Angels and Warriors // A.L

Chapter 29

Alec suggested I go wait with Jace, Clary and Isabelle, while he and Magnus took Lydia to the infirmary.

Jace had pulled me into a hug and muttered an "I'm really happy for you," in my ear. I really appreciated the fact that even though Jace's world was falling apart, he made the effort to let me know he was genuinely happy for me. I would have completely understood if he'd chosen to down right ignore me, but he'd done just the opposite and I vowed to myself that I would help him through his struggle.

Isabelle was seated at one of the computers, the rest of us gathered behind her, when Alec returned. He kissed the top of my head and rested a hand on my waist. It was less a public display of affection and more to calm himself.

"How's Lydia?" I asked.

"Better - Magnus is doing what he can to help her, but it's bad. My mother is still convinced it was you and the Cup is definitely missing," He informed us.

Jace inhaled deeply, "So is Hodge."

"Maybe he was attacked, too," Isabelle offered.

I thought on Lydia's first word for a second and frowned, "Maybe he's the one who attacked her."

Alec and Jace looked like they both agreed with me, but Isabelle wasn't convinced, "Hodge? No way. We've known him our entire lives. He would never do that to us." She was scanning through the security footage and brought it to a sudden stop when we saw Lydia's figure in frame. Isabelle let it play, and we saw a man grab hold of Lydia, hit her, then throw her into the table. He looked up and the shadows across his face fell away.

It was Hodge.

"I led him right to the Cup," Jace muttered.

"We treated him like family," Alec added angrily, "How could he do this to us?"

Isabelle's fingertips flew across the keyboard as she typed, changing the picture on the screen to footage of another camera - the one watching over my mother. Hodge slipped on a ring as he stood next to her floating body.

"What is that ring?" Clary asked.

"Looks like he's talking to someone," Isabelle half answered my sister's question.

"And I can bet who it is," Jace spat.

"Valentine," I finished.

We saw Hodge's punishment Circle rune glow bright red then fade. "Well, that explains how he deactivated the Punishment rune," Alec pointed out, "but it doesn't explain where he got the ring."

"You think someone smuggled it past the wards?" I looked up him.

"Maybe," Jace answered instead, "Hodge wasn't the only ex-Circle member around here." Jace looked at Alec who nodded.

Isabelle turned in her seat to face her two brothers, "Look, I know I don't always see eye to eye with my parents, but I know they're not traitors."

"Really?" Jace raised an eyebrow, "Isn't that what you just said about Hodge?" He jerked his head at the screen where we saw Hodge walking away, Mortal Cup in hand. "It'd have to be someone we trusted, but if there was an intruder inside the Institute, we would have found them by now," Jace continued at Isabelle's silence.

"What about the Forsaken attack?" Clary suggested.

"No," Alec shook his head, "We killed that thing, and I didn't see a ring."

Isabelle agreed, "He didn't have one during the autopsy, but maybe there's something in the footage." She clicked around and opened a new folder, pulling up a new file of footage. We watched the Forsaken attack and I winced when I saw Alec get hurt. As the Forsaken was lying dead on the floor, Hodge crouched next to it, but we couldn't see very much.