ALTHEA - DISCONTINUED

8

IN THE INSTITUTE

Thea tossed left and right in her bed, unable to sleep. She sighed and decided to pay Alec a visit to have a talk to him regarding what happened earlier.

Alec's room was across hers. She walked towards his room and peeked inside the key hole to see whether he was sleeping or not. She found Alec sitting on the edge of his bed, deep in thoughts. She then knocked on the door and seconds later, it was opened revealing Alec in a pair of grey sweatpants and a black shirt, like always.

"What are you doing here?" Alec questioned, raising his brows at Thea who replied, "I wanted to talk to you."

"Okay." He stepped aside, "come in." And she did. She entered his room and faced Alec who was closing the door. "So..." Alec started, "what is it?"

"It's about earlier," she responded, "what you said to Jace."

"Which part?" Alec questioned, playing dumb which made Thea roll her eyes, "you know exactly What I'm talking about."

"I don't." Alec shrugged, "I forgot."

"Seriously?" Thea frowned, "the part where you told him that you weren't in his shadow. Does that ring any bell?"

Alec shrugged again, "I seriously can't remember."

"Alright," Thea sighed, "can you stop? I'm trying to have a serious talk with you here."

"What's there to talk about?" Alec asked before walking over to his bed, "I told Jace that I wasn't in his shadow. That's it."

"Hodge's words got to your head." Thea pointed out, "he's trying to drift you apart from your parabatai and he succeeded in doing that."

"Hodge is one of the good ones, okay? He won't do anything in that sort." Alec reassured, "he just opened my eyes. He wasn't wrong. Everything I did? It was never enough. But everything Jace would do?" Alec before saying sarcastically, "Fuck, outstanding job, Jace."

"Alec, we don't get jealous of the person we're crushing on." Thea mused making Alec roll his eyes, "I'm not crushing on him. I don't anymore."

"No?" Thea asked before saying in a serious voice, "look, Alec, if that makes you feel better then you're much better than Jace in every way. I've said this before and I'm saying it again on the same day, twice, you aren't in his shadow, okay? Fuck everyone for not seeing what you are actually capable of. You're a great leader and I've had the honour to see it today." Alec looked up at her and smiled genuinely, "thank you. Really. Nobody has ever said anything like that to me before."

"I've never said anything like that to anyone before, either." Thea said which made Alec chuckle, "I'll consider myself special then."

The door to his room flew open, "Alec, Clary's got a le—" Isabelle cut herself off when her eyes fell on Thea who was also in Alec's room. She smirked, "—oh. Did I disturb something?"

"What? No. I was just about to leave." Thea said and was about to leave when Isabelle stopped her, "actually I came to tell Alec that we got a lead on how we can recover Clary's memories and after that I was going to come and call you too. Let's go?" She smirked at Alec who rolled his eyes, "after you."

**

"Magnus Bane." Hodge pulled up a photo on his screen, "He’s over 300 years old. And, as you can see, he’s not exactly shied away from the pleasures of every century. His tastes are both exquisite… and quite excessive."

"He looks like the Downworld’s David Guetta." Clary commented to which Isabelle said, "Guetta’s already a Downworlder. Vampire? Ever seen him in the daylight?"

"Can you two focus?" Alec asked, annoyed, "this is not a joke."

"Someone needs to gets slayed." Isabelle said, shooting Thea a suggestive look which didn't go unnoticed by Alec whose cheeks turned a little pink while Thea rolled her eyes at Isabelle who smirked.

"Alec’s right." Hodge said, "Now, Magnus is one of the most powerful warlocks I’ve ever known. He has a deep mistrust of Shadowhunters."

Thea internally rolled her eyes at what Hodge said. She knew Magnus and he trusted her with his life despite her being a shadowhunter.

'Hodge's got it all wrong' she thought.

"well, then why did he help my mom remove my memories?" Clary asked, "Isn’t she a Shadowhunter?"

"Yes, one of the best." Hodge said, "but “help” might not be the most accurate word. Now, did Magnus provide a service for Jocelyn? Perhaps. But more than likely, your mother paid Magnus handsomely for his magic."