Chapter 13

Jace, Valentine, Isabelle, Alec and Magnus arrived at the quarry along with a whole FBI and paramedic team. They drove through the gates, after already having access from their previous search, and made their way to the drop off.

Inside the quarry, there was a large drop off that divided the entrance from the lower mining levels of the quarry. The drop off was loose gravel piled up in a steep hill connecting the entrance and mining level that followed a makeshift road down to the mining level for vehicle access.

They stopped at the edge of the drop off and climbed out of the black SUV. The entire group standing in a large line staring over the edge at the quarry below. They looked for any discolouration in the gravel that would indicate recent digging, as well as recent tire tracks. But Armel being as sly as he was, he covered his tracks pretty well.

"Keep your eyes peeled!" Magnus said to the other agents that were exiting their vehicles and making their way to the drop off as well.

The paramedics waited by the ambulance, waiting to receive instructions. The other agents joined the group at the drop off, some taking their vehicles down the road to the mining level. Jace, Isabelle and Valentine had their eyes scanning the entire quarry for any sign of recent activity, Alec was helping Magnus with the other agents who were just arriving and awaiting instructions.

"Come on, come on, where are they…" Valentine muttered under his breath from text to Jace. Jace let out a breath as a sign of agreement.

Isabelle's dark eyes were darting back and forth quickly and hopefuly. She was shaking slightly, from fear that they might not find them and the excitement that they might. Her arms were by her sides as she tapped her leg impatiently.

Jace was becoming more and more restless with every second they spent looking. He was breathing heavy and his golden eyes focused hard as if they were examining every piece of gravel in the quarry.

He took another deep breath and sighed. "Where are you Clary…"

…

"Okay," Clary breathed, turning back from the steering wheel towards Simon and Jonathan. "Everything's good on my end. Simon?"

Simon held up two groups of wires. Each group had their small copper wires connected in small, braid like twists. "We're all set."

Jonathan simply nodded, not quite understanding how this was gonna work but he knew that Clary and Simon knew what they were doing. "So," he said. "What now?"

Simon looked at Jonathan. "Well, what we need to do now is get as far away from the airbags as possible and blow our way out of here."

Clary nodded. "Well, if the explosion doesn't kill us."

"It better not." Jonathan says. "Armel can't win, Clare."

"I know. But we can't ignore fact." she said, brushing her hair out of her face.

Simon had already made his way into the back of the vehicle and was holding the wires out in front of him. "Are you two coming?" he asked impatiently.

Clary nodded. "Yeah, we're coming."

Jonathan reached his hand out to help Clary out of the front seat and around the wires into the back. They then proceeded to make their way into the far back of the vehicle. They climbed over to top of the seats and sat down beside Simon, Clary being in between the two boys.

Simon took a breath and looked to them. "Ready?" he asked.

They nodded in response. Clary reached an arm around Simon's shoulders and squeezed him while Jonathan grasped her hand and held her close. Simon had his eyes fixed on the wires as he slowly moved them closer together.

The wires touched and a few sparks flew before Simon drew back slightly. He began to move them closer again, shaking slightly. Clary gave him a slight squeeze and he continued. The wires got closer until they were fully touching each other.

The second they touched, the explosives went off.

…

Jace was getting impatient. They hadn't seen any sign of recent digging, discolouration in the gravel, or any presence at all on the quarry bed. He let out a deep breath and continued looking.

Isabelle was also loosing her patience, but did not take her eyes off the quarry bed. Alec was now next to her, helping in the search. A few agents, under Magnus' commands, had made their way down the road to the bed to get a better search started.

They were about to turn around and make their way down to the lower level when something caught their attention.

A loud bang rang through the area, starting everyone and causing them to jump, some agents unsheathed their guns. Jace was staring over the quarry bed, eyes wide as he saw a plume of gravel and dust exploded out from the ground.

That's them.

In seconds he was running down the steep hill in front of him, stumbling slightly with every step he took on the loose gravel.

"Jace!" Isabelle called, then realizing why he was running and her eyes widened.

Valentine must have figured it out too because he was suddenly stumbling down the hill not too far behind Jace.

"Alec?" Isabelle said, turning to her brother. "Help me down."

Alec nodded and grasped Isabelle's arm, each of them taking a deep breath as they slowly and carefully descended the hill. Isabelle was thankful she was wearing runners instead of heels. They fumbled and almost fell a few times but they made it safely to the bottom.

Jace was running faster than he ever had before. He was getting closer and closer to where the explosion happened as the dust began to settle. He was becoming tired very quickly but he ignored it. He reached the spot of the explosion and dropped to his knees, not caring if his knees were scraped up or his pants were ruined, and began digging.

He was reaching down, and pulling large handfuls of gravel -from where the explosion had made them lose- and repeated the motion over and over. He was only a few handfuls in when Valentine appeared beside him, digging frantically for his daughter and son. Before Alec, Isabelle and Magnus joined them, Jace had grasped something in the gravel. But not just anything. A hand.

He froze in shock for a moment before pulling as hard as he could towards the surface. His hands grasped the person's wrist tightly before they reached another hand through the gravel and grasped Jace's wrists. Magnus, who had been digging beside him for the past few seconds, grasped the person's other wrist and helped Jace pull them to the surface.

With the extra help, the person's head emerged from the gravel. A dirty, flaming head of red curls broke through the surface and they gasped for air, coughing lightly as they continued to try and pull them up to the surface. Jace could have jumped ten feet when he saw Clary's head break the surface. He and Magnus continued to pull her out until she was free just above her knees.

Jace pulled her tightly to his chest, one arm wrapped around her waist and the other holding her head to his chest as he buried his head in her hair. Clary was breathing deeply, gently wrapping her arms around Jace's back with the remainder of her strength.

"Oh god, oh god," Jace muttered into her hair as a few joyful tears escaped his eyes, though he would never admit to it.

"Get Simon," Clary breathed into his chest, "And Jonathan. The-they're down there."

Jace stroked her hair gently. "We'll get them. Okay?" he said quietly, kissing her head quickly. "We'll get them."

"Simon!" Isabelle cried as Simon's body was pulled out of the gravel. He was breathing heavily and his ankle was twisted even more so than before, and his ribs were causing him to wheeze as they made his lungs push against them with every deep breath.

Once Simon was out, Alec made his way to Valentine, who was struggling to get Jonathan out all by himself. They each held an arm and pulled Jonathan's body out of the gravel and on top of it. Jonathan appeared to be in the best condition out of all three of them. He was sitting upright next to his father and breathing calmly as if he had just finished a jog.

Valentine reached out to touch his son's shoulder when he noticed Jonathan flinch before his hand reached him. His black eyes were looking around frantically, searching for something urgently. He relaxed slightly at the sight of Simon, lying just in front of him, with Isabelle shedding happy tears and smiling down at him. He only relaxed when he looked to his left and saw Clary, safely held in Jace's arms.

Valentine, after seeing his son relax at the sight of his sister, wrapped an arm around Jonathan's shoulders. Jonathan then turned to his father and embraced him tightly, happy to see him after many years. They were all together. Finally whole.

I got stuck here so I am ending the chapter here. Sorry! WRITER'S BLOCK GO AWAY! I wanted to try and write more but I thought that you guys deserved and update. I know in September 11th I said I'd try updating once a week, but with 4 academic classes and 2 of them in french, I don't think that's gonna work. (GRADE 10 IS SUPPOSED TO BE THE EASY YEAR!) I will hopefully be finishing this story around march break (yay!) so keep an eye out for updates. See you later awesome people!

-TBBG