Are you ready for it? Emma Carstairs is dropped off at the Los Angeles Institute by her parents while they look into potential demonic activity near some beach caves. She loves the Institute. She loves training, plus her best friend Julian Blackthorn lives there. She grabs her sword Cortana and she meets the other siblings in the training room. Helen is not there. She’s been in Idris for months with her girlfriend Aline. But the eldest brother Mark is there. Mark and Helen are half-faerie. The rumor is that their father, Andrew Blackthorn, had an affair with a Seelie princess that produced two children, who the princess later left on the doorstep of the Institute before disappearing. Andrew took the children and raised them as Shadowhunters, not caring what the Clave or Council thought. Emma and Jules train as Mark speaks to their younger siblings, the twins Livvy and Ty, when they hear the doorbell ring. There is a huge flash of light and the floor below them rocks. Someone downstairs screams. Katerina and Mark leave Emma and Julian to watch the twins as they go downstairs. There are more screams and the sound of shattering glass. A howling noise. Jules gives both the twins a dagger and decides he will go with them to the office and send out a distress call. Emma will collect the two youngest siblings, Dru and Tavvy, and meet them in the office. When Emma gets to the nursery, she finds Dru already there – standing in front of the crib where her baby brother cries, holding a sword and fully prepared to defend him. As soon as she sees Emma, Dru drops the sword and starts to cry. Emma grabs Tavvy and leads Dru to the office. Emma somehow gets mixed up and turns down the wrong corridor. That’s how she comes to be standing at the top of the staircase looking down at the foyer, which is filled with Shadowhunters. Some she recognizes from the Los Angeles Conclave, others wear red fighting gear. A pale blond man with black eyes stands in the center with a goblet and a sword marked with stars. She has heard the adults talk about Valentine Morgenstern’s son Sebastian, who has taken to calling his Dark Shadowhunters the Endarkened Ones. Andrew Blackthorn has said he would rather die than become an Endarkened One. Yet Emma watches as Andrew drags Katerina forward and pushes her to her knees, forcing her to drink from the Infernal Cup. Sebastian laughs as Katerina screams in pain. He has a woman on one side, Amatis, and a tall figure in a black cloak on his other. Mark is being held with his hands behind his back by an Endarkened. Sebastian tells Katerina to get up and bring Mark forward. Katerina has been the tutor at the Institute for as long as Emma can remember. Despite being forced to drink from the Cup, she willingly reaches out to grab Mark. Emma hands Tavvy to Dru, telling her to run to the office. Dru doesn’t argue. When Mark is shoved in front of Sebastian, Sebastian notices that he is part-faerie. Sebastian doesn’t want him as an Endarkened One. Mark spits at Sebastian, who orders Andrew to restrain Mark and hurt him if he wants to. Andrew raises his sword, but Emma throws a knife before he can strike. It hits Sebastian in the chest and distracts the people in the foyer. Sebastian orders them to kill Emma. He is completely unbothered by the blade or the wound that it has caused. Shadowhunter weapons can no longer hurt him. Mark tries to protect Emma, but the figure in the cloak grabs him and holds him back. Emma runs from the Endarkened Ones, reaching the office and throwing the bolt on the door. Julian is at the desk, screaming into the phone about the Portal. There is a Portal on one wall. The door behind Emma shakes as the Endarkened Ones try to get in. Julian pushes Emma toward the Portal to Idris, which is going to close in a few seconds. The door burst opens and Endarkened pour in as Julian follows Emma into the Portal. Jace sits in the park with Jordan as Jordan attempts to teach him how to meditate. With the heavenly fire in his veins, Jace finds that his mind has been racing and nothing will make it stop. Not even training to the point of exhaustion. This is Simon’s alternate suggestion. Alec and Isabelle are already there for “moral support”, and Jace watches as Clary and Simon walk toward them. It’s time for Jordan to leave anyway, he’s meeting Maia downtown. His newly formed friendship (although Jace would never say the word out loud) with Simon and Jordan has given Jace a refuge but in this moment, he can’t help remembering how unprepared the Clave is for the war with Sebastian that is coming. Clary and Jace join their other friends, Alec is staring at his phone screen. He has been texting Magnus but hasn’t heard back. Jace breaks Alec’s phone, for his own good. Now Maryse can’t get ahold of him either – which has to be a good thing. The Clave has had nearly constant meetings since the fight at the Burren when Sebastian created the Endarkened Ones. But no matter how many times events are described, the Shadowhunters don’t want to believe what happened. That their fellow Shadowhunters could turn on them. Plus, Sebastian only has a small amount of Endarkened since many of them were killed at the Burren. The Clave likes to think he’s more of a New York problem than a whole Shadowhunter community problem. Jace doesn’t think they’re necessarily wrong. Sebastian doesn’t have emotions like other people, but he does care about two things. His sister Clary, who he wants to love him, and his mother Jocelyn, who he loathes. But Jace doesn’t think Sebastian will come to New York since it would be expected. Of course, the Clave isn’t putting much stock in his opinions right now. But the Clave is trying to take precautions. They have tried unsuccessfully to track Sebastian and the Endarkened and they’re strengthening the wards in Idris and Alicante, as well as other places like Wrangel Island - where the spells that set up the world’s wards originate. They also have the warlocks of the Spiral Labyrinth trying to find a way to reverse the Infernal Cup’s effects, but that’s hard to do since the bodies of the Endarkened Ones killed at the Burren rotted away overnight and there was nothing left to examine. And the Iron Sisters are making weapons as fast as they can. Isabelle gets a text from Maryse, calling Jace and the Lightwoods back to the Institute. Simon and Clary decide to go Christmas shopping. But Jace doesn’t go to the Institute right away. Isabelle demands that he go speak to Magnus on Alec’s behalf. Simon and Clary talk about the future. Clary won’t be going to college, she will keep studying as a Shadowhunter and possibly go to another Institute. Simon isn’t sure what he’s going to do. He wonders about buying Magnus a present and the topic of forgiveness comes up. Shouldn’t Magnus forgive Alec if Alec is really, really sorry, but Clary says somethings can’t be forgiven. She’ll never be able to forgive Sebastian. But Simon points out that Clary doesn’t love Sebastian. Clary suggests that Simon get ideas from Raphael about what to do with his future. Simon doesn’t think that’s a good idea. He hasn’t heard from Raphael since Maureen took over as leader of the clan and he’s pretty sure Raphael would send someone to kill him if they knew Simon no longer had the Mark of Cain. Clary insists that Simon is safe. The Institute has placed him under their protection. But Simon doesn’t think any of them are safe anymore. Clary gets a worried text from her mom, and then Jocelyn and Luke find them as they shop. Jocelyn was so worried! Clary is confused and Jocelyn realizes that Clary doesn’t know what’s happened. They need to get to the Institute right away. Jace goes to Magnus’ apartment and rings the buzzer until Magnus answers, then forces his way in. He thinks Magnus and Alec should get back together because they are both miserable. Magnus deflects with a joke and Jace calls him out. Magnus doesn’t really have friends. He has sycophants and people who are afraid of him and ex-lovers, but not friends. He doesn’t talk about himself or his past. He would rather people hate him than be pitied. Magnus is in the middle of not listening to Jace when Jace gets a phone call from Isabelle. She tells him to come to the Institute immediately and Magnus perks up. Sebastian has made his move. When Jace stands to leave, Magnus asks what is happening. Is Alec okay? Jace asks why Magnus cares and walks out. Luke comes with Clary and Jocelyn to the Institute. All they were told is that there had been an attack on the Clave. Luke is moving okay, but he’s slower than normal and still recovering. They walk into the library as Maryse lists Institutes: Berlin – no survivors, Bangkok – no survivors, Moscow – no survivors, Los Angeles – the only survivors were children - now in Idris. Helen was in Idris with Aline during the attack, but her siblings survived. Although there’s an issue with the oldest boy Mark, Maryse isn’t sure what. There were six Institutes attacked in two nights. They don’t know how the Institutes were breached but they know it was Sebastian who did it, with his Endarkened. The Clave has called for immediate evacuation of all other Institutes; they must all return to Alicante. The wards around Idris will be doubled the next day and no one will be able to get in or out of Idris after that. They need to pack; they’re leaving that night. Emma wakes up in the Penhallow’s attic with Helen trying to soothe her. All the younger children made it through the Portal, a miracle in itself since Portal travel is hard. Emma passed out in transit, this is the first time she’s woken up. Helen explains that Sebastian attacked six Institutes, either killing or Turning the Shadowhunters inside – Emma said she saw him do it to Katerina and Andrew was already Turned, but they didn’t want Mark. Helen says they can’t track Mark, but they believe he’s still alive and possibly being held hostage by Sebastian. She has more bad news. Even though Emma’s parents were not at the Institute, the Clave believes that they were killed by Sebastian as well. Their bodies were found that morning. Emma starts to scream but stops when Julian gives her Cortana. It reminds her that like the sword, she has steel in her veins. She hugs the sword to her chest, cutting her collarbone but she doesn’t care. Catarina opens a Portal and Simon watches as the Shadowhunters use it to get to Idris. He doesn’t like that they’re leaving and he isn’t coming with them. He asks how Isabelle is doing, but she’s shut down. When she gets upset, she only speaks to Jace or Alec since she doesn’t really trust anyone else. If Simon wants to be her boyfriend, he needs to prove to her that he’s trustworthy too. Simon points out that they’ve never put a name on their relationship and Magnus comes up behind them as Clary tells Simon that he and Isabelle really need to discuss it. Magnus came to see Alec. Clary reminds Simon that they will be coming back, but she’s talking as if they might not. She tells him goodbye and runs to the Portal before he can respond. Isabelle says Simon’s name and he turns toward her. Magnus approaches Alec. He’s worried about Alec; he heard about the Institutes being attacked. He has forgiven Alec and he really wants to kiss him, but he can’t. Their relationship wasn’t working. It won’t work. Doesn’t Alec see that? Then Magnus kisses him anyway. He shouldn’t have. He’s immortal and Alec is not, and that’s too much for most people – and for most immortals honestly. He doesn’t know why he thought this could ever work. Alec tells Magnus that he has been blaming himself for weeks for speaking to Camille. But he’s realized that what happened was his fault, but also Magnus’. Because Magnus doesn’t share anything about himself. Alec could have gotten past the difference in life span. Everyone only gets the time they get together anyway, no matter whether they are mortal or immortal. But Alec doesn’t really know anything about Magnus and that is the problem. Magnus had said at the beginning that Alec would have to accept that, and he thought at first that he could. But he didn’t know anything about love then and he realized that he cannot accept that. But Magnus cannot change. He’s too old and too set in his ways. He reminds Alec of his dream about the city of blood and towers of bone. He tells Alec to go to Idris and be safe. He needs Alec to live. Isabelle pulls Simon into an alcove. He wishes he were coming but she insists that he’s safer in New York, and they probably won’t be gone for long anyway. Shadowhunters don’t hide. Isabelle tells him that she heard Clary tell him she loved him. She’s jealous of how easy it is for the two of them. But if she says it – one of them could get hurt. She hands Simon her ruby necklace to borrow until they see each other again. Simon almost says something to her, but she stops him. Don’t say anything now. But don’t date anyone while she’s gone either. She steps through the Portal with Alec, followed by Maryse, Jace, and then Clary. Clary, Luke, and Jocelyn will be staying in Amatis’ house while in Alicante. Clary looks through the chest of clothes Amatis had once told her should fit. She sees the white dress again and realizes it is not a wedding dress but a mourning dress. Amatis must have worn it for Stephen. Jocelyn tells Clary to wear the mourning jacket to the meeting the next day. Shadowhunters have died, have been Turned. They’re all in mourning. Clary tries to sleep but can’t, seeing images of angels falling from the sky, Ithuriel in his chains telling her about the runes he’d sent to her. She gets up and hears Jocelyn and Luke talking in the kitchen. Jocelyn’s box that she’d kept for her son is in the cupboard. The last time it was seen, it was in Sebastian’s room in the apartment and should have been destroyed with the apartment. Yet here it is. Jocelyn tells Luke that she sometimes dreams of the boy Sebastian could have been if he’d never been poisoned by his father. They’ll need to tell the Clave that the box has resurfaced. Clary tells Jace before the Clave meeting the next day about the box. He knows that Sebastian was planning to kidnap a Shadowhunter from Idris before they called Lilith at the Burren. He must’ve chosen Amatis specifically to hurt Luke and Jocelyn and he likely put the box in her house then, knowing they would find it eventually. When Jia calls the Council to order, she and Robert sit in their chairs on the dais as Consul and Inquisitor. The Mortal Sword sits on the table next to them. There are chairs for each of the Downworlders on the Council as well, but Luke sits next to Jocelyn instead. Institutes in Oslo and Buenos Aires were also attacked the same night as the Los Angeles Institute. In quick succession, attacking the next before warnings could be sent out and killing or Turning everyone in the Conclaves. There was an Endarkened found in Berlin that the Silent Brothers are examining. He is not dead, but barely conscious and still under the control of the Infernal Cup. They and the Spiral Labyrinth warlocks hope to be able to find a cure for what was done to the Shadowhunters. Someone asks if it’s true Sebastian can’t be killed now and Jia has Helen bring out her siblings. Emma joins them on stage. Jia asks Julian to hold the Mortal Sword. No one wants him to have to do this. Being questioned by the Mortal Sword is painful, but they have no one else to question. Julian agrees. He explains what happened before they got to the office. That on the way to the office with Livvy and Ty, he saw a Shadowhunter at the main entrance in a red cloak and covered in runes he’d never seen before. They made him sick to look at. He realized the man was Sebastian when his cloak was pushed back. There were others with Sebastian in black cloaks and red gear, he doesn’t know if they were Shadowhunters or not. Sebastian held the Morgenstern sword to Andrew Blackthorn’s throat as Amatis made Andrew drink. Julian started to move toward his father, but Mark saw him and screamed at them to run. Julian did, but he fell. When he looked back, he saw Mark being swarmed by others and Andrew Blackthorn was no longer himself. Emma tries to get them to stop questioning him as Julian chokes up. She’s the one that stabbed Sebastian – it should be her answering their questions. Sebastian said that Lilith had given him strength beyond measure and perhaps Glorious could kill him, but the Shadowhunters’ other weapons cannot. Emma threw her blade right into his heart and he did not die. Julian insists that Emma does not miss. Neither Julian nor Helen can follow her, so Clary does. Aline tells Clary that Emma won’t talk to anyone but Julian, but she points Clary in the right direction anyway. Clary gets Emma to open up to her, and Emma says that Mark wasn’t Turned. Sebastian didn’t want him because of his faerie blood. That surprises Clary, Sebastian didn’t usually care about that like Valentine did. She wonders if the Infernal Cup doesn’t work on Downworlders. Emma tells her that Mark looks like Helen with fair hair because they have the same mother, but the others have dark brown hair. They aren’t faerie, and their mother died a few years ago after Tavvy was born. Ty has black hair, but no one knows where that came from. Emma says her parents are dead and Clary can tell that Emma thinks she may have been able to save them if she’d gone with them instead of going to the Institute. But Clary doesn’t think so and that makes Emma feel a little better. Clary tells Emma that heroes don’t always win. But they always keep fighting. That’s what makes them a hero. Jace comes and tells them the meeting is over and that Jia is irritated at Clary for coming after Emma. Emma knows who Jace is. He’s the best Shadowhunter. He’s famous. Emma suddenly realizes who Clary is. Clary tells her that she will be available if Emma ever wants to talk and Emma tells her she needs a better sword. Clary leaves the Gard to go to the Inquisitor’s house. Jace, Alec, and Isabelle fill her in on what she missed. The Shadowhunters still have the numbers in their favor, even with six Institutes being infiltrated. Plus, they will hopefully have the Downworlders on their side. They plan to have another meeting about that the next day. And the biggest topic was Jace’s heavenly fire. But currently, they can’t use it since Jace cannot be separated from it and he doesn’t know how to control it. So, what do they do If Sebastian can’t be killed? Could they imprison him somewhere? Isabelle thinks they’re wasting time trying to cure the Endarkened when what Sebastian did essentially killed them, but Alec tells her to keep it down, so their parents don’t come up. They’re both in the house but sleeping in different rooms. Alec points out that many couples split up after losing a child and Isabelle runs out of the room upset. Simon, Maia, and Jordan are waiting for takeout and Simon is feeling rotten. He’s in a bad mood thinking about his future, and Isabelle, and how she isn’t here. Then the doorbell rings and he goes to get the food, opening the door just as Izzy’s necklace pulses at his throat. The Endarkened at the door reaches for Simon, but Jordan shoots a crossbow bolt at the man. It misses, but it gives Maia the time to change and attack while Simon backs away. Jordan screams at Simon to run as he shoots again, getting the man in the shoulder. The Endarkened is here for Simon, so get out and let Maia and Jordan handle him. Simon runs to the fire escape and drops to the sidewalk, where the Hotel Dumort clan waits for him. They put something over his head, choking Simon until he passes out. Jace walks Clary back to Amatis’ house. Clary liked Emma. Emma reminded her of Jace, having lost her family but finding family elsewhere. Jace with the Lightwoods and Emma with the Blackthorns. Jace wants to touch Clary, but he can’t. Not with his heavenly fire. She kisses him, but he keeps his hands planted on the wall behind her. She can feel his skin getting hotter and when he pulls away, she almost sees flames in his eyes. When she looks at the wall, his hands have scorched handprints into the stone. The Seelie Queen lays in her bed. Sebastian lays next to her. They start to kiss (again) but are interrupted by Meliorn. He says the Endarkened are in place at the fortress of Edom and await their orders. The Shadowhunters know Sebastian is behind the Institute attacks, but the faeries have not been identified in the attacks, it is assumed to be done only by Endarkened. Sebastian asks what they plan to do with Mark and is told that Gwyn has claimed him for the Wild Hunt. Sebastian asks about his brother and sister and are told that Clary and Jace are in Idris and cannot be retrieved yet. Meliorn says they need more soldiers. They should take another Institute before they’re completely evacuated. London, Rio de Janeiro, Cairo, Istanbul, and Taipei are taking longer to evacuate. Sebastian chooses London - if it’s okay with the Seelie Queen. She kisses him again, it’s okay with her. Jace starts to freak out but Clary repeats to him that he is getting better at controlling his fire, she wasn’t hurt at all. She asks what the next Council meeting is for and he corrects her. It’s War Council only. Not everyone is invited. Neither of them are going. She asks him to help her get a proper weapon – apparently hers is embarrassing. He takes her to Diana’s shop. Maia calls the pack to help clean up after the Endarkened while Jordan goes to find Simon. He searches for hours but only finds Simon’s broken phone. Jordan spirals – it was his job to keep Simon safe, and he could not manage it. Regardless of the fact that he was saving Simon from an Endarkened when Simon went missing, and that he had requested but not provided back up after Simon lost the Mark of Cain, Jordan still blames himself. Maia really needs to talk to him about something but keeps thinking that it’s not a good time. And now is definitely not a good time. Jordan gets called into the Praetor headquarters and asks Maia to come with him. Simon wakes up in a cage dressed in tight leather pants and a billowy white shirt. Maureen comes in soon enough, wearing an elaborate ballgown and jewelry (including a crown) made of finger bones. She explains that this will be his room once he’s ready to come out. Once he’s acclimated and the two of them have fallen in love. She calls herself Queen Maureen - of the darkness, of the night, of the dead. Jordan and Maia find the Praetor burned down, ash covering the ground. Dead werewolves are everywhere – most of them are young. They find Praetor Scott half submerged at the edge of the water and Maia bends down to turn him over. Jordan tells Maia not to touch him but is cut off. Maia turns around to find a sword stuck through Jordan’s chest. He collapses as Sebastian pulls the sword back out. Sebastian has heard so much about Maia and Jordan. Jordan whispers to Maia to run but she won’t leave him. Maia doesn’t understand. She thought Sebastian’s war was with the Shadowhunters and Sebastian says it’s a long story. The London Institute is well protected, and that was the Praetor’s fault. He is at war with the Shadowhunters – and also their allies. He tells Maia to take a message back to the werewolves for him. He quotes Shakespeare, basically saying that he will never stop till he has gotten his revenge or is killed. Death awaits any who ally with the Shadowhunters, but he will leave the Downworlders alone otherwise. Sebastian tells Maia that Jordan is dead before he walks away. Magnus sits with Catarina in the Hunter’s Moon, the werewolf bar, as Catarina asks why he’s no longer with Alec. Magnus was truly happy with him, why is Magnus throwing that away. He tells her that things are changing. The Shadowhunters have not existed for that long and can be exterminated just as quickly as they were created. He has dreamed about it; he has true dreams sometimes. Magnus thinks that Alec will be at the center of whatever is coming and is pushing Alec away before he loses him. Valentine nearly killed all the Shadowhunters and Sebastian is more clever and far more evil than his father. And he has help from the greater demons. Worse than that, Magnus cannot find anything else out. No matter how he looks. He doesn’t think he can help the Shadowhunters, even if he wants to. He has never loved someone like this. Catarina reminds him of Tessa and how her love was worth the pain she later felt. Catarina tells Magnus to go to Alicante and speak to the Shadowhunters. And to one Shadowhunter in particular. In the meantime, Meliorn has invited all the Downworlder Council members to meet for dinner as a gesture of “peace and goodwill”. The werewolf Bat, who is in charge of Luke’s pack while Luke is in Alicante, is at the Hunter’s Moon and he gets a phone call. Magnus can tell something is wrong. Bat tells him that the Praetor Lupus headquarters was burned down – killing at least one hundred werewolves including Jordan and Praetor Scott. Julian is trying to feed Tavvy with Emma when Helen comes into the Penhallow’s attic. She tells them the London Institute was attacked. London is where Andrew Blackthorn’s brother Arthur lives – their only other living relative. But the Endarkened were unable to get in, the attack was unsuccessful - which will boost morale and means that all is not lost. They can protect themselves from Sebastian’s forces. Clary meets Diana Wrayburn of Diana’s Arrow as they try to pick the best blade for Clary. Diana pulls out a shortsword marked with black stars down the center. A Morgenstern sword. The Morgensterns long ago commissioned a set of blades from Wayland the Smith, a larger for a father and smaller for the son. The smaller blade is called Heosphoros, meaning dawn-bringer while the other is Phaesphoros, light-bringer. Sebastian carries Phaesphoros. Valentine’s wife sold this sword to Diana’s father before the Uprising. It had been hers and it should be Clary’s now. Diana will give it to her. The Morgensterns are hated, she can’t sell the blade now anyway and she thinks it should go to good hands, someone trustworthy. Someone like Clary. Take it and use it on her brother. Legends say these swords were created to contain deadly magic. Clary holds the sword and it fits in her hand perfectly. As she holds it, Diana gets a fire message about the London attack. Clary takes the sword. She will no longer give the Morgensterns power over her just by being afraid of their name. Jace buys her a scabbard with silver stars. He reminds her that the name Morgenstern is not cursed. It’s a beautiful name. The Morning Star. Raphael wakes Simon up, they don’t have much time. Raphael has always wanted Simon the Daylighter to be killed, since he believes a Daylighter is unnatural, but now Raphael needs Simon’s help. Maureen was tortured before she was killed and did not have anyone to teach her vampire ways – the torture broke her mind and she is mad. She could not care less about the Laws. Raphael can’t just kill her; she has too much support in the clan from the vampires who now get to feed indiscriminately. He has convinced Nightshade to let him go to Alicante as the vampire representative but the Shadowhunters trust Simon more than him. He wants Simon to come and convince the Shadowhunters that Maureen is breaking the Accords. Plus, it will be the safest place for Simon anyway. Catarina is already waiting for them with a Portal. Jace takes Clary to a fountain to bless her weapon (it’s tradition) and as they walk toward Amatis’ house, they are called to the Gard. Everybody is called to the Gard. There has been another attack - it’s ongoing, and they’re mounting a response. Sebastian only brought twenty or so Endarkened to the Adamant Citadel, they have plenty of Shadowhunters to respond. Jace tries to convince Robert Lightwood that this is some sort of trick. If Sebastian brought so few Endarkened, he has something planned. He would never be unprepared. But Robert doesn’t listen. He’s letting the families of the Endarkened through, they believe they can capture the Endarkened and possibly cure them at some point. Clary and Jace cannot believe the irresponsibility of that. There is no cure and these people will pause when faced with the Endarkened versions of the people they love. This will lose them more Shadowhunters. Robert disagrees. He also won’t let Jace go through to fight. When Robert leaves, Jace and Clary decide he can’t stop them and run for the Portal. Jace says when they arrive that the Sisters will stay in the Citadel to protect the armory, so Clary says that is where they should be looking for Sebastian. She watches as the sister of an Endarkened tries to reason with her brother and convince him to return to the Clave. She watches as the Endarkened beheads his sister without a second thought. The Shadowhunters are panicking, the Endarkened have them between a cliff face and the ravine with Endarkened coming from either side, it was a trap just like Jace thought. He tells Clary to get somewhere she can open up a Portal and get the Shadowhunters out. Clary runs through the crowd. She even sees a Silent Brother fighting the Endarkened. But she is stopped by Amatis before she can create a Portal. Amatis tells Clary to drop the stele and come with her. Clary stalls for time, telling Amatis that Sebastian doesn’t trust her, he doesn’t care about her or any of the Endarkened at all. Just look at how they’re dying. But Amatis disagrees. The Iron Sisters took her mother, they broke her marriage, they have nothing but adamas in their veins and they can rot. Clary can see Jace fighting his way through the Endarkened and she whispers his name. This distracts Amatis for a moment and when she turns, Clary attacks her. They end up with Clary’s sword at Amatis’ throat. Isabelle tries to get to the Portal before it closes but she is held back by her father. She turns on him. Alec protests that fifty Shadowhunters won’t be enough. Twenty Endarkened are like one hundred Shadowhunters, but Robert doesn’t listen. He will not have the Portal reopened. Isabelle has had enough. She is sick of pretending. She knows that Robert had an affair, that he wanted to leave them but didn’t because of Max. He’s probably glad that Max died so now he has no reason to stay. Robert and Maryse both look at her. Robert says she can’t really believe that, but she turns and runs away. Alec tries to talk sense into Jia Penhallow. Sebastian shows up near Jace using his Morgenstern ring. He wears red gear covered in golden runes of protection and healing and luck. They fight. Unfortunately, Sebastian has always been just a tad bit better and Jace falls to the ground, Sebastian stabs him in the shoulder. Heat burns through Jace. Flames lick through his veins and Sebastian’s eyes go big. Flames come out of Jace’s new shoulder wound, traveling up Sebastian’s sword and into the hilt. It burns Sebastian’s hand as he holds it. Jace almost loses consciousness, but he fights it and finds both he and Sebastian circled by Iron Sisters. They’ve been called by Jace’s heavenly fire. They tell Sebastian that now he knows to fear the heavenly fire and tells him to leave or they will kill him. Sebastian pushes the Morgenstern sword into the ground and it begins to shake. A huge rift opens and Sebastian throws himself into it. As Alec tries to get Jia to open the Portal again, he feels something through his parabatai bond with Jace. He tells her she needs to open the Portal now, something has happened to Jace - something to do with the heavenly fire. Amatis doesn’t think Clary will kill her. Clary is trying to convince herself that she will when the ground opens up and Amatis jumps into the rift. Clary notices the Sisters surrounding Jace and runs over. He’s writhing on the ground, and his wound is bleeding fire. Brother Zachariah leans over Jace and places his hand on the wound. But he can’t help Jace, the heavenly fire consumes Brother Zachariah instead. Clary sees a rune in the flames, one she’s seen before. The first rune she ever saw that wasn’t in the Gray Book, it looks like a bar between two wings. Zachariah falls back, now he and Jace are both thrashing around. Clary draws an iratze on Jace’s shoulder, she can feel her energy being drawn away from her and she sees a Portal open just before she passes out. Raphael leads Simon to a house in Alicante set up for the vampire representative on the Council when they see Isabelle walking down the street. The demon towers are red, Raphael explains that they change color. Gold for weddings, blue for the accords, red for danger. Isabelle throws herself at Simon and Simon realizes that he really is in love with her, then she asks what he’s wearing. Magnus is at Amatis’ house. He has come as the warlock representative on the Council, but Jocelyn wants him to make sure the box with the initials J.C. is not cursed or boobytrapped in any way. He looks at it but doesn’t feel anything strange. She thanks him. She’s a bit paranoid, especially since what happened at the London Institute. She and Luke fill Magnus in and he tells them a ghost must have protected the Institute. He hopes the ghost is at peace now. He tells the news of the Praetor and Sebastians’ message to the Downworlders. He is not going to tell the Shadowhunters, but he won’t hide this from the Downworlders either. He plans to tell the Seelie court at the dinner with Meliorn the next night, which both he and Luke will be attending. If Downworlders choose not to fight, that is their right. Jocelyn asks what Tessa would think about his decision, but Magnus thinks she would agree that honesty was the way to go. They get a knock on the door. There’s a message from the Gard about Clary. Bat is sitting next to Maia. He touches her arm to wake her up since she was screaming in her sleep, and she scuttles away from his touch. He apologizes. She remembers what happened. She’s been sleeping ever since they brought her back from Praetor headquarters and she explained to Magnus what she’d been told. Bat asks her to tell him now and she does. He tells her that one person survived the attack at the Praetor Lupus. His name is Rufus Hastings, and he’s been poisoning the pack. Rufus says that Luke is more Shadowhunter than wolf and doesn’t have pack loyalty. Bat can’t be trusted either, since Luke made Bat his second. He’s saying that he should be in charge. That Luke is the reason they’ve been targeted. Maia disagrees. Sebastian would not have left them alone anyway. He would have come for them eventually. Isabelle takes Simon to the Inquisitor’s house to find him something of Alec’s to wear. They get a bit enthusiastic about roleplaying his billowy shirt and Alec finds them in a compromising position. He needs to talk to Isabelle since something is wrong with Jace. They fill Simon in on what happened and Alec tells Isabelle that if she’s going to use Simon to make herself not feel sad or angry, she could at least use her own room for it. Simon realizes that was exactly what Isabelle was doing. That’s why she didn’t mention the attack or Jace and Clary before. She takes her necklace back from Simon, saying she never should have given it to him, but he tells her that it saved his life. That stops her, but then Alec falls to the ground. When he touches his parabatai rune, his fingers come away with ash on the tips. When they reach Angel Square, there are dead and injured Shadowhunters lined up on the ground. Jace has been taken to the Basilias, their hospital, where Alec and Isabelle go to see him. Raphael pops back up and tells Simon that not that many died, but many were injured. It would have been a massacre if not for Jace and Clary. But finally, the heavenly fire has proven too much for Jace. After this, the Shadowhunters will not underestimate Sebastain again. Then Simon sees Clary on the ground and rushes toward her, being held back by Luke who was kneeling next to her. Magnus is already there and says that Clary has exhausted herself. Luke asks why Simon is there, is it because of Jordan? Simon doesn’t know about Jordan. Luke gives him Jordan’s necklace. Jordan wanted him to have it. Luke tells him what happened. Clary wakes up and Jocelyn tells her that Jace is okay but can’t have visitors right now. She asks Clary what she and Jace were doing in that battle – Sebastian is not Clary’s responsibility. She sees Clary’s new sword and is upset. Clary says she is a Morgenstern and doesn’t need to pretend to have a name that doesn’t mean anything. Jocelyn corrects her. Fray doesn’t mean nothing. They took that name from the warlock who placed protection on Clary as a baby, who stood in for the Iron Sister. That woman had known loss and grief, but was strong, and Jocelyn wanted Clary to be like that. Clary asks about Brother Zachariah, but Jocelyn doesn’t know how he’s doing - the Silent Brothers have been very secretive. Jocelyn is being weird and Clary asks if something else happened. She’s told about the Praetor. She asks about Simon and Maia. Simon is fine, he comes in and tells Clary about Maureen. Maia is with the pack and physically, she’s fine too. Clary notices that Simon needs to eat, and they decide to walk to the vampire representative’s house where blood will be stored. Luke says that the dinner with Meliorn is that evening and they will be gone by the time Clary gets back to the house. They’ve asked a guard to make sure that Clary is back at the house by nightfall. If she’s not, the Gard will be notified. Bat talks to Maia about Jordan and says he’s sorry that Jordan died. She reveals she was going to break up with him. Jordan had been her first love, but too much had changed. He saw her as a way to achieve forgiveness, and he no longer saw her for herself. She kept putting it off but was going to do it that day after they went to the Praetor, but then he died. Bat says that Jordan deserved to die with someone he loved and no harm was done if he died believing that Maia loved him and had forgiven him. Maia has no reason to punish herself. Jace is going to leave the Basilias against medical advisement, but first he wants to make sure that Brother Zachariah is okay. But when he finds Zachariah, Jace does not find the Brother at all but a Shadowhunter. Zachariah explains that he was always a strange Silent Brother. He had loved many and was not always able to keep himself separate as he should have. He had chosen to become a Brother out of self-preservation. It was the only way to save himself. But Jace’s heavenly fire entered his veins and purged the darkness away from it. He’s reverted not to who he was before he became a Brother, but also to before he had that darkness. It made him what he always wanted to be. Jace asks if there is someone he has to see, and Zachariah says yes but not yet. He needs to remember how to function under the stress that is emotion first, he’s been numbed to it for so long. He tells Jace that he doesn’t need to run from the heavenly fire or find a cure. It is a weapon and Jace has been chosen to wield it. Simon blames himself for Jordan’s death. If he hadn’t gone and gotten himself kidnapped, Jordan would probably still be alive! He tells Clary that he was running from the Endarkened when he was taken by Maureen’s clan. He hadn’t told anyone else that yet. They arrive at the house for the vampires and Raphael answers the door. Raphael gives Simon blood but it’s generally kind of a jerk as he does it and points out that Simon no longer has protection from the Mark of Cain or the Praetor. Simon asks why Raphael hates him but then he realizes… Raphael doesn’t hate him at all. He’s jealous. The blood that Raphael gives him is spiked with something, so Simon gets a bit of a contact high and acts drunk. Suddenly, he needs to talk to Isabelle. He stands outside her house yelling for her until she comes out and throws his leather pants and puffy shirt at him. Robert Lightwood comes out wielding a crucifix, because he’s prejudiced, and it doesn’t even work since Simon is Jewish. Clary is struck by how little Robert knows about what is going on with his kids, he doesn’t realize that Simon is anything to Isabelle. She takes Simon back to Amatis’ house, they need to get there before their curfew. It takes forever to get there because Simon keeps having side quests and they don’t arrive until after dark. But the guard is nowhere to be seen, probably already reporting on Clary’s delinquency. She takes Simon inside and puts him to bed before going to her own room, where she finds Sebastian sitting on her bed. She tries to run but he has placed a binding spell, and the room traps her inside, not letting her move. He says he’s missed her. She knows that he would never forgive her for the things that she’s done: destroying his apartment, betraying him, breaking his bond with Jace. But he claims he should thank her. He was too reliant on their father’s legacy and on Jace. Because of her, he has done all these things on his own. He reminds her that they are the same. Both dark inside. Both willing to do whatever it takes. Both hated by their father. Sebastian has saved something for Clary that he’s never given to anyone else. Mercy. Magnus, Raphael, Luke, and Jocelyn have dinner with Meliorn and Meliorn drugs them. Before they know it, they are barely lucid (Raphael is face down on the table, passed out) and there are Endarkened at the doors. Magnus doesn’t recognize any of the runes they’re wearing. Meliorn leans down. If Magnus ever thought that the faeries would ally with warlocks, he is dumber that he looks. Sebastian explains that he wants Jace and her with him. He will not turn her if she swears to the angel to be loyal to him. If she doesn’t, he will make her Endarkened last, so that she is forced to watch everyone she loves become Endarkened first. She yells that she will never swear her loyalty to him as she pulls Heosphoros. But seeing the Morgenstern blade in her hand doesn’t upset him, it excites him. She cuts him across the abdomen, but he soon has her disarmed and pinned against the wall, his mouth on her neck. Luckily, Jace comes in through the window. He taunts Sebastian. How Sebastian had to retreat from his heavenly fire. How Sebastian just wants to not be alone. Just wants someone to give him approval. To love him. It’s why he gives Jace and Clary so many second chances. It’s why he only stabbed Jace in the shoulder. It’s why even in his dreams, Sebastian has a throne next to his own for Clary. There’s a crash downstairs and Clary can hear voices. Jace attacks and hits Sebastian. He realizes that Jace doesn’t know how to control the heavenly fire and decides to prove a point. He takes Jace’s sword and plunges it into his own chest. Sebastian can feel the fire in Jace, but Jace can’t master it, not in the time that he has, and it’s more likely to destroy Jace than anyone else. Sebastian says that he and Clary are the same, but Jace is his mirror and one day, Clary will choose him over Jace. The Sebastian twists the ring and vanishes just as the Clave comes in. Maia is with the pack and Leila, a newer member, gives her some clean clothes to wear. She also recommends Maia stop being so loyal to Luke with Rufus around. Maia speaks to Bat - she’s going to confront Rufus downstairs. Bat thinks that’s a bad idea. Downstairs, Maia tells Rufus that they should not be splitting apart but staying together and strong. Sebastian will come after the Downworlders when he’s done with the Shadowhunters. Rufus pushes Maia and Bat tells Rufus to leave. He is not a part of this pack and is no longer welcome. Rufus challenges Bat for leadership. Bat accepts and says he will meet Rufus the following night. To not accept the challenge would lose the respect of the pack, although Bat doesn’t technically have to accept since Rufus is not a pack member. But it’s not a risk Bat is willing to take. When Bat leaves, Maia follows him. Rufus is huge, she urges Bat to reconsider fighting him. He doesn’t have any choice. He gives Maia the keys to Jordan’s truck and tells her to get away until this is over. He doesn’t trust Rufus around her. He also thinks maybe he shouldn’t have given Maia quite so much space when she asked for it, maybe he should have told her how he felt about her. Then he apologizes, now is not the time to talk about this. She asks him to come with him, but he can’t leave the pack as fodder for Sebastian. He asks her to get far away - for him. Clary and Simon (who slept through the whole thing) get moved to rooms in the Gard and word is sent to Jocelyn and Luke, but they won’t get it till they leave their dinner. Jace stays with Clary. She tells him what she hasn’t told him before. How Sebastian seems to want to dominate her physically. Sexually. He doesn’t understand love and believes that if he controls her, that is the same thing. Jace doesn’t think any less of Clary, nothing that Sebastian did was her fault. He also wonders if Sebastian’s loneliness is helping to contribute to his plan. He’s trying to mold the world into something that will love him. Jia wakes them the next morning. She says Simon can come to the Clave meeting since they cannot find Raphael. In fact, they can’t find any of the Downworlder representatives. And when they enter the Council room, they see the word ‘veni’ written in angel blood in front of the representatives’ chairs. “I have come.” Jia tells the Clave what they know. They’ve tried to track the representatives, but it is not working. The wards are strengthened; the Shadowhunters need to stay here in Idris together for safety. Sebastian has an estimated four hundred Endarkened and he will want to pick the rest of them off in small groups. They have not won any battles against him. If not for Jace, the citadel would have lost many more, but they still lost half of the Shadowhunters and injured more on top of that. And the London Shadowhunters were led to safety by a force they cannot replicate elsewhere. Tempers start to rise when one of the guards standing next to Jia puts a knife to her throat. An Endarkened in disguise. He gives them a message. Sebastian has the representatives and Jocelyn. Sebastian will kill his hostages, unless the Clave gives him Clary and Jace. What a neat little way for Sebastian to alienate the Downworlders from the Shadowhunters, by having the Shadowhunters place two Shadowhunters above several important Downworlders. Jace volunteers to go but the Endarkened clarifies that offer is only good if both Clary and Jace turns themselves in willingly. Robert asks for time to think the proposition over but the Endarkened demands to know why Sebastian should give them time. He raises his dagger, prepared to stab Jia, but Alec shoots his hand. Jia is able to get away and then the dais erupts in black flames as Matthias laughs in the middle of them, unhurt. Sebastian gives the Shadowhunters two days to decide. They cannot win this fight, but they can survive it. They can be Turned by the Infernal Cup and fight for Sebastian. If they don’t, they can stay in Idris as the borders are sealed, but they will not be allowed to leave again. Maia calls the vampire Lily and asks her to meet at Jordan’s apartment. When Lily gets there, Maia explains - Raphael, Simon, and Luke are gone, and Sebastian is murdering Downworlders just to show that he can. She’s chosen to speak to Lily because Maureen is crazy but maybe it’s time for the werewolves and vampires to ally together. Lily says Maureen may be crazy but she’s still the leader of the clan. She won’t talk to someone who isn’t even leader of the pack. Alec gives Jace an iratze. He says that Sebastian is trying to drive a wedge between the Shadowhunters. He would never ask Jace to turn himself into Sebastian, as much as he wants to save Magnus, and he would never ask Jace to barter Clary’s life either. Jace asks when Alec got to be so wise. But then, when Jace asked him to be parabatai, Alec agreed because he said Jace needed someone to look after him – so maybe he’s always been wise. Jia speaks with the Lightwoods, Clary, and Simon. Simon is called on to give his opinion of the Downworlders. He doesn’t understand warlocks or faeries, but the vampires already believe that the Shadowhunters consider them lesser, and the werewolves love Luke and will want him back. The fact that Luke used to be a Shadowhunter will make the idea of the Shadowhunters not saving him even worse. Like he became less worthy when he became a vampire. All Downworlders see how the Shadowhunters treat those who used to be one of them. But Simon doesn’t think that they should give Jace and Clary to Sebastian either. Sebastian cannot be trusted, even if he swears not to kill them. Brothers Enoch and Zachariah come in – the Endarkened they were trying to turn back died when they let him drink from the Mortal Cup. They are sending his body to the Spiral Labyrinth before it disintegrates. Jace volunteers again to try to kill Sebastian but Zachariah says no. They cannot just give Sebastian what he wants. The Clave needs to be smart about how they do this. He suggests that Jia and Robert attend the last rites for the Shadowhunters who died and then they can reconvene the Council meeting afterward to decide what to do. Jia Penhallow walks with Zachariah to the rites. He is not yet ready to reclaim his name from his old life. She asks if he would like to go to the Spiral Labyrinth where Theresa Gray is. He wants to see Tessa more than anything, but he cannot run from this fight and he doesn’t want Tessa to endanger herself either. For now, he will stay and fight. Isabelle and Clary are in Isabelle’s room. They can tell that the rites are over. The Council will reconvene soon and they will be in for a long night. Isabelle braids Clary’s hair but startles when she sees a face at the window. Isabelle pulls the window open and Emma tumbles into the room. Bat meets Rufus for their duel. There are no weapons allowed other than claws and teeth - and it will be a fight to the death. They are only fighting for temporary control of the pack; they are not discussing displacing Luke. When the fight starts, Bat starts strong, but Rufus gets first blood and there’s a lot of it. Bat is losing blood too quickly and Rufus is going to win when Maia steps in and issues her own challenge to Rufus. She’s breaking the rules, technically she should wait until the fight between Rufus and Bat is finished but she’s trying to save Bat too. When Rufus attacks Maia, she fights dirty. She throws dirt in his face, breaks his foot, and stabs him in the eye with her claws. He’s dead in a minute and she’s the new leader of the pack. And Bat is not dead! Jace, Simon, and Alec are in Jace and Alec’s room, gossiping and arguing, when Clary and Isabelle enter with Emma. Emma came to give them information. When Jia was being threatened, the Endarkened had said the Shadowhunters will burn in Edom. The Endarkened that came to the Los Angeles Institute mentioned Edom also. They were talking about taking Mark to Edom, and one of them yelled about Edom as Emma portaled to Idris. It is a real place, at least to the Endarkened. Emma didn’t tell the Clave because she doesn’t trust them. When she and the Blackthorns came from the Institute, the Clave questioned them all with the Mortal Sword. All of the children, except for Tavvy since he can’t talk. Even Dru, and she’s not even in training yet. Julian’s hands were burnt after being questioned for so long because it hurts to be questioned by the Sword. And separate from that, Emma is staying with Helen at the Penhallow house and heard some members of the Clave talking about turning Jace and Clary in, regardless of what they chose for themselves. But Emma thinks it should be their choice. Alec leaves the room to retrieve a book. Once he’s back, Emma explains further that she’s heard about them. That Jace’s name at one point was Jace Herondale, and her father, John Carstairs, had said that he thought that the Herondale family was gone. John had voted to keep looking for Jace when Sebastian had him because the Carstairs owe the Herondales, though Emma doesn’t know why. Her dad would have wanted Emma to tell him and Clary what she heard. Jace tells her to go back home before Jia realizes she’s gone. And from now on, the Herondales owe the Carstairs. Once Emma leaves, Alec pulls out the book. It sounds like Edom is a demon dimension, which makes sense because Sebastian would be untrackable while there. Legend says that Lilith was banished to Edom and rules with Asmodeus. Normally, there is no way to get to the demon realms, but this one is different. There is a path that the Nephilim cannot close because it is in the Seelie Court. Clary says trying to make a Portal directly to Edom is out of the question, but she can get them to the faerie court. Jace says will go there and continue to Edom - alone. Everyone else thinks not. Alec goes so far as to say that by doing so, Jace would be disrespecting him as a Shadowhunter and disrespecting their parabatai bond. Jace would never! Isabelle stands up next. He needs them. He needs her and Alec as backup, Clary’s rune powers, and Simon’s strength. Jace knows they’re right; he just can’t stand the thought of them in danger. He tells them to pack what they can quickly. Clothes, water, food, steles, weapons, blankets. Simon should bring blood if he has it. And wear gear. Clary will get ready to make a Portal and Jace will make a strategy for once they get to the Seelie Court. They’re going to need one. Clary Portals them to just outside the throne room, where they can see the Queen speaking to Gwyn of the Wild Hunt. The Hunt gathers more hunters from the dead of battlegrounds, but they did not go to where the Nephilim and the Endarkened fought. The Queen asks about the gift Gwyn received from herself and Sebastian. The way she speaks about Sebastian tells Clary exactly how Sebastian got to Edom. She speaks of him affectionately. In exchange for the gift, Mark Blackthorn, the Queen will expect the Wild Hunt to be at the next battlefield. There will be many for the Wild Hunt to gather because the Nephilim will pay for what they’ve done. Meliorn arrives (he’s supposed to be missing with the other Downworlder representatives) and Gwyn leaves. Meliorn has news, she asks if it’s about the Downworld prisoners. Alec gasps at this, and Meliorn hears it. The Shadowhunters and Simon come out ready to fight. Jace gets a dagger to the Queen’s throat right away and they ask what happened. When asked, Meliorn told the Shadowhunters that the Seelie Court was on the side of the Nephilim - and the faeries can’t lie. But it turns out that Meliorn is only half-faerie, and they can. Alec shoots Meliorn in the chest. They can hear other faeries running toward them, so Clary draws another rune. The opposite of the one that blew up Valentine’s boat, this one closes them into the room and blocks the other faeries out. The Queen says she can’t help them with the Downworlder prisoners. They’re in a place that she has no jurisdiction over. So Jace instead asks her to lead them to the entrance to Edom. In exchange for her life, they will walk the path and leave her realm safely. She agrees and Simon asks why she didn’t try to trick them. Clary says there was no need. The Queen thinks they’ll die in Edom anyway. Clary remembers the note that she found in Sebastian’s room addressed to “My Beautiful One”. Gwyn had used that term to speak to the Seelie Queen. Not romance at all, but a sign of respect. It’s all making sense now. Why Mark had not been Turned. How the Endarkened at the Adamant Citadel had come out of and returned to a rift. The courts are below ground; Sebastian must’ve used them to travel to where he needed to go. The Queen brings them to a cave where three paths lay ahead of them, not including the one they just came from. Alec recognizes this from an ancient ballad about a man kidnapped by the Queen of Faerie. This is the Three Roads. According to the song, one goes to Heaven, one to Faerie, and one to Hell. Alec points to the one with the briars and thorns. It leads back to the mortal world; this would be how Sebastian got to the Citadel without being tracked. The leafy tunnel leads further into Faerie, and the last when will be the way to Edom. Jace makes the Queen swear not to tell Sebastian that they are coming, nor allow her court do warn him either. She promises she will not, by either word or deed. He tells her that when they return, and they will, they will make her people pay for what she’s done. As they walk down the tunnel to Edom, Simon sees something moving. He warns the Shadowhunters and they go into fighting mode. But Jace holds up a witchlight that reveals a pale blond boy with slightly pointed ears. He’s dirty and his clothes are torn - and he wears Shadowhunter runes. It’s Mark Blackthorn. He had been with the Hunters of the Wild Hunt and heard Gwyn say that Shadowhunters had shown up in the Queen’s chambers. He snuck away to find them but got turned around. He wants to know about his family, he was told they were all dead. Clary tells him the truth. His father was Turned but the others escaped and are in Idris. Mark doesn’t look relieved, he looks scared. Clary sees his eyes. One is the blue of the Blackthorn family. The other is gold and shadowed. He is one of the Wild Hunt now. Mark explains that he was whipped by Meliorn when he first arrived, Meliorn would only stop if Mark ate and drank their food. Mark didn’t think it mattered since Meliorn told him his family was already dead. He also didn’t know Meliorn could lie. He says he’s been with the faeries for a long time, but it’s really been less than a week. Time moves differently in faerie. Now Mark can’t leave the Hunt unless he’s allowed to go. Mark begs them to take him with them; he wants to be with his family again. But he can’t come with them where they’re going, and if he tries to leave, he will die. Jace tells him he was taken to punish the Nephilim. He needs to show them all that he’s not afraid. Mark can live through this. Find a way to warn the Nephilim that the Fair Folk are not their allies. He gives Mark his witchlight and tells him to take it, for when he needs a little light of his own. Mark returns to the Hunt before the Hunt notices that he’s gone. Jace doesn’t need the witchlight anyway, his skin is glowing with heavenly fire. Simon says he can see something at the end of the tunnel. A swirling hole of darkness. The Seelie Queen uses a mirror to speak to Sebastian, who says he’s a bit occupied at the moment. But she wanted him to know that his sister and brother had just left Faerie, they found the road to Edom. Jace made her promise not to tell him that they were coming but he didn’t say anything about telling him that they had left Faerie. She asks Sebastian to get revenge for Meliorn. Clary sees Fairchild manor laid out in front of her. Never burned, still standing as it has stood for four hundred years. Her mother is on the balcony with Luke behind her. He was never Turned, he wears the runes of a Shadowhunter. Jonathan comes out from behind her. Jonathan with green eyes, never given demon blood. Never made a monster. Their father Valentine was a hero of the war. He saved the Mortal Cup and the Clave but died facing Hodge Starkweather in battle. Afterward, Jocelyn married Luke and had another child. A little girl named Valentina in honor of Jocelyn’s hero husband and Luke’s parabatai. They call her Val. Jonathan says he found Val eating the wedding cake but don’t worry, he will fix it before the wedding. Clary looks down. She’s wearing gold. She’s marrying Jace Herondale. Jonathan asks if Isabelle would be interested in him if he asked her out. Because in this world, Clary was not raised in New York. The Lightwoods weren’t exiled. They never met Simon. The world spins and Clary reaches out for Jonathan but he’s not real. Her hand goes through him, and everything disappears as she hits the ground. Now she is surrounded by broken cobblestones and the shells of stone houses. A gray sky with black clouds. A dead world devoid of color. But all she sees are the green eyes of her brother and the blue eyes of her sister, siblings she will never have. Simon looks out from a penthouse as Clary comes home and he kisses her. She says that downstairs it’s a madhouse - Simon and his band have made it big and now he and Clary are together. There are flowers from his mother saying how proud she is of him. But when he tells Clary that he loves her, he says Isabelle’s name and the whole world spins. Isabelle is led into a surprise birthday party by Simon, who she’s now living with. Everyone is there. Her parents have their arms around each other, Magnus is with Alec, and there’s Max. When she realizes that Max is still nine, that he hasn’t aged, she begs him to stay. She cries as he fades away, as it all fades away. Alec is being honored by his father and the rest of the Clave as a hero of the Mortal War. Single handedly turning the tide of the war and saving his brother’s life. And great news, he and Magnus are engaged! Magnus in the vision tells Alec that the whole thing is a hallucination brought on by a demon that must’ve been nearby when they came through. It shows everyone their deepest desires: Alec’s being loved and approved of by everyone. Alec doesn’t remember saving Max. He wakes up and is surrounded by a smoke demon. He shoots it with a runed arrow. The demon disappears and Alec finds Isabelle, Simon, and Clary – all shaken – but no Jace. They search for him and find him still lying down. Clary tells him it’s all a dream, but he says he knows. He also insists he didn’t see anything. Even after Clary tells him they all saw weird stuff, he still insists he saw nothing. It’s time to start moving. Clary places a tracking rune on Sebastian’s bracelet that Jace has around his wrist. Sebastian is only a few days’ walk away. Magnus is the only one of them chained, so he can’t do magic with his hands, and neither Raphael nor Luke can free him. They don’t know where Jocelyn is, but Magnus knows where they are - they’re in Edom. He can feel it. Luke says Sebastian must have some bigger reason for keeping them alive, but he doesn’t know what it is and he’s worried about Jocelyn. But Magnus doesn’t think Sebastian will hurt Jocelyn. Because Jocelyn is Clary’s mother and Clary loves her. He can use her as leverage. Jace and the others walk through the rocky, hilly terrain of Edom and its exhausting. Their runes are running out more quickly than they’re used to and they’ll need to rest soon. There are caves nearby they could sleep in but Jace, who is in a mood, thinks that’s a terrible idea. Then a demon swoops down and plucks him from the ground. They eventually kill it, but Isabelle notes that the sun is still up. The demons must not be affected by this sun like they are in their own world. They’ll need to find shelter soon; the demons might be worse after the sun fully sets. The caves don’t sound so bad now. When they reach a cave, there is a gate inside the entrance. It has protection runes on them, angelic runes. It must’ve been a place to shelter at some point. They open the gate, slip inside, and close and lock it behind them. There’s a big space that is manmade. Alec stays in the big room as the others scout the tunnels to make sure they’re alone. Simon and Izzy make one team, Clary and Jace the other. Catarina Loss comes to see Maia, who has Bat and Leila with her. Catarina brings the High Warlock of Los Angeles, Malcolm Fade, who is a bit odd. Malcolm found out about how Sebastian kidnapped the Downworlder representatives and told Catarina. They came to see if Maia knew more since she’s close to the Lightwoods, Clary, and Jace. But getting messages in and out of Idris has been hard, something that Malcolm says he can help with. Bat points out that if the Clave does not hand over Clary and Jace, the Downworlders will revolt. But Maia counters that it would be tantamount to killing Clary and Jace, while there would be no guarantee the representatives would be safe because Sebastian is a liar. Catarina doesn’t think they’ll be able to get into Idris like when they helped fight the Mortal War, but she thinks they should start getting the message out about what has happened. Get to the other Downworlders before Sebastian does. Maia decides it’s time for an alliance and writes a message to Lily. She wants to meet with Maureen. Jace and Clary talk as they investigate their tunnel. Jace is still in a mood and snipes about Simon and the ordinary life Clary once thought she’d have. When they reach a big open chamber and find a clear lake of water, he apologizes. She says she would never have believed her life would be what it is now, but she wouldn’t change it since it brought Jace to her. He’s noticed that she hasn’t been drawing. He thinks she should get back to it. She can train and pursue her art too. They kiss and she gets zapped by his fire. He reveals that he doesn’t have it under as much control as in their own world. They decide to get back to the others. Isabelle is mad at Simon and when he asks why, she tells him that he was supposed to stay in New York where he would be safe. But he doesn’t want to be in New York, he wants to be with her. She thinks he means Clary. He tells her that he doesn’t love Clary like that, but he won’t choose between the two of them - and someone who cares about him wouldn’t ask him to. Izzy draws him in and he tries to tell her that he loves her, but she cuts him off, now is not the time. Then they hear something and they run to look. They can see outside the cave and Simon describes what he can see with his vampire eyes. The moon is in fragments, there are more demons now that it is nighttime, and there seems to be a demon city of some sort. Jocelyn has been awake for some time. They’ve destroyed her stele, stolen her shoes, and cut her hair. Sebastian comes in and says that Luke and Clary are safe, for now. He asks why she would cry over the box with his initials if she didn’t love him and she explains that she wept for the child that was stolen from her. She did love him, until he was born and she saw his soul was gone. She tells him that even after knowing, she would have tried to find him if she’d known he was alive and would have raised him. He wonders if he would have been more like Clary if she had, but they’ll never know. He says that Jocelyn should have loved him since he was her son and she asks if he loves her just because she’s his mother. But he counts Lilith as his mother. Sebastian contacts Jia Penhallow with Jocelyn next to him and demands her answer early – she will not give Jace and Clary to him, they will not give up their own people to appease his demands. He laughs; they couldn’t even if they wanted to. Jace and Clary are already gone. Julian and Emma talk after his siblings are finally asleep. He’s worried about what will happen to them, his Uncle Arthur will be coming to run the Los Angeles Institute from London but they barely know him. And Emma isn’t sure if he will want her there too, she may be sent elsewhere. He tells her if they became parabatai, they couldn’t be separated. Then there’s the sound of glass breaking and his brother Ty is standing with a fire poker in one hand and an acorn in the other. A message from Mark addressed to the Consul. Raphael sleeps, so it must be daytime wherever they are. Luke learns that Magnus met Raphael just as he was Turned. His mother came to Magnus and asked for her son to be saved. Her son was Raphael and it was already too late. Magnus hopes that Raphael survives this. He tells Luke that he has never given his heart to a Shadowhunter before, swore he never would. Because a Shadowhunter is a Shadowhunter first. When forced to choose between saving one person and saving the world, they will always choose the world and Magnus is selfish enough to want them to choose him. Maureen chooses to meet Maia at a ToysRUs. Maia brings fifteen or so wolves, Maureen has about twenty vampires. Maia suggests that both groups ally with the Shadowhunters, and Maureen very much wants an alliance. But with Sebastian. The Shadowhunters stole Simon, they’re the worst. Then they can help Sebastian when he invades Idris. Maia agrees to ally with Maureen even after she says she wants to help Sebastian (Bat is astounded) and offers a blood exchange. But when Maureen drinks Maia’s blood, Maureen dies. Lily explains that on her request, Maia injected herself with holy water to kill Maureen. Maureen would not have understood the danger that Sebastian poses to all of the Downworlders. Maia might have killed Maureen, but only as if she were the weapon. It was Lily’s idea, it was Lily who really killed Maureen, so Lily is now leader of the coven. No one speaks up against her. When Jace and Clary get back to Alec, he’s a bit drunk on wine that was brought for “antiseptic purposes”. He is explaining how he doesn’t’ know what to believe anymore. He always thought it was disloyal to go against the Clave but now it feels like he’s fighting against them more often than not when Isabelle and Simon run in to tell what they’ve found. The gate at that end of the tunnel is broken, Alec and Jace volunteer to guard it. Alec wonders if the demon city is Idumea, listed in the books as Edom’s capital. Jace asks if Alec is mad at him - but not everything is about Jace. Alec angrily asks how Jace would be handling things if Clary were missing and Jace realizes that he has not given much thought to how Alec was doing without Magnus. Alec says he’s not like Jace – he’s not stoic and able to maintain the façade. Jace says he doesn’t need to be. Alec asks Jace what he saw when they first came to Edom and tells him what he saw himself. He isn’t jealous of Jace. He never wanted to be better than Jace like the vision alluded. When Jace asked him to be his parabatai, he knew that Jace needed him and trusted him. That was better than the rest of it. Jace says the best thing Valentine ever did was send him to Alec. Without Alec or his siblings, he would’ve become like Sebastian. He doesn’t tell Alec what he saw, instead pointing out a light in the distance. He follows it out, telling Alec to stand guard in the tunnel. A woman approaches him weeping. Long hair, all the way to the ground, and an iron circlet around her head. A Shadowhunter wearing the robes of an Iron Sister. When she unfolds her arm, Jace sees a huge wound in her chest. It’s Sister Magdalena. She blames him for her death. She was cursed for betraying the Clave and she wanders here instead. She accuses him of liking being bound to Sebastian because it freed him to do what he wanted. This land, this destruction, this is what he saw when he entered Edom. And himself ruling over it. He yells no and raises his arm, his fire blasts Magdalena. He can’t stop the fire once it starts raging and believes that he will die there as he falls to the ground. Clary wakes up to screaming and Alec runs in; she needs to come quickly and bring her stele. Jace is ablaze and she draws a Fireproof rune on her arm before going to him. The land around him has solidified into something that looks like adamas, but gold. The rune she first dreamt of comes back to her and she realizes what it is. She whispers to Jace to trust her, she knows how to fix this. Simon, Isabelle, and Alec watch as Jace continues to burn. Alec knows Jace is alive, thanks to their parabatai bond, but then the bond feels different. Isabelle confirms the rune is still there (phew!) and now the flames are going out. Clary and Jace are fine. When they’re all done hugging each other, Alec asks for an explanation. Jace says he knows how to use the heavenly fire now, he can direct it, but he can’t tell them more. He asks them to trust him. Of course they trust him, they’ve already followed him to literal hell. The acorn Ty holds contains a message from Mark. Mark writes to Jia that the Seelie Queen and her court are not allies to the Shadowhunters. They’ve conspired with Sebastian and were part of the attacks on the Institutes. That he now rides with the Wild Hunt and not to tell anyone how they got this information, otherwise he may be killed. He rolled his Blackthorn ring in blood and stamped it under his name as proof that the letter was from him. Jia asks Emma and Julian to tell the Clave what’s in the letter, Julian agrees but only if she promises to try to get Mark back. There may not be any way to do that, but she promises that the Nephilim will not abandon Mark for as long as he lives. Magnus is asleep, he is not doing well, and Luke watches out the window at some sort of fire he doesn’t understand. When Magnus wakes, he explains that this realm is one of his father’s realms and his father is calling to him. He wants Magnus to come to him, which Magnus does not want to do, but he can’t protect himself in this realm without his magic. When he falls back asleep, Raphael reveals that Magnus saved his life when he first became a vampire. He taught him that his life was not over just because he was Turned. And he paid a lot of money at one time to find out who Magnus’ father is, but he won’t tell Luke who it is. He just tells Luke to pray that Magnus’ father does not want to help them. Maia, Bat, and Lily meet at the police station the pack uses as a headquarters. They’re met by Malcom, being as eccentric as ever, who tells them that Catarina is in the hospital morgue and needs them to come as quickly as possible. And to bring a cage with them. Jocelyn is trying to loosen a brick in her room when Sebastian comes for her. He wants to show her something. Two thrones side by side with a window behind each. One window shows Edom, the other shows the Council room at the Gard. She knows who he wants in the second throne and asks if he really thinks Clary could ever be happy there. He would prefer Clary to be happy and willing, but she will sit there regardless. Jocelyn fights him, but he quickly overpowers her. Then there’s a flash of fire in the Edom window and Jocelyn feels a spark of hope. After the night passes, Jace, Clary, and the others start walking again. As they stop for a break, Clary uses a Farsighted rune and sees something in the distance, the city that Simon thought he saw. They run towards it. Demon towers fallen over, broken in between the ruins of buildings. Jace says it’s Alicante. After Julian and Emma are interrogated, Jia speaks to a small group including Robert, Patrick, Zachariah, and Brother Enoch. The betrayal of the faeries explains so much. Jia wants to confront the Seelie Queen, but Zachariah suggests she not do that. Right now, they know something that the Queen doesn’t realize they know. That’s a rare position to be in. Jia has also received word from the Spiral Labyrinth that there is no cure for the Endarkened Ones, at least not one found in such a short period of time. If they could destroy the Infernal Cup, then it would possibly kill all the Endarkened but there’s no way to bring them back. Zachariah says he’s fought in an unwinnable war before and he can tell them how to fight this one, but it will take the help of the Spiral Labyrinth. Clary and her group goes to what would be the Accords hall and there is a history written on the outside of the building. This appears to be like a mirror world of their own. Raziel gave Jonathan Shadowhunter in this world the Mortal Instruments, but they never made Seraph blades and had blacksmiths instead of Iron Sisters. They spurned the help of Downworlders and made a weapon that was called a skeptron. And it was not enough, the demons wiped them out anyway. Inside, there is a statue of Jonathan Shadowhunter with a skeptron, but not a replica - an actual skeptron. And Jace wants it. He climbs the statue even as Simon says this feels like a trap, and Simon is right. As soon as Jace grabs the skeptron, they are surrounded by winged demons. They fight and win but Isabelle is seriously wounded, her leg is in ribbons. Iratzes aren’t helping and more demons are coming. Clary Portals them back to the cave, but even her iratzes aren’t helping due to the demon poison. Simon rips open his wrist and drips his own blood on Isabelle’s leg. She heals, and he’s exhausted, and Clary gives Jace and Alec a moment with Isabelle as she leads Simon away. Sebastian visits the Downworlders and speaks to Raphael. The vampires have been treated so poorly by the Shadowhunters, he’s treated them no worse certainly. It takes very little convincing for Raphael to join Sebastian. But Sebastian wants him to seal their new alliance in blood by having Raphael kill Magnus, handing him a dagger. Raphael nearly does it, but he once made Magnus a promise - one that he cannot break. Sebastian drives the dagger into Raphael’s chest instead. Catarina is fighting a Dantalion demon – which looks like a tangle of organs with an eye in the center. They aren’t smart, but they’re tough and can’t be killed by warlock magic. She does manage to knock it back into the cage that Bat is holding, which has been strengthened to hold the demon. Lily is recording a video, planning to send it to all the Downworlders as a reminder that they do actually need Shadowhunters and their runed weapons. The demon tells them that Sebastian plans to attack Alicante the next night. Then the war will start. As Clary and Jace go to the cave entrances to place glamours, Alec thanks Simon for saving Isabelle’s life and Isabelle sleeps. Once they return, Simon feels a pain in his chest like he’s been stabbed. Jace first thinks of Raphael, Simon’s vampire sire, but he changes the subject and asks when Simon last fed. The blood Simon brought was broken during the fight over the skeptron and he doesn’t want to feed from his friends. They all tell him to stop being so dumb and Alec takes him down the hall so he can feed from Alec’s wrist. He makes sure to tell Simon that this will not be a sexy moment, since he’s not attracted to him at all. Simon assures him that he knew that already - though he could have faked it for a minute. In fact, he assumes that Alec hates him most of the time. Alec doesn’t. He didn’t really like Simon at first and yeah, he thinks his sister is too good for Simon, but that’s because it’s Izzy and she’s too good for most people. But Simon is a good person, and he makes Izzy happy. Somewhere along the way, Alec stopped disliking Simon. When they return, Alec leaves to take first watch and Simon curls up next to Isabelle, who is still sleeping. Alec said he made Izzy happy, basically an older brother’s seal of approval. Jace visits Alec in the tunnel. They never got to finish their conversation because Jace turned into a ball of heavenly fire, but he tells Alec now that he asked Alec to be his parabatai because he needed Alec. Because Alec is the other half of Jace, the better half. But Alec is allowed to need Jace too. He didn’t see before how much Alec was hurting but he does now. Jace wakes Clary up and tells her he wants to go bathe in the cave lake they found before. She goes with him. He thanks her for saving her during his heavenly fire fit and she reiterates that they cannot tell the others the truth right now. She wishes they didn’t know, but at least they have practice hiding things from Sebastian. The others don’t, so they must keep the truth a secret from them for a while more. They get into the water and kiss, and Jace tells her what he saw when he entered Edom. A room with two thrones, with her, Alec, Izzy, and Max in a cage that he had locked them in. He expects her to push him away, but she doesn’t. The demon only showed them what it thought they wanted, but it got things wrong – which allowed them to break the visions. Jace had a tumultuous childhood, this vision was giving him the control that he always craved. She kisses him again and finally, with his heavenly fire under control, they are able to go all the way. Isabelle wakes up and talks to Simon. She tells him what she saw when they came to Edom. That Max was there, and so was Simon. That he’s weaseled his way into her life somehow. She asks what he saw and at first, she gets upset. But he explains that although he was with Clary, he said Isabelle’s name and it’s what woke him up. He knew the vision was wrong because he loves Isabelle. And he tells her now, sober, and she doesn’t need to say it back unless she means it. But she does mean it. Maia sends Jia Penhallow a message telling her when Sebastian will attack. She wishes the Downworlders could help but knows they can’t get there right now. Jia knows things about the boxes upon boxes that arrived from the Spiral Labyrinth and knows that the war has finally come. They make a plan to sneak into what they call the Dark Gard and find Sebastian. It involves luring out a few Endarkened and stealing their clothes as disguises. Since they don’t really have a lot going on upstairs, they might be able to sneak in that way. Emma has sneaked the pictures of her parents’ bodies out of the Consul’s office. They say that they were just another casualty of Sebastian, but Emma doesn’t buy it. Her parents were not too old, too young, or too infirm, so Sebastian would have Turned them. It doesn’t make any sense. Ty comes into the room looking for Julian. He comments on how Sebastian can get in and out of the city, but Emma tells him Sebastian isn’t overly concerned with them and the Clave has a plan to keep them safe. Ty knows that - he’s just not sure the plan will work. They see Shadowhunters carrying around salt and cold iron – weapons for fighting faeries. Mark’s note was true. Jace and his friends sit outside the Dark Gard, and they don’t have to wait for long before five Endarkened come out on patrol. They kill them and take their uniforms, they walk right into the Dark Gard disguised. But Sebastian is expecting them. He insults their intelligence, pretty but not very smart, although he did think Clary was better than this. He calls in his heaps of demons. But of course, Jace is very good at strategy, and he knows Sebastian after having Sebastian in his head. He knew Sebastian would be expecting them and would collect his demons to him. Clary hurriedly draws a Portal to the Edom Accords Hall. Jace is able to run in, collect the skeptron, and come back out with the skeptron blazing. The Portal closes before the demons guarding the Accords Hall can come in and Jace uses the skeptron gun, much to Sebastian’s outrage. It kills all the demons, but Sebastian disappears, telling them they will pay in blood. Clary knows he means the blood of the others: Luke, Magnus, and Jocelyn - Sebastian told them he already killed Raphael. They have to split up to search for the hostages. Clary and Jace take one staircase as Alec, Isabelle, and Simon take the other. Endarkened stream into the Dark Gard. Jia Penhallow stands on the balcony of the Gard that evening and addresses all the Shadowhunters. Do not hesitate to strike the Endarkened down, they are no longer who they used to be. The war comes tonight; this is what they’ve trained for. They all know what to do. Emma wakes up as Alicante is being attacked. All the children are supposed to go to the Accords Hall where they will be locked in – it’s the safest place for them to be. The Penhallows are already at the Gard, Helen is there to escort them. Emma wants to fight instead, but Julian asks her to come with them. She is the best fighter of all of them and someone has to protect the little ones. If Emma chooses to fight, Julian will fight with her. He’s asking that she choose to fight to protect his family. She agrees to go with them, grabbing Julian’s hand with her own. Jace leads Clary through the Dark Gard, using his knowledge of their own Gard building as a map. They’re coughing – the dust in Edom has made all of their lungs ache but Jace and Clary have it the worst because of their angel blood. They find Sebastian in the Council room drawing a circle of runes. They attempt to stop him but are delayed by a huge demon that Jace kills quickly, but not quickly enough. Sebastian finishes his circle and stands inside of it. There are two thrones in this room. Sebastian tells them the thrones are the keys given to him by Lilith and Asmodeus, the demons that rule over Edom. Even the demons here are called Asmodei. Amatis kneels next to one of the thrones as Sebastian stands inside his rune circle, Jace can’t get past it. Sebastian waves a hand at him as if he’s casting a spell and Jace is thrown across the room into a wall. Here in Edom, he has discovered he has real power. He thought he wanted to rule their world, but now he wants more. Here he rules with his demons and Endarkened. He will be raised in glory. He wants the Morgenstern name – the Morning Star. He wants to rule Hell like Lucifer. But unlike Lucifer, he doesn’t want to rule alone. He wants Clary with him. Helen leads the twins as Julian carries Tavvy and Emma holds Dru’s hands. Alicante is under attack by the faeries and Endarkened both. They fight toward the Accords Hall when three Endarkened come out but are quickly felled by a Shadowhunter at the top of the stairs. Brother Zachariah. Magnus suggests maybe the fire is Clary and her friends just before Alec and the others burst into the room. Magnus sees Alec – he had no idea Alec had been suffering so much from his being missing. Zachariah helps Emma and the Blackthorns fight their way to the Accords Hall, where Diana Wrayburn is standing guard with the children. No other Shadowhunters are allowed in. Zachariah tells Emma to stay with Julian – with her parabatai – as he and Helen are locked outside. Sebastian explains. He loves Clary. He doesn’t want her hurt, and he wants her to sit next to him. She points out that he has hurt her, but that doesn’t count. Because he loves her. Other people aren’t allowed to hurt her. She says that’s not love but he just argues that they have different opinions of what love is. He shows her what is happening in Alicante through the window. Of the children huddled, terrified, in the Accords Hall. The mayhem in the square as Shadowhunters fight faeries, and their Endarkened family. If Clary does not rule with him, he will either kill or Turn every Shadowhunter in Alicante. After that, the Shadowhunters spread across the world won’t stand a chance against him. Only Clary can stop what is happening by joining him and sitting on her throne. Alec breaks Magnus’ chains and Magnus kisses him. He’s barely strong enough to stand, Alec has to prop him up, and they still need to find Jocelyn. They decide to split up. Isabelle, Simon, and Luke will find Jocelyn. Alec and Magnus will start heading toward the center of the Gard where they will meet back up. Emma hears when the Wild Hunt joins the fight. Ty says they aren’t regular faeries, they aren’t repelled by cold iron or salt, as the doors to the hall begin to shake. No one is coming to save them; they’re going to die here. Luke finds Jocelyn and liberates her from her room. He tells her that Clary is there. They turn to find their daughter. Clary watches as the Wild Hunt rides into Alicante. Sebastian promises to close the borders between Edom and their world if she agrees to sit next to him. She has no other choice. She climbs the steps to her throne. As the doors to the Gard fly open, Julian and Emma stand to guard the younger Blackthorns. They see Andrew Blackthorn walk in and head directly for them. Emma is forced to fight a Wild Hunt faerie, killing him with Cortana, just to turn around to find Ty reaching his hand out to his father who is no longer his father. Julian sees the same thing and throws a dagger, imbedding it into his father’s chest. Ty screams, accusing Julian of killing their father and saying that he hates Julian until Livvy pulls him away, whispering to her brother that Jules had no choice. As Clary sits on her throne, Amatis comes in and tells Sebastian that Jocelyn is missing. That’s no problem, he will bring everyone to him now. He begins to close the borders. Magnus notices the walls are moving and tells Alec that Sebastian is closing the borders. With the borders closed, Sebastian could rule this realm. Simon saves Isabelle from falling into a chasm as it opens in the floor. He’s beginning to think they’re doomed, like everything is conspiring against them. Isabelle tells him not to give up. They realize where they are, back in the Council Hall. The Endarkened are lines against the walls, Jace is lying next to a wall – still breathing thankfully, and Clary is sitting on a throne. Sebastian calls her the Queen. Soon, Alec and Magnus stumble in together, Luke and Jocelyn as well – they’d gotten separated from Isabelle and Simon in the changing hallways. The others try to convince Clary to step down, she ignores them. Alec shoots an arrow into Sebastian’s chest, but Sebastian just laughs, he cannot be killed by any weapon under Heaven any longer! Alec looks at Jace as Jace gets back to his feet, but Sebastian reveals that his heavenly fire is gone. Jace can’t hurt him either. Magnus guesses correctly that Clary has bartered the throne for Sebastian to close the borders. They will all be trapped here in Edom, Sebastian calls them “guests”. Once the borders are closed, the window to Alicante is destroyed. Sebastian demands that the others bow to their new queen, and then he wants a kiss from Clary to prove to the others that she stands with him. As she reaches for him and pulls him close, she shoves Heosphoros into his chest. He looks disappointed, she knows he can’t be killed, but as he pulls Heosphoros from his body, fire weeps from his wound. Clary had sealed Jace’s heavenly fire in her sword, but only she could wield the fire after that. It’s the reason she hasn’t used her sword since Jace’s fiery display – until now. Sebastian is consumed in a pillar of fire and when it goes out, he lays on the ground. He tells the Endarkened to stay where they are. Clary sees that his eyes are green. Jonathan, not Sebastian. The evil burned from his body and soul. Jocelyn makes her way toward Clary and Jonathan, putting his head in her lap. Jonathan apologizes for everything he’s done. He tells them that the Endarkened will attack once he is dead and calls Jace over to him. He tells Jace where to find the Infernal Cup – inside the demon he killed when they first entered the Council Room. Once Jace has it, he’s told to throw it into the circle of runes that Sebastian had drawn. Jonathan apologizes to the Endarkened too, he never should have made them. As soon as the Cup enters the circle, it is destroyed and the Endarkened collapse around them. They’re dead. A moment after Julian kills his father, the Endarkened begin to collapse around them. Jules falls against a pillar. He thought Emma was going to die, and he had to kill his own father. She draws on his hand, a way to communicate that they came up with when they were young and always in trouble for talking during lessons. On his hand, she says that he is brave and she loves him. He shakes his head, but she draws it again. The faeries around them start to throw down their weapons and Emma sees Helen walking toward them with Aline. Clary asks Jonathan to tell them how to get home, but there is no way. He closed all the paths including the one in the Seelie Court. He tells her that he had a dream once of a manor house and a girl with red hair and preparations for a wedding. The same dream that Clary had. Maybe there was a world in which he was a good son – they’d both like to think that. She wonders if this Jonathan is who he would have been. All his life the demon blood ate away at him, and he never even realized it. He’s never felt so light before. He smiles, closes his eyes, and dies. Luke comes to Jocelyn’s side as Clary tells the others that Sebastian is dead and that there is no way to open the borders. Magnus says that’s true. There’s no way for them to open the borders. Alec picks up on those two little words: for them. Someone could open them. Magnus says there are things worse than death, but Alec thinks they should be able to choose for themselves - and they choose to take their chances on whoever this is. Magnus calls to his father to come to them. They have the same eyes. Magnus had only called him once before, to find out if he was actually his father. Asmodeus, once an angel who was a chief adviser for Lucifer and who fell from Heaven with him. Edom is his realm. He didn’t realize Sebastian would make such a mess of it. He tells them that he can make a doorway to their world, straight to Alicante. To prove it, he moves Jocelyn and Luke back to Alicante in a second, with no warning. But those are the only freebies they’ll get – the rest will cost them. And he wants Magnus. More specifically, he wants Magnus’ life freely given. His immortality. His four hundred years will collapse on Magnus the moment he gives it up, and he will die, but his immortality will help power Edom. Everyone tells Magnus no, but Magnus says there is no other way. Let him save Alec and his friends. Alec offers to stay with him, but Magnus won’t hear it. Then Simon speaks up. Magnus is not the only immortal here, and Simon is not four hundred years old. He could just live out the rest of his life as a mortal again. But Isabelle points out that he died. If his immortality is taken, he will go back to being dead. Asmodeus laughs. He can make the heart beat in Simon’s chest again but, of course, that will cost extra. For it, he wants Simon’s memories. His memories of the Shadow World and his friends, Asmodeus will also take the memories of the mortals who remember Simon as a vampire. The Shadowhunters can keep their memories – the better to torture them with. They will not be able to remind Simon of his past. To do so is to break the Accords. No one wants this to happen, even Jace says not to touch Simon, but they cannot fight Asmodeus in this world where he is strongest. And it is Simon’s choice. Asmodeus grabs him and Simon’s heart starts to beat. They can see the memories as they’re taken from Simon in a hazy fog around them. They are transported back to Alicante, but Simon is not with them. The Council convenes. Kaelie stands to represent the Seelie Court; the Unseelie Court has sent no representation. The Shadowhunters want the faerie courts to pay for the damage they have done. To pay for repairs to Alicante, and to the Praetor Lupus, and the broken wards from their own coffers. But for the loss of life that the courts have caused, the faeries are asked to disband their armies. Any faerie carrying a weapon will be killed on sight. It is this that Kaelie says is too harsh. The faeries need to be able to defend themselves, they’ve always been warriors. But failing to acquiesce would mean war and Kaelie gives in. Emma sees that she’s furious. The only person at the meeting to speak against having their armies disbanded was Magnus, who called for leniency. Part of the reason the faeries fought was because the Shadowhunters are seen as too harsh by the Downworlders. But he does not sway the Council and the measure is passed. Others ask about Helen and Mark Blackthorn. They’re half-faerie and their loyalty is called into question, even though Shadowhunter blood is dominant, they both wear Marks, and Helen fought against the Fair Folk. Jia is asked to recuse herself as Aline is dating Helen, and there are Shadowhunters that demand Helen be stripped of her Marks altogether. Several people, Luke and Magnus included, speak up for Helen and Mark, but even the fact that she is willing to raise her younger siblings does not change any minds. It is decided, with Robert agreeing to the compromise, that Arthur Blackthorn will raise his nieces and nephews while running the Los Angeles Institute and Helen will be sent to Wrangel Island. It is a prestigious position, and she would have been sent to another Institute to study at this point anyway, but it couldn’t be further from her siblings and is really a thinly veiled punishment for her parentage. As for Mark, Robert points out that he is already with the Wild Hunt. The Shadowhunters, Mr. Balogh and Mrs. Sedgewick in particular, demand that his freedom not be negotiated and this measure also passes. Clary and Jace are not at the meeting. They have taken Jonathan’s ashes to Lake Lyn, along with the Morgenstern ring he wore. The ashes of the Endarkened will be buried at the crossroads and a statue erected in commemoration of those who had once been Shadowhunters, but Jonathan is not to be included. She sprinkles the ashes in the lake and cries for the brother she could have had. Emma listens at Jia’s door as Luke speaks to her. He’s stepping down as the werewolf representative; Maia will be taking his place. He also tells Jia that what the Clave did to Helen and Mark is not okay. It’s reprehensible. Jia knows that, but she’s also worried about them. About what the other Shadowhunters would do to the two of them if they weren’t out of sight. But it’s when talk turns to Emma and her possibly being sent to the Shadowhunter Academy, which is being reopened, that Emma storms in and refuses to leave Los Angeles. Julian reminds Jia of what she said: That the Clave would not abandon Mark. She owes them for breaking that promise. Jia is still unsure, so Emma reveals that she has accepted Julian’s request to become parabatai. With that, they could not be separated. Jia asks if they’re sure and Emma ignores the little voice in her head telling her to wait, insisting that they’re sure. Clary and Jace ride back to Alicante. They ride past the Herondale manor. Jace has been using the name Lightwood and has been told that if he does that, he does not have any right to Herondale property and will even lose the right to use the name after turning eighteen. The Herondale line will end. Jace doesn’t want to hurt the Lightwoods, but he thinks he wants to be a Herondale after all. Magnus sits next to Alec. They’ve barely spoken since returning to Edom. Magnus tells Alec that warlocks harden as they get older. They begin to not feel things, and it had started happening to Magnus… until he met Alec. Alec saved his life that way. He tells Alec that he loves him and asks him to get back together but Alec isn’t sure. He isn’t okay with not knowing about Magnus’ past. Magnus hands him a book that he’d been writing. Stories of his past. It’s the beginning of what he wants to share with Alec – because he does want to share it with Alec. Alec agrees to give them another try. Jace drops Clary off at home and she finds Isabelle waiting in the kitchen. She fills Clary in on the meeting – and that Aline has announced she will also be going to Wrangel Island – before getting to the real reason she’s there. She misses Simon and she knows Clary does too. Three days after they got out of Edom, Clary was told by Jia that Simon was at home, safe, and living a mortal life. She was allowed to call him, but he didn’t recognize her name. When she asked who his very best friend was, he said it was Eric. It was brutal. Isabelle says it would have been easier if he had died. Then they could have grieved, this is worse. Clary reminds her that it hasn’t been all loss. They’ve gained people too. They’ve gained each other. Maia has rented her own apartment; she gets a small salary as the new, permanent pack leader. She opens a small package sent by Jia Penhallow. Inside is the seal of the head of the Praetor Lupus with a note that says, “begin again”. Helen prepares to leave for Wrangel Island. She tells Jules that she knows their siblings will be in good hands. Not Arthur’s – his. He knows his siblings. He can help Dru with her nightmares and he knows how to talk to Ty. Ty is different, he navigates the world in a different way. He loves Julian though he doesn’t always show it in the best way. He watches Julian and wants to be just like him, though Jules can’t see it. But Ty is also jealous of how easily Julian talks to people when it’s so hard for him. Arthur seems good, and like he wants to help, but this burden is going to fall on Julian’s shoulders. When Helen leaves, Jules falls in on himself. Emma says he won’t do it all alone - she will help. She wants to tell Jules the real reason that she wants to become his parabatai. It’s true that she wants to stay with him, but she also wants to find out who killed her parents and get her revenge. She starts to say it, but he falls asleep. She sees that he is becoming handsome and knows that girls will want to love him. But as his parabatai, she won’t be one of those girls. She won’t be allowed to be one of those girls. Clary stands near Magnus and Isabelle outside of St. Xavier’s, glamoured so they can’t be seen. When Simon comes into view, Clary removes her glamour and goes to speak to him. She tells him that they were best friends in kindergarten, that she knows his mom and sister. That her mom is getting married that night. She wants him to remember something, but he doesn’t. She turns to walk away, but he hands her a flier for his band before she goes. She can’t look at it; she used to help him make those fliers! She hands the flier to Izzy before leaving. This was harder than she expected. As Clary leaves, Isabelle looks at the flier. Simon’s band is named “The Mortal Instruments”. Isabelle begs Magnus to try. He had promised he would if it looked like Simon remembered anything at all, but Magnus really didn’t think Simon would have any memories. He agrees to try. Simon takes the subway home. He’s been having the strangest flashes of… he can’t really call them memories, but of something. Like when the girl spoke to him earlier. A man introduces himself to Simon, his name is Magnus Bane, and he’d like to introduce Simon to someone. Isabelle comes out and Simon can’t think when he looks at her. She hands Magnus a book and Magnus explains that it is a spellbook. Simon once knew that the world was full of magic but that was taken from him, with the idea that it would never be returned to him. But Simon was great. A warrior. Saved lives, killed demons. The blood of angels ran through his veins. It seems wrong to take that away. Simon looks at the book and feels a strange twinge. He sees Isabelle’s ruby necklace and the twinge gets stronger. Magnus says that Simon should get to choose. Everyone has the potential to be extraordinary, if they so choose. The Shadowhunters need to train new Shadowhunters since so many were lost in what is being called the Dark War. Simon could choose to be a Shadowhunter. Magnus can use the spell book to help prepare him to Ascend, and possibly return some of his memories, though he cannot make Simon what he once was. And if he becomes a Shadowhunter, he would have the Clave’s protection. Isabelle warns Simon. Being a Shadowhunter is dangerous. But it can be amazing if it’s the right life for you. Magnus reminds him that he can choose to remain as he is and live the life he has always expected. Or he can choose to be more. Clary is at Jocelyn and Luke’s wedding reception, being held on Luke’s farm. Maia is there; Bat is the DJ. She sees Maryse and Robert, Alec, Isabelle, and Jace, but no Magnus. Brother Zachariah comes holding the hand of a girl in a green dress and a jade necklace. Clary has seen her a few times. Jace pulls Clary to the side. He reminds her that Madame Dorothea once told them that Jace would fall in love with the wrong person, and he thinks he knows now what she meant. Clary is always testing him, testing what he believes in. Testing who he is as a person. Clary was not the right person for the Jace he was when they met but she has helped mold him into the person he is now. A person that he likes much better. And she’s the right person for this Jace. Magnus finds them. He has something he thinks they should see. Alec stands at the edge of the tent when his father comes up to him. Alec is pretty salty to him, says it was nice of him to pretend to be civil with Maryse earlier. Robert says he and Maryse still love each other, they just can’t be married, and they should have come to terms with that years before. You choose who to be with sometimes when you’re too young and that person doesn’t change with you. Alec takes that as a dig at him and Magnus, but Robert says something unexpected. He apologizes for the things he has said. He’s always been proud of Alec, that hasn’t changed. He explains that Michael Wayland was his parabatai. It’s part of the reason Robert took Jace in, thinking he was Michael’s son. Robert never believed Michael was really dead and he couldn’t feel it through their bond. Their bond had already been severed by Robert’s exile, but even before that the two of them had grown apart. When they were really close, Michael had told Robert that he loved him and Robert was not kind about it. Robert was afraid and told Michael never to say it again. Their relationship never recovered. Looking at Alec, Robert is not ashamed of Alec but ashamed of himself and how he treated Michael Wayland. He tells Alec that he is a much better man than he could ever be. Alec says thank you. It’s a start, they may be able to repair their relationship. Clary comes back to the tent. She sees Alec speaking with Robert. Maia chatting with Aline. Isabelle is standing with Simon. Simon, smiling uncertainly at Clary. Magnus tells her that Simon only remembers a little bit right now, so Clary needs to be careful. She runs to Simon crying and he explains that he feels like he’s at a family reunion where he barely knows everyone, but they all know him. But he remembers Clary. He touches the fairy ring that he had worn since she went to Sebastian’s apartment, the one he gave her before Asmodeus took his memories, the one she still wears. He remembers that she’s his best friend. Alec tells Magnus what he learned about Robert and Michael, and Magnus advises him to forgive his father. Anger isn’t worth it. They promise to spend whatever days they have left together. Jace dances with Clary as Lily plays the piano, but Lily is getting tired. Jocelyn asks Jace to play instead. Clary has told her he’s very talented. Zachariah and Tessa Gray, the woman he’s with, watch Jace play Chopin on the piano. Tessa wonders if Emma will one day play the violin. She wishes she could tell Emma more about the connection she and Zachariah have, so that Emma might not feel so alone, but Zachariah can’t yet. They decide just to keep an eye on Emma for now. Tessa points around them. Lightwoods, Herondales, Fairchilds all here. Tessa tells Zachariah that Blackthorns and Carstairs are also a part of this story. It’s amazing to see them and to know the past that came before them. She just wishes that he were there with the two of them again, just one more time. Zachariah says he is with them. Zachariah can feel it, just like he used to be able to feel when he was sad or happy or lonely. He is happy now to see them together, just like it always made Zachariah happy to see the two of them together. Jocelyn approaches them with Clary and Zachariah leaves so they can speak to Tessa alone. Jocelyn introduces the two of them. Simon comes to stand with Isabelle. She sees some recognition in his eyes when he looks at her, but he doesn’t look at her the way he did before. He asks her to dance and she agrees. He starts to ask if they were together before, but she stops him. She doesn’t want to talk about it. She doesn’t want to hear that he doesn’t remember. But he tells her he wants to remember. And he does remember, at least some of it. He can remember kissing her. For months, he’s felt like something was missing. Something wasn’t right. He knows now that he was missing all of this, but it was Isabelle that he could feel. He dreamed about her. He doesn’t remember being the guy that Isabelle is looking for when she looks at him, but he’d like to try to be that person again. If she will let him try. She feels hopeful for the very first time and she jokes that she can’t make any promises. Jocelyn explains that Tessa is an unusual kind of warlock. When Brother Zachariah put the protections on Clary as a baby, Tessa stood in as an Iron Sister. They took the name Fray for Tessa. F for Fairchild but ray for Gray. Jocelyn leaves Tessa and Clary to talk, and Clary asks how Tessa became so well acquainted with a Silent Brother. Tessa doesn’t answer, looking at Jace instead. She says she has always had a special affinity for some families. Blackthorns, Herondales, Carstairs, Lightwoods. Especially the Herondales. It’s part of the reason that she left after the Uprising and locked herself away, joining the Spiral Labyrinth. She hid from what had happened to the Herondales. She wanted to speak with Jace after the Mortal War but was told she should wait until Jace was more ready. Zachariah has told her what happened with Jace and the heavenly fire, and Tessa is grateful for what they did for Zachariah. He has been transformed back into a regular old Shadowhunter. She and Zachariah have met each other every year in January, and she could not believe it when she saw him this time. She has something for Clary, and for Jace. For Jace – a ring that belonged to James Herondale. Jace does not have a Herondale ring and had said he would need to have the Iron Sisters make one. He can have this one instead. The Fairchilds are also one of the families Tessa has loved, and Clary reminds her of the people she used to know. She also knows what it feels like to lose a brother and father, and to be judged by their actions. Do not let other people decide who she is. She gives Clary her copy of the Shadowhunter’s Codex to keep. Tessa tells Clary that she and Zachariah are going to Los Angeles. Clary asks Zachariah if Tessa was one of the two people he had said he had loved more than anything in the world and Zachariah says Tessa is one of them. He never stopped loving Tessa or his parabatai. We don’t stop loving, even when someone dies. Zachariah is holding Church as he walks away. Isabelle says she thinks Zachariah stole Church, but Jace says that’s not possible, Church hates everybody. Simon looks at Jace with astonishment. Did he bite Jace one time?! Someone says he bit Alec too and Maia asks when that happened, intrigued. Bat comes up behind Maia, helping her with her hair, letting his hands linger. Clary asks all her friends to come down to the lake. Magnus had been watching Clary and Tessa talking when Catarina came up to him. It must be weird for Magnus to have Tessa here, and it is. But he always like Tessa and her boys. And her kids. He reveals that he’s heard rumblings, unhappiness among Downworld. Especially with how the Shadowhunters have treated the Fair Folk. Old mistakes are being repeated. Catarina knows he worries about those he loves, but it’s better to love and fear than to feel nothing. Alec comes up and asks Magnus if he wants to come to the lake with the others and Magnus takes Alec’s hand. At the lake, Clary can hear Alec name the constellations for Magnus. Maia and Bat walking along the lakeshore holding hands. Simon and Isabelle whispering and laughing occasionally. Jace sees the Codex that Tessa gave to Clary and Clary shows him the Herondale ring that Tessa sent for him. He slips it onto his hand and asks if she likes the name Herondale. Clary Herondale doesn’t sound so bad – she disagrees. He laughs; love requires sacrifice. Jace reads the inscription on the back of Tessa’s Codex, a Milton quote: “Freely we serve because we freely love, as in our will to love or not; in this we stand or fall.”