Angels and Warriors // A.L

Chapter 28

Alec turned to his mother, who was staring us down with a murderous glare. Alec set his jaw and held her gaze, refusing to back down. Maryse turned on her heel and stormed away, Robert trailing after her. The guests, realising the wedding was not proceeding as planned, had started to stand and gather in small groups, talking among themselves, so most of the focus was off us now - something that I was rather grateful for.

Isabelle descended from the altar and hurried down the aisle towards us, bursting with pride and joy, a splitting grin plastered across her face.

"Alec, I am so proud of you." I could hear the ecstatic tone in her voice and was surprised she had calmed herself as much and wasn't jumping up and down on the spot. I looked up at Alec who returned her smile in a relieved sort of way.

Suddenly Simon appeared beside us and started rambling before so much as a greeting. "Guys, that was incredible. It was like watching the live version of The Graduate - you know, the Dustin Hoffman movie? The amazing one? You were Ben," He pointed over enthusiastically at me and did a terrible impression of the character's voice, "'Elaine!' And you were Elaine," Simon pointed at Alec, pausing before he added, "I mean, a taller, masculine, handsome version of her." Then he continued, "But at the altar, though, you were like 'Ben!' and then, and then now, you're both sitting on the bus at the end of the movie, both totally stoked, but wondering, like 'what're we gonna do now?' You know?" Simon took a big breath once he finished, chuckling.

Alec raised an eyebrow, "Who invited the vampire?"

Simon feigned hurt, "Seriously?"

"So, Simon, are you here as Clary's date?" I asked with a smirk.

Simon stood up a little taller and straightened out his suit jacket, "Yeah, I am." He looked back at the abandoned altar where Clary and Jace were now standing together, talking quietly. "Sucks for them I guess, the whole brother-sister thing, but my sun is shining now and I'm not a man to miss an opportunity," He grinned.

I raised an eyebrow at him, "Oh you mean like when you had eighteen years to ask Clary out but didn't and that's how she ended up with Jace in the first place?"

Simon glared at me while Alec and Isabelle laughed. Jace appeared with Clary in tow, "Magnus is waiting for us on the main level, he said he has something important for us to see," Jace informed us quickly. He led the group from the hall as Alec took hold of my hand, intertwining our fingers with a heart-warming smile.

Magnus came into my line of sight as we rounded the corner. I knew that Jace had told him about the wedding being called off as he looked at mine and Alec's hands, eyes shining with happiness for us.

He waved his hand over the seemingly empty table in front of us all and an array of mismatched objects appeared. "I pulled every item of magical importance from Ragnor's belongings, but I can't determine which will lead to the Book of the White." We all picked up random items and shared a look. This stuff looked like junk.

As everybody inspected different things, my eyes landed on a red and gold bookmark. My eyes widened and I reached for it. I felt a jolt of magic as soon as I touched it and I knew that this was what we were looking for. "This bookmark - I've seen it before," I said. They all looked at me as I furrowed my eyebrows, willing myself to remember where it was from. The hot, untamed magic flowed through my fingers as I focused on it.

Then it clicked. "In the alternate dimension! Magnus, you showed me a book of spells, and this was in it - that must have been the Book of the White."

Alec looked down at it, "If that's the case, we can use the bookmark to track the owner of the book."

He looked at Jace who nodded, agreeing to use their parabatai tracking. Jace reached for the bookmark but Magnus plucked it from my hands first. "Warlock tracking is stronger," He shrugged.