Overwhelmed [3] 《SHADOWHUNTERS》

Chapter Eighteen

Without Clary at their side, the trio had no choice but to request Magnus' assistance in order to portal into Idris without a record being kept. The High Warlock had been stiffly against the scheme his partners had conjured up, well aware that breaking into the Silent City was more than enough to get them all thrown into it themselves. But those chocolate eyes of Alec Lightwood's never allowed Magnus to deny the man for long, and it proved an even weaker fight with Andina beside him.

The warlock's magic helped the group land in the midst of an airy field that was much farther from the city than they had wanted. Long, dry grass had grown tall enough to flower, revealing tufts of the grain that made up the weeping ground cover. The three figures that trampled it down appeared as true soldiers, ready to fight for one of the few things they felt they had left as the bright, swirling portal cut the light out of the air. They were immersed in the darkness as they attempted to ascertain whose thoughts had unintentionally brought them there.

Alec and Isabelle were left to find Andy with her eyes on the dirt. "Sorry," she mumbled an apology as explained lowly, "Valentine used to bring us here."

Her mouth shifted painfully from the admission. The others could hardly offer any judgement. It remained obvious that her brother had been one of the few things on her mind lately. She hated her childhood, but it wasn't uncommon - during better days - for her to joke with Jace about their shared past. The Lightwoods waited patiently for her to roll the disturbance off of her shoulders and start forward, path set to lead them off of the grassy clearing. She took the silence as a sign that they were staring at her, analyzing her the way she knew them to do so well. Even Max was barred from asking about her early life, as the kid missed a lot of the sly comments she tried to chase him away with and dug into any problem of hers that he sensed. Usually just to tell her that it reminded him of a character in one of his artsy books from Asia.

Andy took them into the woods, well aware of which direction the city was from there. The two behind her took note of it, the memory she had refused to acknowledge within Jace's mind still fresh in their own. They retrieved witchlights from pockets to navigate the forest floor, snakes well known to frequent the area and wolves never far from the edges of the wilderness. The hike had them deliberating on whether or not to send a fire message to the ally that awaited them, but Alec reasoned against it when he considered that Joey may not be alone.

They waded through a freezing stream to find the end of the trees, the lights of the city swirling into view as the glass wards scraped the sky at each corner of one's vision. There they stood, opposite the large moor where they had trapped Jace the night prior. The cemetery seemed menial from there, and it was difficult to believe that the Silent City stretched out from underneath it and across the globe. Andy jutted her head to the right, towards the overgrown grass that could grasp the shallower end of the mountain. "Let's go in this way. They've probably got eyes on where they caught Clary."

Izzy and Alec agreed to her reasoning, and the latter requested that they allow their witchlights to die out for the moment. Going in with the equivalent of three LEDs would not help their attempt to be discreet. They slipped through the tree line until they could fall into the solid shadows and use the grass to cover themselves. Izzy tapped at the shoulders of the two in front of her, an aggravating jolt brought to both as she spotted a figure across the land. An enhanced-sight rune allowed her to tell, "It's him."

"Good," Andy muttered as she smacked at a nuisance that buzzed away from her face. She wished they had thought to bring bug spray. She sped up considerably as she abandoned the attention to staying quiet, the straw crunching underneath the thick soles of her boots. The others followed, still a bit more careful as they thought of the trampled grass that might be found in the daylight.