The air in the Institute was cold, heavy with the weight of secrets Clary couldn't begin to unravel. She felt the chill seep into her skin as she followed the sharp-tongued woman—Maryse, as Jace had introduced her—and the equally intimidating man, who Jace had called Hodge. Every step seemed to echo endlessly, the sound amplifying the reality she was trying to grasp: her mother was gone, taken, and she was somehow at the center of a world she hadn't even known existed until tonight.
Clary glanced at Simon, who shuffled nervously beside her. His usually bright and joking demeanor had been replaced by wide eyes and quick, shallow breaths. Orion walked on her other side, his expression calm but unreadable, his gaze flicking toward every shadow. Clary had always thought of him as unshakable, someone who could handle any situation, but even he seemed unsettled by this place.
"Here," Maryse said, stopping abruptly in front of a massive double door. The wood was dark and polished to a near mirror finish, and the carvings along its surface depicted scenes of battle, angels clashing with creatures of shadow.
"What is this place?" Clary asked, her voice quieter than she intended.
Maryse turned, her emerald eyes sharp. "The heart of the Institute. The war room." Without another word, she pushed the doors open.
Inside, the room was vast, its high ceiling supported by arched beams of blackened wood. A long table stretched across the center, surrounded by high-backed chairs, each one bearing an intricate carving on the headrest—runes, Clary realized. The walls were lined with bookshelves, weapons mounted between them. Everything in the room seemed to radiate a sense of purpose, of history.
Clary hesitated on the threshold, suddenly unsure if she belonged here. But Jace stepped past her, his casual confidence a stark contrast to her unease. "Come on," he said, glancing back at her. "You're part of this now."
Simon made a sound that was half laugh, half scoff. "Part of what, exactly? The spooky shadow cult?"
Maryse shot him a glare that could've frozen fire. "You're here because you've already been dragged into this mess," she said curtly. "And because Clary will need all the help she can get."
Clary flinched at the words. I didn't ask for any of this. But she kept the thought to herself, instead stepping fully into the room. The others followed, though Simon hung close to the door as if ready to bolt.
Maryse and Hodge moved to the far end of the table, where a large, intricately designed map was spread out. Clary couldn't make sense of it at first—it wasn't a normal map of the city. It seemed to shimmer, the lines shifting subtly as though alive.
"This is the city," Hodge said, his voice calm but firm. "As seen by Shadowhunters."
Clary frowned, stepping closer. "What does that mean?"
"It means," Maryse said, "that this map shows more than streets and buildings. It shows the places where the barriers between worlds are weakest. Where demons slip through."
Demons. The word still felt foreign in her mind, no matter how many times Jace had said it tonight. She thought of the thing she'd seen in her apartment—the way it had lunged at her, its yellow eyes glowing with malice.
"And my mom?" Clary asked, her voice trembling. "Does it show where she is?"
Hodge shook his head. "Not directly. But we can track movements—patterns that might lead us to her captors."
"Her captors," Clary repeated, the words hollow. "Who… who would take her? And why?"
The silence that followed was deafening. Jace, usually so quick with a sarcastic comment, was uncharacteristically quiet. It was Maryse who finally answered, her tone blunt.
"Your mother was hiding something," she said. "Something valuable enough for someone to risk exposing themselves to take her."
Clary's stomach twisted. "Hiding what?"
"That's what we need to find out," Hodge said, his voice gentler than Maryse's. "But first, we need to know what you remember. Anything unusual your mother might have said or done recently."
Clary thought back to the last few days, the last few hours before everything had gone wrong. Her mom had been tense, distracted, but she hadn't said much. She remembered her mom arguing with Luke, their family friend, though she hadn't caught the details. And then there was the box her mom had hidden in the attic—the one with her name on it.
"There was a box," Clary said slowly. "In the attic. It had my name on it, but she never let me see what was inside."
Maryse and Hodge exchanged a look, one that made Clary's chest tighten.
"We'll need to find that box," Maryse said.
Clary opened her mouth to protest, to say that the box was back at her apartment, but the words caught in her throat. Her apartment was probably crawling with monsters by now. The thought made her shiver.
"Don't worry," Jace said, stepping closer. "We'll get it. You're not going back there alone."
Clary nodded, grateful for his reassurance even if his cocky attitude grated on her nerves. She looked at Simon, who still lingered near the door, his arms crossed tightly over his chest.
"You okay?" she asked softly.
Simon blinked, startled by the question. "Am I okay? Not really. I mean, no offense, but this is insane. Demons? Magic maps? Secret societies?" He shook his head. "This isn't supposed to be real."
Clary didn't know how to respond. It didn't feel real to her, either.
Orion, who had been silent this entire time, finally spoke. "It's real," he said, his voice quiet but firm. "You've seen it. You can't pretend it's not there."
Simon stared at him for a moment before sighing. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Doesn't make it any less terrifying, though."
Clary turned back to the table, her gaze falling on the map once more. Her fingers curled into fists at her sides. "What do we do now?"
"We start preparing," Maryse said. "This isn't going to be easy, and if you're going to be involved, you'll need to learn how to survive."
Clary's stomach sank. "Survive?"
"Welcome to the world of Shadowhunters," Jace said with a smirk. "You'll get used to it."
I didn't ask for this, Clary thought again, but she swallowed her fear and nodded.
For her mother, she would face whatever this world threw at her.
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This chapter reveals more of the Shadowhunter world through Clary's perspective, focusing on her growing awareness of the stakes and the secrets surrounding her mother. It builds tension while laying the groundwork for Clary's next steps as she begins to understand her place in this strange, dangerous new reality.