Chapter 9

"Rise and shine!" was the first thing that Clary heard as the soft sheets were ripped unceremoniously from her warm embrace, pulling her from the comforting serenity of darkness back into the real world.

"What the hell?" groaned Clary groggily as the window shades were also flung open, letting in quite a bit more light than Clary had been expecting. She sat up slowly, squinting towards the dark shape bustling around her room as she tried to figure out exactly how long she had slept and why anyone was waking her up. She'd just broken out of prison—you'd think they'd give her a couple of days off.

"It's about noon, in case you were wondering." Clary finally placed the shadow as being Jace as he neared the bed, albeit cautiously. Clary was mildly amused by the fact that he was probably thinking about the fact that the last time he woke her up, she hit him in the head with her head. It had been inadvertent, but for some reason he didn't believe her. And she would be lying if she said she hadn't enjoyed it just a little bit. Except for that part where afterward she had a massive headache for the rest of the day… it probably hadn't even bothered him.

"Damn, what did you give me?" asked Clary, rubbing her eyes to try to clear her vision. For something that tasted extremely gross and she had only had a small amount of, that sleeping stuff sure had knocked her out.

"Sorry, can't tell you. Trade secret," said Jace with a wink, plopping himself down on her bed, seemingly pretty confident that the chances of her actually hurting him at this point were slim. "Anyway, you've been out for a while. And Hodge wants to meet you. Apparently there's been some sort of development."

Clary was about to ask what exactly this "development" was, but the way that Jace said it made her pause. Almost as though he was irritated by the word itself, as though he wasn't told what the development was. Clary thought that he seemed like the kind of guy who really wouldn't like being out of the loop and decided to tease him.

"So what exactly is this development?" Clary asked knowingly, deciding that it would be more fun to make him tell her that he didn't know than actually knowing what the development was. He didn't seem to have any visible reaction, but Clary thought she might have seen his eyes tighten almost imperceptibly.

"I think I should let Hodge tell you," said Jace, purposefully not looking at her, though they were both still seated on her bed in relatively close quarters. Clary leaned forward with a suspicious grin on her face, trying to force him to make eye contact, but he seemed to have found something truly fascinating on the ceiling that wouldn't allow him to look at her.

"You have no idea, do you?" asked Clary finally, as she got tired of teasing. After trying to get him to admit it failed, she decided that outright asking him would be the best course of action. His eyes cut to hers, and she flinched at the unexpected severity of the look.

"You have no idea what I do and do not know," he said finally, after trapping her in the gaze of his eyes for what seemed like eternity. She broke from his penetrating stare, looking down at her hands, not knowing where else to look. She kept looking at her hands as she felt him get off the bed and move away.

"I'll be outside when you're ready." He said curtly, walking out the door and slamming it shut. The slam resonated through the room, and something sounded like it fell off of the wall. Clary looked around briefly, but she moved on when she couldn't discover the source of the noise.

Clary slowly rose from her seated position and stared incredulously at the door that Jace had just slammed shut. She could not for the life of her figure out what could have possibly set him off like that. She'd just been teasing him. It seemed ridiculous to her that someone like Jace, who seemed to pride himself on being able to get the perfect dig in, would be offended by something so simple as Clary teasing him for not being in the loop.

Clary shook her head and walked over to the dresser, hoping that there were decently sized clothes in it. She really didn't want to have to bother Jace about clothes and risk him flipping out on her for some other unnamed reason. Luckily, the drawers seemed to be fully stocked with brand new clothing that looked about her size. They all still had the tags on and everything.

She began to wonder more about this place. Jace had given her an overall background, but how was it that they had the funds to completely replenish her wardrobe with brand new, seemingly high-quality clothing? Yet another question that she wanted to ask Jace, but unfortunately probably couldn't. As annoying as his usual cocky self was, she wished that she hadn't pissed him off—he did have his uses. She still had no idea what it was exactly that had set him off in the first place, or else she would have tried to fix it.

And they say that girls are confusing.

Once Clary had gotten dressed, Jace lead her on a seemingly endless walk, filled to capacity with an awkward silence. Although it seemed like she was the only one feeling awkward—he was probably perfectly content in his irrational state of irritation. She'd tried to ask him a question about where the clothes had come from, but all she had gotten was a noncommittal grunt.

At first she had felt bad for upsetting Jace, but then she decided that he was just being a baby. Obviously she hadn't meant to offend him by teasing him, something that he did quite often, and he should either explain himself or get over it. She wasn't entirely sure how to tell him this, though, so the awkward silence continued.

Finally, they reached the door and Jace reached silently for the handle, still avoiding making any sort of physical or eye contact with Clary.

And then, suddenly, the silence was broken.

Clary felt the wall next to her explode before she heard it, but once she heard it, the noise was deafening.

She felt herself flying away from the door, as an intense amount of heat and noise filled the air around her. She heard someone screaming as she hit the ground. Then she realized it was her.

There was a loud, high-pitched noise that seemed to settle with the debris around her. She looked around, dazed, trying to find something that would give her some indication of what had happened. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. She tried to get off of the ground, but it was like moving through jello. Her limbs weren't responding the way that she needed them to.

"Clary," she heard her name, but it seemed off somehow. Like it was being said underwater.

"Clary, we have to go," as soon as the meaning of the words finally registered in her brain, she was already off of the ground and in someone's arms. She wanted to tell them to stop running, that it was hurting her head, but she couldn't seem to make her mouth work.

She tried to focus on the person carrying her, tried to figure out why on earth they were in such a hurry, but every time she thought she had figured it out, the thought escaped her. Finally, the pain in her head became too much, and she let herself slip into the comforting grasp of darkness.

"Clary. Clary, wake up," someone was gently shaking Clary's shoulder, pulling her out of a place of content slumber.

She opened her eyes slightly, gasping at the intensity of light that surrounded her. She quickly squeezed her eyes shut again, trying to dull the renewed pounding of her head. She thought for a minute, trying to remember why her entire body was in pain, and then it hit her. The explosion, being carried away by someone, darkness…

She opened her eyes again, this time cautiously, gauging the ratio of light let in to pain in her head. She found a happy medium and tried to focus on the room she was in. Jace was the first thing that she saw, his golden eyes trained on hers, concern tainting his general cocky persona.

"Jace, what's going on?" Clary winced at the hoarseness of her voice; it sounded like she had smoked a pack a day for the past thirty years. She found herself opening her eyes wider as they adjusted to the light, fully aware now that the room she was wasn't, in actuality, a room at all.

"Why are we in a plane?" Clary sat straight up, immediately regretting it when her head reminded her why she had been lying down in the first place.

"Hey, take it easy," said Jace, pushing her shoulders lightly back toward her much more comfortable reclined position. As soon as he seemed to think that she was no longer in danger of hurting herself, he took a deep breath.

"They found you," was all he said, looking her directly in the eyes without a single trace of humor or lightness.

"What do you mean? Who found me?" Clary asked, wincing when her voice came off as sounding like a little girl. Not at all reflective of the brave, defiant woman that Clary had envisioned herself as. She sounded completely terrified.

"We had to leave. There was no other choice, I'm sorry," Jace said, continuing as though he hadn't even heard Clary looking out the plane window, "Hodge said that if this happened I had to take you someplace that no one would ever think to look for you. We have an island in the middle of the Mediterranean, off of France. You should be safe there."

Clary stared at him blankly, trying to process what he was saying.

"I… I don't understand," said Clary, wrinkling her forehead, eyes clouding with confusion as she tried to make sense of what he had just said, "when can I go home?"

Jace's eyes met hers with a piercing intensity that shot straight through her. She felt so exposed in his eyes, almost as though he could see every part of her that she had ever tried to hide. She wanted to break eye contact, but then he started to speak. All he said were two words, but they were enough to send her mind spinning.

"You can't."

AN: Thoughts? Thanks for reading!