Echo and Alec walked down the street that lead to the Academy and Echo noticed that the people around her didn't even notice her. She wasn't used to Glamour and it was odd. She had to make sure not to touch or bump into anything. Alec pointed across the street to where Clary was digging around her bag looking for her ringing phone.
They crossed the street and Alec came up behind Clary, "What's the point of the invisibility rune if you don't silence your phone? It was childish sneaking out like that."
Clary rolled her eyes and pulled the phone from her pocket and answered using Simon's name.
Echo looked at the people, Mundanes, milling around the streets with no solid purpose to what they were doing. They looked slightly lost. Echo could feel a ring of emotions clouding the air around her. Anger, Confusion, Distraught, Peace, Love, Contentment and Anxiety. It was very overwhelming.
Echo looked over at Alec and Clary.
"Hang up. That's it we have to go, right now."
Clary looked up at Alec, "I'm on my way to the loft, there's something there that I think will help me find my mother."
Alec crossed his arms glaring at Clary.
"I'm fine I'm with Alec and Echo."
Alec glanced at Echo and sighed, technically this wasn't Echo's fault. Clary hung up the phone and looked at Echo and Alec.
Alec spoke what Echo was thinking, "Mundanes. Running around like ants. Let's go."
Alec pushed past Clary and gently tugged Echo along with him, leaving Clary to follow them.
"Why do you always look so miserable?" Clary held honesty in her voice.
"Clary!" Echo hissed under her breath.
Alec turned to face Clary, "I don't."
"You do. It must be hard being in love with Jace with him being straight."
Echo's eyes went wide and her mouth dropped open an inch.
"Excuse me?" Echo could feel the anger starting to pour from Alec.
Clary gave a laugh, "What's the big deal? I was there when that memory came out. Busted no?"
Alec glanced at Echo then to Clary, "We're Parabati."
Echo was just as angry as Alec was. Clary had no right to talk about that.
"Come on Alec, just say it. You'll feel better. You're in love with Jace."
Alec just shook his head, "Forget it."
"Alec we have a real problem to solve, okay? Come with me."
Clary clapped Alec on the arm and walked away. Alec looked down at Echo and gave a sigh.
Echo rolled her eyes and huffed. They both walked behind Clary with equal emotions. Clary led Alec and Echo down a few streets and ended up behind a building to where Simon was waiting. Clary hurried up to him and gave him a hug.
Simon then looked at Echo, "Whoa, what happened to your hair?"
Echo looked down at her locks then back up at Simon, "Don't worry about it."
"Now we need to move." Alec said suddenly jumpy.
"The loft is just across the ally."
"Yeah, well we have to be careful. There are eyes all over this place, and the entire Shadow World is looking for both of you." Alec gestured to Echo and Clary with narrow eyes.
Simon gave a smile, "You might know the Shadow World, but trust me. I know Brooklyn."
Clary gave a smirk and Simon was suddenly striding over to the wall and jumped over it. Echo's eyes went wide and she glanced up at Alec.
The trio eventually followed Simon into the back ally and up the fire escape. When they reached the apartment Echo was stunned to see the entire outside of their loft covered in runes of different sizes and colours.
"Yo, Clary, what's with all these tags?"
"You can see the runes?" Alec asked with a slight hesitation.
Simon folded his arms, "Yeah, kind of hard to miss."
Alec let his eyes narrow, "For a Shadowhunter. It should be invisible to most Mundanes. When did you get the sight?"
Alec took a step toward Simon as Echo examined the runes.
"I don't know." Simon shrugged.
Clary smiled over at Simon and went to the door and pulled on it, but it didn't budge.
Clary looked over at Simon, "There's only one flaw in your plan here Simon."
"Here let me try."
Both Echo and Alec watched Simon with curious eyes.
Simon gripped the doorknob and pulled open the dead-bolted door with incredible ease. Echo and Alec furrowed their brows and Clary looked impressed.
The group entered the dark loft and noticed that both Clary's and Echo's room had been torched. Everything they owned was ash. They went into Echo's room first and every memory she had built was burned into the ground.
Her once red walls were black and burnt. The carpet under their feet was covered in debris and ash. Echo walked over to her desk and saw the picture of her and Clary was hardly recognizable. The books stacked high on her dresser, were no more than crumpled heaps of destruction. The photographs that she had taken were gone and she couldn't feel any worse about the situation.
Echo knelt down when she stepped on a photograph and picked up the photo. This particular photo was an interesting angle of the Empire State building. This was one of the first pictures she had taken that she was proud of. She loved the picture. Echo let the picture fall back to the ground and she pulled the group out of her room and followed Clary into hers.
Clary's room was much like Echo's; everything was burnt and ashen.
Clary picked up a picture from her nightstand and held it up so that Echo could see it. It was a picture of a man dressed in a Military uniform. Jocelyn had said that this man was their father.
"There's nothing left."
Alec walked about the room, "Of course there isn't. Your mother was trying to erase that either of you ever existed. So neither of you could be tracked."
"These floor boards." Simon looked up, "They sound different in these two spots."
Simon bent down and pulled up a plank of hardwood and Alec pushed him away.
Alec reached down and pulled a box from underneath the floorboards. The box was unharmed by the once fire.
Alec held it up, "Is this the box you remember?"
Alec handed it to Clary and Echo sucked in a breath of air; She remembered the box very clearly, but she didn't know what was inside.
Clary opened the box and inside was a shoe meant for a baby and a raddle.
Echo let out an "oh, my god." As she realized what this stuff was. But nobody had a chance to ask her, because a noise behind them made Alec rush forward.
"There's someone here. Get what you need, but do not move until I get back. We've been here too long."
Clary put the box into her bag as Simon put the board back into its place in the floor. Echo rushed out of Clary's room and into her own. Echo moved the bookshelf that was beside her door and exposed a small hole in the wall. She pulled out a small, metal box and opened it. Inside were pictures of when she was a child. The particular picture Echo was looking for was when she was three, right before her mother fled Idris with her.
Echo stashed the photo into her jacket pocket just when she heard Clary and Simon shout. Echo heard a man with a gruff voice shout at them to be quiet. Echo stayed crouched behind her door and tried to keep her breathing quiet. Heavy footsteps rushed Clary and Simon out the door and she stood up.
Echo rushed out of the apartment when she knew that the man wasn't there anymore just in time to see an arrow fly in front of her. The arrow was aimed at a retreating figure. Echo rushed into the ally and eyed Alec who was looking across the street with sudden fright in his eyes. Echo looked down the ally and saw Clary and Simon getting pushed into the back of a black car.
Both Echo and Alec reacted at the same time and rushed toward Clary, but when they got to the mouth of the alley the car speed off, leaving a trail of dust. Alec turned around himself and put a hand in his hair. Echo was shocked, her sister was just taken and they didn't know where to find her.
Alec grabbed Echo's wrist and ran with her until they were back in Clary's room. Echo sifted through Clary's room with Alec in hopes of finding anything that could help them, but everything was destroyed. Alec was building with anger and eventually threw a box at the wall.
At that moment Jace and Isabelle stormed into the room.
"Where is she?" Jace came up beside Alec.
Alec let his vulnerability slip, "She's gone."
"What do you mean gone?"
Alec looked from Jace to Isabelle to Echo. His face was pleading as he glanced at Echo.
"She and Simon got arrested when Alec was securing the fire escape."
Jace looked over at Echo, "The Mundane was here?"
"Listen, it was an unmarked car, we don't know where they took her."
Jace took a step toward Alec, "What did you do, Alec?"
Alec couldn't say anything and Jace just rushed out of the room grabbing a drawing on his way out.
Isabelle glanced at her brother and Echo before grabbing Clary's bag and following them out. Alec let out a breath he hadn't know he was holding and walked out of the room with Echo. Alec and Echo found Jace out of the alley and behind a tagged building. He was holding the drawing in his hands with concentration written across his face.
"Damn it. She's not showing up." Jace looked over at Alec, "We need to Parabati track."
Echo stepped away next to Isabelle as Alec and Jace tried to track Clary. Isabelle was on the phone trying to figure out if Clary and Simon were actually arrested.
Jace pulled away from Alec as Isabelle got an answer.
"Just like I thought, she wasn't arrested."
Jace glanced at Isabelle then at Alec, "It was your job to look after her." His teeth were clenched as he took a step into Alec's face.
"I did my best, Jace."
Jace glanced at Echo then at Alec, "Well then maybe your mother was right, your best just isn't good enough!"
"Jace!" Isabelle was furious.
Alec took a minute step forward, "Are you so blinded by your feelings for Clary you've lost sight of us?"
Echo let out a silent breath feeling the tension between the Parabati brothers.
"Clary snuck out, we went after her, to protect her. That's nothing you haven't done a thousand times before."
Jace's tight face blew, "Yes you did. You lost her."
"Enough, please!" Echo shouted through tight teeth.
Jace and Alec looked over at her and Alec took a step away. Echo turned to Jace, "This isn't all his fault. I was there, I should have kept my eye on her."
Jace shook his head, "You did nothing wrong."
"I'm her sister, I'm doing everything wrong! I can't protect her like you can, but I should have done something. We tried to get her back Jace. Both of us."
Jace wiped his mouth with his hand, refraining himself from saying the wrong thing, but he couldn't contain it.
"This is you and your mother's fault. If you had told Clary about all of this, this wouldn't have ever happened!"
Echo's eyes went wide, "If I could replace Clary in this, I would. I would gladly be kidnapped and tortured if it meant that Clary never knew about this world. She isn't the only one who probably knows where the cup is."
Echo could still feel the anger coming from Jace.
"You should have been the one to get kidnapped."
"Jace, enough!"
Isabelle stepped in between the two of them forbidding either of them to answer.
Echo gave a glossy eyed look at Jace and pulled away from him. She put her hands in her pockets and pulled out the picture she had taken from the loft. When she looked at it, she could feel a new wave of hate and confusion wash over her.
In the picture were two adults and two children. The woman in the picture had a fake smile on her face and was trying not to touch the man that was next to her. The two children that were in front of the man and woman were sitting with their arms wrapped around each other in a real, genuine hug. Both of the children were the same in height. Echo looked at the young girl in the picture and knew it was her when she just turned three years old. The three-year-old version of her had light orange hair that matched her mothers.
The boy that she was hugging didn't look much like her. His hair was light blond and had no hint of red at all. Echo let her eyes rest on the man next to her mother. Valentine.
"What's that?"
Echo was startled as Alec snuck up behind her, the picture almost dropping out of her hand. Echo shook her head and shoved the picture in her pocket.
"Wait, was that Valentine?"
Echo didn't get a chance to answer him as the phone from Clary's bag started ringing. Jace answered it and Alec and Echo went up to him.
"Hello?"
"I thought I'd never utter these words, but thank god it's you. It's me Simon."
"Where are you?" Echo asked.
"Where's Clary?" Jace added.
"I don't know, uh, some Chinese restaurant? I think, this cop, Alaric arrested us, but it was a total fake out. They took us to his hang out and they told Clary that they would kill her if they don't find the cup."
Echo recognized Alaric's name and put a hand to her forehead.
"Just calm down, all right, just tell us what you see."
"Were defiantly on a Pier, there's a ton of water, uh I see lockers." There was a slight pause, "I'm in some kind of torture chamber. There's claw marks all over the walls."
Isabelle said the word as Echo was thinking it, "Werewolves."
"Wait, Simon. When you entered the restaurant did you see a yellow sign with red letters?" Echo asked narrowing down her memories.
"Y-yeah, I think so."
Echo looked up, "I know where they are. It's the Werewolf's hang out. The Jade Wolf on Green Street."
"Are you sure?" Alec asked.
Echo nodded, "Luke and my mom took me there to tell me about Werewolves. I'm sure."
"You're going to have to create a diversion, Simon. Stall them."
"How? All I have are clothes and a lighter."
"Start a fire." Echo said thinking on her feet.
"That never works!"
"Shut up, we are on our way."