The Mortal Instruments: City of Past Ghosts (Book 1)

Chapter 29: Persephone

Chapter 29: Persephone

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Jace landed on the balls of his feet before slipping into a crouch to stabilize himself. He looked around as he straightened out, his eyebrows furrowing.

The Portal had took him to an empty, quiet lane. Some shops were open, light spilling from them. On a closer inspection, Jace realised that they were shops that sold kinky outfits and erotic movies. If he wasn't in such a pissed off, grave mood, Jace would have grinned and a slideshow of vulgar images would unfold in his head.

Alec and Simon, who had been the first two to enter the Portal had their heads and eyes cast downwards, their cheeks flushed a bright red.

Magnus appeared beside Jace and the Portal closed. The warlock looked around, his eyes scanning the shops.

"Magnus, where exactly are we?" Alec said, glaring at his boyfriend.

"Amsterdam." Magnus said, casually. "Near the Red Light District, to be accurate."

"What? What are we doing in Amsterdam?"

"We're going to get some insight." Magnus said and took off in a direction down the street.

Jace, silently followed, his eyes every so often peeking up for a glance at the stores. His mind was flying everywhere—whether Clary was still alive, if she was alright, would they be alright, where were they going. They were the questions that made Jace want to fall to the ground and break into a million pieces.

He remembered an old conversation he had with Alec and felt a lump rise in his throat as he tried to hold himself together

"Doing okay? How would you be doing? How would you be doing if it were Clary that Sebastian had taken? If it were her we were going to rescue, not knowing if she were dead or alive? How would you be doing?" Alec had said.

"I-I would be in pieces." And that had been Jace's answer.

And now he was in pieces. He knew he was more impulsive now and he couldn't think right and he felt like he would crumble to the ground and break at any time.

Jace spotted a couple of girls in skimpy outfits mainly consisting of lace and leather and fishnets, waiting on the side of the road, some looking at their phones while others just looked bored. Their true faces were hidden behind layers upon layers upon layers upon layers of makeup, giving them a Barbie and painting like image.

Magnus turned into a lane in between two closed boutiques. Broken glass and gravel crunched under Jace's boots as he looked at the rock and cement walls of the two boutiques. The air smelt of cigarettes, cat pee and smoke.

"If you dragged us here to wall watch, I'm going to go back to stare at the prostitutes." Jace said, looking at the rock wall Magnus was staring at.

"You weren't even staring at them." Magnus muttered before he began chanting something low and grave under his breath.

Magnus ran his hand across the wall, a green aura wavering around his hand. Jace relaxed his mind and let his eyes hood as he stared at the wall, trying to look past any glamour that was put on it.

He felt a slight tinge of disappointment when he was squinting at the same wall. He tried to see past the glamour harder and saw Simon was doing the same as well. He kept seeing the same grey rock wall.

"There's no glamour," Magnus said, some strain evident in his voice. Alec stepped closer to his boyfriend, staring at the wall. Jace stepped forward and saw that black designs were blossoming in the middle of the wall, growing and curling outwards until finally it took the form of a black opened tulip with a crooked stem. The center of the tulip began to glow gold and orange and black fire spilled from the blossoming flower and the fire spread, no longer looking two dimension.