City Of Lost Souls | Page 5

back. Clary shivered. �Jace?�
�Not exactly.� Alec leaned forward, folding his hands along the back of the chair. �A report came in early this morning from the Moscow
Institute. The wardings over Wrangel Island were smashed through yesterday. They�ve sent a repair team, but having such important wards
down for so long�that�s a Council priority.�
Wards�which served, as Clary understood it, as a sort of magical fence system�surrounded Earth, put there by the first generation of
Shadowhunters. They could be bypassed by demons but not easily, and kept out the vast majority of them, preventing the world from being
flooded by a massive demon invasion. She remembered something that Jace had said to her, what felt like years ago: There used to be only
small demon invasions into this world, easily contained. But even in my lifetime more and more of them have spilled in through the wardings.
�Well, that�s bad,� Clary said. �But I don�t see what it has to do with��
�The Clave has its priorities,� Alec interrupted. �Searching for Jace and Sebastian has been top priority for the past two weeks. But they�ve
scoured everything, and there�s no sign of either of them in any Downworld haunt. None of Magnus�s tracking spells have worked. Elodie, the
woman who brought up the real Sebastian Verlac, confirmed that no one�s tried to get in touch with her. That was a long shot, anyway. No
spies have reported any unusual activity among the known members of Valentine�s old Circle. And the Silent Brothers haven�t been able to
figure out exactly what the ritual Lilith performed was supposed to do, or whether it succeeded. The general consensus is that Sebastian�of
course, they call him Jonathan when they talk about him�kidnapped Jace, but that�s not anything we didn�t know.�
�So?� Isabelle said. �What does that mean? More searching? More patrolling?�
Alec shook his head. �They�re not discussing expanding the search,� he said quietly. �They�re de-prioritizing it. It�s been two weeks and they
haven�t found anything. The specially commissioned groups brought over from Idris are going to be sent home. The situation with the ward is
taking priority now. Not to mention that the Council has been in the middle of delicate negotiations, updating the Laws to allow for the new
makeup of the Council, appointing a new Consul and Inquisitor, determining different treatment of Downworlders�they don�t want to be
thrown completely off track.�
Clary stared. �They don�t want Jace�s disappearance to throw them off the track of changing a bunch of stupid old Laws? They�re giving
up?�
�They�re not giving up��
�Alec,� Isabelle said sharply.
Alec took a breath and put his hands up to cover his face. He had long fingers, like Jace�s, scarred like Jace�s were as well. The eye Mark of
the Shadowhunters decorated the back of his right hand. �Clary, for you�for us�this has always been about searching for Jace. For the Clave
it�s about searching for Sebastian. Jace as well, but primarily Sebastian. He�s the danger. He destroyed the wards of Alicante. He�s a mass
murderer. Jace is��
�Just another Shadowhunter,� said Isabelle. �We die and go missing all the time.�
�He gets a little extra for being a hero of the Mortal War,� said Alec. �But in the end the Clave was clear: The search will be kept up, but
right now it�s a waiting game. They expect Sebastian to make the next move. In the meantime it�s third priority for the Clave. If that. They
expect us to go back to normal life.�
Normal life? Clary couldn�t believe it. A normal life without Jace?
�That�s what they told us after Max died,� said Izzy, her black eyes tearless but burning with anger. �That we�d get over our grief faster if we
just went back to normal life.�
�It�s supposed to be good advice,� said Alec from behind his fingers.
�Tell that to Dad. Did he even come back from Idris for the meeting?�
Alec shook his head, dropping his hands. �No. If it�s any consolation, there were a lot of people at the meeting speaking out angrily on
behalf of keeping the search for Jace up at full strength. Magnus, obviously, Luke, Consul Penhallow, even Brother Zachariah. But at the end
of the day it wasn�t enough.�
Clary looked at him steadily. �Alec,� she said. �Don�t you feel anything?�
Alec�s eyes widened, their blue darkening, and for a moment Clary remembered the boy who had hated her when she�d first arrived at the
Institute, the boy with bitten nails and holes in his sweaters and a chip on his shoulder that had seemed immovable. �I know you�re upset,
Clary,� he said, his voice sharp, �but if you�re suggesting that Iz and I care less about Jace than you do��
�I�m not,� Clary said. �I�m talking about your parabatai connection. I was reading about the ceremony in the Codex. I know being parabatai
ties the two of you together. You can sense things about Jace. Things that will help you when you�re fighting. So I guess I mean� can you
sense if he�s