The Third Morgenstern

Chapter 13

Alessandra's POV

A mere few hours had passed and somehow the excitement that was once buzzing through the halls of the Institute had turned into absolute chaos.

There had been an attack while Max and I were gone despite it being such a short time. Lydia had been attacked by someone who had broken in to steal the Mortal Cup. The cup was gone, and nobody had any idea who was responsible.

A few of us gathered around one of the many screens in the Institute waiting for the security cameras to load in order for everyone to know where to start looking for the Mortal Cup.

"How is Lydia doing?" I asked. "Is she feeling any better?"

"She's doing better" Alec replied. "Magnus is doing what he can to help her but it's looking bad, especially now that nobody can find the cup"

"Any sign of Hodge?" Jace questioned.

"None" Izzy responded. "Maybe he was attacked as well just like Lydia"

"Yeah maybe" Clary agreed. "Or maybe Hodge is the one who attacked Lydia in the first place"

"No way" Max disagreed. "We've known Hodge our entire lives. He would never do that to us"

"He was a Circle member though" I argued. "Maybe his loyalties are still with Valentine"

"He helped train all of us" Izzy said. "I don't believe he'd betray us like that"

Suddenly the blank screen lit up with the footage showing Lydia's attack. Izzy skipped the tape forward to the exact moment that somebody else enters the room. We all watched as Hodge stormed into the room, immediately knocking Lydia out. As it skipped to another angle we watched as Hodge fiddled with a ring quietly talking to himself.

"I lead him right to the cup" Jace said.

"How could he do this to us?" Alec asked. "We treated him like family"

"What's that ring he's wearing?" Clary questioned. "It looks like he's talking to someone"

"Yeah" Jace agreed. "And I can bet who"

"Valentine" Max sighed. "Of course he would have a man on the inside"

"Well that explains how he managed to deactivate his punishment rune" Alec said. "But it doesn't explain where he actually got the ring from"

"Do you think it's possible for someone to smuggle it past the wards?" I asked. "Has it ever been done before?"

"It's possible" Izzy replied. "Maybe there's a lot more Circle members lurking around here than we thought"

"It would have to be someone that we would never suspect, someone that we all trust" Jace stated. "But if there was an intruder inside the Institute we would've definitely found them by now"

"Maybe not" I argued. "It might've not been a person. What about the forsaken attack? The wards were messed with that night, maybe it was for a reason"

"I didn't see a ring on the thing when we fought it in the training room" Alec stated. "Did you?"

"I was a little preoccupied with the whole trying not to die thing to search for a ring" I complained. "But that doesn't mean it wasn't there"

"You might have a point" Max added. "Hodge insisted that he would get rid of the forsaken's body after we all rushed in when we heard Alessandra screaming"

"I did the autopsy though" Izzy replied. "I never saw a ring anywhere"

"What about the footage?" Clary questioned. "Maybe there's something there that can prove whether the ring came with the forsaken or not"