𝑶𝑭 𝑩𝑳𝑶𝑶𝑫 𝑨𝑵𝑫 𝑩𝑬𝑻𝑹𝑨𝒀𝑨𝑳

ᏘᏊᏘKᏋ, ᏘRIᎦᏋ ᎧR ᏰᏋ FᎧRᏋᏤᏋR FᏘLLᏋᏁ

"I believe you." This stunned Alyssa, as she was expecting him to protest and deny her thoughts.

"You do?"

"Yeah. Look, I trust you and your instincts. Since the day he arrived here, you've never liked him and he puts you on edge like no other.

I mean, sure, you didn't like Lydia either when she first arrived, but after she proved herself, you two became close friends.

But Sebastian, even with all he's been doing, his helpfulness, and everything, especially when he helped save Jace, it hasn't made you warm up to him. If anything, you're more suspicious than ever."

"I just... I don't know. I have this feeling in my gut that he isn't who he says he is."

"And I believe you." Alec said, making Alyssa smile. "But the problem is, you, Antonio, and I are the only ones who don't entirely trust him, and we don't have anything to use against him to prove that he's not Sebastian."

"Yeah, unfortunately, we're just going to have to bide our time. With the Mirror here, it's like Clary said, he's going to go after it. Maybe we can catch him then."

"Yeah. So does Jace know about your theory or..."

"Oh, he's been listening this whole time and he's on board. We just have to act like normal for now." Alec nodded in agreement.

Just then, Alyssa scrunched up her nose, picking up the scent of blood in the room. "Hey, do you smell that?"

A confused look appeared on Alec's face. "Lyssa, your sense of smell is way keener than mine, so no. What is it, what do you smell?"

"Blood. A lot of it and it's coming from behind the desk. I don't know how I missed it before when we entered." She said, with a worried expression as she rounded the desk to find a pool of blood on the floor. Alec also rounded the desk and saw what she saw.

"What the hell?" He said softly. Alyssa looked up and saw a trail of blood leading outside the office.

"Alec, there's a trail." She took a deep breath, trying to get a lock on the owner of the blood. Her eyes snapped open when it clicked for her. "Oh my God, it's Max."

Eyes widening, Alec followed her as they ran out of the office. They followed the trail as Alyssa tracked Max's scent to Izzy's room.

They were in the hallway leading there when they heard Izzy yelling for someone to get a medic.

They immediately quickened their steps and entered to find Izzy kneeling next to an unconscious Max on the floor, with blood coming from his nose.

"Oh my God. Max!" Alec exclaimed as both he and Alyssa kneeled by Izzy. Alyssa checked the boy's pulse. It was there but it was slow and his breathing was shallow. She turned his head to see a nasty gash on the side.

"We need to get him to the infirmary now." She said urgently. Alec picked him up and the three rushed out of the room with the unconscious preteen.

Infirmary

Izzy and Alec were standing beside the bed Max lay in while Alyssa stood at the foot as the doctors examined him. The boy was still unconscious and had a bandage wrapped around his head.

"I tried using an iratze rune to wake him, but nothing's working." Izzy informed the doctors. They hardly paid her any mind as they continued to examine Max. Antonio and Clary rushed in just as the doctors moved from the bed.

"What happened?" Antonio asked.

"I don't know. I found him like this in my room." Izzy replied, looking down at her little brother with worry.