ANGEL WINGS - SHADOWHUNTERS

[7] institutes and relationship advice

After leaving Clary alone with her mother, and having a nice catch-up with Magnus through the night, Rowena arrived back at the Institute to check up on both Jace and Clary. Rowena walked through various hallways before finding herself back in the centre of the Institute and seeing Jace talking to a beautiful woman with long dark brown hair.

"Jace." Rowena called as she jogged down the stairs and over to the two, "How are you doing?"

He tensed up a bit but responded with a quick, "Fine," and walked away. Rowena took this as a sign that he didn't want to talk about it so decided to introduce herself to the woman who had been next to him.

"Hi, I'm Rowena." She said, holding her hand out for the woman to shake.

Izzy took Rowena's hand and shook it graciously before pulling her into a bone crushing hug. "Thank you for helping save Jace's life. He's like a brother to me... If I had lost him, I don't know what I would have done. I'm Isabelle. Isabelle Lightwood."

"It was no problem, really. I saw that they needed help and gave it." She responded, before realisation dawned on her, "You're Isabelle. The friend Magnus was helping out."

"Yeah, you know Magnus." She asked, with enthusiasm. The two started walking away from the centre of the Institute, down multiple hallways as they spoke.

Rowena nodded, "I've known Magnus for centuries. He's a close friend." Izzy nodded her head for Rowena to continue. "We met in Rome, Italy. I was living there and he was too."

"Interesting." She answered. "Jace also mentioned you're immortal but you're not a warlock or a vampire."

Rowena nodded, "That is correct. I'm half-angel and half-demon."

"How is that even possible?" Isabelle questioned.

Rowena shrugged, shaking her head, "I don't know. All I know is that almost 5,000 years ago, my demon mother and my angel father came together and had me. My father abandoned us and my mother was exiled to Edom."

"I'm sorry." Isabelle responded, stopping in her tracks and putting her hand on Rowena's shoulder. "You haven't seen either of your parents for almost 5,000 years. I can't even fathom not seeing my parents for a year or two."

"It's okay." Rowena responded. "I'm happy here on Earth... Anyway, I have got to go and check up on Clary, just make sure she's doing okay this morning." Rowena took her leave and made her way back to the centre of the Institute where Magnus was sitting with Jace and Clary.

"There are certain individuals I'd like to avoid, so let's make this quick." Magnus spoke to Jace and Clary.

"Not me I hope." Rowena interjected, coming down the stairs behind Magnus and standing next to Clary.

"Not you, Sunshine." Magnus chuckled.

Rowena smiled, "Doing okay?" She asked Clary, gently nudging her shoulder. Clary nodded and Rowena turned her attention back to Magnus, "What are you doing here?"

"I was hoping that would be explained to me." Magnus said, looking over at Jace.

At that moment, Hodge walked over to the four of them, "Sorry for the delay, I was following up on a lead. I'm Hodge." He said to Rowena, noticing a new face.

"Rowena."

Hodge turned to the screen behind him and tapped on his tablet, "Now, we've narrowed down our list of warlocks to these three."

"Why is Ragnor Fell up there? He's not more powerful than I am." Magnus interjected, protecting his fragile ego.

"Well, some would disagree. He is older than you." Hodge fired back at Magnus.

Magnus, rolled his eyes, "Certainly not wiser." He said, earning a slight chuckle from Rowena.

"Who is Ragnor Fell?" Clary asked.

"The former High Warlock of London," Rowena answered.

"And one of my oldest friends. Very prickly. Likes to keep to himself." Magnus added.

Rowena scoffed. "He's a powerful warlock, I've known him for a while." She interjected.

"Okay, look. We just need to figure out which one of these warlocks had enough access to Jocelyn that they could create the potion for her without anyone discovering what they'd done."

Magnus interjected, "By the early '90s, Ragnor was a professor at the Shadowhunter Academy in Idris."

Clary's eyes widened as she aligned dates in her head, "Isn't that when my mother lived there? Could he have made the potion for her?"

"The little bugger! That's why he hasn't responded to my fire message. Ever since Valentine began hunting warlocks, Ragnor's been holed up in his secret country house just outside of London. For all I know, Ragnor suspected my fire message was a ploy by Valentine to lure him out of hiding. We'll have to confront him face-to-face."

Hodge looked at Magnus with a concerned facial expression, "You're going on this mission?"

"Of course! I'm the only one Ragnor trusts."

Rowena slapped Magnus on the arm, "He trusts me too, I've known him longer than I've known you."

"Besides, I've played my last hand here. Even I know when to fold." Magnus said, standing up and turning around to face a blonde woman and a dark-haired man.

"Magnus, I didn't know you were here." The blonde woman said, smiling even though she, and the other man, looked extremely uncomfortable.

"That was the point." Magnus stated, sarcastically.

The blonde woman turned to Rowena. "I'm Lydia Branwell from the Clave. And who are you?"

"Rowena Cohen."

"You're the half-angel, half-demon we've been hearing about for the last few days." Lydia said, turning back towards Magnus, "We're just on our way to greet a few representatives of the Clave who arrived early for tomorrow's wedding. How long are you both staying?"

Magnus opened his mouth to speak before the dark-haired man interjected, "What's going on here? Nobody told me about a meeting."

Clary spoke up to try and diffuse the tension a little, "Magnus and Rowena figured out that Ragnor Fell is the warlock who can wake my mom. We're just bringing him back to the Institute."

"How can I help?" The man asked.

"We're just recovering a warlock, Alec. We got this covered." Jace answered.

"Besides, you have emissaries from the Clave to meet. You don't want to tarnish your family's perfectly-crafted image now, do you?" Magnus spoke, sarcastically, with a pang of anger hidden within the words.

"Again, lovely seeing you, Magnus, and lovely meeting you, Rowena." Lydia stated, nodding at the two before exiting, the dark-haired man following her. Magnus stormed off in the other direction, Rowena quickly following him.

"Mag!" She yelled down the corridor, trying to grab his attention. Magnus pulled a door open but Rowena used her powers to shut it again, causing Magnus to turn his attention towards Rowena. "What is going on? What was that back there?"

"It was nothing, Rowena." He answered. "You shouldn't concern yourself with nothing."

Rowena shook her head, pointing her finger at him, "No, no... That wasn't nothing. If it was, you would've called me 'Sunshine' just then like you usually do and have been doing for centuries." Magnus' face fell and Rowena's expression softened in response, "Tell me what's going on and I can give you some probably very bad advice to try and help."

Magnus took a deep breath. "The man back there, Alec, he's my... He's getting married to Lydia for duty, not love, and we... we had something but now we'll never get to see what it is. He is making a mistake and I can't change his mind." He answered, sadly.

"Well, if it helps, I don't think you've been this upset over someone since Camille." Rowena said, causing Magnus to smile slightly.