I return! Let's get to it!
Chapter 11
Clary, Simon and Jonathan sat in the van. Clary in the passenger seat, Jonathan next to his sister into the driver's seat and Simon in the back, his leg up on the seat. The phone, or Simon's phone, was hooked up with wires to the horn of the vehicle.
"Ready Simon?" Jonathan asked, hand on the horn.
Simon nodded, phone in hand. "I'm good. when you're ready." Simon figures out how to send a message detailing where they were in about 8 key strikes.
Jonathan pressed down on the horn, hard. Simon quickly typed the message and pressed send. Seconds after, the phone sparked and blacked out. A small cloud of smoke looming over the device.
"Did it go?" Clary asked.
Simon just stared at the phone. "I-I think it went."
They could only hope.
…
"How did Armel get your phone number?" Isabelle asked. They were now sitting back at the lab in her office.
Jace shook his head. "He's playing with us." he said. "He wants Clary's dad. Not us. Clary told me everything." He ran a hand through his hair.
"The phone isn't his." Alec said, looking up from his own. "It belongs to Daniel Young."
There was a long silence until Isabelle spoke up. "That's Penryns father's phone…" she trailed off. "Which means-"
"Which means Armel killed him." Jace confirmed, cutting her off.
Jace's phone buzzed in his hand. On the screen, a bar appeared reading 'One New Message'.He let out a deep breath. He had a sickening feeling it was Armel reminding them that Clary, Simon and Jonathan's lives were on the line. Everyone looked to him as he checked the message. His eyes widened and everyone was on edge.
"Who's it from?" Maia asked, breaking the tense silence around them.
Jace looked up, his expression unreadable. "It's from Simon."
Isabelle gasped, bringing her hands to her mouth in shock and joy. He's alright. He's okay. She had the largest dread that he was gone forever, but she now had hope that he would come back to her. Alive.
Alec and Maia were also quite surprised. "What if it's just Armel messing with us?" Alec asked, taking the words right out of Maia's mouth.
Jace shook his head and laughed half heartedly. "Would Armel send us a bunch of random letters and numbers." he said, showing them the message. "He would send us a shitty line of french poetry."
The text read '6 7 16 M1.4'. Nothing more. They just had to decipher the message and hopefully it would lead them to Clary, Jonathan and Simon. The thing is, could they figure it out in time?
…
Minutes later the four of them were on the platform, the message displayed on one of the many screens as they thought over the meaning. They had to figure everything out, quickly.
"Where do we even start?" Jace groaned, running his hands through his messy golden hair.
Maia tapped her finger against her lip, deep in thought. "Who was the message for?" she asked looking up. "It was from Simon. Who is the message for?"
"It's not me." Jace said, crossing his arms, looking at the message. "I don't understand… any of this." He gestured to the numbers displayed on the screen. Sure it was sent to his phone but that didn't mean it was for him specifically.
"Isabelle." Alec pointed out. "Simon is all about Isabelle. It might be for her."
Isabelle shook her head, but stopped when it began to ache. "No. It's numbers. I would have been for Sebastian." she said, trailing off at the mention of her deceased friend.
Maia's head shot up. "Dirt." she whispered. "It's dirt."
Jace looked at her, not quite comprehending. "What?" he asked.
"Simon is all about Isabelle," she said, pointing at said person. "And dirt." She smiled happily, finally grasping what the message was trying to say. "Sebastian and Simon did a course with me on this kind of stuff last year."
Jace's eyes lit up. "We know Simon and Jonathan were buried alive so they all must still be down there."
Maia nodded, racing to one of the computers and began typing. "6, 7, 16." she said, typing the numbers in. "Carbon, Nitrogen and Sulfur on the periodic table of elements. This means they're in coal rich soil." she said, pulling up a map. "The only places in New York with coal rich soil happen to be the Mount Hope Quarry and the Tuckahoe Marble Quarry on the outskirts." she said, bringing up a map and highlighting the two quarries in red.
"That's where Armel was spotted. At Tuckahoe." Jace said pointing out said quarry.
Alec nodded. "Yes but that would be too obvious. He knows that we know that he's been doing stuff there." he pointed out.
Maia nodded, looking at the final part of the message. "M1.4…"she trailed off, lost in thought. "Sebastian told me about the organic components of coal. They're each different. Like a fingerprint." she said, entering the M1.4 into the computer. "They're called macerals and they fluoresce at different levels. 1.4 is quite rare so, that narrows it down to…" She pressed enter on the keyboard and the map zoomed in on the Mount Hope Quarry, flaring red. She smiled, as did everyone else in the room.
"Found them." Jace said aloud, making it all the more real.
Suddenly, the platform alarm blared, startling them all and causing them to jerk their heads at the stairs. A pair of familiar, yet different coal eyes stared back at them. Fine white hair brushed back over the man's head neatly, contrasting his messy black jacket and jeans.
"Good." the man said as if he was part of their conversation the whole time. "Then let us go. I have kids to save and a french maniac to stop." A smile crossed his face, a hopeful light shawn in his eyes at them mention of his children.
"Who is that?" Isabelle whispered, slightly afraid of who this man might be.
Jace took a breath, glaring at the man that stood just before him. "That, is Valentine Morgenstern."
"Clary's father."
Kinda short but it's one in the morning and writers block is KILLING ME! Just wanted to get this out. But… maybe a cupcake will make you feel better? I know it will make me feel better! Stuff is gonna get crazy in the next chapter! Just you wait! Maybe I'll get another chapter out before school starts back up! See you then!
-TBBG