Chapter 1

Music was surrounding her and engulfing her every sense. She was twirling and spinning around, through the blurred vision that belonged to her eyes, she saw gold and emeralds coating the room. All of the sudden a hand reached out to her shoulder and abruptly stopped her. She looked down at the hand, only to find it gone, and a white star left on her shoulder in its place. She turned around looking for the person that the hand might have belonged to, only to find her Jace staring at her from across the room. She started walking towards him when all of the sudden the whole room stated to vibrate. The ceiling formed long cracks and was beginning to crumble, the chandeliers all around her were beginning to fall to the floor. Frantically she searched for Jace, only to find the disappearance of him. She looked up a moment too late to find the largest chandelier in the center of the ballroom, plummeting directly towards her.

Clary gasped and sat up in bed, her emerald eyes wide open to the darkness in front of her. Then she realized that there wasn't really an earthquake, someone was actually shaking her by her shoulders.

"Clary?" came the voice directly in front of her. She squinted into the darkness and noticed a gold glint of hair; Jace.

She let out an exhausted sigh and slumped back into the comfort of the pillows. "What Jace? It's not even morning. If the suns not up, then neither am I." She began to quickly drift off again.

"Clary," came Jace's voice, more urgent this time, "we have to get up; the Silent Brothers want to meet with both of us."

She opened her eyes just a slit to assess Jace's face, when she found no trace of humor she was satisfied and sat up against the wall. "Why would the Silent Brothers want to meet with us Jace," And with a quick glance at the harsh red numbers at the side of the bed, she added; "at three in the morning?"

He gripped her wrists and pulled her out of bed and into an embrace. He set his chin on top of her bright red hair, "Wish I knew, but when the Silent Brothers request a meeting, it would be wisest to comply."

Jace and complying were so rarely used in the same sentence that knew it was important, and that she had to agree. She sighed against him, "Okay just give me five minutes, I need to look presentable for the blind men." He chuckled and she set a soft peck on his lips and turned towards the bathroom, snatching some clothes on her way over.

She stared at herself in the mirror, her green emerald eyes and fiery hair set off one another also bringing out the freckles that were sprinkled across her cheeks. Dark shadows rested under her eyes, she had barely slept two hours before Jace had decided to wake her up once again. The vigorous training that she was going through to look half as graceful and Jace did while Shadowhunting, was sucking the energy right out of her. She settled for some cold water to wake her up and splashed it over her face. She blinked water from her eyes and patted her face dry. She put a couple swipes of mascara over her eyelashes, making her dark circles less of a contrast against her fair skin. There was nothing to be done about her tornado of hair though, so she grabbed a hair tie and pulled it to a messy bun on the side. After that she dressed quickly and exited the bathroom to a waiting Jace on her bed.

He rose when he saw her and gave her a quick peck on the cheek and laced his fingers through hers. They walked down the long corridor their silent steps leading toward the elevator at the end of the hall. Clary wondered why the Silent Brothers had only requested to meet with her and Jace, why weren't Isabelle and Alec invited?

The elevator door thudded closed and started descending down. Clary rested her head against Jace, stupor overwhelming her. He put his arm around her, not saying anything. The pair were probably equally tired and would rather be snuggled up in bed, but when do you ever get what you want. The elevator doors clamored open and they set along to the dark doors that would take them towards new and unknown information.

They stepped out the brisk chill of the coming winter and Clary huddled even closer to Jace, of course she would forget a jacket. She glanced up and down the street, and although she was able to hear traffic honking in the distance, none of the loud yellow taxies decided to grace Clary and Jace with their presence.

"Didn't really think this through," Jace said as the street continued to remain desolate. They decided to walk a few blocks towards the cemetery when finally they hit luck and got a taxi to drive them the rest of the way into the cemetery. The thrumming of the car and the motions started making Clary's eyes droop. She fell asleep against Jace's shoulder for a good fifteen minutes until the taxi had reached its destination. Jace threw a twenty towards the cabbie and they piled out of the car, now facing the iron gates that marked the entrance of the ghostly Silent City, they took their first step.