Clary and Jace were walking side by side on a deserted train track, the sun setting far off the horizon, with no one in sight. Clary turned toward Jace, his expression tense and unnatural. He was usually so funny, happy, but not now.

"Jace what exactly are we looking for?" She made Jace look at her.

"I'll tell you when we get there."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Get where? And, uh, why do you need me?" Clary rubbed her cold hands together.

"I might need a rune. You could help me with that."

"Okay, but you haven't answered me, where are we going?"

"Well, you see, a couple days ago Luke sent me a message, saying that Valentine was gathering up an army. He would be strong, very strong. He said it was hopeless, unless…"

"Unless what?" Clary asked.

"Unless we find the Lost City." Jace said.

"The Lost City? Jace, we're in Manhattan."

"Clary, please. This is not a normal mortal city. It's a city where ancient Shadowhunters have lived, to be believed where the first Shadowhunters of all time lived. If we can find it, some people say that those ancient Shadowhunters are still there, alive, and waiting to be awaken when evil arrives." Jace paused.

"So what you're telling me is we are looking for a lost city on a deserted train track that supposedly has hundreds of Shadowhunters that will fight against Valentine?"

"Oh, thousands. But, yes. If we find them and they are willing to help, we might actually have a chance of defeating Valentine. Oh, and sorry about dumping all this info on you."

"Oh I'm okay." But Clary did felt a bit dizzy. "So how do you know where it is?"

"Well Luke said that old Shadowhunters that have passed down the secret of the Lost City have said that it's deep in a mountain cavern nestled with trees and sloping a large mountain that touches the skies of the angels. But since Manhattan has no such thing, I looked for the closest thing, which is about there." Jace pointed at a large hill that touched the sky, below there were no trees, just piles of garbage and dirt, but Clary followed.

They walked over to the little mountain and Jace knelt down by a rock. He smoothed his fingers over it, and whispered some kind of code, in a different language it seemed.

"We found it." Jace said, admiring his work.

"We did? Jace, nothing is here but a pile of dump."

"No, no, Clary. To the mortal eyes, yes, but to the eyes of trustworthy Shadowhunters, no." Clary was about the protest when Jace put a little dab of a gooey bring orange mixture on the top of her eyelids. At first it burned, but then it soothed down and felt like normal water. "Open your eyes." Jace commanded.

The world looked so different. There was a mountain and a pile of dump, but up about where the peak touched the sky was an ancient city, way older than the greek ones Clary saw in her textbook. There were small golden and marble houses lining a narrow path up to the sky, where Clary could barely make out a colossus castle. It was more like the size of a raindrop. The bottom was grand and round, and the top pulled together into a point. Clary "Ooooed" and "Ahhhhed" until Jace pulled her up.

"We're going up there?" Clary asked. She was not the fittest person in the world, actually she could barely ride a bike for more than 30 minutes with panting and coughing. "No, you cannot be serious. I'll die of exhaustion before we even get half way there!"

"No worries, sis." Clary felt queasy when he called her that. She should be use to it, but every time he called her sister, it was like her heart dropped to her stomach. "If you get tired, I'll carry you."

"You're serious? Do you know how heavy you are? I'm almost-" Clary started.

"And do you know how strong I am?" Jace said.

They marched up the hill, Clary still amazed, until almost half way up, she got exhausted. She started wiping her forehead, panting aloud and taking breaks every 10 steps. "I'll carry you." Jace finally said, and before Clary could protest, he slung her on his back like a backpack and kept walking. She couldn't believe how easy it was for him to walk with her on his back! She enjoyed being carried by Jace, though. They never hugged since that last awkward hug before Clary went to college. She lay her head on his back nd rifted to sleep.

"Wake up." Clary fluttered her eyes open with a start and bolted upright. "What? What's wrong?" Clary asked.

"Nothing, Clarse. We're here, that's all." She looked around, they were here. It even looked more grand from the top. She could see almost the whole New York and she took a good look at the beautiful architecture. She wanted to say something sophisticated, but all that could come out was "Wow."

"I know." Jace said. "We have to go in the palace to talk to the leaders."

"We do? But Jace I look like a mess, I mean my hair is out-" Jace put a finger on her mouth.

"Shush, you look great." He smiled, which made Clary blush.

They hurried on up the hill, the City seemed deserted. I mean it was so clean, but no one was around. Jace trudged Clary to the golden gates that were engraved with pictures of brave warriors from past battles. Still no one at the gate, so they walked right into the marble and silver palace.

Inside, there were 4 large golden chairs, each with a velvet cushion on them. On each sat one person, there were 3 men and 1 woman. Their eyes were closed, their heads on the back of their chair. After an awkward silence, their gray eyes opened automatically, and laid them on Jace and Clary.