Chapter 21:
Alec stood frozen. What? He couldn't form words. This was not the hatred filled teen that resided at the institute right now. Who was the imposter?
Magnus was worried about Alec. He hadn't been this silent since the time Magnus had told him about who he really was. He watched flashes of emotions fly across his face. Fear first, then confusion, then hatred emblazoned his blue eyes. Magnus shuddered at that look. Finally he ended on confusion again.
"I don't know who he is, but we have to tell the others." Magnus said breaking the tense silence.
Neither of them knew that ears were on them. This was not good.
Alec and Magnus were at the institute and all seemed quiet. Too quiet was the problem. "Think they are still in the park?" Alec thought they should have checked there first. But then he thought they would head home after the lunch.
Alec knocked on Izzy's door. With no answer, he texted her. Where are you?
They moved to Clary's door skipping the room that would be Sebastian's. Again, no answer. Finally he knocked on Jace's room. He heard a shuffle in there. It took him a minute to answer. Jace looked like he was in a deep sleep. "I don't know what got over me but I was exhausted when we got back." He yawned and stretched. "What time is it?"
Alec looked at his phone. He and Magnus had rushed over as fast as they could. "It's almost 4." Alec said. "When did you all get back?"
"It was only like 1, I think. We left right after you did."
Alec's phone beeped generically. It did that with anyone but his Magic Man. Izzy had responded. Simon had a gig.
WHAT? You were supposed to watch Sebastian. He is an imposter.
She returned a quip that was more suitable to a sailor.
"Jace, where is Clary?" Magnus was asking while Alec reamed Izzy through text.
"She went to take a nap after we got back too. She said she felt kind of sick. I figured it was baby business." He shrugged. "She should be in there."
"We knocked and she didn't answer." Magnus liked Clary. He was never a fan of this arrogant golden boy but he knew he loved Clary so he tried to like him. "I told you I didn't like that kid and I told you it was your job to protect them. Look!" He handed the photos to Jace of the real Sebastian Verlac. "You have been dealing with an imposter." Now do you want to shrug, angel? He added silently and smugly.
"You have got to be kidding me. Who is he then?"
"We don't know." Alec said calmly. He didn't know how he kept calm because he felt anything but. They were moving toward Clary's door and they went in. The room was empty. It was very eerie. The window was open and the cool air was blowing the curtains around a bit.
"Shit!" Jace was yelling. He jumped onto the window ledge. They had jumped from here. How had they made it? Jace jumped. He grabbed a branch that slowed him and then he dropped to his feet.
Magnus and Alec looked at one another. "Elevator." They said at the same time.
They rushed down to the ground floor and out the door. Jace was looking all over trying to find some clues. But there was nothing.
"Jace, do you have anything of Clary's?"
He looked at Magnus when he asked that and shook his head. "Let me go get something."
"Something important to her. It will work better." Magnus said to his retreating back. Then turned to Alec. "I hope he takes the elevator down this time."
It was a few minutes before he came back but he did take the elevator this time. He came rushing back and handed Magnus a ring. It was small and fragile looking but there was a big diamond on the ring. They didn't ask any questions but neither one of them had seen her wear it. "It's new," Jace said looking sheepishly. "But it is very important to her."
Magnus held it in his hand and cast a simple tracking spell. A map appeared on the ground in front of them. Magnus picked it up. It had a blinking red dot on it. It moved at quiet a speed. With traffic, they knew they weren't in a car. But, they noticed as they watched it, it wasn't making stops like a train would either.
Jace's face was twisted in a face of deliberation. He had something on his mind but he slowly got a doubtful look and shook his head.
"What were you thinking, Jace?"
"I was thinking about the flying motorcycles that vampires have. But the sun is still up and the demon powered bike wouldn't work in the sun."
It wasn't even late enough in the evening for the sun to start setting. Alec thought about the silent brother's carriage. How had it been able to move? He mentioned that to Magnus.
"I don't know. I grew up with them but they had abilities I will never understand." Magnus said.
Alec was a little taken aback to hear anything of Magnus's past. He wasn't very open about it. Alec thought it had to be a weird place to grow up. The dot continued to move fast.
"How are we going to catch her?" Jace was sounding frantic.
Magnus thought if they could just figure out where they were going they could portal there. All the sudden the dot stopped. It was about ten miles out. Then it disappeared. "Come on." Magnus said. He went to the wall and drew up a spell for a portal. They went through thinking of a place near where the dot disappeared.
They came out in front of the Public Library on Roosevelt Island. It was the only thing Magnus could think of that was in the area. The red dot was still gone from the map. They didn't have any leads. There was nothing left to do but search.
Jace was becoming Frantic. All they knew was that she was in New York somewhere and she had disappeared. "Does that mean she's dead?" Jace asked almost sobbing.
Alec didn't think he'd ever seen anything so sad. It broke his heart. Magnus was shaking his head. "I could still track a dead body." Alec wondered what was going on.
Suddenly, Alec's phone beeped with a call. "Iz?"
"Alec! I know where she is."
A/N: ok really short I know... but I have to keep this a little suspenseful. Can you guess what is happening? Probably! I am not so insanely brilliant... but maybe... I don't know... we are getting close to lots of fighting... Review if you love Magic :)