Chapter 3
Missing
a/n- To all my readers. Chapters 2 - 6 part 1 have been modified to enhance this story. A great deal of time and effort has gone into these modifications. If you have already read these chapters, you may wish to read them again. If this is your first time reading, enjoy!
Quietly opening the door Clary stepped out into the corridor. Alec's room wasn't far. Just a few doors down. I walked quickly, stopping when I saw his door open. Looking inside I saw that he wasn't in bed. Pushing into his room I quickly checked his bathroom. He wasn't there either. All I saw was a pile of dirty clothes on the bathroom floor and a tangled heap of linens on his bed. Panic started to set in. Turning, I ran out. Maybe he was in the training room, working out his feelings on whatever had put this fear into him. Racing down corridors and stairs of stairs I finally reached the training room. It too was empty. Alec was gone. Turning on my heel I raced back up the stairs and through the corridors I had just flown through. As I reached Izzy and Simon's room I banged on the door, shouting for them to get up and come to my room. I didn't wait for a response, I just ran on, back to my room. Throwing myself on the bed I started shaking Jace.
"Jace, get up. Something's wrong with Alec." Jace groaned but didn't budge. "For the angel's sake, Jace, get the hell up!" I shouted.
"What?" Jace asked, groggy from sleep. "Clary, what's wrong?" Before I could answer Izzy and Simon burst in.
"Clary, what it the angels name is going on? Why did you wake us at this godawful hour?" Izzy asked, a frown on her beautiful face. She had long black hair, silky smooth like Alec's. A Lightwood trait. Izzy might be petite, but she was a badass warrior, just like her older brother.
"Alec's missing". I said.
"What do you mean missing?" Simon asked, wrapping his arms around Izzy's waist. Simon was Izzy's mate. Izzy was an alpha and Simon was her beta, even though he was a dork and wore ugly glasses.
"I mean he's missing!" I shouted. "He's not in his room or the training room. And somethings wrong. Bad wrong. I can feel it through our bond." I said.
"Well, let's not panic just yet." Jace said, sitting up in bed. I shot him a death glare. "There are plenty of other places he could be." He went on, ignoring the look I gave him.
"Jace is right, Clary." Izzy piped in. "There are plenty of other places he could be." She said.
"Like where?" I snapped.
"Well, did you check the kitchen?" Simon asked. "That's the first place I go when I get up in the morning. Well, after the bathroom." He said.
"Simon's right, Clary." Jace said, rubbing a soothing hand across my back. "He could be in the kitchen or the library. You know he loves it there. Or he could be in the weapons room or up on the roof doing a little target practice." He continued.
"True. I hadn't thought of that". I admitted.
"We'll all get dressed and search the place out. I'm sure he'll turn up somewhere. Don't worry." Jace said soothingly.
Ten minutes later we were all dressed and moving quietly throughout the Institute. Simon and Izzy had volunteered to check the rooftop and library. Jace and I were to take the kitchen and the weapons room. We had decided to meet up in the OP's center.
I was pacing impatiently beside Jace in the empty OP's center, chewing my thumbnail. We hadn't found Alec in the kitchen or the weapons room.
"Stop that." Jace said gently, pulling my thumb from my mouth and pulling me into his arms.
"Where is he, Jace?" I asked. "And where in the angels name are Simon and Izzy?"
"We're here." Izzy said, sauntering into the OP's center, Simon trailing along behind, watching the way her ass swayed when she walked. "We couldn't find him." She said.
"Great. Just fucking great. I told you. I told you he wasn't here!" I exclaimed, pulling away from Jace.
"Babe, try and calm down." Jace said. "Maybe he went out for a run. Let's go check his room and see if he left a note or something." He added.
"I've already been to his room. There was nothing there." I said.
"Well, were you looking for a note when you were in there? Or for any other clues as to where he might have gone? Like missing running shoes? Or at his calendar? Maybe he had an early class?" Simon asked.
I sighed. He was right. They were right. I had just looked for him in his room. I didn't think to look for anything else.
"How about we go up and take another look?" Jace asked, squeezing my hand. "I'm sure we'll find something. It's not like Alec to just disappear without leaving some clue behind. And it's probably something subtle that only one of us would catch. You know how he's been since Mayrse and Robert have started in on him".
Jace had a point. Ever since his presentation, Alec has had to be more discreet in his activities and with his actions. They were, after all, watching him like a hawk. Looking for any reason they could find to boot him out of the Institute. With a sigh, I agreed. But I knew something wasn't right. Something was wrong. Alec was in trouble. I could feel it, I could feel it through our bond.
Three feet from Alec's bedroom door Jace stopped.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Do you smell that, Izzy?" Jace asked.
"Smell what?" I asked, confused.
"Yeah. By the angel it's strong." She said.
"What's strong? Someone answer me." I demanded.
"I think I know what happened." Jace said, continuing forward into Alec's room. The scent inside hit him like a ton of bricks. Izzy gasped as she stepped inside.
"By the angel." She whispered.
"Would somebody like to tell me what the hell is going on?" I practically screamed at my friends.
"Alec's gone into heat." Jace said, turning to look at me. "The pheromones in here are strong, really strong. I'm surprised you and Simon can't smell them." Being betas, Simon and I didn't have the same sense of smell that alphas did.
"That's why he's so scared. He must have realized that he had gone into heat and is terrified. He's never had a heat before. This omega stuff is all new to him. And Mayrse and Robert restricting our access to anything relating to omegas in the library has left him with no idea of what to do or expect."
Tears were welling in my eyes. My parabati was alone, afraid, and had no idea what to do or expect of what was going on with his body.
"We have to find him, fast." Izzy said. "He's an unmated, unclaimed omega in heat, and he's alone in New York. Any species can claim him as their omega. He probably didn't think to take any weapons with him to defend himself." She finished.
"Yeah, but this is Alec were talking about. He doesn't need weapons to defend himself. Yes, we do need to find him, as fast as possible, but I don't think he's in any physical danger, he's a total badass in battle." Simon said.
Izzy spun on him faster than I could blink, slapping him hard across the face.
"Are you insane? My brother is in his first heat. None of us have any idea what sort of mental or physical state he's in. We don't know how his heat is affecting him or his ability to defend himself from an attack. Omegas are vulnerable when they're in heat, that much we know. We have to find him, and we have to find him NOW!" She exclaimed.
"Maybe we can try calling him?" Simon asked sheepishly.
"No, jackass, we can't. His phones over on the bedside table. Clary, what are you feeling now? Through your bond?" Jace asked.
Being so caught up in the search for my parabati, I had forgotten to pay attention to any new sensations coming through our bond. By the angel, I was the worst parabati ever!
"I don't know. Give me a minute. I need to focus." Closing my eyes, I cleared my mind, thinking only of my missing parabati. His emotions hit me like a freight train. The gut-wrenching fear hit me first. Then a cascade of emotions rolled over me, disgust, repulsion, a sense of worthlessness, self-hatred, pain, and a need to just end it. He was in so much physical and emotional pain.
"We have to find him, right now." I said, my eyes snapping open. "He's in a bad place. A really bad place. The state he's in, I'm afraid he might hurt himself." I said, my voice barely above a whisper.
"What?! What do you mean he might hurt himself?" Izzy demanded. I told them everything I had just felt from Alec. Izzy gasped, tears welling in her eyes.
"It feels like every nasty thing Robert and Mayrse has said to him since his presentation has taken hold in his mind. He's a wreck." I said.
"Ok, how do we find him then? How do we find my brother?" Izzy asked.
"Assuming he hasn't deactivated his tracking rune, Clary can try tracking him through their parabati rune. Clary, can you try tracking him with your parabati rune?" Jace asked.
Pulling out my stele I ran it across my parabati rune, trying to get a trace on Alec. I got nothing.
"He must have deactivated his tracking rune. I can't find him this way." I said, tears streaming down my cheeks.
"Okay. It's okay. We can still try standard tracking. What's the most personal thing he has?" Jace asked.
"His bow and quiver." Izzy supplied immediately. "If he didn't take them with him, they should be in the weapons room." She said.
We reached the weapons room in record time. I pulled out Alec's weapons rack and found it full. His bow and quiver were tucked in nice and neat, just the way he likes it.
"There still here." I said. "Everything is still here. He didn't take anything with him."
"Fuck! He really is out there unprotected." Izzy said.
"Clary, try tracking him using his shirt." Jace said, tossing one of Alec's training tanks to me.
"Ok. I'll give it a try." Pulling out my stele again I activated my tracking rune, clutching Alec's shirt in my fist, my mind solely focused on him. Several minutes passed. Again, I got nothing.
"It's not working. I didn't get anything at all. With his tracking rune being deactivated, I don't know how else to find him. He could be anywhere." I said.
"And you can't get anything else from him through your bond? Anything that might give us any kind of idea as to where he might be?" Izzy asked, tears about to fall for her lost big brother.
"No. He's too consumed by his emotions and pain. That's all I'm getting from him." I said, my heart sinking through my chest.
"Then there's only one option left. We need a warlock." Jace said.
Jace was right. The only chance we had of finding Alec now was with a warlock's help. There's no guarantee that a warlock would be able to find him, but it was the only option left to us.
"A warlock it is then. Does anyone know where we can find Magnus Bane?" I asked.
"Whoa!" Simon said, hands up in air. "You want to ask the High Warlock of Brooklyn, the leader of all downworlders, to help locate a missing omega Shadowhunter?" He asked.
"Yes!?" Izzy and I shouted as one.
"Ok. Just making sure." Simon said, backing-up, hands now raised in surrender.
"Alec is my parabati, and Jace and Izzy's brother. Do you really want to try this with anyone other than the best? Magnus Bane is the High Warlock of Brooklyn for a reason. If anyone can find Alec, it's him." I said, glaring daggers at Simon.
"I'm not saying it's not worth a shot." Simon said meekly, taking another step back.
"I know where to find Magnus Bane." Jace said. "But his help won't come free. There will be a price. A heavy price."
"Whatever it is, we'll pay it." Izzy and I said together.
"That settles it then. Let's go before one of you kills Simon." Jace said, leading the way out of the weapons room.
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