The Fiery Trial (Tales from Shadowhunter Academy 8)

Ten. Eleven.

No need to count now. Jace and the swan were lagging behind, and now he was alone, swimming on, his body pumping with adrenaline. He turned to look for Maureen, but she was gone. Clary, however, was still clearly visible, floating just ahead. Not floating.

Swimming. Toward him. She was doing exactly what he was doing, forcing her body on, shuddering, pushing through the water.

Simon powered through the last strokes and felt the touch of her hand. He would go--he would go with her. And she was smiling, her lips blue.

And then he felt the ground under him--some surface under the water, something just a foot or two down. Clary reacted at the same moment, and they both grabbed at each other and struggled to their feet. They were standing in the Bethesda Fountain, the angel statue looking down on them, pouring water on their heads.

"Y . . . you . . . ," Clary said.

Simon didn't try to speak. He embraced her, and they shuddered together before stepping carefully out of the fountain and lying down on the bricks of the terrace, heaving for breath. The moon was wide--too wide and too close.

Mentally, Simon told the moon to stop being so close and bright and that it should just generally shut up with the mooniness. He reached out and took Clary's hand, which was already extended, waiting for his.

When he opened his eyes, he was not outside. He was on something fairly comfortable and plush. Simon reached around and felt a velvety surface under him. He sat up and realized he was on a sofa in the reception room. The tea set was there, in front of him. Magnus and Catarina were standing against the wall, conferring, and Jem sat in the chair between them and watched them both.

"Sit up slowly," he said. "Take a few deep breaths."

"What the hell?" Simon said.

"You drank water from Lake Lyn," Jem said quietly. "The waters produce hallucinations."

"You had us drink water from Lake Lyn? Where's Clary?"

"She is fine," Jem said quietly. "Drink some water. You must be thirsty."

A glass was already against Simon's lips. Catarina was holding it.

"Are you joking?" Simon said. "You want me to drink that? After what just happened?"

"It's fine," Catarina said. She took a long sip from the glass and held it back in front of Simon's mouth. He did have a crazy case of cottonmouth, actually. His tongue felt thick. He took the glass and drank it back in one go, then filled it again, and again from a pitcher on the table. Only after the third glass did he feel like he could speak again.

"Doesn't that drive people insane?" he said, not bothering to disguise his anger in any way.

Jem sat calmly, his hands resting on his knees. Simon could see his age now, not in his face but behind his eyes. They were dark mirrors that reflected the passage of uncounted years.

"Had something gone wrong, you would have been with the Silent Brothers within the hour. I may not be a Silent Brother anymore, but I have previously treated those who have consumed the waters. Magnus prepared the tea because he has worked with both of your minds. Catarina, of course, is a nurse. You were always safe. I am sorry. None of us wanted to deceive you. This was done for your benefit."

"Not an explanation," Simon said. "I want to see Clary. I want to know what's going on."

"She's fine," Catarina said. "I'll go check on how she's doing. Don't worry."

She left, and Jem leaned forward in his chair.

"Before Clary comes in, I need to know: What did you see?"

"When you drugged me?"

"Simon, this is important. What did you see?"

"I was in New York. I . . . thought I was in New York. Did we go to New York? Did you open a Portal?"

Jem shook his head.

"You were in this room the entire time. Please. Tell me."

"Clary and I were in Central Park, by the Bethesda Fountain. The angel in the fountain flew away and the fountain flooded, and Clary disappeared. Then some boat came and I was on a 'tunnel of love' ride with Jace, and he kept telling me to remember where we met, even though I didn't see him."

"Stop a moment," Jem said. "What does that mean to you?"

"I have no idea. I just know he was saying that I had to remember."

"Do you remember?"

"No," Simon snapped. "I barely remember anything. I know I was probably with Clary. Clary could see him."

"Go on," Jem said. "What happened then?"

"I saw Maia, he said. "And I saw Jordan. He was covered in blood. Then this ride dumped me out on the East River, and some kid named Maureen said she died because of me and jumped in. Clary was floating on the water and I . . ."

He shuddered again, and Jem immediately stood and produced a blanket, wrapping it around his shoulders.

"Move closer to the fire," Jem said, guiding him up and to a chair. When Simon had settled a bit and warmed, Jem encouraged him to continue.

"Maureen told me I had to decide which one of them to save. Jace showed up again and gave me some lecture about how all the choices were hard. I jumped in."

"Who did you decide to save?" Jem asked.

"I hadn't . . . decided . . . anything. I knew I had to jump. And I guess I knew Maureen was dead. She said she was dead. But Clary wasn't. I just had to get to Clary. I got all of this energy all of a sudden and I could swim to her. And when I swam to her, I looked up and she was swimming to me."

Jem sat back and tented his fingers together for a moment.

"I want to see Clary," Simon said through chattering teeth. His body was warm--it had probably never been cold, really--but the river water still felt so real.

Catarina reappeared a moment later with Clary, who was also wrapped in a blanket. Jem immediately got up and offered her his chair. Clary's eyes were wide and shining, and she looked to Simon in relief.

"Did it happen to you, too?" she said. "Whatever that was."

"I think we both got it," he replied. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I'm just . . . really cold. I thought I was in the river."

Simon stopped shivering.

"You thought you were in the river?"

"I was trying to swim to you," Clary said. "We were in Central Park, and you got sucked into the ground--like you were being buried alive. And Raphael came, and I was on his motorcycle, and we were flying over the river and I saw you. I jumped off . . ."

From behind Clary's chair, Catarina nodded.

"I saw something kind of like that," Simon said. "Not exactly, but . . . enough. And I reached you. You were swimming to me. Then we were back . . ."

". . . in Central Park. By the fountain with the angel."

Magnus had joined the group as well and stretched himself out on a sofa. "Bethesda Fountain," he said. "Shadowhunters may have had something to do with building it. I'm just saying."

"What does this all mean?" Simon asked. "What was this about?"

"The two of you are different," Magnus said. "There are things in your backgrounds that mean that . . . things have to be done differently. For a start, both of you have had blocks put on your memories. Clary has an unusual amount of angel blood. And you, Simon, used to be a vampire."

"We know that. But why did you have to drug us to do something symbolic?"

"It wasn't

symbolic. The parabatai test is the test of fire," Catarina said. "You stand in rings of fire to make your bond. This . . . this is the test of water. The nature of the test requires that you have no knowledge of the test. Mentally preparing for the test can affect the outcome. This test wasn't about Julian and Emma. It's about the two of you. Think about what you both saw, what you both learned. Think about what you felt. Think about when you were both able to swim to each other when you had nothing left, when you should have died."

Simon and Clary stared at each other. The fog began to lift.

"You took the water," Jem said. "And you joined in the same place in your minds. You were able to find each other. You were linked. 'And it came to pass that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.'"

"Parabatai?" Simon said. "Wait, wait, wait. Are you trying to tell me this is about being parabatai? I can't have a parabatai. I turned nineteen two months ago."

"Not exactly," Magnus said.

"What do you mean not exactly?"

"Simon," Magnus said plainly, "you died. You were dead for nearly half a year. You may have been walking around, but you were not alive, not as a human. That time does not count. By Shadowhunter standards, you are still eighteen. And you have the whole year until your nineteenth birthday to find a parabatai." He looked toward Clary. "Clary, as you know, is still within the age limit. There should be time for you to Ascend and then for you two to become parabatai immediately--if that's what you want."

"Some people are uniquely suited to be parabatai," said Magnus. "Born to it, you might say. People think it's about getting along, about always agreeing, being in sync. It's not. It's about being better together. Fighting better together. Alec and Jace haven't always agreed, but they've always been better together."

"It has been spoken of often to me," Jem said in his soft voice, "how much the two of you were dedicated to each other. The manner in which you have always stood up for each other and put the other first. When a parabatai bond is true, when the friendship runs deep and honest, it can be . . . transcendent." There was sadness in his eyes, a sadness so profound it was almost frightening. "We needed to find out if what had been observed about the two of you was true for your sake. You're about to witness the ceremony. That can cause a powerful reaction in true parabatai. We had to know for sure that it was true and that you could withstand it. The test told us what we needed to know."