{Clary POV}
The guitar became my obsession. I had always loved playing it back home, but it was the only thing I could do on the island. So, every day after the chores for the day were finished and after I silently turned down Jonathan's offer to introduce me to his friends, I sat in my room and practiced. I played the songs I remembered from New York, the ones I'd spent hours on memorizing and then hours more on practicing. By the time I was done each day, my fingers had been red and raw from the strings. Now, though, my fingers were used to it and I barely had to think at all as they moved across the neck and cords. Playing the guitar was like my release, my doorway back to New York and my old life.
But as soon as I put it down, I'd remember where I was and want to pick it up all over again. I did everything Celine told me to do (which wasn't much), I ate dinner with the entire village every night, and I didn't fight with Jonathan. After everything I'd heard him saying, I couldn't bring myself to speak to him at all until the party that Celine had told me was to celebrate the beginning of a new week or something. There had been music and dancing and lots of laughing, and it almost seemed like a normal bonfire in a backyard instead of in the middle of a forest on an island in the middle of nowhere. The party had actually put me in a good mood.
I giggled, thinking about Jonathan's face when I'd told him about what that girl's body language had told me. If his facial expressions were any indication, I was totally right about her being after him. I couldn't help but feel a little smug. In New York, everyone learned how to read people quickly and accurately, to protect themselves from everyone else. Not everyone has honorable intentions.
But when Sebastian had taken my hand, he only pretended to kiss it while his eyes flicked at Jonathan again and again. If I was right –which I usually was-, that would mean he was trying to set me up with Jonathan. He would learn pretty quickly that that was a complete impossibility and wouldn't happen. Ever.
Not that Jonathan wasn't cute, because he totally was. Gorgeous, even. He had longish, curly golden hair that fell in his face, and of course those beautiful amber eyes that were the first thing I could remember seeing on the island. But thinking about that also made me remember the sheet falling away from my completely naked body, and then Jonathan's eyes scanning from my shoulders to my hips, his lips slightly parted. I shook off the thought. Neither of us had brought it up, and I sincerely hoped he'd forgotten about that. No guy (besides my dad when I was a baby) had ever seen my naked body, and I planned to keep it that way. Just until I felt that I was really ready to change that status. Which, in fact, probably wouldn't ever happen since was stuck on the island. Oh, well, I thought.
Jonathan was not my type. And nothing would make me change my mind, period, the end.
The sun rising woke me up and I stretched my arms over my head, almost used to waking up at dawn on a daily basis. I went over to the calendar Celine had made for me out of leaves and charcoal from the fire that was hanging on the wall, and looked at the date. It was the twenty fifth, nineteen days after my birthday and nine days since I'd woken up on the island. To me, it felt like one million and nine.
"Clary, are you awake?" Jonathan knocked on the doorframe and I sighed.
"Yeah, hang on. Let me change." I heard him move away from the door and I hurried to put on the clothes Celine had gotten made for me. Despite what I'd originally believed, they were actually kind of cute. Had I seen them in a store in New York, I might have bought one of the outfits. And at my request, she had my dress sewn back up, and I ran my hand over the fabric, missing my parents.
I climbed down the ladder and rubbed at my arms with my palms. "Jeez, it's cold." My arms and legs were covered in goose bumps and my teeth were chattering.
"Yeah, it's going to rain soon. Did my mom give you a jacket?" Jonathan asked, smiling softly at me.
"No." I bit my lip and shook my head. I didn't want to ask Celine for anything else.
"Hang on, I'll go get one of mine for you." I smiled at him and he climbed up the ladder, coming back down a few moments later with a thick pull-over jacket in his hands. I pulled it over my head and immediately felt warmer.
"Thank you. That's better." He smiled again and I couldn't help but grin back.
"You're welcome. Ready to go?" I nodded and followed him out of the clearing, smiling at everyone we passed. Everyone was wearing a jacket like the one Jonathan had let me borrow and I made a mental note to –politely- ask Celine if I could get one. It was extremely comfortable and warm, and I would find some way to make it up to her. We walked in silence until we reached the river. I'd learned how to determine if water was drinkable, and today we were looking for edible fruits.
"You know, I've been wondering . . . how did this whole village end up on the island?" I asked randomly, picking a bright red, oddly shaped fruit off a tree. Jonathan shook his head at me and I tossed it to the side.
"Well, same way you showed up here actually. Except it was a group of two hundred people and a much bigger boat. It crashed onto the rocks during a hurricane and they built a village after failing to get home. So, generation after generation has lived here without even attempting to leave. It's peaceful, and we all prefer it that way." I looked down at my hands, a surge of guilt suddenly shooting through me.
"And I screwed that up, didn't I?" I asked quietly. Jonathan looked up at me in surprise and shook his head.
"Nah, we needed a tiny bit of excitement." I giggled, appreciating the effort he was using to try to make up for what he'd said about my parents. "And it's not like it's your fault, right? You didn't ask to be here. Speaking of . . . are you ever going to tell me how you ended up here?"
"Maybe someday," I sighed. "When it stops pissing me off so much." I heard him laugh and I grabbed a long orange fruit off a tree, dropping it in the basket Celine had given me when he nodded. "Does this precious little island have a name?" He laughed again and tossed another fruit into my basket.
"It's not that small, Clary. Actually, its ten square miles. The beach is only two miles long and it's cut off by the ocean on one side, the rocks on another, and forest on the others." I rolled my eyes and shook my head at him.
"Fine. Does this precious not-so-little island have a name?"
He snorted. "Yeah, it's Okkar Eyja." I didn't say anything, waiting for more. He sighed and grabbed the basket from my hand as we walked farther into the forest. "It's Icelandic for 'Our Island'."
"Hm, Okkar Eyja?" I repeated and he nodded. "I like it. Do you speak Icelandic?" He grinned and shrugged.
"Nope, no one here does. It's just a name passed down from the first people who settled here." I thought about it for a second, tilting my head to the side and twirling a piece of hair from my ponytail around my finger.
"So, no one here has ever seen city lights? Or a production in a movie theatre? Or a live concert, being pushed around and deafened by thousands of screaming people?" I asked, shocked that they were willing to miss so much.
"No, but that's why my mom was so excited about you being here. She wants to know about life off the island." I sighed and looked off into the trees. That explained so much. But, obviously, I'd be happy to tell her all about all the things there are to experience back home in New York. "So, what are we missing?"
"What?" I'd been distracted, thinking of the things I'd been hoping to do before I died that would probably never happen. Like I'd always wanted to learn to ride a horse and go bungee jumping and rock climbing and skydiving.
"What is there to do off the island? Like, what are your favorite things to do?" I looked down at my feet for a moment, and when I looked up again, he was gone. I spun around in a panic, thinking he'd left me in the middle of the forest with no idea how to get back.
"Jonathan?" I called and I heard a laugh.
"I'm up here. Oh, and by the way, call me Jace. Only my mom calls me Jonathan." I looked up into the trees to see him climbing higher and higher until I could barely see him through the thick vegetation.
"Holy hell! Are you insane? You're going to get yourself killed!" I yelled and he laughed again, poking his head through a hole in the branches. I looked closer, and noticed he was hanging upside down, his legs wrapped around a thick branch at his knees. "Oh my God, you are going to get yourself killed!" I shouted again.
"Are you kidding me? I've been climbing trees all my life." His head disappeared again and I heard him climbing back down. Suddenly, he dropped to the ground from almost five feet above my head, which meant it was almost an eleven foot drop.
"You're going to break your ankle. Or neck. You know, I never pegged you as suicidal." He shook his head and laughed at me again.
"Nah, climbing trees is as easy as swimming. Want to try?" My eyes widened and my jaw dropped. He grinned at my expression.
"Hell no! You might not believe you're going to kill yourself, but I know I'll kill myself. And despite all I've lived through in the past month, I'm not ready to die just yet."
He snorted and held out his hand. "Come on, don't be a coward." I bit my lip and stepped away from him. I held my hands out in front of me and shook my head, over and over, just to get my point across that there was no way in hell I was going to do that.
"You're crazy. You're seriously insane! I don't think I trust your judgment on fresh water and edible fruit anymore." He laughed and moved towards me, his hand still outstretched.
"Come on. I won't let you fall. Trust me." I shook my head again and moved back until I was pressed against a tree thin enough for me to reach all the way around it and clasp my hands behind it. "It's not hard. You just have to find the thickest branches and only step on those. I promise I won't let anything happen to you."
"You can't stop me from falling. You'd definitely lose against gravity."
"You're just going to have to trust me because I'm not taking you back until you climb a tree. And it's going to rain soon so we'll want to be heading back within the hour." I turned to look behind me, and then I scanned the trees around me. It didn't take me long to realize that I wouldn't even know which way to go to get back without him.
"B-b-but," I tried to protest, my teeth chattering from the cold that was seeping through the trees and my jacket.
"Nope, you have no choice. Climb a tree or stay out here in the cold rain and get hypothermia."
"You're trying to get me killed," I accused him and he just grinned, holding his hand closer to my own. I looked down at it and then back at his face before I pressed my palm against his. "If I die, I swear I'll haunt you until the end of time," I growled as he led me over to the tree he'd climbed earlier.
"Ghosts don't scare me." I snorted and smiled evilly at him.
"Oh, I'll scare you, all right. I'll pop out when you least expect it. Believe me, you'll be terrified." He put his hands on my shoulders and spun me around so I was facing the tree.
"Okay, which branch do you think you should use as your handhold?" I pointed at a thick branch that was just above my head and he nodded. "Now, wrap your arms around that and pull yourself onto it." I shook my head and backed away, right into him. "It's not that scary, Clary. Just try it."
"What do I get in return? What's in it for me?" I wondered, trying to move back farther as I stalled him. His fingers tightened slightly on my shoulders and he pushed me forward.
"The knowledge of the skillful art of tree climbing." I snorted and shook my head, fighting against his hands. But, damn it, he was strong. "Fine, what do you want?"
"What can you offer me?" I giggled, glad that my stalling was working.
"What do you want?" He sounded nervous and I turned to face him, a mischievous smile on my face. Because he'd been pushing me forward towards the tree, we were so close our chests were almost touching.
"You have to ask that girl out on a date," I said and he tilted his head to the side.
"Kaelie? She's Sebastian's girlfriend."
"So? I didn't say you had to sleep with her or anything! But if you want me to climb this damn tree, you have to ask her tonight at dinner." He narrowed his eyes at me and I grinned.
"Fine, I'll do it . . . if," he said and I shook my head.
"You can't add anything! That's not fair!"
"But I'm going to, anyway. I'll do it if you go on a date with Sebastian." I crossed my arms over my chest, accidently brushing his chest with my fingertips.
"You see, the thing is, Kaelie -or whatever her name is- likes you. Sebastian doesn't like me." It was his turn to grin at me.
"We'll see. Is it a deal?" I thought about it for a short moment before I shook his hand.
"Deal. Now how do I climb this God forsaken tree?" I turned back around and wrapped my arms around the branch, holding my breath. Jace grabbed my waist and lifted me onto it, ignoring my shocked gasp. "Now what?" I asked breathlessly.
"Turn and look for another branch you think is strong enough." I slowly did as he asked and found another one that would hold my weight. I pointed at it and he nodded. "Do the same thing."
I was about seven feet off the ground with Jace on the branch below me when I made the mistake of looking down. If I hadn't been so scared, I would have laughed at his expression when I screamed at the top of my lungs. I wrapped my arms around the trunk of the tree and squeezed my eyes shut as tight as I could, trying not to scream again. "It's okay, Clary," Jace murmured, climbing onto the branch with me. It bounced under my feet and I bit my lip to keep from crying out in fear. "You're okay." I felt him put one of his hands on my lower back and the other on my shoulder, and he tried to coax me away from the trunk of the tree.
"Holy crap, holy crap, what the hell, I'm going to die," I chanted, digging my fingers into the bark.
"Hey, Clary, it's okay. Come on, I got you." He tugged my arms away from the tree and I screamed. Instinct somehow made me spin around and grab onto Jace for dear life. I grabbed the collar of his jacket in my fists and buried my face in his chest so I couldn't look down again. "Whoa!" My quick movement made us both stumble back against the trunk of the tree, so I was sandwiched by his body against the rough bark. It was the most stable I'd felt since he lifted me onto the first branch.
"Don't let me fall," I begged, holding him tighter.
"I won't. I got you. You're okay." The movement of his chest as he breathed somehow made me feel more comfortable, and my own breathing calmed down. My tense muscles relaxed and I loosened my grip on him, just slightly. "You okay now?" I nodded against his chest, my eyes still clamped shut. "Want to climb back down?"
"No, I'll be fine. I was never afraid of heights before and I need to get over it again." I pushed him gently away, making sure he didn't fall, and turned back to face the tree. "Bring it on, nature," I mumbled to myself and Jace laughed behind me.
Without looking down, I climbed up another five feet, Jace right behind me the whole time, murmuring things to make me feel less like I was about to die. It worked, but just barely. Finally, when the first drops of rain splattered the leaves above us, we climbed down. Jace was standing on the ground and I was a few branches above him when I got eager and cocky. I wanted to be off the tree and I thought since I climbed up without that many problems, I could easily climb down without holding onto the branch with both hands. The rain picked up and I used one hand to try to climb down. Of course, I lost my grip and fell, scraping my leg from my foot to my knee. Because he'd been trying to help me down, I landed on Jace, my knee in his hip and my arms on either side of his head. I blinked the rain out of my eyes, and looked at Jace as he stared up at me in shock.
I rolled off of him and stayed on my back, staring at the sky as rain splatter my face. "Are you okay?" Jace asked, sitting up next to me. That's when I started giggling. The scratch on my leg was only a welt; the branch hadn't even broken the skin. But I'd landed on top of him from a few feet off the ground and he was asking if I was okay. My giggling turned into hysterical laughing and I sat up, holding my sides as tears ran down my cheeks. "Are you okay?" he asked again and I could hear a smile in his voice. I nodded, unable to speak.
The rain picked up and we didn't move or speak until we were both soaked. Jace stood up and held out his hand so he could help me to my feet. "Thanks," I murmured, wiping the mud off my hands. "So," I started as Jace led me back through the forest. "You have to ask Kaelie out."
Jace and his clever, clever ways of trying to kill Clary :) And I don't know about you, but I'd climb a tree with him anyday.
I was just wondering . . . Is that ending right there considered a cliffie, perhaps? ;) Anyway, I've already almost finished chapter eight, and I'm hoping to post in on Saturday or so. Keep reviewing because it makes me smile, and I hope you liked chapter 7!
