City of Bones

Chapter One

May

She had never seen so much bustle. She had never seen so many people, hurrying, rushing, and shoving by each other with so much carelessness. It made her body restless. It made her fingers twitch. At the same time, though, her mind raced with ideas. With wonder and amazement. Her mind spun with all the possibilities of what these strangers were doing, where they were going.

Her eyes scanned the crowd of the port. She could tell that in this part of the world, people did not use boats for travel very often. Thankfully, she got lucky and was able to board an American cruise at a port in France that was going exactly where she wanted to go: New York.

She knew one person in this foreign land, well, sort of. Hodge Starkweather was an old friend of her father, a friend she had met many years ago before she turned three. There wasn't much she remembered about her first years, not that those years mattered anymore.

Her eyes stopped on a boy. Not really a boy but not yet a man either. He resembled an angel. A halo of golden curls rested atop his head, slim and tall build, and an angular face. She couldn't quite make out the color of his eyes, but there was a hint of gold she could see. She could see the thin silver scars carved into the visible parts of his skin.

Eliza knew this boy. She knew his name, she knew his history. Jace Wayland. Her surrogate brother. She grabbed both of her suitcases and strolled over to him.

"I suppose you're my ticket to the Institute." She smiled at him. Once, her father said she had a trusting smile. She had originally taken it as a bad quality, but he assured her that a trusting smile was the ticket to getting whatever she wanted. Whatever he considered a good quality, she wasn't sure she wanted it.

The boy stared at her, a clear look of distrust and confusion on his face. "You can see me." He noted sharply. His eyes were, in fact, golden.

Eliza rolled up her shirt sleeve, showing off several similar silver scars. "Like I said, I suppose you're giving me a ride."

She could almost see the gears working in his mind. Taking in the unique look of her. White-blonde hair, forest green eyes, the silver scars, the charismatic smile, her icy composition in which she held herself.

"What's your name?" He asked, beginning to walk away from her.

For May, the air was brisk. Not very warm but not exactly cold either. The windy air bit at her face, whipping her hair around.

Lies. This was the part she did not think she would be excellent at. She couldn't lie well. That, her father told her, was where a trusting smile and good personality came into play.

"Eliza Starkweather. I'm Hodge's cousin. Well, his third cousin, twice removed." She said easily. "His cousin, Oskar Starkweather, married my mother, Seraphina Ravenscar."

Eliza looked down at her luggage. Was it not customary for men to take a woman's luggage? Apparently not as her companion was leaving her behind, as well as her luggage. She gripped her luggage and walked quickly behind him.

They arrived at an automobile. Old fashioned and black. Maybe early 1960's. "Twice implies a sibling before you." He told her.

She nodded. "That it does." She agreed. "I have- my apologies, I had an elder brother. His name was Jonathan. He died along with my parents two weeks ago.

His tawny eyes softened. "I…I-."

She waved her hand at him. "Don't apologize. You didn't know. Which means Hodge didn't tell you anything other than the fact that you'd be escorting me." Jace said that was right.

Once again, she looked at her luggage. Annoyed, she opened the backdoor and tossed her things inside. She slammed the door, walking around to the passenger side and climbing inside. The lie ran rampant in her mind.

"I don't have a family either." He told her. "If it makes you feel better."

She looked straight ahead. "It doesn't, but thank you." She said.

The Institute of New York was built like an old cathedral. Beautiful glass windows full of color and tall spires. "Close your mouth. You'll swallow a bug." Jace Wayland's voice was light as a feather. He had a witty attitude and a smart mouth.

Her eyes wondered over to him. He was getting her bags from the backseat. She clamped her mouth shut promptly. "My apologies. I've never seen an Institute before. It's quite beautiful, don't you think?"

Jace snorted at her remark. She shot him a distasteful look, asking why he reacted in such a way. "When you look at something beautiful every day, it becomes ordinary. Unless it's me." His mouth spread into a large smile, a smile that didn't quite reach the eyes.

She shook her head. "Is he nice? Hodge? I've never met him, which is quite funny considering we're cousins." She asked. From what her father said, Hodge Starkweather was a follower, never a leader. He was weak-willed and too compliant. She was looking forward to that.

Jace shrugged. "Yeah, he's nice. Come on, I've got things to do."

She followed him inside the Institute. They were greeted at the door by an overweight blue-furred cat. The cat shrunk back at Eliza, hissing loudly. Jace's eyes glanced from the cat to the girl. "Church doesn't like anyone."

Eliza bent down on her knees and stretched out her hand towards the cat. "Don't hiss. It isn't nice." She chided the cat. "You and I are going to get along, Church. Aren't we?" There was a look in her eyes. Determination and something…darker. For a moment, it looked as if her eyes faded from green to black.

The cat seemed to relax at the sound of her voice. And then he purred, coddling into the curve of her hand. Eliza looked back at Jace, a look of triumph on her face. She stood back up to follow Jace to their destination.

The library of the Institute was vast. The bookshelves lined the walls, stretching up to the ceiling. Eliza had never seen so many books in her life. "Don't say it's beautiful. If you say it, I'll vomit." Jace warned her as they neared a desk towards the center of the enormous room.

The desk was made of dark polished wood. A globe sat on top of it, beside a few books and a rotary telephone. The top slab of the desk was held up by two dark wooden angels. The man behind the desk was incredibly thin with a beaklike nose and a large scar up the right side of his face.

"You must be Eliza." He stared at her with old eyes. Eyes that had seen so much despite being remotely young. "I am Hodge, your cousin and now your tutor. I offer my sincerest condolences for your parents and brother. I'll be your custodian until you turn eighteen, then you are free to do whatever you wish."

Free. Within months' time, she would be free. It wasn't that close. Eleven months. But close enough.

The day she turned eighteen, she would be gone. No one would ever see Eliza Morgenstern again.

She picked up a book, inspecting it as he watched her. "He grew up well, didn't he? My father's pet project." Hodge scoffed. "No wonder my father let him go. His mouth is unbelievably smart."

Hodge settled the papers on his desk, handing her one. There was a drawing of a cup on it. A glass chalice dipped in gold. Plain but extraordinary at the same time. "A copy of what the Mortal Cup looks like. Though I'm sure your father has shown you many photos." She nodded wordlessly. "As for Jace, he is an amazing Shadowhunter. One of the best, I believe. He does have a quick wit about him."

She stashed the drawing of the cup in the pocket of her jacket. No one could see it. "He's unusual. I've been here a few hours and he's wary of me. I can't work if he's on my tail the whole time." She stared down at the man pointedly. "Tell me how to get him off my back."

"Convince him. You are your father's daughter. In his hay day, Valentine was charismatic. He could get anyone to believe anything. He won't be hard to convince. Jace trusts people easily. It's his weakness. And he loves a pretty girl."

Eliza was beautiful. And she knew it. She knew that her long pale hair, startling green eyes and lithe figure could enchant people. She knew her dazzling smile could make anyone stray from the righteous path.

"Of course he does." She muttered. She found a clock, acquiring the time. It was terribly late. "I'm going to retire for the night. Goodnight."

She left the library without hearing another word from him. She had no idea where her bedroom was located. That meant she got to explore, to walk around alone. Something she had never gotten to do before.

After setting fire to their family home, her father had stolen away in the night with her and her brother, Jonathan. He kept them in a cottage just on the outskirts of Alicante, a cottage belonging to Marisol Hardtower. Marisol had been kind and gentle, a loyal follower of Valentine. A follower no one knew about. She only offered a place to hide from the Clave.

The cottage was small, barely big enough for the four of them. Marisol slept in her living room, giving Valentine the master bedroom. The other bedroom was set aside for Eliza and Jonathan. There was no privacy in the cottage. The basement served as a training facility. During the early hours of the morning, Valentine kept the basement for himself.

That was the truth.

The lie was something else, something much kinder to the heart and the ears that heard it.

The lie was that Eliza was not even a Morgenstern, but a Starkweather. Daughter to Oskar and Seraphina, younger sister to Jonathan. Her parents and brother had perished in a terrible fire two weeks prior, just after her seventeenth birthday. Her brother had been in from the Institute in London and had returned especially for her birthday.

She preferred the lie to the truth.

Eliza's eyes trailed the enormity of the Institute as she wandered. For the first time in…she could not recall the last time a genuine smile graced her face before that moment. There was a sense of freedom that came with being alone in the dark halls of the Institute.

She could hear music drifting through the halls. Soft and slow. Melancholy. She followed the melody to an empty room that housed only a piano.

Jace was sitting at the bench, bent over the keys. Moonlight streamed from the windows, illuminating his face. His eyes were closed, lost in the sound of his music.

"Who taught you to play?" Her voice cut through the music. She walked further into the room. Jace looked back at her, a look of pure annoyance on his face. So, he didn't like being interrupted. Or he didn't like her. She preferred the former option. She sat down on the bench beside him. "Or did you teach yourself?"

"My father taught me. He insisted I know how to play an instrument and I chose the piano." His tone was uncaring. He was telling her to make her leave, she understood this.

A thought prickled her brain: He had never forced her or Jonathan to learn an instrument. He had only ever hit them, whipped them with a metal tipped whip and told them they were monsters. For Jace to be such a failure in her father's eyes, Valentine had treated him awfully well.

She stood up. "You play wonderfully. You're very well taught." She wiped the skirt of her dress. "Anyways, I didn't mean to bother you. I was on my way to bed." She began walking away from the piano, mouth pursed. "Thank you, by the way. For escorting me back. It was very kind of you to sacrifice your day."

She waited for a few moments for a response. He never responded. She clasped her hands together and walked out of the room.

When she woke, she smelled burnt food. Very burnt food. She hurriedly got ready and found her way to the dining room. Hodge was seated at the table, hunched over a book. Jace was talking quietly with a dark-haired boy. The dark-haired boy was taller than Jace with a similar build and electric blue eyes.

Like she had set off some sort of alarm, all three of the men at the table looked at her at the same time. Hodge gave her a soft smile. For a moment, she saw the same look on the dark-haired boys' face.

"Bad news. I burnt all the food." A dark-haired girl entered the room, flour covering her apron and pancake batter splattered on her face. Her dark hair was a twist of braids and loose pieces. "Who are you?" She asked Eliza.

She could feel everyone staring at her, waiting for her to say the wrong thing. Everything she said would be the wrong thing. "Eliza Starkweather. Hodge's cousin."

The air seemed to stiffen, almost as if it was trying to suffocate her. No one said anything for what felt like hours. "Can you cook?" The girl asked her.

Eliza was taken aback. She hadn't expected the girl to react in that manner. "Uh. Yes. I cook very well." It wasn't a lie. She had cooked all the time back home. Marisol had taught her.

"Good. You're salvaging breakfast then. Come on." The girl disappeared back into the kitchen, the door swinging behind her.

Eliza looked back at Hodge, asking silently for help. He gave her a nod of encouragement. Jace gave her a disdainful look but said nothing. Maybe he truly didn't like her. No, he didn't trust her.

She walked quietly to the kitchen. The girl was throwing away plates of darkened foods that looked suspiciously like bacon, sausage and pancakes. "I'm Izzy, by the way. Isabelle Lightwood."

Lightwood. An old Shadowhunter name. The Circle had contained two members that bore that name. Eliza kept her mouth shut about that. This girl was the only person being semi-nice to her and she didn't want to upset her.

"That goon in the dining room is my older brother, Alec. Sorry if he weirds you out. He isn't as outspoken as Jace or myself." Izzy handed her a bowl filled with yellowish batter along with a wooden spoon.

Eliza carefully dolloped batter onto the griddle. "I don't mind. People don't usually say much around me anyways." Eliza admitted quietly.

Izzy dropped pieces of bacon and sausage on the griddle away from the cooking pancakes. "Why not? You're attractive. People speak to me all the time. Well, when they can see me."

Isabelle Lightwood was incredibly blunt, Eliza was learning. She liked that. She preferred it when people didn't beat around the bush.

"My family is-was a bit odd. Very reserved and quiet. My parents liked to keep to themselves in Alicante. Most find it unnerving. My brother and I…we weren't like them. We wanted to be out in the world, doing and seeing everything. But my parents refused. There had been talk when I was younger that my parents wanted to exile themselves from the Shadow World, but they didn't want to tarnish the Starkweather name." Izzy asked her what Idris was like. "It's lovely. I didn't get to see much of it, only pieces of the city. But the sky always seemed bluer, the grass greener." She said wistfully.

Izzy nodded, watching the food sizzle on the griddle. "I'm sorry. About your family. It must suck so bad to lose everything so quickly." Her voice was soft. She was being completely sincere. Honest. Things that Eliza was not allowed to be.

No one had ever apologized to her. Given her condolences for her family, real or fake. No one had ever felt remotely sorry for her. No one felt the need to. Her father had caused so much pain and hurt, so much misery and agony that everyone felt she was the one who had to apologize, give condolences.

"I live with it. It isn't terribly awful. Some people have it much worse. Some have families that don't want them. I believe that's worse." Eliza flipped the pancakes over.

It wasn't the complete truth. Nothing that came from her mouth anymore was the complete truth. There was always a lie mixed in somewhere. She hated being an outcast, not knowing anyone, never having someone to confide in. She could tell no one about how her father seemed to favor her sadistic twin brother or even that her father was alive.

"How kind of you to be so considerate of the less fortunate." The new voice in their conversation was sharp and hateful. Jace was leaning on the doorframe, arms crossed over his chest. His lips were pursed, eyes narrowed. "Isabelle, you really shouldn't let her do the cooking. She could poison us all." He wasn't joking.

What on earth made him so cruel?

Izzy scoffed at his remark. "Don't be dumb, Jace. She's nice. I like her."

Eliza almost dropped the spatula on the griddle. This girl didn't know her. She knew nothing about her at all, only her name, but was taking up for her against someone she had known most of her life. If only Izzy knew the truth.

Jace's eyes fleeted between the two girls. "Don't be naïve, Isabelle." He spun on his heel, walking out of the room.

Eliza trained her eyes on the food, refusing to look the other girl in the eye.

She found the training room easily enough. Church led the way to the attic, turning every once in a while to make sure she was still following.

Jace was alone in the room, inspecting a table of seraph blades. "Go away. You aren't wanted here." She hadn't made any noise at all. His senses were keen, too keen.

"No." She insisted. He looked up at her, his eyes a molten gold. "I know you don't trust me. I wouldn't trust me either." He snorted, a dark noise coming from him. "But I'm going to be staying here for the next eleven months, so we're going to be seeing each other a lot."

He picked up a seraph blade, holding it up in the light. "Seeing and speaking are two different concepts. You didn't learn a lot, did you?"

She put her hands on the table, leaning towards him. "Give me a chance to prove myself to you. I know that you and the Lightwoods are going hunting tonight. Take me with you."

He let out a boisterous laugh. Loud and sarcastic. "No way in hell. You would get us killed. You're untrained. I know that the Shadowhunter Academy is closed. And from what you said to Izzy, I'm sure your parents didn't train you. You probably don't even know how to hold a seraph blade."

She grabbed one from the table and steadied it in her hand. She moved her arm a little bit. "I'm going with you. I'm required by the law to protect all other Shadowhunters." Again, he said no. He didn't trust her. She put the seraph blade down. "Listen, I know what you think-."

He slammed his fist down on the tabletop, eyes boring into her own. His jaw was clenched tight. "Let me tell you what I see. I see a girl who is unusually kind for a Shadowhunter. I see a girl who is soft-spoken and small. I see a girl who is untrained and isn't fit to go on a demon hunt. I see someone I don't trust because I have no reason to trust her."

His words were cruel, harsh and biting. Unkind and burning. So many emotions ran through her body, she couldn't pick one to portray in her words. There was anger, hurt, and sadness.

"I have no reason to betray anyone. I have something to prove to everyone. I must show everyone that I'm not like my parents. That I want to be a Shadowhunter. That I deserve to be one. I need chances to prove myself. Give me one. Tonight. Let me show you that I'm one of you."

His face softened slightly. His eyes searched her face, looking for signs of betrayal. "We're leaving at ten. Be ready."

She could have screamed in delight.

She tightened the straps on her thighs. Holsters to keep weapons. She surveyed the weapons spread out on her bed. She grabbed two seraph blades, whispering ancient names into the blades and then stuffing them into the holster of her left thigh. She picked up the short-sword, eyes scouring the item.

The hilt had three dazzling rubies, on the blade was a shimmering falling star. Eosphoros. Made especially for her. Her brother had the other short-sword, Heosphoros and their father had the broadsword, Phaesphoros. Morgenstern family weapons.

Phaesphoros and Heosphoros had been pre-made, one for the father and one for the son. No one had expected the daughter. Her father rushed to have the second short-sword made after the birth of his twin children and presented the swords to his children on their tenth birthday. Her brother had immediately wanted to kill something with his. Eliza had just sat and stared, eyes glued to the rubies.

"Are you coming?"

Alec Lightwood was standing in the doorframe of her bedroom. His dark hair fell over his ears, his piercing blue eyes watched her carefully.

She nodded, shoving the blade into the sheath on her back. She grabbed two of throwing knives and latched them into the sheath bands on her wrist. "Yes. I'm ready." She was overly conscious of the way her hands were shaking.

And he was noting it as well. "Don't be nervous." He assured her. "We have to protect you. Jace is stupid, but he isn't that stupid."

She scoffed, the noise wavering in her throat. "I'm not. Well, not for the reason you think." She mumbled. Her hair was in two thick knotted braids, resting on her shoulders. She pushed both the braids off her shoulders. "I've just…I've got a lot to prove and I don't need him stuck up my ass while I try and do it."

Alec reached towards her, hesitating when she flinched. But nonetheless, he put his hand on her shoulder, squeezing it gently. "I believe in you." He said quietly. "Alright? Let's go. You've got something to prove, right?"

The club was called Pandemonium. She didn't enjoy the irony in that.

"You can still dip out. If you're scared." Jace told her, his voice smooth with snark.

She shook her head once. Her hand went to her hip, double-checking that she still had her seraph blade.

Jace extended his arm out towards the club, his expression hard. "After you, then."

Eliza glanced at Alec. He gave a quick nod, reassuring and trustworthy, all in one split second. She squared her shoulders and walked past her three companions, straight into the club.

The good thing about being a part of the Shadow World was being a shadow. Shadowhunters got to come and go at their own disposition. For the four of them at Pandemonium, that meant no waiting in the pesky line to get inside.

Lights flashed as soon as she stepped inside. Purples, greens, blues, reds. Blinding and bright. A haze of smoke covered the room, thin wisps circling around her. Her hand fell from the top of her seraph blade as she stared in awe.

This was life. This was living.

Bodies grinding against each other, partly in sync with the blaring music. Drinks sloshing from cups. Lights flashing.

"We're looking for an Eluthied demon. Do you know what that is?" Jace was beside her, tone mocking and hurtful.

He had full reason to mock her hunting skills. She had no experience. Not real experience anyways. But her knowledge? He had no right to mock her intelligence. She knew as much, probably even more, as he did.

"It's a type of Eidolon. It can change forms. So…so we're going to have a very hard time finding our target in here."

Jace huffed in response. "Keep your eyes open and your mouth shut, got it? We get in, we kill, we get out."

She frowned, looking over at him. He asked what her problem was. "You skipped a step." She told him. He raised his eyebrows in question. "Finding the demon."

Behind them, Izzy stifled a laugh and Alec let out a snicker. Jace's face remained passive, but his golden eyes darkened.

"Jace, let's go survey." Alec suggested, trying to pry Jace away before he said something he regretted.

Jace gave Eliza a cold look before disappearing into the crowd with Alec. Izzy smiled at her and grabbed her by the arm.

"I don't know how the hell we're gonna find this thing in here. It's dark and I can't see a damn thing." Izzy groaned. "I know Jace is trying to give you a hard time, but damn."

Was he trying to get her killed? It sure felt like it. She shook the feeling away and rolled her shoulders. What to do….?

Interrogate. That's what her father would tell her. That's what Jonathan would do. So, it was exactly what she wouldn't do.

She slid past a boy with bright pink hair and climbed on top of a table.

"What are you doing?" Izzy asked her loudly over the music.

Eliza looked around, utilizing her improved view of the room. She glanced back down at Izzy. "Looking for the target."

It took Izzy a moment to realize what was going on. "Brilliant." She heard Izzy said. Her partner climbed up on her own table.

Eliza's eyes scanned the room. A few feet away, she spotted Jace and Alec, faces hard as they looked around the room at ground level. She let herself smirk in pride at her idea.

Her skin prickled. Someone was watching her.

She turned. On the table behind her, Izzy was beginning to dance, her arms in the air, hips swaying.

Standing near Izzy's table was the pink haired boy. His gaze shifted from Eliza to Izzy and back. A sour taste filled her mouth.

Demon. More specifically, her demon.

She mimicked Izzy's moves, her hips easily swaying to the rhythm of the music. She watched Izzy jump down from her table, never looking at the demon. Izzy disappeared into the crowd.

Eliza swallowed. Her skin was hot, covered in a thin film of perspiration. Her braids swung as she moved. She still felt his deadly gaze on her.

Hands were on her hips, making her jump. "Stay calm." Jace's voice was rough in her ear. "It's locked on you." His lips grazed her ear as he spoke.

She nodded, noticing the way his body moved in sync with hers perfectly. "Do you trust me?" She asked quietly.

"Not in the slightest." He admitted.

She turned to face him. "I've got this." She didn't know if she was assuring him or herself. He opened his mouth to protest but shut it almost immediately. "You can follow me. If it makes you feel better. But I have to do this on my own." She told him.

His hands fell from her hips. She climbed down from the table. She glanced over her shoulder, making sure the demon was still following her. He was, his eyes slanted, dangerously interested in her movements.

She let herself smirk at him before she turned back around. Carefully, her eyes scoured the room, looking for a place that was secluded and hidden away from the crowd. Across the room, she spied a door that no one was paying attention to. A storage room, maybe. Or a back exit. Either would do. It said, 'No Admittance' on the door. Perfect, she told herself.

She pushed her braids over her shoulders and kept walking. She walked past Alec and headed straight for the door. She barely opened it, slipping through the crack.

Her heart was pounding, her face hot. Her first hunt. Her first, hopefully, kill.

She heard the door shut, turning herself around. The Eluthied demon was staring at her, his eyes a dark black. "You aren't very good at this, Shadowhunter."

Her heart felt like it stopped. He knew. How did he know?

His chuckle chilled her. "No normal person looks the way you do. And…neither does any normal Shadowhunter. I was told to keep an eye out for you, Morgenstern."

He knew her. He knew her name. Not good. Very not good. "It would be in your best interest if you didn't address me that way, demon." She tried to keep herself composed. She tried to channel her father the best he could, as much as she hated to.

He raised his eyebrows. "Your friends aren't going to come save you, girl. You're on your own. They're going to let you die in here."

She wouldn't put it past Jace. Not in the least. It was no matter. If she died, she wasn't going down alone. She unsheathed her short sword.

At the sight of it, the demon backed away. "What…what is that?" He hissed. "Put it away!"

She glanced down at her sword before looking back up at her. She lunged at him, sword out. It sliced against his shoulder, ichor spurting out and landing on her bare wrist. She bit her tongue at the burning pain.

The demon screamed out in pain. "You little bitch!" He shouted at her. He jumped at her, knocking her to the ground. Her head smacked against the concrete floor. His hands were tight around her throat. "How to kill you? Eat you or just get it over with?" He hissed.

She heard the door slam open. "Jace, do something!" She heard Izzy scream. "He's gonna kill her!"

The demon grinned, his glamour beginning to slip. His eyes were clustered all around his face, his tusks an ugly grey color.

She wriggled underneath him, managing to grab her seraph blade. "See you in Hell." She whispered, shoving the seraph blade into his stomach. The demon began to fold in on himself, turning into dust on her stomach. She stood, putting her seraph blade back in the holster.

She looked down at her wrist, the flesh burned from the demon's blood. "That was cool as shit." Izzy breathed.

"She almost died, Iz." Alec reminded her.

Eliza looked up at them. Her gaze fell on Jace. "Satisfied?" She asked darkly. She wiped the remaining dust from her clothes.

He walked over to her and grabbed her forearm, inspecting her burn. He produced his stele and held the tip against her skin.

"No. Let it heal on its own." She jerked her arm away. "Battle scars are cool, right?" She half-smiled.

Jace grimaced at her. "Whatever you want to believe." He looked back at Alec and Izzy. "Let's get out of here. Job's done."

Her fingers gingerly touched the burn wound. She winced at the contact. The skin from her knuckles to her wrist was covered in festering burns.

In all honesty, she probably should have accepted Jace's help. But that was three days ago and she wasn't going to ask for it after three days. Even if she couldn't really move her hand. Something good had come from it though. She had relied too much on her right hand beforehand. Now, she could almost use her left hand just as well.

She was practicing with it then, throwing knives at a dummy. Every so often, her fingers still slipped, releasing a knife a little too fast. Like right then, for instance. The knife barely made it to the dummy, partially sticking in the chest, nowhere near the target.

"You do better with your right hand, you know."

She turned, pulling her sleeve down over the burn marks. "I know." She told Jace. "But it helps to be able to use both hands."

He rolled his eyes and walked towards her. He cautiously rolled up the sleeve of her shirt. The pads of his fingers barely touched the wound, but she still winced at the contact. "Should have let me fix it when I offered." He muttered.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "You knew this would happen?" She asked.

He nodded once. "I'm not stupid. Do you want me to heal you? It'll probably take an hour or so to fully heal since you waited so long."

She pulled her arm away and covered the burns up again. "No." She said, voice determined. "I don't need your help."

He held his hands up in the air. "Don't say I didn't try."

She rolled her eyes and left the room. The walk back to her room was short. She shut the door, locking it. She walked to her bed and lifted the mattress, making sure her short sword was still there. The last thing she needed was Jace finding out she had a family sword.

Her hand burned with pain. She flexed her fingers, finding that was about the only movement she could perform without biting her lip in pain. "Heal, damn it." She muttered.