City of Ashes: Family Reunion

It hasn't been that long since Alec has been allowed to go out patrolling after the incident with Abbadon. He had really hoped it would be a cake run, but, Jace being Jace, of course it wasn't.

"Are you still mad?" Jace asks as they ride up in the cramped elevator. Alec is certain he's about 50% mud right now. The rest is made up of blood, pain, and annoyance.

"I'm not mad," Alec insists, though he knows he's glaring at Jace.

"Oh, yes you are." Jace made a gesture that was cut off with a cry of pain. They've both been through hell tonight.

"I am not," Alec says again, more firmly. "Just because you said dragon demons were extinct--"

"I said mostly extinct."

"Mostly extinct," Alec says, jabbing a finger in Jace's direction, "is NOT EXTINCT ENOUGH."

Jace looks entirely too pleased with himself. "I see. I'll just have them change the entry in the demonology textbook from 'almost extinct' to 'not extinct enough for Alec. He prefers his monsters really, really extinct.' Will that make you happy?"

"Boys, boys." Isabelle, looking unnaturally pristine and grinning at them both, checks her reflection in the elevator's mirrored wall. "Don't fight. All right, so it was a little more action than we were expecting, but I thought it was fun."

Of course she did. Alec shakes his head. "How do you manage never to get mud on you?"

"I'm pure at heart," Izzy says with a shrug. "It repels dirt."

Jace snorts and wiggles muddy fingers at her. "Filthy inside and out."

The elevator screeches to a halt and Izzy yanks open the protesting grate. "Time to get this thing fixed."

Despite his grumbling, Alec can't help thinking that it was good to get out again, after everything. After Clary and Valentine and the Mortal Cup, it was good to be out as a team again, as a family. He hums under his breath as he kicks off his boots.

Izzy unpins her hair, letting it fall down in sheets of black around her face. "Now I'm hungry I wish Mom were here to cooks something."

Mom and Dad have been in Alicante with Max for weeks now, and they've been subsisting on takeout and cereal for the most part. Especially with Hodge gone.

"Better that she isn't," Jace says as he takes off his weapons belt. "She'd already be shrieking about the rugs."

And I'd be hiding Magnus from one more person, Alec thinks, half a second before he hears, "You're right about that," from over his shoulder and turns to see Maryse Lightwood standing over them, arms crossed.

"Mom!" Izzy says, jumping up to hug her. Alec follows a little more slowly, trying to hide the trace of a limp he still has from Abbadon. "Where's Dad?" Izzy asks as she steps back. "And Max?"

Maryse pauses a half-second too long before saying, "Max is in his room. And your father is still in Alicante. There was some business there that required his attention."

She's curt and business-like as always, but something is off, so Alec asks, "Is something wrong?"

Maryse turns to him with a wry smile and a dry tone. "I could ask you that. Are you limping?"

Well, crap. "I..." Alec starts and is saved having to come up with a lie about his reckless behavior that day at Clary's apartment by Isabelle.

"We had a run-in with a Draconidae demon in the subway tunnels. But it was nothing."

"And I suppose that Greater Demon you fought last week was nothing too?"

Alec has nothing. He's easily the worst liar of the three of them. Izzy looks to Jace.

"That wasn't planned for," he says, and Alec looks between his mother and Jace. Maryse is looking at Jace strangely. Like he's not her son. Like he's an imposter. Or a threat. "It was a mistake--"

"Jace!" Max squeezes past Maryse, his slight frame making it easy for him to avoid her grasp as he bursts in between them, spinning to grin at all three. "I thought I heard the elevator."

"And I thought I told you to stay in your room," Maryse says.

"I don't remember that," Max says, and Alec has to smile. Max is so small for his age and so serious looking in his oversized glasses that everything he says always comes off as precocious and sincere. Alec ruffles Max's hair but Max, as ever, has eyes only for Jace.

Alec can sympathize.

"I heard you fought a Greater Demon," Max says, turning shining eyes up to Jace. "Was it awesome?"

There's always a pang of jealousy when Alec sees Max and Jace together. Max never bonded with him that way. He was always the serious older brother, left in charge when Robert and Maryse weren't around--which was a lot when Max was younger. Jace and Izzy got to be the fun ones. Alec is looking forward to when Max is old enough to patrol with them. Then maybe he'll see that Alec's not always a stick in the mud.

"It was...different," Jace says, and Alec can hear in his voice that his parabatai is trying to hedge. "How was Alicante?"

"It was awesome," Max says, his eyes bright and wide behind his glasses. "We saw the coolest stuff. There's this huge armory in Alicante and they took me to some of the places where they make weapons. They showed me a new way to make seraph blades too, so they last longer, and I'm going to try to get Hodge to show me--"

Alec glances up sharply and sees that Jace's gaze shot straight to Maryse. Has she not told Max about Hodge yet? Is he expecting to find their tutor still at the Institute? Looking to his mother, Alec sees her lips pursed into a thin line.

"That's enough, Max," she says, taking Max's arm.

"But I'm talking to Jace--"

"I can see that." She nudges Max toward Alec and Izzy. "Isabelle, Alec, take your brother to his room. Jace, get yourself cleaned up and meet me in the library as soon as you can."

Alec frowns. The way Maryse is looking at Jace--or rather, the way she isn't looking at him--makes Alec uneasy. "I don't get it. What's going on?"

"Is this about my father?" Jace asks, and Alec can feel the cold fear of those words through his parabatai bond.

"The library," Maryse says through clenched teeth. "We'll discuss the matter there."

"What happened while you were gone wasn't Jace's fault," Alec says, stepping forward. "We were all in on it. And Hodge said--"

"We'll discuss Hodge later as well." Alec can tell by his mother's tone that this is not a matter that is up for discussion.

"But, Mother," Izzy says, stepping forward with Alec, "if you're going to punish Jace, you should punish us as well. It would only be fair. We did exactly the same things."

Maryse pauses so long that Alec is certain she isn't going to answer. When she speaks, her voice has a weight to it that Alec has rarely heard from her. "No," she says. "You didn't."