Angels and Warriors // A.L

Chapter 11

Clary crossed the training room after Alec and I followed. She reached for a regular Bo staff and attempted to twirl it. She looked up at Alec who was watching her, amused at her failure. "Looks like we're stuck with each other," She said to him, "For what it's worth, I think your mom was too tough on you out there."

"Mothers are like that," Alec rolled his eyes.

"Mine's not," Clary replied.

I muttered, "Yeah not to you," thinking that she wouldn't hear, and she didn't - but Alec did. He looked like he was about to say something, but before he could Clary spoke again.

"Go ahead. Knock me on my ass. You'll feel better."

Alec reached for a staff of his own and shook his head, "Don't make me say you're right about something - plant your feet wide."

I stood to the side and leaned against the wall, watching.

"Why did you let your mom say all those awful things about Izzy?" Clary asked, attempting a hit on Alec, who blocked it without even blinking.

"Don't step into the strike - step through it," I could tell he didn't want to answer her questions, but he did anyway, "Izzy was out of bounds. The law is hard but it's the law - even I forget that sometimes."

"So, you're just gonna let her send Jace out instead of you?" she pressed. Alec was getting tired of her prying and quickly moved forwards to strike, knocking Clary off balance a little.

"If I screw up, I expect to be punished. I'm supposed to be a leader." Alec's voice was hard but I could tell she was getting to him.

Clary circled around him before narrowing her eyes. "You know what a leader does, Alec? Makes decisions. You need to find Valentine and stop him, I need to find Valentine and help save my mother."

Alec lashed his staff out again and Clary nearly blocked most of his strikes, but he quickly had her staff trapped under his, on the floor. Clary looked at him before kicking his weapon away and swinging hers back up, but Alec ducked and grabbed the other end of it, successfully flipping Clary over and landing her on her backside. He looked down at her, "You need to work on your defence." She stood herself up in a huff, ignoring the hand that Alec offered before he added, "What do you think we haven't been trying to find your mother?"

Clary sighed, "Of course you have - but I know you can colour outside the lines. You're just not letting yourself think that way."

"Oh, yeah? What's the big thought I'm not thinking?" Alec scrutinised, throwing Clary's weapon back to her.

"We can still find Valentine. I might know a way," She started, "My mother hid a lot from me-" Alec raised an eyebrow and glanced towards me pointedly before my sister sighed and corrected herself, "From us, but I did see one thing, there's a box. She didn't think I knew about it, but she opened it once a year and cried."

Alec didn't see what she was getting at but my eyes widened. I pushed myself off the wall and walked towards them, "J.C." I said.

Clary nodded. "It belonged to our father - had his initials on top. J.C."

Alec shook his head, "But your father's Valentine. Why JC?"

"Because for eighteen years, she told us his name was Jonathan Clark," I answered.

"That was a lie," Clary added, "But whatever was in that box meant a lot to her. Maybe there's something inside that could help us track him."

Alec considered it before asking, "Where can we find the box?"