~Prologue~

"Welcome, one, welcome all!" The woman at the front clapped her hands and I tensed, my back straightening as her icy blue eyes stared cold heartedly directly into my bright green ones. "Today is the happiest day of your lives, as you will be united with the one you will love for the rest of your days. Now look over at the opposing side of you, try to see if anyone matches the image in your head and immediately walk over to them."

Today is The Founding, the day that is supposedly the most joyful of all days. It does, after all, only happen once a year, to each lady and gentleman at the age of seventeen.

My name is Clarissa Fray. I don't have the image of anyone's face in my mind.

Was this why my mother called me her special little girl? I was so different than everyone else at The Academy. Girls my age would always straighten their backs into steel and walk forward in sync, their earpieces blinking a bright blue. I would walk with my shoulders slumped, my mother as my teacher trying so hard to blend in. I would stumble forward in line, tripping over the poofy long dresses we wore and the book on my head would always fall off, landing on my feet with a thump.

Everyone, in sync, like we were trained to do, turned and walked robotically toward the center.

All except me.

My heart pounded. What was everyone doing? Why did they start suddenly stripping their clothes, throwing them to the ground? My eyes widened as a few started kissing.

I had to look away from the horror of humans and I made eye contact with the woman.

The woman at the front zoomed in on me, her earpiece going wild and beeping. "Attack them! Attack them both! They're different! They don't fit in! Attack!" she screamed and I looked around to see who else was different.

There was a boy with golden hair pushing through the crowd screaming at me to run with him. He was still wearing clothing.

Everyone, in one motion, stomped their way towards me, ignoring the wandering boy.

I stumbled over my long pink dress, struggling to jump chairs since the middle was taken over by humans attempting to get me.

I broke through the doors, tears streaming down my face as the boy next to me grasped my hand. "Jace Herondale. Lovely to meet you! Now, run!"

~Chapter 1: The Wanderers~

"Where are they?" I panted. "Where are all the people at?"

Jace looked at me with wide eyes. "Those aren't people. They're not humans. We're the humans. Humans have emotions. They have nothing. They're things."

"They look like us," I argued. "They talk like us. We're the different ones. They're completely normal."

Jace shook his head, looking off into the distance. "My father used to tell me a story. He wasn't a city boy; he lived in the mountains, so far high nobody knew where to find him. They'd thought he'd died.

"When my mother had me, they began running out of food so my father went to the city. He looked around. It wasn't called Wal-Mart anymore, it was called Items to Buy, and people were milling around, they're backs straight. Do you know what was in that store? Pills and injections. All people eat now are pills. There are food pills, the ones that fill you up. There were drink pills, the ones that quenched all thirst. Everything was a pill.

"So my father made a theory when he saw children walking in a direct line, not speaking a word, walking like robots. The pills and injections had some type of mind controlling thing in it. So let me ask you one thing Little Girl. Did you eat your pills?"

"No," I whispered. "My mother told me to never eat them. My father, Luke Garroway would kill things and strike flint against stone to cook them. We would store the leftovers in a pot and bury them underground."

His fingers came up and I tensed, not knowing what to expect, but he just swiped some leaves from my unruly red hair.

I heard the pounding of feet and I whirled around to see Jace bolting towards the fence at the end of the woods - the electric fence.

He rolled under the fence with grace and I began stumbling towards him, tripping over fallen tree branches and roots.

A hand grasped the back of my shirt and I saw a boy, so innocent looking, with hazel eyes and long black hair. I couldn't hurt him. His eyes were just so wide and beautiful and innocent.

An arrow was suddenly in his side and he dropped. I screamed in horror as blood started dripping out of his mouth, his fingers twitching.

I saw a mob of people, no more than two hundred yards behind me and took off running. I got to the electric fence and actually jumped over it, using a fallen tree.

Moment of truth came and I fell flat onto my face.

Jace chuckled, picking me up and I winced, clutching my ankle.

"Did you shoot that poor boy?" I asked as he scooped me up, walking casually as humans walked into the sparking electric fence.

"Nope," he said lightly. "Alec did."

Said person fell from the tree, dropping into a graceful position and smiling. "Hi, I'm Alec."

A girl came out from the trees, something golden wrapping around her wrist: a whip. "Yeah, I think she got that. I'm Isabelle by the way. You are?"

I squirmed closer to Jace's chest, unease coming over me in a wave. What were they?

"It's all right, Little Girl," Jace said soothingly saying the name so naturally. "These are my friends. They were naughty too, and didn't take their pills. Guess they'll be getting coal for Christmas."

"I'm Clarissa Morgenstern," I whispered quietly before feeling wind whizz by me until my breath was knocked out. I looked at Jace with wide eyes.

He had a knife out, Isabelle's whip was uncoiled, and Alec had his bow pointed directly at my heart.

"What did I say?" I asked, my heart racing as I looked at the trio. "What'd I do?"

"Daughter of a little –." Jace began.

My hands flew to my face, expecting a slap, a kick, or something. Just like Daddy used to do whenever he swore. "No!" I cried, backing away. "Don't make it hurt this time, please…please."

"Put your weapons up," said a voice, a woman's voice that I knew so well. She used to sing me to sleep, sooth me whenever I cried. "That's my daughter you've got your knife pointed at Jace Herondale. Don't let it happen again."

I felt cool hands touch my face and gently pull my hands down. "Clary, it's all right. He wasn't really going to hurt you. He's scared of your father too. He just didn't want someone to hurt his siblings. It's all right."

I opened my squinted eyes, and my mother pulled me in for a hug.

"You three," she said, her voice very serious. "I want a talk with you in my office. I'll get Maia to take her to the infirmary." My mother let out a long, loud whistle, and a pretty, young girl with mocha colored skin a thousand braids running through her hair. I looked at my mother incredulous, not that this girl didn't seem rude or stuck up, but for the fact that she had run in due to a single whistle blow.

"You called, Mrs.?" Maia asked, her brown eyes looking over me with curiosity.

"It's Jocelyn," my mother said kindly. "And yes, I did. Can you take my daughter, Clarissa, to the infirmary, please? She has a sprained ankle."

Maia scooped me up – for a tiny girl, she had a lot of muscle built up. Everyone seemed to.

"Come on," Maia said. "I want to get back to my training lessons. We're learning how to break backs!"

I looked over Maia's shoulder in shock. Jace was smirking at me. Get used to it, I suppose, my brain told me. This seems to be a very gruesome place.

~Jace

I watched the two girls fade away towards the camp. Clary was beautiful and looked like a childish version of her mother, so innocent.

She was in some sort of stage of shock, I could tell by her not being afraid. Most people were frightened by the knife that I would whip out, would cower in fear at Alec whenever he killed the Addicted.

Either that or Clary was brave and innocent.

Now that would be hot.

I trailed behind the rest of the group, in my own thoughts. Isabelle and Alec were whispering quietly in front of me and Jocelyn walked with her head up, her posture straightened, many years of teaching her daughter how to act like the Addicted catching up to her.

We walked inside her cabin, a fire getting rid of the harsh winter that was outside.

I pulled off my coat – I didn't like gloves or hats – and followed Jocelyn into the very back room.

She slumped down into her chair while we siblings sat on the bench in front of the desk.

"You judged her by her name, Jace," Jocelyn said. "She doesn't know what that name means."

"Why didn't you tell her while you had the chance?" Isabelle asked suddenly, sitting up, a crease coming in between her eyes.

Jocelyn slowly ran her fingers through her graying hair, sighing reluctantly. Being the leader of The Wanderers wasn't easy. We were a hard working group; trying so hard to always get along, fight for our common goal. "She was my spy without knowing it. I couldn't train her in front of her father, and I definitely couldn't tell her all the horrendous things he had done."

Everyone knew why Jocelyn married Valentine Morgenstern. Once upon a time, she loved him. He was kind with stunning gray eyes and short blonde hair. Up until the age of twenty-one. She'd already had both of her children and couldn't control her son from becoming one of the Addicted. She got Clary just in time. She'd made fake pills. Pills that had no chemicals inside them, but actual food. Jocelyn was a smart woman, and independent at that.

Eventually, Jocelyn had gotten Clary away from years of abuse and torture whenever Valentine had staged his death.

We'd detected him since them. He's still alive.

"Why not?" Alec slammed his fist down on the table, rattling it. "She was tortured for seven years of her life, what about the other eight? She was so confused for her entire life! Jace saw her face, her wide green eyes whenever she turned her head and saw-."

"Alec," I said. "Stop. Look, all that matters is she's fine now. Got it? Good."

"This isn't even why you came in here!" Jocelyn finally shouted over us. "I came in her to tell you all not to judge her because she has absolutely no idea what the heck is going on. Therefore, Jace Herondale don't you dare judge her by her name."

I flinched backwards, my face in shock. "It wasn't my fault for what my father did! I had nothing to do with it."

"And it isn't her fault for what her father did, either is it?" Jocelyn asked, her words cutting deep inside me, making waves of emotions crash onto me.

I stomped out of the room looking back to see Jocelyn staring at me with sad eyes that held so much pity.

I didn't want her pity.

~Clary~

Maia put some kind of cream on my leg, soothing it before she started doing the actual treatment. I hissed in pain when she squeezed it.

"So you're the infamous Clarissa Morgenstern huh?" she asked and I smiled softly.

"I suppose. I've never even heard of this place," I said quietly.

"Oh," Maia said, her fingers rubbing and squeezing my injured ankle. "Your mother never told you, I assume. We're the Wanderers. We're called that because we're different than everyone else. We have souls.

"It started off with Jace Herondale, he was twelve. Your mother found him freezing on the side of the street and quickly ushered him inside. If anyone found him, he'd be dead.

"Then there was the Lightwoods, their mother had been turned into the Addicted. They forced pills down her throat. She's the speaker at the Founding Ceremony now.

"Then Luke Garroway. Him and your mother were close friends when they were little, but grew apart whenever she married Valentine. After Valentine staged his death, they came up with a plan to find all the Wanderers they could. So they found me.

"Jace found me, actually, him and you, although I suppose you don't remember. Your substitute teacher made you swallow the lunch pills. Your mother told him to help you walk it off. He had a crush on you, so of course he did it. The pills had a different effect on you than it did for most. It made you delirious. You swatted at me in the woods and called me a bad puppy. So Jace found you and pulled you away, examining me with close eyes. He had called me a Wanderer and told me to follow him."

Maia had stopped her wrapping, going back into memory. She shook her head and resumed wrapping, minding her own mind now, remaining quiet until she ushered me off with a pair of crutches.

I sat down on a bench, my breath becoming foggy in the bitter winter air.

I tried wrapping my coat tighter around me before I remembered that I didn't have one.

"Here," a melodic voice said, and wrapped a coat tight around my shoulders. I looked back to see Jace and he smiled at me, sitting down. He was only wearing a long sleeved shirt.

"What about you?" I asked quietly, listening to the sound of crunching of boots.

He waved a hand. "I'll be fine. But you are a lady, and a gentleman always gives a coat to a cold lady."

I smiled softly. "But you're going to get cold. Here."

I opened the coat up and snuggled closer to Jace, feeling his body heat give off like waves. He looked at me in surprise and I kissed his cheek.

Was he blushing?

"Thank you," I said softly, "Even though you pointed a knife at me."

"You're forgiving, aren't you?" he teased.

I looked down at my hands, picking at a cuticle on my finger. "I've never been around a real human before. Well, I suppose my mother, but never somebody my age. Always robot things."

He wrapped a warm arm around her shoulder, pulling her close in. She breathed in his scent, manly, but with a distinct scent of outdoors.

"Maia told me we've met before. Whenever you found her," I said, feeling curiosity blooming inside me.

He smiled softly. "Yeah, we have. You were a sight to see." He winked at me. "You kept on calling me the sun and then Golden Man, then Golden Angel, and finally Golden Sun Angel."

I laughed. "And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why you don't take pills."

"Your substitute gave you happy pills. Your mother had to keep you at home for weeks to keep from eating more pills. That's why we call them the Addicted. Once you have them once, you can't stop. They're in your bloodstream."

"Find another girl, Herondale?" A stuck up voice asked. "You know, after me. And Ashleigh and Kennedy, and Annabelle. She's uglier than you usually go for."

My head whipped up to see a girl with blonde hair and brown eyes, her hair a natural pretty curls, like a princess. She had a smile that should've been awarded with actress of the year award.

Jace sighed, scooting away and the coat fell from him. He rubbed at his temples. "What do you want Meadow?"

"I just want to warn Ugly," Meadow said, flipping her hair over shoulder. "He's a heartbreaker. So how easy are you?"

When I stood up, anger coursed through my veins.

"Clary," Jace murmured, trying to warn me of this girl. "Don't."

The coat fell from my shoulders and the bitter wind hit my arms again, but I didn't notice. Meadow had a smirk across her face, knowing she angered me.

"My name is Clary. Not Ugly. Is that to close to make out? Are you really that stupid?" I asked, cracking my knuckles, the way my father used to right before he hit me. I'd learned why. It loosened your fingers and intimidated the victim.

Meadow wasn't intimidated. "You're new here, huh? You'll learn from your mistakes. And you'll never talk to me like that again." She stomped away in anger, her boots colliding with the ground in pure anger. No not anger, something else. Fury.

Jace had his head in his hands. "Clary…" he said softly. "I told you not to. You'll see why tonight. I promise you. You will."

My mother had handed me clothes and given me a cabin that coincidently had Meadow, Jace, and the Lightwoods.

Sensitive Topic right here. Slightly descriptive. If you do not read, I will tell you what happened in a non-descriptive way at the bottom in the author's note.

I was changing, my tattered dress on the floor, leaving me in only my underwear. I opened my closet and screamed bloody murder at the sight I saw.

Jace ran into the room. "Dammit, dammit, dammit," he muttered, seeing me on the other side of the room, not caring I only had two scraps of clothing left on my body.

He looked inside the closet and pinched the bridge of his nose, breathing in deeply. "Meadow," he called.

Meadow walked into the room and I screamed, backing up into a corner. "She's insane!" I screamed, "Absolutely insane!"

Alec and Isabelle ran into the room, and Alec blushed whenever he saw me, but I didn't care. "She did it again?" Isabelle asked and Jace nodded.

"Isabelle, check the bed, and Alec, you check the bathtub," Jace ordered. As soon as they did, he slammed Meadow against the wall.

She whimpered.

"You idiot!" he yelled. "Who was it this time? Whose cabin?"

"Found another one," Alec yelled.

"Bed's good," Isabelle called.

Meadow smiled in Jace's face. "Another person who irritated me. The one in the bathtub was drowned, and the one in the closet had his throat slit."

I whimpered, eyeing the dead body handing there, pinned by a knife.

"Get out," Jace hissed. "You'll be lucky if Clary doesn't tell her mother. You'll be kicked out."

"Didn't stop me last time," Meadow smiled. "Won't stop me this time." She walked out of the room, swinging her hips.

Jace kneeled down beside me, wiping a tear from my cheek.

"Isabelle," he said, "Can you go get her some clothes please? She probably doesn't want to wear those."

"I'll take the bodies," Alec volunteered, slipping on some gloves. "I'll get the one in the closet. You move her to a different room."

Jace picked me up, not minding that I wasn't wearing any clothes. "C'mon. We have one more free room."

You can begin reading right here

He moved me down and opened the door, revealing a dark room. He flicked on the lights and set me down on the bed.

Isabelle came in. "Here, they're going to be a teensy bit big, but you're going to sleep. I'll request for some clothes your size. You'll have some whenever you wake up in the morning." She smiled softly. "It's not your fault, Clary. Meadow's been doing this for years."

"Thank you Izzy," Jace said softly. "I'll step out for a moment while you change."

He walked into the bathroom, discreetly and shut the door. Isabelle left and I heard her talking softly to Alec.

The leggings were tight in all the wrong places and the sweatshirt was baggy and went down to my knees.

"All right," I said and Jace stepped out.

He smiled and tucked a piece of long curly hair behind my ear before kissing my forehead. "Do you want me to stay the night?"

I nodded, slipping into the bed. "Goodnight Jace."

"Goodnight Clary," he turned away from me, but I turned him back, curling into his side, my head against his chest. I could feel his laughter before slipping away, the images from the closet forever in my mind.

All right. For you curious little buggers. Clary was changing and she saw a dead body in the closet and screamed. Jace ran in followed by Meadow and Isabelle and Alec cleaned up the mess. Meadow killed the dead person. There.

Disclaimer: Cassandra Clare owns The Mortal Instruments and all its characters. I own Meadow and the plot of this story.

Farewell!

Be sure to check out my other fanfictions-

New Marriages- The Mortal Instruments

So Close but So Far- The Mortal Instruments

The Battle of the Angels- The Mortal Instruments

The Experimentation- Crossover Maximum Ride and The Mortal Instruments

The New World- O/S Mortal Instruments

The Rebelling- Mortal Instruments

The Savior- Divergent Trilogy

The True Killer- O/S Mortal Instruments

We'll Always Have Time for Each Other- Mortal Instruments

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