"Mum, please! It'll only be a few hours. And I'll be with Simon!" Clary stressed, frustrated. She did not understand why her mother kicked up so much of a fuss these days about Pandemonium. Or anywhere else, really.
"You know I don't like you going to that club, Clarissa. Don't think I don't know what kids your age get up to." In actual fact, Jocelyn knew very well Clary wouldn't do anything like that-Luke kept drilling that fact in to her head daily-but indeed she definitely couldn't tell her daughter the truth.
Clary rolled her eyes. "Mum. Are you serious? It's me you're talking to."
Jocelyn sighed. "I know, sweetie," she looked at her fifteen-year-old daughter standing arms crossed in front of her, the concern clear in her moss-y green eyes. I should tell her… "Okay, here's the deal: call me when you get there and be back by midnight," she relented, delicately stressing the last word. She knew Clary would go anyway. Better to enforce some rules than let her sneak out with none at all. "And no. Later."
Clary grinned back and ran off to her room. Probably to let Simon know, Jocelyn thought. It used to be tough, the energy used in keeping so much away from her daughter. She was grateful for Magnus Bane's work-it had done its job and done it well, but even then…even then, Clary was still somehow irritatingly pulled by something towards the shadow world. Despite the High Warlock's meddling, Pandemonium was still one of Clary's favourite clubs. It was the atmosphere, Clary had said. It made her feel like she belonged.
It was odd, thought Clary, that she felt so drawn to this particular club. It was a hotspot for weirdos, or those with an incredibly unusual sense of style and dress. Clary and Simon, with no outstanding peculiar features-nose rings, fluorescent hair, tongue splits etc.-to speak of, stuck out like a couple of virgins in a brothel. Still, Clary felt that she fit in there more than anywhere else in New York.
The weirdos happened to be very accepting.
She picked up her mobile phone and texted Simon to meet her at the club. She grabbed her keys and some cash from the bedside table in her room and walked back towards the main living area where her mother was still sitting on the lounge, now reading. Seeing Clary, she placed The Golden Bough, pages face down on the wooden table beside her. Clary came over and kissed her mother on the forehead. "I love you, Mum."
"I love you too, Clary. " Jocelyn replied with deep affection. "Don't do anything careless, or you could find yourself in a…situation."
Clary gave her mother a look that only daughters do so well. "Fine. I'll 'look before I leap' or whatever." She said, moving towards the door. "Not that it isn't going to be as uneventful as it usually is. There is only so much illicit drug-taking one can do before the novelty wears thin…"
Jocelyn's turn to give her daughter her own, very scary Look. "Not funny, Clarissa."
Clary flashed a smile. "Bye, Mum."
She shut the door behind her.
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