It all started a couple weeks ago. She was just a normal, teenage girl, until she and her friend- Simon Lewis- went to a nightclub. For once, they were trying to be just teenagers; carefree and enjoying life. Neither one of them suspected to be witnessing a murder and getting dragged into the darker side of the world; The City Of Bones…
She knew he didn't like it. She knew he was protective of her and he hated to see her with that dude.
"He's going to get you killed" Simon had told her. He was near tears; he really did love her a lot.
"Simon, I'll be fine" Clary had said.
'Fine' was a big word. 'Safe' even bigger. She decided to take off with Jace Wayland – the man who actually committed the murder in the nightclub- and leave New York, for a more adventurous lifestyle, you may say. Simon had literally tried everything to keep her here, but her mind was made up: she wanted to be with Jace, even if that meant living in danger for the rest of her life.
Jace was an experienced Shadow Hunter. He hunted down demons from the dark world. Demons his own father send to earth to destroy every single one who's left from the City Of Bones. Clary just found out she supposedly is one of those people. She also just found out Jace actually was her bother; which complicated the feelings they had for each other. They both agreed they couldn't act out on any of their feelings any longer, since they found out the truth about the nature of their relationship.
Even Jace wasn't sure about Clary following him into the City Of Bones; he knew keeping her safe would be a great challenge, but he also knew he'd die for her.
"Jace, is it true?" he heard a small voice say from behind him. He turned around to meet Cary's watery eyes.
"Cary, I'm so sorry" he said while walking up to her.
"Just don't" she said before taking a step back, making it clear she didn't want to be touched.
"I didn't know"
Her hand were shaking; she was furious. How could he hide this from her?
"You did. You just didn't tell me".
"That's not true" he nearly yelled, but he stopped himself; knowing she was already upset enough. She didn't need him yelling at her too.
"When did you find out?" she asked softly, doing her best to keep the anger out of her voice.
"Yesterday".
Her rage started to subdue and she felt a sudden calmness coming over her.
"What is the plan?" she asked.
His eyes met hers and for a split second she thought he was going to cry.
"What's the matter?" she asked nervously.
He waited a couple seconds before answering; "It involves Simon.."
A world away, Simon still lived in New York and he was starting to go on with his life. He still missed Clary every single day, but he was starting to make new friends. He realized she wasn't coming back. She made her choice. She wanted a different life. A life in which he wasn't involved.
It hurt. He loved her and he would give up everything in the world just to be with her. But the feeling wasn't mutual. He was a mundane. She wasn't. She had magical powers running through her veins, while he was a boring, nerdy guy, who enjoyed reading and making poems. He should've known a girl like Clary would never go for a guy like him. But she got his hopes up. And for a split second he believed he had a shot. He believed he finally found love. But guess not.
"Simon, are you coming?" the girl asked while roughly grabbing him by his shirt.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming" he said while containing his laughter. He was going out with one of his new friends, Carissa and a couple of her guy friends.
"Is this what you're going to wear?" Carissa asked him, tugging on his shirt once more.
"Yeah, isn't it good?" Simon asked a bit annoyed. She picked up his mood and decided to let it slide.
"No, it's fine" she smiled.
He shrugged it off and gave Carissa a friendly smile; no matter how down he felt, he couldn't let it show. He promised Carissa he would start living again. He promised he'd let her go. Clary was gone. Out of his life. She moved on and it's time for him to do the same.
While the group of friends found themselves on the street, neither one of them picked up on the guy that was following them the whole way.
"I thought you said it was nearby" Simon wined after walking for 20 minutes.
"It is" Carissa smiled while punching his arm, "Are you tired already?"
Something about her made him smile. Even though he wasn't near getting over Clary, he had to admit, Carissa was a nice distraction. She had a way of making everything look pretty. The world, the views, every situation. Even his dull poems seemed to come alive every time she read them out loud.
"I just thought it would be a shorter walk, that's all" Simon replied.
"We're almost there, you little baby" she joked.
"Yeah, yeah" he said as he shoved her away gently, causing a lot of laughter in the whole group. Not knowing their laughter would soon turn into sorrow.
"What are you talking about?" Clary managed to get out.
"They know he'll do anything for you" Jace answered softly.
Her heart was going insanely fast and she felt like she was going to pass out now any given time.
"He's my best friend" she whispered, a single tear hitting the hard ground she was standing on.
"I know" Jace said while placing a hand on her shoulder.
She took a couple of deep breaths, ignoring the next lump forming in her throat.
"Is there any other way?" she asked petrified.
"No"
Her mind was racing and her vision was blurred by all the tears. She never meant to cause any of this. She never meant to drag Simon into this mess. He didn't want to have anything to do with this world. Her world. He wanted to be a normal teenager and she couldn't blame him.
The remaining shadow hunters made their way to the library too, meeting Jace and Clary.
"Did you tell her?" Issabel asked. Issabel was a tough girl. When Clary first met her, she was convinced she hated her. Issabel wouldn't give her the time of day. At first she thought it was jealousy because it was obvious she had a thing for Jace, but later she realized it was just part of her character. Issabel had been through too much to be able to fully trust someone. Now she had her trust, things were actually going smooth between them.
"She knows" Jace answered.
"If you're in, there's no backing down" Alec – one of the other shadow hunters- interfered.
"He could get killed" she said softly, not sure if she was talking out loud or not.
Issabel and Jace shot each other a look of worry; she wasn't going to be able to pull this off.
"You need to trust us" Issabel said.
Clary shot them all an angry look; "Y'all are asking me to trust you while you guys gamble with my friend's life" she yelled, the tears falling down rapidly now.
"He's smarter than we are. We just need him to think you're in danger so he'll open that gate, allowing us excess to his world. We'll try to keep him out of this mess as much as possible" Jace explained.
After their last encounter with the demons from the dark side, the gate had shot down completely the moment Clary and Jace defeated their father. What they didn't know was that only he had the power to turn on the gate, which made them practically trapped in the City Of Bones, making them easy prey for the demons; they had no place to go.
"What will we do when Simon opens that gate?" Clary asked.
"We'll use that to get out of here. We'll stay somewhere in New York while we prepare ourselves for the fight. We just need a little bit more time" Jace said.
Her hands were shaking, this was a bad idea, but she agreed with the rest of the shadow hunters: It was the only way.
With her heart on her sleeve, she said the magic words:
"Okay, I'm in".
He watched her dance, she knew exactly how to move and every single guy in the club picked up on that.
Why Carissa only had eye for him, he really didn't know, but he didn't mind at all.
He felt her hands on his arms, on his chest and his heart nearly stopped when he felt her lips against his ear.
"Are you having fun?" she whispered in his ear, the music making it almost impossible for him to hear.
He nodded his head, his ability to speak was basically at zero.
"No, you don't" she said before taking her space again, looking him straight in the eye.
He only just realized he wasn't moving at all. He was just standing there on the middle of the dance floor, feeling everything but comfortable.
"I'm sorry" he yelled trying to come over the music. "I'm an awkward dancer".
He saw that beautiful smile again, her long black hair falling over her shoulders perfectly.
She came closer again, placing both of her hands on his chest, while pressing her upper body against his.
"Just move with me" she said sweetly.
He felt her sway against him and he did exactly what she told him to.
He moved with her, earning a smile from her. Quite frankly, he was willing to do anything to see that smile again.
Just when he felt like he got his groove going, he noticed a guy wearing all black, looking at him.
After what he'd been through with Clary, everything looked suspicious.
He pulled himself away from Carissa, causing her to look hurt.
"I'm sorry, I'll be back in a minute"
"Are you serious?" he heard her yell above the music while he turned around and followed the mysterious guy.
He pushed away all the dancing teenagers, following him every track.
"Hey!" he called out.
The guy didn't even stop.
"Hey stop!"
No reply.
Like someone else was controlling him, he started running.
He passed the restrooms, the bar, the 'private area' and the smoke area, but he was gone.
He stopped to catch his breath, resting his hands on his knees.
"Shit" he murmured under his breath.
And just like that, he appeared again. That same guy. The same black outfit.
He looked him straight in the eye and then it hit him; his eyes wondered off to his neck and that's when he noticed the symbol. His heart stopped; his gut feeling was right. He just met another demon.
Clary was wondering around, clutching the cup in her hands.
"How long do we have to wait?" she asked impatiently.
"We just sent a fake demon out there. We're just waiting for Simon to take the bait".
"Wait, what? What's a fake demon?"
"It's a telegram. He's not real. But as soon as Simon spots him, he'll realize you're in danger. We just hope he cares enough about you to come and save you" Jace said coldly.
"He does" Clary said offended.
"I hope so"
Jace was working on her nerves, he knew Simon loved her with all his heart. That's why this is so hard on her. She can't believe she's playing him like this. But she has no choice. It's the only way they have a chance at surviving this. He'll understand. Simon will get it.
"Carissa, we need to leave" Simon yelled as he grabbed her by her arm.
"Simon, what the hell?!" she shouted.
"I'll explain it to you on the way, but we need to get going"
She was ready to protest, but Simon was too fast. He pulled her away and they hit the cold night air.
"Simon" she said while he dragged her to his car.
He was running. He'd never felt like this. He thought it was all over. Boy was he wrong.
"Simon, stop. STOP" she yelled as she yanked herself out of his grip.
She stopped right then and there and it made Simon turn around.
"What are you doing? We need to hurry. Let's go" he said as he lunched out trying to reach her again. But she stepped away, leaving him furious.
"Carissa, I told you I'd explain things to you later. Don't play around".
"You can't just yank me out of a club without saying a thing" she said furiously.
"Lives are depending on it" he said.
"What are you talking about?" she asked confused.
"Clary" he whispered.
"What about her?"
"She's in danger"
Her anger was rising with the seconds; "Are you kidding me? Are you seriously dragging me with you just so I can hear you talk about the girl I can never replace" she yelled.
"Carissa, this isn't about you. This isn't about me being in love with her. Hell, it doesn't even have to do anything with us" he said helplessly.
"I don't believe you" her voice broke as she said it.
"I want to tell you everything but you won't believe me"
"Try me"
He didn't know what to do. How could he tell her about the city of bones? About the demons? About Clary having magical powers? About her being a shadow hunter? About him being the only mundane to ever survive an attack of the demons from the dark side. It sounds like a bad fairytale.
"Promise me you'll help me" he said.
She blinked a few times, her hands nervously pulling at the sides of her jeans;
"I promise"
"Clary has …. Special ties with some special people" he started. "She's not a normal girl. She has powers. Powers we don't have. There are just a couple of her kind left and demons from the other side are desperate to kill them all. I just saw one of them"
Carissa looked at him like he was crazy and he probably would too if it was her telling him all of this.
"I know it sounds unbelievable, but I'm serious. I saw one of the demons in the club. They are back here, which means they're planning another attack on Clary and her family.
I know how to get in there. I know how to help her. I just…I need to set up a plan. I could use your help".
"Simon….are you high?"
"Carissa, I know this sounds crazy, but-"
"Do you even hear yourself? Demons, magical powers. It sounds like a bad comic book" Carissa said, "Look, I know you wanted to get out of that club desperately, but you don't need to make up such a stupid excuse" she laughed while wrapping her arms around his waist. "We'll just go home" she whispered as she softly kissed him.
"Carissa" Simon said as he gently pulled away, "I'm not kidding. This isn't an excuse. This is real".
Something in Carissa's facial expressions changed; something had just hit her.
She shook her head and looked at him, the fear in her eyes was undeniable and he felt terrible for dragging her into this.
"Carissa, I'm sorry".
"Don't" she said. She felt her hands shake and had to control her shaky voice.
"I want to help you" she said softly.
His eyes widened; this wasn't the response he was expecting.
"Are you sure?"
She swallowed hard, the cold night air suddenly felt a lot warmer.
"Yes. There's just one condition.."
He nodded his head; "Ofcourse, tell me"
"I want you to take me with you"
He looked at her, his jaw basically hitting the ground; "You mean..-"
"I mean, taking me with you into the City Of Bones"…