There was no chance for strength runes, no chance for goodbyes. I was whisked silently from the library before Jace and Maryse began yelling. About what, I had no idea. The Inquisitor was lecturing me, I heard only sound, not words.
I was going back to the Silent City. Alone.
Jace wasn't going. He'd lied; I did have to go alone.
But it wasn't his fault. It was my fault. It was Valentine's fault. It wasn't Jace's fault.
There was no way to escape this. The Inquisitor had taken away my stele and my knives. She had no way of knowing my fear of the underground city. She didn't know. Maybe, I tried to comfort myself, I'll master my fear. Maybe I'll get over it.
It was stupid to pretend.
And I stopped pretending the moment the Brothers closed the door of my cell and began retreated with the torch, leaving me chained to the back wall with the darkness closing in.
There wasn't enough air in the darkness. I couldn't breathe. Panic was taking over. I would've screamed, but my lungs forgot how to work.
Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.
It was all my scattered mind could remember of the stupid poem. Water everywhere, crushing me. Shadows everywhere, holding me. Everything was blackness. I was going to die. Nothing could be done.
My knees gave out and something tugged at my wrist. It was one of the shadows holding me to the wall, keeping me under the water. I yanked and I pulled frantically. I was going to drown.
I was going to drown.
My hand hurt.
Water, water, every where…
The shadow wouldn't let go.
We stuck, nor breath nor motion…
I pulled.
Day after day, day after day…
I kicked.
And all the boards did shrink…
The shadow let go, I slipped from its grasp and into the water, where I would float to the top and be safe.
Nor any drop to drink…
I fell to the floor of the cell heavily and things began to make some sense. I wasn't drowning. There were no shadows here, only darkness. The thing that had been holding me was a manacle. The thing that had given way when I pulled was my thumb.
Cautiously, I tried moving my right hand – the one that had been chained to the wall – and screamed. My thumb was dislocated but at least I wasn't chained anymore.
I curled up on the floor with my eyes squeezed tightly shut and cradled my injured hand. Any movement hurt but it reassured me that I was still alive and on solid ground. As my panic dulled, the pain intensified.
Something moved near where the door would be in the darkness. It turned out to be the door itself. One of the Brothers shouldered it open and ran in with a torch. Had they heard me cry? We're they checking on me?
But then I recognized the sound. Screaming. The Silent Brother was screaming, his hood fallen back and his mouth like a gouge in his face. And he fell. The torch rolled to a stop at the bars of my cell.
Forgetting my hand, I lunged and grabbed it. By the light, I was able to see someone else at the door. The shadow smiled at me and with a pointed grin, it asked sweetly, "Will you come and play, Kosmima?"
"Jace?" Isabelle called for what must have been the thousandth time. She'd looked all over the Institute for him, but he'd apparently disappeared. Or he was ignoring her.
"He's avoiding everyone," Alec's voice seemed to answer her thought. He had just recently joined her in the search. "Or he might've gone to tell Clary about what happened to Jaci."
Isabelle gave her brother a flat look. "Do you really think he would traipse all the way to that grungy old bookstore to tell someone he doesn't even like that her sister, that she doesn't even like, is going to be spending a singular night in the Silent City, the safest place she could possibly be, when he could just call her? Especially since I've already sent her a text."
Alec shrugged and peaked in the kitchen. "He's probably avoiding everyone. Maybe he's mad that Mom and the Inquisitor got summed out and he's stuck here. Hi, Max," he added.
"I think he's worried about Jaci," Max said, sliding off of his stool to join them in the hall.
"Why would he be worried about her?" Alec asked a little stiffly. His younger brother looked confused by the question.
Isabelle sighed. If Jace was in fact sulking in a corner worrying about Jaci then he would probably be up in the greenhouse where he knew none of the Lightwood children would go thanks to allergies. And if he was, then he was an idiot and didn't understand what sort of girl Jaci was.
"We haven't checked her room yet," Alec pointed out.
"Jace would not be creepily sulking around her room just because the Inquisitor is insane," Isabelle huffed, but she turned on her heal and headed directly for Jaci's room anyway, leaving her brothers behind her. There was really no telling what Jace would or would not do recently. Especially when it came to Jaci. Usually, Jace could more or less be expected to do the opposite of most normal humans but around Jaci he acted just like anyone else who had feelings. Izzy liked being able to see that Jace did have some emotion besides self-loathing. And she really liked that it was directed towards her best friend.
Almost sprinting, Izzy turned the corner towards Jaci's room and collided solidly with Jace.
"Where have you been?!" she demanded before catching sight of his face. He looked drawn and pale. "What's wrong?"
"We have to go to the Silent City."
Isabelle shook her head to clear it of the desperate sound of his voice. Jace didn't panic. Ever. "Jace, she's fine. The Silent Brothers are there. Nothing will hurt her."
"No!" he shouted, shoving past her towards the weapons room. "You don't understand! Where is Maryse?"
"She and the Inquisitor got called out to Central Park. What – where-?" Isabelle shouted after him. "You are not going anywhere!"
He whirled to face her. There were shadows under his eyes that seemed like the permanent coloration of his skin. Isabelle couldn't remember the last time she'd seen him not looking completely exhausted. "The Silent City is not safe. The Silent Brothers aren't – Jaci's not –"
"Jaci is fine, Jace," Isabelle snapped. He was making her edgy with his weird behavior. Jace never acted like this.
He shook his head and stormed away with a determined glint in his eye.
Wild laughter echoed through the darkness. The laugh was not pleasant, though the voice making it might have been. The shadow inched closer towards the girl who had slumped to the floor, dropping her torch. Her shoulders shook with the hysterical laughter that tore from her lips that was broken only by her shallow and desperate breaths. Her bloodied hand was cradled in her lap and her wide, hazel eyes stared blindly at the shadow.
"Kosmima…"
The girl laughed and shook her head wildly, tears spilling onto her cheeks. "No," she moaned between peals of laughter. "Get away from me," she gasped.
"Come and play…"
"GET AWAY FROM ME!" the girl screamed, seizing the torch in her uninjured hand and launching herself to her feet. She held the torch out before her like a sword. "Get back, demon," she hissed.
"Enough," a quiet voice from the doorway said. Valentine held up his witchlight, throwing a harsh illumination on the scene.
The shadow shrank back immediately and left the pool of light, disappearing into the darkness. Jaci could feel warmth return to her almost immediately. Her guess had been right, that thing was a demon. A demon that was under Valentine's control.
"So I see you've met Agramon," Valentine said with a smile that did not reach his voice. "Curious isn't it that your greatest fear is faeries."
"Why- why did you…" Jaci sputtered, unable to hold her voice steady, "…to me."
"To you?" Valentine asked, suddenly moving to crouch outside of Jaci's cell. "It was the Clave that did this to you, Jaelyn. I would never have let anyone do this to you."
Jaci could almost feel the weight of the Silent City around her, feel the presence of the dead Shadowhunters buried there, the ones whose ashes were in the stone, the ones who had just been murdered. "You lie," she hissed.
She could see Valentine's lips move but heard no sound. A dull ringing had started up in her ears and Valentine and his witchlight seemed to be getting farther away…
The torch dropped from Jaci's limp hand and sputtered out. She blinked once at the man who had once killed demons and now used them to do his bidding. Behind his back she caught site of the hilt of a sword. It was shaped like an angel with outstretched wings. Without a sound, her eyes rolled back in her head and she fell to the floor.
Clary's heart had stopped for a moment when she saw the text from Isabelle. The Shadowhunter girl made it obvious how she felt about Clary, so why was she contacting her?
Jaci. She paled instantly. The last time she had seen Jaci was when Maryse had dismissed her and Simon. And she had gone back to Luke's without a thought with Simon. Simon had called her his girlfriend. Was it possible that they could just have been fighting and now they were together? And Simon was fast asleep on her bed. This had turned out to be a strange night.
With a feeling of dread she couldn't explain, Clary finally opened the message. It was worse than she had imagined: "The Inquisitor locked Jaci in the Silent City for the night."
After finding Alec, Isabelle had followed Jace to the weapons room where he was hurriedly grabbing gear.
"Jace," Alec said in an exasperated tone. "The Silent City is perfectly safe. Plus," he added, one hand moving up to his cheek distractedly, "she can take care of herself."
But Jace ignored him. "I'm going. I'm not asking you to come with me but I won't leave her there, not with – " He broke off suddenly, staring at a point just behind Alec's shoulder. "Why is she here?" he demanded, back to his usual self.
Isabelle and Alec both whirled around to see Clary standing in the doorway looking breathless.
"You sent me a text message," Clary said, "You said the Inquisitor locked Jaci in the Silent City."
"Clary!" Isabelle cried. "I didn't mean you should race down here right now."
Clary was staring at Isabelle as though she was speaking an entirely different language. "Isabelle! The Silent City! Don't you know…?"
Jace's golden eyes flashed and a smile crossed his face. It wasn't a happy smile. "As you obviously know, you're sister is in the Silent City. I'm going to get her out. Coming?"
"Jace!" Isabelle shouted. She turned to her brother. "Help me with this!"
But Alec just moved away from them. "He won't listen, Izzy."
"Try!" she barked.
Alec sighed and sat on the edge of the table. "The cells under the Silent City," he began, "they keep criminals there sometimes before deporting them to Idris to stand trial before the Council. People who've done really bad things," he added for Clary's benefit. "Murderers, renegade vampires, Shadowhunters who break the Accords. That's where Jaci is now. It's very high security."
"Being locked up with murderers sounds very safe," Jace drawled as he selected several seraph blades and stuck them in his belt.
"Under the Silent City?" Clary asked shrilly. "What's wrong with you people? Why aren't you more upset?"
"Jace is upset," Isabelle pointed out. "But it's not like there's anything to worry about. It's just one night and there isn't anyone else down there. We asked."
Jace muttered something that sounded oddly like "So you think."
Clary looked around in desperation as though one of the gleaming weapons would be able to make the entire situation make sense. "But what did she do?"
"She mouthed off to the Inquisitor," Alec said.
"If you agree she ought to be in jail, why did you ask me to come here?" Clary demanded.
"No one asked you to come here," Jace pointed out, now drawing runes on himself.
"And," Isabelle cut in, "no one said she should be in jail."
"Since you've brought up the fact that you're here," Jace said sounding inspired, "you can come along. We can break her out."
Isabelle whirled on her adoptive brother. Yes, she had been able to tell he cared about Jaci but he'd never made it this obvious before. "That won't help her!"
In the silent moment that followed, a strange sound could be heard that didn't belong to Jace as he tried to draw runes as quickly as he could without messing up.
"What's that?" Clary asked.
"It's coming from the library," Alec said as he stood up. "It might be someone trying to contact the Institute. I'll be right back."
Jace's head snapped up. "No," he breathed. "We can't be too late!"
Before either Isabelle or Clary could ask what they were too late for, Jace was rushing out of the room. It happened so quickly neither of them thought to stop him. His footsteps could be heard clearly as he ran towards the front door of the Institute. The next instant Alec had returned.
"It was someone trying to contact the Institute," he gasped. "One of the Silent Brothers. Something's happened in the Bone City."
The three stared at each other and then seized the nearest weapons, sprinting after Jace without bothering with gear. Somehow, impossibly, he had known Jaci was in danger. There was no doubt in any of their minds that that was the case.
