Familiar Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Tessa knew what was happening.

She saw the lockets combine and become one and saw the dark spirits leap from Magnus' body, whipping around the duo that lay together on the floor.

She saw the jewel in the pendant that they both now wore begin to glow.

Yes. She knew what was happening.

The darkness clawed up the walls and Jocelyn screamed in fear, wrestling against Luke's grip to try and run to her daughter's aid.

Tessa saw this and ran, with difficulty, past the shadows to help hold Jocelyn down.

"Jocelyn! Jocelyn, it's okay!" Tessa tried to convince the frantic mother.

"Okay?" She screeched, "What is happening to my baby? Clary!"

In one harsh movement Jocelyn snapped her elbow back and Luke cried out as it collided with his nose and released the squirming woman who proceeded to jump forwards, only to be caught by Tessa who spun her over and pinned her to the floor.

"Stop it! She's going to be fine!" She yelled over the screeching, trying to subdue Jocelyn who thrashed and screamed to be released.

All noises in the world would have been silenced by what happened next.

A great gust of wind powered through the room and every candle was extinguished, leaving everything pitch black, Tessa couldn't see anything, not even Jocelyn whose wrists she was pinning to the ground and whose heavy breathing she could hear clearly through the loud screeches of the darkness.

Suddenly a bright light exploded in the middle of the room and tendrils of light spread out from the jewel that was embedded in the locket's heart. The strands hung in the air like clouds which flicked in and out, making soft whispering noises as they whipped around in the air gradually growing in size. Tessa let Jocelyn's wrists go and helped the mother to sit up as they both gasped at the lights' beauty their eyes wide in wonder as they clutched each other's arms.

Jocelyn began to smile softly as the light sighed past her head, trailing a gentle, warm hand across her face as a high joyous laughter echoed from within the glow and her mouth dropped open as she saw that the light wasn't just a light, it was far more than that, it was…more than alive. It was the figure of a woman; no; there was more than one woman. They were running around the room, hair flowing as they smiled brilliantly.

"Nymphs." Luke gasped in awe as the spirits skipped around the room, enclosing the darkness in the centre of the room as they danced up into the air and twirled elegantly, laughing lightly in joy as the darkness shied away from them.

A nymph floated over towards Luke, her hair spilling down her back as she leant forwards and rested her cheek against Luke's rough one, heat spread through his face at her touch and the throbbing in his nose stopped at the power of the nymph's touch and he felt a blush creep up his neck as the nymph pressed a soft kiss to his cheek and flitted away to join her sisters in their dance.

They spiralled upwards, their intensity growing and the volume of their mirth increasing as their brightness subdued the gloom. The nymphs shot through the shadows, cutting and slicing through the darkness and twisting around the room, over the adults' heads, twirling Tessa's hair with their fingers and running a gentle hand across her face, another mirroring the action on Jocelyn who shivered as warmth shot through her body again.

Tessa and Jocelyn shared a look before suddenly they were left with only the ringing in their ears and the laughing of the bright spirits after the darkness sank, screaming and wailing in outrage, into the locket.

The nymphs joined hands in their circle of light and slowly, they opened their mouths and a pure, angelic note floated from their mouths as their lights lessened and dwindled until small wisps of light shot outwards towards the walls and the room sprung back into visibility as the candles were reignited.

Jocelyn, Tessa and Luke were left breathless and had almost completely forgotten Magnus and Clary who were sitting upright together, Clary clinging to Magnus as her face was buried in his chest. Magnus' eyes were closed as serenity overtook him, his eyebrows raising as the nymphs' laughter still rang in his ears and warmth spread from his chest as his locket separated from Clary's with a thunk as it fell to his sternum again and he sighed deep and long.

"Magnus, Clary are you both alright?" Luke asked hesitantly, but he knew what the answer was, the nymphs had healed his broken-thanks to Jocelyn-nose. Who knew what else they could heal?

The only response he got was another deep sigh and this one statement from the Warlock:

"I really want to sleep right now."