kaykay here's the next chap

Jace stood in his bathroom, and looked into the mirror.

A guy with a blue T-shirt, black jeans, and stiff brown hair looked back at him. He sighed and looked down at the sink. A bottle of hair dye stood on the counter.

Jace used his hands to touch his newly dyed hair. He had to do everything he can to change his physical appearance in order to see Clary, but he didn't want to overdo it either.

This morning after Simon left, he went to Isabelle's room and "borrowed" one of her hair dyes, then he took Alec's cap.

Jace went into his room and grabbed the cap, put it over his temporarily dyed hair, and walked out.

"Jace?"

Jace stopped in front of the elevator and turned around. Alec stood from a distance away. "You…your hair! What did you do to it?" He then looked at the cap. "Is that mine?"

Jace said nothing. When the elevator came to a stop behind him, he stepped in.

"Wait!" Alec shouted, running toward him. "Where are you going? You can't go see Clary!"

Jace just shut the doors.

A big house loomed before Jace.

Oh, perfect, he thought. A white petite doll house. Just Clary's favorite.

He walked toward the parkway. If Simon's not back yet, it means he's either in there with Clary and Sebastian's not there, or he's dead.

Jace went to the backyard, leaped over the fence, and landed on the ground lightly.

Then something caught the corner of his eyes. Jace walked over and picked up a book: Wuthering Heights.

Was Clary reading it? If she was, what happened to her then?" Jace froze at the thought.

"Um…hi?" a familiar voice said behind him.

Slowly, Jace turned around and saw her. God, how he had to restrain himself from running to her and take her in his arms. He was speechless.

"Um, who are you? And what are you doing here?" Clary asked, suspicious.

Jace was shocked for a moment. A pink dress hugged her upper body and came loose as it reached her legs, stopping at her knees; her red hair was tied in a ponytail falling on her shoulder with a blue ribbon. She was looking as beautiful as ever, no, she was looking stunning. But she looked different; un-Clary.

Jace exhaled and handed Clary her book. "I believe this is yours?"

Clary blinked once and accepted the book. "Oh, yeah. Thank you. I'm Clary."

"Christopher," Jace nodded, pained by the idea that he couldn't tell her his real name.

"Nice to meet you." Clary smiled. "Are you here for Sebastian?"

Before he could speak, Jace felt a dark presence behind him. He turned—

—and came face to face with Sebastian.

"Well, well ,well. Look what we have here," Sebastian sneered.

"Sebastian!" Clary smiled, and hugged him. "This is Christopher," she looked up and said.

"Oh, really now," Sebastian said sarcastically, and returned Clary's hug. Jace's heart fell.

"Mm-hmm."

"Well, nice to meet you, Christopher."

"So, you don't know each other?" Clary asked Jace.

"No, I came for Simon," Jace said.

"Oh, God! Simon! I just left him there!" Clary gasped, then ran in the house.

"She is so cute, isn't she?" Sebastian smirked at Jace. "I like her much better this way."

Jace glared at him, his hands twitching toward the dagger inside his sleeves.

Sebastian chuckled, his body completely relaxed. "I wouldn't do that, Shadowhunter."

Jace said nothing.

"Because," Sebastian kept on," if you killed me, which will never happen, what will Clary think? Seeing some stranger fighting her beloved brother. Besides, she might remember something, and we all know what happens after that. And also, I have the antidote. You kill me, you lose Clary forever."

Jace's eyes turned to ice.

"Hey, don't blame me," Sebastian protested. He came forward and he…

"Come on, Simon. There's a friend looking for you." Clary's voice sounded, and Sebastian stopped. He looked at Clary, who came out of the house with Simon behind her, and made a fake smile.

"Hello, Simon," he said.

"Hi," Simon replied, tensed. "Didn't expect to see you here."

"I could say the same."

Clary looked between them, apparently finding nothing wrong with the tension in their voices, and then toward Jace. "Christopher."

Simon shifted his gaze onto Jace."Hey, what are you doing here?" he asked, hiding his fear and anger in his cheerful voice.

"…I have to talk to you," Jace lied.

"Well, this is lovely," Clary said with a sparkle in her eyes. "Chris, you can stay with us. I'll prepare some tea, or coffee. Actually, I can even bake some cookies!"

"Actually, Clary," Sebastian said, with a fake sadness in his eyes. "I can't. I still have some unfinished business to attend to."

"Oh," said Clary silently. "Well, that's okay. It'll just be us then."

"Um…Clary, sorry, I have to go, too," Simon said, shooting glances at Jace. "Doctor check-up…for my…contacts."

"That's alright, there's still Christopher, right?" Clary looked toward Jace, a note of plead and loneliness in her eyes.

Jace couldn't stand that stare. He looked to Simon. "Yeah, sure, I'll stay."

Simon almost killed him with his glares.

"Welcome to the family, Chris," Clary said with an amazing smile.

"Ha, sure," Sebastian laughed. And with that, he disappeared.

But Clary was looking at Jace, and did not notice the strangeness of his sudden disappearance.

"See you later, Clary," Simon said and left, not forgetting to shoot a warning at Jace.

"Bye!" Clary waved. "Come on," she said, excited, and pulled Jace toward the house.

"I…" Jace was starting to regret agreeing.

"No worries. I don't mind. Besides, I'm kindda lonely in there by myself," she said.

"…Alright."

like it?

no?

comment!

~Silver~