Free City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare

into his Windbreaker pockets. “She texted. She’ll be here soon.”
    “Alec’s on his way—,” she began, and broke off as his pocket buzzed. Or, more accurately, the phone in his pocket buzzed. “I think someone’s messaging you.”
    He shrugged. “I’ll check it later.”
    She gave him a look from under her long eyelashes. “Anyway, I was saying, Alec’s on his way too. He had to come all the way from Brooklyn, so—”
    Simon’s phone buzzed again.
    “All right, that’s it. If you’re not getting it, I will.” Isabelle leaned forward, against Simon’s protests, and slipped her hand into his pocket. The top of her head brushed his chin. He smelled her perfume—vanilla—and the scent of her skin underneath. When she pulled the phone out and drew back, he was both relieved and disappointed.
    She squinted at the screen. “Rebecca? Who’s Rebecca ?”
    “My sister.”
    Isabelle’s body relaxed. “She wants to meet you. She says she hasn’t seen you since—”
    Simon swiped the phone out of her hand and flipped it off before shoving it back into his pocket. “I know, I know.”
    “Don’t you want to see her?”
    “More than—more than almost anything else. But I don’twant her to know . About me.” Simon picked up a stick and threw it. “Look what happened when my mom found out.”
    “So set up a meeting with her somewhere public. Where she can’t freak out. Far from your house.”
    “Even if she can’t freak out, she can still look at me like my mother did,” Simon said in a low voice. “Like I’m a monster.”
    Isabelle touched his wrist lightly. “My mom tossed out Jace when she thought he was Valentine’s son and a spy—then she regretted it horribly. My mom and dad are coming around to Alec’s being with Magnus. Your mom will come around too. Get your sister on your side. That’ll help.” She tilted her head a little. “I think sometimes siblings understand more than parents. There’s not the same weight of expectations. I could never, ever cut Alec off. No matter what he did. Never. Or Jace.” She squeezed his arm, then dropped her hand. “My little brother died. I won’t ever see him again. Don’t put your sister through that.”
    “Through what?” It was Alec, coming up the side of the hill, kicking dried leaves out of his path. He was wearing his usual ratty sweater and jeans, but a dark blue scarf that matched his eyes was wrapped around his throat. Now, that had to have been a gift from Magnus, Simon thought. No way would Alec have thought to buy something like that himself. The concept of matching seemed to be beyond him.
    Isabelle cleared her throat. “Simon’s sister—”
    She got no further than that. There was a blast of cold air, bringing with it a swirl of dead leaves. Isabelle put her hand up to shield her face from the dust as the air began to shimmer with the unmistakeable translucence of an opening Portal, and Clary appeared before them, her stele in one hand and her face wet with tears.

4
A ND I MMORTALITY
     
    “And you’re totally sure it was Jace?” Isabelle asked, for what seemed to Clary like the forty-seventh time.
    Clary bit down on her already sore lip and counted to ten. “It’s me, Isabelle,” she said. “You honestly think I wouldn’t recognize Jace ?” She looked up at Alec standing over them, his blue scarf fluttering like a pennant in the wind. “Could you mistake someone else for Magnus?”
    “No. Not ever,” he said without missing a beat. His blue eyes were troubled, dark with worry. “I just—I mean, of course we’re asking. It doesn’t make any sense.”
    “He could be a hostage,” said Simon, leaning back against a boulder. The autumn sunlight turned his eyes the color of coffee grounds. “Like, Sebastian is threatening him thatif Jace doesn’t go along with his plans, Sebastian will hurt someone he cares about.”
    All eyes went to Clary, but she shook her head in frustration. “You didn’t see them