Answering some questions:
First of all, I meant Jason instead of Jonathan for a few different reasons. First, there are too many Jonathans already. Second, Jace is a nickname for Jonathan Christopher, and he isn't Jonathan Christopher, so I gave him a name that could be turned into Jace.
Addressing the other question, yes, there will be Clace, just be patient ;) it's coming!
Clary opened one of the double doors that led to outside. She inhaled the scent of the outdoors. It was pouring outside.
"Are you going out in the rain?"
Clary jumped and spun around. "Yes, I am."
Jace smirked and leaned on the banister. "Any particular reason?"
Clary shrugged. "I like the rain."
"So... You're just going out in the rain, then...?"
"You're welcome to join me."
The corner of Jace's mouth pulled up. "I just might."
Clary walked into the grassy front lawn, barefooted. She closed her eyes and turned her face toward the sky.
"So you like the rain?" asked Jace
"I love it," Clary turned to face him.
Jace's blue button down was already soaked through, clinging to his muscles like plastic wrap. His gold hair was smoothed back over his head.
Clary was suddenly very aware of her quick heartbeat. She tucked her hair behind her left ear and blushed.
"You want to walk?" asked Jace.
Clary nodded. They began to walk along the perimeter of the house.
"How long have you lived here?" Asked Jace.
"All my life. I was born here."
Jace nodded. "The first time I'd lived anywhere but the place I was born was when I went to the Institute, too."
They were behind the house now, and they saw the stable.
"Is this where you keep your horses?" Jace asked.
"Yeah."
"How many do you have?"
"Four. One for each of us."
"What are their names?"
"Artemis- that's Jonathan's, Aphrodite- that's mom's, Athena- that's father's, and Hera- she's mine. My father thought we should name them after Greek goddesses."
Jace glanced at her. "We should ride sometime."
"Yeah," Clary blushed again, looking at the ground.
They reached the end of the stable, and Jace stuck out his arm to stop her.
She looked up at him.
Jace was looking at something around the corner, holding Clary back.
"What?" she asked in a hushed voice. "What do you see?"
Jace lowered his arm and looked at her. "See for yourself," he whispered.
Clary peeked around the corner and gasped.
Next to her family's rock lined pool were Jonathan and Isabelle. They were sitting on the ground, making out. Isabelle's legs were wrapped around Jonathan's waist, and her hands were in his hair. Jonathan's arms were wrapped around Isabelle's back.
Clary couldn't help but stare.
She heard Jace chuckle. "I guess they're together now."
"I guess so..." Clary hadn't taken her eyes off of them.
"We should go the other way."
Clary nodded. She pulled her gaze off of them and followed Jace back toward the front of the stable. Her mind went back to Jonathan and Isabelle. Clary had actually never seen kissing like that. She'd seen her parents kiss, and the characters in her manga and other books, and she'd seen some couples kissing when she'd gone to Alicante or Pandemonium, too, but she'd never seen it like that... Clary bumped into Jace and was pulled out of her thoughts.
Jace looked over his shoulder and chuckled at her.
Clary blushed.
They heard laughing- Jonathan and Isabelle's laughing- and Clary jumped. She could hear them coming closer. Clary ran to the front of the stable and opened the door.
Jace came in behind her.
She slid the door shut quickly behind him.
Jace started laughing.
Clary looked at him. "What?"
"Nothing," he chuckled.
Clary looked at Artemis' stall, there were two pairs of shoes sitting there and two folded up towels. Clary's eyes widened, the eight inch boots were clearly Isabelle's. Clary heard Isabelle and Jonathan's voices from right outside the front door. She grabbed Jace's hand and pulled him into the tack room, and peeked out the cracked door. The tack room lights were off, making it pitch black except for the sliver of light that came in from the partially open door.
Jace came up behind her and looked over her head.
Clary could feel Jace's breath on the back of her neck, and shivered.
Isabelle and Jonathan came in, water ran off of both of them.
Isabelle was laughing at something Jonathan had said.
He shut the the stable door and smoothed back his hair.
Isabelle walked up to Artemis' stall and picked up a towel.
Jonathan came up beside her and took one, too.
"I had fun," said Isabelle.
"Yeah, me too," said Jonathan. He kissed Isabelle again.
Clary felt Jace put a hand on her shoulder. "I can't take anymore of this."
Clary looked over her shoulder at him.
He switched on the light and opened the door, grabbing an apple on the way out. "Oh," he said. "Are we interrupting something?"
Isabelle and Jonathan broke apart, looking shocked.
Jace smirked and Clary came out behind him, feeling a little awkward.
Jonathan saw Clary and his eyes widened. "We were just... Uh..." he scratched the back of his head.
"Drying off," Isabelle finished. "But I guess you guys were, too?"
Clary looked down at herself. She'd forgotten she was soaking wet. Her gray blouse was soaked through and clinging to her skin. She blushed.
"We came out to pay a visit to Hera, actually," Jace held up the apple in his hand. "It's a bit wet outside."
Isabelle and Jonathan's eyes were full of suspicion as they eyed them.
Clary wondered what they were thinking.
"Why were you out in the rain?" asked Jace- though Clary knew he already knew the answer.
Jonathan cleared his throat. "I was showing Isabelle the pool."
Jace's eyebrow went up. "In the rain?"
"I didn't believe him when he said he had a pool, so he showed me," Isabelle's words were slow, robotic.
Jace smirked. "I see."
"Well, thank you for showing me," said Isabelle to Jonathan. She picked up her boots, and left.
Jonathan waited a few seconds after she was gone before leaving, too.
Jace chuckled. "Everyone knows about those two, I don't know why they go to such lengths to hide it."
Clary smiled. "Yeah, no kidding."
Jace looked at the gold name tags on the top of each stall, then walked up to Hera's, and gave her the apple.
Hera was a regular sized horse, though she was slightly smaller than the others. She had a chestnut coat with a white stripe down the front of her face, and a white stocking on her front right hand leg.
"She's beautiful," said Jace, stroking Hera's face.
Clary looked at her horse.
Valentine had gotten Hera for Clary when she was ten. It was her birthday present- just as for Jonathan's tenth birthday, he'd gotten Artemis.
Valentine had started a tradition of naming the horses after Greek goddesses. "Aphrodite- the goddess of love, beauty and pleasure. Athena- goddess of wisdom, courage and warfare. Artemis- goddess of wilderness, childbirth and virginity. What will you name your horse, Clarissa?"
Clary- who had already been well educated on Greek mythology by that time- chose Hera- goddess of marriage, childbirth and queen of the goddesses. And though Hera was full of hatred, Clary's horse wasn't, she was gentle, loving and patient. Clary had learned how to run on Hera, and Hera had stopped next to Clary whenever she had fallen. Hera reminded Clary a lot of Jonathan.
"Yes," Clary said. "Yes she is."
Fourteen year old Clary Morgenstern deflected another swing of her brother's training sword. Clary swung at him then, grunting with the force she'd put into it.
Her brother, Jonathan, deflected her easily.
Clary swung again and again, trying to hit him, but he just blocked her.
Jonathan started swinging at Clary.
Clary struggled to dodge and deflect. Jonathan walked towards as he swung, and Clary was stumbling back as she tried to block him.
"Clary! Look-"
Clary tripped and fell backwards onto a rack of swords. She cried out as she tumbled over the fallen swords.
"Clary!" Jonathan called out.
Clary rolled off the swords. She could feel pain on her legs, back and arms, and she could see blood on the floor.
"Clary..." She could hear Jonathan kneeling beside her. "Clary, are you alright?"
Clary was biting her bottom lip, trying not to cry.
Jonathan took her arm. She felt the familiar burn of a rune being drawn on her arm, and the pain eased.
"Clary, are you alright?" Jonathan's voice was full of concern.
"Fine. Just fine," Clary squeaked.
Jonathan helped Clary sit up.
She looked at the blood on the floor, on some of the swords and her clothes. There were tears in her clothes, too, where the pain had been.
"I'm so sorry, Clary," said Jonathan.
"It isn't your fault," said Clary. "I should have watched where I was going."
Jonathan put his stele into his belt and wrapped his arms around his sister.
She returned the gesture.
Clary's sixteen year old brother, Jonathan, had always been super protective of her. She found this out for the first time when she was four years old, and Aline Penhallow had tried to talk to her, but Jonathan had told her to go away. Jonathan probably didn't know she knew.
Jonathan pulled away and put his hands on her shoulders. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"I'm fine. You drew the rune, I'm alright."
"Are you sure?" It was all seriousness in his eyes.
Clary blinked at him. "I'm. Fine."
Their mother's voice crackled over the intercom. "Clary, Jonathan, dinner!"
Jonathan didn't move.
Clary stood up and held down the button. "Be there in a few."
Right now, the Morgensterns were at their much smaller vacation house in Alicante. It was very different from their house at their estate. The walls were plaster, and all mint green, ice blue or lavender and all the floors were made of cherry wood. There was a training room, five bedrooms, a kitchen, a dining room, living room, family room and a large front room with a walk in coat closet.
"Let's get changed," said Clary, walking out of the training room.
She took a quick shower to get all the partially dry blood off of her skin, then dressed in black pants and a gray silk blouse.
When she stepped out of her room, Jonathan was waiting there.
"Are you sure you're okay?"
"Jonathan!" Clary speed walked down the hall.
"Sorry," he said, following. "I'm being annoying."
"Yes, you are. I'm fine! It was just a little blood, not a big deal."
"It is to me."
"Why? It's my blood!"
"Sorry..."
Clary stopped, took a deep breath, and turned around. "Jonathan... I'm not a little girl anymore, you don't have to constantly ask if I'm alright. It was just a few cuts."
Jonathan nodded. "You're right, I'm sorry."
Clary let out a breath, then smiled. "Hey, thanks."
He frowned. "For what?"
"For the iratze, and for being a good brother."
He smiled. "You're welcome."
"Finally," said Valentine. "Your dinners are getting cold."
"Sorry," said Clary. She sat at the rectangular four person table across from her mother.
Jonathan sat next to her and across from Valentine.
"Did you have a good time training?" asked Jocelyn.
Jonathan paled.
"Yeah," said Clary, serving herself a helping of mashed potatoes. "Not very eventful. Jonathan won the duel again."
Jonathan was staring at her.
"Hungry?" asked Clary. She served him some mashed potatoes, too.
"How is her strategy, Jonathan?" Asked Valentine, stabbing a piece of cut stake with his fork and popping it into his mouth. "Jonathan?"
Clary kicked him under the table. His gaze turned to Valentine. "Improving."
"Excellent!"
Clary began to cut the steak on her plate.
"We're going out tomorrow," said Jocelyn, forking a green bean.
"Good," said Clary. "I've been in this house for too long."
Clary was walking through Alicante with her brother.
"Where would you like to go?" asked Jonathan.
Clary shrugged. "Anywhere," Clary loved visiting Alicante, it was the most lively place she'd ever been to in her life. She marveled at the tall buildings, demon towers and the people everywhere. She'd only been able to go to Alicante every few years, and that was when she wanted to interact with people, but Jonathan had always told her it was a bad idea.
Jonathan and Clary were sitting in a grassy area off to the side of the city. Clary was tilting her head back, watching the few puffy white clouds in the sky.
She heard Jonathan growl under his breath next to her and looked at him. "What is it?"
Jonathan was glaring at a group of boys talking, and they seemed to be looking at Jonathan. "Stay here," he said, his voice angry. He stood up and walked over to them. Clary couldn't quite hear what they were saying.
Clary frowned, recognizing the boy Jonathan was talking to, though she couldn't remember from where. Then, it hit her.
Clary had once found an album that her mother had put together. The album was full of pictures of her parents' friends' families. This boy was from that album, and Clary was pretty sure at the top of that page, it had said 'the Waylands'.
Behind the Wayland boy and her brother were three more boys. Clary didn't recognized any of them, though.
The Wayland boy walked back to his group of friends, and they all left.
Jonathan sat back down next to her.
"What was that about?" asked Clary.
"Oh, nothing. Just some cocky ass hole. He's leaving now."
Clary frowned in confusion, but just turned her vision back towards the sky.
Sneaks peeks at my website :)
Since I can't post links on here, it's in my profile :)
Alright, releasing an additional chapter today as a special treat ;) Hope you liked this one and the next one.
Also, thanks for the reviews. They make me so happy :D