Valentine's Arrow

28: A Darker Place to Hide

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

REBECCA

She could feel hands prying her own away from her face. Someone was saying her name urgently, over and over. Alec was leaning over her, gripping her hands tightly. He looked shaken, and his eyes were bright - with anger or grief, she didn't know.

"Max?" he asked.

Rebecca simply nodded, getting to her feet. She had to keep moving to stop herself from drowning in guilt. The vision, or dream, or whatever it had been, had dredged up everything she had ever wanted to forget.

"Where's Izzy?" she said, looking around. The surroundings reminded her of a picture she had seen of the surface of the moon in a mundane school textbook. It was ashy grey, pitted with craters. The smallest was only a few meters wide, the bigger ones reaching up to a few hundred meters across. The sky, too, was a dead grey color. The only thing that emitted any light was the scorched-looking sun.

"I don't know," Alec said worriedly.

They jogged up the rise of the nearest hill, and down the other side. To Rebecca's relief, Isabelle was at the bottom, struggling to her feet. Alec scrambled down the steep side of the hill and caught her in a one-armed hug. "Iz," was all he said.

Rebecca stood there awkwardly. To her surprise, Isabelle then pulled her into her arms for a fierce hug. She had never been one to show physical affection.

Isabelle let out a sound that was somewhere between a sniffle and a sob. When she pulled away, her eyes were bright with unshed tears and anger.

Rebecca jumped as she heard footsteps behind her, but it was only Clary and Simon. They looked shell-shocked.

Isabelle stepped out from behind Rebecca. "You two...?"

"Fine," Simon said. "We... saw things. Weird things." He wouldn't meet Isabelle's gaze, and for a tick, Rebecca wondered what he had seen.

"It was a demon," Alec said. "The kind that feeds on dreams and wishes. I killed it." He frowned slightly. "Where's Jace?"

Clary paled under the dirt on her face. "We thought he'd be with you..."

"He's alright." Alec shook his head. "I'd know if he weren't."

Just then, Jace came stumbling down the hill, a vacant look on his face. Immediately, Clary was at his side, gazing anxiously at him, checking him for injuries.

"What did you see?" Rebecca said. "Max?"

Jace simply shook his head without looking at her. "I didn't see anything."

"It's all right, whatever you saw. It's all right," Clary said. She leaned in and touched Jace's face; Rebecca was acutely reminded of Jonathan's fingers on her lips in the dream.

"We all have dreams," Clary was saying. "It doesn't mean anything. Remember what I said before? We stay together."

It doesn't mean anything. Rebecca held on to those words for dear life.

After that, they got down to business. Clearly, nobody wanted to linger in this place; it was so dead and lifeless that it made Rebecca's stomach clench. The air was thick and hot. She didn't think they could survive here for very long, but she didn't say it out loud. Nobody needed to hear it.

She slid her stele out of her pocket and traced a Tracking Rune onto her wrist, hoping that her plan would work. Only the blood in her veins could lead her to him. She slipped the stele back into her pocket, feeling the Tracking rune washed over her like a gentle wave.