After a few seconds of trying, I got my eyes open. My first thought was to stand but my arms and legs were tied down. I tried to pull and bite at the ropes but they were too thick. I realized midst trying to escape that I was still in "Sebastian's" apartment and Valentine was sitting right across from me.
"I was really hoping Sebastian was joking about the imposter kidnapping you. Kind of hoped you'd be punished," I said with annoyance.
"Yeah, well I'm not easy to get rid of. I've gotten away with so many things I wonder if the Clave even tries," Valentine said with a sadistic smile.
"Just you wait. Once I'm out of these ropes you'll get the punishment you deserve," I said with the same sadistic smile. "And this time I won't stop."
"You won't kill me, Carly. You already had the chance and you blew it," Valentine pointed out.
"Maybe I did. But the next time I get the chance, I won't hesitate," I said, showing my eyes for only a second as the apartment's front door swung open.
Both of us looked up to see "Sebastian" coming into the room with some bags. He carried them into another room and came back with wet hands. He dried them on his pants and turned toward us. Both of us getting a good look at the liar's face.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"Carly, this is Jonathan. Your brother," Valentine said as shock consumed me.
I thought he died from what Valentine did to him or something just as bad. I never expected him to be walking around and so close.
"It can't be…" I said.
"Oh, but it is. Hello, twin sister," Jonathan said as his eyes went black; just like mine.
"So you didn't read articles in the Clave database, you just knew from experience," I said as a smile spread across his face.
"Right on the head."
"I didn't bump into you in the alley on accident either, did I?" I asked.
"Of course not. I've been bugging the Institute for weeks. I know everything and I knew that you'd run off. I expected you to get as far from the Institute as you could and I was right," Jonathan admitted.
"So, why kidnap me and Valentine? What do you need us for?" I asked as his face darkened.
"We're going to have some family bonding time. I'll do what Valentine needs and we'l finally live side by side," Jonathan explained.
"Where do I fit in?" I asked.
Jonathan crouched before me. "You're going to be the warrior we need. You'll distract the others while I spy from inside the Institute. If they find anything that will ruin our plans, I'll destroy it."
"And what is this plan of yours?" I asked.
"Father, would you like to explain?" Jonathan asked with a snarky smile.
"I'd love to," Valentine said, getting to his feet and cracking his knuckles, "You see Carly, I have the mortal cup. Jonathan has the soul sword…"
"No, the Clave has that. I watched Jace take it away," I said, interrupting Valentine.
"I snuck in and stole it. Wasn't hard with everything else going on. Some Edom ash later and the sword was mine," Jonathan said.
"Edom ash?" I asked.
"Beings with demonic blood cannot touch heavenly weapons. But old and smart demons know if you rub Edom ash on your hands, touching heavenly weapons won't burn for a short period of time," Jonathan explained.
"Getting back to the point. Now that we have two of the three mortal devices, I am so close to my dream. This world will finally be rid of downworlder mutts. We can go back to a simpler time before impurity walked the streets. A time where we can enjoy life and not fight for our lives every day," Valentine announced.
"I am not going to let you kill my friends and my family. Besides, if I'm not mistaken, me and Jonathan would die alongside the downworlders," I said, turning my head to Jonathan, "Are you willing to die for his crazy plans?"
"I won't die and neither will you. Valentine will ask Razeel to kill all impure beings, except us. We'll be the last of the tainted and the most feared," Jonathan corrected.
"We will be a family once again," Valentine said.
"Not really in the mood for family bonding. If you don't mind I'd like to be untied so I can kick both of your asses," I said, struggling against the ropes.
"You're just as stubborn as your mother. Never wanting to give up when you know it's your only option. I guess we're just going to have to do something a little more painful," Valentine said as Jonathan pulled a stele from his pocket. With a sadistic smile plastered on his face, he pushed my sleeve up on my arm.
"What are you doing?" I asked, trying to get my arms loose from the ropes as Jonathan activated the stele. He began drawing a rune as my skin tingled.
"While I was captured, the Clave tried to get me to talk with the agony rune. This time we're going to use it on you. It will make you relive your worst memory. And every time we activate it, it will happen again and again. Eventually, you'll give in and join the side you were made for," Valentine explained.
"You're sick, you know that?" I said in a snarky tone.
"I've been told." Valentine smiled.
"You son of a...ahhh!" I began as Jonathan finished the rune. Pain shot through my entire body as images flashed before my eyes.
"Find anything?" Clary asked as Jace came up from the basement with a box of dusty journals. He set them on the table and before he responded he checked Clary's temperature. Once he knew she was alright, he pulled a chair in front of her and sat down.
"I heard whispers and got ready for a fight. But when I got to the bottom of the stairs the portal was already half closed. I don't know where they went but from what I saw Valentine was here. I was about to go back upstairs when I found these," Jace said, grabbing a journal and handing it to Clary, "They're Valentine's old journals. He'd write everything he needed in these things. He even put them on a high shelf so I couldn't reach them. Maybe we'll find something."
"I hope we do. With them escaping, we're back to noth-ing," Clary said, shivering just a tiny bit. She was much warmer and her clothes were drying nicely. Her lips were almost back to pink and she looked less pale.
"There's got to be something and we'll find it," Jace said as he grabbed another journal.
Both of them slowly opened the journals and studied every word. Most of it was gibberish since Valentine's handwriting was awful. But some of it was understandable. He wrote about stealing the cup, dealing with the downworlders, and finally the experiments.
He explained in great detail about every injection and what it did to our mother. Clary was disgusted and was about to give up when Jace's eyes widened. She waited for him to speak as he scanned the journal page 3-4 times to make sure he was reading it correctly.
"What'd you find?" Clary asked.
"Well, this is one of the journals Valentine kept stats and scores in. I found a page with my name so I was gonna pass it over until I noticed something. In one column it says Jonathan Christopher Herondale and in the other it says Jonathan Christopher Morgenstern," Jace explained.
"We already knew about him experimenting on Jonathan. Killing him even," Clary said with sadness in her voice. She knew me and Jonathan got the short end of the stick and it hurt not being able to do anything about it.
"Clary, I don't think Jonathan's dead," Jace blurted out.
"What are you talking about? Valentine killed him," Clary said as she sat straight up, giving her full attention to Jace.
Jace turned the page to Clary so she could see what he was looking at. "That's what I thought too. But he "died" when he was just a little kid, these records go up to 10. I don't know what happened in the last 7 years but there's a chance…"
"He's still alive."
"He might be the one who got Valentine out. If he spent most of his childhood with Valentine, he must've been taught well," Jace continued.
"We don't know for sure." Clary shrugged.
"No we don't, but at least we have something," Jace said as his phone started to ring. He looked down at the caller ID and recognized the number. He looked over to Clary, nodding, as he answered the call.
"Hello?"
"Did you and Clary open a portal in the far library?" Alec asked with a hint of worry and anger.
"Well, Clary opened it…"
"Jace, you know that is forbidden. You're lucky me and Isabelle found the library first. We'll clean it up so no one sees anything but what the hell were you thinking?" Alec snapped.
"I didn't plan this. Clary already opened the portal and I wasn't gonna let her go alone. Besides, we found some clues to what happened to Valentine. Something that could really help," Jace said as he piqued Alec's interest.
"What'd you find?" Alec asked.
"When we arrived at the cabin someone had just portalled out. And I am betting that was Valentine and his captor," Jace explained.
"So you found and lost him?" Alec asked with a snip to his voice.
"Yes, but in the basement, we found some of Valentine's journals. After reading through a few we discovered his notes from the experiments. There was stuff on me, Clary, Carly, and Jonathan. But when I looked over the notes there was info on Jonathan till he was 10," Jace explained.
"Didn't he die when he was a little kid?" Alec asked.
"That's what we thought but these journals say differently. If this is true and I don't think Valentine would make this stuff up, then Jonathan is still alive or at least he was seven years ago," Jace admitted.
"Do you think he was the one to take Valentine?" Alec asked.
"We haven't found any proof but it's a possibility."
"Alright, I'll let the Clave know. I'll even cover up some of the details so you guys don't get punished," Alec sighed.
"Thank you, Alec."
"Just get back here before someone notices you left," Alec said, hanging up on Jace. Jace sighed and shoved his phone back into his pocket.
"So, what'd he say?" Clary said, standing up from her spot next to the heater.
"He'll cover for us but we have to get back so no one notices we left. Come on," Jace said, heading for the door but Clary needed to get something off her chest.
"Jace, wait," Clary said as he stopped dead in his tracks and turned around to face her.
"What is it?"
"What happened on the lake...if...if you hadn't pulled me out I would be dead right now. Thank you," Clary muttered.
"No problem. Besides, I couldn't go back to the Institute without you, literally," Jace said as they both laughed aloud.
"Here, you probably need this," Clary said as she took off Jace's jacket, handing it back.
"I think you might need it more than I do," Jace said, keeping his arms at his side.
"You helped me, now I'm helping you," Clary said, handing him the jacket again as he grabbed it from her grasp. When he did, his fingers touched hers and sparks flew between them. Both of them stared into each other's eyes for what felt like forever; until Clary broke the connection.
"We should get going," she muttered.
"Good idea," Jace said as Clary opened a portal and both of them stepped through.
Images surrounded me and there was no escape. All I saw was the demon's hand going through my mother's chest and ripping her heart out. That last look of shock still plastered on her face. We never got along very well but she was my mom, and I loved her. She was one of the only people, aside from Simon, who paid attention to me as a kid. Even if she tried to kill me.
"Mom! Ahhh!" I screamed, cried, and struggled but nothing made the images stop.
When it finally did stop, I'd get sent right back in because I wouldn't accept Valentine's offer. This went on for almost four hours until I finally cracked.
"Are you ready to give up?" Jonathan asked, still crouched beside my chair.
The images faded and my breathing turned raspy. Tears stained my cheeks and my eyes were bright red. I looked down at him and nodded slowly, "Ye...ss. Please no more."
"Good choice," Valentine said with a big smile, "We're going to accomplish great things."
"By what? Killing my friends? Killing innocent downworlders who are just trying to live their lives? That doesn't sound like an accomplishment to me," I said as the tingling in my hands came back and it hurt. I tried to keep a straight face but Jonathan noticed my sudden discomfort.
"She needs to kill or she'll attack someone," Jonathan said as an even wider smile spread across Valentine's face.
"How long till she goes rabid with hunger for the kill?" Valentine asked as anxiety spread throughout my body. I don't know what he was planning but it didn't sound good.
"I'd say 24hrs max."
"Alright, I have an idea," Valentine said, pacing back and forth, "Tomorrow you'll spy on Clarissa and her friends. If you find anything, and I mean anything, you call me. If they go on any kind of mission, me and Carly will go meet up with them. We'll see how rabid she really gets."
"I won't hurt my friends," I said.
"Once you go rabid, you'll kill anyone who stands in your way. You'll crave it. Won't matter if it's your friend or some innocent bystander. You'll want to kill and the pain won't fade till you do."
