Out Of Time (TID and TMI)

Chapter 10

"I knew that I would find you here. C'mon. Magnus found something." Putting the photograph into his pocket, he followed Zachariah into the library.
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"Correct me is I am mistaken, but, you're saying that the portal had to do something with lay lines?" Jem said while pacing in the library.

"It's just a theory, but yes." Magnus replied, his cat eyes gleaming in the lighting. Zachariah's phone began to rang.

"Can you give me a moment?" He asked while looking around at the group. Magnus nodded and he walked out of the room. "Hey Tess. . ." The rest of his conversation was cut of by him shutting the door.

"Anyway, Henry's workroom just happened to be a crossing point for lay lines. It must have messed up my magic."

"We should keep looking for information to back this stuff up." Jace remarked. Will nodded in agreement. They dispersed and began to search the shelves again. The group pulled out dusty books and old notebooks from each shelf, hoping that they would find vital i fornation for thwir case. After a few minutes of looking for books, Zachariah came back into the room, shutting the door quietly behind him.

"I have bad news." Zachariah said. Jace tensed, his golden eyes flashing in the evening light.

"What is it?"

Zachariah sighed. "Maryse just called, and she was very angry," Alec said a few choose words while Izzy facepalmed. "She wants both Alec and Izzy to go back to The Institute. Maryse also told me to tell Jace, Clary, and Simon to come back too, though she has no control over them. . ." He trailed off, and looked at the group.

"Really?" Izzy asked, annoyed. Her dark brown eyes flashed in annoyance.

"Stupid parents." Alec muttered. "I'm nineteen, and Izzy is almost eighteen. We have control over ourselves."

"Just don't go." Will suggested. He was casually sitting with one leg draped over an arm on an armchair, his arm covering his eyes dramatically. His messy black hair hung over his face in a dark curtain.

"You really don't want to see Maryse angry." Jace replied. "I'd take a Behemoth demon any day."

"She's not that bad."

"You're just saying that 'cause that's your girlfriends mother, Simon." Clary rolled her eyes.

"This conversation isn't getting us anywhere." Magnus said, a casual coolness to his voice. "Just go over their, then tell her you should stay with your friends."

Izzy and Alec pondered this for a minute or two. "The Clave can't know. They'll start meddling with things that shouldn't be meddled with and we all know how that ended up last time . . ."

"Give me the phone," Alec said, gesturing towards Zachariah. He handed it to him.

Quickly typing in his mother's number, Alec put the phone to his ear.

"Hey Mom. This is Alec. . .yah I know. . . but-. . . We're adults now! You have no control over us. . ." The entire room waited in tense silence. Alec was pacing back and forth, almost bumping into a chair. A few minutes passed by. "Yes. Thank you. Love you- oh! Can you pick Max up from the Blackthorn's? I left him with Emma and Julian. . . Alright. Bye."

"So. . ." Izzy trailed off looking up at her older brother. Her dark eyes were trained upon his light blue ones.

"We can stay. We're adults and I convinced her that we were fine 'cause of Magnus and Zachariah."

"Oh thank God." Magnus said. He gently touched Alec's hand which was next to his.

Alec blushed fiercely. "L- Let's get back to work."

Tessa smiled sadly as she watched the Blackthorns play. It saddened her that she might never have children again, and that she could never see James and Lucie at this age. Livvy, who was only eleven years old, where playing with Dru and Tavvy. They where building a sand castle, intricately designed, complete with windows and huge towers. Emma and Julian where swimming together, while Ty was listening to music in the shade of a small tree.

Those few moments where pure bliss, Tessa thought. The warm wind in her hair, the salty breeze, and the laughter of children. She was there to watch the Blackthorns while Diana was on a patrol for the Clave. Though Julian had insisted that Arthur could watch over them, Tessa had still come. No matter how much she tried to dismiss it, there was something nagging her about the way Arthur Blackthorn acted. He was only around for Clave meetings, and never mentioned for any other time of the year.

"Tessa! Come look at our castle!" Dru exclaimed, her voice full of laughter and mirth. Tessa quickly dismissed her thoughts and walked over to the trio.

"That's amazing." She exclaimed, bending down to examine it. There was a half-finished moat and uneven windows made by Tavvy's stick. Tavvy continued to build smaller sand castles around the fort, claiming that it was a sand city. It seemed odd to Tessa that these children who had lost so much could be so happy.

After a few hours of playing, she finally brought the children inside, for they had to train and eat dinner. Emma and Jules immediately went to the training room while the others ate. Everything was alright until Tessa got the phone call.

She didn't think it was much, at first, until she picked it up. It was an unknown number, but Tessa recognized the voice anywhere.

"Hello, Tess." Nate Grey's voice said sharply from behind the receiver.

I hate this chapter SO much.