Wild Warriors: A Shadowhunters Fanfic

9. Aline Penhallow

          The trip back to the Institute was one of the most awkward moments of my entire life. Simon had disappeared to Angel-knows-where but I wasn't worried about him finding his own way back to our borough.
Clary was tearing herself up and I could tell by the way she was wringing her hands that she was fighting back tears. She sat next to me on the train as though she needed me to comfort her but I couldn't find the appropriate way to do so. Part of me didn't want to find the appropriate way to do so.
My mind kept turning over the events that had transpired in the last few hours. Between what the Queen had told me and how we were finally able to escape the realm, my mind was spinning with questions that lacked answers.

Alec's meeting had come to a close by the time we arrived back at the Institute. He greeted the three of us as we crossed the threshold and was more than a little astonished at the expressions we wore.
Clary's face crumpled and her tears finally burst out as she ducked her head quickly to avoid being seen, darting down the hallway towards her bedroom. Jace and I watched her go.
My hands were wrapped tightly across my midsection and my jaw was rigid. When Alec saw Clary disappear with tears streaming down her face and noticed my lack of response, he turned me with a raised eyebrow and questioning eyes.

"It went that good, huh?"
I rolled my eyes and dropped my arms from my stomach. "Yeah. That good."
"What the hell happened?"
Jace and I met eyes. I was silently begging Jace to be the one to tell Alec everything while he was doing exactly the same to me.
Finally Jace broke. He sighed deeply and pulled a chair out from a nearby table and sat down. Alec leaned against the tabletop. His eyebrow was still raised.
Jace sighed again and ran a hand down his face.

"We learned Kaelie had help in the killings," he began slowly, "but it wasn't by the Seelie Queen. A Knight helped her. One the Queen claimed to already have taken care of."
"Okay..." Alec very clearly knew something else had occurred. Clary didn't run off crying because of that. "Keep going."
Jace glanced over at me. He didn't want to say it out loud. I made a noise in the back of my throat and said, "Then I fucked up. I ate something."
Alec's eyes widened. "What?"
"I know, don't rub it in. I feel pretty terrible about it already, okay?"
"Why the hell did you eat something?"
"It wasn't on purpose!"
"How did you eat something by accident?"

I rolled my eyes to the back of my head.
"I had been holding a flower and then a nymph bit me on the finger and made me bleed. I put my finger in my mouth and when we tried to leave, the Queen didn't let us."
My explanation was met with silence. Alec suddenly began to look uncomfortable.
"So...how did you get out?" He asked slowly.
I allowed myself to sink into a chair next to Jace.
"We played a game."
"A game?" Alec sounded confused.
"Yes, and it went just stellar, as you might have been able to tell." I motioned in the direction where Clary had run off.
"Is that what this was all about?"
Jace and I nodded at the same time. I felt sick all of a sudden, a nasty heavy feeling that left me short of breath and wishing for Isabelle. It also left me wishing that I had never gone to the Seelie Court.

"I hope your meeting went better than ours." Jace deftly changed the conversation before Alec could ask any more questions from us. Jace would tell him eventually, I was sure, but there was a part of him that resented having to speak it into existence in front of me.
Alec tipped his head to the side and raised his eyebrows. "Not so much. It was going really well, we were beginning to make ground but...Luke decided to break into Valentine's cell and try to murder him."
"What?" Jace and I shouted at the same time.
"Luke did something like that?" I asked as Jace said, "How did you find him?"
"Sebastian was watching the security tapes and noticed that Luke disappeared between two cameras, and the tapes for the cell in the basement had been looped."
I sat back in utter astonishment. "But why would Luke try that?"
Alec shrugged. "He claimed he received a phone call from someone giving him the opportunity to kill Valentine, so that's what he tried to do. Apparently this accomplice of his was the one who looped the footage and managed to break Luke into the cells."
"You believe him?" Jace asked.
"I let him go," was Alec's answer. My eyebrows shot up. That was the last thing I had expected Alec to do. At least that would cheer Clary up, however slightly.