"I...I don't think that's how it works, Jace." 

Jace glanced behind his shoulder, the bright sun seeping in through the window, highlighting the golden strands of his blond hair as he narrowed his eyes in concentration. "Of course this is how it works, Alec. I've used these...machines dozens of times. It's simple, you just turn this-" his voice cut off as he twisted one of the knobs of the squarish machinery, resulting in an alarmingly high pitched squeal from said Slushie machine. 

"Um...I'm pretty sure you just press this," Alec slid next to Jace, who was in the middle of tackling an apple flavored neon green sludge spraying out of one of the cracks of the metal. Alec raised his eyebrows blankly, gently pressed the red button next to the bin of straws and smiled in victory as the machine rattled back to it's normal spiral. 

Jace straightened up, his arms covered in green dye and ice as he stared at Alec in astonishment. "How did you do that?" 

Handing Jace a cup, the dark haired boy slowly began distributing the sugary drink into the cup, "I came here with Magnus once. Besides, the button does say press here in case of emergency."

"No it doesn't-" Said Jace, elbowing Alec away to examine the button. He wore a sour expression as he was proven wrong, and folded his arms across his chest, scowling at the group of strangers staring at them. 

They both looked a bit out of place in the beaten up, rather sticky gas station. Alec had managed to borrow some jeans and a plain tee shirt from Magnus, but Jace was left looking like he belonged in a motor bike gang. His black jeans were repeatedly torn in places, thanks to previous patrolling, and his leather jacket was large and bulky on his lean frame. They'd both managed to cover the most visible marks, yet they still attracted many eyes as Alec paid for the drinks and dragged a not-very-cheerful Jace out of the building. 

"I don't understand why Clary and Izzy get to be living it up in Hollywood with Emma and Julian, and were stuck here." Jace commented as they began their walk back to the institute. 

"Because someone had to stay here in case of an emergency, and since you decided to make a bet with Izzy, were going to be stuck here until they come back." Said Alec, a cool smile on his lips. He felt slightly selfish at the fact that he was almost happy Izzy and Clary would be gone for the next few days. It wasn't that he was angry with them-though he had been rather flustered when he'd been caught wearing Magnus's shirt on accident and been subjected to Izzy's laughing- but being able to just walk with his parabatai for no reason felt nice. After being voted in as counsul, it had been hard to find the delicate, simple moments of doing nothing, and he was glad he'd had enough time to try and babysit Jace into not doing anything stupid while Clary was away. 

Jace rolled his eyes, "Come on, you know Izzy can't cook. How was I supposed to know her and Simon would team up and make Crème brûlée? Besides, at least you have Magnus and the kids. I'm all alone," His golden eyes twinkled as he faked a lonely sigh. 

Answering with a sympathetic pat on the back, Alec glanced around him. Being early in the morning, and a Saturday, he'd expected the streets of New York City to be packed. He was used to mundanes shouting into phones, calling taxi's or rushing down streets. But it was seemingly quiet, and lacking in the usual chaos, which made him slightly uneasy.

Jace seemed to sense it too, and gave Alec a sideways glance as they turned a corner to one of the streets well known for their busy traffic and tourists. It was completely empty.  

"Huh," Jace muttered, shuddering against his jacket as an icy trail of wind whipped against them suddenly, "this doesn't seem suspicious at all." 

Alec, who'd shuddered at the cold as well, gave a shrug, stepping forwards to examine the street. It looked fine, all the tightly packed buildings seemed lively enough, small gift shops were open and full of happily chatting people. They seemed fine. But no one was in the street, there weren't any parked cars, no bikes or motorcycles. Only them. Almost as if someone was waiting for them. 

"Um, Jace," Said Alec as another icy gust of wind whipped against them, "It's summer." 

"Really?" Replied Jace with a playful smile. 

"Shut up. I mean, it's summer." 

"So...?"

"So...why is it snowing?" 

Jace's eyes flickered into the sky, his long, thick eyelashes catching delicate snowflakes as they danced around them. Alec had drawn his seraph blade out, shivering slightly as he whispered into the sword. The blade flashed blue, barely visible against the hardness of the sun as Jace pulled out his own Seraph blade and did the same. 

"See anything?" Said Jace, his eyes suddenly sharp and careful. 

"I don't think-" But Alec's response was drowned out when a particularly forceful gust of wind charged at them, almost like a monster pouncing on it's prey. 

Alec was used to the look of his parabatai changing into fighting position. It was something he'd almost grown to admire as he'd watched Jace grow older. His feet braced the ground, his legs bent and steady as he held his blade close to his cheekbones, giving a trusting nod to Alec. He gave it then, as the two huddled closer together, both clearly confused as the winds grew louder and harder against their slowly numbing bones.

Alec brandished his weapon as a round of muffled, deep voices echoed around them, sounding like the voices were coming out of phones, covered in static. It was almost like the Silent Brothers communication, the distant noises ebbing their ways into the brain. But these voices were in a language Alec didn't recognize, making it hard to calm his racing heart. 

"Alec, maybe we should-" But whatever Jace was about to suggest, Alec never got to know. He was thrust backwards, invisible hands pinning him to the ground as his head collided with the cement with an audible thump. 

Everything buzzed in and out of focus as he struggled against the invisible arms, but he could hear as Jace called his name, and see him blindly slashing his seraph blade into thin air as he was dragged backwards slowly. 

"I knew we should have invited Magnus," Alec hissed, shaking the stars from his vision as he kicked out, managing to ward off the invisible hands long enough to see Jace's arm bleeding. Did he accidentally cut himself? Alec thought in confusion, dashing towards his struggling parabatai before being drawn back once again by the invisible hands. 

This time, his vision completely faded to black as his head hit the cement, and his ears were ringing by the time he stumbled back to consciousness, feeling for his seraph blade, which he'd dropped after hitting his head. 

After realizing there was no Jace checking over him, Alec crawled to his knees, feeling nauseous as he called out, "Jace? Where are you?" 

His vision had returned, though the sunlight seemed to burn his eyes as he scanned the street and saw Jace on his knees and hands, about three meters away. 

Being in no position to run over, he slowly crawled over to Jace, ignoring the searing pain in his head as he reached his parabatai, managing to shake Jace out of his daze enough to get him to sit. 

"Are you okay, Jace?" 

Jace blinked, recognizing Alec's touch and voice, "I-yeah. Uh-wow. That was weird. Are you okay?"

Fighting off the urge to say do I look okay, Jace? He simply said, "Bumped my head. Any idea what that was?" 

"Not a clue. You look a little cross-eyed, how hard did you bump your head?" Said Jace, reaching to Alec's head as if to examine it. 

Alec took the opportunity to take Jace's injured arm, and they each examined one another's wounds. Jace mumbled to himself as he examined Alec's head, but Alec stayed silent, staring at the mark on the other boy's arm. 

It looked like a rune, though definitely not Shadowhunter. Jagged and deep, it looked more like a natural slice of the skin rather than anything suspicious. But the pattern, while plain and simple, stood out in a way that would make it visible from probably at least a few steps away. 

"I'm thinking we should leave this area." Alec muttered flatly, their surroundings still oddly cold and ominous. 

Holding onto each other, the two stood up shakily, and glanced around. "I would never leave a fight, or a mystery unsolved," Said Jace with a stubborn look, his uninjured hand holding the other to his chest, "But I'm sort of freaked out. Let's go."