The Morgenstern Chronicles

The Morgenstern Chronicles 2: Academy

Clary, Jace and Isabelle raced down the hill, Clary practically tripping over herself as she ran at a breakneck pace to get to her best friend.

   "Leave the horse!" Isabelle shouted. "If there's a fight, you don't want him caught in it!"

   Clary barely heard her over the blood pounding in her ears and the wind roaring by. Her heart pounded out a steady rythm: Simon, Simon, Simon, Simon. Isabelle yelled for her bother and parents as they hurtled by the Inquisitor's house just as Alec burst out and joined them.

   "What's happening?" he asked as they kept up a steady pace down the cobblestone street.

   "No one knows," Jace said. "There's been an attack on the Academy."

   Before Alec could respond, they crested the hill ahead of them and slid to a halt. Below them was the Academy, flames licking up the sides of the castle-like school. Students were streaming from the building like long rows of ants, wielding any variety of weapons. Outside, there appeared to be dark figures waiting for the young Shadowhunters.

   "Simon!" Clary cried, making to dash down the hill.

   "Clary, wait!" Jace said, grabbing her arms and holding her back. "We don't know what's happening down there. We'll need to get closer in order to assess the situation. Alec, Izzy. You guys know what to do. Clary, come with me."

   The four warriors went down the sides of the the hill, sneaking around the school and observing the circumstances.

   "Hoo, boy, those are some sketchy figures," Jace said, nodding to the hooded figures surrounding the building. They scanned the area, searching for weapons that were out, but it appeared the only weapons being held were dawned by Shadowhunter students and professors. The unarmed figures clad in black remained still and silent, even as the school's inhabitants demanded to know who they were and why they were here. Slowly, more joined them, until there was a phalanx in the front yard of the school.

   "Hey!" someone shouted, and before Clary could follow the familiar voice to it's source, an arrow whizzed through the air, arching over the mass of students and knifing down towards the group of silent Shadowhunters. Their defense quickly fell apart as they scattered in every direction.

   "Simon," Clary sighed in relief, starting to relax slightly. But Jace tensed beside her.

   "Get your witchlight out," he said to her, low. She reached into her pocket and her fingers had just closed around it when Jace took off at a sprint after one of the fleeing figures. Clary yanked it out and followed, holding the glowing rock out in front of her, illuminating their way with shaky light.

   Their target was a slight person, a woman judging by the curves under the robes. She was only about five feet and a few inches tall, but surprisingly fast. Jace and Clary were faster. Jace caught up to the woman first and knocked her to the ground. He grabbed her around the neck and yanked her upright, seizing her hood and pulling it down, off her head. When Clary held the witchlight stone up to her face, both she and Jace gave a sound of surprise.

   "Aline?" Jace said, disbelieving. "What's going on?"

   "I'm a spy, not a traitor," were the first words out of her mouth. Jace and Clary exchanged a glance.

   "No one said anything about spies or traitors," Clary said, feeling uneasy. She crouched down beside the black-haired girl. "What's going on, Aline?"

   "Clary? Jace? Is that you?" Isabelle called to them as she and Alec jogged down the hill. "We were trying to find you, but when they started running, we tried to grab one of them. He got away, but I see you got one."

  "Who is it?" Alec demanded. "Anyone we know?"

  Clary held out her witchlight again in response.

   "Aline?" Isabelle said in disbelief. "What are you doing here?" Dismay was written all over her face.

   "Hey, Isabelle," Aline replied. "I can explain everything when we get back to my house."

*   *   *

The Consul's house was one of the biggest in Alicante, a mansion made of gray rocks. Since electricity was banned in Idris, under the unproven theory that it would interfere with the protective wards, witchlight torches lit the windows of the house.

   As soon as she got in the house, Aline stripped off her robe, revealing a tank top and jeans underneath it. A series of thumping sounds come from the staircase to the right of them. Clary's head snapped over to see Helen standing barefoot in the middle of the steps, wild blond hair pulled back, revealing her pointed ears, revealing her as half-faerie.

   "Oh, thank God, Aline," she sighed, letting out the breath she'd been holding. Then she looked past her girlfriend to the group huddled behind her. "Are those the Lightwoods? And Jace and Clary?"

   "Yes. They grabbed me before I could get away when everyone started to run," she explained. Which, Clary thought, wasn't much of an explanation at all, because she was even more confused than before.

   "We were worried, because we heard something had happened at the Academy." Helen bit her lower lip, concerned. "But you look like you're alright."

   "Aline?" her mother, Jia called, coming into the room from the kitchen. "What happened?"

   "I think we should all sit down and listen to what happened," Clary suggested.

   Once they were all seated in the living room, Aline began her story.

   "For you benefits," she began, nodding towards the Lightwoods and their friends, "I'll start at the beginning.

   "About a week ago, we discovered that Hodge Starkweather had returned. He never died in the war for the Mortal Cup, he was just subdued and forced into hiding. So, Mom told only her closest advisors that he was on the rise again. They needed to send someone in to infiltrate and collect information, and so I was offered the job.

   "Since then, I have discovered his motives. He wants to destroy the Shadowhunters, and so he's trying to find the Mortal Instruments to either destroy them, or to use them to summon the Angel Raziel. The first will make us more vulnerable, and the latter allows him to have one wish, which of course he'd use to ask the Angel to wipe us out."

   Isabelle sat up straighter.

   "But he's a shadowhunter," she protested. "Why would he want to kill off his own kind?"

   "Because," Jia said from where she was standing behind the couch, "the Clave cursed and imprisoned him for a time when he was a bit younger, for consorting with demons to take down the Clave. After eight or so years, some of his old followers stormed the Guard and broke Hodge out. After he stole the Mortal Cup, there was a war, which we eventually won, but he got away. So he then teamed up with the downworlders, because they've been here longer, and he believes their's is a justifiable cause. So now he's seeking his revenge against us, and all our brethren."

   "So....now what?" Alec asked. Helen made an unhappy noise.

   "Now we wait," she said in reply.