Twenty-One

Jace heaved himself through the doorway, disappearing almost instantly from sight but by some unspoken consensus that it would do no good no-one else moved, by the same token however no-one attempted to stop him, Jace wasn't the kind of guy who could sit by and do nothing. Magnus left a few moments later, but only long enough to break up his party, not exactly a mean feat since most partygoers had fled when the fight broke out; he was back within a few minutes. He stood directly in front of Clary who was rooted to the spot by shock and horror,

"Clary, I'm going to try and track them but I need something of Jonathan's, something linked to him do you have anything?"

Numbly Clary hooked her fingers through the chain she always wore and pulled it up and over her head, dangling on the end was a man's ring with an 'M' and a pattern of falling stars making up the insignia.

"The Morgenstern ring." Magnus breathed, staring at it with a horrified kind of fascination.

Clary nodded, "It's not his, he wears his but still…"

"It's a link to him, to his bloodline," his eyes met Clary's with sympathy, "and to his sister." She nodded again and he held out his hand, reluctantly she dropped the ring, chain and all into his outstretched palm, his fingers closed around it, "This should work."

Clary could not bear to watch in case it didn't work so she returned to staring at the door, waiting for Jace's return, or maybe she was just waiting for her brother, at that point she really couldn't tell anymore.

Eventually Jace returned, and despite themselves everyone turned to look at him, except for Simon who continued to stare bemusedly at a patch of wall (Magnus had assured Clary that the dazed effect was only temporary), Jace however shook his head dejectedly, the occupants of the room let out a collective sigh then Isabelle resumed her pacing and Magnus turned back to his tracking spell. Though Clary had found something new to occupy her attention, Jace.

She stepped towards him and he took a step away, avoiding her gaze he muttered, "They were no-where in sight, I should have gone and checked when we heard fighting."

Clary took another step towards him and this time he didn't move away, she placed her hand on his arm, "This wasn't your fault Jace. A radicalistic downworlder hate-group wants mine and my brother's heads on spikes, this was bound to happen at some point. I'm just sorry Alec got caught up in it."

Jace lent forward until his forehead was resting against Clary's, "This isn't your fault either you know."

"Are you sure? Because it feels like it."

"I'm sure. So what now?"

Clary shrugged, "We get them back."

Magnus's voice invaded their murmured reassurances, "If you're both quite done dividing up the blame, this isn't working," he held up the ring, "I need to try something else, take me to the Institute. Also we need to do something with him." He inclined his head in the direction of Simon.

An hour later a punch drunk Simon had been deposited home and they were all once again gathered in the library of the Institute.

Magnus had monopolized Hodge's desk and was sitting at it with a small pile of Alec and Jonathan's personal belongings, none of them were working.

He rubbed his tired eyes, "So, they've been hidden from my tracking spells."

"Which means what?"

"The Downworlders have fairies or warlocks on their side, maybe both."

Clary felt the beginnings of panic grip her, "How will we find them?"

It was Jace who spoke, "We won't, they'll find us. They don't want Alec, they want Clary. If I were in charge I'd propose a trade."

Clary's panic crystalized inside her. Catching the expression on her face Jace stepped forward and gripped her shoulders, "Jesus Clary, I'm not suggesting that we should throw you to the wolves, I'm just saying that they'll probably make contact and we should come up with a plan once we have more information."

Isabelle had gathered herself admirably and even managed a small smirk, "I wouldn't get my hopes up, Jace's plans usually run along the lines of let's go there and kill them. He does have a point though, it makes sense for them to assume that you mean nothing to us, I mean what Shadowhunter is going to value the life of the child of Valentine over one of our own… No offence." The last statement seemed tacked on as an after-thought.

Jace glared at his sister but Clary just muttered a dull "None taken."

"Isabelle," Hodge admonished in a grave voice, "Clary is one of our own."

Isabelle ignored them all and focused on Clary, "That's not what I meant."

Clary nodded her understanding.

"Well now that everyone's got their allegiances sorted out, I'm off." Magnus stood, "There's not much more I can do here though I'll keep trying." He looked directly at Clary, "Will you be all-right?"

"Yes." She was lying but there was little Magnus could do to help her and she knew being in the Institute made him uncomfortable, she could hardly hold that against him.

He made his way towards the door, "If I find anything I'll tell you immediately." Within minutes he'd exited the Institute.

Which perhaps was for the best since the next people to arrive were unlikely to have taken kindly to his presence. The first sign of the newcomers was the creak of the library door followed quickly by a delighted yell and then a small body was racing through the room and throwing himself at Jace.

Jace caught him easily and despite the situation smiled, "Hey Max."

A few seconds later a man and a woman walked through the doors, they were both pale with black hair and blue eyes and couldn't have been any other than Maryse and Robert Lightwood.

Maryse focused on Hodge, her expression was fierce, "The situation with the Downworlders had better be as dire as you said Hodge. We were in Idris."

Perhaps she was tipped off by the air of gloom in the room or perhaps some mother's sixth sense alerted her, whatever the reason she stopped moving and glanced around, the sharpness of her face faded and was replaced by something akin to dread, "Where's Alec?"

Okay so I still suck and I'm pretty sure everyone has come to the same conclusion as I have, I'm not getting any better. So I'm really sorry this took forever and to everyone still reading this story I love you and I wish I had your patience 'cause I'm getting sick of myself by this point! You're all AWESOME!

XD

Disclaimer: I do not own this series. The Mortal Instruments series and all characters and events relating to it belong to Cassandra Clare.