Colliding Hearts #Wattys2017

Chapter 13- Opening The Journals

"What do you mean, you don't have the book?" Alec questioned in an annoyed tone.

He and Emerson where sitting at one of the long tables, books piled around them as they tried to research about the mark. However it was proving to be pointless, all of the books they had managed to find were nothing more than talking about life before and after The Anahera and The Guardian.

There was only one book that mentioned them but it had only been a single sentence that simply stated there were more books on them. When Alec had went to search for the books he had found that they were all gone or had never been in the Institute to begin with.

"What?" Emerson questioned, lifting her eyes from the pad of paper she was drawing on.

She had grown bored of hearing Alec mutter about how this seemed pointless and had already read her half of the books. So she took to sketching and munching on the ships he had gotten her just before they locked themselves away in the library. She had completely disregarded the interactions she had with her twin and Alec's sister however she did catch herself wondering if she had been to rude to Clary.

"Did she want to find me?" Emerson questioned as she set her pencil down and propped her chin in the palm of her hand as she stared boringly at Alec. Alec slammed a book shut and sighed. He found it frustrating how she seemed to jump from conversation to conversation; he wondered if there was anything wrong with her but refused to ask.

"Yes. She and Jocelyn both got in touch with Tessa because they wanted you. Jocelyn told Clary the day she got married to Luke." Alec explained, not bothering with calling them her mother or step-father. He didn't feel Jocelyn and Luke had the right to be called parents in Emerson's eyes. 

"Should I be happy? That I have a mother and a father and a sister. I feel like I should but, she chose Clary over me. I was the unwanted one." Emerson muttered she wasn't certain as to why she was admitting this, least of to Alec and not Magnus. She wondered where Magnus was and why he hadn't talked to her yet.

"You wasn't the unwanted one, if you were unwanted they wouldn't want you back." Alec muttered as he stood and picked up three books that didn't have what he was searching for.

He seemed far more interested in searching for information than Emerson seemed. It annoyed him; didn't she want to learn who and what she was? Didn't she want to know why they shared a mark, they who had only known each other for a little over twenty-four hours now? He sighed and fought the urge to tell her to get back to researching; instead he walked up the stairs to the third floor and began shoving the books back into their proper places.

"It's at Magnus's apartment! Along with the rest of my things, I forgot how to get there from here though." Emerson shouted as she stood and closed the rest of the books.

"How do you forget where you live?" Alec muttered as he placed the last book on the shelf and started to head back to her.

As he passed by the bookshelves his mark began to sting. Taking in a sharp breath he placed his hand over the mark. His eyes focused on the bottom shelf, something pulling him towards the shelf. He crouched down, his eyes scanning the dusty books.

"Happened to me, it was how I found the journal. It's the last one on the left." Emerson's voice pierced his thoughts, causing him to look at her in shock, him having not heard her walk up.

"You felt a stinging sensation and unexplainable need to look for a book you didn't know?" Alec questioned as he listened to her and pulled the last book on the left. Standing he examined it, holding it down to where she could see as well. It was an old black leather journal with a leather strap warped and tied around the middle of it, just below a turquoise oval shaped stone. At the very bottom of the cover were the words,