Jace looked down the hallway, then back at Chairman Meow. "What in the Angel's name are you doing here?" he asked the cat, shaking his head. "You know what's down the hall?"
Clary snickered. "He can't answer you."
Jace looked at her and raised an eyebrow.
"Can he?" It wouldn't be the strangest thing she'd ever seen.
He laughed. "No, I'm jsuti thinking he might be like Church. Maybe he does know what's down the hall. Whatever it is, it can't be too dangerous or else he'd be dead."
Clary nodded. She bent down and scratched the cat behind its ears. "Well, let's go then," she said.
Chairman Meow, well, meowed. He flicked his tail and led them down the stone corridor.
It turned out that the many passageways were not completely short of decoration. There were fancy candelabras that, to their misfortune, weren't lit. In some of the corners were Chinese vases with creeping ivy spewing out of them. Along the walls were portraits of important-looking people. They weren't painted in the traditional portrait style that was known to Clary. "They seem a bit...abstract, don't you think?"
"Not really," Jace replied. "This style of painting is common in Idris. It looks off to you because you're used to mundane techniques and materials. "
"Oh." She let her mind wander as she and Jace followed the cat through the endless twists and turns. A particular portrait caught her eye. "The man in this one looks...oddly familiar." Something about his eyes. They were eyes that you just couldn't forget.
"Hmm?" He glanced at the ornately framed picture. "I guess. Look, Chairman Meow is trying to get us to go in here," he said, gesturing to the door to Clary's left.
"Okay," she said hesitantly. She was still trying to figure out who the picture was of. Turning around, she headed into the dark room. As she stepped through the doorway, to her surprise, the room illuminated! Fascinated by her new surroundings, she completely missed the figure sitting in an armchair in the corner of the room.
Jace caught her attention with a question. But it wasn't directed at her. "Magnus?!" he asked, astonished. "What the hell are you doing in the basement of an abandoned motel?"
Clary spun around. Sure enough, Magnus Bane was sitting there reading a book. That's why the portrait looked so familiar.
"Reading, obviously. Great, more bothersome shadowhunters. You honestly think that's all this is? You think I would waste my time someplace so trivial? As the High Warlock of Brooklyn, I am offended." Magnus set his book down and welcomed Chairman Meow onto his lap.
Jace raised his eyebrows. "Then where are we?"
The warlock rolled his eyes. "This is where I've been doing the more...messy elements of my work recently. You remember the mess my apartment was in after I raised that last demon. Wait, never mind. Neither of you were there. Anyway, that's why you keep picking up signals here." He returned to what Clary then noticed was a spellbook.
"Does Alec know you come here?" Jace asked him.
"Of course."
"Then why would he keep sending me here?"
He sighed. "I don't know. He probably just wanted you out of his hair for a while. I know the feeling," he added.
Clary looked at Jace. "So... what? We go back then?"
"I guess," he replied. "I gotta go give Alec hell for this."
They hurriedly apologized to Magnus for yet again wasting his time, then darted back outside. Clary was surprised at how quickly Jace could make his way back through the winding corridors. She glanced at the time on the clock by the bank as they walked back. They were out later than they thought. Granted, they had woken up late, but it was almost six.
