Chapter 37

Jace's POV

I stood with Alec and Izzy in Ops Centre, waiting for Clary and Faith to join us. After losing Valentine, we've all been in high alert, fearful of what was going to happen.

A small tug at my insides made me look up, finding Faith and Clary walking into the centre.

"Any word from Magnus or Luke?" Clary asked, joining the table.

Alec shook his head, "No. With Valentine free, the Downworld Cabinet has been holding secluded meetings at the Seelie Court."

"That's not good," I mumbled as Faith stood next to me, mumbling her own response.

"Nothing good seems to happen in the Seelie Court."

Alec looked between all of us, worry in his voice. "The Clave isn't gonna let this go unpunished. The Inquisitor sent an envoy to assess the situation. Chances are, they'll be the ones replacing me as the Head of the Institute."

Faith, standing also next to Alec, put a hand on his arm. "You don't know that. If we find Valentine and fix this whole thing then everything will go back to normal."

Izzy spoke up, nodding in agreement, "Sebastian and all available personnel are searching. We already know Duncan managed to hijack the Portal."

"If he was Luke's accomplice, he could have been orchestrating the secret transfer all along," I said.

Sighing, Alec said, "Listen, I appreciate the effort, but Valentine escaped on my watch. I deserve to take the heat for it."

Faith dropped her hand, "This isn't your fault, it's ours. Jace and I were the ones in charge of the transfer team."

Standing up straighter behind Faith I nodded, "Yeah. Look, Alec, you are a good leader. You can't just let Imogen fire you over something you didn't do."

"Alec will do as he's ordered," A voice says behind us, making us all turn to find Robert Lightwood, Alec and Izzy's dad, standing there.

"Dad?" Izzy asked, surprised like we all were to see that he would be the one here.

"What are you doing here?" Alec asked?

"I'm the Clave's envoy. We need to talk," Robert said, making us all look at Alec who looked down in a mixture of anger and worry.

We all split up after that, seeing as our little meeting was over. I ended up in library, studying a map of Idris and looking at some books.

The sound of walking filled my ears and I looked up just as Faith entered. She gave me a small smile as she made her way over to me, "Hey, I was looking for you. Alec assigned both of us to search Staten Island. He says you asked him for me to join you on the search?"

I smiled and turned to Faith, "What, I can't spend some time with my soon to be wife?"

Blushing, which only grew my own smile, Faith laid her hand on my arm and leaned on it a bit. "Yeah, that's something I'm still going to need to get used too."

Nodding in agreement, I looked down at the map, "And I needed someone I can trust." I pushed the map of Idris to Faith who looked at it in confusion.

"You think Valentine is in Idris?"

"Valentine used to take me to this cabin in Brocelind Forest when I was a kid. I bet if we go there we can find more in that cabin then in Staten Island. Who knows, we might even get lucky and find him there."

"What did the Clave say?"

I sighed and sat my hands on my hips, "They denied my request for a portal and Magnus is still in the Seelie Court with Luke. Unfortunately, Portaling to Idris without approval isn't exactly sanctioned under the Accords."

Faith's eyes staid on the map, unmoving, which made me look at her in question.

"What if we don't need a warlock?" Faith said, pulling out her stele.

"What are you talking about?"

Faith draws a rune in the air before pushing it forward. A portal opens, causing a wind to pick up in the room and throw papers and books all over the place.

"How did you do that?" I yelled over the wind in confusion.

"I don't know, I just saw it in my head." Faith turned to me, "You're thinking of that cabin, right?"

"Yeah, but just wait a second, okay?"

Faith took my hand though, pulling me towards the portal, "We don't have a second, the Portal's about to close." She ran through the portal with me to quickly follow.

My body harshly landed on the sandy beach next to the lake. Quickly I sat up, looking next to me where I though Faith might be but she wasn't there.

"Faith? Faith!" I yelled, standing up. My eyes moved to the water, noticing Faith's body struggle under the water. Quickly I jumped in, grabbing Faith whose foot was caught in some fishing lines. I pulled out my pocket knife and cut the line before pulling Faith up to the surface.

She coughed up the water that had entered her lungs as I pushed my hair out of my face. My hand laid on her back, "You okay? Faith?"

"I'm fine. Just a little damp," Faith said with a reassuring smile. I helped her stand up before we looked around. "Is this it?"

I looked around, recognizing the place all too much. "Yeah, welcome to Idris."

We move into the woods as snow starts to fall lightly around us, yet the temperature was bearable. There were mountains around the woods, but in the middle stood the city, way off in the distant.

"I still can't believe you made a Portal rune," I said, walking next to Faith.

Faith shrugged, "I think it's more possible then we think. When I was looking at the map I saw the rune. The way the islands were made up and placed, it was in that shape. The Clave did that so they always have a way to get there. They hid it in plain sight."

"And yet you figured it out," I said, smiling. Faith shrugged in response as I smirked, "That's kind of hot."

Playfully hitting me with a laugh, Faith shook her head at my words were we continued on.

Suddenly, Faith teeters a little, grabbing onto a tree to regain her stance.

Worried, I asked, "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." She reached into her pocket before panicking slightly, "Oh, no. I don't have my stele. I must have dropped it when I hit the water. Do you have yours?"

I put my hands up, "Don't look at me. I left mine in New York. Someone pulled me through the Portal before I had time to get it."

"Sorry," She said, before her body slumped against the tree, her eyes rolling slightly which caused me to hold onto her. "Jace, we need a stele if we are going to survive this."

"Yeah, let's check by the Lake, maybe you dropped it there. You know, after I saved your life," I said with a small smirk.

"Ha ha, very funny," Faith said mockingly at me.

We turned around and headed back to the lake, my hand keeping on Faith in hopes she was okay. Once we reached the lake, I released her and walked up to the edge of it. My eyes scan the area yet her stele was nowhere to be found.

"I don't think it's-" My words were cut off when I turned to find Faith gone.

"Faith! Faith!" I yelled, looking around. "Faith!" I yelled again, rushing into the woods, but yet again she was nowhere to be found.

Sucking in a deep breath, I closed my eyes and concentrated on Faith. My mind found her, she was dizzy as she stumbled through the woods, looking around in fear like she was seeing or hearing something.

My eyes flashed open, turning gold for only a second before I whispered, "I'm coming, Faith."

I start my journey into the forest, looking around as I let my heart and gut pull me in whatever direction it wanted to, in hopes of leading me to Faith. Turning a corner, I'm suddenly met with a blade to my throat, making me jump only to see Izzy. She lowers her blade, "Jace, what are you doing here?"

"Faith and I came here to check out Valentine's old cabin. How did you get here?"

"Well Clary and I found the map to here and figured this is where you must have been. I came here while Clary tried to by us time so we wouldn't get into trouble. Where's Faith?"

I shrugged, worried, "I don't know. One minute we were looking for her stele by the lake, the next she was gone. I tried to focus on her but the best I got was that she was in the woods. Something off with her, Izzy."

Izzy eyed me worriedly, "You didn't drink any of the lake water, did you?"

"No, but Faith did." I watched Izzy's face fill with fear. "Why, what's going on?" I asked in a panic.

"Lake Lyn has hallucinogenic properties. Someone from Idris should be able to cure her, but we need to get to her soon."

"Or what?"

"She could lose her mind forever."

That was more than enough for me to kick it into gear and practically jog around. Izzy rushed to keep up with me.

"How do you know where to go?" Izzy asked behind me?

"My connection with Faith, it's worked before, leading me to her. Hopefully it works again."

Sure enough, a few moments later and we came to a stop, noticing Faith sitting on a rock, shaking in fear.

"Faith?" I said, slowly stepping towards her.

Quickly, Faith jumped up, confused and nervous as she looked at me. "Who are you?"

"It's me, Jace," I said, worried.

"You're not Jace, your some type of shapeshifter."

I shook my head, "You're confused. We're here to help you."

"Where's Jace? Jace!" Faith yelled!

Izzy tried to side step to Faith in hopes of knocking her out so we could get her some help, but Faith notices. She grabs Izzy's arm and knocks the stele from her hand before pushing her back against the rocks. I reach for Faith, but she quickly kicks me, knocking me back.

Once again, Izzy tries to grab Faith, but she easily head butts her and flips Izzy over her shoulder.

Pulling myself to my feet, I put out my hands. "Look, we're not gonna hurt you."

"You're not gonna get the chance," Faith says before slamming her foot on Izzy's stele, breaking it.

Great.

Faith turns to run but quickly I grab her hand, holding her struggling body in my arms as she yells, "Let me go!"

"Hey, it's okay. It's okay. Everything's gonna be okay," I said.

Suddenly, my eyes light up and both mine and Faith's connection runes light up before Faith's eyes turn to gold as well. When they fade, I turn Faith back around, feeling her relax in my arms.

"Jace?" Faith asks, her tone different and back to normal.

I smiled, nodding, "Yeah."

"You're okay."

"Not that you are," I whispered before she quickly hugged me. I hugged her close, letting out a breath of relief before I looked at Izzy who looked at us in shock.

This shouldn't have worked, but whatever power faith and I have in our connection runes, it was enough to break Faith free of whatever was pulling her away from me and into a nightmare.

Pulling away, the three of us headed back on track to the cabin only to find it empty. Someone was clearly there at one point, but now it laid empty like it had for years before.

We were too late.

Somehow, Izzy was able to get a message to Clary and was able to get a portal open to bring us back. We were grateful that no one had really noticed us gone, but sad that we had come up empty handed.

When I was at the cabin I grabbed some of Valentine's old journals in hopes of it leading us somewhere.

I found myself on my bed, just in some sweatpants as Faith exited the bathroom in her own PJ's.

"How are you feeling?" I asked, pulling my attention away from the journal.

"Better, I don't think I'll be going swimming anytime soon though," She with a small smile. She crawled up the bed and leaned next to me, eyeing the journal I was looking at. "Find anything?"

Sitting up, I shrugged, "Maybe." I turned the journal so Faith could see the page I've been studying for the last ten minutes.

"Jonathan Christopher. These are about you," Faith said, reading one of the name up top. I point to the two separate last names, "Morgenstern. Herondale."

Faith sat up, confused and surprised, "Wait, that's Clary's brother. You were both opposite ends of the same experiment?"

"There are hundreds of pages of notes. Years worth of research. They're all that's left of my childhood."

Faith sat a hand on my knee before giving me a small kiss. She leaned her head against my shoulder as we sat in silence for a second. I noticed her eyes pull together in confusion before she sat back up.

"But... Wait, Jace, this was ten years ago. Jonathan died in a fire when he was an infant. How could Valentine still be studying him if he was already dead?"

"Unless he's not."