CLARY

I looked around the corridor and saw Alec staring at a pool of thick, brown/black liquid that was slowly bubbling on the floor opposite to him, while he hurriedly stuffed a vaguely familiar object into his pocket. He looked up towards me, a startled look in his eyes. I took another look at the liquid on the floor and found myself unable to identify it.

Alec must have seen the expression on my face and explained hurriedly, "Oh, I uh… it's like seriously off coke. I went to throw it in the bin but I missed."

The way he said it made me mentally question the truth behind the statement, but I decided I couldn't be bothered pushing him. I turned back into the classroom and heard Alec's footsteps. Following me.

"Hey," his voice seemed more relaxed now he wasn't trying to keep Izzy and Simon apart. "Are you all right?" I shrugged. "I was just wondering, you seemed pretty pissed when you walked off."

"I'm surprised that you left them alone," I said, avoiding my own emotions.

"I trust Jace to deal with them," he said non-committedly. Alec must have heard my muffled smirk as he said soon after, "Probably more than I should. But Izzy's as much Jace's sister as she is mine and, frankly, I don't think he's too big of a fan of nerd bo-, sorry, Simon either."

Nerd boy. That's how Simon was referred to, how probably anyone like him was referred to by the higher social ranked students. I found myself smiling slightly though. I surveyed Alec out of the corner of my eye. He shared the same black hair that Izzy had, but unlike her Alec had beautiful blue eyes. He would be a brilliant person to paint, the way he stood, the shape of his face and of course, the eyes. Something clicked in as I realised how Alec had said Jace's name, how he had looked at him while we had been eating lunch, and I smiled. It fit. I felt a pang of sorrow as I wondered how long Alec had felt that way about Jace, how many people knew. I gave Alec a small smile as the bell rang for class.

JACE

"A DEMON!" I whispered frantically as I pretended to work, "you've got to be kidding. This is insane. How did one get in to the school?"

"I don't know Jace, but you're lucky I had enough sense to follow her otherwise we'd have been stuffed if she saw it. I don't think she believed me when I called the ichor coke but she wasn't in much of a mood to snoop," Alec said frustrated. "None of the Memory Wiped are safe if the demons are infiltrating this far."

I swung back in my chair and tapped my pencil on my leg, thinking. "We'll drop by Bane's apartment this afternoon, see if he's got any news, if he can try doubling up wards around the schools." Alec and I exchanged worried looks and I knew he had unvoiced worries about Max, but I felt like mentioning something bad happening to Alec's younger brother would almost jinx him.

Alec put his head down and started working and I tried to follow pursuit but failed. My mind was clicking away, thinking of what would have happened if Alec hadn't followed Clary, wondering why it hadn't been me to follow her. Wondering why I was so worried about that little red head.

Alec knocked on the door of Magnus Bane's as I leant on the wall, polishing my knife. We heard a voice come from inside, "Enter if you dare, mortals!" Alec raised his eyebrows at me before pushing the door open and walking down the hall. Magnus had redecorated since our last visit, a bright collection of artwork now filled the halls and the floors where covered in carpets.

We found Magnus in the lounge room, sprawled across a couch, wearing a bright pink glittery jacket, a top labelled I LOVE NEW YORK, and a pair of sparkling black pants, a copy of A Tale of Two Cities in hand, "Ahh, it's you two. What problems do you want me to solve today? Wait, let me guess," Magnus looked at me, "Girl problems." He studied my face more closely. "Oh god no, not her. I warned you blondie."

I leant on the door frame, spinning the knife around in my hand, unimpressed, "Alec found a demon at school today. If Alec hadn't been there Clary probably would have found it and it could have killed her."

Magnus pulled on a false sympathetic, pouty face, "And you care, sooo sweet." Alec coughed awkwardly from the corner of the room where Magnus looked over, raising an eyebrow but not commenting.

"I care because demons are getting into schools, Bane. I want to know if you can place more wards up around them," I demanded. I refused to think about what might happen to people, to Clary, Max or any of the mundanes who I had grown up with, if demons invaded fully.

"I'll see what I can do, but don't expect instant results," he took on a more professional tone, keeping at least one of his cat eyes focussed on Alec, "You will notice if anything changes. Really though I think you should talk to Robert about these matters… I mean not that I particularly think he's worth worrying about but…" he trailed off running his hands through spiky hair.

"Thank you," Alec said, the first words he had uttered since entering Magnus's house. He looked towards me, his eyes almost pleading with me to shut up, to not say anything stupid. "We should probably get going now."

"Rightio," Magnus said, turning to me, "May I have a word. Privately?" Alec nodded and Magnus winked at him as he left the room.

"If you're planning on giving me a talk about leaving her alone, I want you to know I'm not interested in her. If you want my number I will also have to tell you, not interested," I winked at him.

He smirked, shaking his head, "I'm not one of your fangirls, blondie. I want to tell you two things. Number one being that Clary has more power than you think, you may look at her and see a little biscuit, but she has power you can't dream of," his voice was steady, but it lightened as he then said, "My second is something I would rather you tell me. Is your dear parabatai currently in a relationship and may I have his number either way?"

I laughed as I found a pen and a newspaper which I scribbled down Alec's phone number. He'd kill me if he ever found out but… I couldn't help myself. I straightened up and walked towards the door, saying lightly, "He's single and ready to mingle. I think." I sent Magnus another wink before I walked out of the room.

Thank you to all the people who have commented advice and compliments. Big thank you also to the people who have started following this story since my last chapter. Hopefully I'll be able to update soon. :)