WARRIORS | Alec Lightwood¹

EPILOGUE

«——— EPILOGUE ———»
POSSIBLE MISSING SUSPECTS

THE PRESSY BRITISH CLAVE REPRESENTATIVE THAT HAD TEMPORARILY TAKEN CONTROL of the New York Institute sat with Clary in the head's office. Trapped in a room where she was to be interrogated for what happened during the group's last mission.

The redhead was annoyed, to say the least. Jace was out there somewhere stuck with Valentine and May hadn't returned from her mission yet and it had been hours.

Sure, the clock hadn't struck ten yet but the fact that May, the girl who was always early to everything in her life, had not even contacted them in any way. Not that she could since she didn't have a phone on her.

Aldertree had taken a lap around the room before he decided to speak, motioning to the iPhone he had set up on the desk, a camera pointing right at her on a tripod. "Sorry about the camera." He apologized. "Like I told your friends when they came in, this is official business, so I have to be official." The man leaned back on the desk and folded his hands in front of him. "Now, let's talk about Jace."

"Okay." Clary answered.

"You had the impression he was saving your lives by leaving with Valentine?" the man asked.

Clary sat straight against the man's dark stare. "It's more than an impression. It's what actually happened. If he had tried anything, the rest of us would have been killed." She corrected.

"Was he within striking distance of Valentine?"

Clary shook her head. "I told you..." "Could he have taken the man out?"

Clary scoffed at the rude interruption and the tone of his voice that seemed to be applying something. "It was an impossible situation, okay? Jace tried to warn us. He told us Valentine was on the way."

Aldertree nodded with a furrowed brow, he rounded the chair in front of him to sit down in it. "So, Jace knew ahead of time that Valentine was setting a trap. How do you suppose he knew that?"

"I don't know." Clary shrugged. "He told us to get out of there. Next thing I knew, I had a seraph blade to my throat." Clary thought back.

It was in one of Camille's many libraries. The vampire was gone, finally getting the signed writ from Simon. She had gotten a call from Jace demanding that she took her friends and left. She didn't listen because she didn't have the book just yet.

Then Valentine appeared just a second after they found the key to waking her mom. Jace was seconds late and Valentine struck a deal. Either fight him and watched his friends die or leave with him and his friends were left unharmed. He chose the latter.

Aldertree crossed his leg over the other and picked up a small black notebook. He scribbled something down and smiled. "Got it." He sighed.

"Now, about Mayla Stonehart..." He prompted.

Clary shook her head. "What about her? She left before we even got to Camille's apartment." She explained.

"For the unsanctioned mission, she has yet to return from?" He asked.

Clary furrowed a brow. "Unsanctioned?" She muttered. "No. She got one of those fire messages from the Chicago Insitute. I saw it."

The man seemed skeptical. He knew something. "The Chicago Insitute never sent out any fire messages to Mayla." He hummed. "Actually, she hasn't reported back to her team in hours, officially marking her as a missing suspect."

Clary's eyes widened and she scoffed. "Suspect? Suspect for what?"

"Mayla Stonehart is under investigation for possible treason and conspiring with Valentine Morgenstern."

"What?!" Clary gasped in disbelieve.

"There is evidence that leads to us to believe that Mayla isn't and never has been someone the Clave could trust."

"First you accuse Jace of working with Valentine now Mayla?" Clary asked. She shot up from her seat, having enough.

Aldertree watched intentevly. Clary turned to him, looking at the man who stood up to avoid her looking down at him. "They're out there possibly in danger. You need to find them. Both of them."

Aldertree leaned forward to look the redhead in the eye with intimidation. "That's exactly what I'm gonna do." He said to her.