat her."
"No, no, all you've ever done is lie to me. You told me I never had a mother," Jace said, his voice raising slightly.
"What did you want me to say? That I saved you after your mother deserted you?" Everest didn't like where this was going. "She left you to die in Idris!"
"Why would she do that?" Jace asked at the same time as Everest.
"Because you're different. You're special. Look, I know that you've always felt more powerful than everyone else around you. That's because you are." Valentine grabbed Jace's arm and drew the same rune he had on Everest and his eyes turned completely white. Had her eyes done that? Everest leaned over, ready to catch Jace if he fell, but he didn't.
Jace was breathing heavily as his eyes went back to normal. "You experimented on me?" Jace sounded so defeated, it made Everest's heart ache.
"You messed with him too!?" Everest all but screamed. Jace whirled to face her.
"What do you mean, me too? Who else did he experiment on?" She didn't say anything as she glared at Valentine. "Everest, who did he experiment on?"
"Me." Jace inhaled sharply. "He experimented on me before I was born and then afterwards too."
"How? I thought Jocelyn left him before you were born?"
"He pretended to be my fucking babysitter," she snapped.
"I didn't pretend to be your babysitter, Everest," Valentine said, sounding either bored or tired.
"Shut up," Everest snapped. Valentine raised an eyebrow, but she didn't apologize.
"Why?" Jace demanded. "Why did you experiment on us?"
"I made you two stronger, faster, more lethal than any other Shadowhunter. At least, Everest will be with the proper training."
"Why?" Everest pushed. That was another why question. She didn't like those questions.
"To create two perfect weapons, one the ideal marriage of good and bad, the other with more good than normal. A Shadowhunter with pure angel blood, and a Shadowhunter with pure demon blood."
...
Everest leaned against the wall, watching Valentine instruct the mass of people. Her arms were wrapped around her in a feeble attempt to block out the relentless chill, the scalding coffee she sipped did just as little. She looked up as Jace approached. He didn't say anything at first, just standing beside her and watching the training.
"Why'd you come with me through the Portal, Everest?" he asked after a while.
"In case you hadn't noticed, I was kinda pulled along with you," she deadpanned.
He rolled his eyes. "Why didn't you try to escape?"
"Because if I didn't stay with you, you'd do something really really stupid."
"But you have things to live for, people to live for." He met her gaze but she looked away, the emotions in his eyes making eye contact even more uncomfortable than usual. "People like Izzy, Clary, Simon. People like Magnus and Alec. And yes, I saw your shirts."
She tapped her thigh as her gaze swept the deck, not truly seeing anything. "I do, but you have people to live for too. People like Alec, Izzy, Max, Clary...me."
Jace's lips quirked and he rested his arm on her shoulders. "I do. But I also need answers." He gave her a look. "You didn't answer the question. Why'd you come with me and stay?"
She leaned into his shoulder and pulled a bag of Skittles from her pocket. She pulled a second one out too, this one had only purple Skittles, and handed it to Jace. He gave her a small smile, but she knew she hadn't managed to change the subject. "Because you're not the only one who needs answers." Everest sighed and forcefully relaxed her shoulders. "Weird things happen around me, Jace, things that are weird even for the ShadowWorld. Valentine's the one who experimented on me, on us, he's the one who should have the answers."
"Valentine lies, Purple."
She sighed again. "I know that. You know it, everyone knows it. But he also has access to things that can get me answers. And I want answers so bad, Jace. I need answers, otherwise—"
"You're what?" She watched his gaze fill with more concern. "You're what, Everest?" he insisted.
She swallowed and looked away from the boy, away from her brother. "I'm scared. Scared that if I don't really know what about me is different, I won't know how to deal with it and control it, that I'll hurt someone because I don't know how to deal with it. All I know is that Valentine experimented on me for years, I don't know how to control what those experiments did."
It was silent for a moment. Jace's arm tightened around her and she could feel the stiffness in his body as he pulled her in front of him and wrapped his arms around her.
"I won't let that happen. I promise," he whispered, resting his chin on her head.
"I'm sure you do," she whispered back. She knew that he couldn't control it when she made people do things or changed the world around her because she wanted something to happen. Everest knew that Jace couldn't stop wishes she made from backfiring, like it had when she wished for a normal life with everyone she knew from the ShadowWorld, she didn't think he even knew what she meant when she said weird things happened around her. She was pretty sure he was only saying what he said to make her feel better, and maybe to make himself feel better too.
"C'mon," she said softly. "I think Valentine is trying to summon us over to him by staring at us creepily."
Jace's nose crinkled, but as he and Everest walked over to Valentine, Jace moved so that he only had one arm around her shoulders since it was rather hard to walk how they had been standing previously. However, once they were beside Valentine he wrapped his arms around her again in both an attempt to comfort her and to be sure that she wouldn't disappear in any way.
"Impressive, aren't they?" Valentine mused. "But they still don't have the inherent gifts you two have. You took to a seraph blade like a baby to a bottle." He looked at Everest, a small smirk on his face. "I don't know how trained you are, Everest, but if your aim with a mundane weapon is anything to go by, you're quite good, though you'd be better with Shadowhunter weapons."
'Too soon asshole,' Everest thought moodily.
"I'm not giving up my guns," she said forcefully. "Not for you, not for my family, not for anyone."
He looked almost proud at her not giving in to the obvious goading.
"I'm not expecting you to. But you should know how to use Shadowhunter weapons too."
Everest turned in Jace's arms so that she was facing Valentine, her already thin patience growing closer to breaking. "I can use a blade," she snapped.
Jace pulled her further away from their father before she shot him or did something that was equally a bad idea.
"What kind of father experiments on his children?" he spat.
"A father with perspective. We all want the same thing. To save this world from demons."
That wasn't exactly what Everest wanted. What Everest wanted was for her and Jace to go home, for Jace to not be biologically related to her and Clary so Clace could happen, to be with her boyfriends and Parabatai-to-be and all her friends and family. She wanted her life to be the kind of calm that came from an average day in the ShadowWorld, not whatever the hell was happening now.
"The Clave fights demons," Jace retorted.
"The Clave has grown soft, protecting Downworlders with the Accords." And that was a bad thing? "All Downworlders, one day, will give in to their violent tendencies. It's unavoidable. Even a single drop of demon blood running through your veins makes you a threat to humanity."
"There are Downworlders who play by the rules and control their urges," Everest protested. She thought about Magnus, Luke, Gino, and Simon who all played by the rules of the ShadowWorld, even Simon who was new to being a vampire.
"Ah, you're thinking of Lucian Graymark, warlocks like Magnus Bane, and even...your sister's little vampire friend Simon?"
"He's my friend too!" Everest exclaimed. She was ignored.
"No matter how good they try to be, Downworlders cannot control their demonic blood forever," Valentine said, not an ounce of doubt in his words. Everest hated it, hated what he was saying, who he was saying it about, hated how sure he sounded while he said it.
"If that blood is so evil, why did you put it in me?" Jace asked with a kind of calm anger that made Everest wish she had more Skittles. Skittles help with anger, at least for her.
"To fight fire with fire."
Valentine walked away from the siblings and, after sharing a bewildered look because Valentine had just walked away from them after saying that, they followed him. They stopped at the edge of the ship and Everest ducked out from under Jace's arm to lean against the edge.
"I wouldn't jump if I were you," Valentine advised.
Jace snorted. "Why? Because she's one of your ultimate weapons?"
Valentine met Everest's gaze, or at least tried to, she looked away, as he grabbed a man in chains who had been being dragged behind two guards. He shoved the man half over the edge but rather than just dangle over the edge of the rail, something began to burn his face. Everest shivered violently, and not just because of what she was witnessing but because it had gotten colder. Valentine shoved the man away from him, leaving the man's face half burnt and pain etched into his very being.
"What the fucker shit?" she shouted, almost dropping her coffee when the man was just left there.
"This warlock is infamous for crimes against mundanes. There's something else I want you to see." Everest shivered again as she followed Jace and Valentine away from the warlock with the burnt face.
...
Apparently when Valentine said he wanted to show them something, he didn't mean immediately, but rather in three hours when it got dark. Everest had wandered away from the man who claimed he was doing the right thing and pulled Jace into an empty training room.
"What are we doing here?" he asked, even as he grabbed a seraph blade and began to do some kind of training sequence.
"I'm bored, I don't have my writing stuff, and I was beat in a fight by a flight of stairs the other day. What else do we have to do?"
Jace smirked and tossed her a blade. "You said you could handle a blade earlier, let's see how right you were."
Everest switched the blade to her left hand, surprising Jace. "What? Never seen a leftie?"
"I thought you were right handed."
"Ambidextrous," she corrected, blocking a strike. "It's what happens when I get bored during the bus ride to a field trip."
He rolled his eyes fondly and continued his flurry of attacks. Everest did her best to dodge or block them, but didn't try to attack him herself. "Don't just block, attack too," he told her.
"Fine then."
Everest did her best to recall the brief training Luke gave her on how to attack with a blade. She moved backwards and then to the right. As Jace moved forward, she kicked her foot out, causing him to stumble. She kicked his blade from his hand when he lowered it (and it was then that she was glad she did soccer for four years as a kid) and her sword was leveled at his throat.
Jace froze and stared down at the seraph blade as best he could and then he laughed. Everest moved the blade so that it wasn't in danger of killing Jace and grinned.
"You wanted me to attack you," she said innocently.
He nodded, still laughing a little. "Where'd you learn to do that?"
"Luke taught me the basics of using a blade and I did soccer for four years as a kid."
"You did good, you should be proud."
Everest smiled and playfully knocked Jace's shoulder when she passed him to take off her sweatshirt. It was getting too warm. Which, she supposed, was a good thing considering she had felt like she was dropped in the middle of a Polar Vortex in only shorts and a tank top before.
Jace showed her a training sequence to work on while he did his own in the far corner of the room by the training dummies. After a while, Everest began to hum some of her favorite songs from her playlist, eventually beginning to softly sing them.
"I'm starting to think it's fate that little Rosie found you," an amused voice said from the doorway. She whirled and saw Cyprus standing there. Jace's eyes flickered between Everest and Cyprus but he didn't make it obvious that he was eavesdropping in any other way.
Everest decided not to assume that 'Rosie' was Roslyn on the off chance that she was wrong and he wasn't that Cyprus Fallis. "What do you mean? Who's Rosie?"
Cyprus smirked. "You know Rosie as Roslyn Henry."
Trigger Warning starts here!
Everest stiffened. So he was that Cyprus Fallis, the one who fought so hard against Ashton and Violet Fallis teaching their daughter to be a killer like they had taught him. He was the one who protected his sister every time she was hurt or in danger, until he didn't. He was the one who became worse than his parents, worse than the monsters who taught Cyprus and Roslyn alongside their parents. He was the reason Roslyn left in the end, the reason she came to New York so hurt and broken.
"You're Cyprus Fallis, eldest child of the Fallis family, the first one to be taught the ways of death," she said after a moment. The boy's smirk grew.
"You sure know a lot about my family's business," he said, his voice no longer amused but cold instead.
"And you sure know a lot about being a backstabbing asshole," she shot back.
"Watch your tone, Morgenstern," Cyprus snarled, stalking towards her. "You may know a little of how children in my family are raised, but you don't know jack shit about this world. You don't know what you're messing with, you don't know what happens when an assassin meets a Shadowhunter."
Trigger warning ends!
"Are you threatening me?" She glared at the boy, allowing all of her hatred of Roslyn's birth family to taint her vision and words, poisoning them with an angry edge.
"I'm just warning you," he replied, words equally as poisoned.
"And I'm warning you to back away from my sister before I stab you," Jace replied with faux pleasantness laced with a deadly warning.
Cyprus backed away and left without another word, a glare set on Everest until he was out of sight. Jace turned to Everest with an incredulous expression.
"What the hell was that?" he exclaimed.
She sighed deeply. "That was Cyprus Fallis, Roslyn's brother. When Roslyn was little, she was raised to be an assassin who would kill for the highest bidder, her brother too. She got out when she was eleven. She was tired of it all and with the help of her grandma she escaped before the ceremony that would officially mark her as one of the Fallis Assassins."
Jace gaped at her, and after two minutes Everest was worried he was in shock. "You...have a fucked up friend group," he said at last.
She snorted. "That's one way of putting it. But at least we didn't grow up fighting demons."
Jace rolled his eyes. "I'm starting to think my childhood was better than yours."
Everest shrugged. "I think we're about equal in the bad childhood department, but sure."
"Valentine wants you two on the main deck," an emotionless voice interrupted. They turned to find the Circle member already walking away.
"Let's go, shall we?" Jace asked, dramatically bowing in an attempt to lighten the atmosphere that had been growing tense.
"Yes, let's go meet a psychopath for tea." Jace rolled his eyes again and she followed him out of the training room. 'This will be an interesting few hours,' Everest thought.