predestined | jace herondale

29

"You're still avoiding me." Jace followed me through the Ops Center as I walked toward Clary, Isabelle and Alec, making it clear.

I roll my eyes, "You noticed?"

"It's kind of hard not to." Jace remarks, as I quickened my pace.

"Jace, Valentine's missing." I kept walking, "We have more important things to deal with right now."

I stopped at the table, "Any word from Magnus or Luke?"

"No." Alec replied to me, "With Valentine free, the Downworld Cabinet has been holding secluded meetings at the Seelie Court."

Jace crosses his arms, "Well, that's not good."

I ran a hand through my hair and looked down at my black boots, "You think anything good happens in the Seelie Court?"

Clary's eyes fall onto me, her arms crossed as she shot me a disapproving older sister look.

"The Clave isn't gonna let this go unpunished." Alec speaks, "The Inquisitor's sent an envoy to assess the situation, chances are they'll be the ones replacing me as Head of the Institute."

"Not if we can recapture Valentine." Isabelle spoke up, "Sebastian and all available personnel are searching."

Clary nods, "We already know Duncan managed to hijack the portal."

"If he was Luke's accomplice, he could have been orchestrating the secret transfer all along." Jace added in, looking between all of us.

I cross my arms, "Duncan didn't seem like someone to do such a thing- maybe Luke's accomplice threatened and used him in someway since Luke couldn't get the job done."

"Listen- I appreciate the effort, but Valentine escaped on my watch." Alec sighs deeply, "I deserve to take the heat for it."

"This isn't your fault, it's mine." Isabelle decided to take the blame, "I was the one in charge of the transfer team."

I drop my arms, "Hey- so were Jace and I, don't hog all the fault."

"Look Alec, you are a good leader." Jace told him, "You can't just let Imogen fire you over something you didn't do."

"Alec will do as he's ordered." Robert Lightwood's voice filled our ears, making us all look in the direction it came from as he stood a few feet away from us.

Isabelle stares at him, "Dad?"

Alec didn't seem happy to see him, "What are you doing here?"

"I'm the Clave's envoy." Robert told us, then looked directly towards Alec, "We need to talk."

-

I stood in the doorframe of the room Jace was in after slipping on my black leather jacket over my cold shoulder sweater, "You asked Alec to assign both of us to search Staten Island?"

"Yeah, I needed someone I could trust." Jace flipped through the pages of the book he was looking through, barely glancing at me, acting as if it was nothing.

"Or- you're putting me in a position where I can't avoid you because I'm on the job." I stepped into the room, my eyes glued to him.

"It could be that, who knows." Jace shrugs, then catches my eye for a moment, "You're the one who said finding Valentine had to be a priority."

"Yeah, but I didn't mean we had to search together." I blurt out, walking over to him, my eyes landing on the map he was looking at, "Wait- this is Idris?"

"Yeah." Jace crosses his arms, "You really think Valentine's in Staten Island?"

I looked at him, "No, but I'm pretty sure the Clave has Idris covered."