City of Heavenly Fire

The Guard

"I swear, when I find that sparkly Warlock, I'm going to tie him up like the Disco ball he is," Jace brooded, his anger and panic hitting Simon and Isabelle in waves. Simon did not want to hear any more from the Shadowhunter after he'd complained all morning, trying to find Magnus. Now they sat on the curbed sidewalk below the Warlock's apartment, debating on other places Magnus could have gone. Jace's hands were knotted in fists, matching how Simon's stomach felt perfectly. He knew the Shadowhunter was thinking of Clary, pained that he had to leave her in order to help her. But that didn't mean it made it any easier to say goodbye.

Simon shook his head. No. He couldn't think about that now.

"Too bad Camille is dead," Isabelle muttered under her breath, "that would have been my next guess."

Simon turned to Izzy, blocking out the sound of Jace's grinding teeth. "Alec has no idea where he is?" he asked.

She shook her head. "Alec transferred to the London Institute before Magnus left," Izzy said. "I doubt anyone knows where Magnus is."

"Would Maureen know anything about him?" Jace suddenly piped in, looking at Simon.

But he shrugged. "Then we'd still need to find Maureen and she may not have any information for us."

"Well we have to figure something out!" Jace suddenly bellowed, jumping to his feet and running his hands through his hair. "I'm sick of just sitting here when we could be looking for him! I don't care where he is so long as he can help."

"We are trying to figure something out Jace," Izzy said in a soothing voice. "But yelling isn't going to do us any good."

"Do you think he's in Idris?" Simon asked suddenly, shifting gazes from Jace to Isabelle.

"Maybe," she said. "But we'd need to find a way to contact him and direct contact is kind of a risk-" Isabelle broke off at the expressions on Simon and Jace's face. "What?"

"Since when do you play by the rules, Iz?" Jace asked, his elbows on his knees.

"Yeah?" Simon added, crossing his arms.

Isabelle looked offended but ignored his question. "We still need to be approved to access him, dummies," she snapped.

The Vampire and Shadowhunter exchanged a glance, turning back on Isabelle. "Hey, Izzy, does that guard still have a crush on you?" Jace asked.

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"Er . . . no offense, but I kind of expected you to bust out something a little bit cooler than this," Simon said a half-hour later, giving both Isabelle and Jace an accusing look. "I mean, really? A cell-phone?"

Izzy shot him one of her looks. "We still had to steal it from my mom. Doesn't that mount up to anything?" she asked.

Simon debated on that. "Not really," he concluded.

Jace crossed his arms over his chest. "Then you have not seen Maryse very angry before. Better pray you never have to," he added, sullenly.

"We still have to get permission to make direct contact with someone in Idris," Iz said, trying to flatten out the crumpled piece of paper on her knee, digits painted neatly across the center.

"I can't believe you kept the number," Simon said, an edge in his voice, "I thought you said you didn't like him."

She snorted. "The guy was a total creep, yeah. But I kept it as a just-in-case emergency," Iz said innocently.

Yeah, like Isabelle could be innocent. "Expecting many emergencies like these?" he asked, trying to quiet the hiss in his voice.

"Oh, will you two shut up?" Jace decided to intervene then, shooting them both a glare. "Izzy, call the guy before Maryse notices that her phone has taken a little detour."

Izzy narrowed her gaze at him and snatched the phone out of his hand, her fingers flying across the numbers. She held it up to her ear, tapping her foot impatiently.

"Hello?" Izzy asked on the third ring, her voice now sing-song like melted honey.

Simon knew the guy was toast.

"Yes, this is me!" she said, inserting false enthusiasm into her tone. Suddenly, she looked at Simon and Jace, sending them both a glare and waving her hand at them to give her a little privacy.

Jace rolled his eyes as he sauntered away, Simon a little bit more reluctant to leave.

She was faking the pleasure in her voice, right?

"I'm great and you?" she continued, still sending Simon that look that told him if he wanted to keep his fangs straight, he'd better leave.

Slowly, he walked over to Jace, still listening in on Isabelle's conversation. "Uh, yeah. Hey listen, Arlim, I need a bit of a favor . . . "

"Don't you think it's a little unprofessional to keep a phone on you during work?" Simon asked Jace who was leaning against the wall of some run down building, ignoring the tightening in his stomach. Like it mattered what Simon felt if this was going to help Clary. He'd deal with it. But he couldn't deny how distasteful the guard sounded-no pun intended.

Jace sighed. "Who said he was a professional?" he challenged with a shrug.

Simon bit his lip, deciding to change the subject. "You think he'll be in Idris?" he asked, hoping that this time Jace would whip out his over-confidence and do his super-hero pose and insure Simon that Magnus would be there.

Not that Jace really had a super-man pose-and if he did, Simon would probably laugh-but he still wanted to hear confidence in the Shadowhunter's voice again.

But he only he hung his head. "I really don't know, Simon," he whispered, and Simon could hear the pain in Jace's tone. "If he's not, then we will keep looking. This was my fault. I'm not stopping until I can make it better. Make Clary better."

The Vampire looked at Jace, surprised that he was telling him this. "It wasn't your fault. Stuff like this just happens."

Jace gave him a cynical look. "Hybrids are just let loose to attack someone and kill them? Stuff like that doesn't just happen, Simon."

"In our world it does. But that doesn't mean you should blame yourself."

"But I took her out-" he began, but Simon interrupted him.

"And if she had gone out without you?" he challenged, eyebrows raising. "Jace, if you hadn't been there, Clary would probably be dead," he flinched at the word. "At least now, we have hope."

"I'm scared to hope," Jace whispered, so low that even Simon wasn't sure if he'd heard him correctly. The Vampire took a deep, unnecessary breath. "She'll make it through this. Clary's strong enough."

The pain and anguish in Jace's eyes made Simon look away. Jace seemed different all of a sudden. It frightened Simon to see the guy who'd been a part of such horror and still remain steadfast now appear so . . . vulnerable. "And what if she's not?"

For that, Simon had no answer.