Chapter 2!! I need some feedback, please! I'd really appreciate it! I'd like to know what I'm doing well, what I'm doing not so well (probably a good bit), and such. And btw, this is set after City of Ashes and before City of Glass (I haven't read City of Glass yet).

"Of course, what?" Jace inquired to Maryse.

Maryse ignored him. "You escaped your master?"

Imogen nodded, her eyes welling up with tears.

"Master?" Jace wondered aloud.

Maryse ignored him again and looked at Imogen with pity. She put her hands on the girl's shoulders. "It's alright. We'll protect you."

Imogen laid her forehead on Maryse's shoulder and cried, but her sobs were silent. Maryse patted the girl's back and tried to quiet her.

"Jace, go get Isabelle."

"But–" Jace began to protest.

"Go."

Suddenly, Imogen sprang away from Maryse, and grabbed onto Jace's arm again. A look of shear terror was plastered onto her pale face – the look of a frightened child about to be left alone in the dark.

"I'll be right back," Jace said. Then added, "I promise."

Imogen reluctantly let him go. Jace sulked out of the library where he found Church waiting for him.

"Church, where's Isabelle?" Church purred and began walking toward the kitchen. Jace followed him and found Isabelle stirring a pot of soup on the stove.

"Hey, Jace," Isabelle greeted without looking up from her concoction. "Hungry?"

"I was," Jace answered, "but now that I see you're cooking–"

"If you just tried it–"

"I would most likely die. Anyway, your mom wants to see you."

"Why? Is it about that girl you found?"

Jace raised an eyebrow at her.

"Alec told me," Isabelle informed him, turning off the stove. She followed Jace back the library. When Jace opened the library door, he found Imogen sitting in the fetal position on the couch. She was trembling and rocking back and forth. Maryse sat beside her with her hand on the girl's shoulder, attempting to calm her.

"What did you say to her?" Jace asked.

"I asked about her master," Maryse replied. "And she's been like this ever since."

Imogen leaped off of the couch the second she saw Jace. She rushed to him and grabbed hold of his arm in a vice-like grip, burying her tear-stained face in his arm.

"Well, at least she has good taste in men," Jace snickered.

Isabelle groaned and rolled her eyes. Maryse glared at Jace as if she were about to kill him.

"Isabelle, this is Imogen," Maryse said, keeping her frustration with Jace's sarcasm at bay. "Could you get her some food and a room? If she could borrow a set of your clothes as well, that would be wonderful. I need to speak with Jace."

"Sure, no problem," Isabelle nodded. Then she waved to Imogen. "Come on."

Imogen stood where she was as if glued to the spot, still clinging to Jace. Isabelle laid her hand on Imogen's arm. Imogen flinched and shrank against Jace.

"Jace, tell her she'll be okay," Maryse said.

"Why me?"

"Just do it," Maryse commanded in a tone that told Jace he should obey if he ever wanted to see daylight again.

"Hey, it's okay," Jace said softly to Imogen. He grasped her shoulder firmly but gently. "It's okay. Go with Isabelle. She'll take care of you."

Imogen stared up at Jace with a pleading look.

"I'll see you in a little bit," Jace reassured.

Imogen, reluctantly and slowly, released Jace's arm and followed Isabelle out of the library. She kept taking glances back at Jace until she was out the door and out of sight.

"You're probably wondering why she's so attached to you," Maryse said, sitting down behind the large wooden desk.

"Not really. I mean, she thinks I'm hot. And most girls–"

"She's a slave, Jace," Maryse cut him off.

"What?" Jace's face fell.

"She's been enslaved by another Shadowhunter. There are biding runes on the back of her neck along with silencing runes. That's why she can't speak. She's attached to you because for the past year, she's been abused by her master and has lost all trust she had in humanity. She's attached to you because you did something dynamic to make her trust you. I can only assume that you're the first person she's trusted ever since her enslavement. Now, you need to tell me how you found her."

"A bunch of Mundies ganged up on her, and I saved her because she wouldn't fight back."

"Mundanes?!" Maryse pulled her face stressfully.

"What?"

"Imogen's master must have been exceptionally abusive. He must have been extraordinarily cruel to make her so afraid of people – even Mundanes. Now, because she trusts you, I need you to find out about her past. We need to learn as much as we can about her and her master."

"Is there a way to free her?"

"There are two ways. The first way is to kill her master."

Jace smirked. "I'm game."

Maryse glared at him. "This is not a joke, Jace. We're talking about the murder of another Shadowhunter. That is the worst crime against the Clave. You of all people should know that."

The smirk disappeared from Jace's lips as quickly as it had appeared. "If you're referring to my father–"

"I am. But in any case, killing Imogen's master wouldn't truly free her. She would just become the slave of whoever killed her master. The second way would free her completely. The binding and silencing runes must be broken."

"I'll do it," Jace offered.

"I'm afraid it doesn't work like that."

"Okay, then do you know who her master was? We'll make him do it."

"Is, Jace, is. And no, I don't know who her master is."

"What do you mean 'is?'"

"The binding runes must be broken by the stele that put them there," Maryse said sadly.

"Then we'll find out who her master is, take his stele, and break the runes."

Maryse shook her head. "It's not that simple."

"Why?" Jace didn't get an answer. "Maryse! Why?"

Maryse sighed. "Did Imogen have a stele with her when you found her?"

"Well…no. Why?"

"Jace," Maryse began, staring at him gravely. "Those Marks could have been placed on her by her own stele instead of her master's. Also, the stele that placed the runes there could have been destroyed, or hidden, or lost. We don't know. But more than likely, that stele has been destroyed."

"Then she would never be free," Jace breathed, coming to the horrifying realization. "Who would do that?"

Maryse sighed. "I have an idea of who her master might be, and if I'm right, I'm pretty sure he's destroyed the stele that he Marked her with."

"Who?"

Maryse shook her head. "I'm not completely sure. I'll let you know when I am."

Jace was silent for a moment. Who would do such a thing? Make a fellow Shadowhunter his slave and then destroy the stele that had done the deed so that the slave would never be free? Then Jace's heart plummeted into his stomach. He looked up at Maryse and opened his mouth, but he couldn't say the name.