Hello again guys,

I managed to get this chapter out quite soon after the last! Mostly because I've been ill so I didn't pick up overtime this week, and therefore I had a day off to work on it, lol.

I hope you've been enjoying the story so far, and that you continue to do so.

Let me know what you think of this chapter, is there anyone in particular you wish to see included in my story? Then let me know guys, please?

~ It should be obvious but I own no rights to the Characters, Races or Places about to be mentioned. All rights belong to the wonderful Cassandra Clare.


At the sound of that oh, so familiar voice Clary was struck immobile. She did not know whether to try and run away, or to run and hug the boy she had grown up with since childhood. But before she could make any decision he was there in front of her, and the pain she could see etched across his face was too evident and the pain within her heart was too. She had to call out to him. "Simon! I've missed you so much! I can't believe it's you.."

Clary was left asking herself what she was going to do now... Her life was no longer the same. It was no longer safe to have her dearest friend following her on her life's path, and yet this was the same boy she had once thought she would never make any of life's decisions without. She couldn't process anything at all and despite her efforts at disguise she should have known this would happen – for the time being all she could think to do, was to seek comfort in the shoulder that had long supported her through life; something she'd been wanting to do so much since the death of her mother, as sobs racked through her body. But there was so much more to consider too.

Which all became apparent with his following questions. "Clare what happened to you? Do you know how worried everyone's been! Luke has been an absolute mess! I've got to tell someone... people need to know you're alive Clary! I... I thou-thought you were dead!" There was no way that Clarissa could fully consider her limited options fully at this moment, yet there was also no way she could run away from the situation and avoid all of the oncoming mess, as she really had the urge to do. She had to attempt to handle the situation, she just didn't know how. She was stuck still as Simon sobbed over her small shoulder, trying to think over what to do next. What could she say? What would he believe? Did he not deserve to know the truth? But what good would it do?

Clary calmed her breathing and talked over her friend's shoulder "...Simon. You, cannot, tell, a soul, that you have seen me... I don't want to have to be the one to tell you this, but... Luke already knows where I'm staying... He hid me away there for my own safety."

Simon pulled away from her quickly, looking at her with wide eyes and then anger as it sunk in that he had been lied to, a better reaction than she had been expecting, so she continued on. "Don't get me wrong Si.. Luke has probably been a mess... It's true that my mom is dead... That we were attacked and I haven't had any contact with Luke since that night – so our family is torn apart... Don't get mad at him please...?" She looked up to find shock in the place of anger, and it lead to her own face showing confusion... What was he shocked about?

"Clary... Luke never told me your mom was dead." Simon said holding her up by the top of her arms, as new sobs racked through her. "Luke told us that you were both missing... that there had been a struggle but you had managed to get away? What do you mean your mom is dead?" Pain tore through her heart as she tried to understand this new information. "...But, you said that people thought I was dead... I saw my mom in a puddle of her own blood crumpled on the ground... Have you not seen my house?" She couldn't get her head around this idea and she was leaning in to her friend heavily as she struggled to breath. "I said that because it's been four months Clary! No sound nor sight of you and the cops had no leads... Don't tell me Luke did something to you both?! What do you mean he took you somewhere for protection? What the fuck is going on?" Clary was crushed once more by the events of that night and the fact that no one else knew what had happened to her family.

"I wish I could tell you Si... I really wish I could... But, no Luke had nothing to do with this... he saved me in the end. But I don't have all the answers myself, and even if I could tell you what I do know, I doubt you'd believe me..." The red head confided to her closest friend. "I don't get what you mean Clary ? What would I not believe?... I believed you to be dead and yet here you are a few blocks from your home.. and I now believe you are alive... I believed that Luke had been looking for you all of those times that he went disappearing from the shop and his house... and yet now I hear he knew where you were all along, and I believe in that.. so what is there that I would not believe in.. because I don't think there is much more to this story that would lead to disbelief Clarissa.. " Clary could hear the anger raising in his voice and it sent even more pain through her heart. "Clarissa Fray you had better start telling me the rest of what happened or I swear I'm making a call to 911 to get you institutionalised.." The final tear fell from her eye and Clary knew what she had to do... there was going to be no way of protecting Simon from this, the only way forward was to come out with what she'd learned so far.

_.-o*0*o-._

Simon Lewis' eyes were now orbs within his familiar face, and were nearly all she could make out within the darkness of the back-doorstep they were now sitting in, within the alleyway where they had found each other. Clary had sworn him to secrecy, before starting back at the beginning of the night that her and her mother had been attacked, explaining that she had left him at Java Jones that night after getting a strange call from her mother, asking her to stay away from the house, that she had ran home fearing for her mother's welfare, and found half of the front door to their apartment within it's frame. Clary explained that once inside she found the room in tatters, with bits of their life together strewn across the living room and kitchen, and then she had found her mother, in a pool of her own blood, in the bathroom - after running through her home in hysterics calling out for help that didn't come – which is when she'd heard the sounds emanating from her own bedroom and she had run there to strike back at whoever had attacked her mother, without really knowing what to do. Then she'd explained how the creature had attacked her as well, and of how she had used up her last ounces of strength to fight it off, before it'd nearly killed her, and how Luke had saved her by putting her into the taxi that bought her to the Institute, and her 'Missing Persons' status. "Simon... there is a world hidden within our own... and it is a world I have always been apart of without ever knowing it. This is dangerous information, and not something that you can share with anyone at all, ever..."

But it was at this point that the snide voice of one of her tormentors could be heard... "Which is why you should have never left the Institute Clarissa Fray."

Clary's head turned at break-neck speed. How could it be him? Where the fuck had he just appeared from and what was he going to now do to her Mundane friend... The Shadow-world was supposed to be protected from the Mundanes as much as they were to be protected from the Shadow-world, and her confiding in Simon had just compromised both of these worlds and the secrecy that so importantly surrounded them.

"I can see your lack of Sight not only clouds your Shadowhunter senses, but also your common sense. What are you doing little red?" He questioned as she was currently taking a defensive stance in front of her Mundie friend. Before he could say any more though the shaggy-haired fellow was now forcing Clary to get behind him and was getting in Jace's face; as the two fought over who, would protect who, Jace watched on in amusement before giving the boy one blow to the head knocking him out completely, which enraged Clary. The next thing he knew she was throwing strong kicks at his sides and legs, whilst attempting to use the same move he'd used on her friend, against Jace. He was impressed at the fast pace of which she pressed her attack, but she was not quite yet a match for him, and he managed to pin her against the wall, holding her there as he pulled out his stele to draw a 'Sleep Now' rune on the back of her slender arm. He felt bad for what he had just done but knew that she could not be allowed to go around telling Mundies about the Shadow-world they lived in.