Reforming

Chapter 7

No, Clary thought, no more crying. This has been going on for too long. Clary rushed down the winding hallways to the kitchen. She remembered Jonathan mentioning that he placed the tarot card in a cabinet behind the backing. The card that Hodge had tried to take was a fake. Jonathan didn't want anyone except Clary to know the location of the actual one. A rune burned brightly in the back of her mind and quickly, she drew it. One of the cabinets began to shake, alerting Clary that that was where the tarot card holding the cup was hidden. As soon as she released the card from its hiding place, Clary grabbed her stele and slashed a Portal rune on the kitchen door. The Portal flashed brightly, practically blinding her. Her arms flew up to cover her face and they stayed there until the light dimmed. Sucking in a breath sharply, Clary launched herself through the Portal.

Clary had no idea where she was going. She was blindly letting the Portal take her to her destination. It was dangerous, but it was the only choice she had. Valentine hadn't told her where to meet him and she decided she couldn't go to Magnus. He would tell Luke and Simon. Clary wouldn't let anyone risk their lives.

The landing was rather harsh. It was like the Portal decided to have her fall from the ceiling. Clary landed with a thud. She groaned in pain and shakily got to her feet. Spluttering a cough, Clary looked around at her surroundings. It seemed that she had Portaled into a basement. There were boxes littered everywhere and dust covering everything in sight. Surely, no one had been down here in months, probably years. Clary spotted steps leading up to a broken door. Carefully, she trailed up the rickety steps. Each step groaned under Clary's weight, which wasn't much. It was a good thing no one else was with her.

Once reaching the top, Clary thrust open the broken door, no longer caring about breaking anything. The door immediately shattered upon hitting the wall. Clary sighed and took in the new floor. This time, the room she was in was completely empty and stark white. How could something so new looking be above a crumpling room?

Heart in her throat, Clary looked for more stairs. There had to be more. The Portal had brought her there. Obviously Valentine had taken Jonathan here. But there was nothing. There were no steps in sight. Clary was so confused. What was going on?

"Ah, Clarissa. How nice of you to join us," Valentine's voice boomed in the room. Clary's head whipped from side to side. Neither Valentine nor Jonathan were in the room. Where was his voice coming from? "I hope you brought the Cup for your brother's sake. I'd hate to kill my own flesh and blood. I could use the both of you."

Valentine's dark laugh echoed in the room. "Now that you're here, I'll give you a time limit." He paused. "How about a half hour? Yes, that sounds perfect! I will give you thirty minutes to get to your dear brother or I'll kill him."

Clary's heart lurched and her stomach churned. "F-fine," she bit out. "How am I supposed to get to you?"

"You should be able to find a way. You are my daughter after all." With those friendly words, Valentine ended whatever communication he had with the room.

The white room seemed to mock Clary. She had thirty minutes to save her brother. Time was ticking and Clary had no idea how to go up. Suddenly Clary got an idea. She began to draw runes on the clean, white walls. Clary had to see which ones worked. Then it came to her. Drawing all the runes on the walls seemed to take a lot of time, but now she knew how to get to her brother.

The entire building Clary was in, however many floors it was, started to shake intensely. The red head grinned as everything around her started to collapse. Part of the wall fell down so she quickly climbed out. To her surprise, Valentine was standing next to the building debris with Jonathan, who was laying unconscious on the ground next to him. Valentine looked pissed. Clary chuckled and made her way over to her father and unconscious brother.