Hello lovelies! Thank you again for putting up with another incredibly horrendously long update. I absolutely love reading all your comments because it tells me whether you like the story or not. Feedback is always great. Can you tell I'm being salty? I'm being salty. Got my first hate comment on my last chapter. Yay! I'm now popular enough to be getting hate, achievement unlocked. Nothing better than anonymous hate (*shade* *shade being thrown everywhere*). Oh well, at least you cared enough to type out a decently long comment with correct grammar and spelling, it's the thought that counts. And you read all the way to chapter seven! 21,000 words, at least my story was compelling enough for you to make it this far which has to mean something, right? Anyway, you are in no way obligated to continue reading, what am I going to do about it anyways? And in the meant time, keep commenting guys! Love y'all.
P.S. Tell me if you read my little blurbs before each chapter, if you like them or just ignore them. It feels like my only way of communicating with you guys, but I don't actually know if you read it so… yeah, just maybe let me know. You guys are awesome, love y'all!
Denying Sebastian was probably the worst thing Jace had ever done. Never in his life had he been so afraid that Sebastian would kill him. Scratch that, Jace wasn't just afraid, he was terrified. Never in his life had he been so terrified that Sebastian would kill him. Jace was finding that he was rarely ever actually terrified of Sebastian, despite everything. There was always this underlying fear that Sebastian would do something crazy, but never a petrifying terror. He had been terrified when Clary had caught Sebastian with the knife, terrified the older boy would do something to her, and Jace had been terrified that one time he thought Sebastian would actually manage to kill him. But this time was different, this time Jace was dead terrified Sebastian was going to kill him while Father was still at the house. Sebastian hadn't ever attempted to kill Jace while he knew Father was around, but now it seemed like he was close to reconsidering.
The second Father decided to leave, Jace knew he was done for, so when Father did leave to go to the grocery, Jace darted off before Sebastian had the chance to get to him. Unfortunately, Sebastian wasn't stupid, and the back door had been rigged, a metal bowl, probably full of something, sitting above the door. If the door was opened the bowl would fall and clang loudly on the ground, alerting Sebastian where he was. And with Sebastian in such a dead rage, Jace didn't want him following him into the woods. There wasn't any time to grab a chair or latter to retrieve the bowl silently, so Jace did the only thing he could think of and darted into Father's study, careful not to slam the door behind him.
One of the few things Father was very strict about was his study, neither Jace or Sebastian were allowed in under any circumstances. Jace listened carefully through the door for Sebastian. It seems like he had just made it as he could already hear the older boy inspecting the kitchen across the hall, checking in the cupboards for a curled up Jace. He held his breath and prayed that Sebastian wouldn't check the office.
Sebastian's P.O.V.
Sebastian checked every cupboard and cabinet for a well-hidden Jace, leaving the doors open so if the younger boy who had somehow managed to evade him entered the kitchen, he wouldn't be able to hide there. After being certain Jace couldn't have cleverly hidden behind well-placed cans of soup or in the pantry behind Sebastian went to inspect the back door. He had placed an alarm system that should be triggered if Jace tried to open the door. He wouldn't have had time to remove the bowl from the doorframe. The alarm definitely hadn't been triggered and the door crack was too thin for even Jace to slip through.
Sebastian scowled in annoyance. Well, Jace certainly hadn't run upstairs, he would have heard that as well (Jace shouldn't even had time to hide well in the kitchen, but Sebastian knew better than to underestimate the boy). The only room left was… he turned and glared at Father's office door. He wouldn't. It was the only thig even precious Jace couldn't get away with. He had chased Jace into Father's office one time and Jace had gotten a nasty scolding, both boys had been warned never to enter under any circumstances ever. No, Jace wouldn't dare go in there. Not when he knew he'd never be allowed out. Sebastian slowly crept up to the door and leaned in so that his mouth was practically pressed against the wood. "Jace," he hissed. "If you're in there, come out now. If you do, I promise not to tall Father." He waited and listened for any type of response, a gasp, heavy breathing, anything. He was only met with silence.
Sebastian stared at the door handle for a solid minute before reaching out and twisting it, his hand almost instinctually jerking away as if he'd been shocked. Father's warnings had trained him well. The door slowly creaked open an inch. "Jaacee," he hissed again, this time, if Jace was hiding in the room he'd definitely be able to hear him. "Come out now and I won't tell Father." Again, he was met with no answer. "Fine," he growled, "be that way." He closed the door and backed away from it slowly. He didn't know, how, but it was technically possible that Jace was not in the office and had somehow managed to sneak upstairs. Still, he couldn't be too sure so, not taking his eyes off the door, grabbed a chair from the dining room. Using a scarf, he tied one end to the door handle and the other to the chair and then tilting the chair at an angle so that if Jace was in the office and tried to open the door more than a couple inches, the chair would drag on the floor and it would be heard from upstairs.
Confident with his invention, Sebastian headed upstairs to Jace's room.
Jace's P.O.V
Jace did his best to calm his nerves, he heard Sebastian go upstairs, but there was no way he'd be able to open the door without alerting the older boy. And once he was out of the room, then what? Sebastian would beat him to the front door. Could he make it out the back? He could but he'd definitely be chased now that Sebastian was made he was hiding from him. Jace hadn't wanted to take the chance of Sebastian following him into the woods before, he was definitely not going to take the chance now. He had to make it out of the room without Sebastian knowing.
Jace looked around the room desperately for some way out, there was a small window next to the desk, but it was too high for him to reach. Hurriedly he searched for anything he could use as a stool, unfortunately the office was rather empty. Besides a desk and a chair, the whole room was filled with bookshelves stacked precariously with what looked to be journals and medical books. He didn't have enough time to remove all the books from a bookshelf and then move to bookshelf and use it as a ladder, besides, Father would definitely notice that. The chair looked too short, and he was right. When he tried his fingers could barely reach the ledge, and the window seal was too narrow for him to grab anything if he tried jumping. He sighed, trying to find something that would give him some height. Why was the only window in the office a good six feet above the ground?
He could hear Sebastian shuffling around upstairs, it wouldn't be too much longer before he was back and staring at the door. The desk might be tall enough, but it was a few inches too far away, if he could just move it… Jace looked up at the ceiling as if looking for Sebastian to be peering down at him through some unnoticed hole or the vents. If he was going to move anything it better be now, and quick. Holding his breath, Jace pulled on one right side of the desk. It was almost too heavy for him to move and made scooting noises against the hard wood floor. He had to stop even five seconds and listen for Sebastian, making sure he hadn't heard and was rushing downstairs.
He finally managed to move the desk enough that it was under the window. Jace climbed onto the edge of the desk, careful not to move any of Father's things or make too much noise and reached for the window. He fumbled, nearly losing his balance a couple times before moving the desk just a little bit more. Hopefully it wasn't enough that Father would notice. Now able to reach the window he pushed it open and jumped, he just barely grabbed a hold of the outside ledge and began to pull himself through the window. It was another six-foot drop to the ground outside, so he wouldn't be able to close the window behind him. Father would most definitely notice that.
Deciding he would rather face Father than Sebastian, Jace tumbled through the window, thankful there was a bush to catch his fall, though he still had to bite his tongue to keep quiet. He crawled out of the bush and was about to make a run for the forest when he heard Father's car pull up the driveway. That was odd, what was Father doing back so soon? He couldn't have gone to the grocery store and shopped that quickly. Jace walked over to the car where Father was getting out. "Father, what are you doing back from the grocery so soon?" he asked.
Father smiled at him. "I realized I forgot my wallet, I drove all the way there just to realize I didn't have any money. Where's your brother Jace?" At that moment Sebastian poked his head out the front door, having also heard Father's car. "Oh, there you are Sebastian," Father sounded relieved and Jace wondered why.
"Father why are you back so early, it usually takes you an hour to go grocery shopping." Sebastian's gaze sharpened when he saw Jace, who shrank back a little and instinctively tried to hide behind Father.
Father laughed, "I was just telling your brother, I got there, and I realized I had forgotten my wallet. What have you boys been up to?"
"We were playing sneak," Sebastian quickly covered. "Jace hides and I try to find him except he's allowed to move but he has to be super quiet because I've set alarms for him." Technically he wasn't lying, except it wasn't a game (not on Jace's end, or it was a very deadly game), but it would explain whatever Sebastian had done to the house, undoubtedly more bowls above doorways or something of the sort.
"Okay, well neither of you have been in my office, have you?" Father questioned, Jace watched Sebastian carefully for his reaction. The older boy forced a smile, Jace had wondered if he would be happy to turn him in, but then again, Sebastian couldn't prove Jace had been hiding in the office since he didn't go out the door and Sebastian didn't see him.
"No Father, not that I know, but I might have opened the office door to set another alarm to know if Jace went in there." Sebastian was barely hiding a glare at Jace, but Father didn't seem to be paying him much attention.
"You boys know you're not allowed in there, right?"
"Yes Father," they both answered in unison.
"Good, now I'm going to get my wallet and then go to the store and actually buy groceries this time," without looking at either of them again Father walked into the house. Jace took his chance and sprinted off into the woods before Sebastian had the chance to get him.
Valentine's P.O.V.
Valentine knew at least one of them had been in his office. Sebastian thought himself a good liar, and he was, but there was no fooling his own father. Valentine always knew when either of his sons lied. Looking around the room he saw that almost nothing had been touched except that his desk had been moved, mostly likely so that whoever had been in the office could climb out of the window.
There was no need to guess, he already knew it was Jace, Jace was the one who had come running from the direction of the window, and Sebastian had learned quickly from his warnings not to go into the office. Jace had just been told. The younger boys must have run into the office to evade Sebastian, which means that he would have to keep a closer eye on both his sons. It wouldn't do to have Sebastian kill Jace. He would have to talk to Sebastian about his escapades with Jace if the younger boy was desperate enough to run into his office for safety. More cameras would also need to be set up to keep a better eye on Sebastian's psychotic outbursts. But it was nothing that couldn't be managed at the moment.
Still, Sebastian was turning out to be more problematic than Valentine had initially thought he would be. Originally, he had been very easy to control, very predictable, but Sebastian had also been a kid then, he was growing up and the boy was by no means dumb, never had been, but his temper. He was starting to get increasingly inpatient and willing to take risks that made him highly unpredictable, and that wasn't good. But it also made him increasingly more interesting to study. The discoveries he was making on brain damage was leaps and bound beyond what the medical field knew. If only they didn't worry about appearing so ethical. Jocelyn had had that problem, and so had Luke and Robert and Mayrse. They had betrayed him, the whole scientific community had betrayed him, erased him from the record of history, all his discoveries. But he still had his studies, all of his precious recordings.
Thankfully Jace had been more concerned with getting out and hadn't looked in any of the journals. The video recording would have to be watched just to be sure. Scooting his desk back and closing the window, Valentine checked everything once more before exiting his office. "Boys, I'm off to the store this time. And I have my wallet. Be good and don't cause any trouble."
"Jonathan already left, Father." Sebastian said, greeting him at the door, already taking down his alarms. The older boy smiled in what was supposed to be nonchalant but clearly hiding anger. "I thought he might have waited to at least say good bye to you."
"Well that's alright, Sebastian." Valentine answered. "He's still just a boy, of course he wants to go off and play. I'll be back before two hours, okay?" Sebastian said nothing else and nodded. "And Sebastian? Remember that my office is strictly off limits for both of you." He added before leaving.
He needed to get to the laboratory to check the video tapes just to make sure something hadn't happened, and Sebastian had managed to cover it up. Sebastian watched him get into the car and back down the driveway, not moving until he knew his father was out of sight. Valentine flipped his phone open and quickly punched in a number. "Hello, Pangborn?" He said into the phone. "Yes, pull up the recording of my office within the last hour and make sure it's ready by the time I get there. And one of you needs to go grocery shopping." With that he snapped the phone shut ending the conversation.
When he arrived at the laboratory, which was just a storage locker set up similar to his office, he no longer had access to an actual laboratory, so he had to make do with what he did have access to. Pangborn was waiting for him, the computer ready with the footage pulled up like he was ordered, Blackwell out presumably getting the groceries. "One of the kids was in the office." Pangborn tells him.
"Yes, I know, that's why I told you to pull up the footage. Did he do anything? Besides move my desk and climb out the window, I know about that." Valentine said, waving him off dismissively.
Pangborn shook his head. "No, he stayed in there for a few minutes before climbing on your desk, but he didn't do anything. He ran in there though, like he was being chased. Probably the older one."
"Just as I thought." Valentine muttered as he watched and re-watched the video, it was always the older one. He would stop having to leave so long, if Sebastian thought he had enough time to do something, presumably kill Jace, he would take it. Which was a shame because Sebastian was so interesting to watch. "When Blackwell returns with the groceries I need more cameras bought. I'll place them in the house and connect them, we need to keep a closer eye on Sebastian, he's starting to become… reckless."
Pangborn nodded and wrote the note down. "And I'm going to start moving my journals to the lab." Valentine added. "In case something like this happens again, I can't have either boy go through them. You and Blackwell will have the new job of copying everything, precisely, onto a jump drive. Hopefully not, but I may need to destroy the journals and I refuse to let all our work go to waste." He was met with a 'yes sir'.
Valentine watched the video a few more times for good measure. Jace raced in and stood in the corner for three full minutes before making a move for the window, taking him an additional thirteen minutes to carefully and quietly move the desk enough so he could properly reach the window. He looked in none of the journals. Sebastian was presumably looking elsewhere for his younger brother as he didn't enter the study once, even after Jace left. "Pagborn," Valentine said when Blackwell returned with the groceries. "Add another thing to the list, I want microphones too, one for each camera. You're going to start recording their conversations as well."