Clary's fingers traced the outside of the strange mark that had appeared painfully on her shoulder not to long ago. She had no idea how it had gotten there, just woke up in the middle of the night with searing pain on her right shoulder and there it had been. After that she felt strange, every now and then cuts would appear on her body, only to disappear a few seconds later. Clary now sat on her bed staring in the mirror at it. Her eighth birthday was two days away, though it wouldn't be the same without her mum. Jocelyn had vanished a good month or two ago, leaving her in the care of the orphanage. The police had looked everywhere for her and eventually, Clary had to accept the fact that her mother was dead.
Clary grabbed her backpack that she'd packed earlier. She was going to escape, she didn't want any future and would rather face the streets. In her backpack were some clothes, food, art supplies that her mother had given her and some other necessities like a toothbrush and paste. Clary walked out the front door or the orphanage and started to walk down the busy streets she knew so well. She pulled her coat over the black mark that was barely hidden behind her t-shirt. Suddenly, she felt a tug on her arm, yanking her over into an alleyway so fast she didn't have time to scream before a hand covered her gaping mouth. "Are you Clary Fairchild?"
Clary tugged the hand away from her mouth and saw three figures standing in front of her. The first one was a handsome guy with blonde silky hair, the second had blackish-brown hair and the last was a girl who dressed a bit like a stripper, not that she'd seen one in person. "Who's asking?"
"She can see us, she must be her." The girl leaned forward towards, making her very uncomfortable due to the fact that she was pretty much only half dressed. "Look, Clary, we don't have much time, we have to-"
"Hold up!" Clary interrupted the strange woman who, like her, companions was covered in strange markings, similar to hers. "I don't know who the hell you guys are and what you want or what the hell is going on."
"By the angel, she doesn't know about the shadow world." The turned back to the others.
"That would explain the lack of runes." The blonde one snorted. Runes? Clary guessed they meant the tattoo's on their skin. "You mean like this one?" Clary pushed her coat to the side, revealing the rune of her shoulder.
"We have to get her back to the Institute, Jonathan is on his way and-"
"Look out!" Clary yelled as the blonde boy turned around just in time to dodge a sword. She looked at the man who was holding it, he was fair skin, covered in runes, had bluish-green eyes and strikingly familiar red hair. But, the thing that really caught Clary's eye was the rune that looked exactly like hers on his right shoulder. The fight broke out instantly and soon the other girl and boy had a whip and bow in hand and were racing towards the red-haired boy.
Clary, on the other hand, ran back into the busy streets and away from the fight. She dodged through people until she finally reached a park a good way from the scene she had left. What the hell just happened? Just when Clary caught her breath the red-haired man appeared in front of her. Clary gasped, she hadn't seen him coming. The man stopped in front of her and he seemed to be examining her, she gave him a confused look and then she heard voices and running footsteps behind her. "Jonathan stop!" She heard the woman say. So, Jonathan was his name.
Jonathan's arm rapped under Clary's legs and soon he was holding her and running with incredible speed. He was so quick she didn't even get a look at her surroundings, everything was a blur and by the time he had stopped running Clary had passed out in his arms.