In the Eyes

Twenty-One

Twenty-One

*~*~*~*

"Any word from the Clave?" Isabelle asked as she, Alec, Lydia, Joseph, Magnus, and I all walked through the Institute together. Everyone was busy, trying to figure out where Valentine had vanished to, wanting to find him and Jace before it was too late.

"Not yet, and we've been trying for the past four hours." Lydia shook her head. "Something's up."

"Mmm, the Clave being unhelpful?" Magnus mused, sarcasm thick in his voice. "Who's shocked? Show of hands?"

"I'm worried," Alec spoke up as we reached the Ops Center. "I can't sense Jace through our parabatai bond."

"We'll find him, Alec." I tried to reassure him, reaching over to give his hand a small squeeze. He only shook his head as Magnus walked away to try and track Jace through one of his shirts.

"When we arrested Hodge, he said Valentine was on a ship." Isabelle reminded us. "They must still be over water."

"Pull up the waterways around New York." Joseph instructed.

"The ship couldn't have gone far." Isabelle said as she pulled the map up for all of us to see.

"Anything?" Alec glanced over at where Magnus was working.

"Sorry," Magnus shook his head.

"There's got to be something!" Alec insisted.

"I don't see him." Magnus told him again, his dark eyes flickering towards me, clearly unsure of how to handle my brother.

"All right, listen up!" Alec spoke up, making everyone around look at him. "I want twenty-four/seven monitoring of the Hudson and East Rivers. If you see anything unusual, you come to me first."

"I've got this, Alec." Joseph spoke up, resting a hand on Alec's shoulder as he did so.

"Then why haven't you found Jace yet?" Alec snapped at the blonde.

"Don't forget who you're talking to." Lydia stepped forward to stand beside her own brother, narrowing her eyes at Alec. "I am still the head of this institute."

"And my brother is still missing!" Alec countered, not caring if the two blondes were in charge or not.

"Why don't you just take a break?" Isabelle suggested.

"Not now, Izzy." Alec shook his head.

"Isabelle's right, and it's not a request." Lydia agreed. "You're dismissed."

"Fine," Alec glared at her before turning to leave.

"Hey," Joseph tried to talk to him but Alec only narrowed his eyes as he looked around at all of us.

"Everybody, just back off!" He told all of us before he stormed down the hall.

"Perhaps you can try talking to him?" Joseph suggested as he looked back at me, clearly worried about my brother.

"Me?" I raised my brows at his suggestion. "I- I'm not sure that's a good idea. We should probably just give him his space for now. Besides, I'm sure I'm the last person he'd want to talk to right now, or ever."

"That's not true," Magnus shook his head. "You're his sister, his twin."

"They're right," Isabelle agreed. "You and Alec were always close growing up, he could use you right now."

I glanced around at everyone before giving in. With a small sigh escaping me I headed down the hall, the same way Alec had gone. Instead of going searching for him in his room, I headed right towards the stairs that led up to the roof. It had always been our hangout spot when we were younger. While most people would retreat into the greenhouse we would slip up to the roof, because of our allergies, and take in the view of the city.