A/N- Hello peoples! Here is your update! Sorry if it was a bit late, it wasn't really flowing for me. From here on in, I will be getting some action in the chapters. Enjoy.

Btw- Pop over to my profile and vote on the poll there. I need an answer for the rest of this story.

Disclaimer- You know the drill.

The library was toasty warm compared to the cool night air outside.

Three figures were lit by the light emitting from the fire. A small boy sat on the floor, comic book in hand, while two adults were rising from their armchairs to greet the visitors. One of them was a woman, tall with long hair black as pitch with flecks of gray and a serious face, while her husband was a shorter, stockier man with thinning black hair.

These must be Isabelle's parents and her younger brother, thought Clary.

"Mum, this is Jace and Clarissa Wayland," Isabelle announced.

Her mother approached them first. The leader of the family, Clary thought.

"Hello. I'm Mayrse Lightwood," She said, swiftly shook hands with both her and Jace, "And this is my husband, Robert, and my son here is Max."

"How are you?" Robert asked, shaking their hands also. Max just gave them a shy smile. Clary couldn't help but beam back. Although she was shy, the smile from Max had made her think how she must look like the new roommate from hell, with her red hair and a temper to match. A least he hadn't seen her fiery wrath yet.

A small movement in the shadows caught Clary's eye. A tall boy emerged from the shadows with the same black hair as the others. This must be Max's older brother.

"Alec Lightwood," he said, airily, shaking Jace's hand and giving a small inclination of his head toward Clary.

"Hi," she said, shyly. Alec had an air about him that made her feel small; childish even.

An awkward silence fell between the two families. Nobody seemed to want to be the first to break it. Clary couldn't think of anything to say to break it; all she could think about was running away and hiding. But, she knew, that was childish.

"Where did you get that?"

Clary looked up to see Mayrse looking at her quizzically. "Pardon?"

"Where did you get that necklace? The one with the emerald," she said.

Clary looked down it and fiddled with it for a moment, remembering. "My mother gave it to me before I left."

Mayrse nodded, thoughtfully, although she still continued to look at it suspiciously and it made Clary nervous. What was wrong with it? Had she scratched it? God, she hoped she hadn't.

Jace broke the silence first. "Do you mind showing us to where we are staying so we can put our stuff down and unpack?"

Clary rolled her eyes. He could be charming when he wanted to be.

"Yes, of course, I'll show you to your rooms," Mayrse said, motioning to her and Jace to follow her. "Where's your luggage?"

"Back in the hall, Mum," Isabelle answered for them. Mayrse nodded in response.

"Well then, I'll show you where your rooms are then, and then you can go and get your luggage," she said. She opened the oak doors, turned back and seeing them still standing there, said, "Coming?"

"Yes madam," Clary responded. Mayrse chuckled at the formality.

"Come on then. Hup two."

Jace and Clary followed her down the hall turning now and then until they reached the sleeping quarters. Mayrse opened a wooden door, third down on the left of the hall.

"This is your room Clary. It's your job to keep it clean; no cleaners are employed here so if you want to live in a pigsty, nobody's going to clean it up but you. That goes for you too, Jace," She warned, sternly.

"If you need anything, just ask," she added, "Jace, room is the just down there, beside Alec's." Mayrse pointed to a wooden door much like the others just down from Clary's on the other side of the hall.

"Clary, Isabelle's room is two doors down if you need anything. I'm sure she's got everything in that room," she said, chuckling. She turned and walked back down the hall. Clary slowly opened the door, not sure what to expect.

A single bed with yellow sheets and a purple throw blanket at the foot of the bed. The cream walls were bare as was the wooden floor. A small bathroom joined onto her room, and an empty wardrobe stood beside the door to it. A small desk sat in the corner. Good, Clary thought, she would have a place to draw.

A cool breeze came in through the open window and ruffled her hair. She quickly dashed across the room to shut it, but the window was stuck fast. Since she couldn't reach the top of the window, the hands kept sliding down the window; the thing wouldn't budge.

"Need some help?"

The voice scared Clary. She jumped around, pressing her hands against the wall beside the window. A tall figure stood her doorway. He stepped into the light of her room, his black hair shining dimly in the slightly yellow light.

"Alec, you scared me." Clary let out a sigh of relief.

"Who were you expecting? A demon?" He chuckled.

Clary shook her head, smiling at her own insecurity. "No, I'm always like that; always on my guard."

"Sounds like you need a break from your constant observing," he said. He walked over to her, reached up and pulled the window down over the catch. "There, just don't pull it up that far and it'll be fine."

"Thanks for that."

"You should get some more strength about you if you couldn't pull a window down."

She gave a look of mock hurt. "Hey, I'm strong for a midget."

Alec laughed. "I know. Try to get some sleep tonight." He turned toward the door.

"Night." Clary said, giving him a slight wave. Once he had walked out, her fingers curled in on themselves and she pressed them to her mouth in worry. Maybe it would lessen if she went to sleep, Clary thought.

She walked out the door to get her bag, when she practically tripped over it. What was her bag doing in her doorway? She smiled.

Alec had dropped it off on his way. She smiled again at the kind gesture and picked up the bag only to dump it on her bed and search through it to find her pyjamas.

She pulled on her sweatpants and singlet and pulled her hair up into a bun, ready for bed. Clary pulled the bag back off the bed and pushed it under the window sill. She lay down on the bed yet she didn't want to sleep; she didn't feel ready to sleep. She slid off the bed and dug through her bag again.

This time she drew out the only piece of mundane technology she owned- an orange iPod.

She turned on her playlist 'Easy listening', switched on the sleep timer and pulled the covers over her shoulders. She didn't sleep though; she just lay there, wide eyed and broken.

Clary fiddled her necklace between her fingers once more. It was one of the only things that connected her to her family now. Even Jace didn't serve as much of a reminder; only his attitude was like his father's, not his looks.

Words with meaning floated through her head as she remembered back to a happier time.

I will never let you fall...

A time with no complications, a time without worries; a time when she thought nothing could go wrong.

I'll stand up for you forever...

However that time had passed; the rope that she thought that would hold her family together had frayed. Promises and ties had been broken because of lies and secrets that, now exposed, threatened her family's very safety. Even as a child, no matter how she had been bought up, she thought the bond between the four of them could never be broken.

I'll be there for you through it all...

Now they were torn in half. Her parents really thought they could save her and Jace by sending them halfway across the world? They would really sacrifice themselves for their children?

Even if saving you sends me to Heaven...

A salty tear fell onto the pillow.

A/N- Aww. I love that song. For those who don't know Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, that is their song 'Your Guardian Angel'. So what if it's talking about his "true love", I don't care it fits, okay? Yeah so until next time, Ciao!