city of heavenly fire - cassandra clare

“You were, though,” he said. “Or you would have told me what happened. You didn’t evenmention Clary or Jace, or that you were worried, or anything.” He felt his stomach clench as herealized how deftly Isabelle had deflected his questions and distracted him with kissing, and he feltstupid. He’d thought she was glad to see him specifically, but maybe he could have been anyone.Isabelle’s face had gone very still. “Please,” she said. “It’s not like you asked.” She had beenfiddling with her hair; now she reached up and began twisting it, almost savagely, into a knot on theback of her head. “If you’re both going to stand there blaming me, maybe you should just go—”“I’m not blaming you,” Simon began, but Isabelle was already on her feet. She snatched the rubypendant, pulled it none too gently over his head, and dropped it back around her own neck. “I nevershould have given it to you,” she said, her eyes bright.“It saved my life,” Simon said.That made her pause. “Simon . . . ,” she whispered.She broke off as Alec suddenly clutched at his shoulder with a gasp. He slid to the floor. Isabelleran to him and knelt down by his side. “Alec? Alec!” Her voice rose, tinged with panic.Alec pushed aside his jacket, shoved down the collar of his shirt, and craned to see the mark onhis shoulder. Simon recognized the outlines of the parabatai rune. Alec pressed his fingers to it; theycame away smudged with something dark that looked like a smear of ash. “They’ve come backthrough the Portal,” he said. “And there’s something wrong with Jace.”It was like returning to a dream, or a nightmare.After the Mortal War, Angel Square had been full of bodies. Shadowhunter bodies, laid out in neatrows, each corpse with its eyes bound in the white silk of death.There were bodies in the square again, but this time there was also chaos. The demon towers wereshining down a brilliant light on the scene that greeted Simon when, having followed Isabelle andAlec through the winding streets of Alicante, he finally reached the Hall of Accords. The square wasfull of people. Nephilim in gear lay on the ground, some writhing in pain and calling out, somealarmingly still.The Accords Hall itself was dark and shut tight. One of the larger stone buildings on the squarewas open and blazing with lights, double doors thrown wide. A stream of Shadowhunters was goingin and out.Isabelle had risen up on tiptoe and was scanning the crowd anxiously. Simon followed her gaze.He could make out a few familiar figures: the Consul moving anxiously among her people, Kadir fromthe New York Institute, Silent Brothers in their parchment robes directing people wordlessly towardthe lighted building. “The Basilias is open,” Isabelle said to a haggard-looking Alec. “They mighthave taken Jace in there, if he was hurt—”“He was hurt,” Alec said shortly.“The Basilias?” Simon asked.“The hospital,” Isabelle said, indicating the lighted building. Simon could feel her thrumming withnervous, panicked energy. “I should—we should—”“I’ll go with you,” Simon said.She shook her head. “Shadowhunters only.”Alec said, “Isabelle. Come on.” He was holding the shoulder marked by his parabatai rune stiffly.Simon wanted to say something to him, wanted to say that his best friend had also gone into the battleand was also missing, wanted to say that he understood. But maybe you could only understand