Chapter 10

Magnus was so focused on his research that he didn't notice that he was no longer alone in the library. Izzy had come to the library after being told that he had been seen heading in that direction shortly after breakfast. She knew he was eager to start looking into her brother's disappearance and the mystery corridor, but she didn't want to get her hopes up that he would find something when others had been unable to. Izzy knew that there was a good chance that since Magnus was an outsider that he would be able to see things that others hadn't been able to. Izzy hadn't told anybody, but from time to time she would get flashes of memory about what happened to Alec, but they would quickly fade before she could do anything about them. She had tried writing them down but the more she attempted to focus on the memories the more they shifted out of focus for her. Izzy quickly located Magnus in the back corner of the library. He was supposed to meet up with Jace over 30 minutes ago and he hadn't shown up. The two were going to meet with Luke about some pack business and then head over to Catarina's to see about the markings at their latest demon sighting.

"Magnus have you been here all morning?" inquired Izzy stopping by the desk that Magnus was using.

"Oh…..hey Izzy. Sorry you scared me," Magnus exclaimed looking up at the girl. "Yes, I've been here all morning. I figured I'd take some time to start looking into things since neither you nor Jace had anything for me before the meeting with Luke later."

"Yeah, about the meeting, you were supposed to meet Jace 30 minutes ago. He's still waiting but you might want to get going. He said he'd meet you at the front entrance. The three of us can talk later about what you found out," Izzy explained as she helped Magnus picked up his notes and everything else.

"Izzy, I'm so sorry. I'll pay better attention and make sure not to be late for anything else. There are a few things I noticed that I wanted to share with you. As you said we can talk about it later. Again, I'm really sorry and I won't let it happen again," Magnus stated as they walked out of the library.

Magnus quickly said goodbye to Izzy and hurried to meet Jace at the front of the institute. He walked by the mystery corridor and noticed the guards were still there. He also happened to see a tall woman with long curly pink hair walking in the opposite direction down the corridor. He would have to think about that later as he needed to hurry to meet up with Jace.

After Magnus apologized repeatedly to Jace for being late, the two headed to meet with Luke. Jace had asked Catarina and Luke while he was waiting to push back their meeting times since she was now running late. They both agreed to the new times. Jace disliked running late and did his best to make sure that whenever he was expected. He felt that arriving late was a sign of disrespect and for that reason he did his best to always arrive early or on time for meetings. Jace accepted Magnus' multiple apologies but encouraged him to do his best to not be late for anything else in the future.

The two arrived at the Jade Wolf and hurried inside to meet with Luke. Luke had called the meeting to deal with some issues in the pack. Jace normally didn't deal with these types of problems, but Luke had informed him that the pack issues seemed to be related to some shadowhunters in the city. Luke didn't go into detail when he talked to Jace over the phone because he felt the issue needed to be talked about face to face. Jace knew the issue had to be serious if Luke wanted to meet with him face to face. While most of the shadowhunters were on board with the changes that had been made over the last year, there remained a handful who did everything they could to make his job difficult. He had slowly been getting them transferred to other institutes, but it took time to arrange the transfers.

"Jace, Magnus so glad you could come out of here to meet with me," Luke greeted the two as they sat at his table.

"Of course, I understand it's not always easy for you to make it to the institute and that you wanted to talk without possibly being overheard by others," Jace responded.

Luke looked between the two of them before talking again. He knew this was a sensitive matter and he didn't want to upset Jace with what he was about to tell him. He took a deep breath and started, "As you know I called you here because members of my pack have been attacked by shadowhunters over the last few days. The attacks have been vicious and my wolves have barely made it out alive. The shadowhunters have been taking trophies though, some of the wolves came back with claws and teeth missing. It has been years since any shadowhunter in New York has taken a trophy from a downworlders. I know it still happens; it just hasn't happened for a long time.

"Now some of my wolves were able to get a description and the description doesn't match any of the shadowhunters currently assigned to the institute. However, one of them does match the description of Hodge. I know Hodge hasn't been seen since he gave the Cup to Valentine, but I'm certain that the description fits. I just don't know why he would be attacking wolves?"

Jace had to think for a minute. He was shocked by what Luke had told him. While it was true that Hodge hadn't been seen in over two years, it was also true that he had been unable to find him. "I believe you, but I don't understand why he would be attacking wolves. That just doesn't seem like the Hodge I remember. Although, I can't really trust what I know about Hodge because for all I know that could be a lie. He could have been showing us one face while he was planning something else the whole time. I almost wonder if getting Valentine to break his punishment rune was part of his plan," Jace said look at Luke.

"I don't know Jace. I knew him when we were younger and if you were to ask me if I could have thought it was possible for Hodge to do something like this, I would have said no. Now I don't know. I don't really know him anymore. He spent a lot of time with Valentine after we left the Academy so it is possible that Valentine may have had more influence over him than we originally thought. I know that he was punished harsher than the Lightwoods were, and that may have caused him to go over the edge. We can sit here and speculate all we want, but I think we are going to have to look into the attacks more and see what the reason is behind them. The other thing that my wolves mentioned is that all the attackers had a rose tattoo on their right wrist. I don't know the significance of the tattoo but is has to mean something so that may warrant some looking into."

"A rose tattoo? That's strange, I wonder what that does mean? I'll talk to Izzy and see if she knows the significance of that, but I don't think there is a group that uses a rose tattoo to identify themselves."

"Thank you Jace. I was also wondering if you could spare a few of your shadowhunters to help watch over my wolves for the next few days. I want to make sure that they are protected and we can only do so much. I know it is a lot to ask, but I could use the help."

"Of course, Luke. That isn't a problem at all. I'll talk to Underhill when we get back to the institute and him send some over to help you out where you need them. Is there a way you could get us access to some of the places where your wolves were attacked? I'm thinking that may give us a better idea of what is going on."

"That will be fine. I'll send over the reports after we are done meeting so you can look at them when you get back to the institute. Thank you Jace, and I hope this doesn't strain relationships in the downworld."

"I don't think it will if we can get it dealt with quickly."

They finished up their conversation shortly after that. Magnus had a lot to think about from the meeting. He wondered what Hodge was up to and if he really did have something to do with Alec's disappearance over six years ago. He didn't think that Alec was dead, if he had been, they would have been able to find a body. He just wasn't sure what state of mind Alec would be in when he was eventually found. He didn't know what Alec would have gone through at the hands of his kidnappers, but wasn't sure if he wanted to know. Magnus followed Jace to subway and headed on their way to Catarina's to meet about some demon sightings from the night before.

Jace and Magnus arrived at Catarina's apartment twenty minutes later. Jace buzzed to let her know they had arrived and open the door when he knew she had opened it for them. Magnus had not yet been to Catarina's apartment. She would normally meet with Izzy about the markings from demon sightings, but Izzy had been unavailable due to some other obligations. Izzy had asked Jace to meet with Catarina instead. Jace felt like this investigation was going nowhere. The more they looked into the markings left at the sight of the demon sightings the more questions he and Izzy had about what was going on. The demon sightings didn't make any sense at all. They were just sightings from what Catarina had told them, the demons weren't attacking. It was almost like they were waiting for something or someone to tell them what to do. Jace couldn't be sure what was going on, but add this to the attacks on the werewolves and there was definitely something happening.

"Catarina, so nice to see you again," Jace said as he and Magnus entered her apartment.

"Jace and Magnus it is nice to see you as well. Magnus how are you settling in here?" Catarina asked addressing the other boy.

"I'm settling in quite well. I'm getting used to the differences between here and Jakarta. There are more demon attacks than I am used to but I suppose that is because New York has more going on than Jakarta does," Magnus replied looking around Catarina's apartment.

Catarina invited the two boys to have a seat and asked if they would like anything to drink. They both responded that they would just have a water. They still had more to do after they got back to the institute and didn't want their judgement to be impaired. Catarina pulled out the files that she had on the demon sightings and the markings that were left at each location. She hadn't been able to make sense of them and was hoping that by having Jace take a look he may be able to see something she had missed.

"Here are the markings that we have seen at each demon sightings. What is interesting to me is that each marking is different. That is part of what is making this so hard, I know there is a connection but it is hard to see the actual connection because all of the markings are different," Catarina explained laying out each of the pictures of the markings.

Jace took a look, "I can see what you mean. There is something similar about each of the markings, but you can tell that they are all different. It almost looks like they were drawn by the same person. I don't think the demons can draw so that means there has be someone else there drawing these."

Magnus looked over Jace's shoulder and asked, "Can I move these around?"

Catarina looked shocked but nodded her head yes. While Jace had been studying the drawings, he had been looking at them as well. He could tell that there was a pattern to how they appeared. Magnus positioned them into the pattern that he had seen. As he moved each drawing, they could all see an image take shape. Once Magnus had moved all of them around, they could see that it was forming a rose. Each of the drawings had been the petal of a rose, there were still a few petals missing so that meant that there were going to be a few more demon sightings before this was all said and done.

"Wait a minute, I wonder if this is connected to the werewolf attacks," Magnus murmured to himself, not realizing that he had spoken out loud.

"What do you mean Magnus?" Jace asked slightly confused.

"Well remember that Luke said that each of the shadowhunters to attacked the werewolves had a rose tattoo on their right wrist. If the drawings are forming a rose maybe that means that these events are connected," explained Magnus.

"That's a possibility. I wonder if Luke could get us a drawing of what the tattoo looks like so we can see if the rose looks the same. It can't be a coincidence that we are seeing the rose now when you put the drawings together, but if there are people out there with a tattoo of a rose on their wrists then I would imagine there would be a connection," Jace stated looking at Magnus and Catarina.

"Wait you said that shadowhunters have been attacking werewolves. Has anything been taken from the wolves?" asked Catarina a thought forming in her head.

"Yes, Luke mentioned that all the wolves had claws and fangs missing. They survived the attacks, but even that doesn't make sense to me now that I think about it," Jace responded shaking his head.

He didn't understand how these were connected, but he agreed Magnus. There had to be a connection between the two events.

"I think we need to talk to the seelies to see if anything strange has happened to their people. I know they don't like to share, but Izzy may be able to get Meliorn to talk. I don't really look forward to visiting with the Seelie Queen if I don't have to," Jace stated pulling out his phone to text his sister.

"You might be right. I think I remember hearing something a few years ago about a new group rising, but I don't remember what I had heard about it. I can look into it and see what I come up with and let you know. Did Luke tell you anything else about the attacks on wolves?" Catarina asked looking at Jace.

Jace looked up from his phone and responded, "Yes, he also mentioned that the wolves were able to give him a description of the shadowhunters who attacked him. I will have to look into who the shadowhunters could possibly be and this is going to mean reporting it to the Clave. He was able to tell who one of the shadowhunters possibly is. He said one of the descriptions matched that of Hodge."

Catarina gasped not expecting the answer, "Hodge, but what could he have to do with the attacks on the wolves and the demon sightings? That doesn't make any sense. I know Valentine was a madman and had his own plans to take out the downworld, but I didn't think Hodge would do that."

"I thought so to, but we think that Hodge made a deal with Valentine to give him the Mortal Cup in exchange for removing his punishment rune. I would have thought that after giving Valentine the Cup that he would have stayed with him, but he may have had other plans. I don't know what he was planning though," Jace explained to Catarina.

"That actually makes. I mean why not make a deal with Valentine in order to get out of the institute and while everyone is looking for Valentine and the Mortal Cup he just disappears and waits for the right time," Catarina said in awe of what they were talking about.

Magnus listened to the conversation and wondered if he should bring up what he had found out during his research that morning. He knew that Izzy wanted to talk to him about later with her and Jace so maybe he should wait. He figured that while he was there, he could at least ask Catarina about her invitation to Alec's rune ceremony. That would hopefully answer one of his questions without giving him more. Magnus waited while Catarina and Jace discussed a few more things before getting ready to leave. Magnus took notes on both meetings because he wanted to make sure that he didn't forget anything. He wondered if this had anything to do with Alec's disappearance. There were a few things that weren't making sense, but he would work them out and hopefully they would lead him to Alec. Jace talking to him brought him out of his thoughts. He knew that it was time for them to go, but he really wanted to ask Catarina his questions.

"Jace can I catch up with you. There are a few questions that I wanted to ask Catarina. I'll explain to you later I promise," Magnus asked as he came back to the conversation.

"Of course, I'll just meet you downstairs then," Jace replied and said good bye to Catarina.

"I'm sorry, I hope it is okay that I ask you some questions? I know that might be a bit presumptuous to just think you would be available to answer some questions," Magnus said uncomfortably when he realized what he had done.

"You are fine Magnus. Jace and Izzy have both told me good things about you and I don't mind answering some questions," Catarina replied motioning for Magnus to ask his questions.

"I've been doing some looking into Alexander Lightwood's disappearance and there were a few things I noticed that didn't make any sense to me. The first one being that you had been invited to attend his rune ceremony and not just that but you had also participated in ceremony itself. Why were you invited to participate in his rune ceremony?" Magnus inquired.

Catarina was confused, she had never been invited to a rune ceremony at the institute. She answered Magnus, "I have never been invited to a rune ceremony at the institute. That is an event for shadowhunters, not downworlders. We don't have a reason to be there. Our magic would interfere with the magic from the angels as a shadowhunter receives their first permanent rune."

"That doesn't make any sense at all then. I thought it was rather strange that it said you had been there and that you had participated in the ceremony. It makes sense though that your magic would interfere with the blessing of the angels. I guess that gives me more questions than answers. I'll have to keep looking and see if anything starts to make sense," Magnus stated making another note in his notebook.

"Please let me know what you find out or if you need any help with your research. I know Izzy and Jace have been looking for answers for years in regards to Alec's disappearance. They even asked me if I could look into, but I was never able to find out anything. It does sound like you are making progress though. Keep looking, but be careful. I think you are going to open up a can of worms that you didn't mean to," Catarina said.

"Thank you, Catarina. I better get going, I don't want to keep Jace waiting too much longer," Magnus stated and headed to the door.

Catarina watched as Magnus left her apartment and thought about what he had asked her. She did wonder why it would have said that she was at Alec's rune ceremony when she hadn't been there. Catarina figured she would take another look into the events surrounding the young shadowhunters disappearance to see if she could find something that she had missed before.

He took a look at the potions that he had finished. He wasn't quite sure what they would be used for, but he went to add them to the collection on the shelves. He looked at the other potions and noticed that the majority of them were memory potions. Why would he be brewing memory potions? That didn't make any sense to him. Before he could really ask himself to many more questions, he heard the door open behind him. He turned around to see the tall woman from earlier enter the room. She went to inspect his work to make sure that he completed the potions properly. This was a new potion for him that he hadn't brewed before but he could tell that it had turned out the way it was supposed to.

"I see that you finished what you were asked to do," she stated walking up to his workbench.

"Yes ma'am, I just finished. I was just getting ready to add them to the other potions on the shelves when you walked in," he stated motioning to the bottles that were next to the cauldron.

"No these will go with me, my boy. I am pleased with what you have been able to do. Your knowledge of potion making is getting better and soon you will be ready to brew the most important potion of your life. I will be back in a few days to get you started on the potion, it will take a week to brew and get the ingredients added. You will need to pay special attention to what you are doing and make sure you don't make any mistakes," she explained picking up the potions.

He knew better than to ask questions. Every time he had asked questions before had only gotten him into trouble, but he did wonder about this potion and what it would be used for. "Of course, ma'am. I will wait for your instructions on what I need to do next."

She smiled. Her boy had come so far in the last six years. He may not have any memories of what his life had been like prior to being taken, but he also had very few memories of what he had been through the last six years. That was all part of her plan and it was unfolding nicely. She just needed to make sure that he made it through the next couple of weeks and everything would start to move forward. Who knew that injecting a newborn shadowhunter with warlock blood would have such an amazing effect on the boy? While he wasn't a full warlock, he had enough of her blood in him to allow him to perform magic, but not enough that it killed him. The balance had worked out well and her colleague in the institute had helped to move their plan forward.

She motioned for the guard to lead her boy from the room after she had taken his memories from him. She took his memories because she didn't want all her hard work to be undone. When he had first been taken, he had tried to escape multiple times, but it had been a few years since her boy had last tried to leave so she wasn't worried about him trying to leave again. She watched as the boy was escorted to the training room, with the knowledge that he didn't remember the last few hours of his life. She knew it was risky to keep taking his memories, but she needed him in the dark of the work that he was doing.

His will was strong and would have made things more difficult if he knew what he was doing. She left the workroom with the potions that she needed. She grabbed a few more memory potions to help reinforce that the shadowhunters who were in the institute when he was taken didn't remember anything. The one thing about a memory spell or potion is that it had to be maintained and she couldn't cast a spell on that many people repeatedly, hence the reason why she had her boy brewing the potions. She left the training room and headed down the corridor unaware that she had been seen by the newest shadowhunter at the institute.