CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

REBECCA

The man who opened the door was familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. He had black hair and blue eyes, and was broad-shouldered. He was wearing a simple button-down shirt and pants, and when he smiled at Rebecca, his eyes crinkled at the corner.

"Can I help you?"

Rebecca opened her mouth to speak. No words came out. Instead, she pushed her hood back, letting her brown hair tumble down in warm, heavy waves.

The smile faded from the man's face, replaced by a look of utter shock. "Rebecca...?" he whispered half-disbelievingly, as if he expected, almost hoped, for her to contradict him.

"Yes," Rebecca whispered. "I-I'm Rebecca."

A faint voice called out from inside the house - a woman's voice, sweet and lilting. "Adam? Who is it?"

The man paid no attention. He was still staring at Rebecca open-mouthed.

"Are you... are you Adam Trueblood?" Rebecca said.

The question seemed to snap him out of his reverie. "That's me," he said, unblinkingly. The woman called out again, and Adam snapped to action, holding the door open and stepping to the side, clearly indicating that she should come inside.

She had stepped into what looked like a foyer. A set of stairs led up to the floor above, and beside it there was another door, standing ajar.

"The house is split," Adam explained hastily, shutting the door behind her. "Another family lives upstairs, but we took the ground floor because-"

"What's taking you so long, Adam?"

Adam broke off just as a woman appeared through the doorway. For a moment, Rebecca thought she was very short, but then she realized that the woman was in a wheelchair. She wore a pale pink dress, and her hair was neatly drawn into a bun - hair that was the exact shade as Rebecca's own.

"Susie, this-this is Rebecca."

The woman went pale as she looked at Rebecca. "Oh, heavens," she whispered hoarsely, and held her arms up; as if in a trance, Rebecca moved forward as if in a trance, and knelt down beside the woman.

"Heavens, it really is you." Tears were flowing down the woman's face as she cupped Rebecca's cheek. Her eyes were a dark gray, the color of the storm clouds. Rebecca gripped her hand, and even though she couldn't remember seeing this woman before, her touch was familiar - as familiar as breathing, as walking, as smiling.

"But how did you- how did you find us?" Susanna said, as Adam helped Rebecca take off her hoodie. Underneath, she was wearing a short-sleeved t-shirt, and her permanent runes seemed extremely out of place in that cozy little house. She started for a second, wondering if Susanna knew about the Shadow Word or not - but one look at her face gave Rebecca the answer.

"I managed to persuade the mundane police," Rebecca said, sitting down on the edge of a plush armchair.

"I imagine that would be pretty easy for you," Adam said, sitting down opposite her. His eyes travelled up and down Rebecca's arms. "Fine Shadowhunter like you." There was unmistakable pride in his voice.

"I suppose it was."

An awkward silence ensued, broken by Adam, who jumped to his feet and slapped a hand to his forehead. "My goodness, where are my manners? Here we have a guest and I haven't even..." He looked at Rebecca. "Would you like anything? Cup of tea? Coffee, perhaps?"

"Just water is fine, thanks."

As Adam disappeared through a doorway to another room, Susanna leaned forward eagerly. Despite her small frame, she radiated a sense of warmth and kindness that seemed to fill the whole room. "I have dreamed of this day for so long," she said softly. "To see my children grow, to see what they would accomplish-"

Rebecca's heart skipped a beat. "Children? You mean..."

Susanna smiled sadly. "Of course, I don't suppose you'd remember." At Rebecca's bewildered expression, she sighed and said, "You had a younger brother- Adam, coaster!"

Adam, who had returned from the kitchen and placed a glass of water in front of Rebecca on the wooden coffee table, smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, sweetheart." He slid a coaster from the pile on the table, placed the glass on it and sat back in his armchair.

Susanna turned back to Rebecca. "As I was saying, your younger brother- he was born when you were seven."

Questions whirled around in Rebecca's head. I had a younger brother? I was seven years old? But I thought I had been given away at birth? Why don't I remember anything then? Finally, she said, "What happened to him?"

"Well, he's still your brother. Only now, he would be a Lightwood, not a Trueblood."

A great black hole seemed to open up in Rebecca's chest.

He was born when you were seven.

Only now, he would be a Lightwood.

"What-what was his name?" Her voice was a hoarse whisper.

"His name was Maxwell. Max for short."

Rebecca couldn't take it anymore. She buried her head in her hands, feeling her chest constrict painfully.

"Rebecca?" Susanna's voice, filled with concern.

She looked up and met Susanna's concerned gaze, and Adam's troubled one.

"There is something you should know," Rebecca said. Taking a deep breath, she began her story.

She told her parents everything, beginning from the moment Jace had brought Clary to the Institute to the moment she had scattered Sebastian's ashes. When she explained what had happened to Max, Susanna cried out and buried her face in her hands, and Adam looked like the life had been drained out of him.

By the time Rebecca had finished, the sun had set and it was dark. Nobody had bothered to turn on the lights, and now, she could barely see either of their faces. After what felt like an eternity of silence, Adam got up and flicked on the lights, bathing the room in a warm glow. His face was tight and drawn.

Susanna was slumped in her wheelchair, staring at the floor. "Oh, Max," she whispered, closing her eyes. "My baby..."

Adam knelt down by his wife's wheelchair, still pale as a ghost, and whispered something to her. She nodded wearily, and he wheeled her into an adjoining room, closing the door softly behind her.

"She needs to rest," he explained. "Her health isn't the best."

"Oh. Right."

He sat back down and leaned forward, clasping his hands together in front of him. "I imagine you have questions for us, too." He had a clipped, oddly formal way of speaking, Rebecca realized. Just like a Shadowhunter. Old habits died hard, apparently.

"I do, actually." Rebecca leaned forward. "What happened when I was born? How did I end up with Maryse and Robert?"

At that, Adam smiled sadly. "That's the question I was dreading." He was quiet for a moment. "It's not an easy story to tell. Maybe we should talk in the garden?"

The garden was a small, neatly fenced-off area at the back of the house. Rebecca was surprised - it was rare to find gardens anywhere in the city. She could hear the faint chirp-chirp of crickets and the occasional honk from a passing car.

Adam closed the screen door behind him and sat down beside Rebecca on the steps leading down to the garden.

"I'll start from the beginning," he said. "I think most of your questions will be answered by the time I'm done." Taking a deep breath, he began.

"I suppose it all started back in the early 1900s, with Marie and William Herondale. William's father and I had something in common - we both gave up the Shadowhunter life to be with the women we loved. And it is a decision I have never regretted." The ghost of a smile crossed his face. "William grew up as a mundane. But, one day, when he was playing in his father's study, he came across a Pyxis. Not knowing what it was, he opened it. And out came Marbas."

Rebecca gasped softly. "But that's a Greater Demon!"

"Precisely. Marbas was humiliated and furious at being trapped for so long, and when he realized that he had been finally set free, he took his revenge by placing a curse on William."

"What was the curse?"

"I don't know, exactly. But the next day, William escaped to the London Institute to become a Shadowhunter and refused to return to his family, even when they tracked him down and pleaded with him to come back. Years later, he managed to track down Marbas with the help of a warlock, and to his dismay, he learned that he had never been cursed - it was a lie."

"That's awful," Rebecca said, wondering what this story had to do with her.

"William was furious, and he slew Marbas' corporeal form. But that only served to anger Marbas even more. He returned many years later, after William had married Marie Lightwood, and attacked their children. None of them was hurt badly, but Marie, determined to protect her children, trapped Marbas in his Pyxis again. And there he remained until nine years ago."

Adam turned and looked directly at her. "You're probably wondering what this has to do with you. Well, here it comes.

"Marbas has hated the Lightwoods ever since, especially the women in the family. When he escaped from the Pyxis for a second time, he tracked the Lightwoods down to New York. But the Institute was too well-protected. So, once again, he took it out on Maryse's family - us."

The pieces of the story were starting to come together. She understood what had happened.

"Marbas attacked us and destroyed our home. He-he hurt your mother. And he would have killed you and Max, if I hadn't managed to fend him off." Adam's tone was flat, but his face was tight and drawn. "The Clave was at the scene almost immediately. Marbas retreated, but the Clave insisted that after such an incident, they could no longer allow our children to remain with us. They would be sent to the Institute in Idris, to be raised and trained as Shadowhunters."

There was more than just sadness in his eyes, as though it had curdled into weariness over the years. "But Maryse stepped in. She already had two children, she said. A boy and a little girl. She would take you in, raise you as her own children. And maybe it was selfish, but..." He looked down and sighed. "I thought I would at least get to see you, if you remained here in New York. Maybe catch a glimpse of you somewhere on the street."

"But... but I don't even remember you," Rebecca stammered. "How could I not remember you at all, if I was nine years old when Maryse took me in?"

Adam smiled sadly. "Children of Shadowhunters and mundanes are always looked down on, Rebecca. Especially those whose parents have deserted the Conclave. They are often cast aside, often overlooked. I never wanted that for you or Max. I never wanted to burden you with a legacy that ended with a Shadowhunter abandoning his way of life for love."

Rebecca stayed silent, watching the leaves sway in the soft breeze. She dreaded what was coming next.

"So I asked Maryse to wipe your memories and replace them with memories of you growing up as a Lightwood. She wasn't happy about it, but she agreed. So we got Brother Zachariah - he's always had a soft spot for Nephilim - to perform the ritual in secret. As an added measure, Maryse had the memories of her children wiped as well, so that they would believe that you and Max were their real siblings."

A lump had formed in Rebecca's throat.

Adam looked down, his black hair falling forward into his eyes. "I'm so sorry," he said.

Rebecca could not form the words to reply. Instead, she reached into the pocket of her jeans and pulled out her birth certificate. Mutely, she handed it to him.

Adam unfolded it, his eyes glistening. "I remember when you were six," he said quietly, "and a Clave representative came to ask you if you wished to join the Shadowhunters." Seeing Rebecca's puzzled look, he added, "It's custom. Every six years, a Clave representative will come to ask you if you want to be a Shadowhunter. You said no right away." He chuckled lightly.

Rebecca stayed silent, waiting for him to say more. She felt a great, unquenchable thirst, hungry to know more about the life she had lived but didn't remember.

"You were born with the Sight, you know?" Adam continued, almost as if he was talking to himself. "I had hoped that you weren't born with it, but... one day, I found you poking a water sprite that you had found in the park. So I told you everything about the Shadow World. You were only six, but you took it well. I knew that if you did ever choose to join the Nephilim, you'd be one hell of a Shadowhunter." He turned to her, misty-eyed. "And now look at you."

Rebecca smiled sadly. "Exactly. A demon-blooded Shadowhunter. I'm an abomination-"

"Blood doesn't matter, Rebecca. What's in your heart does." He turned to look at her. "And I know you have a good heart."

Rebecca nodded silently, leaning forward to rest her elbows on her knees.

What's in my heart? I don't know.

And they remained there, father and daughter, side by side, until the moon was high in the sky.