Jace was worried about Alec. He hadn't come to dinner the previous night and had only left a note in dining room telling everyone to go out and have a good day. Isabelle looked incredibly guilty. She had grabbed a muffin and quickly left the Institute. And Jace himself had a bad feeling.

 But Clary wanted to go to an art museum.

Jace told himself he'd take care of Alec just as soon as they got back. How long could an art museum take?

They took the trolley to the San Francisco Museum of Art and wander through a few galleries before stopping for lunch. 

The museum was pretty empty for Saturday during the summer.

Jace picked at his fries. He hadn't felt good all day. Was it because of Alec? 

Clary went on and on about her favorite pieces. Art seemed to be one of the very few things that got her excited. Her green eyes were alive with a beautiful passion.

Her words went right through Jace; he couldn't hear what she was saying. All that existed was her. And Alec.

"Are you done?" Jace asked, cutting her off.

She didn't see offended. She seemed worried.

"Jace--"

"Something's wrong," he said, suddenly avoiding her eyes. They asked too many questions. 

"Should we go back?" she asked. He wanted to tell her no. He wanted them to enjoy the day. A quiet day with just them.

"Yes," he said. She gathered her things quickly, ready to go before he had even stood up.

..........

Isabelle went back to the Golden Gate park. She had packed a lunch and a book to read. She just couldn't remain in the Institute knowing that Alec was in there. 

Apologizing wouldn't be enough this time. 

Charlie arrived a few minutes after she had arrived, settling underneath the same tree they had met at.

He stood over her.

"I had a feeling you'd come back," he said, timidly.

"Yeah?" She didn't look up at him. He sat beside her, both of their backs leaning against the tree trunk.

"Isabelle? Is something the matter?"

"I said something," she admitted. "I yelled at Alec."

"Siblings fight," Charlie said.

"But Alec and I don't. And the things I said were really bad," she said. 

"Did you apologize?"

"I can't just apologize," she said. "He's miserable. And it's not just my fault. He had to leave his boy--"

"I know about your brother's boyfriend," Charlie said.

"I suppose everyone knows," she said.

"So he's pretty upset," Charlie concluded.

"Yeah," Isabelle said. "Do you have any leads on the warlocks?"

"No," Charlie said. "I think the only way we're going to get answers is if we talk to a warlock and obviously they are very rare around here."

"So you'd need a local one?" Isabelle asked. Charlie nodded. That ruled asking Magnus out.

"So I figured we could just sit around and watch for one."

"They're definitely around here," Isabelle said. "I saw one the other day."

"What time?"

"One-ish," Isabelle said. "Why?"

"Warlocks are creatures of habit," Charlie said. "He'll be back."

.........

A bell chimed throughout the house. 

It caught Alec's attention as he crept down the stairs.

He was hoping no one was home so he could go grab something to eat before retreating back to his room.

He stood in silence as James the butler entered the main foyer. James adjusted his suit before opening the door. There was a hissing noise and the butler stumbled back.

"James!" Alec roared. The servant had ran into one of the rooms that diverged off of the main hallway.

Alec still didn't know what he was up against. 

"Hey!" Alec screamed, hoping to get something's attention. A Raum demon. It was smaller than most. Alec guessed it to be only a head taller than him with scaly white skin and tentacle arms. 

The demon let a scream out of his mouth.

Raums were smart. It would go after it's target. If Alec wasn't it's target, the demon would ignore him. 

Thankfully, this one was either stupid or after Alec. He began charging the stairs. Alec sprinted up them. He ran to the end of the second floor hallway and waited for the demon to see him. That was critical. With a roar, the Raum followed Alec's it's large feet stomping down the hallway. Alec ran up the next flight of stairs, immediately entering the training room. His bow from yesterday and a restocked quiver of arrows. He slung the quiver over his back. The only thing he was missing was a seraph blade.

He cursed as his eyes searched the room looking for one. He didn't have time for this!

He ran into the storage closet. He could hear the Raum thumping up the stairs. The storage room was neat at least. He found a seraph blade and hid behind the open door. 

"Hadraniel," Alec whispered. The blade glowed. 

He was going to have to injure the demon before he could ever effectively stab it. He slipped the blade into his belt and notched an arrow. He could smell the demon before he could see it stalk into the training room.

Hiding behind the door suddenly seemed like a bad position, strategically. 

He raised the bow and fired his first arrow as the demon passed into his view. It immediately whirled around, tentacles flying. Alec began moving in an arc around the demon, firing every couple of steps. The demon was realizing Alec's path and started rushing him. The Raum's tentacles were flying so fast, Alec couldn't track their movement. There was sharp pain in Alec's arm, throwing him off balance.

Then he was stuck, pinned between the demon and the mirror wall.

He tossed the bow aside, pulling out his seraph blade. 

He rolled aside, dodging the tentacles for a moment longer. But he was officially screwed; stuck on the floor with a seraph blade that couldn't do him much good from his position.

The Raum opened it's mouth to roar but no sound came out as his head slid away from his body, rolling onto the floor.

The body went limp and fell to the floor. 

James stood over the body. 

A seraph blade, dripping with demon blood, glowed in his hand. His arms were at his side and his suit looked as pristine as ever.

"Sir," James said, with a nod.

Alec heard the pounding of footsteps coming up the stairs.

James turned around, seraph blade still by his side. Alec didn't doubt that he could effortlessly kill whatever was coming even from such a relaxed position.

It was Jace. He had a seraph blade drawn and rushed into the room as soon as he saw Alec on the floor, without clearing the room first.

"Alec--"

"Jace, I'm fine," Alec reassured him. Jace was kneeling beside him, a hand on Alec's shoulder. It wasn't until Alec tried to brush the hand away that he realized something wasn't right. Pain shot up his hand, rushing into his head until his vision went black.

..........

Clary waited in the library. One of the windows was set up to be a Portal.

She had only seen Jace for a second since they'd been home. All he said was that Alec was poisoned and that she should wait for help to arrive via Portal.

He hadn't told her who was coming.

Through the doors of the library, she should see James mopping the floor from where the Raum demon had come trampling through the doors, obviously tracking a serious amount of mud.

It was raining outside and Clary could hear the plinking of rain against the thin glass.

Eventually, a figure stepped through.