JOCELYN'S POV

They were sitting in the basement of one of the stores in the city. Jocelyn didn't even know this was here and it was so large that it probably stretched out under multiple other businesses. Immediately after Jace had released her Jocelyn had been taken in by the Downworlders. They brought her here which one of them had explained was basically their headquarters.

It had been a day since her escape now and Jocelyn's mind kept going back to Clary. Her poor daughter was still locked up in the castle. She had absolutely no idea what Valentine could be planning but she knew it wouldn't be good. She suspected that the nobles who weren't loyal to him would die. Jocelyn thought of everyone she knew who wasn't in the Circle. Luke, Maryse, the Carstairs, the Penhallows... she was sure there were more people. She was sure...

Suddenly the door to the basement swung open. Jocelyn stood up abruptly as Alec Lightwood appeared. There was no one with him though which made Jocelyn curious. This was a boy she had known all his life, she had watched him grow up in the midst of a war. She knew Alec, so she let her guard down.

"Alec, what are you doing here?" Jocelyn asked stepping forward. Alec came closer and that was when she noticed what he had done to his circle badge.

"I left, they're-" Alec took a shuddering breath as he tried to get out what he was saying. "They're going to kill my little sister and Valentine is going to make Clary watch as he and Simon are slaughtered."

Jocelyn's hands flew up to her mouth. "Oh no," She whispered.

"Yeah, and they're going to attack the escaped Downworlders as soon as possible," Alec explained. "I don't know what they plan to do but I know it's happening soon."

"Does Valentine know it was Jace that released them and me?" Jocelyn asked, her chest suddenly swelling with fear for the boy.

"No, Jace..." Alec pursed his lips for a moment. "Jace pinned the whole thing on his parents."

Jocelyn's eyebrows shot up. "But Valentine will kill them."

Alec nodded. "Jace was aware of that when he did it."

"Why?" Jocelyn shook her head trying to understand why Jace did everything he did. "Why?" It was the only word she could get out.

"He has his reasons," Alec spoke softly.

Magnus suddenly came down the stairs and Alec turned around at the noise. Magnus' eyes widened when he saw who it was and Alec looked... shattered. Jocelyn couldn't put her finger on what he was feeling exactly but as the two boys saw each other she could see something breaking inside of Alec. Especially when Magnus' expression because upset, he didn't seem betrayed or angry, just upset.

"Magnus," The word came out in a sigh and Alec took a step forward.

"You're here," Magnus gulped. "What happened? Is Jace here too? Is Clary?"

Alec shook his head as he took another step forward. Magnus stayed where he was. "No, it's just me."

At that Magnus' breath caught. "Why?"

"Valentine-" Alec said suddenly coming back to reality. "He's going to kill Isabelle and Simon and once he finds you, you and he's going to force Clary to watch."

Magnus scowled disbelieving. "What?"

"I couldn't take it anymore," Alec said suddenly taking multiple steps so he was standing right in front of Magnus. "I had to find you."

Magnus reached down and grabbed Alec's hand. Jocelyn suddenly felt like she should give them some privacy.

"We'll attack today then," Magnus said then and he looked back to Jocelyn as if to confirm that this was really happening. "We were planning something for tomorrow but I'll tell the leader that it must happen today. I won't let anyone touch our Izzy."

CLARY'S POV

Clary sat at her window. She hadn't taken her eyes off the city for the past few hours. She watched, waiting, hoping, praying. She wanted to see the Downworlders appear and catch the Circle off guard. She imagined them coming out from the buildings and blood spraying the ground as the Circle fell. She pictured her mother coming and finding her and taking her away from here. She thought about Valentine's death, she wished for it to come soon.

Clary was disappointed in herself for having these sort of thoughts. She had never imagined herself as a particularly violent person, but now all she could think about was war, death, murder, blood.

It had been about 12 hours since Jace had brought Clary up to her room. No one had visited her since, not even to give her food. Clary had attempted to open the door of course, but it was locked from the outside. After her one attempt, Clary had retreated back to her window and stayed there. She didn't know if she had fallen asleep at one point or another after a while time seemed to blur by.

Clary leaned her head against the window. She looked around her room as boredom overcame her once again. Clary sighed deeply, she thought she was beginning to go insane. She turned her head back to the window and looked down. She was really high up. But then Clary realized something. There were vines next to her window. She knew because one day she had opened up her window, took the screen out, and stuck her head out.

Clary stood up suddenly. She yanked open the window but was met with the obstacle of the screen. Last time she had used a screwdriver and took it out as one normally would, this time she didn't have a screwdriver. Clary looked around her room until her eyes landed on the door to her bathroom. She ran over to it and immediately looked for a nail clipper. When she found it she ran back over to the window and froze. Was she really about to do this? Was Clary really about to risk her life to get out?

I'll be dead if I stay anyway, Clary thought and as soon as she did she used the nail clipper to cut into the screen. She made a small hole and then used her hands to rip the hole making it larger. When Clary decided she could fit through it, she carefully stuck her legs over. There was a thin ledge right outside the window that wrapped all the way around the window. Clary set her small feet on this and grabbed the edge of the window as tight as possible.

Slowly, Clary peered out and pushed her body out of her room. A small gasp escaped her mouth when she saw how high up she was. Clary forced herself to stay where she stood despite every nerve in her body trying to get her to go back. Clary looked to her side to see the vines she would be climbing on. She reached over with one hand and grabbed the nearest vine tightly as possible. Taking a deep breath Clary let go with her other hand and quickly swung her body around to grab the other vine.

Clary's body hit the hard brick of the castle and it took all her strength not to let go. Clary's feet managed to grip onto the rough brick and Clary found herself thanking the god's that the castle was so old.

Clary was reluctant to climb down. She eventually forced herself to slowly inch downward reminding herself every few feet that the faster she went the faster she be closer to the ground. When Clary was about 10 feet from the ground is when the vine ended. Clary hung on for dear life as she summoned up the courage to drop.

With one more deep breath, Clary released the vine. She squealed as she fell and hit the ground hard. She landed on grass but it wasn't exactly like that did much to soften the blow. Clary breathed hard as she regained her composure.

It was only after a few moments of sitting there that Clary realized she was wide open. Anyone could see her. Clary began to scramble to go somewhere- anywhere- when she noticed there was a patrolling guard heading in her general direction. Clary was about to run to the bushes a few feet behind her when the guard suddenly spotted her. His eyes went wide with recognition and then anger.

But before he could take a single step an arrow pierced his skull. Clary was in such shock that she couldn't move. It was only when she heard voices that she managed to finally push herself back into the bushes. After a moment there were multiple pairs of footsteps. Clary didn't take the chance to look and see who it was though.

"This is it," The voice said sternly. "You're sure of what the boy told you?" There was no response so Clary could only assume the other person was nodding.

"Then we storm the castle now," Another voice said. Clary didn't recognize any of them. She assumed they were Downworlders and once that thought passed Clary's mind she realized she should probably reveal herself.

So, before anyone else could speak Clary slowly stood up. She realized she must have injured her ankle again as it throbbed under her weight. The Downworlders didn't notice her at first but Clary recognized one of them. It was Magnus. He was the first person to notice her.

"Clarissa!" Magnus exclaimed and she rushed forward into his open arms. "How did you-"

"I climbed out through my window," Clary answered before he finished the question.

"Biscuit that was extremely dangerous, anyone could have seen you." Magnus scolded her but a smile was beginning to appear on his face. "Follow Jordan, get back to the base," Magnus said and Jordan stepped forward.

"No," Clary shook her head. "I want to help you guys." Multiple people opened their mouths to protest so Clary cut them all off by speaking louder. "Let me reword that, I'm going to help you guys whether you allow me to or not. So pass over a sword." Clary spoke with such confidence that everybody else immediately shut up. She saw Jordan grin at their loss of words and he pulled out a sword for Clary.

"I'd fight alongside you any day, princess." He said as Clary took the sword. When he called her princess Clary immediately thought of Jace. He was going to be inside the castle with the other Circle members. Clary could only hope that he would join them and everyone else would see him as an ally.

"Good," Clary said shaking away her uneasy feeling. "Then let's fight."

Okay so it wasn't really the beginning of the war... but it kind of was at the same time. Just... trust me there will be fighting in the next chapter. Anyway, what do you guys want to see happen in the battle? I already have the ending planned out but I'm definitely willing to take suggestions. Y'all tend to have pretty great ideas.
I hope y'all liked this chapter and I'll try to update soon!