Sugar and Spice

Twenty-One

Twenty-One

*~*~*~*

"You're angsty." Magnus watched me as I paced up and down one of the many hallways in the Institute, having left Alec to speak with his parents alone.

"Alec's parents hate me. I just made a fool of myself in front of some of the most respected members of the Clave. And, to top it all off, Alec still doesn't know what his feelings for me really are." I listed off for him, stopping my pacing to look at him. "I think I'm allowed to be a little angsty."

"Right," he sighed. Our eyes flickered down the hall at the sound of approaching footsteps, finding Alec heading our way. "On a scale of one to ten... how unpleasant was it?"

"Off the charts." Alec shook his head. "Yeah, I've never seen them so angry."

"Just give them some time." Magnus suggested.

"You're immortal. Time is on your side." Alec rolled his eyes. "After what I did... I don't think they'll ever forgive me."

"Don't underestimate a parent's love." Magnus told him as the three of us made our way through the halls, my stomach knotting as we went. I couldn't help but feel guilty for what Alec was going through with his parents, after all, this was all my fault.

"You don't regret it, do you?" I spoke up for the first time since Alec had joined us. My question seemed to bring the taller Shadowhunter to a stop while Magnus took a step back, giving us some space.

"Everything happened so fast. I didn't have time to think." Alec sighed, each word that left his lips only seemed to tighten the knots in my stomach. "I just want to make sure Lydia's okay. Now I owe her so much."

"We owe her." I corrected him, reaching out to take one of his hands in my own.

"What she did was nothing short of heroic." Magnus added.

"Yeah, it was." Alec gave a small smile before he started to lead the way into Robert's office. As we stepped inside though, we were greeted by a shocking sight. Lydia laid unconscious on the floor, a coffee table smashed beneath her. "Lydia!"

"Is she..." I trailed off as we all knelt around the unconscious blonde. Magnus pressed his fingers to her neck, nodding once he found a pulse. Alec didn't waste anymore time in activating the healing rune on her arm.

"Go get help." Alec told Magnus, sending the warlock hurrying out of the room as I saw Lydia's eyes open. Alec noticed this as well, turning his attention back to her. "You're gonna be okay."

"Hodge," Lydia croaked. My eyes widened at the familiar name, causing me to look up at Alec, finding shock written across his face as well.

*~*~*~*

"How's Lydia?" Clary asked Alec as he rejoined the rest of us, all of us gathered around Izzy as she worked on pulling up the surveillance footage.

"Better." Alec nodded. "Magnus is doing what he can to help her, but it's bad. And the Cup is definitely missing."

"So is Hodge." Jace sighed.

"Maybe he was attacked, too." Izzy suggested.

"Maybe he's the one who attacked her." Clary watched as Izzy pulled up the footage from Robert's office, all of us recognizing Hodge in the frame as Izzy continued to rewind it.

"Hodge?" Izzy frowned at her accusation. "No way."

"We've known him our entire lives." I agreed with my parabatai. "He would never do that to us."