Alec walked away from the hotel with such great speed that Isabelle had to run to catch up with him. "Alec, what the hell was that?"
He slowed his pace, letting her catch up, but continued walking. "I don't know," he said, "Something just came over me. I guess Jace not being back yet is stressing me out more than I thought." He sighed, as if trying to breath out all the worry and pain.
"He'll be back soon, I know it. But we have bigger problems right now. We need to tell Maryse."
Alec agreed. "Yeah, this is definitely something big. But she left for Idris."
"We can send a fire message, but we'll have to go see him," Isabelle said.
"NO!" Alec said firmly. "You can go, but I'm not."
Isabelle stepped in front of him, stopping him in his tracks. "You need to talk to him eventually. And he's the best person for this."
Alec tried to get around her, but she blocked his way. "Why should I talk to him, he said he didn't want to see me. Plus, I don't want to see him."
"Don't lie Alec, you know you still have feelings for him. Magnus broke up with you because you didn't communicate enough. That doesn't mean he hates us completely. And if he refuses to do it as a favor, we'll pay him. But you need to talk to him sometime." Alec was looking away from her, so Isabelle grabbed his face and made him look at her. "We're going to see Magnus, you got it?"
After she released his face, he caved. "Fine, but I'm not talking to him."
Emilia wanted to shoot so badly that it got the best of her. Alec had told her there was a range here somewhere, and she was determined to find it. She slung her quiver across her body and grabbed her bow. Wandering through the corridors, she hoped she wouldn't run into Jace. Even though she wanted to see him again, she hated him at the moment. She felt like he was using her. As she opened the next door on the left, Emilia was greeted by the sight of a wall of all kinds of bows; bows made of wood and other materials she didn't recognize, ornate bows carved with swirling patterns she now knew were runes. It was like her own personal heaven. To the right of that was a wall of different kinds of arrows, much similar to the bows. And to the left of the bows was the range.
She walked over and stood a good hundred yards away from the first target. She knocked her first arrow, raised the bow, and prepared to shoot. Memories flooded back, memories of her childhood, of hunting with her father. He told her once that most things would come and go, but this she would have forever. Thinking about transferring all her anger into the arrow, she let it fly. Bull's-eye. A wave of relief washed over her. She knocked the next arrow as she walked towards the next target.
Jace was still furious with himself. He had spent the last hour throwing seraph blades to try and vent some anger while still being somewhat productive. It seemed to be helping at the time, but now he was back to being mad. How could he be going around and kissing the first girl he saw once he got home? She wasn't Clary, no one ever could be. He felt guilty he had broken his self-promise and was sure Clary was glaring down at him from Heaven. Nothing could describe the mixture of emotions he had towards Emilia. The pull she had on him was immeasurable, and he couldn't figure out why. He NEEDED to be near her, but at the same time, the thought of it repulsed him.
Isabelle practically had to drag Alec to the door of Magnus's apartment building. She thought he'd at least want to see Magnus again after what happened. He had sat around moping for weeks. She buzzed his apartment, and there was an unusually long pause before the door opened. They climbed the stairs and saw Magnus waiting for them down the hall. His face went white when he saw Alec, but Alec did nothing. When they got to the door, Magnus's greeting caught them both off guard. "I thought you were Jace again. That's why I took so long to let you in. I was debating whether I should let you in or not."
"Jace?!" asked Alec frantically. "He's back?!"
"Yes," Magnus said, looking surprised. "You haven't seen him yet? He said he was going back to the Institute in the morning."
"He was here last night?! What the hell Magnus, why didn't you tell us?!" shouted Alec.
Magnus threw up his hands. "I'm sorry; he said he didn't want anyone to know yet. Now at least come inside before someone comes out and yells at you." He ushered the Shadowhunters inside and closed the door. "Now, yes, Jace is back. He told me not to tell anyone. I thought he would have talked to you already, but I guess I was wrong."
Alec said nothing, but he glared at Magnus before moving to sit in a red chair.
"Sorry, he's a little moody today," Isabelle apologized. "Bad time of the month." If looks could kill, Alec would have brutally murdered her.
"I see. Well, what are you here for? I thought you would be off worshipping Jace for returning," Magnus said as he sat down on the couch.
"We need you to send a fire message to Maryse in Alicante. It's urgent," Isabelle said.
Magnus sighed. "I told you I was done being your pet warlock."
"We're willing to pay," said Alec, finally breaking out of his temper tantrum.
"Yeah, this is really important. The safety of the Nephilim as a whole is in danger," Isabelle added.
"Well, this sounds like and interesting story," Magnus said. "Why don't you enlighten me?"
"How can we be sure we can trust you, after what happened?" asked Alec, still with displeasure in his tone.
"Oh Alec, same as always. Just because I have no personal relationship with the Nephilim, doesn't mean I won’t help you. Now, what is going on?"
Isabelle proceeded to tell Magnus everything Raphael had told them. "We aren't sure if it's completely the truth," she added, "But it definitely demands the attention of the Council."
Magnus thought for a moment. "If what he says is true, then we have much to fear. Depending on the warlock, they may be placing binding spells on anyone who joins them, so they cannot leave their control. I'll send a message, but who do you want me to send it to? Your father?"
Alec and Isabelle looked at each other. They had forgotten Robert was in Alicante too. Now it made sense why Maryse had gone to Alicante herself to deliver the message that could have been sent just as easily by fire message. "No," Alec said. "Send it to Maryse."
"She's in Idris? Well, it's really none of my business. I will send the message. Now if you don't mind, please leave. I do have other customers you know." Magnus rose to get the door.
"Thanks Magnus," Isabelle said as she exited the door. Alec was right behind her, but Magnus stopped him.
"We need to talk for a minute," he said.
"I'll just wait in the lobby," Isabelle said with a smirk. Alec wanted to smack her, but he turned and walked back into the apartment. Magnus motioned for him to sit, and he returned to his red chair. Chairman Meow jumped into his lap, and Alec began stroking his fur.
"So what do you want to talk about," asked Alec, playing dumb.
"Isn't it obvious?" asked Magnus. "I didn't want to leave you, you know.”
Alec looked at him. "Then why did you? You can't even begin to imagine how much that hurt me."
"Believe me; it wasn't easy for me either. But you wanted to take immortality away from me, without even talking about it. I can’t let someone do that." His cat eyes look down at the fire blazing in the fireplace.
"I wanted to talk to you, but you were so busy working on deciphering the writings that you hardly wanted to spend time with me. You wouldn't even come to bed!" Alec said, trying not to shout.
Magnus looked at him. "I was doing that for you, remember. And whenever I wanted to talk, you shut me out."
"I'm sorry. I just didn't know how to say it. It's taken me a long time to find someone I could be with, and when I did, I didn't know what to do."
"That's why you should've talked to me," said Magnus. "I would've understood. I wasn't exactly a love expert when I was young either. Hell, I'm not an expert now!"
Alec looked taken aback, and couldn't find the words to say. Magnus walked over to him. "I would have considered giving up my immortality to be with you," he said softly.
Alec stood up, their faces inches apart. "Then why didn't you say so when it came up?"
"Because I was mad at the time, but after I thought about it, I realized that what we had was different than anything else I have ever felt. But, at the same time, you didn't talk to me about it, and taking something like that away from me is a big deal. It can't be undone." Magnus put a hand on Alec's shoulder. "But what's important is that we're talking again, and that makes me happy," he said with a smile.
"Same here," Alec said. "For the longest time, I wanted nothing more than to come and see you, but I was afraid you would kick me out. But now that I'm here, I feel better."
Magnus spoke again, words that Alec already knew. "I still love you."
"I do too." Alec leaned up and kissed him. Magnus put his arms around Alec and pulled him into a hug.
"You can come back and stay here if you want," Magnus said against Alec's shoulder.
"I'd like that. But right now I have a brother to return to." He pulled away from the warm embrace. Magnus opened the door for him, and after a final "I love you," he walked downstairs, finally feeling better.
Jace had resorted to lying on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. He had taken a shower, the longest shower he'd ever taken, trying anything to clear his head. Now he lay still, letting his mind wander as it willed, finally realizing that it was futile to try and stop it.
Alec and Isabelle returned to the Institute and promptly began to look for Jace. Rushing from room to room, Alec sprinted to Jace's bedroom and flung the door open. Jace shot straight up, and it took him a minute to process what was going on. Alec rushed over and hugged him.
"Jace! I've been worried sick about you!" Alec exclaimed, letting go of Jace. "Why didn't you find us earlier?"
"I was preoccupied," he said, remembering the afternoon with Emilia.
"Well, it doesn't matter, you're back. That's all that matters right now. Where the hell were you?"
"Everywhere."
Isabelle came walking into the room. "Hey Jace. Back from the edges of the earth I see."
"Good to see you too," said Jace.
There was a moment of silence before Alec spoke again. "So have you met Emilia?"
The urge to be with her returned. "Yes," he said. "She seems nice."
"That's all you have to say?" asked Isabelle. "No smart remarks about how she's probably a whore underneath or something?"
Jace felt like he was going to be sick. "Nope," he said as he tried to keep his composure.
"Well, that little trip you took changed you," said Isabelle. "But we have a problem here." She told him about what happened with Raphael, and that they sent a message to Idris.
"That's definitely something to watch out for. But since you notified the Council, I don't think there's much we need to do right now."
"Where is Emilia anyway?" asked Alec.
"How should I know? Probably in her room. I don't know what she does with her spare time."
"Well, I think we should all go out to dinner. She's part of the family now, so we should get to know her," said Isabelle. "We can invite Simon too."
Jace groaned. "Why? You bring him everywhere."
"He happens to be my boyfriend. You brought Clary everywhere and none of us complained," Isabelle shot back.
"That's different, and you know it," Jace said, somewhat hurt.
"Fair enough. But you need to find Emilia so we can go to Taki's. I'll call Simon, and Alec, go clean yourself up. You're hair looks like a bird built a nest in it." Isabelle then skipped out of the room.
"So great to be back," said Jace semi-sarcastically.
"It is great to have you back," said Alec. Then he went to fix his hair.
Jace really didn't want to go and look for Emilia, but he knew he would feel the wrath of Isabelle if he didn't.
Emilia was on her fourth round of arrows, and this time she was using moving targets. As she was preparing, she heard the door open. Ignoring it, she knocked the first arrow. The target appeared, and she let the arrow fly. She continued this until she had exhausted her quiver. When she turned to see who had entered, she was greeted with a slow-clapping Jace.
"Very impressive," he said, sounding sincere. "I've never seen a mundane shoot like that before."
"My father taught me," she said, then turned to retrieve her arrows. Jace followed, and helped her. He seemed to notice something on the arrows, but quickly looked away when he saw her watching him. After they had gathered them all he asked, "May I see your bow?"
She was puzzled why he would want to but agreed. He examined it, glancing over the carvings her father had made in the wood. She saw something flicker across his face, but only for a split second. Then he handed it back to her.
"It's a beautiful bow. Hand carved. Not many people carve their own now a days."
"Thank you. My father and I carved it together when I was twelve."
"Well, I didn't mean to interrupt you, but Isabelle and Alec are back. They want to go out to dinner. Isabelle is bringing her boyfriend Simon."
"Oh," was all she could come up with.
"Yeah, I know. So you ready to go?"
"Um," she said, looking down at her clothes. "I think I'll change first. Come and get me in ten?"
"Sure," he said. "You want me to walk you back to you're room?"
"Uh, yeah. Sure." Emilia thought this was unusually strange for him. He wasn't such a gentleman before this. Now, he held out his hand for her to take, and she did. He led her back to her room, and left without a word.
She changed into black skinny jeans, a low-cut peach colored t-shirt, and her brown leather combat boots. After touching up her hair and throwing on some perfume, she walked into the hallway, where Jace was waiting. He led her to the elevator, where Alec and Isabelle were waiting.
"Everybody ready?" Isabelle asked.
"Yeah," Emilia said. "Let's go."