*****TMI belongs to Cassandra Clare*****

When Clary's father is charged with child abuse, she is whisked away to New York City to live with another family. Although her life there is nothing like her older, darker one, no one can crack her shell of fear, not even her new siblings or the handsome Jace. But just when it seems like she might finally break free, her father escapes from /AH

Alec

"What in the name of the angel are you wearing?" Jace asked, pointing at his brother accusingly.

"What do you mean?" Alec frowned. He looked down at himself, wearing basically the same thing he always did, which meant a ratty sweater and dark-wash jeans. "I wear stuff like this all the time."

"Exactly," his sister Isabelle sighed. "Don't you want to impress her? First impressions can't be redone."

"Why should I have to impress her?"

"Because," Jace rolled his eyes. "That's what guys are supposed to do."

"She's going to be our sister, and besides, she's not my type."

"She's not going to be related to us by blood. I say she's eligible. Just like Izzy and I could probably date if we wanted to," said Jace.

"Ew. And anyway, Alec, you can still look attractive, whether you're straight or not."

"What's not straight?" Maryse rounded the corner, accompanied by the sound of Jace's laughter. "Ah, yes, Isabelle. Your ponytail is a tad crooked. Here, let me help with this... Alec, honey, don't you want to dress up a little? First impressions can't be redone."

"I've heard," he muttered, retreating to his room as his sister smiled smugly and his adopted brother continued laughing.

Clary

"Thanks again, Mrs. Herondale," Clary sighed, climbing into the passenger seat of the woman's car. "For the ride and for not putting me straight into the foster system."

"Well, your mother's friend contacted me when she heard about your father, and she offered to take care of you. She has two kids of her own and one adopted kid. As for the ride, it's no problem, but I don't see why Stephen couldn't have come."

"Sorry, Mrs. Herondale," Clary mumbled. "I just… I don't really like men."

The woman nodded her head. "By the way, you can call me Amatis. And I hope you don't hate men too much, because the Lightwoods have three of them."

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Clary said, though her heart was thumping nervously. Clary still couldn't bring herself to talk about what had happened that fateful night. She didn't want to relive it, didn't want to think about it, and didn't even want to remember it ever again. The only problem was that that particular information was all the authorities and everyone else she talked to wanted to know. She hadn't even bothered to ask her father's sentence, though she knew that his parental rights were terminated and that he would spend a while in jail.

Amatis kept driving for a few more hours, and then turned onto a private road with a gated way. Amatis lowered her window to acknowledge the thin, gray-haired man in the gatehouse. He peered down his long, beaked nose and Clary noticed a long scar down the side of his face.

"This the new one?" he asked in a refined voice.

"Yes," said Amatis, and showed him a bunch of paperwork and her ID. He nodded curtly and opened the gate. "I may have forgotten to say that the Lightwoods are very rich. Which, in essence, means that you are too, since you'll be living with them."

In that case, Clary hoped they could afford intense therapy. Wait, come to think of it, she didn't want therapy.

Clary took in the heavily manicured grass and rolling lawn. She vowed that she would never give her new parents any reason to hate her. To hurt her. To be driven insane by her. Clary vowed to be the perfect daughter, even more perfect than the daughter they already had, if they did have one.

She smoothed down her denim skater dress, ran her fingers through her curly scarlet hair, and gripped the straps of her backpack tightly. The driveway wound through the extensive lawn and ended in a circular drive with a white fountain in the center. A cement walkway led up to stairs and a front porch, attached to the rest of the large, multi-story manor. It was light brown, with multiple windows and a wooden front door. The cement path was lined with flowers, coming to the end of their bloom but still gorgeous.

Amatis stopped the car at the end of the driveway and got out. Clary got out quickly after, sliding her backpack over her shoulders. Amatis led the way up the steps and knocked on the door. Clary noticed that carved into the center of the top half of the door was the capital letter 'L' surrounded by flames.

"It's their crest," Amatis explained.

"They have a crest?" Clary asked, astounded. Crests were what nobles had, back in medieval times and before. Before Amatis could say more, the door exploded outward, startling Clary. She took several steps back and winced, her hands reaching to cover her ears, fingers shaking. Her face was scrunched, eyes closed. The event had sounded too much like… well, it didn't matter anymore. Nonetheless, her hands still quivered as she lowered them to touch the folds of her dress. Two adults and three teens stood in the doorway.

"Hello," said the raven-haired woman. "You must be Clary." She smiled, hand extended as if to shake, then her eyes misted. "You look so much like Jocelyn," she whispered, and folded Clary into a hesitant hug. Clary let herself be held, but didn't raise her arms to hug back. The man beside her smiled at Clary, and her heart started beating nervously.

"I'm Robert," he said, and held his hand out. Clary flinched and recoiled instinctively, then squeezed her eyes closed and took a deep breath. She slowly held out her shaking hand to meet his. "This here is Maryse," he continued, motioning to his wife. "And these are our children, Alec, Isabelle, and Jace."

Isabelle's ebony hair was pulled into a perfectly straight ponytail, and she wore a sleeveless purple dress that fluttered gently as she jumped forward to hug Clary excitedly.

"You can call me Izzy," she said happily, slinging her arm around Clary's shoulder as if they were lifelong friends.

Alec was sullen-faced, causing Clary to avoid eye contact completely, which was a shame, because his blue eyes were his greatest feature. He was in a rumpled button-down and khakis. His brother Jace was wearing pretty much the same, except his clothes weren't rumpled and fit him just right. With his lean frame, golden hair, and golden eyes, Clary knew he was considered handsome, and that she would enjoy looking at him if not for her aversion to all males.

He smiled at her, showing a row of perfect teeth, save for one chipped tooth, which she assumed he had gotten in some sort of brawl. Boys were always doing stupid things that got them into fights.

Maryse smiled again. "Alright, why don't you kids head upstairs and show Clary around while Amatis, Robert, and I settle things?"

"Great idea, Mom!" Isabelle said, and pulled Clary excitedly inside.

Inside there was a large foyer, the walls decorated with various portraits of people who looked much like the Lightwoods. Reading the labels of a few, she saw that they were indeed Lightwoods. Isabelle led her up the staircase, her brothers trailing a few feet behind. They entered a hallway, and Clary saw that the doors all had the Lightwood crest except for two. One had a heron carved into it, and the other was blank.

Isabelle threw open the blank door and pulled Clary inside.

"This is your room," she said.

"Thank you," Clary said.

"So, Ginger can talk," said a drawling voice from behind her.

Jace

Jace leaned against the doorway, a smirk playing on his lips.

He didn't know what to make of the girl – Clary.

He studied the way her hands were shaking, and the way she shrank back when he talked, and how the way she walked resembled that of a shamed puppy. He wondered if it was only nerves or something entirely different.

Jace felt Alec's elbow dig into his ribs warningly. Izzy glared at him. The redhead only lowered her head submissively and her hands gripped the folds of her dress. A few strands of hair fell to cover her face.

"Go away, Jace," Izzy threw him a death stare to accompany her words.

"Why? Is my extraordinary beauty and charm getting in the way of your feeble attempts to make little orphan Annie feel welcome?"

The tips of her ears turned red and her eyes darkened. She kept her face docile, though her jaw tightened.

"She's not an orphan," Izzy said.

"Right," Jace amended. "Her criminal father. How could I forget?"

"Enough," said a low, sharp voice from Jace's side. Alec stepped forward and faced Jace. "I think we should leave Izzy and Clary alone for now. You can talk to Clary later."

Jace knew when to back down. While he and Alec were mostly the same in height, frame, and build, Alec was older than Jace and knew how to assert himself to get his way when needed.

"Later, Annie," Jace rolled his eyes and turned to walk away.

Clary

Alec stood awkwardly in the doorway after Jace left.

"Uh, sorry about Jace," he said, almost as if he was asking a question. "Sometimes he can be a-"

"Dick?" Clary spoke. Almost immediately afterwards, her eyes widened and she fumbled for words. "Sorry, I meant-"

"No, no," Alec interrupted. "That's exactly right."

"You'll get used to it soon," Izzy sighed. "It doesn't make him seem like any less of a dickhead, though."

"I suppose he has been through a lot. I overheard Mom and Dad talking about his therapist. Apparently Mr. Starkweather thinks Jace is crazy and needs medication."

Izzy nodded. "Is it the whole 'seeing things' thing? Or the 'curse?'"

"I'm not sure. He also says Will's crazy too. Mom and Dad want Jace to change therapists."

"Hm, really? Surprising, considering…"

As their conversation about Jace's sanity stretched out longer and longer, Clary grew more uncomfortable.

"Hey kids," Robert said, coming into the room with Clary's belongings. "Everything's settled. Mom wants to talk to you guys about dinner. Oh, and don't forget Magnus and the twins will be coming over soon." He set Clary's things down on the bed and left.

"I should probably go," Alec said to Izzy. "You know how Jace is when he's with Sebastian."

Alec left.

"Who's Magnus and the twins?" asked Clary, starting to unpack her belongings.

"Oh," said Izzy. "Well, Magnus is this super sparkly dude who's totally and completely crushing on Alec. And the twins are Jonathan and Sebastian. They're Alec's and Jace's friends, but Sebastian's a really bad influence on Jace. Usually Jon and Alec keep them under control."

"Usually?"

"Well, there was this one time when they were sort of drunk and tried to kidnap a duck from the park. Jace was convinced it was the Duck King and that the ducks would pay him a million dollars in ransom."

Clary just gaped.

Izzy shrugged. "Yeah, Jace has problems. But anyway, I'll help you unpack."

As the two girls talked and laughed, Clary was almost completely relaxed. She and Izzy grew closer through jokes about Clary's sad wardrobe and Izzy's stories about the Lightwoods. Clary almost didn't notice when an Indonesian boy waltzed into the room, covered in glitter, spread his arms, and said, "It is I, King Magnus Bane of Brooklyn, and I hereby pronounce that orange is an abomination of color!"

"Oh, geez." Izzy rolled her eyes. "Now what happened?"

"I'm banning everything orange from my life. Orange juice, orange scarves, orange glitter… It's all gone." He noticed Clary and shook his head sadly. "Oh dear. Look at her hair, Isabelle. It's orange. I mean, technically it's considered red, but let's be real. It's orange. I pity you, my dear."

Clary couldn't bring herself to be scared because the boy was so odd.

"Be nice, Magnus," Izzy said. "Besides, by tomorrow, you'll be worshipping orange and hating the color blue."

He looked aghast. "Blue? Never! Not when sweet Alec's eyes shine like the blue lightsabers from Star Wars. Not that I've ever seen Star Wars. I've only seen pictures, but even I can tell, that those outfits? Drab as a plaid hell." He frowned. "You know, I've been thinking about plaid. I think plaid is understated. Have you seen Iggy's 'Fancy' music video? She wore plaid for some of it. Plaid needs my help. It needs to make a comeback, and I am like those printable directions from Google, guiding it along." A ding rang from his pocket. His eyes widened. "IZZY!" he screeched loudly.

"What?" she asked, mildly alarmed.

"I completely forgot! The new Sephora line is coming out tomorrow! Marc Pritchard will be there! Izzy, this is my chance to be discovered!"

Izzy squealed. "Free samples and huge sales! YES!"

"Oh, and Maryse said something about wanting to talk to you guys about dinner."

"Oh, yeah," grimaced Isabelle. "That was a while ago. We should probably go downstairs."

While Maryse and Izzy debated dinner, Clary had been looking through the takeout menus. A moment later, the doorbell rang, and Maryse asked if Clary could answer the door. Eager to please, Clary went to the front door and opened it, only to see a head of white-blond hair, so much like her father's that Clary took a step back automatically. Though she assured herself it wasn't him, she doubted herself even more when her eyes met the intense, pitch-black ones.

Clary took another step back.

Hello, fellow Fanfictioners… it's been a while since I posted anything on here… I wanted to try something new so I tried Wattpad for a bit and it confused the hell out of me… that place is hella weird.

Anyway, I'M BACK and probably no one missed me lmaooo XD

But, yeah… enjoy this. There's a lot of Clace, Malec, and Sizzy planned, but like all stories, you might have to wait, so step in line, bruh.

I gotta go do some geometry homework… yay.

Percamalec xxx