It might help if you go back and read the last chapter for this.

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters

Chapter song:

Words by Hawk Nelson

Malachi's words echoed in his head even as he stepped up to the old oak tree where they generally met, taking care - as always - to stay on the opposite side of the tree to the manor, to avoid detection. Do not make this personal.

Did he feel this was personal? Yes; Max was attacked. But that wasn't his reason for fighting was it? He knew that most of the Clave slept soundly at night, content in the knowledge that they fought to protect the innocents of the world. He, on the other hand, had always known he was fighting for vengeance.

So in a way, hadn't it been personal all along?

When he heard the soft crunch of light footsteps on the grass, he looked up from where he had been frowning at his shoes to see Adele. Her fiery hair looked almost black in the night, but her pale face shone like a star. Remembering their bet, he grinned.

She looked at him flatly. "I presume you found something?"

His smile widened. "What makes you think that?"

She rolled her eyes. "Your smug self-satisfied smirk says it all." It vanished at that.

"You can tell?" She only looked at him like he'd asked a stupid question.

She shook her head, waving her hand dismissively. "We digress. So here's the question flat out: did you, or did you not find anything?"

The smirk reasserted itself. "I did."

Her irritation, which admittedly could have been brought on by his being an ass, gave him the satisfaction of knowing that losing the bet bothered her. She had one hell of a stubborn pride.

Her face was wiped blank a moment later, just as he tried to study it. "What did you find?"

How to explain?

He rubbed the back of his neck, not meeting her eyes lest she see the uncertainty inside them. She didn't interrupt as he explained. "I checked the Clave records and compared it to the page. At first there was no link, no way in which the information could be useful during the investigation, then..." He tapped his fingers against his thigh. "I tracked the origins of the people who were killed. All of them had recent ancestors who came from the place mentioned on the page, or near it, around the time of the 1950's."

He would have explained why that was notable, but her face told him she remembered what had been written on the page. "I'd dismiss that as a coincidence," she murmured, face crinkled in thought, "but your face tells me there's more."

Jace nodded. It got a bit more gruesome from then on.

"Well we both get that the victims' ancestors were present, or within the affected area, of the Windscale fire." Her slight head movement confirmed it. "And then when I researched some of the effects," in essence, asked Isabelle. "I found one of the major ones was where one of the chemicals in the radiation did something that messed with your thyroids. Lots of people were diagnosed with thyroid cancer."

"Your thyroids are glands that control lots of movement and functions in your body." Adele muttered.

"Yes." How come she and Isabelle knew about this stuff yet he didn't? "They're located in your neck." When she looked blank he added. "On either side of your throat."

When she still didn't catch on, he allowed the corners of his mouth tug upwards slightly, pleased he had made this connection much faster than her.

"What's the Circle's signature way of killing?"

She wrinkled her nose in distaste at the tone to his voice, like he was spelling it out for a child, but then her brows cleared. "They slit the throat-"

"Directly over the thyroid." He finished. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"So what does this mean?" She asked.

He shrugged. "No idea."

She glared. "So that's it?" At his blank expression she continued. "No theories? Just coincidences?!"

"Baby steps." Jace chastised jokingly, more to bring his own spirits up than Adele's. This business was turning out to be unusually sombre.

Though he didn't know what he expected from a business involving assassins.

She scowled, and, again, he was struck by a thought about how cute she looked doing it.

A sudden thought hit him and he raised an eyebrow. Adele's scowl deepened fiercely. "So, I believe I just won our little bet."

For a moment, her scowl became so deep he thought it would carve permanent lines into her pretty face. Then it flitted away, replace by something akin to mischief. Whatever it was, it didn't bode well.

She spoke carefully. "If it's so 'little', does it matter?" He looked at her bluntly. She met it with a sweet smile that faintly terrified him. "Besides, you didn't actually find anything definite. You didn't win."

He cocked his head, rising to the unspoken challenge. "On the contrary, the exact words of the bet were 'something enlightening'. The information I acquired fulfils those requirements." He drawled. She couldn't poke holes in that argument.

But, apparently, she didn't need to. "I don't disagree." She said, green eyes sparking and making him want to dive out of the line of fire. Her tone was mocking. "But, again, the exact words of the bet were 'something enlightening from this text - and only this text. You used the Clave records."

He looked on, flabbergasted, outraged, and ever so slightly intimidated by her. "You twisted my words!"

"''Tis your words that are twisted, not mine'," Her tone made it clear she was quoting something. Her eyes flashed. "You don't win."

He just looked on with narrowed eyes as she drew breath. "You don't win," she repeated. "But I'll humour you."

And when she smiled a genuine smile, Jace answered with a genuine smile of his own. Then another thought hit him.

This was probably the sort of personal Malachi had meant.

In which case he was dead.

Alec's phone hadn't stopped beeping since he set foot outside of his front door. Isabelle was more excited about this than he had ever expected.

Although he didn't know what he was expecting. Isabelle had long since given up on messing with Jace's love life, and Max - his throat tightened briefly - was too young to have one, so that just left him. Of course she would be excited when he decided to take the first few steps towards being public about his relationship with Magnus.

Alec had known and accepted he was gay a few months before he met Magnus. He hadn't told his siblings yet, but he had a feeling they'd - at least Isabelle had - guessed by that point.

And then one day he'd been waiting for the bus when a man who seemed to leave a trail of glitter came and sat down next to him. Alec had sneezed - from all the glitter of course - causing the man to send a curious glance in his direction. In the next five minutes, Alec had quickly become uncomfortable by the intense stares the man sent his way and as if sensing this, the man had said frankly "I find you attractive."

Alec had turned to gaze in shock and slight relief at the man, who introduced himself as Magnus. They had started talking, and slowly gotten closer and closer as the weeks went by and they met up.

The rest was history.

They had been subtle about it at first, Alec's parents not knowing about him, and had only gone out to places where they were sure they wouldn't run into anyone they knew. Alec knew that Magnus didn't care, that he was only doing it for Alec's sake, and eventually Alec said enough was enough.

They had decided to go to a restaurant both of them knew and liked and damn the consequences.

He hadn't quite thought about how Isabelle would react to the news. At this rate, she would blow up his phone. He turned it off.

Magnus smiled wryly. "Izzy seems excited."

"I think she's more excited than we are." That startled a laugh out of his boyfriend, which made Alec grin in return.

They talked about anything and everything, until a phone pinged. Alec frowned - he had turned his off, hadn't he? - until he realised it was Magnus's.

His boyfriend was staring at the screen, frowning. "I need to go."

Alec only nodded. This had happened before. It happened quite often, actually.

He hadn't told Magnus about the Clave; it would be breaking a vital rule unless he needed to know. He hadn't thought much about keeping secrets.

But as he watched Magnus walk out the door, he realised he hadn't given a thought to whether Magnus was keeping secrets on a need-to-know basis as well.

What do you think Magnus is involved in? What did you think of Clary and Jace's interaction? Please tell me your thoughts.

Review!