A Hidden World

Chapter 9

The Carnival

Jace

The carnival was packed with people, amazed by the fireworks. There were colourful lights on the sky, forming different kind of shapes. The sellers were packing their things, ending the carnival. The tents were all closing down except from one. And that was Dorothea's.

I went in expecting to find her but instead I found Magnus and Alec making out.

"I can't believe I just saw that." I said closing my eyes and praying that the image wouldn't stay in my mind.

"You have a bad timing Jace." Magnus said, "You can open your eyes, you weren't doing that much."

I opened them hesitantly. "Where is Dorothea?" I asked searching the room.

"She said she would contact you. Where is Clary?" Alec said fixing his hair.

"I don't know. We.... we got lost."

"What?" Simon said angrily coming in the tent with Isabelle.

"She probably was thinking of a different destination, so.... I guess we got separated." I said looking at Magnus. I was worried for Clary that she might be somewhere dark, all alone and scared. But this thought relieved me somehow. She could be in a worse situation than that, but I didn't want to think about it.

"And you just say it like that? Like nothing happened?" I turned at Simon, who looked in the verge of killing me, if that was possible since he was just a human. But his eyes... something was different.

"It's not my fault that your friend was thinking of something else. I specifically told her not to think."

"You...."

"Stop it. This will not lead us anywhere. And don't worry Simon, Magnus will track her and we will see where she is." Isabelle said to him trying to calm him.

"I don't think that will be easy." Magnus said.

"And something tells me that I won't like that." I said looking at Magnus.

"Well...." Magnus said getting up ready to do his magic, "Dorothea will be probably blocking us."

"What? Why would Dorothea..." And then it hit me. Dorothea would probably want to find out Clary's story and if it was interesting enough for her, she would trick Clary to do something for her. Something definitely dangerous. Dorothea always sent others to do her tasks.

"I can't believe you left her go after Clary. They could be anywhere!" I shouted at them. I couldn't believe they had let her like that. Ok Magnus was Magnus. If there wasn't any personal gain he wouldn't bother, but Alec? "Alec how could you..."

"Relax Jace. You act like you own her or something. When we came Dorothea wasn't here, she had left a note though."

"Saying?" I said trying to keep my temper down. I wasn't sure what bothered me more. The fact that they acted without thinking first or that he was right about Clary. Did I act like that? It's true that since I meet her I am always around her... but that is because I think she can have the answers about the Moira Forest. No.... now that I think about it I just act like that only for the interest I have in her dreams. Yeah, that was it. I at least think so...

"That she would catch up with both of you, and to wait here untill you all come back. She wanted to speak with you somewhere more private I guess." Alec shrugged.

"Did you forget what happened last time when she wanted to speak with you somewhere more private?" I said hoping that this will shake him for good. Last time Dorothea wanted Alec to go to Efialtis Mountain to get her something in order for her to tell him if his parents will take the news well, that he was gay. And that meant he had to fight a dragon to get a weird plant for her.

"No, I haven't." Alec said eyes meeting the floor. "You are right. But I thought she would be fine with you."

"Well she isn't with me now, isn't she?"

"What do we do now?" Simon said. He had calm down. His eyes didn't have the darkness I saw earlier.

"I will try to track her down." Magnus said and went outside. I followed him leaving the rest behind me in the tent.

"I will try with one of Dorothea's scarf, but again I am not sure it will work. If I could have something from Clary..."

"Here, take this." I said giving him Clary's ring.

"Are you proposing? I am sorry but I am taken." Magnus said with a smirk on his face.

"It's Clary's." I said to him and he raised his eyebrow trying to hold back a smile.

When we were in the Portal I tried to hold her tight, but somehow her hand slipped from mine leaving behind her ring. I wasn't in the mood to explain to him how I got it so I just looked at him intense enough, making him to say no more.

"I see something." Magnus said. We had gone outside, far away from the carnival so nobody could see Magnus doing his magic. Not that they were many people left, but still it was good to be extra careful.

"What? What do you see? Is she ok?" Oh, I really hope she is ok.

"Well it's not clear. She is blocking us, as I suspected. I can't see Clary but I can see where she is." He said, eyes closed looking towards the sky.

"Well where?" I said my heart beating faster from the news. Clary was found. She was Dorothea, meaning she was safe, for now. I had to hurry.

He turned to me, looking surprised. "At the Ragon Mansion."

I just stared at him.

"So? It's just a house. Why are you so worked up anyway?" Simon was testing my poor nerves. Why was he still with us?

"It isn't just a house." Isabelle started to explain to him, "This house is very powerful, at least that's what they say. It belonged to a warlock named Ragon. He did experiments to himself until he died by some mistake."

We were walking to the Ragon Mansion since Dorothea was blocking us through the Portal too. I was curious why she would get into all this trouble to make us stay away from her.

"He wanted to be a Shadowhunter." Alec laughed. "Like that was possible. Shadowhunters are born not created."

Isabelle glared at him. She hated when someone interrupted her while telling a story. "As I said he did terrible things to himself." Simon wasn't interested to find out what so he just kept nodding to Isabelle, his head looking forward his eyes lost in thought. "And when warlocks die, their magic doesn't get lost you know. It must be passed to someone near them. Like another warlock or witch. But since he was living alone, everyone assume that his magic has been passed to the house."

"Again I can't understand why you are acting like that. So it's a house with great power. What could that do to Clary?" Simon said now paying attention to Isabelle.

"When great power is gathered into an object, it starts to have a mind of its own. It could easily take someone over. And with that I mean Clary and Dorothea." Magnus replied.

"If Dorothea new about the house then why she would go there? If there was a possibility to be controlled by a power."

"Maybe she thought she could handle it." Isabelle said and stopped as we reached the top of a hill and saw beneath us the lake and the Ragon Mansion. There was smoke coming from the chimney and light coming from the windows.

I picked up my pace wanting to see Clary. I wanted to make sure that she hadn't made any promise to Dorothea.

We were getting closer to the house. No one was talking. The tension between was intense. I was so taken over that I didn't see the forsaken coming toward us.

It hit me from the left knocking me down. It hovered on me raising its hand ready to stab me but Alec shred it with his seraph blade killing it. I got myself up to see two more forsakens coming. I got my seraph blade out.

"Isabelle, try to keep the human safe." I said referring to Simon. The forsakens were only a few meters away from us when the earth under our feet moved. There was an earthquake and I tried not to fall when we heard an explosion.

I instantly turned my gaze towards the house. It was on fire. "Clary." I had to make fast if I wanted to save her but the forsakens were close and I couldn't let them face them alone.

Magnus must have sensed my hesitation because he said, "Take care of this and I will take care of the other." and took off. In other words he said, make sure Alec doesn't get hurt and I will make sure Clary doesn't get hurt. I felt a little relieved that Magnus was going but somehow I still wanted myself to be there with her now.

I focused on the forsaken that was coming to me. If I finish them quickly, I will be able to go to her faster, and with that thought I slashed the forsaken's chest.