6
Lost and Found
“Mom?” Isabelle called hopefully as she strode into the kitchen, her shoulders slumping when she found it empty. She turned around, heading to regroup with the others in the hallway. When she got there, however, three of the boys had disappeared. “Where are Jace and Magnus and Simon?” Isabelle asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Jace can’t sit still, and neither can Magnus or Simon, apparently.” Alec said, looking up as she came over to him, while Maia and Jordan distanced themselves a little, walking just around the corner. “They were going to see if Mom and Dad were maybe in the weapons room. You have any luck?”
“No. How about you?”
“Is Mom standing next to me?” Alec snapped. Upon catching Isabelle’s surprised expression, he sighed and closed his eyes. “Sorry. I didn’t mean—“
“It’s okay. I understand,” she said reassuringly. “You have a lot on your mind right now.”
Alec shrugged hesitantly. “It shouldn’t matter to me, you know. He broke up with me. We aren’t together anymore, so it’s not my job to worry about him.”
Isabelle bit back the smile that was creeping toward her face. “But you still do anyway, don’t you?”
Alec eyed her carefully, letting a small grin appear briefly on his face. “Of course I do.”
“You still love him.”
“I never stopped. I don’t think I ever could. I mean, I tried moving on. Nothing worked.”
“Have you tried telling him that?”
Alec, who looked uncomfortable talking about this, shrugged his shoulders again. “You really think that’d work? He hasn’t even answered my phone calls for a month. I never get a chance to talk to him.”
“And yet, here he is, helping yet again with Shadowhunter problems that he doesn’t have to help with. I’d say that’s something.”
“He’s not here for me. He’s here to get Clary back, to make sure she doesn’t become an apocalyptic weapon for Sebastian. He lives on the same Earth as me, that’s all.”
“You can’t really think that’s all this is, can you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Alec, he’s. . . How old is he? Like 800? Anyway, he’s lived more than one lifetime. He’s never struck me as the self-preservation type. He’s not doing this so he can survive. He’s doing this for all of us, but more importantly he’s doing this for you. Don’t forget that.”
Alec stared at his sister, speechless. Isabelle threw a quick smile at him, before jumping up from the wall she’d been leaning against. “Alright, where in the name of the Angel are Mom and Dad? We’ve searched the kitchen, the cathedral, their bedroom, the library—“ She looked up at her brother. “Please tell me someone checked the library?”
Alec’s eyes widened. “I thought you said you’d checked it!”
Isabelle rolled her eyes. “This is why we can’t have nice things, Alec. Because you forget about them!” She laughed and then continued. “I’ll go check. You go grab Jace and the others, wherever they’ve disappeared to.”
