City of Ashes

Jace (Jonathan Wayland) and his adopted siblings Alec and Isabelle Lightwood head home to the Institute—the Shadowhunter headquarters in Brooklyn—after hunting and killing a Dragonidae demon. They run into their mother Maryse Lightwood, who is displeased the teenagers were out hunting without informing her.

Maryse asks Jace to meet her privately in the library. As Jace cleans up, he thinks of Clary Fray, whom he has recently learned could be his biological sister. Jace previously had romantic feelings for Clary, which he now has to suppress. In the Institute’s library, Maryse refers to Jace formally as Jonathan and asks him how long he has known that his father, Michael Wayland, is actually Valentine. Jace assures Maryse that he genuinely believed Valentine’s lie that they were the Waylands. Valentine brought up Jace in a beautiful mansion in Idris, the home country of the Shadowhunters, until Jace was 10, and then abandoned him. Jace was given refuge by the Lightwoods. Maryse finds it hard to believe Jace. She tells Jace that, as much as she cares for him, he might have to live away from the Lightwoods for a while. Jace could be Valentine’s secret weapon against the Institute, his “arrow” (28).

Clary is at her mortal best friend Simon’s house, watching TV and eating chips with him to distract herself from the fact that her mother Jocelyn is in a coma. Clary also tries not to think of Jace. She wishes she could alter her DNA, but Jace, like her, may be Valentine and Jocelyn’s child.

When the old movie Dracula comes up on TV, Simon gets up abruptly. Clary realizes that the reference to vampires triggered him, as he’d glimpsed the creatures in City of Bones. Clary commiserates with Simon and he kisses her. Clary finds the kiss comforting. Just then, she gets a call from Isabelle that Jace has left the Institute for good.

Werewolf Maia Roberts has had unfortunate experiences with beautiful young men, beginning with her dead brother Daniel. Daniel relentlessly bullied Maia throughout their childhood. His death in a hit-and-run accident was a relief. The next year, Maia fell in love with Jordan. However, Jordan was abusive and Maia broke up with him. In retaliation, Jordan bit Maia and turned her into a werewolf. Maia moved to Manhattan, where discrimination against lycanthropes was a tad lesser than in her suburban neighborhood. She is now part of the downtown pack of Manhattan, led by Luke Garroway (Lucian Graymark), an older werewolf who, unbeknownst to Maia, is a father figure to Clary.

Maia is at the Hunter’s Moon, a popular pub for werewolves, when she hears whispers of “Nephilim” (34), a name for Shadowhunters. Jace has entered the pub, looking for Luke. Nephilim usually do not frequent the popular places of Downworlders—part-human, part-demon magical creatures such as werewolves, warlocks, and vampires. Jake behaves arrogantly toward the patrons of the Hunter’s Moon.

A werewolf called Pete enters the bar and tells Jace a teenage werewolf has just been killed and nearly drained of blood in a nearby alley. He expects Jace to intervene, but Jace uses a dirty slur against werewolves. A fight breaks out, with Jace using his uncommon speed and strength to gain an advantage. Just then, Luke enters the fray and asks Jace to come to his office.

Luke, who used to be Valentine’s parabatai (fighting partner, bonded by oath) before being bitten by a werewolf, locks up Jace in his office and calls Clary to the Hunter’s Moon. Clary brings Simon along. When Clary and Simon enter the office, Jace refers to Simon as “mundane” (45), the Shadowhunter term for ordinary mortals, and asks him to leave. An exasperated Simon tells Clary he will wait for her in the hallway.

Clary and Luke discuss Jace’s out-of-control behavior. It is clear he is lashing out because Maryse asked him to leave the Institute. Luke explains that Maryse’s fears about Jace and Valentine’s connection is partly justified since Valentine is a master-manipulator. Luke offers for Jace to stay at his house, but asks him to return to the Institute and speak to Maryse once more. Jace begs Luke to come along. Luke, who hasn’t been to the Institute in 15 years, agrees.

Outside in the hallway, Simon is in turmoil. Simon had thought that the discovery that Jace was Clary’s brother was a reprieve for him—Simon has loved Clary since they were children—but he can see Clary still has romantic feelings for Jace. Maia comes up to Simon and introduces herself. She tells him that Magnus Bane, the warlock, is in the alley outside, examining Joseph, the dead werewolf.

To mundanes, the Shadowhunter headquarters of the Institute appears to be a dilapidated church. However, since Clary learned of her Shadowhunter origins in City of Bones, she can see the Institute’s true form of a towering, majestic cathedral.

Luke, Clary, and Jace find Maryse in the library, but she is not alone. A holographic projection of the vampire Raphael is visiting her. Since vampires are supposed to be damned, they cannot physically enter the hallowed ground of the Institute. Raphael is there to assure Maryse that vampires have nothing to do with the recent deaths of Elias the warlock and Joseph the werewolf. Both teenagers were found drained of blood, which might make Shadowhunters suspect the “Night Children” (59), but they are innocent in the matter.

After Raphael departs, Luke pleads Jace’s case to Maryse. Maryse is skeptical of Luke vouching for Jace, since Luke is not a Shadowhunter and used to be Valentine’s parabatai. Luke is ready for a trial by the Soul-Sword, the second of the Mortal Instruments, to prove his integrity. Jace offers to undergo the trial as well. Maryse reluctantly tells Luke that the Inquisitor may already be on her way to the Institute with the Soul-Sword. Luke is shocked Maryse would call the Inquisitor, because trials by the Soul-Sword are extremely unpleasant. Maryse reveals that she did not call for the Inquisitor at all; the Inquisitor has been after Jace ever since she learned that Valentine is Jace’s father. Asking Jace to leave the Institute was Maryse’s ploy to spare him the trial.

Luke softens toward Maryse and tells her that if she obstructs the Inquisitor, the Inquisitor will punish all the Lightwoods. Jace decides to stay in the best interests of his adopted family.

Clary returns to Luke’s place, where she has been staying. Luke tells her there is no change in her mother Jocelyn’s condition. Luke, Clary, and Simon discuss the current situation. When the talk turns to runes, or the protective spells Shadowhunters carve into their skin, Clary wonders if she too should get Marks inscribed. Luke tells her a Shadowhunter goes through may levels of training before getting the Marks; however, he says Clary should have a stele, the small pen-like instrument used to draw runes. He hands her a small crystal stele he has had for 20 years.

Maia arrives at Luke’s house, and Luke introduces her to Clary. Maia will be around, managing Luke’s bookstore when he is away visiting Jocelyn in the hospital. Simon remarks that he is happy his “girlfriend” (81) Clary will have Maia’s company. Clary is surprised at Simon’s presumptuousness in calling her his girlfriend but does not object.

Imogen Herondale, the Inquisitor, is a skinny, intimidating-looking woman. The Inquisitor is a high-ranking member of the Clave (the political body of all Shadowhunters) who tests if members are on the right side of the law. Imogen asks Jace to refer to her only by her formal title. Put off by her harsh manner, Jace responds with sarcasm. Imogen criticizes Maryse for being too soft on Jace, and compares Jace to a baby cuckoo who will kill off all its foster siblings until it is the only remaining hatchling in the nest. Imogen alleges Jace has been conspiring with his father Valentine all along right under naïve Maryse’s nose.

When Jace sarcastically responds that he is indeed an evil mastermind trained to pull the wings off flies, Imogen sentences him to a night in the prisons of the Silent City. The Silent City is a vast underground city where monks known as the Silent Brothers live; the monks have sewn shut their mouths so as not to speak. Maryse is horrified at Imogen’s decision, as the cells in the City are reserved for the worst Downworlders, but she cannot cross the Inquisitor.

Jace is inside a pitch-dark cell in the basement of the Silent City. His right hand has been manacled to a wall; the only saving grace is that he is left-handed, so his fighting arm is free.

As the night deepens, Jace’s anxiety grows, and he fears he will never be able to see blue skies again. He notes that such anxiety is unnatural for him, since he is known for being quite fearless. Just then, a bloodcurdling scream rings through the cells. Brother Jeremiah, a monk, appears in front of Jake’s cell, his once sewn-shut mouth torn open in terror, and collapses in a pool of blood. Jace can also hear a hair-raising slithering sound. When a black smoke-cloud gathers close to Jace, he faints.

Jace awakens to find Valentine outside his cell. Jace wonders if his father is there to kill him, but Valentine tells Jace he is there for the Soul-Sword, Maellartach, one of the Mortal Instruments. Valentine’s demon has murdered all the monks to get the sword. Jace asks Valentine what he plans to do with the sword, but Valentine does not divulge his plans, nor does he release Jace. He tells Jace to find him when he is ready to join his side, and leaves.

Clary and Simon are making out at Luke’s place. Clary compares kissing Simon to kissing Jace. While the experience is pleasant with Simon, with Jace it was passionate and intense. Clary gets a text message from Isabelle that Jace has been thrown in the cells of the Silent City. Panicking, Clary immediately heads to the institute, where she meets nine-year-old Max, Alex and Isabelle’s younger brother. Isabelle tells Clary she and Alex plan to go to the Silent City on their own and rescue Jace; meanwhile, Clary can babysit Max. Clary insists on coming too.

Before Alec, Isabelle, and Clary head out, Isabelle carves the Shadowhunter rune and the rune of protection on Clary’s hands. The entrance to the Silent City is through a Marble Cemetery. Alec uses his blood as a key to unlock the entrance; a staircase opens at the feet of a stone angel.

As they descend the stairs, the teenagers can smell carnage. They find Brother Jeremiah’s broken corpse in front of Jace’s cell. Clary holds her stele against Jace’s door, thinks of the rune for “open,” draws it, and unlocks both the door and Jace’s manacles. One of Clary’s special abilities is to create new runes that are not even featured in the Gray Book, the sacred book of runes.

Jace is bleeding from his attempts to free himself, but seems otherwise unharmed. Isabelle urges everyone to climb out of the cells as she can sense something is wrong in the Silent City. As soon as the teenagers emerge into the cemetery, they run into a large group of adult Shadowhunters, including Maryse in full hunting gear. Clary glimpses a woman Shadowhunter with silver hair in the group.

The Shadowhunters are late as they were investigating the murder of a Fae child who, like the werewolf and warlock teens, was found drained of blood. Alec tells them that all the Silent Brothers have been killed. When Jace tells the Shadowhunters about Valentine’s seizing the Soul-Sword, the Inquisitor accuses him of revealing only half the truth. She is convinced Valentine visited the cells to rescue Jace and told him his plans. Before Jace can defend himself, he passes out.

Alec tells the adults that Jace needs the urgent attention of a warlock; simple healing runes won’t help. Alec summons Magnus Bane, the High Warlock of Brooklyn. Magnus appears dressed in a military jacket and a belt with a large, glittering “M” as its buckle. He greets Jace with a “Hey, roommate” (121), since Jace will be staying at Magnus’s as he recuperates.