Hello again! I know I promised this update for the weekend, but stuff happened and now thanks to the show mondays are sacred, so I decided to wait until today. Anyway, I don't have much to say about this chapter just that I hope you like it. I really don't want to spoil what's going to happen because I want to surprise y'all, there are still a few chapters left and anything can happen, so as people say, hope for everything but expect nothing **evil laughter**

I'm kidding, if you know me you know you can always hope for the best ;)

Anyway, don't forget to share your thoughts, favorite and/or follow the story!

Chapter 29

When the last group of agents left the conference room and closed the door behind them, Alec stood from his chair and sighed heavily, rubbing his temple with his thumbs to relieve the terrible headache that had been bothering him for days and that this last meeting had only intensified. The past 48 hours since Jace had been kidnapped had been the definition of hell on Earth and he was on the verge of losing his mind, wherever he turned around, everything was completely and utterly out of control.

With what had happened to Jace the office had practically become a war zone. People were paranoid, no one trusted anyone, and fear and frustration had become the only feelings that reigned in the building. Alec didn't blame anyone for feeling that way, what had happened in the last few months had caused something to break between them as a team, but he wished that even if it was only for five minutes, everything could be as it had been before. He knew that if he had any hope of solving this, he needed his team back. He had people working 24/7 and the Bureau had sent him agents from other offices so he could concentrate on solving this case, but even with all that extra help, he was still as close to solving this as he had been a week ago, or even a month ago.

As the captain of the division, Alec was supposed to be the person in charge of clearing up this mess, but with all that was happening inside and outside the office, the only thing that was clear to him at the moment was that he and the FBI had failed again. For months, they had been underestimating the people they were facing and now thanks to that, two of the people he loved the most in life were paying the consequences. So if there was someone to blame for this, that was him.

Magnus, Jace...all those innocent people who had died and who would probably keep dying until he could put an end to all this—he was responsible for all of them. He had let Valentine get away with this from the beginning, he had let him take everything away from him: his family, his boyfriend, his emotional stability, his tranquility, and even that sense of security he no longer felt when he went home.

Alec sighed, getting closer to all the evidence boards he had there and taking them down with desperation. Maybe it was a bit pointless to keep doing this every day, but he wanted to put them together again to see if by some miracle he could find something he hadn't seen before and with that, fix his mistakes. He owed that to Jace and Magnus, but more importantly he owed that to himself. Valentine and his people had ruined his life and Alec wasn't going to rest until they were either dead or behind bars. It was a promise he had made to himself when they had taken his boyfriend and that he had only rectified when they had also taken his brother.

"I swear!" He promised again, pinning Valentine's face at the top of the first board and rearranging all the evidence on the table.

He was certain there must be something there that he hadn't seen before, something he had failed to notice. There was so much information from new and old cases, and from the attacks against them that he had to put some order if he wanted to find something useful.

He started by putting all the facts first, what he knew and that was in the official records, the people involved in the case regardless of their legal status, the evidence they had found so far, and the true identities of all the criminals—Jonathan's included. He added all the information about his own kidnapping and what they had found in Jace's apartment after they had taken him. He organized the motives, the theories that the Bureau had, and collected all the evidence they had to support everything.

Slowly, he began to put everything back on the boards, creating a more organized composition of everything that had happened since Valentine had faked his own death. He took Asmodeus's picture and put it next to Valentine's. It was clear that these two criminals weren't on the same level, but both were key pieces in this puzzle. Whatever they had planned together was the reason why today Magnus and Jace weren't home with him.

Alec grabbed his boyfriend's picture from the table and despite knowing that he had nothing to do with any of this, placed it just below Asmodeus's. He hated to put him there as if he were one of the criminals responsible for this, but he had no choice but to do so. The Bureau had already confirmed that Asmodeus was Magnus's biological father, so ignoring their blood connection only exposed him. Besides, it was the only way Alec had to protect him and make sure that when the time came, his name stayed out of this.

"I'm sorry." He said, tracing with his finger Magnus's features and quickly pinning the rest of the pictures and evidence he still had on the table to finish the boards.

When he was done, he pulled a red marker out of his pocket and carefully began to draw a line though everything he had collected, trying to connect what had happened in the last year or so to the man who had started it all more than two decades ago: Valentine Morgenstern. It was surprising how easily one thing, if analyzed in depth, was connected to the other, and soon every last detail he had found during all these months of investigation was linked to the man behind the curtains—to the mastermind behind everything.

Alec grabbed a blue marker and started to make some annotations here and there, adding information he considered relevant and notes that could help him and other agents understand certain things in more detail. When he got to the part where Magnus's involvement in the case was detailed, he quickly scribbled a small note just below his picture.

"Forced into this as an exchange for Agent A. Lightwood's life and not due to his blood connection with Asmodeus Brown."

It sounded weird to word it that way, but it wasn't like he had any other choice. He couldn't put, 'forced into this to save the man he loved because his criminal father had threatened to kill him as he had done with one of his ex-lovers.' The fact that Alec had testified in favor of Magnus after Asmodeus had kidnapped him had caused enough commotion among some of the top agents on the review board, he certainly didn't need to make more evident his real and biased opinion about the criminal.

"If they don't know it already." Alec said, chuckling and just adding a note under Jace's picture as well to state his romantic relationship with Valentine's daughter as the main reason for his abduction. Then, to finish up, Alec added the date on which both Magnus and Jace had been kidnapped—6 and 2 days respectively—and then listed all the details he knew about both their whereabouts.

He wanted to have everything in sight so that he could analyze it in more detail. Magnus always said that the details were the ones that made the big picture and if there was something that Alec had learned from all the months that he had been with him was that his boyfriend was always right.

Alec walked to the table and leaned against it to examine his work. It looked fine, but there were a few things he still needed to add, so he took some post-its from a drawer and started to scribble some additional notes, walking back and forth between the table and the boards to stick them.

"You should rest that leg...and that arm, for that matter." Lydia told him, entering the conference room.

"I'm fine." Alec said because it was the truth, they still hurt, but he was getting better. He was supposed to keep using the annoying sling to keep his arm still and walk with the cane so that his leg could heal faster, but both were stacked on the desk in his office just gathering dust.

"I had heard rumors that the Lightwoods' middle name was stubborn, but having a confirmation is always pleasant." Lydia said, walking toward him to get closer to the boards. "Rearranging all the evidence again?" She asked not so surprised. Alec had been doing that ever since he had returned from the hospital after the incident with Asmodeus.

Alec nodded. "I'm sure I missed something, I wanted to put this differently, connect everything to Valentine, I still need to add some more notes," he said, pointing to the post-its in his hand, "but yeah…"

"You did connect everything." She said approvingly, examining the boards.

"Well, it wasn't that hard, actually, it's common knowledge that this man's been pulling the strings since day one, I just had to find how he had been doing it."

"True," she said, "but even so, your performance is impressive, Alec, I'm glad that the review board has decided to give you the position you deserved."

"Thank you." Alec said, not really knowing what else to say.

Lydia just smiled at him and kept analyzing the boards, reading and trying to understand all the information Alec had collected. "Can I ask you something?" She said after a while.

"Of course."

"What's the nature of your relationship with Magnus?" She asked. She was looking at Magnus's picture and the notes Alec had added below it.

"Excuse me?" Alec asked, suddenly feeling very, very exposed.

"He saved you, right?" Lydia continued.

"Yes, and?"

"I've been thinking about it and...why did he do it?"

"I already recounted what happened in my statement. Asmodeus was going to kill me, so he agreed to work for him to prevent that from happening."

"Yes, I know, but for you?"

"Well, yeah, he's not a murderer, he saw that they were going to kill an innocent man and he acted. He's a criminal, but not all criminals are bad people, you know that."

"Yes, but risking his own life just for you seems like a bit too much if you ask me, even for a noble criminal like him." Lydia said. "I mean, the Bureau knew he liked you, he'd sent you all those flirty postcards for years, but this is different, Alec. I think he...I think...listen, if there's something I've learned from all the years I've been working as a federal agent is that people don't risk their lives for just anyone. You know what happened to my ex-fiance, I told you my story the other day, he died saving my life, but he was my boyfriend, we were going to get married...you two are complete strangers, what he did for you makes no sense at all. Tell me, would you have done the same for him?"

Alec turned around to avoid showing any emotion when he answered her question, Lydia was dangerously close to the truth and he had to be very, very careful around her. "I don't know, probably." He lied, though he knew he would have done exactly the same thing and without thinking twice.

"Would you have risked your life for a criminal?" She asked.

"Hmmm, maybe…I-I...I don't know. Maybe not for any criminal, but Mag-Magnus is different." He answered, immediately regretting what he had said.

He could feel Lydia's eyes scanning him, so he tried to relax and think of what else to say to keep her from thinking that he and Magnus had something that went beyond a federal agent/criminal relationship, but before he could come up with something, she chuckled and just kept talking.

"You're definitely one of a kind, Alec Lightwood." She said. "But anyway, I didn't come here to talk about what you would do or not for someone if you were in some particular situation, I'm here because I was reading the report of what was found in Jace's apartment and I would like to ask your permission to take a new team and try to find more evidence. What the original team found doesn't seem enough, I know we're dealing with professionals, that much they've proven, but-"

"You have my permission." Alec immediately said, interrupting her. "I was actually going to suggest that to my sister, but I think it's better if someone with no personal ties to this situation takes care of that."

"Thank you." She said. "I'll make sure to take someone from your team, just in case, is Raj okay?"

"Yeah, he's okay." Alec said. "I'll ask him to give me a report later."

"Okay." She said. "Well, I better go then...I want to have the report today, we're against the clock and every minute that passes is a minute we can't afford to lose."

"Okay, yeah…"

Alec noticed how Lydia instead of leaving, approached the table, grabbed one of the post-its there and wrote something in it, walking over to Alec and looking him in the eye. Alec felt completely vulnerable at the moment, as if she could read him, and that feeling was unsettling.

"I don't know you for long," she started to say, "but I know that you're an honorable man and that you would turn this city upside down for the people you love, so don't worry, I know it sounds impossible at the moment and that you're desperate, but we're going to find them." She said, sticking the post-it she had just written with the word 'innocent' on Magnus's picture and walking away.

Alec stopped breathing, not only because of the word written in that note, but because she had said 'to find them'—in plural. Did that mean she knew?

"Well, dammit!" He cursed.

o-o-o-o-o

It had been two days since Valentine had brought Jace back to the cage completely unconscious and bleeding from almost every part of his body. The criminal and his men had decided to beat the crap out of the agent in an attempt to force him to tell them where Clary and her family were. Given the intense beating and the lack of new cellmates, Magnus supposed that the brutal interrogation technique hadn't worked and that Jace had refused to say anything, but he wasn't sure. Alec's brother had been mostly unconscious, he had only been waking up in bits and pieces, but he hadn't been able to say anything. Magnus suspected Valentine had drugged him at some point, but he had no way to be sure either. He had asked when he'd had the chance, of course, but all he had gotten in response had been a big and resounding, 'why do you care?'

Not knowing what else to do, Magnus had been taking care of the agent, trying to heal him with what little he had, making sure to sneak towels when they allowed him to go to the bathroom to use them as some sort of bandage and using the water they gave him to clean his wounds and make sure they didn't get infected. Jace didn't look okay and Magnus was really worried about his lack of response, he didn't know how serious the damage from the beating had been. He wasn't even sure what they had used to hit him, but the cuts and bruises he had all over his body, including his head, were quite large.

Magnus passed his hands through the bars between their cages and gently touched Jace's forehead. The poor man was burning with fever, so he grabbed the small bottle of water he still had and poured its content on a towel, placing it on the agent's forehead.

"That's cold." Jace murmured in a low voice.

"You're awake!" Magnus couldn't help but exclaimed with relief. It was the first time the agent uttered a word since he had returned and Magnus would be lying if he said he wasn't happy to hear his voice. "And I'm sorry about the cold water, but you have a fever, so don't take it off." He said. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine." Jace said.

"Yeah...right."

"Really, it's...it's not as bad as it looks." The agent said, but his physical appearance said otherwise. "I must have some broken ribs and cuts here and there, but I'm not dying."

Magnus chuckled. He knew enough Lightwoods to know they were tough and would never admit being anything but okay, even when it was clearly not the case. "Really, Jace, how are you feeling? I need to know how you are...for real."

"Well, in that case...as if the subway had run over me." Jace admitted with a sigh.

"Does your head hurt much?" Magnus asked. He wasn't a doctor, but that was the wound that worried him the most. He knew that any head injury had to be taken seriously.

"A little."

"Here," Magnus said, handing him another damp towel through the bars, "press it against the wound. It's not much, but it will help."

"Thank you." Jace said, grabbing the towel with some difficulty. "I...I know you've been taking care of me, I don't remember much of what happened after I was beaten, but I do remember your voice, so thank you."

Magnus just smiled. He really didn't know what to say, it was hard for him to admit that Jace had grown on him in the weeks they had spent together. The agent would never be his favorite person in the world, but that was because only one person could claim that title and it belonged to Alec already, but he liked him. He was a good man and a really great brother.

"How long have I…?"

"Been unconscious?" Magnus completed Jace's question. "Almost two days."

"What's happened in that time?"

"Nothing new," he informed him, "Valentine's had me training non-stop to break into the vault and the plan to get into the Library of Congress is ready, in fact, we're going in tonight."

"So soon?"

"Yeah, by the way, the other day, before Valentine came for you," Magnus said a little nervous; he had been thinking about that unfinished talk for days, "you told me that I couldn't go through with the heist to the library, why? I mean, you know what I am and why I'm here and-"

"It's not because of that," Jace said, turning slightly so he could look into Magnus's eyes, "after that day at Alec's place, when we met you, I-I...well, I talked to a lawyer."

Magnus frowned a little confused, he wasn't really following Jace.

"I know my brother like the back of my hand," Jace continued, "that day at his apartment and after watching you both interact, I knew that what you had was serious. I'd never seen my brother so happy and connected with someone before, Magnus. Alec's always been very reserved when it comes to his personal life and watching him being so open and free made me really happy, but also broke my heart. I know what you are, I know what he is, and I'm aware that the chances that he, that you two lose what you have are high—and I don't want that." Jace confessed. "Alec besides being my brother is my best friend and I want him to always be happy, so after that day I...I kind of...I-well, I tried to seek for advice—professional advice."

Magnus's heart started to race, did that mean what he thought it meant?

"I consulted a friend who's a lawyer," Jace said, "I gave him an hypothetical case to see if something could be done legally to help you both stay together despite everything, and, well…" the agent made a pause, taking his time to continue, "your situation is complicated, I'm sure you and Alec are aware of that, you have a long list of crimes to pay for, but if they...I mean, if we caught you, let's say now, all charges against you could be dropped."

"What!?"

"Valentine, by using your same MO gave you plausible deniability for all the other crimes you've committed regardless of whether you're really responsible for them or not."

Those news shook Magnus. "You-you mean that I could be free?"

Jace nodded slightly. "Thanks to what Hodge did and those pictures your father gave Alec when he released him, we have evidence to prove that Valentine was behind the latest crimes committed using your name. So yes, with a good lawyer and Alec's own statement, you could claim that it was Valentine all along and that your presence and/or connection to old crimes tied to your name was a mere coincidence."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes, and that's why under no circumstances you can break into the library, much less use that opportunity to send Alec a message—we have to find another way. If you want to be with him, you can't link yourself to any of the crimes committed by Valentine and his people."

"But-but I have no choice, I'm going in, there's nothing I can do to stop it."

"Alec already testified in your favor after what happened with Asmodeus, the Bureau is aware that you're under Valentine's control now, but the Library of Congress is federal property, you can't be seen there or leave any trace of your presence there. Your scores have always been clean, we've connected your name to them only circumstantially, but there's no actual proof that you were behind them. Yes, we've recovered some of your works and we've been studying you, hence why we named you as the alleged perpetrator of all those crimes, but even our system has flaws and your lawyer could take advantage of that and set you free...for good."

Magnus pondered what he knew for a few minutes, there were a lot of things at stake and he didn't know what to do. What Jace had just told him was great for them, as impossible as it seemed, it turned out that he and Alec had a chance to be together despite everything. He, in spite of what he'd done, had the opportunity to be with the man he loved without having to hide or ask him to run away with him, but unfortunately, nothing was ever that easy between them.

Yes, this was a unique opportunity for them to be together, but given their current situation, Magnus couldn't just forget what would happen if they didn't stop Valentine. Their love was important, but so was the life of all those people who would die because of this—he couldn't be that selfish and condemn them all. The opportunity he had to send Alec a message and prevent a massacre from happening was unique and couldn't be wasted. Everything was about to go to hell and he was the only person who could do something to stop it. "If I made it out alive after the Federal Reserve score, how many years would I be in jail if I left evidence of my presence in the library?" He asked.

"Hmmm I'm not sure, if, let's say, you didn't take anything? I guess four or five years, maybe less with good behavior, but it's still time in jail, Magnus, you could spend no time at all. You two deserve a chance to be together, I know that my brother would give up everything just to be with you, so think about that before you make a decision."

"I'm thinking about that, believe me, and it's precisely because of that that I can't waste this opportunity to help Alec find us, Jace. You're not okay, there's not a mirror in this room, but you look like crap; despite my best efforts some of your wounds got infected and that's why you have a fever, if he doesn't find us soon I'm not sure that you will make it. They left you alive the first time, but you won't have the same luck if Valentine decides to question you again. Also, think of all the people who are going to die thanks to this lunatic's plans. Five years in jail are nothing compared to the lives we can save if we do something, and even if I had to serve a full sentence, it would be worth it if that meant stopping Valentine and all those helping him. They've killed a lot of innocent people, they've ruined many lives—ours included—they deserve to pay."

Jace looked at him and smiled slightly. "I can see why Alec fell for someone like you," the agent admitted, "you're a good man, Magnus."

Magnus chuckled. "No, I'm not, but thanks, I guess."

"Are you once hundred perfect sure you want to go through with this?"

Magnus nodded. He had to do it. He appreciated the opportunity Jace had given him—them—by asking that lawyer about Magnus's legal status, but this was bigger than him, bigger than what he and Alec could have. Maybe Magnus before being with Alec would have done something different, but this Magnus, the Magnus who had fallen madly in love with that stubborn, smart and sweet federal agent knew that sometimes in order to win you had to lose. "I'm going to leave him a message, he has to find us." He said with determination.

"He will." Jace said, exhaling wearily. The conversation had exhausted him. "He's stubborn when it's the people he loves the ones at risk."

"I know."

"And...how are you going to do it?"

Magnus smiled knowingly and picked up one of the books Valentine had left in his cage. He had been rereading that one since he had found it in the pile—a collection of Shakespeare's tragedies. "It's a Library, isn't it? I'm going to send him a message through the books."

o-o-o-o-o

Alec and Izzy arrived at the Library of Congress a little bit past noon. This morning, before Alec had even arrived to the office, he had received a call from the Washington D.C. office to notify him that he was required in the capital city to take over an investigation. There had been an attack on the Jefferson Building—one of the three buildings that made up the Library of Congress—and the agents who were already investigating the crime scene had evidence enough to indicate that this was Magnus's work and therefore Alec, as the man in charge of the investigation conducted against him, was required at the scene immediately.

Izzy parked the car in front of the building and Alec immediately emerged from it, walking as fast as he could past the police line and up the stairs to get to the main entrance of the building. He was in a hurry to see what had happened there. He was almost certain that this wasn't Magnus's doing, but Jonathan's, but he still needed to see what they could find. He and his sister had concluded on their way there that finding Magnus's impostor was another way to find the real one.

"Alec, wait!" His sister shouted from the car, but Alec ignored her and just kept walking.

There were a lot of people outside the building, it was a mix between Washington police cops and federal agents, and he didn't know with whom he was supposed to meet. The agent who had called him in the morning had told him that he would be waiting for him at the entrance of the building until he arrived.

"Alec, I told you to wait for me." Izzy complained. "Also, you forgot this in the car." She added, handing Alec the annoying cane. "You're not supposed to walk without it."

"I'm fine, Izzy, I don't need it anymore." Alec said, placing it on the balustrade of the stairs so that it wouldn't interfere with the evidence in the building. "I need to find the captain of the Washington Division and-"

"Agent Alec Lightwood?" A man said, walking toward him.

"Yes?"

"My name is Victor Aldertree, we spoke on the phone this morning, I'm the captain of the Washington Division."

"Oh, nice to meet you, I was looking for you, actually." Alec said, quickly greeting the agent. "I'm Alec and this is my sister, Special Agent Isabelle Lightwood."

"Nice to meet you both." Agent Aldertree said. "I see you're still recovering from your injuries, we heard what happened when you were kidnapped last week."

"Yes, but I'm better now."

"Are you sure you don't need that?" The agent asked, pointing to the discarded cane. "We don't mind you using it, my agents have already cataloged all the evidence."

"No, I'm fine, I'll just leave it here."

"As you wish, now, if you please, come with me." Agent Aldertree added, opening the front door of the library and ushering them inside. "As you can see, we have taken care of almost everything, my team has full reports of the evidence found in the building and we're willing to cooperate in everything we can. Will your team arrive soon?" He asked.

"Yes, they will be here in an hour." Alec informed him. "My sister and I decided to arrive early to start analyzing what you've found."

"Good," Aldertree said, "then follow me, I will personally inform you what we have found and the conclusions we have reached." He added, leading them through the great hall of the building and into the main reading room.

As they were crossing the impressive hall, Alec noticed that upstairs, in the mezzanine, a group of agents were examining something that was apparently on the North wall. He couldn't see what it was that had them all so intrigued, but he didn't have time to ask either because in that moment Agent Aldertree handed them a copy of the reports they had done and started explaining them what was in them.

"As you can see, Bane left some clues here and there of his presence in the building." Aldertree informed them. "We found glitter in two different places, but we're inclined to believe that the crime only took place in the main reading room."

"What did he take?" Alec asked. "You said you would fill me in as soon as I was here."

"Well, in theory...nothing." Aldertree said simply.

"You're joking, right?" Izzy said.

"No, as far as the investigation goes, he didn't take anything. We have no idea what he was doing here, but he disabled the security system and left traces of glitter in two different rooms, so we know he was here. We're still trying to figure out if he really didn't take anything, we've counted the art pieces and collectible books, but everything seems to be in order."

Alec frowned, this literally made no sense. Jonathan had been using Magnus's name to commit big robberies, if he had broken into the library, Alec was almost certain that he had taken something with him—that man wouldn't have risked getting in here just for nothing.

"How long was he here?" Alec asked.

"An hour...maybe two. The security system has a flaw, it sends a signal when it's interrupted, but it takes some time to reach the control panel. This is a library, thousands of people visit it every day, the system gets triggered a lot, so-"

"They don't take it seriously." Alec guessed.

"You can't blame them."

Alec just rolled his eyes. Since he had met Magnus he had realized how incompetent the security systems across the country could be. No one took security seriously and that was why there were so many criminals walking freely around the streets.

"Here." Aldertree said, pointing to the floor where a clear trail of red glitter had been left. The trail looked exactly like the ones Jonathan had been leaving behind when committing crimes. It didn't follow any pattern, it didn't seem to be part of the person committing the crime, it had just been thrown there very last minute.

"How many dead guards were this time?" Alec asked all knowingly. Sebastian's signature, besides the last-minute glitter, were the killings.

"None."

"Excuse me?"

"They were only drugged, but there were no casualties. All the guards are already recovering in the hospital."

Alec looked at his sister and they both shared a puzzled expression. The fact that Jonathan had left the guards alive made even less sense. This criminal hadn't been touching his heart when it came to killing innocent people, so why had he left them alive this time?

"Do any of the guards seem to remember what happened?" Izzy asked.

"No, although they all seem to have fainted at the same time so we're assuming Bane wasn't alone and someone helped him drug them."

Alec frowned. So far, Jonathan had been acting alone, he had been achieving the impossible on his own, so why had this time been any different? Why had he decided to ask for help now? Of all his scores, this one seemed like the easiest one. It was still quite a feat to break into a building like this, but he had already proven how skillful he could be. He certainly didn't need anyone's help, much less for something like this, unless-

"Unless…" He whispered to himself, looking around the room. The place was intact, there was nothing but the glitter to indicate that a crime had really taken place there, and suddenly a sense of deja vu sent a shiver all over Alec's body.

He remembered all those years when he entered a crime scene and had to ask if he was in the right place, since there was nothing around him but the idiotic glitter to indicate that a crime had been committed. The library resembled those places. The guards had been drugged rather than just evaded, yes, but there was nothing more than the glitter to indicate that something had happened here.

"Magnus was here." He said.

"Well, I think that much is evident, agent." Aldertree said, but Alec ignored him.

"He was really here." Alec told his sister, approaching her to discuss what he had discovered more privately.

"Are you sure?" Izzy asked in a whisper. They both were aware of Aldertree, who was watching them from afar.

Alec nodded. He didn't know why he was so sure, but even though the glitter didn't match Magnus's and that the way this person had gotten rid of the guards wasn't the usual way his boyfriend worked, it was as if he could feel his presence there.

"I'm guessing the security tapes were wiped?" Alec asked out loud so that Aldertree could hear the question.

"All of them, even the ones from-"

"Last week." Alec interrupted him, trying not to smile. Magnus always did that, he made sure to erase any traces of his presence in the places he chose to commit his crimes and the fact that he had done the same this time when it was clear he hadn't been here last week, only helped Alec to confirm what he already suspected: Jonathan hadn't broken into the building alone, Magnus, the real Magnus, had been with him.

"As you can see, everything fits Bane's MO." Aldertree said. "Although we found something the criminal had never left before."

Alec and Izzy frowned.

"What?" Izzy asked.

"Fingerprints."

"Impossible." Alec said. Magnus would never do that, he was extremely careful with that.

"This is a library," Izzy intervened, "there must be thousands of fingerprints everywhere."

"True, but he left some glitter there too, as if to point out that they were there." Aldertree said.

"Where?" Alec asked intrigued.

Alec and Izzy followed Agent Aldertree to the great hall and then to the second floor where not so long ago Alec had seen the group of agents analyzing something. Now he knew what they had been looking at, it was a mosaic—the mosaic of the Minerva of Peace. One of the many pieces of art that could be found in the building.

"Clear the way for Agent Lightwood." Aldertree told the other agents, who immediately moved and let him get a closer look at the mosaic. Alec didn't know much about religion in Ancient Rome, but he knew that Minerva had been considered the Roman goddess of wisdom and strategic warfare, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. Magnus hadn't chosen this piece of art at random, Alec knew it.

"Do you want me to take samples of the fingerprints while our team arrives?" Izzy asked. "I brought a kit with us, I have it in my car and-"

"No." Alec said. "Look at the fingerprints, Iz." He encouraged his sister. "What do you see?" He asked. He had already noticed something, but he wanted to make sure he wasn't imagining things. He wanted to find Magnus so badly that sometimes he feared that his mind was playing tricks with him.

Izzy observed. "They all were made with a single finger." She said, gasping in surprise. "The index."

"Exactly, he did this deliberately." Alec told his sister. "Magnus left this for me to find." He said, feeling how every fiber of his being suddenly came to life.

"Do you think it's some sort of message?" Izzy asked.

Alec nodded, trying to find it. If he was honest he had no clue what he was looking for, but he trusted Magnus and he trusted himself to be able to find whatever his boyfriend wanted him to find.

"It seems that there's no connection between the fingerprints and the mosaic." Alec said after a while.

"Then why leave them here and not on that mural?" Izzy questioned, pointing to a mural framing the opposite wall.

"Minerva was the Roman goddess of wisdom and strategic warfare, Magnus has a plan."

"Oh."

"We just need to figure it out."

"So you think this could be a code? Morse, perhaps?" Izzy asked.

Alec shook his head. "Morse consists of dots and dashes. He only left dots...it's Braille." He said. "You don't happen to know how to read it, do you?" He asked his sister. She was a very bright woman, so he didn't doubt that she could know how to do it.

"No, besides, you read it with the fingers, not with the eyes. We need someone who knows the symbols so they can give us a translation."

Alec walked over to the balustrade of the mezzanine and raising his voice, asked out loud if anyone knew how to interpret Braille. A woman from the library staff raised her hand timidly, Alec immediately asked an agent to escort her upstairs.

"Do you know how to interpret Braille?" Alec asked.

The employee nodded.

"Okay, look at that set of fingerprints, do you know what it says?"

The woman approached the mosaic and after looking closely at the fingerprints, looked at Alec and said, "it says books."

"Books?"

"Yes, Braille characters are rectangular blocks called cells that contain tiny bumps called raised dots. The number and arrangement of these dots distinguish one character from another. This is a set of five cells. The first one contains two dots that could be the letter b or the number two, but the other cells only correspond to letters and are, 'o,' 'o,' 'k,' 's,' so yeah, I'm pretty sure it says books."

Alec sighed, rolling his eyes. Couldn't Magnus have been a bit more specific? This was a library for God's sake, there were books everywhere.

"Agent Aldertree," Alec said, "are there any books out of place?" He asked, approaching him. He and his sister were discussing what Alec supposed were some things related to the case.

"Well, we found some in the Rosenwald Room, but since there was no glitter there we assumed they had been there since yesterday. This is a library, agent, there are books everywhere, the chances that-" Aldertree was saying, but Alec didn't finish listening because he was already on his way to the room. He had seen the floor plans on his way there, so he knew that the room was on the same floor.

"Alec, wait for me!" Izzy said, catching up with him. She had been smart enough to bring the library employee, but leave Aldertree behind.

"Aldertree isn't taking this seriously," Alec said, "this is a library, yes, but at night all the books are returned to their place, that's how this works, isn't it?" He directed the last question to the employee.

"That's exactly how it works." The employee agreed.

They entered the room and Alec immediately saw the table with books that Aldertree had mentioned. Most of them were open and stacked one on top of the other, at first glance they didn't seem to have been left there on purpose, but when Alec came closer and could read the titles, his heart raced and he lost his breath—all these books were strangely familiar to him.

"Shakespeare…" He whispered.

Izzy got closer to the books as if to take one to examine it.

"Don't touch them!" Alec exclaimed, stopping her immediately.

"He could have left something inside or-"

"This is why his message said books." Alec said, pointing to the books. "He knows I love Shakespeare, he left these for me, just let me think, okay?" He said.

Alec took a closer look at the books. They weren't open at random, the position, the page, everything had been carefully planned, he knew it. That was how his boyfriend worked, he left nothing to chance, everything he did had a purpose. So Alec analyzed the titles and the pages, trying to find a pattern, something that could help him read the message.

"Alec…"

"Iz, please, just let me-"

"Aldertree's men are here." She informed him. He hadn't noticed, but Aldertree and his men had entered the room and were heading toward them.

"Distract them, I need to think."

Izzy nodded and left. Alec stayed there alone with the library employee, who was trying to mind her own business, but failing miserably. It was clear she was as intrigued by what was happening as Alec.

"Did you check the computer?" He asked out loud, looking at her. "Do you know if the criminal searched for these books?"

"I...we haven't been allowed to touch anything." The employee said.

"Is there a computer nearby?"

The employee nodded, pointing to the far end of the room where there was a desk with a computer.

"Could you check if anyone during the time the system was down searched for these books?" Alec asked. "You have my clearance to use that computer."

"Not so fast." Aldertree said, stopping her by the arm. Apparently Izzy hadn't been able to distract him much. "What do you think you're doing, Agent Lightwood?"

"Asking this staff member to help me check something on the computer for the investigation." Alec said.

"And with whose authority?"

"Mine." Alec said. "I don't think I have to remind you who's in charge of this investigation, or do I? I appreciate everything that you and your team have done so far, but this case and therefore, this investigation are mine. The Bureau appointed me in charge of this case, you called me personally this morning, so I'm very sorry if this bothers you, but I'm the one calling the shots now."

"You can't cast us out just like that."

"And I'm not doing it, if I wanted to cast you out, you and your team would have been asked to leave the premises the moment I set foot here, I'm simply stating my position as the person in charge of the investigation. Now, if you please, I have a case to solve." Alec said, ignoring Aldertree's pissed off face and walking with the employee to the computer.

"You can see the time they used the system regardless of the computer they used, right?" Alec asked.

"Yes, all the activity stays on the main server, I just need to log in and...voila." The woman said, smiling. "Here it is, someone looked for two authors at around 4:37 in the morning."

"Two authors? All those books are only Shakespeare." Alec pointed out.

"Well, one of them was Shakespeare." The employee confirmed.

"Who's the other one?"

"Davis Grubb."

"I don't know who he is." Alec murmured more to himself. He had been expecting to hear the name of another known author, or at least of someone who would give Alec some clue as to what he was supposed to do with the books.

"We have several books by that author." The employee informed him.

"Could you bring them to me?" Alec asked.

"Yes, although they are in the other room and we aren't allowed to go in there either."

"Don't worry." Alec said, immediately calling his sister. "Izzy! Could you go with, what's your name?"

"Maia."

"Could you go with Maia to bring some books from the other room? She can't go alone, but I don't want to leave the evidence here, I don't want anyone to touch it until I've figured out what Magnus left for me."

"Sure." Izzy said, immediately walking away with Maia and disappearing from view.

Alec walked back to the books Magnus had left and started to examine them. His boyfriend had picked his favorite tragedies—Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello, Troilus and Cressida, Romeo and Juliet—which meant that this was a message for him and him alone.

"Do you want someone to run a fingerprint test on those books while your team arrives?" Aldertree asked. It was clear that Alec wasn't going to get rid of him that easily.

"Not yet." Alec said, not even bothering to look at him, his eyes were fixed on the books. "I have a strong feeling that this is a message, I just need to figure it out."

"A message? He didn't leave any glitter and I sincerely doubt he was even here, as far as the investigation goes, all the activity took place in the main reading room and the mezzanine—he didn't have much time to sit and read classic literature."

"Well, that's what you think."

"No, that's what I know."

"No offense to you, Agent, but you don't seem to know much."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing," Alec said, "just that you don't know Mag-Mr. Bane as much as I do."

"How much can you really know him?" Aldertree inquired. "He's just the criminal you've been trying to catch, but you have no way of really knowing him."

Alec ignored him, deciding that he wasn't going to waste his precious time arguing with this man. Alec knew perfectly well what he was talking about and he wasn't going to let any pompous agent question him. Fortunately, before Aldertree kept talking nonsense or trying to antagonize him, Izzy and Maia returned—they were carrying at least ten books each.

"I know you said that the library had some books by this author, but I didn't think there were so many." Alec remarked.

"They only have five books by the author," Izzy said, "but I told her to bring all the copies they have, just in case."

"Good thinking, Iz." Alec said, helping them to place the books on another of the desks so they could analyze them.

There were copies of all of them, so no book stood out from the other, the titles didn't tell Alec much, but neither did the author, so he didn't worry too much about it. He knew that the answer he was looking for was hidden somewhere in there, he just had to find it.

"Should we check for fingerprints?" Izzy asked.

"I'm sure there are too many, the results won't help us." Alec said. "Just let me think for a second."

Alec got closer to the books and turned them over, analyzing them from every corner. He wished Magnus had left a more obvious clue, one he could guess just by seeing it, like Shakespeare, but he had to trust that his boyfriend knew what he was doing. If Magnus had left him this, he must have had a reason.

"Maybe we should flip through the pages, perhaps he left something inside." Izzy suggested.

"Good idea." Alec said, picking up the first book he found and flipping through its pages—but there was nothing there. He saw his sister doing the same with the others, but book after book, they found nothing.

"Why didn't he leave a clearer message?" Alec asked, sighing loudly and slamming the last book he'd grabbed. "How am I supposed to figure this out if I don't even know what I'm looking for? It's like-wait!" He exclaimed loudly. Izzy had just closed the book she'd been examining, but apparently she hadn't noticed what Alec had noticed from afar—what appeared to be the corner of a page folded back as a marker.

"What?"

"Give me that book!" He said, immediately snatching it from his sister's hands.

His first instinct was to open it to confirm what he had seen, but once his eyes landed on the title, he had to stop himself. The book was called 'The Night of the Hunter,' and although the first time he had seen the title he hadn't found it relevant, now he was certain that it wasn't a coincidence; so before opening it, he turned it around to read what was on the back cover. According to the brief summary printed there, it was the story of Harry Powell, some murderous ex-convict who disguises himself as a prison chaplain upon his release from prison and cons his now-dead cellmate's widow into marrying him in hopes that her children will tell him where their father hid the money from his last robbery. The plot wasn't exactly what was happening in real life with Valentine, Jonathan and even Asmodeus, but the parallels between them were enough for Alec to be sure that inside this book was the second clue Magnus had left for him.

"Thank you, Magnus!" Alec exclaimed, already smiling.

"Why are you thanking him? There's nothing in there," Izzy said, "I already checked it."

"He marked a page." Alec pointed out, opening the book on the page he had seen before.

"How are you so sure it was him? A lot of people do that when they don't have something to mark their books, it's not a sign, Alec, it's-"

"It is." Alec said. "Magnus didn't look for this author just because he was bored, Izzy, he wanted me to look for it too. Look at the title and the summary, he knew what he was doing! He knows a lot about books, he reads all the time, I'm sure he read this book at some point and something about it made him leave it for me."

"So, are you supposed to read it too?"

"No."

"Then, what are you supposed to find in there?" She asked skeptically.

"I'm not sure...yet" Alec said, quickly scanning the page with his eyes. There was literally nothing there, no paragraph was highlighted, there was no dialogue or quotation that stood out from the text, it was just a set of a lot of words with no obvious value. But Alec knew his boyfriend, so he didn't give up and decided to read the whole page instead.

Alec read paragraph after paragraph, trying to find the key that would lead him to understand what Magnus had left, but apparently there was nothing there—no key, no nada. He was about to lose all hope when his eyes fell on a phrase that said, "for these were numbers that weren't really numbers at all but letters like in words."

"But of course!" He exclaimed, approaching the set of books that Magnus had left on the desk. His boyfriend had placed them like this, stacked one over the other, so that the numbers on the pages and inside the text were very visible, and if Alec had understood what Magnus had tried to say through the books, he was supposed to see these numbers not as numbers but as letters. "I need paper and a pen!"

"Alec, what the-"

"I need paper and a pen."

Izzy handed him a notebook and a pen, Alec grabbed them and immediately started to write the alphabet, assigning each letter a number. It was a very simple and common code, certainly not quite his boyfriend's style, but he figured that Magus hadn't had time for something more complex.

There were eight numbers between pages, acts, scenes, etc—18, 5, 14, 23, 9, 3, 11 and 19. Alec looked at the letters under each number and a word started to take shape: Renwicks. He didn't know what that was, so he pulled his phone out of his pocket and looked for it. The first result was an old abandoned smallpox hospital on Roosevelt island.

"Alec…?"

Alec looked at his sister who was watching him expectantly. "I...I know where Magnus and probably Jace are." He said, because that place had to be where Magnus and with some luck Jace were. He was sure of it.

3...