"So, Magnus, how long has it been?" Camille says in a sing-song voice

Magnus is her guy.

Great.

"How long has it been? One hundred? One hundred fifty years?"

"One hundred and thirty-eight" Magnus notes, "Oddly, I haven't missed you."

"Of course you have, my love" Camille simpers

"You two can catch up later" I snap, getting more and more frustrated with Camille's games as time went on, "Right now, we need to find this goddamn book."

"And you will, but not without payment" Camille hisses, turning to Magnus, "You of all people should understand that."

"Of course" Magnus accepts, though his usual buoyant manner had disappeared the second he'd seen her, "And what is it your require?"

"A clean slate" Camille explains

"She wants a Writ of Turning-Me-Into-A-Vampire" Simon elaborates

"And we need you to draft it" I add

"Hmm. I thought I was done with you" Magnus sighs

"We'll never be done with each other." Camille chuckles

"I'm gonna call for backup" Izzy informs us and I feel my heart swell a little at the possibility of Alec being part of that backup

"Simon, I need to talk to you" I speak up as Izzy leaves the room and Simon follows me to the room, Clary trailing behind. Once in a private room, I start to preach, "I will go out there right now and stake her. Or I'll give the stake to you and you can do it, if that's what you want. I refuse to make selfish choices anymore, this has got to be your decision."

"I don't care about killing her anymore" Simon sighs, sitting upon the brilliantly red bed, "Nothing matter but Jocelyn. We have to wake her up."

"She loves you so much" Clary sighs, taking a seat beside Simon

"She was always kind of like a second Mom to me" Simon smiles fondly, "Remember when she got me that sealed copy of Battletoads?"

"Yeah"

"I didn't even care that she opened it."

"She just wanted to watch us play" I whisper, hanging my head. I really did miss her, sometimes, "But Simon...Camille's dangerous. If you sign this thing, we'll just be setting her free to kill again."

"No. She's not half as bad as Valentine" Simon rebuts, "Your Mom beat him once. If Valentine has a weakness, she knows it. Or...maybe she is it. But...we at least have to find out."

"I guess it's not just us who need our Mom" Clary considers, "It's everyone."

All of a sudden, Alec walks through the door, looking slightly affronted and, without thinking about it, I launch into his arms, gripping him in the tightest hug possible.

"Woah, there" he chuckles, taken aback, "Are you okay?"

"I am, now I know you are" I breathe, leaving a chaste kiss on his lips and putting my feet back on firm ground again. Clary had wasted no time into asking whether or not they'd found Hodge yet.

"Yeah, but Valentine has the Cup" Alec admits and my heart plummets. We were in real trouble now

"What?!.. We're too late." Clary breathes before realising the missing person, "Where's Jace? Is he okay?"

"He went after Valentine by himself." Alec sighs, "It's like he's totally lost it. I tried to stop him, but he wouldn't listen."

"We need to find Jace" Clary asserts, "He's in a dark place. We don't know what he's gonna do!"

"Luke is out looking for him" Alec comforts her, grabbing her wrist before she can set off, "Jace wants us to stay on mission. That means we have to find the book."

"He's right" I agree, "We have to wake up Mom, she's our last shot now. It's our only way to stop Valentine."

"Ready to sign?" Camille exclaims brightly, strutting into the room and presenting the Writ with a flourish before Simon

"Take us to the apartment, give us the book, then you can have your pardon" Simon negotiates. Camille rolls her eyes, looking back at the three of us before turning back to Simon, a false smile plastered to her lips.

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

***

Camille's apartment, like everything she wore and had at the Hotel, was opulent, grand and gave off the echo of royalty and wealth.

Beautiful marbled floors, ornately carved wooden chairs and archways, walls made entirely of books and lush materials and, of course, a grandiose, sparkling chandelier that tripled the amount of light in the room just from the reflection off all the glass spheres making it.

"Wow. You've got a lot of books" Alec notes, his eyes surveying the room, hand in mine.

I had tried desperately not to be too clingy to him but it had lasted all of 2 minutes before I'd needed at least his hand in mine. Thankfully, he was yet to protest and had offered a kind, soft smile when I'd taken it.

"I've got a lot of time on my hands" Camille counters

"Welcome home, Madam Belcourt" a man greets her and we all disperse around the room

"This place creeps me out" Izzy shudders

"Yeah. I should check the perimeter" Alec motions and I reluctantly release his hand

"Good idea" Magnus commends, following Izzy and Alec out of the room, "If I know Camille, she'll have a trick or three up her sleeve."

"I still don't get it" Clary speaks up from one of the ladders leaning on one of the bookshelves, "Why do you have this place if you live at the Hotel DuMort?"

"The DuMort has too many rules" Camille huffs, "Think of it like Gracie Mansion. It's the official residence, but it doesn't mean I have to live there. This place gives me freedom to indulge in certain...proclivities."

Taking an old-fashioned quill from her desk, she strides towards Simon, the point paused to strike.

"You know, the mayor has the same problem-OW!" Simon protests as Camille pricks his hand with the quill, "Hey!"

"Come with me" Camille demands and Simon follows reluctantly, nursing the spot she pricked him and the return to the desk, Camille offering the pen to him, "On the dotted line."

Simon takes the quill, steeling himself, before pressing the point to the paper and scrawling his signature with his blood.

"Thank you" Camille hums, snatching the paper quickly before someone else can reach for it and handing it to the man who had greeted her earlier

"He did what you asked." I hiss, "Now give us the Book of the White."

"I'd love to..." Camille begins, striding to a row of white spined books, inhaling sharply, "But I can't. I have no idea where it is."

"Dot gave it to you" Clary protests and I can see the panic flit through her face

"I'm sure it's here somewhere" Camille allows, "But if the idea was to hide it, telling me would defeat the purpose. Dot must have put it somewhere when I wasn't looking."

"So we have to search the whole apartment?!" I snap

"See? That's the spirit!" Camille smirks, "Although, I'd start now. I've got four more rooms, just like this one."

Clary's phone begins to ring and with one look at the ID, she shoots off towards another corner of the room to answer it, leaving Simon and I to glower at Camille

"Good-bye, Simon" she voices, "It's been a pleasure doing business with you."

"Wait-"

"I wish I could, my little caramel. But don't worry...we'll see each other soon."

And with that, she disappears in a blur of movement and Simon huffs frustratedly.

"I hate when she does that."

***

"I wish Mom had left us something" Clary groans, dropping another book that was evident not the Book of the White "Some sort of clue."

"Maybe she did leave one...for you" I ponder, searching the bookcase, "Did she ever mention any kind of book to you?"

"I don't think so" Clary sighs, continuing to browse, "And if she did, she erased my memory of anything to do with the Shadow World."

"Well, there's gotta be something" Simon exclaims, "Maybe the clue has something to do with colour, you know? White is the absence of colour so...or is that black?"

"Just let me think for a second" Clary interupts, having taken a book from the shelf. It wasn't white, or anything to do with warlock spells but something had struck inside her, she'd noticed something...but what?

"Clary, that's a cookbook!" Simon protests, spotting the cover

"I've seen this before" Clary rebuts, "Chicken cacciatore, remember? Mom used to make it all the time."

"How could I forget? Even better the next day" Simon hums wistfully as Clary flips through the book, "The gift that keeps on giving, it's..."

"Maybe more than we realised..." I gape as Clary stops at the page for chicken cacciatore...where the rest of the frayed Book of the White bookmark was

"Is that what I think it is?" Simon breathes as Clary fumbles for the torn piece of bookmark in her pocket and connecting it to the other half. The bookmark instantly sews itself together, the pages glowing brightly as it transforms from cookbook to spell book.

The Book of the White.

We found it.

"We gotta go" Izzy announces from the door, "He's here"

None of us needed to ask who 'he' was. Who else could it be?

Valentine.

Clary grabs the book hurriedly and we run from the room, hurtling down the hall and into the main room...where a great, purple portal was standing in the door frame, blocking us from leaving.

As casual as if walking through a door, the first glimpse I've had of my father appears through the portal, seraph blade in hand, a look of cocky confidence upon his face.

"Clarissa, Camille, so good to see you again"