redamancy | jace herondale

29

"Hey-" Jace caught me in the Ops Center when I was heading for the table everyone else was at, "Can we talk?-"

I didn't stop, "About what?"

"About how you keep walking out of the room every time I walk in?-" Jace mentioned, keeping up with me.

"Don't know what you're talking about-" I shook my head once, "Look, I'm all booked right now- let's talk later-"

"Stop lying to me." Jace grabbed my arm and stopped me, "Look, I get it, alright- but- we can't avoid each other forever."

"Wanna bet?" I pulled my arm from his hold, before spinning around and heading towards our friends, "Hey- any word from Magnus or Luke?"

"No." Alec shook his head, "Valentine free, the Downworld Cabinet has been holding secluded meetings- at the Seelie Court."

Jace exhales, "Well, that's not good."

"That wouldn't be a first." I muttered, looking down, "You think anything good happens in the Seelie court?"

I could feel Jace's stare on me, as I looked at Alec when he spoke, "The Clave isn't gonna let this go unpunished- the Inquisitor's sent an envoy to assess the situation. Chances are they'll be the ones replacing me as Head of the Institute."

I shook my head, "Not if we can recapture Valentine."

"Sebastian and all available personnel are searching." Isabelle added in.

"We already know Duncan managed to hijack the portal." Jace tells us, "If he was Luke's accomplice, he could have been orchestrating the secret transfer all along."

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

"No, I won't let you go down for this." I shook my head, "This isn't your fault, it's mine- I was the one in charge of the transfer team."

"Hey, we all were." Jace backed me, making me lock eyes with him for a split moment, "Look Alec, you are a good leader- you can't just let Imogen fire you over something you didn't do."

Robert Lightwood's voice made all our heads turn at the sound of it, "Alec will do as he's ordered."

Isabelle stares, "Dad?"

"What are you doing here?" Alec questioned, already at unease at the sight of him.

"I'm the Clave's envoy." He said, "We need to talk."

-

"You asked Alec to assign both of us to search Staten Island?" I confronted Jace, walking into the room he was, "Really?"

Jace doesn't even bother to look at me, his eyes on the map in front of him, "Yeah, I needed someone I could trust."

I gape at him, "Couldn't have asked for Izzy- I don't know, even Clary?"

"No one works as good as we do." Jace lightly shrugs, pretending like he hadn't done this on purpose.

"Or, there's no way I can avoid you because I'm on assignment." I squinted my eyes at him lightly, then slowly walked toward him, looking at the map, "Wait- this is Idris."

"Yeah." Jace looked at him, "You really think Valentine's in Staten Island?"

"No, but- I'm pretty sure the Clave has Idris covered." I look at him, "Don't ya think?"

"Not if they're looking in the wrong place." Jace shook his head, "Valentine used to take me to this cabin in Brocelind Forest when I was kid."

"I know which one you're talking about." I stare, "You think he's hiding in a cabin?"