The Last Stand of the New York Institute (The Bane Chronicles) Read online

  “And what Iron Sister and Silent Brother will do that ceremony for me without turning Clary and me over to the Clave?” Jocelyn demanded. “No. I can’t risk it. If she knows nothing of the Shadow World, she will be safe.”

  “My mother was a Shadowhunter who knew nothing of the Shadow World,” said Tessa. “That didn’t keep her safe.”

  Jocelyn stared at Tessa in open horror, obviously able to infer the story of what had happened: that a demon had gained access to an unprotected Shadowhunter woman, and Tessa had been the result.

  There was a silence. Clary had turned curiously to Tessa as Tessa had approached, her screams forgotten. Now she lifted her chubby little arms out to Tessa. Jocelyn let Tessa take Clary again, and this time Clary did not try to wriggle away from her. Clary wiped her small tearstained face against Tessa’s T-shirt. It seemed to be a gesture of affection. Magnus hoped nobody would offer Clary to him in her current sticky condition.

  Jocelyn blinked and began, slowly, to smile. Magnus noticed for the first time that she was beautiful. “Clary never goes to strangers. Maybe—maybe she can tell that you’re not a stranger to the Fairchilds.”

  Tessa gazed at Jocelyn, her gray eyes clear. Magnus thought, in this case, Tessa was seeing more than he did. “Maybe. I will help you with the ceremony,” she promised. “I know a Silent Brother who will keep any secret, if I ask him to.”

  Jocelyn bowed her head. “Thank you, Theresa Gray.”

  It occurred to Magnus how outraged Valentine would have been, to see his wife beseeching Downworlders, to think of his child in a warlock’s arms. Magnus’s thought of responding to Jocelyn’s appeal with cruelty receded even further. This seemed the kind of revenge worth getting—to prove, even after Valentine’s death, how wrong Valentine had been.

  He walked over to the two women and the child, and he glanced at Tessa, and he saw her nod.

  “Well, then,” Magnus said, “it seems we are going to help you, Jocelyn Morgenstern.”

  Jocelyn flinched. “Don’t call me that. I’m—I’m Jocelyn Fairchild.”

  “I thought you weren’t a Shadowhunter anymore,” Magnus said. “If you don’t want them to find you, changing your last name seems a fairly elementary first step. Trust me, I’m an expert. I’ve watched a lot of spy movies.”

  Jocelyn looked skeptical, and Magnus rolled his eyes.

  “I was also not born with the name ‘Magnus Bane,’” he said. “I came up with that one all on my own.”

  “I actually was born Tessa Gray,” Tessa said. “But you should choose whatever name seems right to you. I’ve always said there is a great deal of power in words, and that means names, too. A name you choose for yourself could tell you the story of what your destiny will be, and who you intend to become.”

  “Call me Fray. Let me join together the names of the Fairchilds, my lost family, and the Grays. Because you are . . . a family friend,” said Jocelyn, speaking with sudden firmness.

  Tessa smiled at Jocelyn, looking surprised but pleased, and Jocelyn smiled down at her daughter. Magnus saw the determination in her face. Valentine had wanted to crush the world as Magnus knew it. But this woman had helped crush him instead, and now she was looking at her daughter as if she would make another world, shining and brand new, just for Clary, so Clary would never be touched by any of the darkness of the past. Magnus knew what it was to want to forget as badly as Jocelyn did, knew the passionate urge to protect that came with love.

  Perhaps none of the children of the new generation—not this small stubborn redheaded scrap, or half-faerie Helen and Mark Blackthorn at the Los Angeles Institute, or even Maryse Lightwood’s children growing up in New York far from the Glass City—would ever have to learn the full truth about the ugliness of the past.

  Jocelyn stroked her little girl’s face, and they all watched as the baby smiled, lit up with the sheer joy of living. She was a story in herself, sweet and full of hope, just beginning.

  “Jocelyn and Clary Fray,” said Magnus. “It’s nice to meet you.”

  Cassandra Clare is the author of the New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Publishers Weekly bestselling Mortal Instruments series and Infernal Devices trilogy. Her books have more than thirty million copies in print worldwide and have been translated into more than thirty-five languages. Cassandra lives in western Massachusetts. Visit her at cassandraclare.com. Learn more about the world of the Shadowhunters at shadowhunters.com.

  New York Times bestselling author Sarah Rees Brennan is the author of the critically acclaimed Unspoken, a romantic Gothic mystery. The first book of her Demon’s Lexicon series received three starred reviews and was one of the ALA Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults. Unspoken and Team Human, a novel cowritten with Justine Larbalestier, are both YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults picks and TAYSHAS picks. Sarah lives in Ireland. Visit her at sarahreesbrennan.com.

  Maureen Johnson is the author of ten YA novels, including 13 Little Blue Envelopes, The Name of the Star, and The Madness Underneath. Maureen spends a great deal of time online, which has earned her some dubious and some not-so-dubious commendations, such as being named one of Time magazine’s top 140 people to follow on Twitter. Visit her at maureenjohnsonbooks.com or follow her on Twitter: @maureenjohnson.

  Margaret K. McElderry Books

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  Also by Cassandra Clare

  THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS

  City of Bones

  City of Ashes

  City of Glass

  City of Fallen Angels

  City of Lost Souls

  THE INFERNAL DEVICES

  Clockwork Angel

  Clockwork Prince

  Clockwork Princess

  THE BANE CHRONICLES

  What Really Happened in Peru

  The Runaway Queen

  Vampires, Scones, and Edmund Herondale

  The Midnight Heir

  The Rise of the Hotel Dumort

  Saving Raphael Santiago

  The Fall of the Hotel Dumort

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  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2013 by Cassandra Claire, LLC

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  ISBN 978-1-4424-9565-4 (eBook)

  Contents

  New York City, 1989

  New York City, 1993

  About the Authors