Chapter 4: The Descent Into Hell Is Easy
Catarina opened her door before Magnus even had a chance to knock.
"Back so soon?" she said, one hand cocked on her hip. "I told you we'd be fine."
"I know," he quickly appeased. "But I need Madzie's help with something. If she's up for it."
Catarina arched a brow, but stepped back so he could enter. "What can she help you with that I can't?"
"Alec is missing. Valentine claims to have taken him, but won't say where," Magnus explained. "Madzie was with him when he invaded the Institute; maybe she saw what happened."
Catarina's expression softened, and she beckoned Magnus to follow her through the living room to a little window alcove that overlooked a park. Madzie was sitting on some pillows, gazing listlessly at her lap.
"I haven't been able to get her to eat anything yet," Catarina said. "She's pretty upset."
Completely understandable.
"I'll try talking to her," Magnus said, and slowly made his way over. "Hey there, Sweet Pea," he greeted softly. "How are you feeling?"
Madzie bunched her shoulders up in a shrug. "I want my nana."
Magnus's heart twinged with regret. He was the one who sent Iris to the Clave for her crimes.
He gingerly sat down next to the child. "Your nana had to go away for a while," he explained. "But Catarina is going to look after you. She's very nice. We were all friends of Iris."
Once upon a time.
Not that it appeared to make Madzie feel better.
Magnus took a deep breath. "Madzie, do you remember a tall shadowhunter with dark hair at the place the men took you to? He would have had a mark like this on his neck." Magnus traced the deflect rune with his finger along the side of his own neck to show her.
Madzie nodded. "He was nice to me."
Magnus smiled. Of course his sweet Alexander was good with children, even warlock ones. "Do you know what happened to him?"
"The man said we should keep him safe. So I sent him away."
Magnus tensed, fighting the urge to rush her or get his hopes up too early. "Where did you send him?"
She pressed her lips together. "I don't know the place. The other men took him."
"Though a portal you created?"
Madzie nodded, and was quiet for a moment. "He lied, didn't he?" she asked in a small voice.
Magnus's heart clenched. "Yes. But I think you can help me find Alec and bring him home. Will you try?"
Madzie bobbed her head earnestly, and Magnus smiled as he reached out to touch her shoulder.
"Come on, then. Let's see if we can save our friend."
Isabelle clutched her wrist to her chest, trying desperately to get it to stop shaking. She had to keep it together. Alec needed her.
But she was useless like this, a slave to her addiction. How was she going to help her brother if she couldn't even help herself?
Which was how Isabelle found herself outside Aldertree's office. His door was open and he was inside, eyeing the massive pool of blood on the couch and carpet beneath it.
Isabelle was already feeling nauseous, but her stomach gave a violent lurch as she put the scene together with the knowledge that Simon's throat had been cut. He'd been the one sitting there slowly bleeding out while Valentine threatened Clary to come to the Institute.
Aldertree finally glanced up. "Isabelle," he said in surprise. "How long have you been standing there?"
"Not long," she replied, unable to tear her eyes from the bloodstain. Would she find her brother in a similar pool by the time Valentine talked?
Aldertree gave it another look of consternation, but then sighed. "I suppose the mess is someone else's problem now."
Isabelle frowned. "What do you mean?"
"I'm being recalled to Idris," he replied, moving to his desk where she noticed he had a briefcase set out and appeared to have been in the middle of packing. "To face reprimand for my conduct while Head of this Institute."
Isabelle couldn't muster up a single ounce of pity for him.
He paused and narrowed his gaze on her, and she suddenly felt exposed, vulnerable.
"It appears I didn't give you enough credit for creativity," he said.
Isabelle bristled, hearing the barely veiled reference to her saying she had kicked the yin fen, when she actually hadn't. She hated herself even more for what she was about to do.
"Do you…have any left?" she forced out through gritted teeth.
Victor arched an incredulous brow.
"My brother is missing," she said sharply. "And I need to be strong enough to help find him. If you care at all about what happens to our people, then…" She paused to take a shaky breath. "Try doing one good thing before you go."
Aldertree considered her for a lengthy moment in silence. Isabelle tried to hold herself rigidly still, but her fierceness was belied by the undeniable quaking in her limbs.
Victor finally turned and reached into a hidden compartment in his briefcase, and Isabelle felt a jolt of overwhelming need at the sight of the tiny box.
Aldertree handed it over. "Isabelle, I'm truly sorry for how things spiraled out of control."
Her fingers crooked around the container, anxious to immediately claw her way into it like its contents were everything that mattered to her in the world. On some level, it was. And that filled her with such self-loathing and regret.
She lifted her chin. "You never should have given this to me. Or to anyone. You were a field medic and you knew better," she accused. "You only wanted me to become your puppet. You know Valentine gives drugs to those he wants to control, too. I guess you're not that much better than him."
Aldertree gave her an aggrieved look. "I'm not like Valentine. Because unlike him, I am truly sorry." He closed his briefcase with a snap. "I wish you the best of luck with finding Alec." He paused and nodded to the container. "Be careful with that."
Isabelle gritted her teeth and didn't deign to respond. She waited until he left before finally allowing herself to frantically dig into the box. It was only half filled with yin fen, and it took every ounce of willpower Isabelle had left to take only the smallest dab and apply it to the back of her neck. Ecstasy instantly washed over her, soothing the shakes and cramps, and she desperately wanted more to reach the same high as previous times. Yin fen wasn't as potent as pure vampire venom.
She snapped the lid closed with a ragged gasp and clenched her fist around the container. No. This wasn't about feeling amazing or avoiding her problems. This was about finding Alec and bringing him home safe.
Jace paced up and down the length of the training room. He was at his wits' end, sick with worry and frustration over Alec being missing, having activated the Soul Sword that resulted in so many deaths, not having demon blood, and not being Clary's brother. He felt like his chest was about to implode with all the stress his heart was under right now.
He was even debating whether or not he should break Valentine free before the Inquisitor arrived, and force Valentine to take him to Alec. Yeah, he'd be deemed a traitor to the Clave. Again. But he didn't care. He hadn't cared if they imprisoned him in the City of Bones before, and he didn't care now. As long as Alec was okay.
Jace pivoted toward the corridor that would lead him to the elevator, only to spin back around with a growl. Dammit, what was he supposed to do?
"Jace!" someone called, and he turned to find Magnus and Clary jogging into the cloister.
"I have a way to find where Alec was taken," Magnus said without preamble.
Jace straightened sharply. "How?"
The warlock held up both hands. "I can't be sure he's still there, but it's a place to start. So we should hurry."
"I'll find Izzy and get our weapons," Clary said, and rushed off.
Jace crossed his arms and stepped closer to the warlock. "So how exactly can you find him?"
Magnus canted his head. "Eh, let's just say it's going to take some creative magic," he hedged.
Jace frowned, but didn't press. Whatever Magnus had planned, if it found Alec, then he didn't care.
Clary quickly returned, Izzy in tow.
"Clary said you have a way to track Alec?"
"Not track," Magnus corrected. "But something. Let's go."
He spun on his heel and started striding quickly for the doors. Clary passed Jace his seraph blade as the three of them hurried to keep up. Once outside, Magnus whipped up a portal and ushered them through. Jace started in confusion when they came out in Magnus's loft.
He whirled on the warlock. "What's going on?"
"Madzie," Clary uttered, and Jace turned to see the young warlock child standing next to a low table of spell ingredients. There was another woman, presumably a warlock, sitting on the couch further back.
"Madzie's the one Valentine used to break through the Institute's wards," Magnus quickly explained. "It's not her fault, but I doubt the Clave will see it that way, so I'm keeping her out of it." He paused to skewer Jace with a meaningful look.
Jace's mouth turned down, but he nodded that he understood—and he had no intention of incarcerating a child who was as much a victim as anyone else.
Magnus's shoulders lost some of their tension, and he nodded in return as he turned to the child. "Valentine had Madzie send his men and Alec through a portal. Now, she doesn't know where they went, but since it was the last portal she opened up, she can recreate it, and then with my help, we can pick up the trace psychic signature of the destination."
Jace lifted his brows, then shook his head; he could barely follow that explanation, but as long as it worked, he didn't need to understand the mechanics. "Okay, do it."
Magnus nodded grimly. "I don't know how many Circle members might be there," he said. "So we go in guns blazing."
Jace and Izzy exchanged a look, but Clary drew her blade, which Jace took to mean going in ready for a fight. He hefted his own sword up. Izzy's whip slithered down her wrist.
Magnus knelt down in front of Madzie. "Ready, Sweet Pea?"
She gave a solemn nod, and then stretched her arm out, shooting a burst of golden light from her palm that swirled into a portal. Magnus reached for a spell bowl on the table behind them and started uttering an incantation. Jace held his breath, muscles tensing with anticipation and adrenaline.
Magnus's voice droned on for several lines, making Jace nervous. This had to work.
Suddenly, his eyes snapped wide and Magnus leaped to his feet. "I got it." He waved his hand, and the portal rippled. "Good girl, Madzie. You stay with Catarina now."
The woman on the couch opened her arms, and Madzie went running into them. "Good luck!" she called.
Magnus gave her a sharp nod, then turned to the others resolutely. When he marched through the portal, they followed on his heels.
They exited into a dimly lit building that was either a warehouse or garage. Circle members immediately came charging out from the shadows with a chorus of battle cries.
Jace ducked under the swing of the one nearest him, and drove his blade straight through the man's sternum. He yanked it out with a squelch and spun to meet the next attack. The discordant screech of adamas filled the air, along with the snap of Izzy's whip. Crackling red plasma balls exploded with blinding ferocity as Magnus unleashed his fury on the rogue shadowhunters.
But despite their berserk fighting styles and empowered runes, these amateurs lacked proper training and technique, having only been made shadowhunters a few weeks ago. Between the four of them, they made quick work of their enemies, until the last one fell in a bloody heap and the sounds of battle died down.
Jace was breathing heavily as he whipped his gaze around, poised for more. The place was silent, though.
Until a muffled voice sounded from the next room.
"Over here."
Jace exchanged a look with the others, and then raised his sword as they converged on the door, which led into another large space. There were wire cages in the back.
"Cleophas," Clary breathed.
Jace slowed at the sight of the Iron Sister. She may have been behind bars, but she was a traitor as far as he was concerned.
"I know you're not here for me." She cocked her head to the other cage, and Jace's heart dropped into his stomach when he finally spotted Alec.
Letting his sword clatter to the floor, he rushed forward and yanked at the cage door. It was padlocked.
"Here," Clary said urgently, pushing in front of him with her stele and drawing an unlock rune.
The padlock clicked open, and Jace wrenched it off before flinging the door wide and clambering into the small space. "Alec!"
Alec was slumped against the back wall, knees drawn up and forehead pressed to the concrete slab. Sickly black veins forked out across his face and neck, just as they had with Dot. Jace wondered if that was why the bond had been so blunted. Alec's eyes were open to no more than slits, and his mouth was moving soundlessly.
Jace's stomach did a flip, and he sank down in front of his parabatai. "Alec. Alec." He reached out and cupped the sides of his brother's face.
Alec finally stilled, and lifted his head just a fraction. Jace could have wept at the glassy, distant look in his eyes.
"It's okay, Alec. I'm here."
"Facilis descensus Averno," he rasped.
Jace's heart twisted with grief, and he pulled Alec into a fierce, protective embrace. "It's okay, I got you. You're okay. You're gonna be okay."
Alec let out a shuddering breath and continued to whisper, "Facilis descensus Averno."
The descent into Hell is easy.
It was climbing back out that was the hard part.
A/N: Reviews are love! (Plus I've had a really crappy week and reviews brighten my day as much as I hope my updating a chapter does for anyone reading.)