Galaxies (Alec Lightwood)

Chapter 35

Magnus enters the armory where me, Alec, and Izzy are.

"There you are. Good news, the core is off the ley line grid and free of demonic corruption." He says.

"That's good news. Thank you." Alec says.

"All righty, then. I'll make myself scarce." Magnus says and leaves.

"We just got a fire message from Mom saying she's "dropping by" for an impromptu "family dinner"." Izzy tells us.

"Those are a lot of air quotes." I say.

"Mom doesn't just drop by for anything." Alec says.

"Yeah, we're thinking it has to do with her and Dad. They're finally making their divorce official." She says.

"My condolences." I say.

"It's for the best. Problem is, instead of just being sad like a normal person, she starts trying to fix everyone around her." Izzy says.

"Which usually includes grilling her children on everything she thinks is going wrong in their lives." Alec adds.

"So, where are you holding this suspenseful dinner?" I ask.

"Defintely not here." Izzy says.

"The Institute tends to bring out her inner Inquisitor." Alec says.

"How about my apartment?" I ask.

"Desiree, you don't have to–" Alec says.

"I insist. You can have the place all to yourselves." I say.

"Wait, you should be there." Izzy says.

"Think about it. If Desiree and Camille are there, being her usual charming self, Mom won't have time to interrogate us." Izzy says.

"I am charming." I say.

"You don't think it's too much?" Alec asks.

""Too much" is my middle name. Look, clearly this is important to you. So, it's important to me." I say.
—————————————————————————————————-
I go to the hotel to see Raphael. I recently heard that his sister passed.

Raphael is sitting in the living room. Raphael gets up and hugs me.

"I just called to give you the news. You didn't have to come." He says.

"I wasn't going to let you go through this alone." I say.

We sit on the couch, and start looking at pictures of Raphael and Rosa together.

"All my life, I had to watch at a distance as each member of my family grew old and died. But Rosa... she was everything for me." He says.

"It was hard loosing Camille, but the baby has helped keep me busy." I say.

"When's the funeral?" I ask.

"During the day." He says.

"Tell me when it is. I'll be there. Rosa was a beautiful soul. Someone should be there to honor her." I say.