Chapter 9

He was woken up earlier than usual. He wasn't quite sure what was going on, but he knew something was different. He didn't know how he knew; he just knew. The guard entered his room and brought him his breakfast. Normally he had time to go through his morning exercises before eating his breakfast not this morning though, the guard informed him that he had his usual 20 minutes to eat so at least that hadn't changed. He quickly ate his breakfast and then finished getting ready for the day, which didn't take him very long. Once the guard noticed that he was finished, he was taken from his room to the training room. The guard took him to the room but did not stop in the center of the room like he normally did. Instead he was escorted to a door on the other side of the room. He had never noticed the door before so that was new for him as well. The whole process had a feeling of familiarity, but couldn't place why it felt familiar. If he pushed his thoughts, his head started to hurt so he had to stop.

He was taken through the door into a room and told to wait. He didn't know what he was waiting for but he stood and waited. As he was waiting, he looked around the room, he noticed many different bottles with different colored liquids in them. He figured the bottles had to be filled with potions of some sort. He also noticed that there were different herbs and other objects in the room. He noted that the shelves had books on there that he had never seen before and many were written in languages that he didn't recognize from his own studies. The last thing he noticed before the door opened behind him was a well-drawn pentagram on the floor but before he had time to really think about it, he heard a voice behind him.

"Hello my boy. I hope that you are doing well," the voice said, causing him to turn around.

When he turned around, he saw a woman standing before him. She was tall, actually taller than him, with a strange look in her eyes. He took a step back not quite sure what she wanted with him. He took in her appearance and saw that she had long pink hair that fell in curls down her back. She also had caramel colored skin that seemed to glitter in the light. He also noticed besides her strange skin hair that her eyes were slit like those of a snake and when her tongue poked out it was forked. The rest of the woman looked normal but he still felt wary around her.

"Hello, I'm doing ok ma'am," he said nodding his head in her direction.

"That is good to hear. If you ever need anything please let your guard know and he will relay it to me," she said walking towards him.

"Of course, ma'am."

"Now as for why you were brought here today. I've been told that you are progressing well in your training with the boy Simon."

"Yes, he is doing quite well. We had our first hand to hand sparring session and he held his own against me. I can tell that he is practicing outside of his sessions with me and that is helping him in progressing forward. I hope that today we will be able to fight with sticks so I can see how he is doing there."

"That's good to hear. Remember the rules that apply, he must beat you in a fight two weeks from now in order for you to win your freedom. If he does not than you will remain my prisoner."

"Of course, ma'am. I understand."

"Now for the other reason you were brought here. I want to see how your magic is doing. The guard will release your shackles and you will show me what you remember of defensive spells and also your potion making."

"My magic, but I haven't ever used that. I know nothing about defensive spells or making potions."

"You do, you just don't remember it. I will help you remember so you can show me your progress my boy."

"Of course, ma'am."

The woman signaled for the guard to step forward and remove his shackles. He could feel his magic flowing through his body once the shackles had been removed. He stood still as the woman moved closer to him. She put her hand against his forehead and he felt the warmth from her magic as some of his memories were restored. Once he had his memories, he had the knowledge he needed of defensive spells and to make potions. He took another look around the room and realized that he knew the books in the room and what the potions in the bottles were. His memories of the room were returned to him and he knew this was workroom where he came every day after breakfast to work on and improve his magic skills. The woman snapped her fingers and his attention was brought back to her.

He immediately felt his magic just under his skin and knew it would be there for him when the time came. She threw a ball of pink magic at him and he created a shield with his own to block hers. It was second nature to him and he was able to defend himself from her attacks. This went on for quite a while until he was signaled to stop. He brought his hands down and looked at the woman. She nodded at him that she was satisfied with his progress thus far and the indicated that she wanted him to brew two new potions for her. The instructions were on his work bench and he had until lunch to get them completed.

Magnus had been busy for the rest of the day after he had finished up with Izzy and had been unable to start looking through the institutes' records until that morning. After eating a quick breakfast, he headed to the library to start his search. He had figured out the year and month Alec had turned 12 and figured he would start his search from there. He only knew he was looking for a warlock and for anything strange that had happened during Alec's rune ceremony. He wasn't sure what he would find but he knew there had to be something there that had been overlooked.

He headed for a computer in the back corner of the library that was out of the normal path of everyone entering the library. He didn't want to be seen or asked too many questions about what he was doing there. He entered the information that he had been given by Izzy and started to go to work. He knew Alec's birthday was on September 13th so he had started looking there. The rune ceremony usually took place on one's birthday or shortly after that. From what Magnus could tell, Alec didn't have his rune ceremony until a week after his birthday. It was noted that this happened because his parents had been in Idris on his birthday and were unable to make it back any sooner.

Magnus skipped ahead a week to Alec's rune ceremony. The usual members of the Clave had been present at the ceremony. The Consul and Inquisitor were there along with one of the Silent Brothers to perform the ceremony. Alec was the eldest Lightwood and therefore the first to go through his ceremony. What was interesting to Magnus though was the High Warlock had been invited as well. He had never heard of a warlock attending a rune ceremony and made a note to ask Catarina about that. As he continued to read about the events that occurred during the ceremony, he also noted that the High Warlock had participated in the ceremony itself.

'Why is the High Warlock even present at this ceremony let alone participating in it? That just doesn't make any sense to me.' Magnus thought to himself.

He was curious and made another to note to check into other rune ceremonies that had taken place at the institute. Once that was noted he continued to read and started to learn a little bit more. He could tell that there was information missing from the records. Almost like it had been removed to cover something up. He didn't know enough about computers to try and do a search for the missing information but figured Ragnor may be able to find something if he could somehow access the computers' databases from London. He would have to talk to Izzy and see what she said. The more Magnus looked into the disappearance of Alec Lightwood the more questions he had. Magnus did note that Alec went missing the day after his rune ceremony. He figured until he could see what was missing from the events surrounding the ceremony, he would at least look at the visitor logs and see what he could find there.

Magnus started creating a list of frequent visitors to the institute. The top of the list was Catarina Loss and Tessa Gray, but he noticed there was a pattern to their visits and they usually coincided with when the wards needed an update. Another name that he saw quite frequently as that of a Seraphina Rose, but oddly enough her visits stopped when Hodge Starkweather left the institute after breaking his punishment rune. He knew that Hodge hadn't been found after he gave the Mortal Cup to Valentine, so he had to wonder if Hodge had something to do with Alec's disappearance and the mystery corridor. Magnus looked back to see when Seraphina first started visiting the institute and noticed that the visits started about a month before Alec's rune ceremony.

Magnus wrote down a few more notes reminding himself to talk to Izzy about Ragnor doing a deep dive into the institutes' computers. He also wanted to talk to Catarina about being invited to the ceremony. The last two things he wrote down were to find out more about Seraphina Rose and Hodge Starkweather. All of Magnus' instincts were telling him that Seraphina and Hodge were at the center of this mystery.