𝑶𝑭 𝑩𝑳𝑶𝑶𝑫 𝑨𝑵𝑫 𝑩𝑬𝑻𝑹𝑨𝒀𝑨𝑳

HᏘIL ᏘᏁᎠ FᏘRᏋᏊᏋLL

The Institute - The Office

Alyssa and Alec were on a video call with the Inquisitor, with Jace and Clary standing close by, giving a report on their mission that morning to try and apprehend Jonathan and hopefully Valentine.

They and Izzy had gone to the apartment Jonathan had taken her to when he saved her from Azazel, only to meet the possessed form of the real Sebastian Verlac, set as a trap for them.

'Have you notified the Verlac family yet?' Imogen inquired.

'The Penhallow daughter, Aline, will deliver the message in person, Madam Inquisitor,' Alec replied.

'Defiling the body of a fallen soldier and turning it into a booby trap is sadly par for the course of Valentine, isn't it?'

'Sadly, but unsurprisingly, it is. The possessing demon wouldn't have done this on its own. The trap could only have been set using the Mortal Cup to command it.' Alyssa said.

'So he had it all along.' Imogen said in realization. Alyssa refrained from rolling her eyes at the obvious statement.

'And our intel shows that he's also in possession of the Mortal Sword.' Alec informed the Inquisitor.

"Which she and the Clave lied to us about." Alyssa muttered under her breath, only audible to Jace, who gently nudged her.

'Do you have any good news for me today, Mr. Lightwood and Ms. Graymark?'

'We do. The father and son duo are under the impression that the Institute has the Mortal Mirror, and they're determined not to leave the city yet without it.' Alyssa replied.

'Thank the Angel that at least he wasn't able to find that.'

'We were. Clary?' Alec said, leaning away so the Inquisitor could see Clary.

'My connection and that of Aly...'

'The Mirror is in Idris, Madam Inquisitor,' Alyssa cut in, puzzling Clary. 'It's none other than Lake Lyn.' The Inquisitor was surprised.

'That's the very water that Raziel first rose from. Who else knows about this?'

'Unfortunately, the number of people we can trust is getting smaller by the day. We thought it's best to tell you first.' Jace replied. 'And we'd like to officially request soldiers from the Gard to be placed in the surrounding woods around Lake Lyn. It may only be a matter of time before Valentine realizes he's been had.'

'I'll speak to Consul Malachi about deployment at once. Good hunting.' Imogen said before ending the call. Alyssa moved from behind the desk to sit in front of it.

"Lyssa, why did you interrupt Clary?" Alec asked,

"Yeah. That was weird." Clary added.

"Because you were about to put me on the Clave's 'dangerous being' radar again." Alyssa replied as Jace moved to stand behind her, placing his hands on her shoulders. "We're the only ones that know that I also have angel blood besides my dad and Magnus, and I'd like to keep it that way, thank you very much." Alec and Clary nodded in understanding.

"So what do we do now?" Jace asked, changing the subject.

"Well, there's only nine million people in the metro area. How hard could it be to find two?" Clary said sarcastically, leaning forward on the desk.

"Look who's learning to be sarcastic from me. Cute." Alyssa said just as sarcastically. "Anyway, even if we had the entire institute scouring around, it's not gonna be enough, especially with Valentine.