Eᴘɪsᴏᴅᴇ 3 ~ Pᴀʀᴀʙᴀᴛᴀɪ Lᴏsᴛ
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Ever since the hybrid was back beside her brothers, they haven't left her side whatsoever. Right now, she's tracing her black veins across her arms, looking at them sadly. Jason and Isaac are talking with Luke at the bar whilst Maia sits beside the hybrid.
"You okay Alisha?" She asks worriedly after seeing the girl staring at her arms. Alisha looks up quickly after hearing her name. Jason, Isaac and Luke are now watching the girls encounter. Alisha gives her the best smile she can but everyone sees through it.
"I'm fine." She says quickly. Jason walks over to her, standing in front of the girl.
"What happened?" He asks her but she shakes her head.
"Nothing." She states making all the werewolves scoff.
"Sure." Isaac begins, about to ask her again but once he sees her pleasing look, he stays quiet.
"Look, when your ready to tell us, we'll be here." Luke says and Alisha smiles at him genuinely. Suddenly, his phone begins to ring so he quickly answers it. Alisha looks back at her brothers, not wanting to eavesdrop.
"I'm glad your okay." Isaac says warmly making Alisha smile.
"We all are." Jason adds with a warm expression.
"Thank you." She says. "I missed you." She adds making the brothers smirk.
"Oh we know." Isaac states cockily making Alisha scoff and the others laugh.
"I'm regretting admitting it now..." she mutters but Isaac shakes his head quickly.
"Nope, you said it, no take backs!" He shouts immaturely making most of the werewolves in the room stifle a laugh. Just as Alisha is about to comment, a very gloomy looking Luke walks over. The hybrid picks up on his mood change, something she learnt from Valentine's torture, and stands up despite her dull pain.
"There's a dead body on the beach." He looks up at Alisha, straight in her eyes. "Bright white hair." She shakes her head, knowing that's Gretel but not wanting to admit it. Isaac and Jason frown, still oblivious to the fact Gretel was missing. No one told them she was taken, some wanted to save the pain others just to focused on their dying pack member front of them.
"What's going on?" Jason asks seeing people rush around. No one acknowledges him though.
"I need to go down their." Luke says getting his gun and coat.
"I'm coming too." Luke opens his mouth to object but clamps it shut once he sees her stern expression. "Don't even try and stop me."
"I'll explain it to you two." Maia offers and turns to Alisha. "Be safe, or I'll kick your ass." The hybrid nods and rushes out after Luke, wanting to find her friend.
A very soaking wet Clary walks into the Institute. She has a few bruises but she doesn't seem to care. She has a confident expression. Her movements are determined as she strides through the institute, ignoring all the states.
"Hey! Hey, no. No. You can't go in there—" Raj says as she walks towards him.
"Where's Izzy?" Clary asks, clearly not in the mood to have a long conversation. She glances around after she speaks, looking for a certain Lightwood. After she didn't get a response, she walks off.
"I'm getting Aldertree." Raj says as he and Jocelyn follow the ginger Fairchild.
"Clary, are you okay?" Jocelyn asks, worried for her daughter. Clary waves her off.
"I'm fine. Just... I need to see Izzy." She tells her mother.
"Clary, wait." Jocelyn tries but Clary continues walking.
"No." The pair stop and Clary turns to her mother. She looks at her daughter worriedly.
"What happened? Where have you been? Did you find Alisha?" Jocelyn questions just as Aldertree walks up with some shadowhunters beside him.
"We're all curious." He states making himself known to everyone. He turns to a shadowhunter beside him. "Bring a change of clothes and a hot cup of tea to my office. Clary and I are gonna have a little chat." Clary shakes her head tiredly.
"I just... Please, let me see Isabelle." She tries again but no one budges.
"She's with Alec, Clary. He was trying to help me find you and something went wrong. He's in a bad way." Jocelyn says guiltily and Clary looks at her mother in disbelief.
On the beach, Alisha stands beside Luke and Alaric (who they met on the way there). Alisha has tears in her eyes as she looks at the bloodied, soaking wet body of her friend. Luke pulls the girl into his side as she cries silently. The guilt consumes her. Her mind races with ridiculous thoughts.
It was her fault.
She should've fought harder.
It should've been her.
Luke walks away from Alisha and places his fingers gently on her eyelids and closes his eyes. Alishas eyes stay focused on the body bag her friend is in. Alaric grabs her hand, knowing she needs the comfort. She just looks at him tiredly but he can see she's grateful.
"Beati Bellicosi." Luke sighs and returns back to the broken hybrid. The tears haven't stopped flowing down her face but her sobs have gotten quieter than when they first got their. Luke goes to hug the girl again but she steps back, not believing she deserves the comfort. Luke frowns sadly at her, trying to figure out what's happening in her mind.
"She was a sweet kid." Alaric says as he looks at Gretel. He too glances at Alisha, worried about her health right now. The black veins still cover her body, no one knows how to get rid of them. Luke said he'd take her to Magnus but she insisted that they sort out all this mess first. The werewolves hated the idea but she didn't really give them a choice. Right now, she was glamoured, if she didn't she would've been told to leave the crime scene, also everyone would look at her weirdly.
"Most of the time." Alisha managed to croak out making both werewolves shoot her a small smile. Luke turns back to Alaric.
"No, she wasn't. She was a giant pain in my ass. I'm gonna miss her. We all will." He states at Alisha but she's focused on the ground. Her tears are starting to dry but she still looks broken. "Any leads?" Luke sighs after studying the girl beside him but without drawing too much attention to himself.
"The witness saw a blonde male fleeing the scene." Alaric states and Luke scoffs.
"Let me guess. Early 20's, covered in tats?" Luke says. This catches Alishas attention. Her head shoots up as she looks at the sketch Alaric passed his alpha. It's Jace. She frowns slightly. Jace wouldn't do this. She tells herself. "Let's keep the mundanes out of this. It's better if the pack handles it." Alaric nods at Luke's order.
"You really think he killed her?" Alaric asks but Luke sighs.
"I don't know what to believe." Luke states making Alisha scoff.
"Jace didn't do this, Valentine did." She spits and storms off leaving two very worried men staring after her. The girl didn't know where she was going, she just let her feet take her somewhere.
Back in the institute, after Clary talked to Aldertree, her and Isabelle stand in the hall talking quietly. Izzy has a look of disbelief on her face after Clary told her what happened in Aldertree's office.
"I can't believe you lied to Aldertree." She whispers harshly, not mad at Clary just mad at everything else.
"I couldn't let him go after Jace like he did before." Clary states and Izzy smiles softly.
"So Dot took down the wards and you two jumped off the ship together?" Izzy asks and Clary nods slightly.
"Yeah, but as soon as we hit the water, the tide was so strong. We lost each other... I looked everywhere. I couldn't find him." Clary pauses, thinking. "Wait, if he and Alec are going through the same thing, we wouldn't be able to swim. He could be—"
"No. Jace is alive. If he were dead, Alec's parabatai rune would have faded." Izzy reassures the girl who nods slightly.
"So that's good news, right?" Clary asks after seeing Izzy's emotionless face.
"Yeah. But I don't know how much time Alec has left. Jace might be his only hope, and for all we know Valentine and the Circle have already found him." Izzy states worriedly.
"Look, Isabelle... Jace is the strongest person I know. We're gonna find him. I promise." Clary comforts making Izzy smile slightly. That smile quickly fades as she remembers what she needed to ask Clary.
"Wait, so Jace and Alisha went on some mission but Alisha never came back?" Izzy asks and Clary nods slowly. The pair breathe heavily, worried for the girl they both see as a sister.