Throughout the drive, Clary became more and more homesick. Once they passed the first Californian beach, she knew that they were a long way from home. She couldn't help but miss the towering skyscrapers and the hustle and bustle of those around her. She missed her favorite coffee shop, where they knew her order. She missed the fact that at two in the morning she could go and get Chinese food or ice cream if she felt like it. She missed the fact that everyone focused on their own lives, paying no attention to those around them. Clary was pulled out of her thoughts when her brother said, "Little sis, what's with the face? Look, I know you miss New York, I do too, but maybe this change will be good for both you and me. It's been two years since we moved, but this was our home first, and you need to do the last step in order to heal completely." Clary looked over at her brother's concerned face. She sighed.

"I know Jon, I know."

"We're here!" their mom said from the front seat. The family pulled up to their new house, or more accurately, mansion. The house looked like a typical beach house, but modernized. It was really nice, like really nice. After Clarissa and Jonathan Morgenstern's mother, Jocelyn Fairchild, married Lucian Graymark, their lives had changed drastically. See, Luke is rich, so when their lives joined, they became rich as well. The houses in their new neighborhood were pretty spread out, giving each family their own generously sized lot. Luke had said that all the houses along the coastline, theirs included, shared the beach below. The inside was also pretty modern. It had a large entryway with stairs in the middle. On one side of the stairs was a door that led to a huge basement. On the other side of the stairs was a hallway that led to the massive living room with a wall of just windows. The kitchen was to the right and it looked out towards the living room. To the left of the living room was a hallway with what looked like the master bedroom and bathroom, a couple more bedrooms and another bathroom. The top of the stairs led to a large room with one wall, also consisting of just windows. It looked out towards the ocean. To both the left and right of the staircase were hallways with a few bedrooms and two bathrooms.

As they were looking through their new house, Clary and Jon heard their mom calling them. They both ran down the stairs and out the front door to where their mother and stepfather were standing in front of a large moving truck. "Alright you two, start helping carry boxes and other stuff in please," their mom said. The four of them got to work carrying boxes in. Their mom had mentioned earlier that they would have movers come and take the furniture in so they didn't have to. In, out, in, out thought Clary grumpily as she carried things. About a third of the way through the boxes within the truck, she walked out to see Jon lounging in a beach chair he must've found. She snuck up behind him with an idea in mind, grabbed his shoulders, and yelled. He very visibly jumped and turned around to glare at her.

"If I have to help, you have to help Jon," she said, giving him a look. He realized what she was doing and played along.

Turning back around in his chair and settling into it further he replied, "Not in my world Clare-bear."

"Well, you're world doesn't exist so…"

"It does too, and since I am king, I say I'm not helping."

"Actually, I slaughtered everyone in your 'kingdom'," she replied, using air quotations with her fingers, "which means you must bow down to me, therefore making your world my world, and in my world, you have to help."

Jonathan was about to counter her argument when their mother yelled at them. "Enough! Both of you go find something else to do before I throttle you." As soon as she finished yelling at them the two Morgenstern siblings looked at each other.

"I knew that would work," Clary said proudly. Jon nodded.

"Every time like a charm." The siblings smirked at each other and high fived when they heard someone else snort from a few feet behind them.

.o.O.o.

The Lightwoods were driving home from visiting some family friends when they saw a new family moving into the house next to theirs. "Dad can you pull over so we can meet our new neighbors?" Isabelle asked her dad, Robert. Her two brothers groaned.

"Iz, why do we have to come?" Alec asked.

"Ya, we've been in the car for hours," Jace agreed. "I just want to go home."

"Oh come on guys, it'll be good to meet them so they have some friends," their mom said from the passenger seat.

"Thanks mom," said Isabelle.

"Fine," both boys grumbled in unison, while Izzy clapped gleefully. The three Lightwood siblings got out of the car and began walking up to their new neighbor's front yard. As they approached, they saw a small red headed girl sneak up to a taller silver haired boy who was lounging in a beach chair. She grabbed his shoulders and yelled. He flinched and turned around to glare at the girl.

"If I have to help, you have to help Jon," she said. They stared at each other for a second in what looked like a silent conversation when the boy turned back around in his chair and settled into it further.

"Not in my world Clare-bear," he replied.

"Well, you're world doesn't exist so…"

"It does too, and since I am king, I say I'm not helping."

"Actually, I slaughtered everyone in your 'kingdom'," she shot back, using air quotations with her fingers, "which means you must bow down to me, therefore making your world my world, and in my world, you have to help."

The boy was about to reply when, a woman that was probably their mother, yelled at them. "Enough! Both of you go find something else to do before I throttle you." When the woman finished yelling at them the two kids looked at each other.

"I knew that would work," the girl said proudly.

The boy nodded and replied, "Every time like a charm." They smirked at each other and high fived. Jace thought that was pretty clever of them.

Isabelle snorted after this whole interaction. The two kids whirled in their spots and stared at Izzy, Jace, and Alec, all of who were incredibly amused. Their new neighbors looked each of them over. Jace noticed the girl's gaze still trained on him, which wasn't unusual. Whenever Jace met a new girl, he always gave them a taste of his charming personality, and the redhead in front of him was no exception. "Like what you see Red?" Her eyes snapped up to his with a mischievous glint, trying to cover the faint blush on her cheeks. She stepped back, crossed her arms, looked him up and down slowly, and put a hand on her chin to fake thinking.

She looked back up at him, directly into his eyes, and said, "Yes, actually." This caught Jace off guard. He didn't actually think she would respond so boldly; most girls just giggled and batted their eyes. "Your tattoo." Jace glanced down at the Phoenix tattoo on his right forearm. It was rising while ablaze. "I understand the meaning all too well." He just stared back at her, feeling as though she was looking into his soul and stripping apart all of his carefully placed walls. He wondered what she had been through in order to understand the meaning of his tattoo.

Sensing the awkward tension, Izzy complemented, "That was a brilliant way to get out of doing something." The two kids turned their attention to Izzy and smiled.

"Thank you," the boy replied. "We learned a long time ago that if we argued about something completely stupid and pointless, then our mom would get fed up and make us leave, thus getting us out of doing anything ever." The three Lightwood siblings chuckled. "I'm Jonathan, but you can call me Jon, and this is my sister Clary," he said gesturing to himself and the girl standing next to him. Jonathan was wearing black basketball shorts and a Woodkid shirt. He had messy hair so blond it was almost platinum and was tall, maybe 6'2, lean and muscular. Clary was wearing black leggings and a simple fitted blue shirt, with a white baseball cap with the Louis The Child crown on her head. She was a lot shorter than all of them, with wild red hair that was pulled into a ponytail through her hat and freckles spattered across her nose and cheekbones. Jace noticed she had a necklace on, but it was inside her shirt so he could only see the necklace cord. It wasn't a chain, but a black, softer-looking cord. The siblings looked nothing alike except for their brilliant green eyes, although Jonathan's were slightly darker.

"I'm Isabelle, but you can call me Izzy, and these are my brothers, Alec and Jace." Alec was on her left and Jace on her right. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too," replied Jonathan and Clary. They smirked and looked at each other. Then they turned their attention back to the Lightwoods. All of this was done in unison.

"Woah… that was creepy," said Izzy. The two siblings laughed.

"Ya, we get that a lot. It's like twin telepathy, except that we're not twins," said Clary.

"Weird," said Izzy, obviously amused, "So, where'd you guys move from?"

"New York," responded Jon.

"Oooo! I've always wanted to go to New York!" exclaimed Izzy.

"Iz, if we went to New York, we would never be able to find you again within the endless stores," said Alec. Everyone chuckled at Izzy's scowl.

"Thank goodness Clary's not a shopper so we've never had to worry about that. Well, unless it's an art store," said Jon. Clary just shrugged, not even denying it.

"You're an artist?" Izzy asked. Clary nodded.

"Through and through," Clary said.

"What about you Jon?" Izzy asked.

"Are you kidding? I can barely draw a stick figure. I'm a sports guy all the way."

"Jace and I are too," said Alec. "Are you any good?"

"Well, I was captain of the varsity football team at our old school, so I'd say so," replied Jon.

"Well when school starts in a couple of weeks, you should try out for our school team, the Angels," said Alec. Jon nodded.

"I'm a cheerleader. Clary, were you a cheerleader at your old school?" asked Izzy. Jon and Clary looked at each other and then burst out laughing.

"Clary's not girly enough to be a cheerleader," Jon said.

"Ya, I hate dresses, skirts, and fake enthusiasm," said Clary. They all chuckled.

"Then do you play a sport?" asked Izzy. Clary opened her mouth to respond when their mom popped her head out of the front door. "Jon, Clary, can you two come here please?" Clary smiled and looked at Izzy.

"Nah. I'm not coordinated enough," she said. Everyone laughed at this. She waved 'goodbye' to them, turned, and walked into the house.

"Hey, if you guys want to come over tomorrow you can. We'll be here all day unpacking," Jon offered. The three Lightwoods looked at each other and then back at Jon, shrugging and nodding. "Okay, see you tomorrow then," said Jon before turning and going into the house.

.o.O.o.

When Clary and Jon entered their house, their mom approached them. "Guys, while you were talking to those kids, the movers brought in all of our furniture. Luke and I wanted to show you what we think be your favorite room. Follow me."

She headed down the basement steps and turned on the lights. Clary and Jon gaped at their new basement. There was a huge flat screen tv on the wall to their left with a huge couch and some bean bag chairs in front of it. Hooked up to the tv were different types of gaming systems and controllers. There were also surround sound speakers all over the room. "Luke went out to pick up some stuff to soundproof the basement because we know you two like your music and television loud. I was just too excited to wait to show you until it's done," said their mom. In unison the two Morgenstern siblings hugged their mom saying their thanks. They heard the door upstairs slam. "That's Luke. Jon can you go help him bring some stuff down here." He nodded and headed up the stairs.

Jocelyn turned to Clary. "I have one more surprise for you upstairs." She led Clary up the stairs to a bedroom next to Clary's. She opened the door to reveal a room with one wall completely made of windows facing the ocean. The room was also filled with art supplies. There was an easel sitting in front of the window waiting to be used. "Luke and I wanted to give you this as your safe haven. We thought that after everything that happened, you deserved a place that was just yours. We left the walls bare so you can paint those too. We also thought that the wall of windows would make for great landscape paintings." As Clary slowly looked around the room, she felt a tear slip down her cheek at her parents' loving gesture. She threw herself at her mom in a tight hug.

"Thank you Mom," she whispered.

"Your very welcome baby," Jocelyn responded. "Are you hungry, Clary?" Clary shook her head. "Alright, then go get ready for bed."

Clary let go of her mom and headed to her room. She took a quick shower and then put on some comfortable pajamas before jumping into bed. She thought about the conversation with their neighbors. Alec was tall, taller than Jon, which Clary didn't think possible. He wore baggier clothes with a few holes in them, but didn't seem to care. Isabelle was very model-like, with her perfectly straight hair and makeup, and her tall yet curvy body. She was obviously comfortable with her body because she wore tight clothes and very high heels. Alec and Isabelle looked quite a bit alike. They both had black hair, but while Alec had blue eyes, Izzy had brown eyes. Jace, on the other hand, looked nothing like his siblings. He was very… gold. He had blond hair, tanned skin, and amber eyes. She had also noticed that he was very fit. Like Izzy, he was comfortable with his body; he just reeked of confidence and arrogance. It amused Clary when she played along with his game; he hadn't expected her to. There was something about him, that seemed to be lurking underneath all of that confidence. He had walls, same as her.

She honestly loved his tattoo, it was beautiful. She looked down at her own tattoo. It was on her left forearm and was similar to Jace's. It was of a great white shark consisting of tribal-like designs within it and flowy water designs outside of it. She thought it was kind of strange that they both had tattoos similar to each other in similar spots. It was a very weird coincidence. Closing her eyes, she wondered what secrets were hidden beneath those gold eyes.

Thanks for reading! If any of you were wondering what Jace's or/and Clary's tattoo looks like, visit the links below. Also, I don't know if you caught this or not, but the reason Jace or any of the other Lightwoods didn't notice Clary's tattoo was because earlier she had crossed her arms. Depending on the response this gets, I'll keep writing. I have other story ideas that I want to write and post, so those will be coming in the future, as well as continuing my other stories. Anyways, please review, they are always appreciated.

Jace's Tattoo:

royalty-free-vector/fire-burning-phoenix-bird-with-black-background-vector-10182084

Clary's Tattoo:

image-vector/tribal-tattoo-design-shark-ethnic-polynesian-794146099?src=mCMXNUoYq5_AtHZ-l37-dg-1-1

with designs like this around it:

image-vector/elegant-tattoo-shape-water-wave-splash-104684513