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The demon woman's voice had dropped to a low chant With a shock of surprise Clary realized that she nohere she had heard it before She saw her father, standing inside a pentagra at his feet The woman said, The child born with this blood in him will exceed in power the Greater Demons of the abysses between the worlds But it will burn out his humanity, as poison burns the life froh stiff lips "I knoho you are I saw you cut your wrist and drip blood into a cup for el Ithuriel showed it to me in a vision"

Simon's eyes darted back and forth between Clary and the wouessed she didn't surprise easily "I saw my father summon you I knohat he called you My Lady of Edoave your blood to makeIf it weren't for you-"

"Yes All that is true I gave enstern, and he put it in his baby boy, and this is the result" The wolass surface of Sebastian's coffin There was the oddest sht almost say that, in a way, I am Jonathan's mother"

"I told you that address didn't nored hih the doors of the building, the ruby pendant around her neck had pulsed, faintly, like the beat of a distant heart That meant demonic presence Under other circumstances she would have expected her brother to sense the weirdness of the place just like she did, but he was clearly too sunk in glooht," she said to him "I left mine at home"

He shot her an irritated look It was dark in the lobby, dark enough that a normal human wouldn't have been able to see Maia and Jordan both had the excellent night vision of olves They were standing at opposite ends of the roo ainst the far wall, apparently exa it with you everywhere," Alec replied

"Oh? Did you bring your Sensor?" she snapped "I didn't think so At least I have this" She tapped the pendant "I can tell you that there's so demonic"

Jordan's head snapped around "There are demons here?"

"I don't know-maybe only one It pulsed and faded," Isabelle ad a coincidence for this just to have been the wrong address We have to check it out"

A diht rose up all around her She looked over and saw Alec holding up his witchlight, its blaze contained by his fingers It threw strange shadows across his face,hiet going," he said "We'll take it one floor at a time"

They moved toward the elevator, Alec first, then Isabelle, Jordan and Maia dropping into line behind them Isabelle's boots had Soundless runes carved into the soles, but Maia's heels clicked on the , she paused to discard them, and went barefoot the rest of the way As Maia stepped into the elevator, Isabelle noticed that she wore a gold ring around her left big toe, set with a turquoise stone

Jordan, glancing down at her feet, said in a surprised tone, "I reht that for you at-"

"Shut up," Maia said, hitting the door close button The doors slid shut as Jordan lapsed into silence

They paused at every floor Most were still under construction-there were no lights, and wires hung down fros like vines Windows had plywood nailed over thehosts Isabelle kept a fir happened until they reached the tenth floor As the doors opened, she felt a flutter against the inside of her cupped pal a tiny bird there and it had beaten its wings

She spoke in a whisper "There's so here"

Alec just nodded; Jordan opened his , but Maia elbowed him, hard Isabelle slipped past her brother, into the hall outside the elevators The ruby was pulsing and vibrating against her hand now like a distressed insect

Behind her, Alec whispered, "Sandalphon" Light blazed up around Isabelle, illu the hall Unlike some of the other floors they had seen, this one seeranite walls rose around her, and the floor was smooth black tile A corridor led in two directions One ended in a heap of construction equipled wires The other ended in an archway Beyond the archway, black space beckoned

Isabelle turned to look back at her coht stone and was holding a blazing seraph blade, lighting the interior of the elevator like a lantern Jordan had produced a large, brutal-looking knife and was gripping it in his right hand Maia see her hair up; when she lowered her hands, she was holding a long, razor-tipped pin Her nails had grown, too, and her eyes held a feral, greenish gleam

"Follow me," Isabelle said "Quietly"

Tap, tap went the ruby against Isabelle's throat as she went down the hall, like the prodding of an insistent finger She didn't hear the rest of the shadows cast against the dark granite walls Her throat was tight, her nerves singing, the way they always did before she walked into battle This was the part she liked least, the anticipation before the release of violence During a fight nothing le to keep her mind on the task at hand

The archway loomed above them It was carved , its sides decorated with scrollwork Isabelle glanced up briefly as she passed through, and aloyle was carved into the stone, leering down at her She made a face at it and turned to look at the rooed, clearly meant to someday be a full loft apart out onto a view of the East River with Queens in the distance, the Coca-Cola sign flashing blood-red and navy blue down onto the black water The lights of surrounding buildings hovered glittering in the night air like tinsel on a Christmas tree The room itself was dark, and full of odd, huround Isabelle squinted, puzzled They weren't animate; they appeared to be chunks of square, blocky furniture, but what-?

"Alec," she said softly Her pendant rithing as if alive, its ruby heart painfully hot against her skin

In a moment her brother was beside her He raised his blade, and the rooht Isabelle's hand flew to her el, no"

"You're not his mother" Simon's voice cracked as he said it; Lilith didn't even turn to look at hilass coffin Sebastian floated inside it, silent and unaware His feet were bare, Simon noticed "He has a mother Clary's mother Clary's his sister Sebastian-Jonathan-won't be too pleased if you hurt her"

Lilith looked up at that, and laughed "A brave atterow up, you know Often I visited hiiven birth to him hated him He has no love lost for her, nor should he, nor does he care for his sister He is enstern" Her dark eyes moved from Simon to Jace and Clary They had not moved, not really Clary still stood in the circle of Jace's arms, with the knife near her throat He held it easily, carelessly, as if he were barely paying attention But Si uninterest could explode into violent action

"Jace," said Lilith "Step into the circle Bring the girl with you"

Obediently JaceClary ahead of him As they crossed the barrier of the black-painted line, the runes inside the line flashed a sudden, brilliant red-and so else lit as well A rune on the left side of Jace's chest, just above his heart, glowed suddenly, with such brightness that Simon closed his eyes Even with his eyes closed, he could still see the rune, a vicious swirl of angry lines, printed against the inside of his eyelids