Middle School of Bones - A Mortal Instruments Story

Chapter 23

I was sweating by the time I got back to the Institute. I circled the basement looking for people, and I followed the sound of voices to the weapons room.

Alec and Jace were inside, and Alec had a bow loaded with an arrow. When I shoved the door open, he let go, and the arrow struck the rim of the target.

"By the Angel," he breathed as he set the bow down.

"Jace, I need to talk to you," I started. "We need to go to my apartment."

Jace leaned against the wall beside a large sword display. "Now? I had plans."

I stared at him. I hadn't expected him to go back to being rude to me after the greenhouse, but I'd have to figure that out later. "It's important. It's about my mom."

Jace raised an eyebrow. "You don't say." He tipped his head at Alec. "You coming?" Alec nodded. 

"Uh, sure," I said. I'd expected it to just be me and Jace again, like last time. I didn't want to be rude to Alec, but now that Jace might like like me back, I wanted the chance to be with him alone.

 I guessed Jace sensed my hesitation. As we left, he walked beside me, for once slowing his pace by at least half to match mine. 

"We're parabati."

"What?"

Jace pulled up one of his sleeves, revealing a twisty black mark. 

"What does it mean?" I asked.

"Oops, wrong arm." Jace pulled up his other sleeve and showed me a friendship bracelet on his wrist with Alec's name spelled in beads. "Parabatis are basically Shadowhunter BFFs. We're stronger when we're fighting together."

"Oh. Okay."

We took the bus to my apartment, and I caught Jace and Alec up on what I'd learned from Luke. Jace had pulled out his knives while he listened, and Alec had his bow slung over his shoulder. It was strange seeing no one react to the weapons. I assumed it was just New York, but it was still a little odd.

"Glamour," Jace reminded me when I asked. "Alec and I are invisible to everyone else." Which meant I looked like I'd been talking to myself for the last ten minutes. 

We got off the bus and marched up to my apartment. The door was still broken, which was good because I'd lost my key a while ago.

"Split up," I directed. "My mom hid something Shadowhunter-y here. Something Valentine wanted."

It wasn't much of a clue, but it was all we had. I looked in all of mom's favorite hiding places for anything I might have missed the past thirteen years.

Everything looked how it usually did, ignoring the disaster no one had been around to clean up. It was all completely... mundane.

I found Alec carefully examining my mom's art pieces while Jace rooted around in the cabinet. He pulled out a glass and a bottle of juice.

"Want some?" Jace asked when I approached. 

"You're supposed to be searching."

Jace shrugged. "I was." He gestured vaguely towards the glasses on the shelf. "What if the mortal cup's back there or something. Doesn't look like you clean much."

I ignored the insult. "The mortal cup?"

Jace tipped the juice back. "We've got to get you a Codex or something, seriously. It's one of the most important Shadowhunter artifacts."

Alec had joined us to take a break from the search. He explained, "When Jonathan Shadowhunter fell to create the first of our kind, he brought the mortal cup, the mortal sword, and the mortal mirror." He paused for dramatic effect. "The Mortal Instruments."

"TMI," I said, rolling my eyes. I'd wanted Jace to explain it to me. Thankfully, Jace continued the tale.

"All three have been missing for a really long time," he said. "The mortal cup more recently. It was a pretty ugly thing, more a chalice than a cup."

I paused. "Does it have red jewels around the top?" I asked. Jace and Alec looked surprised. "I've seen it before," I admitted. "Follow me."