Hey you guys! Thanks to everyone who's read this. I hadn't had very much time to update this, but now that I'm on spring break, I'm posting chapters as soon as I finish them. Please continue to review. Thanks!

Chapter 17

"What exactly are you putting on my face?"

Magnus watched Isabelle warily as she dabbed some weird-smelling ointment onto his forehead.

"A remedy created by me that will clear your pores, and exfoliate your face." Isabelle replied, placing cucumber slices over his eyes. "My work here is done. Wait ten minutes before taking it off."

After Isabelle left, he thought about Tessa, worrying for her. Could she handle herself in the hands of a monster? How was she adjusting to her new Shadowhunter powers?

Removing the cucumbers from his eyes, he went to the bathroom, washing off the ointment about seven minutes early. He gazed at himself in the mirror. He looked the same as he had for the last eight hundred years, with black, longish hair and strange cat eyes.

A loud thumping noise interrupted his musings. Then another. Then, another. He followed the sound to one of the institute's bedrooms and opened the door to find Alec bouncing a small, blue ball against the wall.

When he spotted Magnus, he caught it in one hand. "Oh, hi." After a moment of silence, he added, "This is Jace's. He probably wouldn't want me bouncing it in here anyway." He set the ball onto Jace's dresser.

Magnus looked around Jace's room and remembered Jace's compulsive need to clean things up. After he'd left Magnus's apartment, it had taken Magnus forever to find his things. In here, the floor was spotless, and an array of weapons was arranged according to size against the bare wall.

Alec sat down on the perfectly-made bed while Magnus stood gingerly at the doorway.

"What are you doing here all alone?" he asked Alec. "Why haven't you joined the festivities?"

"I don't know." Alec answered. "I didn't feel like it, I guess."

Magnus decided to sit next to Alec, who raised an eyebrow in surprise. Silence fell over them, and after a while, it became awkward.

"Well," Magnus said, standing up. "If you ever feel like joining us, you can always—"

"Wait."

Magnus clamped his mouth shut.

Alec eyed the warlock, as if trying to find an answer in his face. "Why are you doing this?"

"Doing what?"

"Being so nice to me." Alec said. "Like, a week ago, you said that you didn't want anything to do with me. Now, you're acting like nothing happened."

Magnus lowered himself back onto the bed. As much as he'd tried to hide it, he had missed his favorite Shadowhunter. But was it that obvious?

"Have you forgiven me?" Alec asked. "Can we go back to the way things were? If you haven't, then stop leading me on."

"I'm not leading you on." Magnus answered. "I just—I don't know if things will ever go back to the way they were. But I still care about you, Alec."

A flicker of hope brightened Alec's face. He was still beautiful, Magnus thought, with his hair as messy as ever and wearing only a pair of black pajama bottoms with a hole in the knee. Right now, Alec's arms were free of any temporary marks, but Magnus could still see the little white scars on his chest.

"And I don't hold grudges. But that doesn't change what you did." Magnus went on, trying to convince himself more than Alec.

"But I did it because I loved you." Alec leaned closer. "Even if I messed everything up, even though I did it all wrong, it was all because I loved you. I still love you."

Magnus looked into Alec's pleading eyes. He thought about kissing him, but something held him back: would Alec do it again? Would he always worry about the future instead of living now? Would Magnus ever be able to truly make him happy?

No, Magnus answered, he wouldn't. And that was why this relationship was over. Alec needed someone to grow old with, not someone who would make him feel older.

"Umm.. well.." Magnus began to get up, but faster than he'd seen anyone move, Alec pulled him down and kissed him.

Every old memory, every feeling that he'd been trying to keep buried came to the surface. He remembered Alec's laughing eyes, the way they'd held each other when they'd traveled the world together. He remembered Alec's bashful smile, rare but less rare when he was around.

Magnus pulled him closer, silently begging Alec not to let him go. He felt a pair of lanky arms wrap around him, and for the first time in a while, he felt at home.

"Hey you guys, Clary wants—oh. Umm."

Magnus broke away from Alec to see who was at the door. Simon stood awkwardly, a little red faced. Magnus looked behind him to see his former boyfriend blushing furiously.

"What is it, Simon?" Magnus asked, exasperated.

"Well, Clary wants everyone to meet her in the library."

"We'll be right there."

Simon walked away quickly.

Magnus looked back at Alec, who was putting on a black shirt. "We'll talk about this later."

Magnus stood up and started towards the library, Alec trailing close behind. Clary looked frazzled, repeatedly running her hand through her hair.

"Something's not right." She was saying, pacing back and forth. "Jace hasn't contacted me in hours, and I can't get to him. Something's wrong. He should be back right now. We should go in there."

"He's probably fine." Jordan said, his arm around Maia. "He's a man. He can handle himself."

Clary looked at him as if he'd said that Jace was a drag-queen.

"No one should go in there." stated Magnus. "He'd recognize us, and we'd be dead. He's raising an army, Clary. There's no way we could take him by ourselves. Tessa probably has it under control."

Magnus checked his watch, seeing that it was 9:15. Tessa had been gone for a while. What is she doing in there, Magnus asked himself.

"If you need help, perhaps I can be of assistance." A soft, silky voice said.

Magnus looked behind him, and gasped at who he saw.

"Who are you?" Clary asked.


Jace felt as if he was under water. He could feel a voice calling to him, just above the surface, but it was muffled until he felt a hard slap.

That brought him to the surface, alright.

"JACE!" he looked up to see who'd slapped him.

No, that couldn't be right, he thought. He must have been hallucinating.

"Oh my god…" Rebecca panicked in the background. "Oh my god, there are TWO of you!"

"Shh!" he heard himself say. Or he heard his voice say.

He couldn't believe it. He really was looking up at his own face.

"Whoa," he said groggily. "Am I that good looking in real life?"

"Get up." Tessa said, rolling her eyes. Jace couldn't get over how weird it was to be staring at himself.

"We don't have much time." Tessa, in his body, went on. "Get inside the wardrobe."

Tessa, taking advantage of Jace's strength, dragged his weakened body to the wardrobe and shoved him inside while he protested faintly. Rebecca just took in the whole scene in shock, while Tessa closed the doors.

Standing in complete darkness, he heard footsteps.

"How are you two?" Sebastian's voice slipped through the cracks.

"Never better." He heard his voice say.

"Yeah!" Rebecca chimed in, a little too enthusiastically.

Silence fell. Jace suspected that Sebastian was scrutinizing them, listening to their hearts.

"Well, I thought about it, and I really don't have another use for you guys." Sebastian said after a while.

"So you're going to let us go?" Rebecca asked hopefully.

Sebastian chuckled. "No." he said, his voice suddenly sober. "I've decided to draft you. Both of you."

Jace understood what that meant before any of the others did. He wanted to do something, anything, but he knew that it would be better not to blow his cover.

"What?" Rebecca asked. She sounded as if she was speaking through tears.

"Congratulations, and welcome to the Endarkened Army."


Jace had no idea how long he'd been standing there, leaning against the wardrobe doors as he stared into darkness. He had no idea if he was supposed to step out, but he'd decided to stay inside just in case.

His head still throbbed from being thrown against the wall. He felt dizzy, drowsy, almost as if his body was in slow motion. He suspected that he might have a mild concussion.

He was part of a plan, he remembered. But what was that plan again? It had involved escaping, but other than that, he was in the dark.

Suddenly, the doors to the wardrobe opened, yellow light streaming in. Jace fell straight forward onto his face, his quick reflexes abandoning him.

"Are you alright?" a gentle voice asked him.

Jace looked up and squinted. A boy he barely recognized stood over him. He had raven-black hair that curled slightly against his face, and Jace could see concern in his dark brown eyes. Just beneath the other boy's collar bone was a faded parabatai rune, and pity immediately washed over Jace. He couldn't imagine what it would be like to lose Alec.

But the most peculiar of the boy's features were the two dark scars at the arch of each cheekbone, standing out against his skin.

"Who are you?" Jace asked.

"My name is James Carstairs. But you may call me Jem." The boy said. "And you are Jace Herondale, right?"

"Lightwood," Jace corrected. How did Jem know his real last name?

Jem sighed, though Jace didn't know why.

Jem offered his hand. "Come with me."

Though Jace didn't know this boy, he trusted him completely. His voice was so familiar, though Jace was pretty sure he'd never seen Jem before. Curious to learn more about his rescuer, he took Jem's hand and stood up.

"Why are you here?" Jace asked.

"Tessa has been gone for a long time, and I came in to assist you." answered the mysterious boy. "Almost like old times…" he said, probably more to himself.

"What?"

"Never mind."

They exited the room and started down the hallway. Jace walked dizzily behind his rescuer and suddenly the world turned sideways as his head hit the cold, stone floor. Jem knelt down next to him, pulling him to a sitting position and sliding his fingers under Jace's chin, lifting the other boy's face with long, unmarked fingers. Jace had seen those fingers and had felt this gesture before.

"Your pupils are dilated." said Jem softly. "I believe you may have a concussion. All the more reason why we need to get you back soon."

Jace nodded, pulled away and attempted to stand up, using the wall as support. After a few moments, they continued on before Jem put a protective arm in front of Jace.

"Listen." he said.

At first, Jace heard nothing, but then a hissing noise crept up on him, growing in volume as they neared the staircase. He looked behind them, but saw nothing.

Jem, still unsure, reached into his belt and grabbed a seraph blade, handing Jace a dagger.

And that's when Jace saw it.

Dark black mist came in front of them, covering the floor, chilling the air around them. Before their eyes, it compiled into one spot about five feet away, morphing into something else. It grew rapidly in height, until it stood at around nine feet tall. Bruised, livid flesh formed over black, filthy bones. It had no eyes, but gazed at them with soulless sockets.

Jace had seen this demon before.

"Abbadon." He breathed.