Chapter 8: The stone of Alethas

"He's in there."

Alec heard the door to Magnus' bedroom squeak as it was opened behind him.

"Alec, we're going to find him." Izzy entered the room, followed by both Clary and Jace. Her voice had a softness behind the determination, which he appreciated but he did not answer her. His fingers trailed the ugly scar of the floorboards caused by the sudden movement of Magnus' bed. His eyes found the glass shards of the broken window scattered across the room. The bedsheets were ripped and trailed off the bed like an art installation.

"There must've been least six of them, judging from the traces they left behind. Six! Cowards." The last word slipped out through his teeth. "I should've known. I should've come earlier. What if now it's too late?"

"Alec, I know there's a lot going through your mind right now, but we need to focus. Here." Jace held out his hand in which lay a silver ring, a purple jewel in the middle. Alec immediately recognized it, remembering noticing it the very first time he met Magnus almost a year ago. He remembered trying to stop staring at the beautiful man across the room. One of his cheekbones had been bejewelled with stones matching the ring, and his shirt had exposed one of his shoulder's. His very skin seemed to shimmer almost as bright as the ring on his finger.

Now he was gone. Alec had to find him, quick. He grabbed his parabatai's hand with his own and together they tried to track Magnus using his ring.

Focus. Find Magnus. What if he's hurt? What if we don't find him? We must find him! Alec couldn't live without him, he couldn't breathe without him, he couldn't… breathe.

Alec was trying to get oxygen into his body, but a weight seemed to press down on his chest, restricting his breathing.

"Alec? Alec!" Jace let go of his brother's hands and grabbed his shoulders. "Breathe, Alec! It's got to be a spell or something affecting him!" Jace turned to Izzy, panic struck, looking for answers, but she ran through the room, trying to find a rune or something – anything - that could be causing it. There was no rune in their minds that they could draw that could fix this!

It felt like trying to breathe through a straw after running for your life. There just wasn't enough air in the room. Alec was suffocating. He fell on all fours, hyperventilating, seeing a thin layer of dust being whisked away by his breath.

"Jace, move." Clary's voice rang as if from a distance, although Alec could see her sitting down next to him, careful not to touch him.

"Alec, name five things you can see in this room." Her voice was calm, determined.

"What?! Clary, there's no time for games!" Jace burst out in frustration. She held up her hand to silence him.

"Alec, five things, what do you see?"

Alec groaned, gasping for air. He agreed with Jace, now was not the time for playing I spy.

"Alec." Her voice had changed. This was not a request; it was an order.

"Dust." He let out between short breaths.

"Good. What else?"

Alec lifted his gaze from the floor, trying to find something else. He noticed the edges of his vision turning black.

"Clary." He looked her in the eyes.

"Good. Three to go."

"Bed. Mirror. B-broken glass." He coughed, between breaths.

"Good. Now four things you can touch."

Alec closed his eyes fighting back tears in frustration. He didn't understand why she insisted on torturing him right this very second, when his vision seemed to succumb to darkness.

"Cla…" Jace was interrupted by Izzy's hand on his shoulder. She gave him a look.

"Fl… Floor." Alec gasped. He moved his hand behind him and felt the wall, cold to his touch. "Wall." He moved it a bit to the side and felt heat. "Radiator." Finally, he touched Clary's knee. "You."

"Good. Three things you can hear."

Alec perked his ears and listened, keeping his eyes closed.

"The wind. A neighbour's TV. My…" He stopped for a second. "My breath."

He opened his eyes and looked at Clary, her eyes piercing him. He could hear his own breath slowing down. His vision was no longer blurred.

"Good. Two things you can smell." She continued.

"Your perfume. L-leather."

"Final stop, one thing you can taste."

He drew a deep breath in and closed his eyes in pure relief. He could breathe again.

"Blood."

A silence followed.

"How are you feeling? Are you hurt?" Clary's voice was filled with care and Alec had never been so grateful for her presence. He nodded, opening his eyes.

"Better. I think I bit my tongue." He almost laughed. "What happened?"

"You've never had a panic attack before?" Clary asked. Alec shook his head. "Well lucky you. I don't know how many I've had just trying to get into uni, and now I'm… a shadowhunter."

Alec had never tried to put himself in Clary's shoes before. He couldn't imagine what it was like, being a normal mundane teenage girl and then one day finding out that everything she thought she knew was a lie.

"Alec?" Izzy's voice awoke him from his thoughts. "Do you…?"

"Yes." He interrupted and got up, reminded of their mission. "Yes. Jace?"

Jace once again took his parabatai's hands in his and they concentrated their power into the ring of Magnus Bane, tracking his current location.

The room around them disappeared. A dimly lit image danced before Alec's eyes. A dirty concrete floor. Walls covered with red and blue shipping containers. And there, in an aisle, sat - Magnus, bound to a chair with what seemed like regular ropes. His head hung low with his face lit up from below, revealing his closed eyes, makeup smudged across his cheeks by dark liquid running in streams from his eyes. There was something off with the image. Ropes constricting the high warlock of Brooklyn? And that makeup? Alec had kissed his face enough times to know that nothing except magic could remove that eyeshadow.

"We have to take a step back. Find where it is." Alec said with a tremor in his voice.

The image seemed to zoom out. It felt like someone lifting him up through the ceiling to show the larger picture. Suddenly he could hear waves crashing.

"He's at the dock, in one of the old warehouses. Let's go." The image disappeared as Alec let go of Jace's hands and started towards the door. But a hand on his shoulder stopped him in his tracks.

"Alec. Did you notice it?" Jace's expression was deadly serious.

"Yes, Jace, we saw the same picture, let's go! We've wasted enough time being here."

"No, Alec, the stone did you notice it?"

"Wait, what stone?" Clary asked with a confused glare.

"On the floor before Magnus' feet a white stone shaped like an eye lay." He looked from Clary to Alec "I think it was the stone of Alethas." Jace's gaze was piercing Alec and he saw as the realization dawned on him.

"No… It can't be! It's been lost for centuries!"

"Jace, are you sure?" Izzy asked, worry seeping into her voice.

"The vision is always a bit blurry, but by the angel it must have been. I've studied the legend enough times to know it when I see it."

"Can someone please fill me in here?!" Clary exclaimed, throwing her arms out in frustration. Alec was grateful when Jace took the lead.

"It's a legend. Shadowhunters study it before we even learn to read. The stone of Alethas was created by a shadowhunter with the same name. It started a war that lasted for years, claiming thousands of victims."

"But how? Why? What does it do?" Clary saw the terror in Alec's eyes and braced herself for the answer.

"Alethas claimed he wanted to, as he put it, cure downworlders of their demonic sickness. Somehow, he managed to create the stone which is said to be able to physically draw out the demonic blood from downworlders." Jace paused. "But often, the victims don't survive the ceremony."

Alec whimpered.

"We have to go. Now."