Night...

The Institute – Jace's Room

Alyssa was lying in bed, asleep but it seemed her rest was being disturbed yet again. She hadn't been able to sleep properly for the last three months, worrying those around her as they could see she was not well. She was thrashing in her sleep, mumbling incoherently, with a sweat-covered brow and body.

Her eyes suddenly opened and she woke from her sleep, sitting up and calling a name, breaking the silence in the room.

"Jace." Her eyes darted around briefly, taking in her surroundings. Realizing where she was, she sighed and moved back to lean against the headboard, pushing her hair, which had been damp from the sweat, out of her face. She brought her knees up and rested her arms atop them, leaning her head back against the wall and closing her eyes. She remained like that for a few moments before letting out a sigh and getting out of bed.

Main Room

Izzy, Magnus, and Lydia entered the ops center; Alec joined them a moment later.

"Any word from the Clave?" Izzy asked Lydia.

"Not yet, and we've been trying for the past four hours. Something's up." Lydia said.

"Hmm, the Clave being unhelpful? Who's shocked? Show of hands." Magnus said sarcastically, holding one of Jace's shirts. The four of them came to a stop and surrounding a table.

"I'm worried. I can't sense Jace through our parabatai bond." Alec said, his face full of concern. "Alyssa said she can't sense him either."

"That can't be good. She must be going out of her mind." Lydia said worriedly about the older Fairchild girl.

"We'll find him, Alexander." Magnus said, trying to reassure him.

"When we arrested Hodge, he said Valentine was on a ship. They must still be over water." Izzy said.

"Pull up the waterway around New York." Lydia instructed. Izzy did as asked, pulling up a 3D hologram of New York while Magnus tried to use his magic to track Jace.

"The ship couldn't have gone too far." Izzy said. Alec looked to Magnus.

"Anything?" He asked. Magnus shook his head.

"Sorry."

"There has to be something!" Alec said, his voice rising slightly as he began to breathe heavily in panic.

"I don't see him," Magnus said calmly, sighing.

"All right, listen up!" Alec stepped away from them and shouted, catching the attention of all the Shadowhunters around. "I want 24/7 monitoring of the Hudson and East Rivers. If you see anything unusual, you come to me first."

"I've got this, Alec." Lydia said to him, trying to calm him down.

"Then why haven't you found Jace yet?" Alec snapped at her.

"Don't forget who you're talking to. I'm still the head of this institute." Lydia said firmly, glaring at Alec.

"And my brother is still missing." Alec shot back.

"Alec." They all turned to see Alyssa walking over. "Calm down." She said as she walked up to him.

"Why don't you just take a break?" Izzy said softly to her brother.

"Not now, Izzy." Alec huffed.

"Alec, calm it. You're working yourself up. Izzy's right. You should take a break." Alyssa said.

"It's not a request." Lydia added in sternly, giving him a look. "You're dismissed." Alec glares down at her.

"Fine!" he said and went to storm off. Magnus caught his arm to stop him.

"Hey…" Alec jerks his arm away from him.

"Everyone, just back off." He said and walked away quickly.

"Here's a thought, Magnus. How about next time, you hit him with a sleeping spell instead?" Alyssa said, making Magnus smile sheepishly. "Yes, I know Izzy talked you into hitting me with a spell so I can get some sleep."

"It was for your own good, biscuit."

"Oh I know. That's why I'm not acting like the dark-haired hulk who just walked out of the room." This caused Lydia, Magnus, and Izzy to let out chuckles at that.

"On that note, how are you feeling?" Lydia asked.

"I've been better, but I'm alright." She turned her head and saw Luke and Simon enter the Institute. "Dad." Luke looked over at her with a smile as she walked over to give him a hug.

"Hey, baby girl. Are you doing alright?" Alyssa opens her mouth to answer with an eye roll. "The truth. Not an automatic reply."

"Well then you know the answer. Although, thanks to Magnus hitting me in the back with a sleep spell, I was able to sleep longer than two hours." Luke nodded and looked over at Magnus.

"Thank you, Magnus." Alyssa rolled her eyes with a smile.

"Anyway, so what are you and Simon doing here?" She asked, turning to look at Simon and then at her dad.

"We're here to see Jocelyn." Luke answered, searching her face for any reaction but found none.

"She should be in the greenhouse with Clary. Saw them in there on my way here."

"Why aren't you with them?" Simon asked, clueless.

"Why should I be?" Alyssa said, then turned to Luke. "Did you not tell him?" She turned back to Simon. "Did Clary not tell you?"

"Tell me what?" Simon asked.

"Come on, I'll tell you on the way." Luke said, then hugged Alyssa goodbye before walking away with Simon. Izzy walked over to the dark-skinned girl.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, I just need to go for a walk."

"You're going to try and see if you can find Jace." Izzy said matter-of-factly.

"I can't stay and do nothing, Izzy. I'm going crazy from being cooped up in here." Izzy nodded sympathetically and gestured to the exit.

"Go. I'll cover for you." Alyssa smiled appreciatively and hugged the dark-haired girl.

"Thanks, Iz." Alyssa then quickly left before anyone could stop her.

Streets

Alyssa walked down the streets, trying to track Jace with one of his gloves that she had taken from his room.

As she walked, she suddenly got the feeling of being watched. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, putting her on guard. Quickly glancing around, she put the glove and her stele away and kept on walking.

At one point, her hearing picked up on someone trying to discreetly follow her. Forming a plan in her mind, she passed a dark alleyway and then stopped, going back and entering the alleyway.

As suspected, someone made a move to grab her. Acting on instinct, she twisted out of the person's grasp and turned to see two other circle members.

"Boys. Which one of you wants to explain why you're trying to kidnap me?" Alyssa asked, her whip slithering down her hand, unnoticed by the men.

"Valentine wants to see you." One of the men said. Alyssa gave a slight smirk.

"Well, I'm flattered by the invitation, but…"

Before either man could react, she swung her whip and decapitated one of them.

"I'm going to have to decline." The remaining circle member immediately overcame his shock and pulled out his seraph blade.

"Oh, you wanna play?" She put the whip away and also pulled out her blade.

"Then let's play."

Moving quickly, the circle member struck first, but his blow was blocked. The two began to trade strikes and blows, most of which were evaded or blocked.

Getting bored of the fight, Alyssa disarmed the man and kicked his legs from under him, making him fall on his back with a grunt. She then took one of her poisoned blades, knelt down beside him and stabbed his shoulder, making him yell out in pain. "Now I want you to go back to Valentine and tell him that you failed. Let him know that I will find Jace, no matter how long it takes and I will make him pay for hurting him." She whispered into his ear and knocked him out.

The Institute

Alec was standing in the operations center when Magnus walked past him and some other Shadowhunters.

"Hey! Hey!" Alec called out, following him into the hallway. Magnus stopped and turned around. "Are you going home?"

"Where else would I be going?" My interview is over and I'm exhausted. Besides, at my house, there's steak and vodka. I'd rather be there." Magnus said before walking away.

"Wait, you're just… You're not going to help?"

"You really don't get it, do you? You didn't risk anything for me; you did it for yourself."

"What?" Alec asked incredulously. "Are you seriously doing this right now? Right now?"

"You know damn well I wanna find Jace just as much as you do. If not for you, then for Alyssa, but that's no excuse to treat me like--"

"Well, then, what do you want from me?" Alec asked, raising his voice.

"At the moment, nothing." Magnus said, glaring at him.

The alarms began blaring at this moment, cutting Alec off from whatever he was going to say and giving Magnus the chance to walk away without Alec stopping him. He passed by Alyssa on the way and kissed her cheek before leaving the Institute altogether. Alec joined Alyssa in the Ops center.

"Who sounded the alarm?" Alec asked. All the other Shadowhunters arrived, including Izzy and Clary, neither answering the question as a hologram of Jace, "Wanted; Dead or Alive" was displayed in the middle of the room.

"What's" Alyssa began to say.

"What's going on?" Izzy asked.

"Oh no, Jace!" Clary whispered, but Alyssa caught it, as did Alec and Isabelle because they were close by. The younger Fairchild girl began to panic. "Alder tree said he wanted to rescue Jace." Alyssa turned to look at her when she said that.

"Who the hell is Aldertree?" she asked. A dark-skinned man with black curly hair walked over at that moment.

"Actually, Clary, I said I wanted to find him. And you gave me the clue I needed to do just that." The man said. Alyssa turned to glare at her little sister.

Clarissa, what did you do? Alyssa asked.

"What did you tell him?" Alec asked at the same time as Alyssa.

"I..." Clary tried to say.

"Ah, you must be Alyssa Fairchild." Alyssa turned to look blankly at the man.

"And who are you?"

"Weren't you around for the earlier briefing? I did wonder why you were the only one of your merry band that I hadn't seen or interviewed yet."

"Interviewed? Who the hell are you again?"

"Victor Aldertree, the new head of the Institute. Pleasure to meet you." The man said, reaching his hand out for her to shake. Alyssa blinked at him and looked down at his hand.

"Wish I could say the same, Mr. Aldertree." Alyssa said emotionlessly, looking back up at him. Aldertree cleared his throat and took back his hand, moving to the center of the room and looking up and around.

"Is this everyone? Fantastic. First up, all Downworlders are forbidden from entering the Institute without my prior approval. For those still present, good day." He turned to look at Luke. "Mr. Graymark."

"I'm not leaving Alyssa or Jocelyn." Luke said. "Besides, my badge gives me access to resources that you don't have. I can help you find Jace."

"That's generous of you, but I'm going to have to insist." Aldertree said sternly.

Luke looked like he was going to protest again, but he stopped when he saw Alyssa give him a silent message. He nodded and looked at her and Jocelyn.

"Call me when you can." He said.

"Yeah." Jocelyn nodded before Luke left. Aldertree turned to Simon.

"You too, Simon. Simon, right?"

"It's almost dawn." Simon said, crossing his arms. "I don't have anywhere to go."

"Hey, you're a smart guy. I'm sure you'll figure something out." Aldertree said, showing that he couldn't care less if Simon was burned up or not. Alyssa looked at him in disbelief and called out to Luke.

"Dad." Luke turned to look over at her. "Take care of him." She said, nodding over to Simon.

"Simon, come on." Luke said. Simon gave her a grateful look and turned to Clary, who was looking at him worriedly.

"I'll be okay." He said, then left with Luke. All the others looked to Aldertree in disbelief.

"Now." He said with a clap. "Let's get to it. I've reviewed your statements, barring one, along with the reports of your unsanctioned missions. And I can come to no other conclusion than Jace is a traitor to the Clave."

"Jace is not a traitor." Alec said, glaring at the man.

"Point of fact. Clary said Jace called to warn you of Valentine's trap, which got me thinking... Jace had multiple chances to kill Valentine but he chose to let him leave. Now, Valentine, Jace and the Cup are missing. Do the math."

"I have and things are not adding up. First, the Cup was stolen by someone the Clave claimed to have some sort of control over, and then given to Valentine. Someone that wasn't Jace since I was actually there and attacked the night the Cup was stolen." Alyssa spoke up, glaring at the man. "Second of all, how could Jace have had multiple chances to meet Valentine when to my knowledge he only fully saw, spoke and fought Valentine once and that was the night he was captured by Valentine. And thirdly, just out of curiosity, who did Clary say Jace supposedly called to warn about this trap you're talking about?"

"It's interesting that you should ask that, considering Clary said you were the one Jace called to warn about that night."

"Really? Because while I did receive a call from Jace that night before Valentine showed up, he gave no such warning to me. I had a seraph blade to my throat and my phone was snatched before I could hear what he had to say. So you see, your story is full of holes. There is no math to be done. You just selected parts of what Clary told you and used them to suit your needs. And of course, the Clave believed you and allowed you to issue an indirect kill on sight order."

"There's no way we're going to help you hunt Jace." Clary said defiantly. Aldertree chuckled at this.

"And I would never ask you to. You and your friends are prohibited from any involvement in the hunt for Jace Wayland." He said, shocking everyone.

"What?" Izzy asked. Then Aldertree addressed the rest of the Shadowhunters.

"The rest of you, back to work. I'm lifting the lockdown on the Institute, except for Clary, Alyssa, and Jocelyn." Alyssa gave a snort at this. "I want to keep a close eye on you." The other Shadowhunters dispersed after this.

"You can't keep me in here, and you can't ban me from looking for Jace." Alyssa said.

"Funny. I think I just did." Aldertree said, smiling smugly. Alyssa smirked at him.

"You misunderstand me." She said, confusing the man. Clary spoke up at that moment, taking the attention away from Alyssa.

"This is ridiculous."

"Girls…" Jocelyn says, placing her hand on both their arms. Alyssa jerked her arm out of her grasp and then whirled around.

"Touch me again and you'll lose your hand. This is your only warning." Alyssa glared at Jocelyn, then at Aldertree, before walking away.

Greenhouse

'I'm sorry? You're helping him do what?' Alyssa asked. She was seated on the steps of the spiral staircase in the greenhouse while having a phone conversation with Magnus.

Magnus sighed over the phone and repeated what he'd told her. 'I heard you the first time, Magnus. Why are you allowing him to do this? The last time he tried to track Jace through their parabatai bond, it almost killed both of them and it also weakened both of them. And right now, with Jace being with Valentine, him being weakened is not something we can afford.'

'I know, biscuit but…'

"Besides, this isn't like when Jace was in the Seelie Realm. This time, he's not on land. He's on a ship surrounded by water, and we all know that water and our runes don't mix. Alec could lose his soul while searching for Jace and die."

'It's better than not doing anything, Alyssa.' Alec said, taking the phone from Magnus.

'Alec…'

'Look, I'll be careful. Magnus will be here to help me and make sure things don't go south. I have to try, Lyssa.'

'Alec! Alec!' Alec had already hung up on her causing her to throw her head back and groan.

"Is everything alright?" Alyssa turned to see Izzy standing there. She sighed and sat down on one of the benches. Izzy took a seat next to her.

"I'm fine. I'm just worried."

"About Jace?" Alyssa nodded.

"And Alec. He seems to have gotten more desperate to find Jace. I keep wishing and hoping this is all a horrible nightmare that I'm going to wake up from but that is obviously not the case. Now there's an 'on sight' arrest for Jace and there's literally nothing we can do to change..." Alyssa stopped talking abruptly as a warm feeling rushed through her soul bond. "Jace? Oh, my God, Izzy. I just felt him. I just felt Jace. He's back on land." Alyssa said with a smile, feeling elated. Izzy also smiled.

"I'll go and tell Aldertree so he can call off his men and let Alec and I bring Jace in." Izzy got up and left immediately. As if he'd been waiting for Izzy to leave, Jace opened up a side of the bond to let Alyssa in.

'Jace?'

'Lys.'

'Jace, where are you? I'll come to you.'

'No, you can't. Valentine's with me. I know he's tried to capture you once. I won't let him get another shot. Promise me you won't go anywhere near him.'

'But Jace…'

'Promise me, baby.'

'I promise.'

'Good. I…'

Jace gets distracted at this point and allows Alyssa to see through his eyes accidentally. She sees Jocelyn holding up a crossbow, aiming for Jace and firing.

"No!" She yells just before she sees Valentine pull Jace behind him and take the arrow himself, saving Jace. Her relief is cut short when she sees Jocelyn reload the crossbow.

'Jace, run!'

Not long after she sends this message to Jace, she feels the bond with him shut down again, telling her he had once again disappeared with Valentine, leaving Alyssa feeling both relieved and disappointed that she'd lost him again, for the second time to Valentine.