City of Heavenly Fire

Down the Rabbit Hole

"What are you doing here?" Isabelle asked her brother, "you were supposed to be in London."

Alec only replied with a shrug. "I was thinking of coming back anyways. I called mom to see how everything was and she told me what happened to Clary..." he shot her a quick glance, praising her whitened skin and the shadows under her eyes. "She said you lot were going after Sebastian. Although I don't know why you'd bring her, no offense Clary."

"Neither do I," Jace muttered under his breath.

Clary by this point, who was a little offended by the way, wanted to smack the smirk off both of their faces. "You're a little late on the lecture, Alec."

He gave her a weak smile. "Anyway, if you were going after Sebastian, I'm not missing out on the action. I still need to make him pay for..." Alec's voice trailed off as his eyes lowered to the ground. Isabelle walked over and patted his shoulder reassuringly. "He will pay for that, Alec, and for everything else he's done."

Clary bit her lip to keep from saying anything. Sure, she wanted Sebastian to face the repercussions of his actions...but it still wouldn't bring the dead back, just the addition of a fallen enemy.

____________________________________________________________________

"Maybe we should think of something else," Simon said, appearing and disappearing from the darkness, searching for any signs of the creatures. "I mean, this clearly isn't working."

"Don't be so negative," Clary replied, ignoring the irritating pain that coursed through her neck as she leaned over a railing that fell a few floors to the street below. They stood on a rooftop down by Central Park, standing above a cafe. "We already saw one tonight."

"If that in fact even was one," Jace piped in, holding Clary's hand as she looked down, as if she'd topple down the base of it.

She cleared her throat. "Uh, what did I just say about the negativity? It was. I saw it."

"Why can't these things ever be easier?" Simon complained, landing back onto the rooftop after scouting an alleyway. "Seriously, why can't we ever just find what we're looking for, get to the source of it, say some clever things, and kill it? The bad guys always have to make everything so complicated. One reason why they absolutely suck."

Clary saw Alec's lip twitch. "One reason why they...suck?"

The Vampire automatically groaned. "I already have to deal with Jace on this, I don't need you, too," Simon bit back.

Jace smiled. "I didn't realize how dearly missed you would be, Alec."

"That's a nice thing to say to your parabotai," he replied.

Clary rolled her eyes as Isabelle let out an aggravated sigh. "No wonder we aren't seeing anything. It's because you all won't shut it! Ugh, could you guys just stop bickering for a moment? Are you capable of that?" she asked with raised brows.

Alec shifted his eyes to the road blow, ignoring his sister. Jace, already sensing Alec's idea, followed his gaze. "Interesting," he muttered, pursing his lips as if he were thinking of something unpleasant.

"What?" Isabelle and Clary said in unison. Boys, Clary thought, they either speak too much or speak too less.

Just as Clary was getting around to asking again, realization dawned on Izzy's face. "Oh, no," she said. "No, no, no, no, no. These boots are new!"

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"Jace, when we get out of here, I am going to kill you," Isabelle complained as they lifted up one of the street lids that led to the sewer system. "These shoes were a fortune and you will pay for them in full," she continued, motioning for everyone to go first. Ugh, she really needed to stop wearing cute boots out on a hunting trip. She mentally cursed herself. "Ew, it smells horrible."

"Ah," Jace said, "it's just a little bit of everyone."

Isabelle slapped his shoulder in response.

"Well," Alec began, "who wants to be the first to climb down into the feces water first?"

Jace grabbed a witchstone from his pocket. "I vote Simon. Hey, it's not like I bought this shirt at Walmart," he added, catching the look on Clary's face.

Simon stepped forward, humming a little song to himself. "One, two, three, four, down below New Yorkies' floor. Five, six, seven, eight, Jace is the one I truly hate."

"You are all deaf," Izzy muttered, watching him descend into the hole. A short silence followed before Simon's voice appeared from down below. "Yeah...the movies never did any of this justice."

"Is there any ground?" Isabelle asked as Jace helped Clary next.

"Of course there is."

"Oh, good," Isabelle said.

"Yup, but it's covered with all this putrid water."

Izzy glared at the hole and her hands automatically curled into fists. After all this was over, Simon will be glad he was made immortal; he wouldn't survive her otherwise.

"You're next Izzy," Alec said. Isabelle crept forward and placed her feet and hands on the rungs, going down slowly. The smell impossibly worsened, becoming nearly unbearable, like acid to the nose. She'd deal with it though; had to.

"Yuck," Clary said, covering her nose in the light of Jace's stone.

"You think it's bad," Simon said, "but think how bad it must be for me."

"Excuse me," Clary said, "I have hightened senses. It's both a gift and a curse."

"And a side-effect due to the venom..." Simon added.

"Ditto."

"OK," Alec intervened, "looks like we have two options. Left or right. Which way?"

"I say we just split up," Clary said, glancing down both possibilities.

"No way," Jace snapped. "We can't risk-"

"Well, we have to," Isabelle said. "Simon, Clary and I will go left, you and Alec go right."

"If you think I'm leaving Clary to-"

"Those things will think that if Clary's with us, you will be, too. They're not after her."

Jace glared at her. "So you think I'll let you use her as a type of bait?"

Isabelle pursed her lips but didn't say anything.

He cursed. "That's not an option."

"It's also not your decision," Clary added. "You guys go that way. I'll be fine. I've got a Vampire and Isabelle."

"No," he said.

"You don't get the final say."

"Jace," Alec whispered, "she'll be okay. They have a point."

"But-"

"No more buts, we don't have time," Izzy said. "Let's get going."