Chapter 1

*Cassandra Clare owns all

Cassie Bayweather had always loved the art of poetry and literacy. Ever since she was little, she would lay on the musty yellow couch in her mother's apartment and read all sorts of books- from fantasy to biographies. She still was a bookworm even though she was in high school.

For her birthday her mother would always buy her books. Not really anything else. But Cassie didn't mind. Ever since her father died her mother always was trying to please Cassie as long as it did not interfere with her safety. Which meant, tonight, for her 16th birthday, her mother refused to let her go to the Pandemonium Club.

"I still don't understand!" cried Cassie. Her mother gave her a stern look while shaking her head in disapproval. "I told you Cassie, New York is dangerous especially late at night. My final answer is no." Rolling her eyes in mock annoyance she turned around to walk out the door. Suddenly her mother was standing in front of her, obvious panic plastered across her face. "Where do you think you're going?" her mother said fearfully. "I'm going to school!" Cassie exclaimed.

"Right… I'm sorry Cas." Her mother moved reluctantly out of Cassie's path. "God," she muttered under her breath as she walked out the door. She kind of understood the fear her mother displayed when Cassie had asked to go to the Pandemonium Club, but school? Really?!

"No! Your other left," Isabelle Lightwood exclaimed. Watching Clary walk across the rafters was quite annoying. Mainly because she didn't know her right from her left. Or her left from her right. She watched as Clary sat down on one of the rafters with a sigh. "I still don't see the point in this," said Clary. "It's to help with your balance and agility. And, By the Angel, we all know you need help with that." The frail girl in the rafters rolled her eyes.

Isabelle looked up at Clary tilting her head. "Well? Are you going to jump off or would you like to stay up there for all eternity?" With a sigh Clary shut her eyes and jumped. As she fell, Clary shrieked and closed her eyes. When she opened them she was about ten feet away from the ground, with Isabelle staring up at her expectantly.

"Come on, I hear Jace is back," Isabelle said as she headed toward the door. "Really?!" Clary said eagerly. Jace had left for Idris a couple weeks ago since he turned eighteen. So now, technically, Jace was not a child, therefore he did not have to pursue training if he didn't want to. But Jace decided to help Clary train a little longer until she was eighteen.

Isabelle nodded and watched Clary struggle to untie herself from the cord. As Clary untied the last knot, she fell from midair and landed on the mats with a thump. She quickly stood up brushing off the dust on her pants from the rafters. With a grin, she dashed out the door followed by a worried Isabelle.

Cassie loathed school. It was a prison to her. At least that's how she felt.

The whole day dragged on and seemed to take forever. If only her mother would let her go to the Pandemonium Club tonight…

Only she wouldn't. She just knew that her mother would not allow it. But perhaps she could still go… Maybe fake going to a sleepover; surely her best friend, Griffin Carstairs, would go to the Club with her. He loved going to clubs and he knew she did too.

Suddenly, Cassie's thoughts were interrupted by a pale girl. And when she said pale, she meant really pale. Her skin was as white as paper, her hair as black as night. She wore a yellow sundress despite the fact that it was 46 degrees outside and her eyes seemed like black holes drawing Cassie in, forcing her to look at the frighteningly pretty girl.

The pale girl smiled a tight smile and touched Cassie's shoulder. "Hi, I'm new here. Do you mind if I sit in the desk next to yours?" Cassie only nodded for she was speechless. The girl smiled her tight smile and sat next to her. As the girl sat down Cassie noticed she was wearing a silver necklace that held a black stone. Finally, Cassie spoke. "I-uh like your necklace," was all she managed to say. The girl looked down at it and shrugged. "Oh this old thing?" she said and shook her head as she laughed, her hair floating around her like the night sky.

"So what's your name?" Cassie asked the new girl. "Irene. What is yours?" "My name is Cassandra but you can call me Cassie," she replied. Irene tensed for a moment and smiled. "Oh, what a lovely name." Cassie shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. Yours is prettier though." Irene shrugged. "Whatever."

Irene straightened. "Have you ever heard of the Pandemonium Club?" asked Irene. "Yeah. I was going to go tonight for my birthday-" The bell cut her off. "But what?" Irene asked, clearly interested. Cassie stood up and grabbed her things; she walked towards her locker. "My mom won't let me go," she said. Irene, now following Cassie, stood by her locker. "Well maybe she would let you go if she knew someone was going with you." "Like who- Oh. Yeah perhaps. I'll ask her again." Irene, who had been secretly holding her breath, exhaled and smiled. "Wonderful! If I see you there, great! If not…" She turned to leave. Cassie turned to ask Irene if she wanted her phone number, but Irene was nowhere to be seen.

Running up to Jace, Clary threw herself at him, breathing in his familiar scent. "I missed you," she whispered. "I missed you too," he whispered back, squeezing her tightly. Releasing herself from Jace's firm grasp, she smiled up at him brightly. Jace smirked back at her and she rolled her eyes while attempting to act serious. It was, however, impossible.

Isabelle and Alec headed toward the library, while Jace and Clary headed to Jace's room.

For hours Jace told Clary about his time in Idris pausing every once and a while to kiss her. Finally, he finished, and said, "What do you want to do? Just you and me." Clary thought for a moment before replying, "We should go to a club. Like, a mundane one. Not like Magnus' parties or anything, just a simple, mundane club." Jace looked at her curiously before saying, "Sure. Whatever you want."