𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐋 ━━ ISABELLE LIGHTWOOD

22

"WHERE IS SHE?" were the first words that left Jace's mouth as he entered Clary's apartment with Kade and Isabelle, "where is Clary?"

"She’s gone," Alec's voice was low, feeling slightly guilty. Isabelle furrowed her brows, "what do you mean “gone”?"

"She and Simon got arrested when I was securing the fire escape," Alec informed, "I got distracted."

"Oh great so the mundane was here too," Kade muttered sarcastically, his eyes going to look at the state of the apartment. Everything was burnt.

"Simon?" Isabelle asked, "He’s gone, too?"

"It was an unmarked car," Alec sighed, avoiding his friends' stares, "I don’t know where they took her."

Jace looked at the older Shadowhunter, his nose flaring, "what did you do, Alec?"

"Jace, shut up." Kade stepped in, tired of Jace's little crush getting in the way of their friendship. Jace looked at him in disbelief as he continued, "it's not Alec's fault that your girl toy decided to sneak out for fuck knows what reason. It's not his fault that she got kidnapped. It's not his fault, okay? None of this is— so help me god if I hear you blame him for this again."

The room fell silent after his outburst. While Alec shot him a small smile, Jace cleared his throat, "sorry, I— Can we talk about this later? Clary is more important."

"Of course, she is," Kade muttered harshly under his breath. Before anyone could say anything, he began walking towards the door, "let's get out of here."

They followed him wordlessly until they were back in the alley where Jace attempted to track the redhead using one of her drawings which he grabbed before leaving. He let out a frustrated sigh, "Damn it. She’s not showing up. We need to parabatai track."

"I'm too pissed to concentrate right now so—" Kade placed a hand on Alec's shoulder, softly pushing him towards Jace. Alec shot him a mock betrayed look before linking hands with Jace as they attempted to track her together.

"Alec, concentrate," Jace grumbled, "Alec!"

"I’m doing it," Alec defended, "she’s not showing up."

Isabelle got off a call and turned to the three boys, "just like I thought. She wasn’t arrested."

"Kinda already figured that out ten minutes ago, princess." Kade gave her an amused look while her face went slightly red at the nickname. Alec raised his brows at the pair and Jace was too busy seething in anger. He looked at Alec, "it was your job to look after her."

"I did my best, Jace," Alec defended, crossing his arms which earned a scoff from the blonde, "well, then maybe your mother was right, and your best just isn’t good enough."

"You have no right to say that to him."

"Jace!" Isabelle scolded, narrowing her eyes at him as she knew he crossed a line by going this far.

"Hey!" Alec glared at his blonde friend,having enough of it as well, "are you so blinded by your feelings for Clary, you’ve lost sight of us? Clary snuck out. I went after her— to protect her. I did nothing you haven’t done a thousand times before."

"Yes, you did," Jace looked at him pointedly, "you lost her."

"All right. That's enough, Jace," Kade intervened, "let's just find the girl so we can all return back to the institute.  Whoever took them must be holding them over a body of water which explains why the tracking rune won't work." Just as he finished his sentence, Clary's phone which was in her backpack started ringing.

"Clary left her phone in her backpack," Isabelle said, handing the phone to Kade who picked it up, putting it on speaker while Jace spoke, "hello?"

They heard a loud sigh of relief from the other side, "oh, I thought I’d never utter these words, but thank God it’s you. It’s me, Simon."

"Where are you?" Jace questioned, "Where’s Clary?"

"I don’t know," Simon replied, "some Chinese restaurant, I think? This cop Alaric arrested us, but it was a total fake-out. Him and his buddy, they took us— They took us to their hangout and then they told Clary that they’ll kill her if they don’t find the Cup."

"Just calm down, all right?" Jace stopped him from going further.

"Look around," Kade spoke, "tell me what you see."

"Okay. Uh…" Simon paused and after a few seconds, he resumed, "uh, we’re definitely on a pier. There’s a ton of water. Uh… I see lockers and… Oh, my… I’m in some sort of torture chamber. There’s claw marks all over the wall."

"Werewolves," Isabelle stated earning a hum from Kade as Alec nodded, "that’s possible."

"Okay, Simon, you need to get more specific," Jace ushered, "tell us what you see. Help us find you."

"There’s nothing else that can help," Simon said defeatedly while Kade furrowed his brows, "it's fine. If it's werewolves, I know where you are." He ignored the looks he was receiving from his friends, "create a diversion. Stall them, we're on our way."

"How?" Simon asked, "all I have are clothes and a lighter."

Kade licked his lips at his words, giving the phone a blank look as if Simon could see him, "think again."

"You— you want me to start a fire?" Simon caught up, "that never works! Have you ever seen an action movie?"

"I have and sometimes they do work." Kade sighed, "just do something, man. We're on our way." He then disconnected the call.

"So how do you know where they are?" Alec was quick to ask as they began to walk out of the alley, following Kade.

"Warlocks aren't really the only downworlders I'm in touch with," he revealed and ignored the questioning stares, "all right. To put it simply— seelies are the only Downworlders I am not in touch with. Okay? Good? Great. Now, let's go. Jace's crush and her best friend need saving."