Hey guys! I tried to post this chapter quiker than I have been and it's longer too. Hope you like it, don't forget to review!

Chapter 10

Simon tumbled through the portal behind Isabelle. They both lay sprawled in a field. He stood, brushed himself off and offered a hand to Izzy who was still on the ground. She ignored him a rolled to her feet. Simon was crumpled. He knew he was hurting Izzy by breaking off from her but he also knew she would get hurt more if she stayed with him. What he had done to her...

It still pained him to see the wounded look she gave him but he knew this was for the best. Looking around, he took in his surroundings. They had landed in a pasture just on the edge of the woods. Just where the pasture met the wooded thicket, there was a large house. Or, castle, to be more accurate. The walls were dark and layered in shingles so thick it looked like the place had grown scales. The roof was black and twisted and where the top of it seemed to brush the sky, clouds swirled around the tip.

Something made Simon glimpse something from when he was little. He was sitting on a tire swing and his mother was pushing him back and forth. He immediately knew it was from the mountain house that his mother used to rent during the fall. His little kid self sucked in a deep breath and he could taste the fresh air. Looking down at the apple orchard just beyond the boundaries of their land, a strong breeze blew over him. He shivered.

Simon closed his eyes lost in memory and took a deep breath...but he could not find the mountainy smell in his dead lungs nor feel the frigid cold wind that blew on him now. He snapped out of the trance when he heard Alec and Magnus come through, and they landed on top of one another. Blushing, Alec climbed off top of Magnus and together they stood. Maia floundered through the swirling blue door and immediately rolled over to hurl in the grass. "I hate portals." She winned before wobbling to her feet.

"We should get going." Magnus said, stepping towards the eerie house. They all stepped forward, heading to cross the field, but Izzy, in the lead, stopped. "Where's Jocelyn?"

They all stopped. Turning, they saw the portal still swirling, but it was shutting fast. Izzy rushed back to the blue liquid. They waited another thirty seconds and the portal was now only the size of a small chair.

"Magnus, you've got to keep it open-we need Jocelyn!" Isabelle said but Magnus only shook his head. "I dont know why she hasn't come through yet but I have to save my energy for making a portal out. I can't hold this one open much longer. And then, something pierced the light.

A hand, long and slender slipped through the portal from the other side. The fingers were firm and still delicat, an artist hands. But as soon as the arm was on the mountains side of the portal up to its elbow, it was jerked back just as the portal swallowed itself, slamming shut.

"What the hell was that?!" Izzy screamed kicking at the grass. Simon stepped forward frowning. "It looked like...someone was keeping her from leaving the Institute."

Isabelle shot Simon a glare, telling him with her eyes that he shouldn't have said anything, though he hadn't thought he had said anything wrong.

"We have to get Jace and Clary." Alec said starting off for the house again. "Get them, then head back and see what's going on."

"Somethings not right." Izzy protested looking into the space in front of her blankly.

"Yeah, well, nothings ever right is it?" Alec said sternly. So being able to do nothing, they hurried to the edge of the field where they then proceeded to sneak around to the back of the house. Staying just behind the first row of the tree line, the group tried not to crunch there feet in the leaves. When they reached the back lawn of the house, Simon noticed thousands of statues spread across the grass. It was a maze of frozen marble people.

"Woah. I didn't know Sebby had Medusa powers." Simon whispered.

"No kidding." Maia replied. But the others were already moving forward. As the shadowhunters took the lead, weaving through the maze, Magnus, Simon, and Maia, fell back, trying not to look at the faces of the statues. But Simon couldn't help but notice one thing. All of the people were either crying or wounded. All of them were broken angels.

Some had large folded wings, other only nubs where wings had once been. One of them, just to Simon's right, towered above all the others. Something about the features of this particular angel caught his eye. The angel was on one knee, frozen in the motion on being forced into a broken, submissive position. With a face that looked shaped perfectly and hair that fell into place, this angel had beautiful wings - or once did. Now, the statue showed the right one bent and ruffled, the other, nearly sawed off and only hang on by a string. Something about the beauty of the angel made Simon get the sense that the body and wings should be a holy golden color - not the ghoulish black it was carved in. And then he saw the black sword in one hand and the cracked cup in the other. It was Raziel. Simon had no doubt.

Whatever blood left in Simons body froze. He wobbled in the sickness and macabre of it all. Shifting his eyes to the ground, he ran to catch up with the others. He frantically tried to push the suffering angel out of his mind. They all stopped at the back door.

"Whats the plan?" Simon asked, his voice wavering slightly as he crouched beside Magnus who was just behind the door.

"We go in. We get Jace and Clary. Magnus makes a portal. We leave. Got it?" Alec's directions were eagerly sparse. Alec was, Simon noticed, just determined to get in and save his friends than actually organized a plan. Simon looked around to see if anyone besides him was not okay with just running in, but seeing the determination also on Izzy and Magnus' face, he knew no one here was going to sleep well until they save their friends. And though Simon couldn't stand knowing that Clary's sick brother was holding her captive, he'd feel more comfortable with a solid plan.

"What if demon attack? What about Sebastian?" Simon said dubiously.

Alec then turned and Simon almost didnt recognize the ferocity in his eyes."Kill any damn demon thats stupid enough to get in our way. And Simon?"

"...Yeah?"

"If you see Sebastian," Alec said, "drink away my friend." Maia smiled and patted Simon on the back. He noticed he nails begin to grow and sharpen. He could already feel his fangs unsheathing themselves. He knew when he said, "Will do," that the others saw his glinting daggers in the wavering sunlight.

So in they went.

Jace was only half conscious when the door to his cell opened.

"Im going to kill you." He growled, rattling his chains as he tried to push towards the tall figure in the doorway. "I swear on the angel-"

"Jace." A familiar voice came to Jace and he looked up. It wasn't Sebastian. It was-

"A-alec?"

"By the angel, Jace." Alec rushed forward inspecting his parabatai's torn body. "I could feel what he was doing to you. He was-"

"How did you find us?" Jace squinted up at his friend who didn't seem to be paying any attention to him. Something looked different about Alec. His face seemed hard and his voice was an angry growl. He began running his hands over Jace's injuries.

"Get me out." Jace grunted as he again pulled at the chains. Alec nodded, pulled his stele out of his pocket, and began working on the chains. Looking at Alec, Jace could see that he had not slept from the dark circles under his eyes. His hair seemed to stick out just as much as Magnus'. One of the chains busted and the blond fell forward crying out at the sudden rush of pain enveloping his body. Alec winced as if he too could feel the pain. Drawing a release rune hastily onto the second chain, Jace was freed. His hands slapped the floor as he tried to push himself up but he couldn't. He was too weak. He was ashamed at his lack of strength; it was just what Sebastian wanted.

Groaning, Jace tried to climb to his feet but he stumbled so Alec linked his shoulder under Jaces armpit holding him in a wounded soldier position.

"Magnus, we need you!" Alec shouted into the open doorway. Only now did Jace's ears pick up on the loud commotion in the hallway. There was a clashing and hissing. Someone yelled. Magnus hurried around the edge of the wall and burst into the room. A long gash opened the space between his forehead and hairline. Blood ran in a stream down his jacket from another cut along his arm.

"Oh, shit," Magnus said swooping forward. He too had dark circles under his eyes. He looked tired and seemed to wobble with each step. "How bad does it hurt?" Magnus asked, laying his hands on Jace's bare shoulders.

"I-i'm good." Jace insisted and attempted to place a foot in front of him but he fell forward only to have Magnus catch him. He cried out in agony as something snapped in his ankle. Sparks flew and something jolted through Jace. He looked up and Magnus nodded. That should hold you for a while. He stood unsteadily, but he did not fall.

"Lets go." Alec said. As soon as Jace stepped out of the room something lunged at him. His instincts kicked in and he ducked just in time, as a demon sailed over his head. The creature lunged at him again and rolling to the side, Jace slammed a fist into its face. As he tried to climb to his feet, another demon, with rough, bristly skin, slammed a long tail into his face. The force knocked him flat to the floor and his mind dulled, ringing. Pain rolled through his body in waves. It felt as though someone was driving a nail through his skull. He hunkered, awaiting another blow from the demon, but nothing came. A distant voice called his name and slowly, he was brought back.

"Jace...Jace, come on we gotta go...NOW, Jace!"

Jace was pulled to his feet. Someone handed him a seraph blade. Demons appeared on his right. He lashed out. They crumbled to dust. More in front of him; Alec beheaded them. One running at them got an arrow in its head. He moved through the crowd of monsters, disoriented. Something was missing. Something wasn't right-

"Wheres Clary?" Jace demanded.

"We can't find her." Alec grunted as he dragged Jace along, flinging arrows at anything that came with a few yards.

"No. No, we have to find her. We have to get her out." Jace yanked his arm from Alec and stumbled back a bit. "We have to save her, Sebastian is hur-"

Jace was interrupted by a scream. A scream that made him want to curl up in a ball and beat himself up for not being able to sooth the person screaming. A scream that he knew.

Alec turned toward the scream and from a corner behind Alec, came Izzy, her silver whip cracking in her hand, and Simon, ruffled looking with blood stained on his hands and face. A wolf loomed up behind Simon and attacked the demons that came too close to the back of the group.

The person screamed again.

"Let me GO!"

Jace surged forward, powered by anger and hate and love and pain.

"Stop!" The person whimpered.

Jace burst into a desperate run shouting her name. "CLARY!"