"Jace, where's Clary?"
"What do you mean-" Jace huffed as he turned around, eyes widening in surprise to find Clary missing. He swiftly let out a string of curses, his normally composed posture slouching as he shut his eyes in annoyance. Tris tried looking around for a head of bright red hair but to no avail. She let out a sigh, looking to Jace, who had his hands covering his face.
"Uh," Tris spoke up, catching his attention instantly. "What do we do now?"
Jace frowned, crouching down and removing a dagger from his boot. Sighing, he winced as he slit a cut on his palm. Tris' eyes widened, a small gasp leaving her lips. "What are you doing?!"
"Cutting my palm," he stated, earning a glare from the brunette. As much as he tried to hide it, a small laugh escaped him as he shook his head. "Tris, it's to give Alec a sign that something's wrong."
"Oh," the girl whispered. "Parabatai, right. I forgot." She took his hand that was bleeding and sighed. She shrugged off her flannel shirt she had used as a jacket and delicately wrapped it around his hand, using the sleeves to tie a knot. "It'll help stop the bleeding, at least. Till someone comes here. Don't touch anything, it could get infected."
Jace sighed dreamily, a grin on his face as he looked at the brunette. "Thank you." She only nodded in return. It was only a few more minutes later that Isabelle appeared, giving them a smile.
"Hey. I'm guessing Alec got my message, huh?" Jace showed Izzy the cut in his hand, covered with the flannel shirt. "Had to do something to get your guys' attention. Can I use your stele?"
"What happened to Clary?" Izzy questioned, handing Jace her stele. He murmured a "thank you", activating his iratze.
Tris shrugged. "We don't know. One minute we were looking for her stele by the lake, the next she was gone."
Izzy's eyes narrowed, her brows furrowed in concern as she looked at the pair. "You didn't drink any of the lake water, did you?"
"No, but Clary did," Jace replied. Izzy frowned, her brows furrowing even more. The blonde boy rose a brow. "What?"
"Lake Lyn has hallucinogenic properties," Izzy explained. "An iratze should be able to cure her, but we need to get to her soon."
"Or what?" Tris questioned, her head clouding with the worst thoughts of what could happen to the redhead.
"She could lose her mind forever."
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The trio looked around in the forest for a while before they found the redhead they were looking for, sitting by a rock. She seemed confused, just sitting still and looking around. Tris winced as a small branch scraped the side of her ankle. Jace huffed. "Clary?" She jumped up almost instantly.
The redhead's brows were furrowed, her hands put up in front of her defensively. "Who are you?"
Jace stepped forward cautiously. "It's me, Jace."
"I don't know you."
"You're confused," Tris stated. "We're here to help you."
Izzy pulled out her stele. "Just hold still," she instructed, slowly coming closer.
Clary's lips pulled into a deeper frown. "Where's Nick?"
Before Izzy could activate Clary's iratze, Clary had begun fighting her. Jace wanted to grab her from behind, but Clary kicked him. Tris took in a deep breath, focusing her eyes on Clary and watching the redhead's figure slowly fall as she clutched her chest. Breaking out of it, Tris looked to Izzy and jabbed her thumb towards the hallucinating girl.
Quickly, she activated Clary's iratze, the girl waking up instantly. Tris let out a small grimace. "Sorry, Clary, I had to do that."
The redhead just signaled a thumbs up, meaning it was okay. Tris finally relaxed her shoulders, slightly slouching now. She looked up when Jace took her hand in his. "C'mon, we need to get to the cabin."
The four of them approached Lake Lyn, looking for the cabin while Jace explained where it could be. "Haven't been to this cabin in years, but I'm pretty sure it's just past this hill." As soon as he said that, they found themselves at a certain distance away from the cabin. Jace sighed. "There it is."
"Someone was just here," Izzy noted, looking at the open door.
The group quickly made their way to the cabin, ascending the stairs into the small home and splitting up to look around, only to find nothing. There was no one there anymore. Jace could only huff, crossing his arms across his chest with a frown. "We're too late."
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