Disclaimer: Everything goes to Cassandra Clare and Sakurakoji Kanoko.
The moon lights a small path on my bedroom floor. I notice. Sick of my bedroom, I get up from the bed and cross over to the window. The moon is full, the sky is cloudless. I see the dark rooftop of Jace's house, where the shadows are growing from the trees shading over it. The small orange tree in the front yard glows with a silver like shade. The bushes of orchids shiver in the wind.
A shadow on the rooftop causes me to look back. It's him.
The moon reflected off his golden hair, long and soft. His wings are out, full and white. In the silver light of the moon, everything but Jace is colorless. The garden and house seem shiny and gray. It's only Jace with full color of his hair and wings. My hand slides up the glass as if I could touch him right now.
He just sits there. Facing the moon, he looks peaceful. The evening wind blows.
Then his head slightly turns to the side, allowing me to see more. His face is pained, frustrated. Perched on his finger is a small bird. A starling. I don't even know how it's here in New York, even in the peaceful areas. It has dark feathers. The opposite from Jace's. Then the wind picks up again and the small bird flies away in the wind, leaving Jace behind.
I turn away from the window with great confusion in my heart.
Math comes next. I was late for homeroom, so I didn't see Jace in the morning. Not that I wanted to see him. What happened last night was something I didn't want to think about.
Students pile in, and I take my seat.
A different teacher comes in the room. She looks at us and picks up a stack of papers, explaining, "Mr. Wayland isn't here today. I am your substitute."
My ears perk at that remark. Jace wasn't here.
A few girls sigh, and class begins and ends along the time.
Maia's waiting for me outside as usual. "You feel better?" She asks.
"Yeah, I'm good."
Maia goes on first, saying she has a project to do. I let her go and head home myself. My fingers absently reach up where four angry scars should have been, but there's only the smooth skin there always was.
Rounding the corner, the warm weather gives a trail of oranges in the air. I see my house in the next step, but I see the closed gates of Jace's house next to mine.
I consider going home, but I want to see him.
Skipping our house, I quietly walk to his gates, where the garden is vacant. Peaceful. I cautiously push the gate open, and step inside. The orange tree still bears its orange fruits and a few blossoms. My feet slowly walk along the stoned path of the house, each orchid waving around. Tree leaves shone in the sunlight. I walked up the steps and stopped. The simple door, clear window. My fingers hesitated on pressing the doorbell.
Suddenly, the door flew open.
"Hi there."
What the hell? I step back a moment before realizing the voice is below me.
It's a small boy. Dark hair and deep blue eyes. His face has a small smile on it. He's holding the door and I see the inside of the house. All lighted up with the sunlight from outside.
"I'm Max," he says. "Are you looking for Jace?"
"Yeah."
"He's in his room."
"Okay."
He lets me in and we both head down the hall. "Is Jace okay?" I ask. "I didn't see him at school, and well…"
"No, he just said he wasn't quite feeling normal so he decided to take the day off." He replied. Max looks about 6-years old. He turns to look up at me. "It's here." We stop at a door, and he turns the knob.
The door opens into a simple room. A bed in the middle, with a head of blonde hair peeks out of the ruffled covers. The room is white, the furniture is wood. No pictures, no posters, nothing. Max and I stand there.
"Yesterday after school, he never came home. He came in this morning around 5:00AM and he looked pretty drained." Max explains. Then he pulls on my hand and I lean down. He whispers, "He came in trailing a scent like poison. Or venom." Max pulls away. "Either one." His small face scrunches in worry. I was taking a wild guess here and came to think that Max knows about Jace's true identity. It shocked me first though.
"That's enough Max," a scratchy voice mutters. Jace threw back the covers, rubbing his forehead. His eyes are still closed.
"Oh, you're awake. Do you want some water?" Max says.
Jace flips his pillow over and lays back down. His hair is matted against his temples in sweat. "No, you can go."
Max quietly stands there for one moment, then turns on his heels and leaves.
I look over to Jace. Then I walk over. He turns his head toward me. I kneel beside his bed, where his head is. I lean my own on my hands. "You okay?" I ask.
He smiles. "I'm good. You?"
"I'm okay."
"Then that's good." He says, turning back into the covers.
It's the little voice in my head that continues asking questions. Aren't you doing all this because I'm "The bride who brings prosperity"? Why are you going so far to protect me?
I just don't understand.
Jace closed his eyes again, his hair falling back into place. His peaceful breathing seems like he's sleeping. I unknowingly bring my fingers to his hair and run it through them. Soft and golden. I brush my fingers along his warm cheek.
"I don't get you," I whisper.
His big, angular hand come up to catch mine at his cheek and holds it there. He breathes slowly.
"You'll find out soon enough," he whispers back.
"So he asked you out."
"Yeah," I reply uneasily.
"You planning to say yes?"
"Depends."
"Is he human?"
"Jace!" I say. "Of course he is."
"You sure?"
"No."
It was the next day of school, and Jace had fully recovered in that time, and still remained to have the attitude of his.
Jace watches me with that mused expression again. It's after school and I've stayed by to talk with him. Get him off my back about marriage. He smirks, yet looking bored as he's leaning back in his chair. The skinny black tie hangs loose around his neck.
"Besides, I was also asked out by Sebastian," I say.
"Cause he was possessed by a demon." Jace counters. "No offense, but there's only two types of people who would ask you out. One, stupid people. Two, demons."
"Well, at least demons are willing to ask me out," I mutter.
"Cause they want to eat you," Jace says.
I roll my eyes.
"At least save your virginity. I'll be taking that."
I feel a blush in my face. I pick up a book from Jace's desk and chuck it at him. It misses. Barely. His hair waves around when he turns his head to avoid the book. I reach over to pick up another one, but Jace catches my wrist and pulls me close. My bangs and his brush against one another. The smell of lemons is sweet in this air. "You're too much for a mere human to handle." He whispers.
I pull away, feeling that if I'm too close I might find myself wanting to kiss him. I grab my bag, standing up. "I have to go," I say.
Jace leans back in his chair. "Be careful." He says quietly, his eyes faraway now. I bite my lower lip, and head out the room.
Quickly making my way down the hall, I step out into the warm afternoon sun.
"Clary!" It's him. Raphael. His dark hair and carefree smile. So different from Jace's smile, challenging and yet loving if you can see behind the protective walls.
"Hey," I say, feeling the warm sun peek out into the path. We're still outside of the school, not really making any moves toward anything.
He asks me how I've been and all sorts of regular conversations. He laughs before talking again.
"You know, when I told people I was asking you out, they told me I was brave. Oddly," he smiles.
"Really?" I say, small sarcasm lacing my tone.
"Yeah. You know, how you trip for no reason; staring off into space. People notice that kind of thing."
"Do you now?"
He grins. So most of the people noticed my accidents. He takes my hand and pulls me forward to walk with him. I walk.
"I really don't get what they say though."
I turn my head toward him. "About what?"
"They say stuff like, 'She has a dark aura' or 'Her luck is terrible.' I'm really confused," he explains. His face is serious. Well, at least I know he's not possessed by a demon.
I kick a pebble aside, seeing a demon crawl by. Suddenly, my foot catches on something. I pitch forward. Raphael quickly catches my wrist. "Yeah, like that." He laughs, trying to joke around.
But I can't reply. There's a large pile of sharp rocks right where my face should've landed if Raphael hadn't caught me. My panic rises. Demons snicker.
Suddenly, a sharp crack brings my head to look up. Raphael never saw it, but he looked up anyway to see what I was looking up at. One of the school windows has shattered into large, heavy pieces, sharp and deadly. A few winged demons carry some of the large, sharp shards. My blood runs cold.
They drop it. My thoughts are overwhelmed. A voice shrieks in my head. I feel some part of me trying to run, but there are too many shards to count. The pieces fly by me and lodge themselves in the dirt around me. I feel the small stings from the small cuts the glass managed to hit. My blood is warm.
"Clary?" Raphael's hand holds my wrist. "Christ, you're bleeding." He doesn't notice the small, broken glass around my feet. Not even the large shards sticking out of the dirt.
The demons are everywhere.
I can't help but feel something's going to happen again.
"Your cuts don't need stitches. But you'll probably have a scar on your chest though," the nurse explains to me. I nod, feeling the long sterile bandage on my chest. Just below the collarbone. The glass cut me more than I thought.
Minutes pass by and the nurse lets me go with some pain relievers. I open the door and step out, seeing Raphael waiting outside. "You okay?" He asks.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I reply. I pray that he doesn't ask how I got the mysterious cuts. He doesn't.
"You want me to walk you home?" he asks. My eyes scan the empty hallway.
"Sure."
We've started down, when a teacher's voice is heard down the hall. I turn, seeing Jace and another teacher. The teacher speaks, "Well, Mr. Wayland, we'll talk again tomorrow." He says with a laugh. Jace smiles and takes a notebook from him.
Then his eyes briefly flash over to me. His tawny irises take in my cut up uniform and blood stained patches. Then his eyes look into mine. Then he looks away and heads down the opposite direction of the hall.
I see how it is.
Pulling Raphael down the hallway as quickly as I can, we both get out of the hallway where Jace would be. We're just about to go down the staircase, but Raphael pulls my hand in excitement upstairs instead of downstairs.
"Where are we going?" I ask, trying not to trip.
"I always wanted to go on the rooftop! Come on, it'll be fun." He says with a grin.
And in less than two minutes, we're up on the rooftop. I'm in terror.
"The roof?"
Raphael grins, "Yup. Good place for privacy. Though students aren't allowed up here."
My head spins and I feel like there's someone in my mind, telling me to get off the roof. Now. "Sorry, I don't like high places." I look away from the yellow railings around the roof.
He pulls me toward the railing, "Come on, the view's great. Look."
I try to pull myself back. With one of my hands pushing myself away from the railing, and the other still captured by Raphael's. I shake my head.
Then it's them.
One hand. Two. Three. Ten. Too many.
Demons of all sorts pull me in. I'm suddenly gripping the railing with both hands, trying to push myself away from them. They grasp my hands. My wrists and arms. More and more, pulling me over the railing. To my death.
I hear my scream. And with another pull, they practically flipped me over the railing.
The wind flies by me.
And suddenly, I've managed to latch onto the side of a thin platform sticking out of the building. The inside of my pals and fingers are scratched up from the sudden impact of the concrete walls. It's not wide enough for me to stand on. There's barely enough space to grip my fingers on.
"Clary!" Raphael's leaning over the railing, seeing my status. I've fallen about one story. He yells again. "Don't worry! I'll go downstairs to help!"
I don't care. But he's already gone in an attempt to try and save me.
My fingers are already aching. My grip isn't lasting. Demons laugh. I feel a strong pull on my ankle but I don't look down.
I can't hold on much longer.
My fingers.
Are.
Slipping.
The wind blows.
I'm falling.
6th floor. 5th. 4th.
The wind is too fast. So is my mind.
But what I expected to be the pain, turned out to be two strong arms. My fall.
Has stopped.
The smell of lemons tells me who he is. A white feather falls into my view.
I hear flapping. The wings.
His warm body. My heart races. The ground flies farther from my view. Feathers swirl around in the wind. I see the entire city from the distance he's going up to.
"No," my own voice is heard. "Wait. Jace." I push as his chest to get away. But what could I do? We're already high above the school now. I bite back a shriek.
"Can't promise that. It's up to you. If you're really that scared, hold onto me," Jace's voice is angry and quiet. "Hold onto me," he repeats. "Because your life will depend on it."
We go higher. My arms go around his neck securely and they stay there. My eyes are shut tightly. Everything's aching. I hear myself whisper over and over, "Please don't let me go."
The wind stops. The light touch of the ground. I'm still on Jace, my arms around his neck while his arms wrap around my waist. I find myself pulling back from the crook of his neck to look at him.
"I wouldn't have let you go," he says. His face is still pained. "I just wanted you to learn."
Tears are building up in my eyes. His hand comes up to stroke my cheek. "I wanted you to learn, that you can't live without me."
My eyes are closed. I can't bear to think right now. However, Jace's words stay in my head, hard and fuming.
His voice is so cold.
But for some reason, his arms are really gentle.