Chapter 20 of The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones: As If I Needed Another Reason to Ignore My Papers

Hey y’all!

It’s been pointed out to me that the cliffhanger we were left with last time is almost identical to the Harry/Dumbledore/Draco scene in The Lightning Struck Tower, wherein Fairy is immobilised behind a wall, and a betrayal happens in front of her that she does not understand (and that I’m sure later on we will learn was planned or had some noble motive behind it).

I mean it just seems really familiar....

This is the last chapter in this ‘book’ (it’s been so long I forgot this novel was separated into three ‘books’), so you can bet this will be a crazy one. 

Hopefully. Or maybe it’ll just be a lot of exposition again. I don't think this novel has a clear point anymore aside from clunkily carrying this forced romance between Jace and Fairy.

welcome to The Mortal Instruments! Where nothing is made up and the plot doesn't matter!

So, Jace has just been spirited away by Voldentine, and Hodge is still keeping Fairy behind a gigantic invisible wall and ignoring her crying about the fact that Jace is probably about to be killed.

“I understand that Jace trusted you and you traded him away to a man who hated his father and probably hates Jace, too, just because you’re too cowardly to live with a curse you deserved.”
Hodge’s head jerked up. “Is that what you think?”

So Hodge is pulling a Dumbledore and only giving us bits and pieces of the plot—which is just as infuriating in the Harry Potter series as it is here. No excuses on either side.

Hodge exits stage right and leaves Fairy trapped behind the wall? Which is honestly hilarious, because as far as we know he just intends to leave her there forever in the library. Like, peace out, Fairy, hope you like eating paper.

She remembers she has Jace’s stele and magicks herself out, just by sheer fact that she is the chosen one who can recall runes whenever she wants to or something:

Already an image was forming in her mind, like a fish rising up through cloudy water, the pattern of its scales growing clearer and clearer as it neared the surface.

this time I'm the one on the far right.

She frees herself and books it out of the Institute after Hodge, and I know that he’s probably gone to follow Voldentine, but all I can think is how funny it would be if the first place he went was like a fucking Starbucks for a frappaccino or something.

Fairy corners the fully grown male adult member of the Clave who knows a lot of magic in an alley and threatens him? Fairy, what are you doing.

“That’s too bad,” he said, and she saw him raise his arm—and remembered suddenly Jace saying that Hodge’s weapon had been the chakram, the flying disk. She ducked even before she saw the bright circle of metal spin singing toward her head; it passed, humming, inches from her face and embedded itself in the metal fire escape on her left.

The thing that bothers me about this-- aside from an until-now-paternal-figure trying to murder a teenager-- is that we never saw this exchange between Jace and Fairy? At least, I don't remember it. Possibly it was in the weapons room, but I really don't remember hearing much about the mysterious Hodge.

Anyway, MOONY SHOWS UP—well, it’s a gigantic wolf that seems like it’s trying to kill her and Hodge but we all know where this is headed, right?

The wolf’s jaws closed on her leg, jerking her backward. Just before her head struck the hard pavement, plunging her into blackness, she discovered that she did have enough air to scream, after all.

This is Luke, isn’t it.

Why is it whenever people try and save protagonists they have to INJURE THEM first? Just once I wanna see someone who shapeshifts into a really chill elephant and places the protagonist on their back calmly.

She wakes up in a jail cell and spots someone outside of it in front of her: He looked the same: worn jeans, denim shirt, work boots, same uneven hair, same glasses pushed down to the bridge of his nose. The scars she’d noticed along the side of his throat last time she’d seen him were healing patches of shiny skin now.

Luke.

AY WHADDUP NOVEL I CAN READ YOU LIKE A—oh.

“You’re a werewolf.”
He took his hand away from his shirt; his fingers were stained red. “Yep,” he said laconically. He moved to the wall and rapped sharply on it: once, twice, three times. Then he turned back to her. “I am.”

Also, the word 'laconically' is really, really stupid in this context. In case you don't know, it means to say something in a brief manner. The fact that we just read that Luke responded to her in a brief way renders the use of that word useless. We don't need the author to tell us he said something lacoonically-- he illustrated that for us.

Turns out Luke has been having his werewolf pack follow Fairy around everywhere, which explains why they broke into the vampire den—I mean, it makes no actual sense, but in the context of this book I’ll take what I can get.

I feel this applies again

Fairy is (rightfully) really upset at Luke for abandoning her mom and her, and she starts insulting him (tbh good for you Fairy).

“So you just decided to abandon her?” Clary demanded furiously. “You’re the leader of a whole pack of werewolves and you just decided she didn’t even really need your help? You know, it was bad enough when I thought you were another Shadowhunter and you’d turned your back on her because of some stupid Shadowhunter vow or something, but now I know you’re just a slimy Downworlder who didn’t even care that all those years she treated you like a friend—like an equal—and this is how you paid her back!”
“Listen to you,” Luke said quietly. “You sound like a Lightwood.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Don’t talk about Alec and Isabelle like you know them.”

FAIRY NEITHER DO YOU, AND ALEC HATES YOU A LOT.

“I meant their parents,” said Luke. “Who I did know, very well in fact, when we were all Shadowhunters together.”

“Of course, Fairy, we were all in the Order of the Phoenix together. We’re all old pals.”

Fairy asks if they all knew he was a werewolf when he was a Shadowhunter, and he tells her they didn't.

“No,” said Luke. “Because I wasn’t born a werewolf. I was made one. And I can already see that if you’re going to be persuaded to listen to anything I have to say, you’re going to have to hear the whole story. It’s a long tale, but I think we have the time for it.”

REALLY? WE HAVE BEEN THROUGH ABOUT 200 PAGES OF THIS, WE HAVE BEEN TOLD OVER AND OVER AGAIN THAT FAIRY’S MOM IS IN MORTAL DANGER AND NOW SO IS JACE

BUT OF COURSE WE HAVE FUCKING TIME FOR ANOTHER LONG-WINDED BACKSTORY. ANYTHING TO KEEP THE PLOT FROM MOVING ALONG.

I’m so done you guys. I’m so done.