Clary twitched in his arms again. He worried for her, hoping that the rune that he had drawn on her shoulder would make her cough up the water in her lungs. He still couldn't believe Clary, little Clary, had destroyed the ship with a simple open spell. Simple, but powerful. He heard footsteps crunching in the late night frost. He turned to see a boy with stark-white hair and eyes like black abysses.
"Is she going to live?" he asked, eyeing Clary with a mix of disdain and wonder.
Before he could answer, Clary convulsed, rolled out of his arms and threw up dirty water. He was on his feet watching, waiting for her to turn around. "Clary are you alright?" he asked.
"Jace?" she asked feebly. Then she forced herself into a sitting position and turned to face him. Quicker than a cat, he clamped a hand over her mouth to muffle her scream. Then he pulled her into his body as she started to struggle against him. After a minute, Clary lay slumped against his chest, still weak from almost drowning.
"I will let you go, if you do not scream," he whispered into her ear. Slowly, he removed his hand from her mouth. She didn't utter a sound. "You'll thank ma later," he said, louder this time.
"I won't ever thank you, Valentine." Clary hissed. She did not struggle against him, but he could feel that she had the fire of a fighter in her.
"That's no way to treat your father, Clary," he laughed. Clary struggled to keep her eyes open, but exhaustion soon overcame her. She slumped against Valentine, passed out.
"What are we going to do with her?" the boy asked.
"We'll bring her along, Jonathan. Morgensterns never leave family behind." Valentine replied. He scooped his daughter's legs up and carried her over the frost coated hill. He turned around once to look at his place of defeat, before taking a step forward and disappearing from view.
"Jace! Jace, get up!"
Jace struggled to open his eyes. He first saw the stars, scattered like diamonds across a blanket of indigo-violet. Then he saw the moon, a big, silver circle shining down from above. He though how Clary would have loved to sketch the scene, until his sight was blocked by Isabelle. Then he remembered the battle on Valentine's ship. "Clary!" he gasped, sitting up straight and looking around for the love of his life. He saw Alec helping Magnus in Luke's truck, with Luke, Simon, and Maia in the bed. But no signature red head. Isabelle was on her knees next to him.
"Jace, I'm so sorry. The rest of the Shadowhunters with energy left are still searching, but there hasn't been any sign..." she trailed off, tears making her eyes shine.
Jace looked out on the dirty river water, feeling terribly alone now that Clary was missing. He looked at the slowly breaking dawn and put his head in his hands.