「#Solo —; The City of Glass. Part VI.」by. @PsalmsOfSaints.
“I’ve read them all. Every interpretation, ever version and they were all the same. The same illustrations. The Angel Raziel rises from the Lake with the Cup and the Sword. I could never understand why the mirror was never shown and then I realised. The Mirror and the Lake are one in the same. The lake - is - the Mirror.” Jace, who had been holding the hilt of his blade like something might attack at any moment dropped his hold, “Lake Lyn?”
I remembered the lake, as if it were a mirror rising to meet me and the water as it shattered apart when I hit it. “The lake,” I spoke up. “I fell in when I got here. There is something about it. Luke said it does strange things to you, that the Seelies call it the Mirror of Dreams.”
“Exactly,” Hodge began eagerly, “And when I realised the Clave wasn’t aware of this, that the knowledge must have been lost over time and even Valentine didn’t know…” Hodge’s words were interrupted by the loud crashing of the Gard as it slowly succumbed to the flames and began to crumble. Sparks like the Fourth of July shot from the fire and into the air like fireworks.
Jace hauled Hodge to his feet, “Come on, you have to the tell everything you just told us to the Clave.” Alec moved to usher both myself and Simon towards the hill we had come down what seemed like hours before when it likely had only been a short while. I watched Hodge as he stumbled a bit and I almost felt sorry for him. I didn’t know what it was like to be a prisoner in my own home but I did know what it felt like to be missing a part of who you are.
My eyes flickered to Jace as he took most of Hodge’s weight upon himself, moving like he always seemed to, like the entire weight of the world was on his shoulders. Maybe it was. Maybe has Valentine’s children it was up to us to stop him. Maybe we were the only real weapons the Clave had. Surely, a father couldn’t kill his own children, he wasn’t a total monster, was he? I considered that a moment, remembering what he had done to Jace. His Falcon, the rigorous training, faking his death and all of that was - after - he was born. Before, when he was in our mother’s stomach… I couldn’t even think it.
If we were the only hope the Clave had to stop Valentine, we might all very well be doomed. “Come on!” Alec said, gripping my arm to tug me towards the hill as another crash came from behind us. “If Valentine get’s the cup…” Jace started as he continued to make slow progress towards our escape, “What then?”
“Jace, not now,” hissed Alec as he broke off from me, only to have his hold replaced by Simon. “If he tells the Clave, we’ll never hear it. They would never tell us, we’re just kids to them but Hodge - owes - it to us.” Jace stopped a moment, just before the hill that would carry us to safety and dropped his hold on Hodge which had him stumbling before finally righting himself in as he stood awkwardly before Alec and Jace, “You said you realised you had to stop him, why? What does the Mirror give him power to do?”
Hodge shook his head, “I can’t…” Jace’s hand was on his blade again only this time he unsheathed it and it lit the night with a harsh glow that had all of us, save for Jace, blinking to see. “And no lies… because maybe for each one I’ll cut off a finger… or three.” I couldn’t believe what had just come out of his mouth, “Jace…” I said, his name sounding gentle and yet holding a warning. Alec looked stricken, “Jace, no… This isn’t you. You’re not Valentine.” He said, stealing the words right out of my mouth.
Hodge actually looked afraid as he took a step away from Jace. “You don’t know what I am,” Jace spat at his Parabatai. “But I do, don’t I?” I questioned, stepping out of Simon’s reluctant hold. “Alec is right, this isn’t you. We can take Hodge to the Clave and he can tell them what he told us.”
“If he were willing to do that he would have already!” Jace snapped at me without even sparing me a glance. “The mere fact that he was locked up in the Gard proves he didn’t tell them a thing. Proves he’s nothing but a liar.”
“The Clave can’t be trusted!” Hodge exclaimed. “Valentine’s spies are everywhere and you would never know who or where they are. If I told them where the Mirror was then no doubt it would have gotten to Valentine and if he finds the mirror he would be --” Hodge stopped short, a gleaming pin of light flown through the air and with a sickening thwack Hodge’s eyes widened and went cold and dead as he staggered and fell to his knees. Alec cried out and rushed to Hodge’s side. He gripped his old tutor and lowered him carefully to the ground. I gasped as I saw the seraph blade, hilt deep in Hodge’s back.
“Jace!” I exclaimed, but he was looking around frantically, “Why?” I asked. “I didn’t do this,” Jace began, his face white and his blade, which now dulled to barely a flicker, was still at his side. Simon and I both spun, staring into the darkness. The fire from the Gard lit everything around it, giving it a hellish orange glow. The grass was littered with so much debris and soot it was covered like it had snowed but it wasn’t white but instead was a gloomy gray.
I glanced up the hill, a spattering of trees shielded us from the square which would take us back to the way we’d come but then something emerged that was impossibly darker than the night itself. A shrouded figure that seemed to purposely move so slow you could barely tell it had moved at all. Soon, I could make out it’s features, familiar dark, disheveled hair that was spackled with ash from the Gard that began to flutter around us.
His features caught the light in a way that made them all the more menacing. Dark eyes glinting from the flame as if they were burning from the inside. “Sebastian?” I exclaimed, taking an instinctive step back. Jace also moved, positioning himself between us and Sebastian, his entire stance defensive and tense, ready to strike. “You -- did this?”
