𝕤𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕠𝕟: 𝕠𝕟𝕖
𝕖𝕡𝕚𝕤𝕠𝕕𝕖: 𝕥𝕨𝕠

ʙʀʏɴɴᴇ [ʙ-ʀ-ɪʜ-ɴ] / ʀʏɴ [ᴘʀᴏɴᴏᴜɴᴄᴇᴅ: ʀ-ɪʜ-ɴ ᴏʀ ʀᴇɪɢɴ]

"Clary. Clary, come on. We gotta go" Simon says worried about what had just happened as a dead body laid before them yet he was confident that his best friend would want his and Brynne's help rather than the help of some stranger

"Simon, I think Jace can help us," Clary says making Simon not believe that she wants to trust a stranger so he turns to look at Brynne making her stop playing with the ends of her sleeves to respond, "So do i"

"What?" Simon asks definitely not on the same page as the two and getting more worried as through the New York night they were able to hear the sound of sirens getting closer

"Come on," Clary says taking hold of Simon's arm and pulling him towards the staircase where Jace led. Brynne takes a deep breath as everything was about to unfold and most likely Clary is going to look at her for answers that she didn't have

"How do we know this Mick Jagger-looking guy is even gonna try-" Jace cuts Simon off having stopped on the steps to look back

"Mundane, we do not have the time"

"Come on, Simon. Let's go" Clary says softly as he was the only one who seemed to need reassurance that everything was going to be okay

The four walk up the stairs into the church, Brynne closes the door behind them letting them all be met with a dark and abandoned space that was a front. Jace pulls the sleeve of his leather jacket to show his wrist while taking out his stele to draw a rune on himself. The process made him wince which made Simon look frightened at what seemed to be some shape of self-harm

Clary catches the confused look on Simon's face making her say, "I know. Trust me."

"He's, like, burning himself." Simon whispers, Jace finishes drawing the rune and takes Simon's hand making him start to freak out, "Buddy, what's going on, man? I'm not your type, man. I don't even..."

Then everything changed for him, all the rubble on the ground started to magically go back to its place as if was drawn to its original spot. The dark hall became well light letting Simon be able to see that at the end of the hall there were two people standing around a monitor and there was more than what first met the eye

Standing with a mouth wide open Simon was able to ask, "Where are we? What the hell? Clary, is there a war going on that I don't know about?"

"There is now," Jace says making Brynne remember the reason why she was standing in a shadowhunters institute and how soon it was time for her to try to let go of those reasons as there is a war in her world

"I think my mother's at the center of it," Clary informs her two friends, only one meeting her eyes

"You coming?"

Simon takes a step forward before looking back to see that Brynne hadn't moved. Simon gestured with his head towards where they were supposed to walk making Brynne slightly nod before walking next to Simon towards the closest monitor

"What is this place? There's a lot of gear in here. What'd they do, rob a tech shop? So this cold-blooded killer is gonna help us?" Simon voices his dislike for Jace as the blonde pulls up live security footage of the front steps of the church

"He's not a killer. He's protecting us" Clary defends Jace

"Specifically, you. It's sort of our thing"

Jace's words don't calm Simon down as they only make him slightly panic more when seeing Clary and Jace looking to have a thing, "Your thing? You guys have a thing?"

"He means a Shadowhunter thing. That's what they do, protecting humans from demons" Clary explains calmly as she herself was being introduced to the whole world a few hours prior and freaked out

"Demons, right. That makes perfect sense, 'cause there are demons running all around New York" Simon sarcastically rambles making Brynne stiffen as she looked Jace dead in the eyes shaking her head praying to an invisible entity that he wouldn't say anything about her having demon blood in her

Jace not understanding Brynne's silent nonverbal cues says, "That is the first correct thing you've said all day"

Their attention was drawn towards the monitor as there were now people in the footage rather than it being the front doors of the church. An officer shouts "NYPD"

"Won't they find us?" Clary asks Jace having little knowledge of how any of their technology or runes really work

"No. Our wards will deter them" Jace vaguely explains just as an officer announces their police presence once again, "And the NYPD will do their typical mundane thing for a few hours and then the area will be clear"

"What is going on?" A new voice booms making their presence known. Alec walks over to the group looking at the two new faces and no one could tell which one he was more irritated to see, "Why is there a mundane in the Institute? And you brought a warlock into the Institute?"

Brynne couldn't help but freeze in her spot as she knew for certain that her friends heard the word warlock leaving the cute brunette's lips.

"Warlock?" Simon asks confused as he knew he had been called mundane meaning the only other person who Alec could be talking about could be Brynne. Simon turns to his best friend in shock and in amazement "Ryn, you're a warlock? You have powers?"

"Surprise" Brynne says with jazz hands feeling very awkward as to how her secret was shared

"You knew about this world this whole time?" Clary asks taken back and unlike Simon, she was less amazed by the news of one of her best friends having power as she felt betrayed

"Well not just your whole lifetime but yes. I didn't tell you because it was part of the deal I had with your mother. On your eighteenth birthday, she was the one to tell you about all of this but of course, things don't always go as planned and here we are" Brynne says as there was only so much she was going to say while being surrounded by shadowhunters. While she did trust them to protect Clary's life she didn't trust them with the secrets she kept

"Still doesn't explain why you brought them into the Institute" Alec remarks not caring for a warlock having to explain to everyone what she didn't tell them who she truly was

"A Circle member followed them to get to Clary" Jace explains knowing that bit would make Alec reliant on them being in the institute. Alec didn't question the warlock's ability to cloak their tracks as he assumed she was new to the world of magic and didn't know any spells. The reason that Alec and Jace were able to tell she was a warlock so easily was because of the electricity around her.

It was something that over the years Brynne couldn't find a fix to, the electricity that surrounds her was a quick giveaway to her identity. It was one of the main reasons she stayed away from shadowhunters but since Clary didn't have any runes on her skin she wasn't able to see the electricity, that is until now. If Clary were to look at Brynne, really look at her, the redhead would be able to see the white sparks traveling around Brynne

"A Circle rune, just like the guys that took my mother," Clary says thinking back to the people who would have most likely taken her mother as she wasn't for certain since she had entered a portal that dropped her off at the police station in search for Luke

"What exactly is a Circle member and why are they trying to kill us?" Simon asks confused as to what being a member of the Circle even meant

"Well more like kill you, abduct me and Clary, and then while in captivity they kill me slowly" Brynne truthfully shares knowing that there was never anything nice to say about a Circle member capturing downworlers

"All we know is... a long time ago the Circle led a revolt. A lot of Shadowhunters got killed... including my father." Jace explains making Brynne roll her eyes at the fact that Jace shares how many Shadowhunters got killed as if they were the only ones to have died at the hands of the Circle's crusade

"And since the revolt we've been forbidden to even hear about the Circle," Alec adds as the reason why Circle members were so well known within the shadowhunters was that they were forbidden to hear about the history of the time period 

"But, how's that even possible? It's your history" Clary asks confused making Jace smile before responding

"Says the girl who didn't know she was a Shadowhunter?"

"Yeah. Yeah, you're right. And now the only person who knows the truth is missing, so I don't care about your rules or what's forbidden, I'm... There's gotta be someone out there who can tell us why they've taken my mother" Clary says before she turns to Brynne curiously to see if she had the answers only for Brynne to look at her with sad eyes and shake her head as she did not have the answers Clary was looking for.

Brynne only had theories as to why Clary's mother wanted to hide Clary from the shadow world. Not having the answers to all the questions being asked meant Brynne couldn't be tortured to give up information and she didn't have to lie.

"There is," Jace says as he turns to take a step towards the training room only to stop as Clary wasn't following "You coming?"

"Yeah," Clary says just as she and Simon take a step forward making Brynne cross her arms not wanting anyone to at any moment accuse her of anything

"No, no, no. Not you" Jace tells Simon stopping him from taking another step

"Hey, we're a package deal," Clary says not seeing why Simon couldn't follow them

"Yeah," Simon says in agreement to Clary all while turning around to see Brynne standing next to the monitors as she seemed to have no motive to walk with the two to get information

"There are runes all over the training room floor that would kill your mundane boyfriend," Jace says making Brynne purse her lips as her brown eyes stare at the back of Simon's head. Brynne was trying to hide her smile with her hand at the fact that there were moments such as these that she found it funny that Clary was such an oblivious person to Simon's feelings

Clary having been caught off guard begins by saying, "He's not my—"

"I'm not, like—" Simon tries to explain at the same time as Clary only for them to lock eyes before quickly looking back at Jace "We're, uh, just friends"

"Best friends" Clary confirms making Simon look at the redhead once again knowing he couldn't say anything about his feeling as it wasn't the right moment and irrelevant

"Yeah, and I'm tough. I can handle runes. So, uh, bring on the runes" Simon says slapping Jace in the shoulder only to wave his arm back and forth as Simon slapped Jace too hard that it hurt "What exactly are runes?"

"They give Shadowhunters our demon-fighting powers," Isabelle says from behind the group making them, including Brynne, turn to face her. Isabelle extends her left hand and with her stele on her right hand, she activates the angelic rune that rests on her forearm. Unlike Jace drawing a rune on himself that seemed like burning himself, Isabelle's skin started to glow

"So hot" Simon mumbles yet it was loud enough for everyone to hear, making Jace clear his throat to which Simon quickly clarifies, "The rune"

"Don't worry, Clary. I'll watch over the best friend" Isabelle says as she walks closer to the group making Simon stay entranced by her beauty "In fact, I was about to make breakfast"

"On second thought, the runes might be less lethal" Jace comments knowing that one of Isabelle's worst traits was her cooking

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that. Please excuse my brother's lack of manners. This is Alec... and I'm Isabelle" Isabelle says with a smile extending her hand so Simon can kiss her hand

"Lewis. Simon, Simon Lewis." Simon says as he shakes Izzy's hand taking her by surprise as she was not expecting a handshake "Two first names. Am I still talking?"

To save Simon from embarrassment Brynne walks over to stand in front of the shadowhunter, extending her hand to introduce herself, "Brynne Jeung but you call me Ryn"

Seeing that the two friends of Clary had met Isabelle and were no longer alone, Jace turns to Clary. "See? Best friend's safe and sound here"

"Jace, if anything happens to him..." Clary says not trusting anyone but Jace as he had been able to explain everything to her and has been there from when she most needed it

"Clary don't worry, I won't let anything happen to Si," Brynne says letting Clary know that she wasn't going to let anything happen to Simon, especially since no one in the institute would harm a mundane.

Clary nods her head turning to Jace, "Where are we going?"

"Training room," Jace tells the redhead pointing to the room to their side, before turning to Simon "Hey, uh... don't eat the food. Dangerous"

With Simon following Isabelle and Clary getting answers with Jace, Brynne takes a step towards some stairsteps only to be stopped by Alec being in her way

"Where do you think you're going?"

Brynne looks up at Alec only to see that his stern voice matched his emotionless face. "I am going to go find a place to sit, maybe play a game on my phone"

"I'm not letting you out of my sight," Alec says making Brynne smile while raising her eyebrow. Alec had noticed the smile on the warlock's face furrowed his eyebrows as he wasn't playing games, "I don't trust you or your friends, so you're staying with me"

"Fair enough. You do seem more fun than any game" Brynne says not minding the face that she'd be around for more time admire, "So lead the way"

◇─◇──◇─────◇──◇─◇

"Who is that guy?" Clary asks Jace as they walk into the training room to be met with two shadow hunters getting ready to fight. The woman in a violet sports top held a spear while the man without a shirt fought with deer horn knifes

"That's Hodge Starkweather, our weapons trainer. And, more important for us, a former Circle member. After the uprising, Hodge repented and he was sent to live and work here to make amends. But he's forbidden to ever leave the Institute" Jace explains with arms crossed as the fight comes to an end with Hodge cutting the spear twice down the middle, leaving the women in shock. The two shadowhunters put down their weapons and go their separate away, Hodge is putting on a shirt when Clary and Jace walk up the steps towards him.

"Jocelyn" Hodge says in shock at the woman with bright red-orange hair standing before him

"Uh, I'm Clary. Uh, Jocelyn Fray is my mother"

"Well, she was Jocelyn Fairchild when I knew her. And she was one of my best friends" Hodge says with a light smile making Clary look at him sadden by the bad news she had to share with him

"She's been kidnapped... by someone named Valentine and his men"

"By the Circle, Hodge" Jace states knowing Hodge would understand why it was important they went to him for the information

"But that's impossible. Valentine's dead and the Circle died with him" Hodge says making the circle mark on Hodge's neck starts to burn a bright red, everyone being able to hear the sizzling on his skin

"What is happening?" Clary asks Jace with wide eyes

"I swore a vow never to speak of what we did. This is the Clave's way of making sure I keep that vow" Hodge explains just as light smoke starts to come off of his skin

"We can't torture him, Jace. Is there anyone else we can ask?" Clary asks making Jace shake his head not liking the fact that someone he admired was having to go through something painful and he could do nothing about it as it seemed that lives were at stake because of the hidden information

"If the Circle really is back... and they've taken Jocelyn... Our leader... our leader of the Circle was Valentine Morgenstern—We thought he wanted to protect humans, like all Shadowhunters. But we never realized the lengths which Valentine was willing to go... the people he was willing to sacrifice. Most of humanity would die if we carried out Valentine's plan" Hodge explains having to pause every now and then because his rune would flare red leaving him to talk through the pain yet it still left Clary with questions

"But I... I still don't understand. How does my mother relate to any of this?"

"Jocelyn was a member of the Circle as well" Hodge shares leaving Clary in shock at the news that her mother was apart of something that had left so many people to die

"No. I-i can't believe it. My mother, she—" Clary stutters trying to wrap her head around the news

"The important thing is that Jocelyn left the Circle. And so none of this even matters, because Valentine died in a fire years ago" Hodge says happily only for him to be interrupted as the circle mark on his neck starts to burn so much that it hurts him making him fall in pain but is caught by Jace who tries to take a steady hold of Hodge

"I'm sorry, but we can't ask you to do this" Clary says not liking to see someone in such burning pain

"Clary, we don't have a choice." Jace says before he turns to face Hodge who he was still helping in standing, "You understand that, Hodge, right?"

"Jace... is right. Valentine nearly destroyed the Shadow World and humanity along with it. If he'd gotten the Cup—"

"Wait a minute." Clary says interrupting Hodge as this wasn't the first time in the past few days that she has heard something about a cup"My mother told me she hid something from someone. If it's this Cup—"

"Clary, the Mortal Cup is the most important object in the Shadow World. Whoever possesses it can create more Shadowhunters" Jace says trying to voice how important and dangerous the cup is

"And in the wrong hands... control demons. If Jocelyn hid the Cup from Valentine, then she's in more danger than you can possibly imagine" Hodge shares making the circle burn only this time smoke started to flare from his skin as the circle glowed bright red. Hodge lets go of Jace and he falls to the ground shouting in pain

"I hate to make you suffer like this" Clary says standing over Hodge as Jace sat next to him on the ground

"I'm so sorry. Your mother was only trying to protect you. And now you must protect her. Stop Valentine... before he destroys us all" Hodge says making Clary run out of the room as quickly as the knee-length heels allowed her to move. Overwhelmed by the news she makes her way toward the hallway and Jace quickly follows after her

"Clary... Clary, look, will you just