𝕭𝖚𝖗𝖓𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝕱𝖑𝖆𝖒𝖊𝖘

Part 1.12

HOTEL DUMORT, OUTSIDE

Simon is standing outside, stuck in a trance as he stares at the hotel.

Raphael appears behind him. "Excuse me. Are you insane or just an idiot?"

"Huh?" Simon breaks out of his trance, suddenly aware of his surroundings.

"What are you after, anyway?"

"To tell you the truth, I don't know."

"You can't think I'm interested in saving your worthless life again."

"Honestly, no. No, I don't... I don't think that."

"Get out of here and don't come back. Go. Now." Raphael shows his teeth and snarls. Simon runs away.

THE INSTITUTE

Clary is training with a stick. Alec walks up towards her and grabs a stick from the weapons rack as well.

"Looks like we're stuck with each other. For what it's worth, I think your mom was too tough on you out there."

"Mothers are like that." he deadpans.

"Mine's not. Go ahead. Knock me on my ass. You'll feel better." she chuckles.

"Don't make me say you're right about something. Plant your feet wide."

"Why did you let your mom say all those awful things about Izzy and Elly?"

Alec attacks, his spear hits Clary's as she grunts. "Don't step into the strike. Step through it. Izzy was out of bounds. Liz and mom have a rocky relationship. The law is hard but it's the law. Even I forget that sometimes."

"So, you're just gonna let her send Jace out instead of you?"

Alec attacks again. "If I screw up, I expect to be punished. I'm supposed to be a leader."

"You know what a leader does, Alec? Makes decisions. You need to find Valentine and stop him. I need to find Valentine and help save my mother."

They continue to fight. Alec swipes Clary off her feet with his stick and defeats her. She lays on the ground.

"You need to work on your defense. He helps Clary up. "What do you think? Do you think we haven't been trying to find your mother?"

"Of course you have. But I know you can color outside the lines. You're just not letting yourself think that way."

"Oh, yeah? What's the big thought I'm not thinking?"

"We can still find Valentine. I might know a way. My mother hid a lot from me, but I did see one thing... there's a box. She didn't think I knew about it. But she opened it once a year and cried."

" 'Cause?"

"It belonged to my father. Had his initials, JC, on top."

"But your father's Valentine. Why JC?"

"Because for 18 years, she told me his name was Jonathan Clark. That was a lie. But... whatever was in that box meant a lot to her. Maybe there's something inside that could help us track him."