Thank you so much to all of you who commented on the first chapter! Especially ..Bro and Bookworm24601 for pointing out my typos and memory flukes! This chapter is for you guys!
As Clary pulled Luke's old truck up to the curb in front of the comic book store, she silently thanked her werewolf stepfather for letting her borrow it for the week. Since he was out of town, he saw no reason not to let Clary use it for the duration of her stay at the Institute. Of course, her mother disagreed.
"She might need it," He had said to Jocelyn with a smile. "for commuting to and from demon slayings."
"She just got her license not two months ago! Besides, the Lightwoods usually take the subway." Her mother rebutted. "Absolutely not!"
It was that night, the night before her parents left for Alicante that Luke had come into her bedroom and slipped the car keys into her duffel bag. The message was clear: Jocelyn was not to know.
The sound of Max's screech of delight from the backseat pulled Clary from her reverie.
"Is this it? Clary, this is so cool!" She looked in the rearview mirror to see the little Shadowhunter fiddling with his seatbelt. When she cut the old engine and jumped from the passenger seat, she barely had enough time to put enough cash in the parking meter before Max had his face pressed against the glass window boxes of the sci-fi themed building. "Come on Clary! Let's go!" He ran back to her and grabbed her arm, pulling her to the futuristic front doors.
"Hey slow down kid!"
"Don't call me kid." He said in a serious tone.
"Sorry, but don't you want to just stand out here for a minute and take it all in? You've waited this long haven't you?" She admired the neon blue and green sign that read: 'Forbidden Planet: The Place Where Imagination Comes to Life!'
Max made a sarcastic display of himself pondering over that question. He reminded her of Isabelle when she did that in response to Clary refusing to go shopping with her. "Hmm, let me think….No!" He grabbed her arm again and continued his impatient tugging. This time, Clary let him.
When they steped through the doors, they were engulfed in what Simon would say, "a storm of hailing nerds." There were rows and rows of comic books, all equipped with tons of people. The whole store was covered in superhero, anime, and various other comic posters. There were neon signs everywhere, advertising different comic book companies. Clary looked down. Max was just staring, wide eyed.
"Oh…my…Angel." Was all he said as the atmosphere buried him in a trance. Clary stifled a giggle.
"Max, listen to me." She snapped her fingers in front of his face to get him to focus. "Since it's your birthday, I'm letting you browse the store for whatever you like, but you can only get five books, mainly because they are having a buy four get one free sale. Got it?"
"Got it." He replied with a nod of his head. Then he grabbed her hand and pulled her to a shelf.
That was basically how the whole trip went. It was all "Clary, look at this!" or "Clary, check this out!" Her arm was seriously going to be sore the next morning, but she didn't mind. In fact, she was having a little fun herself.
Max ended up with seven books, which he took over to where Clary was leaning against a bookshelf.
"Okay, I can't decide which ones I want to take home. This one," He held up a comic book with the figure of a man in a red and blue suit sitting on top of a building. "Has this guy with a power that lets him walk on walls and shoot spider webs from his wrists!"
"Wow Max, that's-"
"And this guy-" he held up another book with a man in a cape flying over the earth. "-has this awesome super strength and he comes from a planet that blew up, so he's like an alien!"
"Fantastic." Clary replied.
"And this-" He held up a comic book with a picture of a man with blonde hair and white wings flying over Manhattan. "-is about a superhero that sprouts wings from his back and goes to live at an Institute with a bunch of other people that also have really cool superpowers. They fight crime and put down bad guys. Like you, Jace, Alec, and Isabelle! Plus, the cover looks like the pictures of Jace you draw in your…" his voice trailed off as he realized what he was saying. "I mean, he just looks like him, that's all."
"Uh huh." Clary eyed Max disapprovingly. Busted. She thought.
The boy scrambled to stack five comic books in his hands and placed two others on the bookshelf. "Uh...we should probably check out now." He turned towards the check out desk, but Clary put a hand out to stop him. He avoided her gaze.
"Max…"
"Yes?" He asked sweetly.
"Have you and Jace been going through my sketchbooks again while I'm gone?" I asked with the same sweetness.
The little boy stuck his nose in the air. "Absolutely not! Why ever would you think that?" He said with a bob of his head as he turned and walked towards the growing check-out line, the books lying carefully in his arms.
"Boys." She whispered to herself as she followed him, pulling out her wallet as she went. It was caught on something, and she tried to yank it out.
The cashier was tall and scrawny, with the beginnings of a five o clock shadow growing on his cleft chin. He wore a white polo with a blue name tag that read "HI! My name is Sean." Clary could just see the maroon stain hidden under the plastic.
"Hello. Welcome to Forbidden Planet. Have you found everything okay?" Sean said in a lazy monotone. He slumped over and began scanning the comic books.
"Yes we have." Said Max in an excited tone.
Sean didn't acknowledge him. "That will be 23.46." He began bagging the books.
Suddenly, Clary pulled on her wallet and it came loose, but not without exposing some of the seraph blade along with it. She didn't think much of it, not until she looked up to see the cashier's face.
"What is that?" he nodded his head towards the bag hanging off Clary's shoulder. His bored expression was transformed into a look of intense interest. This shocked her. Seraph blades were protected by glamour, which meant no mundane was supposed to see them. Clary looked closer at the cashier. His eyes were black, as if he had no pupils. She blinked and saw his skin become dry and rough, like scales.
"It's nothing. Let's go." She turned and walked briskly towards the door. Max barely had enough time to grab the shopping bag before she was dragging him by the wrist.
"Miss! You have to pay for those!" She stopped and turned back around. He was still looking at her intensely, like he was waiting, analyzing her movements to see what she would do next. She threw a twenty, a five, and a couple of singles onto the counter.
"Keep the change." She shouted and followed Max out. As the biting chill of January hit her face, she pulled her keys from her pocket and unlocked the truck. "Get in, fast." She demanded to him. The blue eyed boy, knowing not to ask questions in situations such as these, got in. She jumped in the driver's seat and started the car, silently thanking the Angel that the old vehicle still continued to run after thirteen years. She pulled from the curb and sped away from the neon-lit store, scattering a couple of pigeons on the sidewalk.