Alec had gone together with Isabelle, while Clary, Jace and Simon had gone to the other dungeon. They mostly tried to be normal people who worked for the Wizard. A few guards came running by.
'Be careful, don't go to the main hall! It's the Wicked Witch of the West, and she's going to hurt the Wizard, or her Goodness.'
Alec wondered if her Goodness referred to Christabel. Alec had studied a lot of fairytale, and Christabel was the typical good fairy in a fairytale, she looked like one, dressed like one, acted like one. Except that her best friend was the "Wicked Witch", who wasn't really a Wicked witch.
'Oh no,' Alec said, pretending to sound afraid. It didn't really work. Fortunately, Isabelle took it from him. She was a much better actor than he was.
'The Wicked Witch of the West? That's terrible! How did she get in?'
'We don't know yet,' one of them said, 'We have to go to protect them!'
'Make sure they don't get hurt,' Isabelle shrieked.
They passed, and Alec was reliefed they didn't see who they were. 'You, my brother, are a horrible actor,' Isabelle said.
'I know,' he said, 'Luckily, you are very good at acting.'
Alec and Isabelle walked into the dungeons, Alec first, watching if anyone was there. They carried weapons, of course, but hidden. Isabelle wore her whip around her waist as a belt, and with a little magic it really looked like a belt. They looked trough the cells.
'A floating goat in here,' she said, 'That's odd... Would it be one of the warlocks the Wizard transformed?'
'I think so, but why is it floating?' he asked. Alec turned to look inside the cellar. He used an opening rune. The goat seemed in pain, and couldn't really move himself. Alec moved to the next cell door. A few bats were in there. There were a lot of warlocks with bat wings for a warlock mark. Alec set them free too. He hoped they still had a human mind.
'Find Sawyer,' he told them, 'She is the only one who might be able to make you human again.'
In the next cell was a cat. Alec opened this door, again with an opening rune. The cat came out and walked towards him. It was as if the cat recognized him. Alec looked into his eyes. Those goldgreen eyes that looked so familiar to him. The eyes that looked like cat eyes, but Alec knew they didn't belong to a cat. They belonged to Magnus. This was Magnus, it had to be. The cat looked so sad, and rubbed against his leg. Alec picked him up. Magnus.
'Don't worry, love,' he said. He hardly ever called Magnus that, he wasn't really the person to use pet names.
'We'll find a way to reverse the spell, Sawyer can do it.'
He hold the cat close against him. Isabelle ran towards him. 'I think I set them all free. Now we have to get out of here, as was the plan. They were all warlock animals here. Wait, who are you holding?'
Alec fought the tears coming in his eyes. Alec was a strong person, a fighter but your boyfriend being turned into a cat was hard to cope with, especially when you had no idea how to reverse it.
'This is Magnus,' Alec said.
'How do you know?' Isabelle asked.
'I just do. I know it's him. We should get out of here, quickly.'
'Alec, I'm so sorry,' she said.
'I know,' he said, shortly, 'Now let's get out of here. Jace, Clary and Simon will get out soon too, and Sawyer will leave when she doesn't sense our presence anymore.'
They ran, then, while Alec was holding the cat close to him. He was a little slower than usual, but they didn't come across any guards. They didn't know where the animals went, but they had to get out.
Simon had gone with Clary an Jace to the other dungeons. 'What are we going to do?' he asked.
'Check every door,' Jace said, 'And if you think it's a good idea to free it, I'll free it. Clary, you don't, because your one opening rune will open everything in this place and that might not be a good idea.'
Simon sighed but did not comment. Jace thought he was the boss, and he didn't have any better plans. Simon looked trough the cell doors, and most were empty. In others were wolves, but not much.
'Do you think we should set the wolves free?' Simon asked.
'I don't think we should,' Jace said, 'We probably can't control them. Maybe Luke could, since he's a pack leader, but we aren't werewolves.'
Simon looked trough the other doors, and suddenly he saw a young man with runes. A shadowhunter. Collin. 'He's in here!' Simon shouted. Jace opened the door with an opening rune, and the boy stood up. It was Collin, indeed. He looked very healthy.
'Wow, you look good,' Clary said, 'I mean, for someone who has been in here, even if it's just for a short time.'
'They tried to torture me,' Collin said, 'They tried to make me give them information, about the Clave, their plans, and about Sawyer, where she went. Well, I guess she is here too, somewhere. But they couldn't hurt me. All the cuts healed immediately. They tried to hurt me with dark magic, but all their cursed rebounded, and they cursed themselves. They tried a lot of things, and nothing worked. One guy tried to stab me in the heart, he almost died himself. Sawyer did this, didn't she?'
Clary nodded. 'She panicked when you were gone, and tried a spell. She though it didn't work, but it did. They can't hurt you. Now let's get out of here. Can you stand?'
'As I said, nothing can hurt me. I am perfectly healthy. They even tried to cut of my marks, they thought maybe a mark was protecting me, but that didn't work either.'
They ran, Simon used the map to navigate them back to the gate, and when they got there, Simon saw a lot of animals. A few bats, a floating goat, a dog, a reindeer, and a few others. Alec and Isabelle came trough the gate just after they had. Alec was carrying a cat, Simon observed.
'What did you find?' Clary asked, 'Where's Magnus.'
'There were a lot of animals, the transformed animals Sawyer told us about,' Isabelle said, 'They changed Magnus too.'
Simon did the math, and realised the cat Alec was carrying had to be Magnus. Simon looked back at Emerald City, and saw Sawyer rising from the roof, trough an opening. She flew towards them.
'Collin!' she shouted, 'Thank Lilith you're alive.'
'No, thank you,' he said, 'You protected me, nothing can hurt me because of you. Now let's get out of here.'
Clary quickly began drawing a portal. 'You can make portals?' Sawyer asked.
Clary nodded. 'I can create new runes, and therefore I can create portals.'
'I had heard about your powers, yes,' Sawyer said, 'I think maybe your powers might be able to help me change the animals back. Where are we going?'
'The New York Institute,' Alec said, 'The sanctuary, so the vam- Simon can come with us.'
Simon was at least happy Alec corrected himself, but he still had the idea that Alec didn't like him much, hated him even. 'I'll go first,' Isabelle said, and she walked trough the portal. Alec followed her, and then he went. He ended in the sanctuary. Simon hated not being able to enter the Institute, because that was were they often made the plans. Sometimes they went to Magnus' place instead, so he could be there to, but not always.
'I think I'll go home then,' he said, 'My mom must have wondered where I have been.'
Sawyer and Collin were next, and then Jace, followed by all the animals, and Clary at last.
'I closed the portal,' she said, 'Just before I went trough.'
'Good,' Isabelle said, 'Now I'm going to go find mom, and explain this all. Collin has every permission to be here, because he's a shadowhunter, but we have to tell them about you, Sawyer.'
'Mom'll allow it,' Alec said quickly, 'You saved Collin, after all, a shadowhunter, but the Clave will want to know everything about this.'
Simon left after that, and went home.
Isabelle and Alec went to find their mother, in the Institute. Their father had never returned from Idris, but then their mother had always been more the head of the Conclave than heir father had. They found her in the library.
'Alexander, Isabelle,' she said, 'Are you alright? How did everything go? What cat is that, you're holding?'
Isabelle saw her brother flinch. He put the cat down, and the cat stayed close to Alec. Isabelle didn't know if Magnus was still himself, or that he had the mind of a cat now, but either way, Magnus still remembered that he loved Alec.
'Did Alec tell you about the Wizard transforming warlocks into animals, and werewolves into wolves who can't change back anymore?' Isabelle asked.
'Yes, I have,' she said, 'Though I find it hard to believe. Is this cat one of those animals?'
Alec nodded. 'It's Magnus. When we found Sawyer, she told us everything, and we all believed her and Collin, and Christabel, the faerie. Then we were attacked by the Wizard's Order, and we tried to flee with a flying carpet, but the carpet was set on fire, and Collin fell off. We landed, and tried to fight them. Sawyer used a spell to bann them, but they took Magnus and Collin with him. They did this to Magnus, but they couldn't hurt Collin. There are other animals, warlocks, and we set them free, they're still in the sanctuary, with Collin and Sawyer.'
'What?' his mother asked, 'How many of them?'
'Lots of them,' Isabelle said, 'But Sawyer is trying to reverse the spell.'
Isabelle really, really hoped Sawyer would succeed. 'I'll stand by you, of course,' their mother said, 'But we'll have to convince the Clave. There'll be a meeting, but the Inquisitor is here right now.'
'Who is it?' Alec asked, 'The new Inquisitor, I mean.'
'Your father,' their mother said.