"Simon!" I exclaim, running into his arms and giving him a chaste hug, "Man, you've missed a lot. I'm so glad you're okay though!"

"A lot? Like what?"

"Oh, you know, I'm a mundani, I have this weird sleeper curse that means I try to psychotically kill anyone who tries to so much as scare Clary and I'm truly mundane but also kinda not but I am and...you know what, it's a long story, Clary will have to fill you in."

"Yeah that's...a lot. Mundani?"

"Mundani" I nod, laughing

"Where is Clary?" Simon asks, "She's not alone, is she?"

"Nah, she and Alec are a bit behind me. I ran ahead"

"Alec's with her? Is that supposed to make me feel safe?"

"Honestly? Yeah...it probably should" I chuckle and he does too.

Suddenly a ribbon of orange hair flies past me and into Simon's arms.

"Simon" Clary breathes, "Oh, thanks for being here!"

"You guys shouldn't do this alone. You don't need to. It's not who we are"

"You are the bestest friend ever, you know that?"

"Yeah, I know that" Simon smiles but he looks pale...paler than usual and sick looking

"Are you okay?" I ask

"Me? Yeah, yeah! It's just a cold, not the end of the world"

"The world's been ending for a thousand years. You get used to it." Alec interjects, "Now, we need to move."

"The loft's just across the alley" I inform him, pointing in the direction of a wall.

"All right, well, we have to be careful. There are eyes all over this place and everybody in the Shadow World is looking for you two."

"I mean, I guarantee you no one's gonna find this short cut" Simon assures him, "I used to take it back in middle school to see them. You might know the Shadow World but trust me...I know Brooklyn."

Simon smirks and runs toward the wall, vaulting over it effortlessly.

That's new.

"Woah" I gape, chuckling, reminiscing on all the times he would flop over the wall on our way home from school everyday. Never had he done it so gracefully before, "Did he take up parkour or something?"

"I don't know" Clary laughs, following after him, "Are you coming?"

"Go on ahead...just stay in eye sight, please. Catch Simon up on my situation, I promised him you would."

"Always giving me the annoying chores" Clary sighs before disappearing over the wall, too.

"You go first, if someone comes up behind us, at least you'll be able to get safety. I can fight them off." Alec instructs

"With what, ambition?" I chuckle, working on pulling myself up onto the wall

"With my bow...can't you see it?" Alec frowns and I look at his back, squinting slightly, before I see the faint shimmering shape of his bow and arrow

"I can now" I murmur, "There's a new fact for Magnus - can only see through glamours when concentrating."

I drop from the wall and land unsteadily on my feet, wobbling on the stupid heels Izzy keeps lending me.

Note to self - grab some normal shoes.

Alec follows after me almost instantly, landing on his feet soundly, like a cat.

"For such a massive person, you move incredibly lightly" I laugh

"Shadowhunter" Alec says by way of explanation, a playful smile toying on his lips...but then he gets serious again, his face drawing closed, "About what happened at Magnus'..."

"You don't need to explain" I interrupt, shaking my head, "Clary was wrong to bring it up..."

"Yeah, she was, but, annoyingly, she made a pretty good point. We should talk about it."

"And what? No time like the present?" I question, "Your timing is appalling."

"Yeah, well, if I don't talk now..."

"You never will" I finish for him, "Okay, shoot, then."

"I don't know why that memory was of you. I don't know what I feel, or at least, I think I don't...but, clearly, some part of me does know how I feel."

"So...you're saying you love me?"

"No!" Alec rejects, "No? I don't...think so? Argh, I don't know!"

"There's different forms of love, Alec" I shrug, "Isabelle's memory was of you, maybe it's like that for you? Maybe you see me as a sister?"

As much as I want to hope and pray that he loves me in a completely different way...I know it's smarter for it not to be. This life is so dangerous and perilous and terrifying...I don't know how people could love in this world without being petrified of losing them so soon.

"Something tells me it's...not like that at all" Alec admits and I'm taken aback by both his honesty, and his confession. It would've been much easier for him to lie, but he didn't.

"Alec" I grab his wrist, stopping him from walking and face him, "I...understand how you feel and I feel the same way but...I can't. We can't. You've got to be all head of the Institute and I have to protect my sister, find my mother, figure out a way to deal with this curse so that I don't try to kill someone every time they so much as accidentally scare Clary...and this world it's...so dangerous. If I let myself get attached to you, I could lose you and that...that's unbearable."

"Cami..."

"Alec, my days are numbered. I'm mundane. Sleeper curse or not, we could never work, I can't live in this world, I'm not a Shadowhunter, I don't belong here." I sigh and Alec's face falls, "Tell you what though, I'll let you know if I change my mind. Deal?"

"Sure" Alec rolls his eyes

"Until then...friends?" I offer my hand to shake and he takes it

"Friends" he agrees

"Come on then, let's go find this box."

***

"Woah, I don't remember it ever looking like this before" Clary gasps, looking at the faint symbols covering the back entrance to the loft...well, they look faint to me, anyway.

"I do" I frown, "Weirdly. I'd always thought they were just some of your drawings that you and Simon did as kids...now, I know better."

"These are runes and wards of protection cast by a warlock" Alec mentions

"Dot..."

"Some of these have been here for years" Alec muses, looking closer at one of the more faded runes

"The only difference is now I can see them"

"Yo, guys, what are all these tags?" Simon asks, pointing at the runes

"You can see these?" I gape

"Uh, yeah, they're kind of hard to miss, Cami" Simon smirks

"For a Shadowhunter" Alec frowns, "They should be invisible to most mundanes. When did you get the sight?"

"I don't know" Simon chuckles, "But whoever drew these should take some lessons from Clary. Their, uh, work is pretty sloppy."

"This is from when Simon and I were engaged to be married" Clary smiles, touching the love heart embossed with Clary and Simon's initials, "I had to add the A for my middle name so no one thought it was Cami and Simon that were to be married."

"You were engaged?" Alec scoffs, "I'm almost certain I don't wanna hear this story but-"

Simon begins delving into the story and Alec nods his head, gesturing at Simon as if he knew he was going to hear it anyways.

"We were eight years old" Simon smiles, "Cami was against the union, being almost 12 years old and more mature than us. But we didn't care."

"That was a whole other world ago" Clary sighs wistfully, trying to wrench the back door open, but it doesn't budge, "There's only one flaw in your plan here, Simon."

"Here, let me try" Simon offers and I bite my tongue to stop myself from laughing. Simon was weaker than me, he always used to lose our arm wrestling challenges and-

The sound of splintering metal breaks me from my thoughts and my eyes widen when I see that the door is open...

What the fuck?

"After you..." Simon smiles, gesturing for Clary and I to go on through. Once we do, Simon steps in the way before Alec can get inside, "Ooh. After me."

I giggle at the look on Alec's face as Simon slips past him and I make my way through to Clary's bedroom, passing mine as I go.

I stop in my tracks at my bedroom door, it's open and the inside looks...black. I enter my room and gasp. Someone set it on fire. Books, clothes, shoes, paper, pencils, bedsheets, my paintings...everything was burnt and blackened.

It was like I didn't exist, every ounce of my personality was gone, set ablaze in that room.

"You okay?" Alec asks and I turn to him, forcing my tears to stay in my eyes, "Yeah...just sad I can't pick up any appropriate footwear. Izzy's heels are killing me."

I move on down the hall before Alec can catch onto my lie. Clary's room is just as badly burnt, the ceiling had barely any colour and the bed's barely standing.

"Holy crap, who torched your loft?"

"There's nothing left of me here..." Clary murmurs

"Of course there isn't" Alec explains, "Your mother was trying to erase any trace that either of you existed. So that you couldn't be tracked. She was protecting you."

"Let's see how well that worked" Clary ponders

"You're alive, aren't you?"

"These floorboards..." Simon muses, standing from one to the other oddly, "They sound different in these two spots. Can't you hear it?"

I hone my ears to listen for any sound...but can't hear anything. Not even one creak.

"There's something under here" Simon drops to the ground, prying at the floorboards before lifting a loose one up, revealing a secret compartment, "Another score for Brooklyn."

"Hey!" Alec snaps, pulling Simon away before he could grab what was inside, "Out of the way."

"You're Welcome" Simon scoffs as Alec crouches down, pulling the box from the compartment

"Is this the box you remember?"

Clary takes the box from Alec's hands, the emboldened JC impressed upon the top in wrought iron, "Yeah. She used to wait till she thought we were asleep and then take it out. Cami would always make an excuse to sleep in my room every time the same date rolled around. Mom never caught on, I guess."

"Well, let's open it" Simon suggests

Clary opens it...and reveals a baby's shoe and a silver rattle.

Baby things?

"I don't know what any of this is" Clary frowns, "Cami?"

"No idea" I breathe, "If this was ever mentioned, I don't remember it."

The sound of something clattering somewhere else in the house alerts Alec and he rushes to the door. Clary shoves the box into her bag as Alec fires instructions at us.

"Get what you need. Do not move until I get back. We've been here too long."

"Wait, Alec" I call after him, but he's already gone

"Be careful" I whisper to myself before turning to face Clary and Simon.

It seems as if in slow-motion I see Simon's eyes widening, see Clary's lips forming the sound of a warning and then feel the crack of something heavy hitting my head...

Then I see nothing.