As promised, here's Chapter 8.

Holding Imogen's hand, Jace crept toward the library. Earlier, he saw Maryse place the ring into the top right drawer of her desk in the library. Jace opened the library door and peeked in. It was completely dark and deserted.

"Go to the arsenal, and I'll meet you there," Jace whispered and the slipped into the library. Quickly and silently, he made his way to the desk and opened the top right drawer. On top of a stack of papers lay Imogen's engagement ring. He shoved the ring into his pocket and darted back out of the library, then raced to the arsenal where Imogen was waiting for him. When he arrived, he found Imogen standing outside the arsenal with three Seraph blades and a dagger in her hands. Jace stuffed all of the weapons except for one Seraph blade into his backpack.

"Okay, let's go," Jace announced.

"Go where?"

Robert pushed open the door to Jace's room and peered in to find that Jace wasn't there. Rather, Clary was asleep on his bed. She lay perfectly still with her arms at her sides and her legs completely straight. Something was wrong. Robert approached the sleeping girl and found a Rune written on her forehead. Immediately, he took out his stele and undid the Rune. Clary woke with a start, but was completely immobile and silent. Robert turned her over and undid the two Runes Jace had placed on her neck.

"I am going to kill him!" Clary declared as soon as she could speak again.

"Who?"

"Who else? Jace! He's going to Idris to find Valentine."

Robert swore. "Go wake Alec and Isabelle. Tell them to find Jace and stop him."

"Maybe you should just let him go. It'll save us all this trouble."

Robert shook his head. "Jace doesn't stand a chance against Valentine. This is suicide, Clary. And I'm sure he'll be leading Imogen to her death as well." With that, Robert bolted from the room to get Maryse. Clary followed him out the door to wake Alec and Isabelle.

Maryse had just put down her book and snuggled under the covers when the bedroom door burst open. Robert stood in the doorway, breathless.

"It's Jace," Robert panted. "He's gone."

"Is Imogen with him?"

"I think so."

Maryse swore and sprang out of bed. She grabbed her robe and threw it on as she and her husband ran down the hall.

"If he's still here, where would he be?" Robert asked.

"The arsenal."

"Mom, Dad!"

Maryse and Robert stopped and spun around. Alec, Isabelle, and Clary were running towards them, all still in their pajamas.

"Jace is running away to Idris to go after Valentine," Maryse explained briefly. "He has Imogen with him, and we need to stop him before he gets himself and Imogen killed."

Suddenly, Church came flying down the hall past the Shadowhunters. At the end of the hall, he turned right and kept running.

"He's headed toward the arsenal," Robert observed. "Jace must be there. Alec, Isabelle, go cut him off from the North. We can't let him get away. Clary, come with us."

The Shadowhunters sprinted in opposite directions and headed for the arsenal. Clary, younger and in better shape than the elder Lightwoods, pulled ahead and spotted Jace and Imogen first outside the arsenal. Jace stuffed two Seraph blades and a dagger into his backpack.

"Let's go," he said to Imogen.

"Go where?" Clary demanded.

Jace and Imogen whipped around. Robert and Maryse came up right behind Clary. Both Robert and Maryse were brandishing their steles.

Jace gripped his Seraph blade and called, "Ezekiel!"

"Jace, put down the Seraph blade," Maryse demanded. "We don't want to fight you."

"Pansy," Jace muttered.

Suddenly, there was a loud CRACK, and Jace let out a howl of pain, dropping the Seraph blade. Imogen dropped her backpack and moved to defend Jace but her movement was restrained. Alec had snuck up behind her and put her into an arm lock. She struggled against Alec, but he his hold was firm. Imogen threw her head backward into Alec's face. Alec stumbled backward, crying out in pain and holding his now bleeding nose. Isabelle lashed out again with her whip before Imogen could recover. The whip wound itself around Imogen's neck and tightened as Isabelle tugged on the whip. Imogen clawed at the whip around her neck as it choked her.

"Let her go!" Jace screamed with fury, picking up the Seraph blade.

"Please, Jace, put it down," Isabelle begged, sincerely apologetic. "I don't want to hurt Imogen."

"You're choking her!"

"I'm sorry! Just put the blade down!"

After struggling with his options, Jace finally dropped the Seraph blade, and Isabelle released Imogen. Imogen crumpled to the floor in a fit of sobs. Jace knelt beside her and wrapped his arms around her, rocking her back and forth as she cried. Jace tried everything he knew to calm Imogen, but nothing worked. Then he remembered the ring in his pocket. He drew the ring from his pocket and held it out on his palm for Imogen. She stopped crying as soon as she saw it, her violet gaze transfixed on the ring.

"Jace, give me the ring," Maryse said cautiously.

"Why, it's not yours," Jace growled.

"I know, but you must understand– Imogen, no!"

Imogen had snatched Jace's stele from his pocket and struck the ring on Jace's palm with it. A bright light was emitted from the ring, engulfing Jace and Imogen. The next second, the light was gone. And so were the two Shadowhunters.

When Jace could see again, he was sitting by a fountain surrounded by a circular wall of hedges. In the wall, there was one opening. Jace grounded his emotions to keep from panicking. They must be in a maze. Jace hated mazes.

"Where are we?" Jace wondered aloud.

Imogen took Jace's hand and began tracing a letter on his palm. The first letter was A, then L.

"Alicante? Great. We're armed with nothing but one stele. How did we get here?"

Imogen held up the ring and smiled.