A/N: Hey guys! So this chapter may not have a whole ton of action, but the next chapter definitely will. Ooh the next chapter. . . Well I should probably stop typing so I can go write it. In the meantime, here is chapter 6! Reads & reviews are always welcome! Your guys' reviews here mean so much to me, you have no clue. :) I know this isn't the best chapter, but you know. It's necessary information. Every book kinda has those filler chapters. This is one of mine. Hopefully you'll like the next chapter more! Nevertheless, I hope you like this one too! :) Anyway, enjoy! We are getting near the end of part one (YAY!) If you go to my fan page on Facebook, The Best Mortal Instruments Quotes, you can actually see my entire table of contents for the whole book that I have planned out! Anyway, TTYLXOX Mortal Hearts! Read, review, enjoy!

6

Lost and Found

"Mom?" Isabelle called hopefully as she strode into the kitchen, her shoulders slumping when she found it empty. She turned around, heading to regroup with the others in the hallway. When she got there, however, three of the boys had disappeared. "Where are Jace and Magnus and Simon?" Isabelle asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Jace can't sit still, and neither can Magnus or Simon, apparently." Alec said, looking up as she came over to him, while Maia and Jordan distanced themselves a little, walking just around the corner. "They were going to see if Mom and Dad were maybe in the weapons room. You have any luck?"

"No. How about you?"

"Is Mom standing next to me?" Alec snapped. Upon catching Isabelle's surprised expression, he sighed and closed his eyes. "Sorry. I didn't mean—"

"It's okay. I understand," she said reassuringly. "You have a lot on your mind right now."

Alec shrugged hesitantly. "It shouldn't matter to me, you know. He broke up with me. We aren't together anymore, so it's not my job to worry about him."

Isabelle bit back the smile that was creeping toward her face. "But you still do anyway, don't you?"

Alec eyed her carefully, letting a small grin appear briefly on his face. "Of course I do."

"You still love him."

"I never stopped. I don't think I ever could. I mean, I tried moving on. Nothing worked."

"Have you tried telling him that?"

Alec, who looked uncomfortable talking about this, shrugged his shoulders again. "You really think that'd work? He hasn't even answered my phone calls for a month. I never get a chance to talk to him."

"And yet, here he is, helping yet again with Shadowhunter problems that he doesn't have to help with. I'd say that's something."

"He's not here for me. He's here to get Clary back, to make sure she doesn't become an apocalyptic weapon for Sebastian. He lives on the same Earth as me, that's all."

"You can't really think that's all this is, can you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Alec, he's. . . How old is he? Like 800? Anyway, he's lived more than one lifetime. He's never struck me as the self-preservation type. He's not doing this so he can survive. He's doing this for all of us, but more importantly he's doing this for you. Don't forget that."

Alec stared at his sister, speechless. Isabelle threw a quick smile at him, before jumping up from the wall she'd been leaning against. "Alright, where in the name of the Angel are Mom and Dad? We've searched the kitchen, the cathedral, their bedroom, the library—" She looked up at her brother. "Please tell me someone checked the library?"

Alec's eyes widened. "I thought you said you'd checked it!"

Isabelle rolled her eyes. "This is why we can't have nice things, Alec. Because you forget about them!" She laughed and then continued. "I'll go check. You go grab Jace and the others, wherever they've disappeared to."

Alec nodded bashfully and Isabelle walked past him, down the hallway toward the Institute's library.

"Oh, and Alec?" Izzy called back to her brother.

"Yeah?"

"Talk to Magnus. Don't wait. You don't want. . . Well, you wouldn't want something to happen to him without you two knowing how you feel about each other."


The halls of the Institute could be quite eerie when you were alone in them. Isabelle remembered how, when she was much younger growing up here, she would run screaming to her mother, swearing that the walls were whispering and breathing. Most of the time, she'd discover that it was just Jace and Alec playing tricks on her. But sometimes, even though Maryse had punished the boys for tricking her, they would still swear on the Angel that they hadn't done anything, that the walls really were talking. Alec and Isabelle had read about ghosts in one of their lessons and had since thought that they were to blame for the whispers and unexplained noises around the old building. Jace, of course, thought the idea was ridiculous, citing that the old stone walls just carried voices through the halls.

Isabelle could hear whispers now, and it was clear that, at least this time, Jace was right. The voices were easily recognizable as her parents'. And they were arguing. As she drew closer to the library, Isabelle stepped softly so that she could make out the words between to two of them.

"Robert, you can't do this. Our family—"

"You and I both know that we haven't been a family for a long time now, Maryse."

A pause.

"Take that back." Maryse Lightwood's voice didn't waver, but Isabelle could hear the hurt behind the words.

"You know it's true. I have an opportunity to redeem my family's name and to make something of myself. Why is that so hard for you to accept?"

Isabelle had reached the door now and she hesitated a moment before reaching her hand up and knocking, the sound covering up whatever response her mother had said. She slid the door open slowly and immediately heard the voices stop.

"Mom?" she said, peeking her head around the door. "Dad?"

Isabelle's mother stood behind her desk with her arms crossed over her chest, while Robert stood on the opposite side of the desk, hunched over it with his palms on the dark oak. They both looked up at her as she walked in, matching sour expressions on both of their faces.

"Mom? Is something wrong?"

Her mother hesitated. "No," Robert answered for Maryse. "Nothing at all. In fact, I was just going out for some air."

Isabelle's father straightened up and stalked out of the room without a further word. Maryse called after him: "We'll talk about this later, Robert." Her husband gave no reply.

Isabelle entered the room the rest of the way, closing the door behind her and moving to stand where her father had just stood. "Mom, what's going on?"

"Nothing. It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

"Mom—"

"What did you need?"

"What?"

"You were looking for us. What did you need? And why did you and your brothers leave in such a hurry?"

"Um. . ." Isabelle replied, attempting to gather her thoughts. "We all needed to talk to you about something. Something important."

"Who is 'we all'?"

"Magnus, Maia, Jordan, Jace, Alec, Simon—"

"Well, seeing as Simon can't enter the Institute, we'd have to have some kind of neutral meeting place, and I am just not up for that right now, Isabelle."

"Actually, there's something you should know about Simon. He kind of can come in the Institute."

"That isn't funny. He's a vampire and this is consecrated ground. No sooner would I believe that the demon towers of Alicante are made of cotton candy than I would believe that a vampire—" Maryse's sentence was cut off when the door to the library opened a second time, in walking Jace, followed by Alec and Magnus, who appeared to be talking about something far different than a visit to Hell, and then Jordan and Maia. And Simon.

Isabelle turned back to see her mother's stunned expression, complete with wide eyes and a dropped jaw. "By the Angel," Maryse whispered to herself.


After Maryse had recovered from her apparent heart attack at the sight of a vampire—not a projection, but an actual vampire—inside the Institute, they all sat down and allowed Magnus to explain his plan to her. When he was done, she looked even more shocked than she had when she'd first seen Simon walk through the door.

"Why are you telling me this?" she asked finally.

"My question exactly," grumbled Jace.

"We're telling you," Alec said pointedly, more at Jace than to his mother, "because we want the Clave to know. We want their approval in this."

"What?"

"Look," Isabelle added, "we have been doing things by ourselves for too long. The last time with the battle at the Seventh Sacred Site, the Clave didn't even know what had happened until afterward. If Aline and Jia Penhallow hadn't covered for us, we could have been in so much more trouble. And we were just in Ireland. What do you think the Clave would say if we went to Hell to try to find Sebastian without telling them first?"

"And why would you think the Clave would agree to something like this?"

"Because," said Alec, "eventually, they're going to realize that finding Sebastian is not just a priority, it is the priority. And they are going to realize just how desperate they are, and Magnus is going to prove that to them."

"Oh, so someone has to be desperate to be in need of my services."

"Shut up!" chorused Jace, Isabelle, Maia and Jordan.

"Honestly," Jace added. "We can't do anything with you two anymore. You're like children. And I don't like when other people act like children, because it makes me have to act like an adult. Just stop this already. Make up, talk it out, whatever. Just stop fighting like an old married couple." Isabelle didn't miss the fact that all of the color drained from her mother's face when Jace said this. "There are way more important things going on right now, don't you think."

Magnus, surprisingly, nodded. "Sorry. You're right." This, of course, gained the attention of everyone else in the room, but Magnus continued on uninterrupted. "You were saying, Alexander?"

Alec looked at him for a moment before turning back to his mother. "Look, I know you don't trust him like I do, Mom—"

"I trust Magnus a great deal more than you might think, Alec," Maryse said monotonously, sharing a knowing glance with Magnus.

"—and that's okay," Alec finished seamlessly, continuing on as if he might lose the nerve to say what he needed to say if he waited too long or thought about it. "But that's why I think it's best if I take this matter to the Clave myself. Personally."

Isabelle shot a mutinous glare at her brother. "What? You mean go to Alicante?"

"No. Alec, we need you here." Jace interjected urgently.

"I know, but someone has to tell the Clave, and if this is how it has to be—"

"No," Maryse interrupted, staring down at the floor. "No one is going to Idris."

"What?" replied Alec, dumbfounded. "Mom, someone has to go. We have to tell the Clave. We're on such thin ice with them already. We can't afford—"

"Which is why we aren't going to tell them."

"But, Mom," worried Isabelle. "The law—"

"I've broken it before. If Valentine was right about one thing, it's that the Clave needs to change. Not the way he wanted, but still changed. And we can't do that by writing memos and putting motions forth in council meetings and always asking permission. Shadowhunters were created with the sworn duty of protecting the innocent people of this world from the evil that seeks to destroy them, an evil to which they are both oblivious and defenseless. The Clave was only created to aid that mission. But, if their laws prevent us from protecting people as much as it is needed, then the Clave's laws must change. When I was younger, I made the mistake of trusting Valentine and the Circle. A month ago, I almost lost another one of my children because the Clave were not willing to see that he could be saved and ordered me to think the same. This time, the Clave's mistakes and ignorance could cost every person on this planet their lives, because whatever it is Jonathan—no, Sebastian—is planning, I can assure you that he won't distinguish between mundane or Shadowhunter or Downworlder. It will be the end of us all. I've made the mistake of letting innocent people get hurt and die before. I won't be making that mistake again. The Clave will reject this no matter what you say, Alexander. But I will not. Go. Do what you have to do. Don't let anything stop you."

Jace's expression was just as surprised as everyone else's. "Well. That was. . .easier than I would have expected."

"All of you," Maryse said, standing up, "go. Be careful and be brave. You are stronger Shadowhunters then I ever was. I know you'll do the right thing."

As they all, with the exception of Maryse, started through the library door, Maryse called out to the. "May the Angel watch over you. All of you."

Isabelle fell to the back of the group, and none of them seemed to notice when she closed the heavy wooden doors behind them, closing the library off from the hall and so leaving her alone with her mother.


Jocelyn lay in an unfamiliar bed with thick blankets covering her and fluffy pillows supporting her head, and she briefly wondered how she'd gotten here.

He head was killing her, blood pounding in her ears like a never-ending drumbeat. She groaned as she opened her eyes slowly.

"Jocelyn?" said a worried voice from beside her bed. Luke's voice.

Luke. She'd been with Luke, at his house. But how did she end up here? Where was here?

And then she remembered where she was. She was at the Institute. She'd come here because. . .

Because of the phone call, she thought to herself. I'm here because of my son. And because of my daughter. I came here looking for my daughter.

She shot up out of bed and Luke's strong but gentle hands were nearly instantly on her shoulders, pushing her back down onto the sheets. "Hey," Luke coaxed. "Shh. It's alright. You're okay. You're in the Institute. Everything's okay—"

"Clary," Jocelyn said feverently, gasping for air. "Where is she, Luke? Where's Clary?" When Luke didn't respond immediately, Jocelyn slapped his hands away and screamed at him. "Where is she?" she cried. "Where's my daughter?" Tears began to roll down Jocelyn's face, and she fell back onto the bed, sobbing. "Where's my baby?"

"Jocelyn," Luke said softly. "Don't worry. Everything—"

"Everything is not going to be fine, Luke. Sebastian, my demon son, has my daughter. How can I not worry? How can you even say that?"

"She's just as much my daughter as she is yours, Jocelyn. At least, she might as well be. I have been the only father she's ever known. Of course I am worried out of my mind right now! But the Shadowhunter—Jace and Alec and the others—they have a plan. I just overheard them talking. I'll spare you the gory details, but I can tell you that it's a good plan. It's a smart plan. And it's the only plan we have left. I have faith in them. You just need to have a little faith, too."

"Faith?" Jocelyn finally replied breathlessly.

"Faith," Luke repeated firmly. "They're going to find her. I trust them with my life."

"But do trust them with Clary's life?"

"Jocelyn, I would trust these people with the life of every single person on this planet, including mine, yours, and Clary's. They haven't let me down yet and, until they do, I'm not going to stop believing in them."

Jocelyn nodded reluctantly, wiping tears from her face. Then, unexpectedly, she smiled up at Luke. "You know," she said, "if things had going as planned, you would be her father right now. If only her step-father."

Luke took Jocelyn's hands. "I will always be whatever she needs me to be. If she needs me to be a father, then I will be her father. I don't need any paperwork that proves it."

Jocelyn dropped her gaze from his. "So you've given up on marriage completely?" she asked, defeated.

"No, of course not!" he answered quickly.

"Then let's do it right now," Jocelyn said, here eyes wide and slightly crazed. "Marry me today, right now."

"What?" Luke responded, bewildered.

"We can't wait anymore. If we wait for everything to be better again before our wedding, we'll never be married."

Luke sighed, raising a hand to cup Jocelyn's face. "I'll tell you what. We'll get married when Clary comes back. I promise. As soon as she is home and safe, I would be honored for you to become my wife. Okay?"

Jocelyn smiled up at him and nodded. "Okay."

Luke beamed back at her. "Okay," he repeated, leaning forward to kiss her on the forehead. "Now, get some rest, please?"

"And you'll stay here?"

"I'll always stay right by your side, Jocelyn. I always have and I always will. You never have to worry about me."

Jocelyn settled back into the bed comfortably and let her eyes slip closed. "I know," she murmured, sleep already overtaking her once more. "I know."


"Mom." Isabelle's voice rang through the eerily quiet library. Her mother, who hadn't noticed that her daughter was still in the room, turned to face her, startled. "What's going on?"

Maryse shook her head. "I told you," she stammered, "the Clave—"

"This isn't about the Clave, though, is it, Mother? A month ago, you would have bitten my head off for saying anything like that. You've been acting so weird since dad got back. So what's going on between you two?"

"Leave it alone, Isabelle," her mother warned.

"I can't just leave it alone, Mom. This has to do with me and Alec, too. You're just lucky that he and Jace have had more important things on their minds lately than paying attention to your crazy, random mood swings." Isabelle gasped. "You aren't pregnant, are you?"

Maryse rolled her eyes. "Don't be ridiculous."

"Then what's going on? Why won't you just tell me?"

Maryse sat down in the large chair behind Hodge's old desk, sighing. "Your father is returning to Idris," she replied finally.

Isabelle failed to see why this would be troubling her mother as much as it seemed to. "Okay. For how long?"

"You misunderstand me. Your father is returning to Idris, and this time he's staying. Permanently."

"We're moving to Idris? But what about the Institute? What about—?"

Maryse waved a hand, cutting her off. "Not we, Isabelle. He. Your father will be returning to Idris alone. Unless you choose to go with him."

"You mean, I have to choose? Live in Idris with Dad or stay here with you? But, if I leave, wouldn't you be all alone here?" Isabelle answered uneasily.

"You're only sixteen, Isabelle. So yes, you must stay with one of us. It is, however, entirely your choice which one."

"What about Alec?"

"Alec is eighteen. He can do as he wishes. He may go wherever he chooses. This choice is entirely up to you."

"And Jace? What about him?"

"His eighteenth birthday is just around the corner, so I've decided not to tell him. He'll stay here and then he can travel when he turns eighteen if he so wishes."

Isabelle fell into the chair opposite her mother. "But why is Dad leaving us?" she asked softly.

"After the Mortal War, your father stayed in Idris. Do you remember what for?"

Isabelle nodded. "Dad put his name in for the Inquisitor's position. But he came back. I just assumer it meant he'd been turned down for the job."

Maryse looked away and Isabelle swore that she saw a stray tear fall down her cheek. "The decision has been in a long deliberation among the Council. Your father came back only to make sure that Jace was alright after the battle. And to talk to me about what was happening. We've been trying to keep everything as normal as we could since then, but I guess, judging from what you said, we haven't been as covert as we led ourselves to believe. And then, last night, right before Jocelyn arrived, Robert got a fire message from the Clave and he rushed off to read it without so much as another word to me. After Jocelyn was asleep, I returned to the library where I found him waiting. He gave me the letter to read. It said that he had been elected as the Inquisitor to the Clave and that he needed to return to Idris as soon as possible. He'll be leaving tomorrow night."

"So soon?" Isabelle's voice hiked up an octave.

"The Consul said that the Clave needed him urgently and he wasn't going to argue."

"Is that why you want us to break the law?" Isabelle asked coldly, jumping up from her chair and staring down at Maryse. "Please tell me that's not why you want us to break the law."

"Of course not! Isabelle—"

"By the Angel, it is! It is why you want us to break the law! All of those things you said earlier, they were all just words to you, weren't they? Because you and I both know that the real reason you said any of that was because you want the Institute and Dad to get in trouble so he'll lose the job."

"No, that's not it at all, Isabelle. Please, you have to trust me—"

"Trust you? How can I trust you when you just lied to my face, lied to all of our faces. Do you even realize that Jace and Simon both love Clary? If they lost her, they'd both be devastated. And yet you're using her disappearance to your own selfish advantage."

"Isabelle Sophia Lightwood, stop right now and just listen to me!" Maryse commanded pleadingly, her voice cracking. Isabelle's heart sank in her chest—Maryse never used her entire name, not even when she was extremely angry with her. "I believe in the cause every Shadowhunter serves, which is to protect the innocent. The Clave and its blind ignorance have cost me so much. After the Uprising, we were exiled from Alicante, only able to return when summoned by the Clave. The Clave has lost me friends and family and now even my son—" Maryse's hand flew to her mouth as her voice failed her, and Isabelle watched as a few tears made their way past her mother's eyelids and slid down her face.

"Mom. . ." Isabelle began despairingly, rushing to her mother's side and throwing her arms around Maryse's neck. Maryse hugged her back briefly and then pulled back, still holding on to her daughter's forearm.

"The Clave has taken everything from me, Isabelle. The Shadowhunter are no longer able to function the way they were meant to because of the Covenant laws. The Clave has ruined my life as well as the lives of countless other Shadowhunters. But I won't stand by and watch as they let billions of people die and let this world be consumed by Hellfire rather than setting their egos aside long enough to figure out what truly needs to be done."

Isabelle looked up into her mother's tear-filled eyes and felt a sudden, icy hatred flow through her veins.

Sebastian had done this. Sebastian had killed her brother. Sebastian had torn her family in half. Not only that, he had torn the Clave nearly to the point of civil war. Sebastian had made her mother, one of the strongest people she knew, cry. But no more.

Isabelle set her jaw with resolve, standing up and staring down at her mother's puffy, red eyes.

"That's not going to happen. This world will be just fine. I'm going to make sure of it. I promise, Mom. I'm not going to let anything happen."

Maryse smiled weakly at her daughter. "I know you won't. You're too much like me."

"Gorgeous and brilliant?" Isabelle asked, flipping her long hair over her shoulder.

"I was thinking 'stubborn and won't take no for an answer.' But gorgeous and brilliant too."

"Both valid arguments, actually." Isabelle beamed at her mother momentarily before turning to leave the room. As she reached the door, though, her mother called out to her.

"Isabelle," she said, and Izzy spun around to face her.

"Yeah?"

"Be careful. Please. And. . ." Maryse hesitated.

"What?"

"You and Simon watch out for each other."

Isabelle's eyes widened and her cheeks flushed. "Simon? Why—?"

"I see the way you look at each other. It's the same look I see when Jace looks at Clary or when Jocelyn looks at Lucian. It's the way your father and I look—looked—at each other, once upon a time. Don't let him go. Keep him close."

Isabelle's eyebrow shot up inquisitively. "I thought you hate me dating Downworlders?"

"I've had time to reconsider lately. If Simon makes you truly happy, then who am I to keep you two apart?"

Isabelle just nodded and smiled at her mother meekly. "Thank you, Mom."

"I love you, Isabelle. You know that, right?"

"Of course." Isabelle realized belatedly that her mother's voice made her words sound like a goodbye. "Mom, I'll be alright. We all will. We're Lightwoods. We're always doing stupid things, but nothing's managed to kill us yet."


"What if we just did it without the Clave's approval?" asked Maia. "How much trouble would we be in?"

"More than ever," Alec replied. "The Clave barely trusts us anymore."

"It's been this bad before," Jace reasoned. "Come on, the Clave hasn't trusted us for a long time, if they ever did."

"With good reason, Jace! We never report to them for anything until it's too late or we've already done it. If we did something like this without their permission, we'd lost any faith they might still have with us. We would lose everything. We'd lose the Institute, get our marks stripped—"

"I'd rather live as a mundane with Clary next to me than live as a Shadowhunter with her dead, or worse. I would give everything up to get her back."

"But you don't have to Jace. So Mom won't tell them. Fine. I will."

"No," said a voice from behind them, and they all turned to see Isabelle, face stony with determination, closing the short distance between them and the library door from which she had just emerged.

"Isabelle?" Alec replied, shaking his head. "What do you mean 'no'? Mom's crazy. We can't listen to her—"

"She's not crazy," Isabelle countered defensively. "Alec, there are things you don't realize and things that you don't know. I don't have time to tell you about them all right now, so you'll just have to trust me. But we are going to do this and we aren't going to stand around waiting for the Clave's approval." Isabelle sighed upon seeing Alec's expression and, when she continued, her tone was softer. "Look, I don't expect all of you to agree with me. And I'm not going to be responsible for ruining anyone else's life or his or her relationship with Clave except me. That's why you two should go." Isabelle indicated Maia and Jordan with her fingers.

"What?" Maia exclaimed indignantly, though Jordan stood silently beside her, exchanging a glance with Jace. "But we can help—"

"Isabelle's right," Jace interrupted, "as much as it pains me to say."

Maia opened her mouth to say something, but Jace continued nevertheless. "You two are in good standing with the Clave right now. If something goes wrong with this and the Clave finds out, you two don't need to be caught in the middle of it. We're Shadowhunters. It's our job to fight. We were born into this. You weren't. I appreciate your help but there's nothing you can do right now. I promise that we'll call when there's something you can do," Jace finished imploringly, and Alec stared at him. for he's never known Jace to be imploring—Jace had always been the person that took what he wanted and wouldn't let anyone oppose his decisions. This new side of him had been a recent change, one that Alec started to see right around the timre that Jace came home from the battle at the Seventh Sacred Site.

"Magnus and Simon aren't Shadowhunters, either!"

Before Jace could form a reply, Magnus was already speaking. "I am an 800 year old warlock that happens to be their ticket into Hell. I doubt they're worried about me, Maia."

Jordan and Maia gawked at him, and Alec realized that he was one of the only people to whom Magnus had ever confided his age.

"800?" asked Maia meekly.

"You don't look a day over. . . 750. I swear. You look great, man. Really. . ." Jordan trailed off awkwardly.

"Anyway," Jace said, bringing their collective train of thought back from derailment. "See, Maia? Magnus has to come. And Simon. . ." Jace trailed off looking over at Simon, who was staring expectantly back at the blond boy. "Simon's staying here at the Institute. He's not coming with us."

"What?" demanded Simon and Isabelle simultaneously.

"Simon—"

"No way in Hell am I staying here, Jace. She's my best friend."

"You're a vampire, Simon, just a vampire. You don't even have the Mark of Cain anymore. It's too dangerous for you to come."

"You can't do this! You can't keep shutting me out of her life. As it is, I've barely seen her in a month with you keeping her locked up in the Institute. Like you said, I'm a vampire. I'm not exactly allowed onto hallowed ground."

"This must be one Hell of a projection I'm looking, then, because it looks like you're in the Institute right now and you aren't exactly burning to a crisp."

"Before that, Jace. Come on. You don't have to be the Lone Ranger in this." When Jace responded with a blank expression, Simon rolled his eyes and sighed. "Never mind, you poor, culturally-deprived soul. What I meant is that you guys don't have to go into this alone. We can help—"

"No!" Jace bellowed, making Maia, who was still standing next to him, jump. "Look, Simon, you've been imprisoned by the Clave before, back in Idris."

"Don't remind me," Simon muttered under his breath before raising his voice again and continuing. "But, Jace, that was Aldertree. He was insane—"

"It doesn't matter. He was a member of the Clave, the Inquisitor elected to his position by the Council members. Don't be fooled by those four council seats, Simon. The Clave will still thrust one of their own over a Downworlder any day, no matter how screwed up and wrong their Shadowhunter is, or was."

"Guess you mom was right," said Jordan distantly, and Alec noted the hint of guilt that he carried in his voice, wondering what he had to feel guilty about. "The Clave are corrupt."

"Not corrupt, really," Alec reassured him. "They're just stuck in the past and they're afraid of change, that's all. We need a way to convince them that change is not always bad. The problem is that they're so stubborn that it won't by any means come easy, and they may very well just ignore us."

"And despite all of that," Isabelle said pointedly, "they still have control over all of the world's Shadowhunters and crossing them by allying with us for something like this could mean a cell with your name on it in the Silent City. Or worse. Please don't be stupid about this. We promise that, if we all survive this and we find Sebastian, we will call you three in and ask for your help."

"'Three'?" Simon shouted vehemently. "Come on, Iz, not you too!"

Isabelle's expression softened and her eyes were sad as she looked at Simon. "Simon, I'm sorry. But I won't let you risk yourself like this. I can't stand the thought of what the Clave might do to you. Please understand. This is me watching for you. This is me keeping you close."

Simon seemed about to argue, but instead pulled the wide-eyed girl into his arms, holding her and reassuring her. "Okay," he said simply, taking her head in his. "Okay."

Jace nodded at Simon appreciatively, then dropped his gaze on Maia. "What about you?" he asked.

Maia crossed he arms over her chest. "I don't like this," she said, "being out of the loop. But, I guess I don't have a choice."

Isabelle turned around in Simon's arms and smiled down at the other girl. "Thank you."

Now, all six pairs of eyes fell on Jordan, who immediately threw his hands in the air, surrendering. "Yes, okay. I'll stay out of the way. Just please don't start hugging me and guilting me."

Isabelle and Maia beamed graciously at him, while Simon just nodded to him. Isabelle clapped her hands together then and started calling out instructions. "Right! So, Simon, you can help my mother try to find a way to keep Jocelyn calm. Maia, Luke already knows what's going on with Clary. Why don't you go to the police station and check in with pack?" Maia nodded and Isabelle continued, turning to Jordan. "And you can—"

"Actually," Jordan said uneasily, "I think I know where I need to be. Who knows? Maybe I can get some help, too."

"From where? The Praetor Lupus won't help us," Simon replied, looking first from Isabelle to Maia and then finally back to Jordan.

"You'll just have to trust me on this." Jordan, Alec thought to himself, was clearly not going to reveal his secret willingly, and his voice was pleading for the others to be alright with that.

"Go," Alec said. "Get whatever help you can. If we're going to fight good and evil this time, we're going to need reinforcements. A lot of them."

Jordan nodded to him, a silent thanks, and Jace jumped off the wall he had been leaning on and said, "Let's get to work, then. Maia, Simon, Jordan, do what you have to. And Isabelle, Alec, Magnus, you come with me. Let's go get everything we need to go to Hell."

Simon snorted.

"Everything alright over there, vampire?" Magnus inquired dryly.

"Nothing," he said failing to stifle his laughter. "It's just that I've been telling you all to go to Hell for months. Now that you're actually going, I think I've changed my mind."

"Aw," Jace mocked. "Are you finally going to profess your undying love for me, Daylighter?"

Simon scoffed. "Please. First of all, all of my love is 'undying', so to speak. Secondly, if I were going to come out of the closet today and profess my live to any of the guys in the room, it'd be Jordan. I mean, we already live together. It's not that far of a step."

Jordan's eyes bulged out of his head. "What?"

"Relax," Simon replied, somewhat exasperatedly. "It was just a joke. Besides, you're spoken for already."

"Yes," Maia said, wrapping a tan arm around Jordan's waist and smiling. "He is very spoken for."

"Yeah, well," Isabelle added, reaching both arms around Simon's torso from behind. "So are you, Lewis."

Only a few minutes later, the group had split up, everyone going his own way. Isabelle had allowed her brother and Magnus to disappear off to the weapons room, staying behind so that she could say goodbye to Simon alone. She was just leaning in to kiss him when Maia's blood-curdling shriek filled the Institute.

Simon gave Isabelle a worried glance before rushing off in the direction of Maia's voice. Behind him, he heard other footsteps and Isabelle's frantic voice talking to her mother, who had rushed out of the library when Maia had screamed.

"What's going on?" Maryse was asking.

"I don't know," Isabelle replied, but the rest of their conversation was lost to Simon as he raced further and further ahead of them, taking the spiral staircase down to the cathedral rather than waiting on the old, groaning elevator to make the descent.

He burst through the door at the bottom of the stairs and rushed over to the open door where Jordan stood. As Simon reached him, he saw that his face was white as a sheet. He followed his gaze to see Maia sitting on the steps of the Institute and froze.

Because Maia wasn't alone. In her arms was a unconscious and barely breathing pale figure, cuts and bruises covering her skin and blood matting down her fiery-red curls.

Clary.