AN: We take off right after Jace left the apartment…

Chapter 21 - Magic was used

Magnus didn't get any sleep the night Jace left to hunt a demon. He began preparing to receive it right away, so he told Clary to take Matthew out of the house and stay at Luke's apartment until it was safe to come back. He didn't want his son anywhere near that thing.

However, Magnus' agitation went beyond expecting a demon home. His initial confidence was completely drained about 10 minutes after Jace had left and it was replaced by unexplainable pain, anger and cold.

"No, no… why are they dead?" Magnus mumbled as he ran across the living room, from one side to the other, trying to escape from the smell of hundreds of dead bodies unsuccessfully.

"Clary! CLARY!" He yelled for help until she came to the living room, holding some of Matthew's shirts.

"I just dressed Matt… What?"

"Why does it smell like dead bodies in here?" Magnus asked.

"Magnus… it doesn't. No… no dead bodies here. What's wrong?" Clary asked, concerned.

"Well, I can smell them! So many dead, rotting things! And why is it so damn cold?!"

Magnus stopped and covered his nose and mouth with his hands to protect himself from the smell.

Clary had never seen Magnus like that before. He looked like he was having a psychotic break and a red alert lit up in Clary's head.

"It's freezing!" Magnus fumed and continued his frantic walk through the apartment. "Make it stop, Clary…" Magnus whined, like he was in actual physical pain.

"I... I can turn on the fireplace." Clary offered. It was in the middle of the night, but it wasn't nearly as cold as Magnus was stating. She hoped that some fire would be enough to help ease his pain.

"Make it stop!" Magnus demanded angrily.

Clary didn't make it to the fireplace. Icy blue light appeared out of Magnus' hands, growing brighter and brighter until it seared into Clary's eyes and made her wince and look away. Unaware of his sudden outburst, Magnus directed his hands to the left and sent the light that almost rivalled the stars themselves towards the windows. A few cracks appeared before the blue sparks entirely broke through the windows. It all happened in less than a second. Glass shattered loudly and Clary bent down to protect herself.

The loud noise woke Magnus from his trance. Breathing heavily, he stared at the distant Brooklyn bridge, across the now windowless space, wondering what just happened. He noticed Clary crouching behind the sofa.

In the next seconds, Magnus and Clary stared at each other, trying to make sense of the occurrence. Magnus was confused and embarrassed, like he was caught doing something he shouldn't be doing. Then Matthew toddled in the living room, excited about the noise. Luckily, Clary's shadowhunter reflexes kicked in and she picked him up before he could step on any broken glass.

"Papi," the boy said with wide eyes that closed up on Magnus after assessing the mess.

Oh, no. I'm so sorry, sweetie. I didn't mean to… Oh my God, what if my baby got hurt? Magnus felt miserable at the thought. He could have lost control and hurt his son. He felt like a monster and he didn't even know what caused him to explode like that.

Clary tried to encourage him, telling him that they didn't have to overthink this for now. She told him to lay down until Jace came back. She told him she was taking Matthew to Luke's and that she'd be in touch. Magnus barely took any of that in. He just nodded at her, fighting his tears and waited until she was gone to let them out.

He didn't even try to make sense of it. He wasn't even capable of thinking at this moment. So he busied himself by cleaning up the broken glass and throwing away the torn curtains.

By the time it was dawn, he was exhausted but much calmer. He hoped Jace would be back soon, so they could get this over with and get some answers.

The sun soon came up and there was no sign of Jace.

In the next three days, Magnus didn't do much more than sit in his dark room and try to unfold the big confusion ball that his mind had become.

When he arrived at his destination - which wasn't home - Magnus was greeted with the usual horribly cold sensation inside his body and the vision of a dead man, laying on the carpeted floor. He had an expression of pain stamped on his face, like he had died of great agony. But Magnus didn't care. He was actually pleased that he could finish his longtime enemy off in such a creative way. Boiling someone's blood inside their body and watching them burn from the inside was a first for him. Very demon-like. He didn't know he had it in him until it was done. Magnus smiled, proud of his work. Goodbye, Darius, son of Azazel. May you rot in hell for all eternity. Now if only he could finally find his last enemy and complete his revenge…

Magnus remembered the ice cold that had taken over his body in his last vision. The sight of the lifeless warlock, Darius, fried to death from the inside. He also remembered how satisfied it made him feel.

No. Not me. The killer. Magnus reminded himself quickly.

The more he thought about it, the clearer it became. Magnus had some sort of mental connection to the thing that had been murdering all those warlocks. For some unknown reason, he could see inside their head, feel their feelings… But only when he was asleep or too emotional, apparently.

For the past three days, Magnus had been trying to empty his mind to see if he could have a similar experience again. He also pushed to draw some magic out of himself again. But his efforts were useless.

He remembered Darius' ripped page of the warlock book. Now Magnus knew that whoever was holding Alec was going after these warlocks for revenge. He also knew that there was at least one more warlock in danger, the "last enemy" that awaited punishment.

My dear Tessa, what dark business had you gotten yourself into? Magnus wished he had known his friend better. He had gone through everything he knew about Tessa, but as far as Magnus could tell, she'd always stayed away from shady company.

The only logical explanation supported his original theory: that Asmodeus was the one killing the warlocks. Magnus' father could have had some sort of agenda against other demons and he could be using their offspring to get to his enemies. Maybe he was trying to get their attention… That was a possibility. And being Asmodeus' offspring made it comprehensible for Magnus to have a connection with the demon.

The last episode when he exploded the windows was truly concerning. He suspected that his connection to Asmodeus was what made him snap like that. Something terrible must have happened, something must have interfered with Asmodeus' plans… the smell of death suggested that someone important to him must have died… But who? And why would Asmodeus even care? Was this all part of his evil plan somehow?

The demon's emotional overwhelm must have passed on to Magnus in the form of magic, which was surely insane and unprecedented, but not less insane than being a son of a demon in the first place.

However, Magnus' theory was flawed in the sense that it didn't explain why Asmodeus would hurt shadowhunters, including Alexander.

Maybe he's going mad. Can demons get dementia?

It was all very overwhelming and Magnus knew they couldn't get any answers before Jace came back with a demon. Which brought up another problem they had to face.

"Is he back?" Clary asked as she entered the apartment at the same time as the first sunlight.

"I'm afraid not," Magnus turned to her.

"Dammit, Jace, where the hell are you?!" She hissed angrily at the wall. "I've looked everywhere! No one in the Institute has heard from him."

Magnus watched the redhead pace around the living room, hands on hips, shoulders tense, barely breathing. He wanted to tell her that he would be back soon, that he's just out looking for a demon to bring back home. But he couldn't. Jace could be just as lost as Alexander now.

"Why did you do that, huh? Why did you throw him out of the apartment in the middle of the night?!" She accused Magnus.

"This isn't my fault! He's a big grown shadowhunter, Clary, he can take care of himself." Magnus tried to stay calm. He knew she wasn't thinking straight from worrying. Oh, how well he knew.

"Well, clearly he can't. Otherwise, we would have heard from him by now."

She choked on her last words and sat on the couch, face buried in her hands. Magnus didn't know how to comfort her other than the non-comforting 'I'm sure he's okay', but he didn't need to. Matthew walked in, holding his cow plushie Wawa and Clary grabbed and pulled him on her lap as soon as she saw him walk past her. The boy looked rather surprised from the sudden attention, but he didn't protest. She wept and held him close.

He was such a calm boy; Magnus didn't understand how, considering that the people he most had contact with were practically living anxiety bombs. They were truly blessed to have Matthew in their lives. My precious boy. Magnus' heart warmed as he smiled encouragingly at Matthew, who took Clary's gripe bravely. Then the entrance door opened and…

Jace.

There he was, looking a bit worn. Other than that, he looked unharmed and wore the same clothes that Magnus sent him off with 3 nights ago.

"Morning," the shadowhunter announced cheerfully. Magnus blinked.

"Daisy…" Matthew mumbled from Clary's lap when he saw his uncle. Clary stopped crying and let the boy down. He toddled straight to Jace, who waited for him on his knees. Taking Matty into a big warm hug, Jace asked: "Hey, kiddo! What you up to today?"

Clary froze from his unexpected appearance. Then, she practically ran to him and threw herself at him desperately.

"Wow, it's good to see you too," Jace said, slightly scared from the intense reaction. As Clary tightened her embrace around him, he winced as if her hug was causing him pain.

"What? What's wrong?" Clary let go and asked panicking.

"My neck…" Jace said as he touched the nape of his neck, applying light pressure on it and grimacing more. "It's a bit sore, like I hit it or someth-"

"Where the hell have you been!?" She yelled.

"Clary…"

"I was worried sick!" Clary yelled, losing her calm for good.

"Easy, I just went out last night to get a demon, like Magnus asked. Don't tell me you forgot that."

"Last night? Jace, that happened 3 days ago!"

"What? What are you talking about?" Jace smiled nervously.

"You've been gone for 3 days, that's what I'm talking about!"

"Okay, that doesn't make any sense…"

Clary looked at Magnus, silently crying for help. Magnus cleared his throat first. He definitely didn't want to get into a fight between those two.

"It's true. It has been 3 days. What happened to you?" Magnus asked.

"I don't… The streets were empty. I didn't find any demons. And the sun came up and I just… I came home."

"You don't remember anything else?" Clary questioned him.

Jace looked at her with confusion. "I swear that's what happened," he said hesitantly. Magnus stepped closer and picked Matthew up. Then he stopped in front of Jace and studied his face.

"Hmm. Your memory must have been wiped out," Magnus commented.

"Why?"

"I don't know. Maybe you saw something you shouldn't have."

The shadowhunter couple alternated between staring at each other and staring at Magnus with utter confusion. Matthew watched them curiously.

"You looked rested," Magnus continued to study the shadowhunter's face. "You look… too well for someone who's been missing for 3 days. Like you were away, just sleeping… Yes," Magnus said when he touched Jace's forehead out of a sudden, giving the shadowhunter a minor scare. "It feels like magic was used here…" Magnus sighed and then woke up from an apparently daydreaming state for a second, like he was trying to remember something. It scared Jace. Now that they were standing close, Jace noticed Magnus had dark circles under his eyes as if he was the one who went missing and stayed awake for days. The moment was over in a second and Magnus seemed to be on again.

"Honestly," he continued with the usual voice that he used to talk to Jace. "This is a bit anticlimactic. I was expecting you to come back, I don't know… missing a limb, or something like that," Magnus commented snarkily. Or maybe with Alexander by your side. There was a side of him that hoped… but of course, that would have been too good to happen. He should have known better than to hope.

Actually, he did know better. Magnus felt like he's been alternating between two personas; one of them had been worried about Jace, but the other knew he would be back home safely.

"I assume you're hungry," he said casually. He figured it was too soon to be overdramatic. They could get on the missing demon issue later. "Why don't you sit while I make us breakfast?"

"Did you get new curtains?" Jace asked in awe. Well, what do you know? Magnus wondered, surprised. It was hard to believe that the shadowhunter ever paid attention to the furniture and the decoration. Even Clary eyed her lover with suspicion after that comment.

"And new windows…" Clary muttered.

Jace looked at them, his face impersonating a huge question mark.

"We need to talk about what happened," Clary finally forced her attention back to Magnus.

"Do we?" Magnus flinched. He really didn't want to go back to that miserable moment. He put Matthew into the baby chair and opened the fridge to make breakfast.

The boy mumbled some things to himself as he watched the adults. Magnus was curious what he was thinking about the situation and he was sure Matthew's eyes were screaming 'You buncha crazies!'

"Hold on for a second," Clary said as he answered her phone, but not before sending Magnus a look that said 'don't think you've escaped this just yet'.

"I understand. Jace just got home. Yes, he's back. We're not… quite sure yet." A long silence followed in which Magnus detected Clary going out of breath. Jace had apparently noticed her reaction too since both men hung on her words thirstily. "Yes, we'll be there," Clary said. When she put the phone down, her usually joyous face was a big dark cloud, ready to pour some heavy rain.

Magnus's body tensed up, not ready for a storm. However, before Clary could say a word, some part of him already knew what she was about to say. The same part that knew all along that Jace would be back.

"There have been attacks on the nephilim Institutes over the world… London, Paris and LA."

Those were some of the most traditional and most heavily protected Institutes. It made no sense for them to be attacked all on the same day.

"What kind of attacks?" Jace risked the question.

"The same thing that happened when Valentine…" Clary flinched painfully at the name of her disappointing father. She just went over with it. "They were invaded and… The shadowhunters disappeared."

Somehow, Magnus wasn't surprised to hear the news.

"Disappeared?" Jace, on the other hand, couldn't be more shocked.

"That's all I know. They're just gone," Clary shook her head as an attempt to shake the crazy facts together.

The three of them digested those words in silence, while Matthew got louder with his baby talk. With a loud "Nanaaa" the boy let them know he was hungry and Magnus turned to attend his son's needs.

"London, Paris, LA…" Jace listed, drawing a mental world map for them. "Why didn't they come for us?"

"No idea. And I hate to say this, but Jace… this sounds like an inside job. How could someone break in and kidnap hundreds of trained shadowhunters from heavily protected places on their own? Someone must have helped them."

"You mean a shadowhunter?"

"Or shadowhunters."

And with that said, the air became even heavier around them.

"Hold on! Last time this happened, Valentine was our only suspect," Jace pointed out.

"It can't be Valentine this time. He's dead," Clary argued.

"So is it someone copying him? Continuing his work? Or… or maybe it was never him in the first place?"

A quiet scoffing sound came from beside the couple, taking them both by surprise. Magnus laughed with a provocative glint in his eyes that Jace didn't like it. Not one bit.

Something is not right here, Jace thought. Magnus didn't seem like himself at all. An abundance of questions rushed through his head. Why did Magnus act all indifferent while Clary freaked out on him when he showed up? Why was he so calm after seeing that he returned without the so wanted demon? The Magnus Jace knew would have flipped and even sent him back out to chase that demon. And Clary… she hasn't been much better either. Having no memory for the last 3 days was already terrifying enough; she only made it worse by telling him that he'd been gone for 3 days straight. Jace really wanted to know what the hell was going on. But now they had a new crisis to solve. He took a deep breath and tried to look at the good side of things.

"At least there hasn't been any more warlock killings, that's good," He pointed out the one positive aspect of the news.

"Don't hold your breath." Magnus mumbled without looking up from making breakfast.

As Clary and Jace changed clothes, Clary filled him in about the Magnus' episode from the night Jace had disappeared. The way Magnus seemed to have access to magic, but in a loose uncontrollable way was enough for Jace. He decided to stay home, and when Magnus asked why, he claimed that he was too tired to go all the way to London. The truth was, he didn't want to leave Matthew alone with Magnus in this state. As much as they needed to get a demon home to summon Asmodeus, Clary agreed that it was best to keep an eye on them for now. So she went off to the London Institute and Jace managed to convince Magnus to go to work - he was opening his new hair salon in a few weeks and Jace imagined work could distract Magnus from stress - while Jace stayed home with Matt.

Once they were done with breakfast, Jace took Matthew in his arms and watched the clouds enclosing the city through the new living room windows. They could never make it to the park and back before the rain.

"Okay, I know I'm not the artist in the family… but we could paint something," Jace suggested. "Make auntie Clary a surprise? What do you think?" He asked the baby.

"Sammeee. Doggo bu bu," the boy mumbled.

"Sure! We can paint that." Jace accepted Matthew's confusing challenge (What was that about? Summer? A blue dog?) and painted with him all afternoon, ignoring the dull pain in his neck.

AN: I bet you didn't that coming, ha! Anyway, I saw this meme on a writer's Instagram account today. It had a Lay's chips bag with water drops on it instead of potatoes and the caption said: "Author's be like it's time for a snack - Lay's: the tears of my readers" and "extra salty" on the bottom. That's totally me. I'm that author.