Detained [2] 《SHADOWHUNTERS》

Chapter Two

"We are at war."

Shadowhunters were gathering in the operation center as Maryse spoke. Alec and Izzy were surprised to see that their mother addressing the crowd, and apparently, so was Lydia. Alec watched the blonde out of the corner of his eyes, her mouth dropping as soon as she caught sight of the woman in the purple dress.

Clary slipped into the room at the last possible second, pulling her mother and downworlder friends behind as Maryse continued. "Valentine now has the Mortal Cup, with which he is no doubt raising an army. And now two of our own have joined his army."

"Looks like the queen's taking back her kingdom," Izzy whispered when their mother paused for a moment.

"As a result, the Clave has declared a state of emergency at the Institute," Maryse announced. "Their first priority is to replace the current leader ship who they have deemed, wholly ineffectual." The woman was looking right at Lydia, eyes narrowed dangerously. "It is an honor to present to you your newly appointed head of the New York Institute, Clave Representative, Victor Aldertree."

Maryse stepped down and joined the crowd. Alec watched with hesitant eyes as Aldertree took her place. "Did you know about this?" He leaned forward and asked Izzy under his breath.

"No," she whispered. "But maybe this is why Dad went back to Idris." She tried to reason.

Lydia was shaking her head in disbelief, "Maryse went behind my back." Alec almost wanted to respond, She does that.

"My fellow Shadowhunters," Aldertree began. His voice was deep and held an accent. Alec wouldn't doubt it if he had been raised in Idris, trained to take over a Clave position since he was a child. "It's an honor to be here with you all." He got down to business quickly. "We need to find Jace and Andina Wayland. They are Shadowhunters, and we do not leave our people behind.

"The answer may very well lie in this room, so I want to speak to everyone who was on a mission when they disappeared." He was about to turn away, but halted. "One last thing, effective immediately, this Institute is on lockdown. Only temporarily. So let's work together and turn this Institute around." He gave a nod and then left, the Shadowhunters beginning to talk almost immediately.

Among the chatter, Clary found the Lightwood siblings. "If we're on lockdown, who's out there looking for Jace and Andy?" She asked Isabelle. Iz gave her a warm smile.

"Don't worry. We'll think of something." Clary's green eyes were still clouded in fear. "They're tough," Iz added. "Valentine will never break them."

°◊°◊°◊°

Andina had been glaring at the metal door in front of her since Valentine had left her in the small room, hanging from the ceiling by her bound wrists. The skin was rubbing raw from the amount of times she had tried to pull them apart, as if she was somehow going to obtain superhuman strength and break the thick metal.

When the door finally opened, she didn't care who her father had sent in. "Where the hell is my brother?" She shouted, struggling against her restraints again.

"And you wonder why I don't let you go," Valentine drawled as he stepped into the light. Again, he had a syringe in his grasp and placed it on the metal cart nearby.

She didn't falter. If she was a werewolf, she was sure she'd be growling. "Where is he?"

It was the best form of psychological torture for someone who felt they only had one thing going for them in life: take that thing and tease its safety, its very existence. He knew he was succeeding as she grew more violent, because soon, she would break. It was a beautiful thing to watch.