Part 2
"We're really sad to see you go, Clary," Isabelle moped. I turned around with a rueful smile. When I opened the door and gestured for her to put the box in, she turned her back to me. I cleared my throat.
"Iz."
"What?" She spat, dropping the box of my belongings into the back seat of the car. I raised an eyebrow, wishing I had the talent of lifting only one at a time. "It's not fair. You're the best sketch artist we've had. We'll never get somebody to replace you."
I crossed my arms over my chest. "I trained Simon myself! And you're fucking him! Double bonus!"
Isabelle slammed the door shut. "You're taking away my best friend!"
My heart pounded. That was the reaction I was looking for. Isabelle hid her emotions for her friends well. I wrapped my arms around her. "Aw, Iz."
"Seriously, how could you leave? Is it for him? Because I already told that fucker I'd cut off his balls if it came to it," Isabelle placed her hands on my shoulder, staring me directly in the eye.
"Your brother?" I questioned with a laugh. She huffed indignantly. I groaned. "Look. I'm going to take art classes in Virginia's top art school. It's a fucking awesome coincidence that Jace lives thirty minutes from it."
Isabelle rolled her eyes. "Coincidence? You can ask Jace and any other FBI agent how much they believe in coincidences."
I didn't believe in them, either. Sure, I had my debates over fate, but I liked to think things happened for a reason. It was either a lucky coincidence that Jace was there to stop the guy in the bar from molesting me years ago, which I knew was unlikely since I had no luck whatsoever, or it was fate. It was fate that after all those years of suffering under my father's rule that Jace found me and showed me a path to freedom, one I could take or shy away from.
"Simon thinks Jace pulled a few strings. But if I was accepted into Juilliard, I think this school would have taken me anyways," I confessed. Isabelle's glare didn't soften. "This was what I was working for. You knew that."
She pouted. "Say hello to my other traitor of a brother for me then," she mumbled, not looking me in the eye.
I gasped. "Isabelle!"
"What?"
"He's gay. That doesn't mean he's a traitor."
Isabelle scoffed. "It does when he hid it from me and only revealed it to me to ease my anger of him leaving my squad to go into the FBI like our other brother did to me years before!"
My laughter mixed with a coughing fit. She scared me there for a second. "I really am going to miss you, Iz. Even if you nearly give me a heart attack every day."
"I'll miss you, too," she sighed. When she hugged me, the feeling of being left behind wasn't there, which was a first for me. Instead, excitement mixed with fear for the future fought against regret of leaving my friends and home. She pulled away and wiped at a tear I wasn't sure was there or not. She shoved me into the driver's seat and grinned. "Now go fuck your lover boy! It's been way too long for you!"
I hated how entirely right she was.
. . .
Here's the thing. Jace didn't know I was coming early. In fact, he didn't know I was coming this week at all.
Here the other thing. I was living with Jace.
Now, I had no clue where in my right mind I decided it'd be a good idea to pack up and leave early without informing my roommate this. Sitting outside of his flat, pounding away at the door didn't solve matters, either.
I called him. "Red. Is everything okay?"
Normally, I adored when he called me Red. Now, I felt only utter embarrassment. I didn't earn that name. "Everything's perfect. Simon's struggling to capture the right eye shapes, but it's good," I lied with a sigh. "What are you up to?"
Jace chuckled. "The team and I are over our heads in investigating this group. Want to hear about it?"
I pinched the bridge of my nose. He'd be at the office for hours. Biting my lip, I said, "Absolutely." The hallway I was in was long but narrow. I propped my legs up against the door opposite to Jace's. I visited him once, but we didn't have enough time to meet the neighbors. They did their best to avoid us.
After I left, Jace swore they sent him dirty looks for days. Someone even complained about his squeaky bed and then said he should be ashamed with his impurities. I still didn't let that one go.
"We've been doing undercover surveillance on them for years now," he began. I put the phone on speaker and pulled out my sketch book. "They claim to be a Catholic religious group that immigrated from Italy, but we're decently sure they are extremists."
"What, like the Italian Mafia?" I snorted. Sometimes, his cases sounded like jokes to me.
"That's exactly what it is!" Jace sounded genuinely surprised. "Hold on a second, babe." He called out in the background of the phone. "Guys, Clary-,"
"Jace, stop talking about Clary's ass, or her curves, or her lips," Magnus, Alec's boyfriend, yelled. "Let the remainder of the male agents focus."
I blushed and started to giggle. Jace continued, "She just cracked them. The Italian Mafia. It makes sense now. Fuck, they killed a man for spilling coffee on their front door. They have too many guns for just themselves. They never are high but have tons of drugs not found in South America. Hell they attacked me after Clary slept over."
Was he serious? I didn't see how these people were payed the big bucks. Maybe investigations have you tunnel vision. When I heard Italy, the first thought that came to my mind was the Mafia. That and gelato. I wanted gelato.
"So that's what happened to your face?" Aline laughed. Sharp words were exchanged. The background got louder with argumenta and facts and papers being thrown away and keyboard typing. I knew that cue. They were on a roll.
"Clary, you just saved our asses. I've got to go, this is huge," Jace panted.
"As long as I get to smack your ass when I get there," I said with glee.
Jace laughed nervously. "We need to talk about that. If something goes wrong with the Mafia case...well we may not have an apartment afterward."
"What? Why?"
I knew mafias were dangerous, but why would they blow up his home? Even if they wanted to kidnap him, there were other ways. My stomach turned at the idea of him being kidnapped. I always had to remind myself that he was very good at what he did. I shouldn't worry for his safety.
"My apartment is the undercover surveillance I was telling you about. I'm playing the nosey neighbor well." He said in a rush. "Don't worry. We'll get them before you get here. I've got to go-,"
The line cut off abruptly. I gasped. What did he just say? Repeating the lines in my head, I connected something. If his apartment was undercover, then he lived very close to them. A neighbor. He was on their floor.
I was on their floor.
Nearly screaming, I pulled my feet up to my chest. He said they killed a man for staining their door with coffee. I looked up. There was a dark brown stain running halfway down their white door. And my feet were just all over it.
I shot to my feet. My bags were to heavy to grab so I left them. I started calling up Jace, but he didn't answer. I was going to die, and he wouldn't answer.
When I got outside the building, I was gasping for breath. I rang him again. No answer. Groaning, I looked around. His station was only a couple minutes away. As I stood to call a cab, three men walked in front of me. They were Italian brothers, looking so similar it hurt. A scowl on their faces sent my heart beating fast. They had just exited Jace's building. I screamed and ran across the street. Everyone looked at me funny, mainly because I was nearly hit by a car, but the men didn't follow me.
My heart and head were pounding. I called Jace again. He answered! "Jace! Jace, I need help."
"Clary, where the fuck are you?"
I paled. "What? Why?"
"Why are they stalking you outside of my building? What did you do?"
I took a shaky breath and looked around. I couldn't see anyone! Jace's floor was too high up to tell if someone was looking out the window. I gulped. "I - I wanted to surprise you. And I couldn't get in. And I propped my legs up on their door. And then I ran. Jace, what do I do?"
"Shit, Clary," he muttered. "Okay. Come to the station. Get on a cab. They should wait until they can figure out a routine. Just don't draw any more attention to yourself."
I nodded. He didn't hang up. I was near tears by the time a cab came. "Quantico." The cabbie looked at me like I was insane, but he went. "Jace?"
"I'm here," he said. The background was a loud, busy mess. I looked out the back window.
There were many cars, but it was hard to tell if any were trailing us or not. "What about my school? Will I have to move?"
Jace hesitated. "Probably."
Tears slipped down my cheeks. "I'm almost there."
Jace was waiting for me outside of the main gates. We walked through security. Normally, I would have been more energetic to see him. Now, all I could think about was how soon I'd have to leave him. He wrapped his arm around me and shuffled me into the station. "I need you to retell everything to the team. Can you do that?"
I nodded sullenly. He opened the door and pushed me through. The moment he did so, the lights clicked on and people jumped out from everywhere. His entire team, in fact. I fell back into Jace, and his warm arms wrapped around my waist. There stood at the front of the crowd the three Italian brothers that looked so much alike. I nearly screamed.
"Clary, welcome our three newest members of the team," Jace chuckled into my ear. I stiffened. Slowly, I looked between the three and him.
"Are you telling me...?"
Alec laughed. "We're the FBI, Clary. You didn't think you could actually surprise him, did you?"
I was so angry. It was unbelievable he'd do this to me. "That was all a fucked up joke?" I growled, shoving Jace out of the door and into the railing the looked out over the rest of Quantico. He frowned.
"You could have told me, Red," Jace snickered. I flexed my hands and swung. He didn't stop me, and I was glad. The red handprint would stay on his face all day.
"You're so immature. I was scared to death. And this was something to laugh at?" I sneered. Behind me, his entire team was laughing. I turned around. "And you bastards helped him! That's an abuse of power, assholes."
"Come on," Jace began. I clenched my fists and turned back to him again.
"You better pray my luggage is still there when I get back," I hissed. "Keys." Jace reluctantly fished the key out of his pocket. I glanced over my shoulder. "Catch a ride home with Alec. Or 'The Mafia.'"
Jace kept protesting until I got to the garage. There, he finally let me go. Asshole.
But I wasn't upset for long. Magnus helped me plan a revenge plot.
