Trapped in History

4

"What do you think of them?" Was the first question that William asked the moment that the duo were out of sight, folding his arms across his chest, and looking at the rest of them. He may have granted the two asylum, but that was because it was the right thing to do, and they had obviously needed help of some sort. Furthermore, as much as he may dislike the Lightwoods, they had been valuable, and their father had just kind of been turned into a demon, so he would give them the benefit of the doubt. He was not entirely heartless, after all, though his trust was not easily won, and he would not be trusted the Lightwoods anytime soon. Plus it was likely that the two brothers needed a distraction. William was being helpful in this case. Jem just sighed and shook his head, already too used to William's mindset to even say anything about it. Besides, he was somewhat curious about what the Lightwood boys thought about the situation anyways. 

"What do you mean?" Gideon glared at him, completely ignoring Gabriel's reproachful look. He glared at William. "You are the one who went and offered them sanctuary."

"Well, yes, I did do that." William conceded, tilting his head slightly to stare at Gideon. "However, someone needed to step up to the plate and I did not see any of you willing volunteers to handle the situation." Gideon scoffed, rolling his eyes, annoyed as ever, but quickly shut up the moment Gabriel began to speak. 

"I think they were being serious," The blue eyed boy said, his voice gentle, and soft. "Did you see how many healing runes that the black haired boy put on his friend?" Worried eyes looked up at the small gathering of people, the girls coming towards them, watching the situation clearly. Jem gave Tessa a small smile, and Jessamine merely rolled her eyes in response. "Something happened, and it was definitely not good. For the blonde boy." Gideon sighed. He could not believe his brother was indulging this, but he would not deny he had his own opinions.

"I do not know who would have been able to capture and hold two nephilim, but it is obvious that the blonde boy was tortured. Extensively. Without weapons and a Steele. From what I saw, the wounds were not from a demon either. Whatever may have happened happened, likely by another Nephilim or Downworlder, but even a Downworlder cannot easily take the weapons of a Nephilim, they can't even touch them, a majority of the time, which means..." 

Everyone paused, taking in this information. If the boy was not taken by a demon...then it was possible that he had been held captive by a downworlder, or even another shadowhunter, but given Gideon's information...they had to admit that it did not seem to pain a good picture. Jem sighed, this time sadly. 

"It is unfortunate. I do not know many people cruel enough for that." Jem turned to look at William, eyes solemn. "They were younger then us. Seventeen, maybe, at most." William bit his lip to stop from replying. His eyes flared in anger. Someone took children, and tortured one of them to the point of needed several healing runes. 

"You guys did catch the fact that the black haired boy was taken because he was 'one of the only people' the other guy cared about right?" Jessamine said, hands on her hips. Her teal eyes glared out at the boys. The boys turned towards the two girls, narrowing their eyes. Just how much had they been listening in on.

"And? What does that say to anything?" William retorted, instantly getting defensive. It was hard not to, with the tone that Jessamine used on him. Jessamine scoffed, but continued in answer to William's questions. 

"It means that whoever did kidnap those two did their research." The group stared at her blankly. "Oh by the angel," Jessamine cursed under her breath. "A kidnapper, who was smart enough to do research, will probably be looking for them. It is obvious that they wanted something from the blonde boy, something only he could give, otherwise why would they go through such trouble in order to gain his obedience? They had to kidnap not one but two shadowhunters, and even teenagers or not that is not an easy feat. The important thing, however, is that we know nothing about the person who is probably coming to try and find them. Someone needs to get information from them. That way we can try to be at least somewhat ready should they try and come and take them." 

"Jessamine is right," Charlotte said. "We need to be better prepared for someone trying to reclaim them." 

"Pressing them is going to be useless," Henry said, casting a serious eye on the group. "Just...do what you can and pay attention to what they say...and what they do. What they do not say can be more important then what they do, sometimes." 

"William, you do this." William gasped, staring at Charlotte. 

"What?" 

"Take the blonde boy." She clarified. "Despite the good holding in of his reactions, he obviously knows you, at least by mention. Gideon, Gabriel, take the dark haired boy. They way they reacted shows that they know you, at least a little bit. Even if you do not know them." 

"Fine," Gabriel said gently. "It is a good idea, I will admit." 

---

"So what do we do?" Jace asked, hands running through his hair, about ready to start pulling at it. They had been shown to their room, and then left by that maid Sophie, who had asked if they would like her to give them some alternate clothes. Both had refused. Jace would just wash them himself by hand. He did not trust this place, and their clothes...he was not wearing that to say the least. 

"Jace, calm down, it is not the end of the world." Jace turned to stare at him, deadpan. "Well, literally." Alec said with a slight shrug. Jace did not find it amusing, although he could not help but soften his tone a bit with Alec besides him.

"I accidentally threw us into some portal that ran us either to a whole different dimension, or, the past. So I mean, we could accidentally screw with the entire time line." Alec closed his eyes. He knew that Jace was right, but that did not mean that he had to admit it to the other boy. 

"Jace, breathe. Tomorrow, we will go and wander the demon market. We can try and glean some information on what is going on so we can narrow our field." 

"Why not just ask the day while we are at it. If we are going to do that and draw attention to ourselves while we are at it. Bad plan Alec." Jace glared at Alec his eyes flashing gold, hinting to his stress and anxiety at the current moment. Alec inhaled, breathing out softly, and slowly, collecting himself. Jace needed him to be calm at this moment. 

"Perhaps, but we can use the excuse of being foreigners. We do not exactly sound, british you know." Jace stopped his pacing abruptly, staring at Alec with wide eyes. Alec coughed a bit, to clear the tension in the air, but Jace was just staring at him still, even afterwards. Alec rolled his eyes. 

"That is brilliant." 

"I am known to have decent plans every once in a while." Alec said with a small laugh. Jace breathed out, calm now. Jace breathed in, calming himself, relieved that he had Alec with him, even if he felt a bit...upset that he had put Alec in this position. 

"Before we do that," Alec began, turning his gaze to Jace, pinning the boy with it. "You need a sparring session."

"I do not!" Jace denied instantly. Alec shook his head.

"Even if I wasn't your parabatai I could practically taste your restlessness." 

"There is not way that..."

"Jace," Alec said sternly. "You need to run off some steam. Okay? It is not a bad thing. Besides if we are going to the downworlder market, I would prefer both of us train a bit before."

Jace rolled his eyes, but reluctantly agreed.