It was 2 years since Clary and Jace broke up at a party, where Clary found Jace kissing a faerie. Jace broke her heart, and Clary left the Institute without a backwards glance. Clary's mom, Jocelyn, sent her to the Academy, where she lost her pain and sadness into her training. Now she's back as a trained Shadowhunter. What will happen?

Clary's POV

I walked toward the large building towering in front of me. A sign stating "THE INSTITUTE" hung above the door. It had been 2 years since I left this place without a backwards glance. I missed everyone so much, including Jace. I wondered how he had been, and what he would think of me when I walked in. I had grown at least 3 or 4 inches (thank the Angels!), and my hair hung all the way down to my waist.

With a sigh, I lugged my bag toward the door. What would they think when they found out that I was covered in scars AND I had finished all the training in only two years, when it is supposed to be finished in four years?

I had barely knocked on the door when Isabelle came leaping straight at me. "CLARY!" she screamed. "Oh my god, you look amazing! Let me help you with your bag." She yanked the heavy bag off my shoulders, and started firing several questions at me. "What did you learn?" "Did you make any friends?" "Were the Academy boys hot?" "Was the food there disgusting?" I slowly took in each question, only focusing on one thing: To act polite to everyone as a courtesy, even if I hated them. Isabelle seemed to find me kind of stiff, so she took me up to her bedroom. Then, she turned to look at me. "You know, I missed you a lot. I still think Jace is a bastard for kissing that retarded faerie." I was probably blushing like hell.

"Thanks! So, how are you and Simon?"

Isabelle suddenly made a choking noise and looked at me like I was crazy.

"Didn't he tell you that we broke up, like, a year ago?"

I was stunned. They had seemed so happy together. "No. Was I supposed to know?"

Isabelle shrugged it off and said, "Well, after you left, he ditched me and then ran off and became this, well, Vampire Sire."

I was completely shocked. "What?"

Isabelle looked at me like I had decided to dye my hair neon pink. Well, I did have a few highlights...

"Yeah, didn't he tell…... Oh!"

She was looking behind me, so I turned to see a group of people staring in our direction. More like gawking. Isabelle went around and introduced me.

"Hey guys, I think you all know Clary, the girl my mom and dad were talking about. She'll be living here with us."

Suddenly everyone started to introduce themselves.

"Hi, I'm Julia."

"'Sup, I'm Jason."

"Hey, I'm Faith."

They went on and on and on! Finally, Isabelle had to step in. "Okay, guys! That's enough! Back to your rooms!"

Everyone filed back to their rooms. I looked at Isabelle with a smirk. She wasn't always very controlling, yet organized. I decided to give her a little advice.

"Hey, Izzy? If you want to control some teenagers, bring a megaphone next time."

Isabelle looked at me. "Ha ha, very funny, Fray."

I laughed. "Come on, which one is my room?"

"Um... I think it's across from Alec's."

"Oh, thanks. Help me unpack?"

Isabelle nodded. "Sure."

We walked slowly to my room, chatting and catching up on latest news. I felt like there was something strange around here and looked toward the window, turning away from Izzy. It was a Sicrosso Demon. It eats humans, and drinks on the blood of other demons. What the hell is it doing here? I thought. I looked at Isabelle, who was yanking something out of her jeans pocket.

"Race you," I said. She looked at me like I was crazy. "Clary, that's a Sicrosso Demon. You can't defeat it alone." I was feeling confident, so I said, "Just watch me." Without thinking, I jumped out of the open window, landing on my feet, behind the demon. It noticed me and snarled at my face.

"Hey, meatball!" I yelled.

I pulled out my seraph blade and took a running start for a leap. I flipped over the demon, landing on it's back, and drove the blade in. It screamed like hell had taken over. Then I realized that it was calling reinforcements. "Oh crap!" I thought to myself. I pulled out my stele and quickly drew two runes, one for protection, which I created, and another for invisibility. That was all the time I had, for five monstrous demons came barreling down the hill to where I was standing. Five Sicrosso Demons, great! I thought, out of exasperation. They began to form a circle around me, slowly closing in. I slowly began to remember my training. I did a double back flip landing on one of them, and stabbed one of the blades into it. As it slowly disintegrated, I leapt onto another, while the others came running at the one I was standing on. I stabbed that one, too, as it yelled in pain. Knowing that I couldn't always stay in the air, I landed back on my feet and took out my three headed Academy knife. Only some graduates get these when they graduate. I was lucky enough to get one, even though I had graduated after only two years. The monsters came running at me in a line, not knowing that this might be the last time they might see the world. They got close enough so that when I threw the knife with all my might, it sailed straight through them and boomeranged straight back to me, where I caught it. WIth a sickening waterfall of ichor, they all collapsed at the same moment. I stood up and wiped their blood off of my shirt. "Yuck,"I thought. I finished cleaning all my weapons, and hung them on my belt. Then I turned around where three people were gawking at me with their mouths hanging like icicles.

Isabelle, Alec, and... Jace , were staring at me like I had antlers. Isabelle slowly walked up to me.

"Oh my god, Clary. How did you.." She trailed off. I was blushing like mad.

"Um...yeah...I guess I did. The Academy put me to work," I said.

Alec started for us still staring at me. "Clary? Is that you? How?"

I looked down at my feet, which were covered in blood, and shrugged. "I guess it's in my blood..." Alec gawked at me and spoke, "That's not what I meant. I meant even an adult shadowhunter would have nearly been mauled to death. But...but...you don't even have a scratch on you!"

I stared at him. Did he forget why I left and went to the Academy? Did he forget that it was his brother's fault? Did he even care? I heard someone approaching us. On instinct, my hand trailed to my belt. Then I saw him. Still the same golden hair, the same scars on him, and the same cocky smile, was Jace. He still looked like a male supermodel and his expression showed a lot of things. Surprise, fear, hate, love, anticipation, and a lot of curiosity. He walked toward us, and I found myself standing as still as a statue. Calm down, Clary. It's just Jace. The same Jace that broke your heart and stomped on it. And you hate him. Jace looked like someone just died and came back alive. I thought for a second that he was the same person before we broke up. The same person who I had saved from my evil brother, Sebastian, and same person who I had saved, and killed the heavenly fire in him during the war. I kept going on and on with that in my head when I saw him until—

"Clary?" Isabelle shouted.

I snapped back into reality. "Huh? What?"

Isabelle looked at me like I had punched her in the face. "Do you know who's here?" I looked at her with a smirk on my face.

"No kidding. If it isn't the Lightwoods..."

Isabelle rolled her eyes. "Okay, that, and?"

It was my turn to roll my eyes. "Yes, I see Jace. I'm not blind, you know?" I turned to look at Jace. "Hey." I looked back at Izzy. "Happy?"

Isabelle looked stricken. "That's all you have to say?"

I felt anger rising in me. "Yes."

Jace stared at me with a sad look on his face. "Hey, Clary."

I glared at him and spat. "What do you want?"

Jace looked shocked. "Um..." I was on rampage. "UM? THAT'S ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY? UM? DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I SUFFERED FROM THE ACADEMY. FOR 2 YEARS? AND THAT'S ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY?" I got all up in his face and he started backing up, but I wasn't finished. "I NEARLY DIED WHEN THEY SENT ME TO WASHINGTON D.C. TO PROTECT THE PRESIDENT! DO YOU KNOW WHY THEY WANTED TO SEND ME THERE? 'CAUSE I WAS TOO ANNOYING AND TOO DEPENDENT! WELL, GUESS WHAT? HERE'S ANOTHER PERSON!" I screamed at him. I had him pinned against the wall. I felt a hand on my arm, then two, pulling me back. I was so mad. What right did he have to be looking like someone died. That broke me. Tears rolled down my cheeks and I was so hurt and angry. I wiped them off and faced Jace again, who was slumped against the wall. "I'll be living in the Institute, but just leave me alone. You broke my heart once. And I won't let it happen again." With that, I yanked Izzy toward the door to the Institute.