Angels and Warriors // A.L

Chapter 15

I tripped my way down the hall and burst back into the living room, slightly out of breath. I noticed Alec had gone, presumably back to the Institute and the remaining two boys looked at me, startled at my sudden reappearance, "I know where the Cup is!"

Everybody jumped up, "Come again?" Jace asked.

"The tarot cards. My mom, she must have painted them years ago, but the Mortal Cup has to be hidden inside the Ace of Cups. The card looks exactly like it!" I hurriedly explained, Clary racing into the room after me. The boys exchanged looks that didn't exactly scream excitement. "Wait, why aren't you guys happy about this? All we have to do is find..." My stomach dropped, "Dot."

"If Dot had the cards when she was taken, we don't have much time," Jace started, "If Valentine gets his hands on the Cup-"

Magnus stood quickly and interrupted him, "We know. If Valentine started creating Shadowhunters or gained control of demons, it'd be like Beyoncé riding on a dinosaur through Times Square; people would notice.

"But he can control demons - I've seen it," Clary said.

"Mmm, paying off a few demons is easy, especially since they rarely survive long enough to collect. Opening the gates of hell - that's a little more tricky," Magnus stated.

I heard Luke's voice ring out from the doorway, "Valentine doesn't have the cards. I do." We all rounded on him, surprised. "They're in my desk back at the precinct. When Clary and Samara went missing, I went to the loft and I cleared everything out, 'cause I didn't want the Circle to track them."

"That's great," I smiled.

"This should be easy," Clary added.

Magnus held up a hand as if to say not so fast and took a seat. "Hmm, that's what General Custer said."

Unfortunately, Luke nodded in agreement, "Magnus is right. Valentine has spies everywhere, even in the NYPD - we have to be discreet."

"Discreet? You look like something out of The Mummy movie," I replied incredulously.

Magnus laughed, trying to cover it up but failing, before Luke rolled his eyes. "We'll go in the morning," He said, "Werewolf healing, remember? This is nothing a couple of hours of beauty sleep can't fix."

We crashed on the floor at Magnus' place for the few hours of sleep we would get. After some protest, Luke took the spare bedroom, Jace took the couch, and Magnus gave Clary and I a mattress to share on the ground.

I felt like I had barely closed my eyes when Jace was shaking me. "Come on Sam, we gotta get going."

I groaned and rolled myself off the side of the mattress, hitting the floor with a thump. Jace held his hand out and I grabbed it, letting him pull me up. I noticed that Magnus had summoned a fresh set of clothes for us all from the Institute and I gratefully changed into them, thanking the warlock.

We walked up to the precinct and Luke turned to the three of us. "All right, cards are on my desk. It shouldn't take long."

Jace took a step forward, ready to go and retrieve them, "All right."

Luke however, put a hand on his chest, stopping him. "It'll be easier to avoid unnecessary attention if I do this alone."

I nodded and told him, "We'll wait here." Sending a look to both Clary and Jace telling them to stay.

Jace shrugged and muttered, "It sounded boring anyway." We leaned against a pair of cop cars parked out the front and waited. Ten minutes passed. Then fifteen, then twenty.