Chapter1

The first thing Clary thought when she saw the orphaned older boy was that he was beautiful. Beautiful like nothing she'd ever seen before. Beautiful like a cloudless, warm, exciting summers day. His hair was a perfect blonde that shone in even the dullest of lights. His eyes were similarly colored and appeared to be molten gold. Everything about him seemed to be sculpted from the finest of stone, and although Clary was yet unable to tell for sure, she thought his underneath was just as tough and unbreakable.

Clary had always wanted a brother or sister, someone to play with and cherish, so when her mom and step-dad, who she loved like a father, told her they were going to be taking in a child from the foster care system, she was ecstatic.

"Is it a boy or a girl?" Clary asked.

"We're not sure yet, but we should know soon," replied Luke, Clary's step-dad.

With a slight frown, Clary asked, "So does that mean you don't know the age either?"

"Yes darling, I'm afraid so," said her mother with a warm smile.

Clary was slightly upset about not being able to get that information, but she, with gleefully shining eyes, persisted, " When will they get here?"

Still smiling, but with an exasperated eye roll, Clary's mom says, "We're not sure of that either. That'll be one of the last things we find out."

With a disappointed sigh, Clary dejectedly dragged her feet down her hallway and into her bedroom. She flung herself down onto her sketch-laden bed, closed her eyes, and thought about what she wanted her new house-mate to be like.

First, Clary thought of a small sanguine-faced little girl with bright blue eyes that sparkled like an effervescent stream and plump lips just as red as her cheeks. She would have pink and blue ribbons tied like bows in her sun-blessed, frantically curly, silk-soft blonde hair.

Next, Clary thought of a cherub-like little boy just over the age of five. Clary could perfectly picture melted-emerald eyes and thick, dark chocolate hair. She could already hear his tinkling childish laugh mold seemingly flawlessly into her ears.

Clary opened her eyes and, after looking in the mirror across from her, realized she was smiling a toothy grin as bright as the little girl's hair. This was exactly what she always wanted, it was literally a dream, a wish on a star, come true. The only other things Clary had ever wished for was to be beautiful like her mom and to find someone who would love her as much as Luke loved her mom. Her mom was willowy and stunning, she had beautiful red locks that Clary would switch in a heartbeat for her bright orange hair. She had long, lean, muscular legs and delicate yet somehow immeasurably strong features. Clary, however, had overly skinny, weak, chicken legs, in fact that's how her whole body was, and features that just didn't go together quiet as well as her mothers.

It was no wonder Luke loved her mother, when she had everything going for her.

Besides her model-like good looks, she was a magnificently gifted artist, who's works greatly out shown Clary's own feeble attempts. Not to mention her witty sense of humor, generosity, and overall pleasing personality.

However, since Clary had only needle thin slivers of her mother's flawless qualities, neither of her wishes were readily available and as unlikely to come true as pigs actually flying. Clary convinced herself to forget about those things and think once again about her families soon to be new guest.

She actually didn't care what the child looked like, but that didn't stop her from dreaming about the cutest kids she could imagine. She realized that no matter what they looked like, she would be immeasurably happy.

Clary was broken out of her reverie when she heard the shrill call of the telephone. Even though it had awaken her from her glorious trance, she blessed it because she knew it meant information on the foster child.

She desperately slipped and slid down the hallway as fast as could and into the living room where her parents sat, her mother on the phone. Luke was holding her mother's hand, and suddenly she was reminded of her unachievable wishes. She blinked back tears and focused on listening to her mom's conversation.

"Oh yes that would be wonderful."

'What would be wonderful?' Clary thought.

"Well I'm sure we'll be just fine. We could be just what he needs."

It was a he! A boy! Something was wrong though, Clary noticed.

"Yes, that's right."

What was right?

"Fantastic! Thank you very much!"

Silence.

"Alright goodbye."

More silence.

Finally, Clary couldn't hold it in and she asked, "What did they say?"

Her eyes were wide with anticipation and when she looked over at Luke she saw her expression mirrored.

"Well, we're taking in a boy. They said he was a bit hard to handle and uncooperative, but I told him we'd try to help him. I forgot to ask how old he is, but we'll find out in about two hours."

"Why two hours?" inquired Luke.

Clary's mom just evilly smirked and glided into the kitchen.

"Jocelyn Fairchild tell us what you know," Luke jokingly scolded.

"I do believe I have the right to remain silent," she joked back.

Clary just rolled her eyes as their banter continued on. She knew her mother would eventually spill the beans. She could tell because her eyes danced with excited flickers of light and her mother was no good at keeping these kinds of secrets. Who her real father was, was a different story, though. Clary often asked that question but her mom kept her mouth sealed tighter than she kept her hidden jar of chocolates locked.

When Luke started tickling her mom to get her to spill the beans, Clary stepped in and told her mom just to give it up and tell them.

Her mom managed to get out a sentence in between giggles, "Alright, alright, I'll tell you!"

This is my first Mortal Instruments story so I'm open to tips! I used to have a Maximum Ride story but I never finished it and eventually deleted it because I felt it wasn't really going anywhere, and, honestly, i didn't enjoy writing it, but this story has actually been really fun to write! I hope you guys like it! xx