Hello, perfect, darling, readers! Sorry for the late upload. Hope you enjoy! Also here's a quick timeline for the events that occurred. So the attack was on a Saturday night, and this chapter takes place on a Sunday. I'm not sure if I'm contradicting myself, but I don't think I am.

Chapter 7


I woke up in the morning sweaty and tangled in my sheets. The nightmares were back. They all involved demons all shapes and sizes with black eyes. One thing was always the same though: at the end of the dream, the demons always morphed into Valentine.

I took a few deep breaths. I had to stop getting ahead of myself. The attacker could have been after Jace, and I was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. That's what I had to believe before I completely fell apart. That's what would get me through the day.

I got dressed, choosing one of the less hideous sweaters and pleated skirts. I'd have to ask Hodge about going back to my apartment for clothes and my sketching materials for class on monday.

I ventured out of my room suddenly feeling out of my element. I was walking around a stranger's house not sure of where I should go. I came upon a large library and peaked my head inside. I gasped when I took in the sight of the columns of books all shapes, sizes, and colors. My hands twitched wanting to capture this moment, this feeling.

At the far end of the room was a large desk where Hodge sat reading. I sighed with relief that I had found him on the first go around. I walked into the room and cleared my throat slightly. He looked up from his desk and gave me a patient smile.

"Ms. Fray, I hope you slept well?" he said.

"Uh yeah. Thanks." I said. "Has there been any word on the identity of the attacker?"

Hodge shook his head. "Sadly no, my dear, but no need to be disheartened. We'll find out soon enough, and you'll be back to your own life."

"Yeah speaking of my own life: I need to go back to my apartment and get some things like books and clothes. So I wasn't sure what the procedure would be?"

Hodge nodded. "We have a security decal on standby. They will escort you to class and whatever other events are a necessary risk. I would, however, suggest that you get everything you need from your apartment now as it's probably in your best interest to stay away from there."

"How long do you think I'll be staying here?" I asked, feeling queasy at the prospect of being on lockdown here.

"Oh, I wouldn't think any longer than a couple of weeks. I'm sure New York's finest will get to the bottom of this." He stood up and patted me awkwardly on the shoulder. "There's a car waiting outside to take you where you want. But," his hand tightened on my shoulder. "there will be absolutely no talking to the press or anyone about the events that occurred last night. Do you understand?"

The frailness in his body was gone. He looked less like the old man that gives out full candy bars to a cunning hawk. I swallowed and nodded. The congeniality returned immediately.

"Good!" With that he walked out of the library.

After a few moments I headed out, kicking myself for not asking for a map or something to help me get around. I walked randomly down the hallway until I found a grand staircase. I headed down. Before I stepped off the last step, someone knocked into me causing me to fall. When I looked up I saw Isabelle's long hair in a low ponytail swishing out of sight down the hall. Cursing, I lifted myself up. Clearly, I had an enemy. And worst of all, I was stuck living with her.

I followed where she went and found myself in a large kitchen. It was the most modern thing about the house with granite counters, cherry oak floors, all stainless steal appliances. My stomach growled. I looked at a basket of green apples sitting cheerily on the island with misery. How was I supposed to live here if I didn't even feel comfortable eating any of their food?

A noise behind me alerted me to someone entering the kitchen. I whirled around to find a tall boy with professionally styled black hair and stunning blue eyes. His bone structure was incredible, and I found myself at a loss for words as he pinned me with intense eyes. But to my surprise, he didn't say anything. He just moved past me, grabbed an apple, and headed out the kitchen's outside door.

I glanced out the door's window and saw that he was getting into a black car Hodge had described earlier. I quickly followed him outside and got in the back seat of the car. I gave him the address I needed to go.

"What are you doing?" he asked, his voice sharp.

"Uh, I need to go get a few things." I said.

"And why do you think I care?" he snapped.

"Aren't you supposed to take me wherever I need to go?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"I'm not your driver," he said. He turned around so he could fully glare at me.

"I'm sorry," I stammered. "I didn't know."

As I made my move to get out, someone opened the front seat door and sat down. My eyes widened as I realized who it was.

"Let's go, Alec, before Hodge sees me," Jace said. It was then he noticed Alec glaring and turned around. Surprise flitted across his face, followed by thinly veiled disgust. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Leaving," I snapped. I made grabbed my bag and reached for the door handle.

"Shit, Alec, drive. It's Hodge," Jace said, scrunching his body. Sure enough Hodge had exited from the same kitchen door and was talking on his cell phone. Any second now he would look up and see us all in the car.

"But what about her," Alec said, with as much venom as possible.

"Just drive!" Jace ordered. And so before I could get out the door, Alec slammed on the pedal, and the car accelerated, throwing me back into the leathery cushion. I glanced back at Hodge. He didn't notice us, absorbed in his phone call. He looked angry, but before I could discern much else, he was out of sight.

Jace sighed with relief and sat up straight.

"Thanks, man," he said. "I hate this house arrest shit."

"No problem," Alec said. Talking to Jace, Alec's voice changed. He sounded much happier like he was glad to be doing Jace this slight favor. I saw him glance over at Jace, but Jace was looking out the window.

"Hey, sorry to interrupt this adorable exchange, but I have places to go and Hodge promised me a ride, so take me to 14th and 7th," I said.

Alec shot me a glare through the rear-view mirror.

"No way, Ginger," Jace said. I could almost hear the smirk through his voice. "We'll drop you off at the subway station."

"Jace, we can't do that," Alec said.

I was surprised by Alec's reservations. And definitely not thrilled by them.

"If we let her go, she'll go to the press and try to get money out of this whole situation."

I said, "I'm not going to do that" at the same time Jace said, "She's not going to do that." I looked at him, surprised that he came to my defense. But he kept his gaze out the window.

"Jace, we can't take any chances. This is your reputation we're talking about. If she went to the press, you could lose your inheritance," Alec said. He shot me another glare through the rear-view mirror. His resentment of me was becoming a little clearer.

"Look, I'm not going to tell anyone. So be some good boys and let me out of this car," I said.

"No," Alec said. This time Jace didn't come to my defense.

"Fine. Then I expect you guys to take me around like my own personal taxi service," I said, crossing my arms. I was not about to be stuck in this car all day. My life was in shambles, and the only way I could cope was by following a schedule.

"That's not going to happen," Jace said.

"Oh yes it is. Otherwise, I'm calling Hodge and telling him exactly where you are, Jace. And how you deliberately ditched your security team," I threatened.

Jace turned around to fully glare at me. It was the first time I got a good look at his face since that night. He looked like the Golden Boy from the magazines: smug and perfect. I would've thought he wasn't affected by last night if it wasn't for the dark, purplish circles under his eyes. I wondered if he was sleeping as poorly as I was.

"You wouldn't," he said. His lips pulled into a challenging smirk and his eyes sparkled, his face animating beautifully with mischief.

We had done this faceoff before when I was giving him a faux lap dance. He had won then, so I couldn't lose twice. I just had one problem: I didn't have Hodge's phone number.

I fished my phone out of my bag. We were playing chicken, and I was banking that he'd give up first. He watched, not breaking a sweat. I dialed a random number, taking my time and letting each beep echo throughout the car.

"It's ringing," I said. "I wonder what Hodge is going to do to you once I tell him you broke the rules—hello? Hodge?"

"Fine!" Alec said, slamming on the breaks. I flew forward, only to feel the resistant of my seatbelt. "I'll take you where you want to go. Just don't tell Hodge about Jace."

"That's a good boy," I said as I hung up on the imaginary person. I shot Jace a look of triumph. "14th and 7th please."

I heard Alec sigh, and he turned the car around.

"Why'd you do that, Alec? Hodge wouldn't have done anything. He works for us remember?" Jace said. Annoyance laced his tone. Clearly, he didn't accept defeat well.

Alec sighed. "He'd tell mom, and thenyou'd be in real trouble."

"Whatever," Jace said. He put his feet up on the dashboard. He didn't notice Alec looking over at him with a worried expression, but I did.

For the next twenty minutes, I waited silently. Jace spent the time flipping through the stations, never keeping a song on for more than twenty seconds. Alec was clearly bothered by Jace's silence, for some reason needing his approval. When we finally pulled up to the right street and Alec realized where we were, his silence ended. We were in front of Pandemonium.

"There's no way you're going in there, Clary," he said. I was surprised that he knew my name. I guess both the Lightwood siblings had been informed of who I was. He locked the car doors, as if that would keep me out.

"Look, I left one of my textbooks here. I'm just going to run in really quick," I said, pulling up the lock and opening the door.

"No way. Hodge would be furious if he knew you were coming back here. He specifically said not to go back to your job," Alec argued. Apparently, Alec knew everything about the deal I had made with the Lightwoods.

Before I could protest this, Jace, ignoring both of us, made a movement to get out of the car. Alec grabbed his arm, holding him back.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked. Alec was clearly losing hold on this situation, and that deeply distressed him.

"We're at a strip club, Alec. Do you really think I'm going to wait in the car?" Jace said. He brushed Alec's hand off and walked to the entrance of the club. I got out next, ignoring the misplaced blame Alec was sending my way. I didn't care what either of them did while I was collecting my things.

I walked around the building to the side entrance that only the workers were privileged to. I walked in and headed through the storage space back into the dressing rooms. There were hardly any girls here due to it being daytime. Most of the girls who did the afternoon shift were either not popular enough to get better time slots or came in to try out new routines. In the daylight, strip clubs turned from being magical, sexy play lands to a weird, metaphysical place where the pitiful met with lust. That's normally why strip clubs aren't open until nighttime. However, since plenty of our clients come in for lunch meetings, the club gets enough revenue to stay open during this otherwise unprofitable time.

I didn't see Maia, which bummed me out. I sent her a vague text last night about how I was taking the next few weeks off so she wouldn't worry. However, I wanted to explain to her in person what happened. But I had to tell Magnus why I wasn't going to be showing up for work—that was the real issue.

I grabbed some of my personal items that I left in my locker: a sketchbook that I drew in in between sets, a text book (I wasn't lying about that), and the only other thing that could lend to who I was: a picture of my mother. I stuffed all of those things in my bag, ignoring the pang of sadness that shot through me. If she was here, Valentine wouldn't be after me.

I wish I would've told her about Valentine's coldness. But he was hardly around when I was younger, and I didn't register it as something malevolent. But, what if I had? What if I told her when he hit me or how I didn't think he loved me? Would she have done anything? Would she have left him? She loved him, but did she know that he had a penchant for cruelty? I remember how much she hated his illegal activities, but she never physically stopped him. Most likely because he brought in enough money that she could raise me and do what she loved without ever having to worry about cash. Or maybe it was more than money. She always did see the best in people. Maybe her love for him and hope that he'd change overshadowed the truth. I wish more than anything I could ask her about him, demand answers, ask her how she could leave this world leaving her daughter to be raised by a psychopath?

I felt a familiar sting behind my eyes. I was blaming her for things that weren't in her control anymore. She was dead and was never coming back. My body shook with a repressed sob, and I found myself leaning against the wall. I tried desperately to hold myself together, but my sadness was like water built up against a cracking dam. Any minute now, I would break and my sorrow would overwhelm me.

"Clary?" I heard my name being called. The distraction was enough to pull me out of my despair.

"Yeah?" I called weakly.

One of the daytime dancers came to me. She was pretty, but not in any special way. She was one of those girls that pretended they were aspiring actresses but never got more than commercial ads for JC Penny.

"Magnus is looking for you. Two guys are making a scene and they claim that they know you."

What are those boys getting themselves into? So we finally met Alec. What do you think of Jocelyn? Was she a bad mother not to see how her husband treated their daughter? Review and tell me what you think of the story so far.