p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Going up is easy," called Clary from the rafters, "But it took me a while not to freak out going down."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"They were in the training room of the Institute, a place much like an empty gymnasium. Izzy and Alec had gone to bed almost an hour ago, claiming both to have cramps./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jace looked up at Clary, who was standing perfectly straight on the narrow rafters, doing her jumps and flips wonderfully. Then she jumped down twenty feet to the floor. Her red hair contained by a ponytail danced and twirled as she fell gracefully. She hit the ground and rolled into a somersault, and ended up standing ten feet away from him./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jace didn't like those ten feet of distance, so he closed them, step by slow, agonizing step. He took her hands and spun her under his arm like somebody doing the waltz. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Clary laughed her clear, playful laugh, which always seemed to warm his heart. /span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong id="docs-internal-guid-3f11a701-7c97-c9b7-2152-b7d10b2af8de" style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You may have improved on your agility, but are you able to beat a larger demon in hand to hand combat?"/span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Clary sighed, "Jace, you know I can't beat you."/span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I do hope you never say that to a demon that's about to attack you. C'mon, Clary, you need to work on this."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He smirked at his girlfriend, who had been to Hell and back with him, in the literal sense. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She smiled back./span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Oh fine, I'll fight you." And so they began the dance, circling closer and closer. She struck first, a punch to the stomach (thankfully they wearing full gear tonight) and though she was tiny, barely even five foot, she was strong. Then again, all Shadowhunter women were strong. /span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"They quickly became a flurry of fists, knees, and elbows. Clary knew how to use her size to her advantage, ducking under his arms when they were too high and slipping out of his grasp. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jace thought they should stop soon; Clary looked winded as ever, though she did not show it in her movements./span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He backed several feet away and rose both his hands, "I call a truce. Stop."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Clary froze, then placed her hands on her knees and breathed heavily./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jace glanced at the clock that was shielded by bars in case anything dangerous flew up there. They had fought much longer than he had thought, almost ten straight minutes. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Yeash, no wonder Clary was tired./span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I want to try Kali again." /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You sure? You aim is not that good. Last I checked, Alec nearly lost a limb to you. And not in the traditional sense." /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Yeah, yeah. You wanna do this or not?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Okay, I will get the sticks. I still don't find this style that useful." he called over his shoulder as he ventured into the armory. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""It's called a /spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"solo baston."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Whatever you say, my love." The armory was attached to the training room. It had an olden feel to it, as many things did in the New York City Institute. Some shadowhunters liked to play up the 'I am an aristocrat with badass tendencies' vibe./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The wooden shafts were in the corner. He grabbed two and waltzed back into the training room./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Here," Jace tossed the /spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"baston /spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"to Clary./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Alright, now come closer. When you fight, unless it is with guns or some other weapon like that, you have to step in. Not as close as hand combat, but at least three feet." he gestured her to come over./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"" 'Kay, then." /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You remember how to do this? We have only tried it once."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""That's what he said." Clary smirked./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Woo, sassy." They laughed./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Clary swung the four foot pole first, he easily caught it against his own. He had the advantage of strength and size. /spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"And experience…. /spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"he trailed on. But Clary was small, and therefore able to dodge easy. So when he swiped at her head (she was wearing the head gear today, He usually went without) she ducked and skipped in a quarter circle. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He liked to try and guess what she would do, at the moment it seemed she was positioned to sweep his feet out from under him. Not a chance, he thought. But then she faked and the /spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"solo baston /spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"crashed against the side of his unprotected head. It stung like crazy. The world wobbled and washed out black./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Then everything came back in vibrant color, but it sounded like everything had a slight echo, like they were in a huge cavern. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Clary stood holding the stick. She was panting; their practice fights were always draining. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He waited until she returned to her normal heart rate and such. He set the /spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"solo baston /spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"down gently. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Soon she was back with him. "Damn, you're not even sweating."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Me? Sweat? Imagine what it would do to my reputation,/spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" Cosmo/spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;",/spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" Vogue/spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;", they all would disown me."/span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Probably would. But I'd like to see the issues that have you in them. The writing part would be "How to look fashionable while fighting Ruam demons" or something." She moved closer, just a smidge, and that was about all the encouragement Jace needed./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He laced his hands around her back, and leaned down to her height while she tiptoed up to his. Their eyes locked for a second, green and gold, before their lips touched. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Six months ago, this would have been taboo, the way they were holding each other, even how they felt. Jace had thought he was the most despicable human being in the world, just short of Valentine Morgenstern and few others. He had been in love with his /spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"sister. /spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Then he found out she wasn't his sister. And that this, what they were doing now, was okay. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Her fingers twisted in his hair, pulling him closer than he thought possible. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"His eyes shot open; Clary, still kissing him, was pushing to the wall of the training room. He closed his eyes again./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Somehow, this tiny girl was shoving him backward, but he wasn't really going to stop her so… /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Ow, that hurt, /spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jace thought as the air in his lungs left him. His back had hit the wall. But all thoughts were driven from him. The kiss had changed from a normal one to an intense moment, full of words and ideas that were never spoken. Full of love, lust, and hope. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He might have tasted blood in his mouth, either from her biting his lip or vise versa. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He loved the way she molded her body to his, every single space filled so there was none between them./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He opened his mouth to the pressure of hers. The clash of teeth, lips, and tongues were good enough to be a drug. Maybe Jace /spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"was /spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"high. Sure felt like it. Then one thought came to his mind./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"With difficulty, He drew away from her, "Clary, anyone could come in here," another thought, "We could go to a more private place, maybe my room?"/span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Clary laughed, "I know you're confident, and not very subtle, but that was /spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"extremely/spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" point blank." /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He noticed how dilated her pupils were, and that her mouth looked fairly raw from them kissing./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""But, yes, lets go." And she turned, grabbed his hand without looking back, and marched across the training room floor. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jace opened the door./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The hallway that led to the training room was narrow, only four feet wide. It was dark and quiet in the Institute. The glass rose-shaped gas lights burned a low red. The crystalline lanterns somehow made Clary look even more beautiful, if that were possible./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"They made their way up a flight of stairs (the training room was on the ground floor) and through another hallway lit with the gas lights. /span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Here we are.," Clary looked like she was really confused that they were there already,"I know, the Institute is built like a maze." His voice seemed to be swallowed in the dark silence of midnight's, but it didn't feel ominous. And he opened his door. /span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"His room was clean, a tad bit messy in the closet. Clary probably thought it was the sign of how much of a neat freak he was. His white cotton bed covers were still in the place they were this morning: in the far left corner./span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" Jace slowly shut the door. Clary stood near the door frame anyway, like she was about to run away from him. They both slipped their training gear off. It clattered on the ground. /span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He walked over to his bed, sat, and patted the space next to him. She came over to him from the corner of the room./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""So, where were we?" he asked in a low voice./span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She smirked, "Lay down, and I'll show you."/span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"This spiked Jace's interest; usually Clary didn't take charge in these 'situations', not that he would mind, but she was slightly more shy to things like this than he. /span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jace lay back, leaving his feet on the floor still. Clary leaned over him and slowly brought her mouth down over his, kissing him softly and slowly. He slid his hands up her back, embracing her, trying to bring her closer. He was hypersensitive of everywhere she touched. He felt like he would never know why she loved him. He thought if she knew him like he knew himself, she might run from the room. But she had once said every cell in her body loved him. The entire /spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #181818; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"speech was one he could /spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" never, ever forget… And he loved her the same way. /span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"They kissed in the same slow, loving way until Jace lost track of time. It could have been the next dayf or all he knew./span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He felt her heart hammer against his before she sat up and took her shirt off./span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Needless to say, Jace thought if he died and went to Heaven (somehow) that this would be where he'd end up. /span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Her hair had gotten a little tangled when he had ran his fingers through it./span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Then he indulged in his perfect eyesight. /span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Are you ever going to come back down here?" he joked, surprised to find his voice low and throaty./span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Don't be so impatient." and her voice was rough, too. Like honey over nails./span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"And she did come back down to him. She kissed his mouth briefly, then moved to his neck, a seamless shift from his ear to his collar. Jace felt his breath catch as her hand brushed over his shirt where the star-shaped birthmark would be. /span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Take your shirt off, Jace," she mumbled into his skin, her lips dragging on his goosebumped flesh./span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He sat up with some effort, and pulled his black t-shirt over his head. Clary and him had a weird moment of intense eye contact that would have left the two of them laughing at other time. But now it left his mouth dry and open./span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She crawled onto his lap, and started to kiss his neck again, sucking and biting, but not so that it would leave a mark./span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She broke away. Jace felt her hands run up and down his chest and stomach.. He closed his eyes tightly, pressing his lips together. He barely noticed himself slip down on his back. Once again, he was under her, his body controlled by a single touch. /span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Clary," he whispered. /span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"When her fingertips reached his jeans, his opened his eyes. /span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She was leaning over him, eyes wide, too. Full of… concern? He smiled. Silly. They had done things like this before. Not often. But still./span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The window of his room looked out to the New York skyline. The clouds seemed to be a darkened orange. No stars. Jace didn't need them, though, Clary could be enough of a light for the two of them./span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Clary, it's okay. Whatever you want." She quirked a brow at this, grinning all the while./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Then her expression became sober. She pushed the silver button through the loop of his jeans. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She stopped, leaving his zipper undone./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He cupped her face, full of freckles and love, pulling her down to him. Jace kissed her, something that would never get old for him. Her mouth opened to his and he strolled inside her mouth. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Clary jerked away, breathing hard. Her hair tickled his chin and he noticed the flowery scent./span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""What's wrong?"/span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Um… " She flushed. Then pointed at him. Well, not /spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"him /spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"exactly. 'Down' on the human geography. /span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Shit. /spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jace thought. He was "up", as some would say. Damn those odd American Mundanes' sayings./span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Sorry. You should probably go home, Clary; your mom will be worried. For good cause." He said bitterly./span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""No, no, god, don't be sorry, Jace," She laughed, "What if I don't want to go home? What then?" Clary mirrored the seductive tone he'd used earlier, but it sounded so much better for her. Yeah, he was definitely up./span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Clary, are you serious? Please, don't mess with me this way. Any other way but this." He was nearly pleading. Why could she make him feel so weak and so strong at the same time? /span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She kissed him slowly. It felt sticky and warm. Jace followed her even when she tried to speak. /span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Oops," he said in mock horror./span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She smirked at him, "Adequate, but I am not messing with you."/span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He smiled mischievously. /span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You can leave any time you like, Clary." /span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Her fingers twisted the hair at the nape of his neck. She looked down at him, bit her lip and said, "I wont."/span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He leaned up to kiss her and gently rolled over her. He had that odd sense, similar to when you take your socks off, as they touched. Reborn, for lack of a better word. But that was how he always felt with Clary; like he was a good person, like he could be good. She made him good./span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He skimmed his mouth across her jaw and down her neck to the hollow at her/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"collarbone. /span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jace glanced up at Clary, she would be looking up at the ceiling, if her eyes had open./span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Is this okay?" he whispered./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She nodded./span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Okay" he laughed at the simplicity of the word. /span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"And the night dissolved, all of it. Clary, himself, his clean, plain room./span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He swam into consciousness, sweating, and on the floor of the training room. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He peeled his eyes open./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Izzy, and Alec were hovering over him and his head rested in Clary's lap./span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Clary's green eyes were open very, very wide. /span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Jace," she whispered, barely audible, "You're awake, thank god."/span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He mumbled incoherently at first then said, "What? What do you mean?"/span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Clary closed her eyes and bit her lip. A single tear fell from her face. /span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Izzy stepped in for her, "While you two were practicing, she gave you a good smack in the temple. You were unconscious for a while."/span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jace pondered that for a second. Her reached up to touch Clary's face, ignoring his siblings, but she jerked away. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I am sorry, Jace. I- I didn't mean to hurt you. Please forgive me."/span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He grabbed her hands, quickly so she couldn't break away, and said, "Clary, it's not a big deal. I am fine, really," he kissed her knuckles, "Nice though; you are getting better at Kali." he smirked. /span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Alec laughed. Clary shot a glare at him then gazed back down at him, "I was aiming for your forearm not your head… So… You're really okay? Headache? Anything?"/span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jace laughed, "No, nothing, stop worrying." He sat up and hopped to his feet. He felt lightheaded, and his sight blurred. /spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"It's only because I got up too fast/spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;", he told himself. It was, in fact, the only reason./span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He held a hand out to Clary, which she grasped. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He glanced at the barred clock of the training room. It was almost midnight./span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Clary. You have to go home your mom will think the worst." /span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Don't worry Jace," Alec answered, "We called her. I think we may have interrupted something going on… um… yeah. So, anyway, she knows to expect Clary home late."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jace glanced around the room, "I think I had a dream while I was out."/span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Isabelle raised an eyebrow, "So?"/span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Well, I wasn't exactly sleeping-"/span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Then you hallucinated." She interrupted. /span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He nodded. /spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Drat… that was a good dream. /span/p
p style="text-align: center;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Raleway; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The four friends walked out of the training room and down the hall. /span/p
p style="text-align: center;"br /span style="font-size: 14.6666666666667px; font-family: Raleway; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"Sleep beckoned its shadow-wisped fingers to them all. /span/p