The party is in a broken-down neighborhood, and the guests are every kind of Down-worlder Clary has heard about, plus several she doesn’t recognize. They find Magnus—a tall, thin warlock with spiky hair and glittery fingernails—and ask him about Clary’s memory block. He admits to altering Clary’s mind so she’d forget anything mystical she saw, adding that he knew he shouldn’t have left his name but that he was “proud of [his] work on [her]” (225). Clary’s mother asked Magnus to place the block, which leaves Clary feeling betrayed.

Clary’s mom first brought her to Magnus when Clary was a baby and asked Magnus to take her magic sight away. Since there was no way to do so, Magnus created the forgetting spell instead, which needed to be renewed every two years. He can’t undo it, but he shows Clary a rune that tickles her mind “like feathers brushed against sensitive skin” (233). Something clicks in her head, but Clary doesn’t remember anything about the Mortal Cup.

Clary, Jace, and Alec return to the party, which seems somehow easier for Clary to see now. They find Isabelle and Simon, who’s been turned into a rat after drinking a potion.