Two days after the party, everyone was still reeling over the events that unfolded. After the party got ruined by Iris, Maryse had the rest of the celebration at the Institute. Max got his first rune, and then he had to go back to Idris to start training. While this was happening, Alec spent most of the time by himself, trying to get past what he did. Magnus tried to convince Alec to let him help, but Alec needed the space.

While Magnus was trying to convince Alec, he was also searching for Madzie. He might disapprove of Iris, but he wasn't about to let a 6-year-old be controlled by a monster. He knew that wherever Valentine was, she'd be nearby. Or at least he hoped she would be.

Clary was doing all she could to find Magnus' spellbook and every spell inside with Jace and Isabelle. I stayed out of it, just in case stress could cause the demon blood to spread faster than it already was. Since the party, it had spread halfway to my shoulder, and I've still said nothing.

"Find anything?" Clary asked as Isabelle scanned a nearby monitor.

"Not yet. Magnus said there was a magical tracker on the book so we should be able to detect it, but I'm coming up with nothing. Valentine must have known because wherever he's hiding it, the magic tracker isn't working," Isabelle explained, scanning the digital map again.

"There has to be some...aahh," Clary groaned.

Her ears began to ring as the strength in her legs gave out, making her use the table for support. Jace noticed this and ran from the other side of the room to ensure Clary would stay standing.

"Are you alright?" Jace asked as he held Clary up, her head on his shoulder.

"I don't know. I was fine one minute, and the next, my ears started to ring," Clary said as the ringing continued. Making it harder to hear what Jace and Isabelle were trying to say.

"Maybe you need some rest. I don't think you've slept since the night of the party," Isabelle suggested, helping Jace to keep Clary standing.

"No, it's not that. The ringing doesn't sound like ringing at all. It sounds like someone screaming; calling for help," Clary admitted, looking up at Jace, who grew even more concerned.

"Maybe it has something to do with the spellbook," Isabelle suggested solemnly.

"Call Magnus," Jace demanded plainly.

Isabelle pulled out her phone as he helped Clary to a bench nearby. He sat next to her as Isabelle dialed Magnus' number. And to their luck, he was home.

"What can I do for you Isabelle? I'm in the middle of some research and would like to get back to it," Magnus sighed in a bit of a sassy tone.

"Clary is hearing ringing in her ears, but the ringing sounds like someone screaming. Like someone calling for help. Would that, for whatever reason, be related to your spellbook?" Isabelle asked as Clary tried to make the screaming stop.

"I don't think…" Magnus began as Jace stole the phone from Isabelle.

"A few days ago, when Clary tried to bring her mother back to life, she did something impossible," Jace said as Clary nodded, giving him permission, "I saw with my own eyes her draw a rune I had never seen before. She drew it like it was something she had known for years. Would that have something to do with the screaming?"

"Clary can draw runes?" Isabelle asked in surprise as the screaming in Clary's ears lessened.

Magnus' voice dropped to a whisper. "Grâce angélique."

"What?" Jace asked, completely confused.

"Grâce angélique means angelic grace in French. What she's hearing is an angel crying for help," Magnus explained in astonishment. "I've read stories about humans with angelic blood in their veins, but I've never met one before. Valentine must have injected angel blood into Clary when he injected you and Carly with demon blood."

"I thought all shadowhunters had angelic blood," Jace said.

"They do but not enough to hear angels. Valentine must have experimented on her with angelic blood, or else she wouldn't be able to hear the angel crying. And if she is hearing an angel screaming, that means that Valentine captured one," Magnus said.

"So, what do we do?" Isabelle asked, stealing the phone back from Jace.

"Follow the screaming. The louder it is, the closer you are. The only way to activate the soul sword is angel blood, so you need to find that angel now. And when you free him, do not let Valentine get Clary. If he has her, he won't need an angel," Magnus admitted as Isabelle ended the call.

"So, what's the plan?" Clary asked wiggling her ears to try and lessen the pain.

"It's time for us to save an angel."


Since the party, I spent most of my time at Simon's. Distracting myself from my impending doom and anything involving Valentine. But after two days, I knew I couldn't hide forever.

"Do you remember that time we snuck you out of the house for that party?" Simon reminisced with a smile.

"Of course I do. That was the first time I had some freedom and the first time I had tasted alcohol," I said in a giggly tone.

"You puked for five minutes straight, all over a cheerleader's shoes," Simon said, also in a giggly tone.

"I didn't know she was a cheerleader at the time, and I did not puke for five minutes. It was more like two," I said, smiling.

"More like three," Simon retorted.

"Fine, three," I said as we looked each other in the eyes.

"That feels like so long ago."

"Like another lifetime."

My expression saddened. A year ago, the only thing I had to worry about was sneaking out of the house and doing homework. Now I fight for my life every day, and I'm turning into a monster.

"Are you going to head back to the Institute soon?" Simon asked, changing the subject when he noticed my expression.

"I don't think so," I said, looking down at my feet.

"Are you sure you don't want to go back? They might need you," Simon said as I sat down next to him on the couch he'd found on some curb. You could tell by just how many stains there were.

"I'll go back soon, but there's something I need to tell you first. Something very important," I said as I turned toward him, and he turned toward me.

"What is it?" Simon asked as I became shaky.

"Simon, I…" I began as loud banging at the front door interrupted my sentence.

Simon quickly got to his feet and used his vampire speed to get to the door. When he opened it, Jace, Clary, and Isabelle came bursting in.

"What's going on?" Simon asked as they barged through without saying a word. Not clueing him in on anything.

"We need your help. Valentine has captured an angel, and we need to break him out. If we don't, he'll activate the soul sword, and the whole downworld will fall," Jace quickly explained.

"How are we going to find an angel?" I asked.

"With Clary," Isabelle said as I finally noticed Clary. She was holding her ears and squinting a bit.

"How is Clary gonna find an angel? She looks like she can barely walk," Simon said, stating the obvious.

"She can hear it crying. The louder the screams, the closer it is. She is going to lead the way to Valentine," Jace said.

"Why is Clary the only one who can hear it?" I asked.

"Our theory is that Valentine injected Clary with angel blood when he injected us with demon blood. Magnus said that it could be the only explanation because otherwise, she wouldn't be able to hear a thing," Jace explained.

"So, what's the plan?" Simon asked, a little more excited than I was. After hearing what Clary was, I shut up and just didn't have anything to say.

"We follow the scream, and once we find the location, we take our shadow blades out and fight our way in. I even brought an average katana for you, Simon," Isabelle said, handing the sheathed sword to him.

"Did the Institute okay this?" Simon asked, knowing how strict the Clave was. They were not someone you wanted to anger.

"They don't know anything about this. If we accomplish our goal, they'll thank us. We just can't fail," Jace shrugged.

"Is Alec joining us on this mission? Usually, I'm the one left out," Simon said as Clary finally got the strength to speak over the crying.

"He's dealing with a lot of stuff right now, so we decided he should just stay out of it. He needs time to get better. This might make it worse," Clary said, almost shouting. Talking over the screaming was not an easy feat.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go save an angel," Simon said as we followed them out the door. They walked ahead as I walked behind.

Everything Jace had just said was swirling around in my head. Clary got experimented on, but with the most angelic thing on Earth. While Jace, Jonathan, and I were experimented on with the most toxic and evil thing. Why does the universe care for her so much?! Even when experimented on like a lab rat, she came out of it better. Does the world just hate me? I'm her sister, but it feels like I'm an alien. I'm nothing but evil incarnate. As I was thinking, Simon noticed my sad stature, and he slowed to meet my pace.

"What's wrong?" Simon asked as he kept pace with me. "Ever since Jace explained Clary's situation, you've been silent. What's up?"

"I'm fine. Nothing to worry about," I muttered.

"Carly, you know I can tell when you're lying. Just tell me what's wrong," Simon said with pleading eyes.

He so badly wanted to make sure I was alright. I could tell by the way he looked at me, he was never gonna let anything happen to me if he could help it.

"It's just, I'm jealous. Even with this, Clary got better treatment. She's part angel; the most beautiful and pure thing in this world. While I got the other end of the stick. I'm just sick of Clary being the good one and me being defined as a monster," I said with anger.

"You're not a monster. Monsters don't worry about jealousy. They don't care for a geek like me. They're not shy and beautiful like you. Nothing but your blood says you're a monster. So fight the curse and be yourself," Simon said as we stopped and he stroked my cheek. I blushed and felt the sparks that came from that touch. I looked back up at him and forced a smile as he grabbed hold of my hand, dragging me back to the group.

A few minutes later, Clary clutched her ears and almost fell to her knees. She was silently screaming and crippled with pain. I would have felt sorry for her, but I didn't want to be anywhere near her.

We were in the middle of a crossroads. On each side of us were old skyscrapers; most of them abandoned years ago. Clary looked around with squinted eyes, trying to discover which building the crying was coming from.

"Clary, which building is it in?" Jace asked as Clary turned her attention to him.

"It's … In that … one," Clary said, a little too loudly.

She pointed at the building diagonal to us, and we all turned to look at it. All the windows were boarded up, and the building looked like it was falling apart. It looked so weak that if you stood on any of the floors, you'd fall through.

Simon and I scouted the building and noticed a hidden back entrance, one Valentine hopefully didn't know about. We returned and prepared for anything we might face in the building. Once we got closer, Clary felt the screaming coming from above. That's when we noticed the thunderstorm happening only above this building.

Before going in, we made a plan. Isabelle and Jace would fight their way through, while me and Simon would get Clary to the roof. I wasn't very ecstatic about this plan, but it's all we had. Jace broke the lock on the door, and we all entered to complete silence.


Magnus kept up his research on how to save me. He looked through all his resources, but he only found things he already knew. Magnus contacted a few of his friends, but none of them knew of a spell that could lock away this type of evil. The spell Magnus had used 17 years ago was before it could take effect. An easy lockbox spell.

But now … there was nothing. No one from the testing kept good records; none of the spells they tried could be found. All he had left was the spell he used when I was little, which didn't have the power to keep this at bay. As Magnus was thinking aloud, there was a knock at the door.

He opened the door with a smile, as Alec stood there on the other side. Magnus moved over and held the door open as Alec came in.

"Are you okay?" Magnus asked as he noticed Alec's puffy red eyes.

"I wanted to talk. About what happened on the balcony," Alec said, sitting down on one of Magnus' luxury couches.

"Of course. I'm here for you," Magnus said, sitting beside Alec, grabbing hold of his hand and squeezing.

"Since I killed Jocelyn, I can't get it out of my head. Every time I close my eyes, I see myself ripping her heart out over and over again. After I explained how I was feeling to the others, it got better. I didn't feel as guilty because I knew it wasn't me. But then at the party, the spell made me believe the worst. Clary was yelling at me for her mother's death. Saying I was a monster, that I should just end it there and then," Alec explained.

"Alexander…"

"Her saying that broke the wall I built around my guilt. I just couldn't deal, and I needed it to go away. Her saying those things pushed me to the edge physically and mentally. At that moment, I thought that ending it would be better for everyone," Alec admitted, letting tears fall down his cheeks.

"Alexander," Magnus said, grabbing Alec's chin and turning his head, so they'd look each other in the eyes, "The world would be a gloomy place without you in it. Guilt can be a very dangerous thing, and it got the best of you. It happens to all of us, even me. But you fought as hard as you could, and you're still here now. You will be okay."

"Does it ever get better?" Alec asked.

"Yeah, it does. It might take you a long time to live with what happened, but it will get better. I promise," Magnus said, wiping a tear off Alec's cheek.

"You always know what to say," Alec said, half smiling.

"That's because I've been around for a very long time. I know when someone is hurting," Magnus said, half smiling as well.

"There was also one other thing I came here to do," Alec said, digging into his back pocket. "I got you a gift. I bought this a few days before the party, and with everything that's been going on, I just haven't had the time."

Magnus didn't get gifts, so when Alec handed him the small bag, he was surprised. He took a moment to study the sparkly blue bag as he tore the tissue paper off the top. Then he reached inside and pulled out the small object.

"It's a charm I bought in Chinatown. The charm is supposed to bring you good luck and protection. With everything we deal with every day, I thought getting you one wouldn't hurt," Alec said with a smile.

Magnus studied the small charm and looked at it with love, "It's beautiful. Thank you, Alexander."

"You're always there for me, so I want to always be there for you," Alec said as he leaned forward and gave Magnus a slow passionate kiss.


As the darkness of the building consumed us, we heard a creak to our right. Seconds later, a man dressed in all black came out of the shadows. He went straight for Isabelle as she caught a glimpse of him from the edge of her vision. He got 2in from literally stabbing her in the back as she blocked his attack with her blade. She knocked him back a few feet, and as he was disoriented, she took out her whip and flung him through a nearby window.

After we knew he wasn't getting back up, we continued up the flight of steps. We were about three floors from the top when we got ambushed again. This time about 10 of Valentine's goons appeared. I knew that they weren't going to be able to get all of them, so I told Simon to get Clary to the roof. He didn't want to leave me, but I reassured him I would be fine. He gave me one last look as he continued to carry Clary up the stairs.

They were halfway up the staircase when a goon attacked me from behind; knocking me to the floor. I took out my blade and rolled onto my back as his blade came down on mine. I knocked his weapon out of his hand with my foot. While he was distracted, I kicked the back of his knee; making him fall to the floor. I got back onto my feet and knocked him out cold. I was about to go after the next one, but then something consumed me.

I was looking down at the unconscious man, and I wanted to end him. Not just knock him out, I wanted to kill him. A voice told me that the world would be better without this piece of trash, that I should just snap his neck and end it. I got close to listening to it, but Jace yelled at me to help, and I snapped out of it. I took out two more guards, and then we made our way to the roof; neither of them noticed the sudden murderous urge I just had.

I was scared of myself at that moment, and it was just going to get worse. Once the blood took full effect, I'd become the monster I was afraid of. A floor from the top, five more guards came at us, and we dealt with them easily. While fighting, I felt that searing pain again, but ignored it so Isabelle and Jace wouldn't suspect anything was wrong. Once the fight was finished, and we made our way to the roof, I moved my sweatshirt sleeve to see the veins had moved up to my shoulder.

If it kept moving at this rate, I'd maybe have two days. I needed to tell everyone; I needed to tell Simon. We made it to the roof to find the angel chained up. Simon was breaking the chains as Clary was leaning against the edge. We walked up to them as Simon broke the last chain. They fell to the floor as the angel smiled at every one of us. Specifically me.

He gave a long look and stepped forward, heading toward me. Everyone watched as he stopped in front of me with a smile. He put his hand on my cheek as everything faded away, like water on a painting. In replacement of the roof, was a dark room. In the middle was the soul sword glowing with angelic light. A figure moved toward it and put its hand on the blade. And right before my eyes both the figure and soul sword disintegrated.

Then I was brought back to reality. I wasn't positive, but right before the figure disintegrated, I thought I saw a necklace. My necklace. My mom gifted it to me for my 10th birthday, and I know for a fact no one else could own a necklace like that. I looked up at the angel and he somehow knew what I was thinking. He nodded, agreeing with my thoughts and smiling. He then backed away and spread his wings, flying into the air.

"What did he show you?" Jace asked, breaking the silence.

"How do you know he showed her anything?" Clary asked as the crying had stopped. She straightened up and was back to her normal self.

"Because in the legends, angels can show you your future. Some important task you must complete. What did he show you, Carly?" Isabelle asked, curious and worried.

"He showed me a figure destroying the soul sword. The figure was blurred with darkness, but I recognized the necklace it was wearing." I said as I held up my necklace. It was a simple handpainted rose, but I'd recognize it anywhere.

"That's wonderful. We can destroy the sword before he can use it," Clary said.

"There's more isn't there?" Simon asked, noticing my sudden drop in mood.

"I did destroy the sword, but when I destroyed it, it took me down with it. I can destroy the soul sword, but then I destroy myself," I admitted.

"Not gonna happen. We'll have to find another way. Something safer," Jace said in a serious tone. He wasn't buddie buddie with me, but he wouldn't let me sacrifice myself either.

"It might be…" I began as an arm went around my throat. Not choking me but keeping me in place. Clary was put in a chokehold as well by Valentine. The others were held at gunpoint. I struggled, but the goon tightened his grip every time I tried.

"Hello again, my children," Valentine said with a creepy grin.

"We're not your children," Clary said with disgust.

"My precious angel and my precious weapon, how are you doing?" Valentine asked, ignoring Clary's comment.

"She isn't a weapon. She's a human being, and she is more than just an object," Simon said with anger and protectiveness. I looked over to him and saw the look in his eyes, the one where he was ready to fight.

"Vampire, I wasn't talking to you," Valentine sneered.

"Simon, don't," I said as I caught his attention. I looked at him with pleading eyes, but even that couldn't stop what he tried next.

Simon's fangs extended as he used his vampire speed to knock out the guard holding the gun at him. He then attacked the guard holding onto me and pushed him out of the way. After I was free, he headed for Valentine, but Valentine was much faster. Valentine threw Clary out of the way and then grabbed Simon by the throat.

"Vampire, why would you try something so idiotic?" Valentine asked with a sadistic smile.

"Let him go.." Me and Clary said at the exact same time.

"No, I think I'll hold onto him. For incentive," Valentine said as a portal opened up behind him.

"Incentive for what?" Jace asked.

"For giving Clary and Carly to me willingly," Valentine said.

"Why do you want me? I'm the one that could destroy all your plans," I said truthfully.

"I know you can, that's why I need to dispose of you. If Clary activates the sword and you allow me to end your life, Simon will be let go," Valentine admitted.

"Don't. I'm not worth the risk," Simon gasped.

"I'll give you some time to decide. I'll see you all very soon," Valentine said as he, Simon, and all his goons vanished through the portal. The rest of us stood there in shock, unsure of what to say.