Hola amigos y amigas! (If you don't know what that meant, learn basic Spanish… or google translate it xD)
Hey! I know I haven't updated in foreva but I am now! Plus to make up for absence for almost a month, It's a long chapter :D Y'all pretty much know why I was absent (RIP Kirby, will miss you) but I'm back, and hopefully once summer comes I will have more time to write and then in turn update :D
Thanks to: xXDustAngelXx, melissa222, LOVERGIRL (Guest), KyKat, Maggie (Guest), LilyGold23, . , and tiffany97 (For all those loyal readers, thank you so much!)
So, I'm in love with AVPM and AVPS, if y'all don't know what that is look it up, it's amazeballs. I was into it a long time ago, but I just rewatched them both and I love them sooooooo much :D
CITY OF HEAVENLY FIRE JUST CAME OUT AND I BOUGHT IT ON NOOK AND I CAN'T WAIT TO READ IT BUT I AM LIMITING MYSELF, I'M NOT LETTING MYSELF READ IT UNTIL I UPDATE THIS CHAPTER!
Jace: Lilly, you're going a bit insane…
Lilly: I'm aware.
Jace: Lilly… you know what to do…
Lilly: I don't wannaaaaaa
Jace: Fine –gets ready to delete nook app off her phone-
Lilly- NOOOOOOO! FINE I DON'T OWN THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS AND I ONLY OWN A COUPLE OF THE CHARACTERS AND BITS AND PIECES OF THE PLOT! Now put down my phone Jace!
(**EDIT** I've been trying to post this since yesterday but I've been having internet issues! If there's any problems with this chapter I will fix it later, I just wanna get this posted before wifi goes out again!)
Jace POV
"Clary… Clary… wake up…" Jace was shaking Clary's shoulder early the next morning to try to get her to wake up. It was about 9:30 am and Clary was curled up in her bed, her hair splayed out bright and fiery against her pillow. She stirred a bit and opened her eyes a fraction to look up tiredly at him. She groaned a bit as if to ask what he wanted. "Hey, it's time to get up now." Jace said to her softly.
"Mmm… why?" She asked rolling deeper into her covers.
"'Cuz' we have a date to go on today." Jace said with a smile, she was just too cute.
"Urg, 5 more minutes…" She groaned into the fluffy white pillow.
"Nope, c'mon, time to get up Clary." Jace said louder now, he pulled on her arm, getting her to sit up.
"But I don't wanna go to school today mommy." Jace could tell she was more awake now because she joked with him.
"Ha-ha Clary, now get up, I wanna take you places." Jace said tugging on her arm once again.
Alright, alright, I'm up, get out Jace." She said sitting up.
"Why?" Jace asked confused.
"So I can get dressed you dork." Clary said with a laugh.
"Ah, yeah that makes sense." Jace said. "Hurry up, kay?" With that he walked out the door of the rumpled red-headed mess's room.
Jace walked down the hall and the stairs into the kitchen. There stood Alec with a lowery apron on and scrambling eggs.
"Hey." He said in a friendly way with a bright smile.
"Don't 'hey' me, I'm still mad at you." Jace said. He walked over to the counter and grabbed one of the blueberry muffins that had been left for the group of teens by Maryse. It was his favorite type of muffin. (A/N this is seriously my favorite muffin… they're deliciousness)
"What? Why are you mad at me?" Alec asked with a puzzled look on his face.
"Because you didn't even attempt to stand up for me yesterday, in fact you laughed." Jace said as he took an angry bite out of his muffin.
"But- well, what was I supposed to do, Jace?" Alec asked.
"You could've attempted to stand up for me! Tell them they're being assholes or tell them to shut the hell up! That's what good brothers do, or even good friends!" Jace told him angrily, his muffin almost completely forgotten in his hand.
"And what would've happened then? We'd both have been crucified, what would it have accomplished?" Alec asked now growing angry himself.
"You know, family is forever, we grow up with you, we grow old with you, and you're pretty much stuck with us. Friends on the other hand, they do leave, most of the friends you have now you won't know them in 20 years unless you try to stay friends, try really freaking hard that is. You wanna know what it would've accomplished? You would've kept the trust of your brother. You're gonna have to earn that back." Jace told him with anger. He took a big bite of his muffin, grabbed another for Clary, and then walked out of the kitchen without another glance at his brother.
Izzy POV
Izzy woke up way too early. Why was she waking up this early? Because her Izzy senses were tingling. Yes, they were tingling. Somebody was going on a date and they had not told her. Izzy quickly threw on some clothes and ran out the room and directly into the chest of her brother, Jace.
Without wasting time she backed up and demanded, "Is it you?"
Jace looked at her with a confused expression plain on his face, "is what me?" he asked her.
Izzy rolled her eyes and then repeated in a more detailed question, "The person who is going on a date, is it you?!" Jace's eyes widened and his jaw dropped.
"How do you do that?! We didn't tell anyone!" Jace questioned.
"Is it Clary?!" Izzy asked. Jace squeezed his eyes shut before nodding solemnly. Izzy started squealing and jumping around excitedly and she could see Jace plug his ears but she didn't care, she was so excited for Clary, and for Jace. Then she had a fleeting thought, Izzy had become pretty close friends with Clary over the past week and a half, she stopped jumping and squealing suddenly and Jace looked at her with alarm.
"What's wrong Izzy?" He asked.
"If you hurt her I'll kick your balls into next week." Izzy said looking at him sternly. Jace's eyes widened a fraction and he moved and moved a hand to lightly cover his crotch but he was back to his usual stance in a few seconds.
"Why would you think I could ever hurt her?" Jace asked her.
"Because I know your track record." Izzy said a bit angry at this point.
"1. Clary isn't porcelain, she's not going to break and she is one of the strongest people I know. 2. If you haven't noticed, I've cleaned up my act. I don't plan on doing anything that could hurt her and she is the only one I'm interested in." Jace said. This didn't help Izzy and her almost murderous mood at all.
"No, Clary isn't porcelain, but she is still fragile! She may be the only one you're interested in and you may have cleaned up your act but how do I know that's not just for now?! Izzy half yelled into his face.
"Because Clary is different!" Jace yelled back. "I've never liked anyone the way I like Clary, she brightens up my mood without doing anything, all she has to do is smile! I want to make her laugh 24/7, when she cries or she's hurting it feels like my chest is ripping in two. I've tried to stop thinking about her but nothing works. I close my eyes and there she is. When I'm in crowds I find myself looking for the fiery red hair of hers! I'm serious about this one Izzy and I'd really like some support from my god damned sister!" Izzy couldn't remember a time when she'd been more surprised than she was at that exact moment. Her brother had always been a major player. When they were 12 he had dated 2 or 3 girls a week, sometimes at a time, high school had been no different. To hear her brother admitting to these feelings was really surprising to her and she knew she would be one of their greatest supporters in the future.
"Jace… you realize you just described what love is, right?" Izzy said to him.
"Izzy… I don't think it's to that extent." Jace told her.
"You liar!" She was back to the squealing and jumping around, Jace just rolled his eyes at her again. "So, where are you taking her?"
LINEBREAK
Izzy hurried down the hallway towards Clary's room with a perpetual smile on her face. Why was she going to Clary's room, you ask? Because it was Izzy's job to beautify Clary to the max! Izzy got to Clary's door and, without even pausing to knock, flew the door open. Clary was standing by her bed looking as if she'd just pulled on her shirt. She jumped at the loud sound of Izzy bursting in.
"Oh no, no, no." Izzy said clicking her tongue as she eyed Clary's ensemble. It was completely unacceptable for the date her and Jace would be going on soon enough.
"W-what?" Clary asked, still thoroughly surprised at Izzy's unexpected entrance.
"That," She said waving her hand up and down at Clary's outfit, "just won't do."
"I like this outfit! Why are you here anyways Izzy?" She asked. Izzy shook her head and walked towards her.
"Because I know about you and Jace's date, now we ought to go to my room, bcause as previously expressed, your clothes are complete crap." Izzy said taking her arm and beginning to drag her towards her doorway.
"Uh-uh," She said wrenching her arm from Izzy's hand. "I'm not doing that again. I will wear what you want me to wear but it has to be from my clothes."
"But-" Izzy started but was cut off by Clary.
"But nothin', no offense but all of your clothes incredibly slutty on me."
"Hey! Those are my clothes you're talking about." Izzy said scrunching her eyebrows together.
"Yeah, but you know I'm not wrong." She said, unfortunately, quite reasonably.
"Ugh, fine! Well, let's see what you've got." Izzy said waving her hand in the direction of her dresser. Izzy stalked over to it and began to rifle through Clary's clothing that seemed to be thrown into the drawers haphazardly. After a bit Izzy pulled out a pair of jean shorts and a midriff T and held it out to Clary with a smile. Clary walked forward and took the clothes, then she pushed pas Izzy and dug into the drawer pulling out a camosaul, most likely to go under the shirt. "But-" Izzy said looking a bit upset.
"I said I'd wear what you picked out, I didn't say that I wouldn't add to it." Clary said. "Now shoo, I need to get dressed."
"Just go to the bathroom…" Izzy said.
"I don't wanna…" Clary said.
"Oh fine, I'll go to the bathroom, I had to go anyway." Izzy said. With that she walked to the bathroom and shut the door.
Clary POV
About an hour later Clary walked out of her bedroom dressed and makeup-ified to the max. Izzy had done a light makeup this time, deciding to go more natural. Clary was impressed with how she looked, she'd never considered herself a 'pretty' girl, but the way Izzy dressed her made her feel confident and beautiful. It's like when you draw something and you don't think t looks all that good but a random stranger tells you that it looks great so you feel better.
She walked down the stairs and felt like she was going through dejavu as she saw Jace waiting for her at the bottom. She walked toward him, Izzy by her side and his contemplative look confused her. "You're welcome!" Izzy said obviously proud of her work.
Jace stepped foreward closer to Clary, "For future reference," He reached up and tugged her hair out of its ponytail and she uncontrollably shook her hair out, "I like her hair much better out." Jace's crooked smile was out making her heart flutter once again.
"Noted." Izzy said as she grinned at the two of them.
"We're gonna go now…" Jace said looking down at his sister.
"Oh, yeah, oh, bye you guys!" Izzy said smiling. She then proceeded to turn and trot up the stairs. Jace turned and smiled at Clary and she returned it, then he pressed the button to the elevator and it dinged open. The pair stepped in and Jace pressed the lobby button. They stood in silence for a while, well almost silence, elevator music played through the speakers. Jace must have noticed how awkward it was getting, because randomly he started rocking out with an invisible guitar. "I love this song!" He stated as he continued to strum. Clary, seeing what he was doing began to giggle uncontrollably.
"You… are… such a… DORK!" Clary said in between fits of giggles. Jace stopped for a moment and turned to look at her, a wide smile spread across his face. Clary stopped laughing and looked back at him, a smile still evident on her lips. Then, as if her body were acting on its own, Clary pulled Jace over by his shirt and smashed her lips against his. She could tell he was surprised at first by the way he held himself, but a moment later he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her against him roughly making her gasp with surprise. Their lips worked together, his arms running up and down her back, her hands twisting up to tug on his golden locks. She never wanted to stop, never wanted to let him go, but the elevator dinged reminding them of the reality. They jumped apart just before the doors opened and Jace smiled at her. He reached over and took her hand and they walked out together.
LINEBREAK
Jace took Clary to a park, yes, a park. Why, she had no idea, but was she complaining? Absolutely not.
The park was really nice, the weather was cool and breezy. They had grabbed hot dogs at a vendor for lunch, Jace promising that dinner would be much better. It would've been cute that he was apologizing like that if it weren't for the fact that it caused the vendor to get pissed off and start cussing him out. He probably should've waited until after they'd left the vendor. They laughed as they scurried away from the heavily accented man from Jersey.
They walked along the path, eating their hot dogs and holding hands. As they went, they held pleasant, flirty conversation. Every once in a while Jace would point something of interest out or he'd make her laugh with one of his ridiculous jokes. He was amazing and adorable in ways she could barely describe. She liked almost everything about him. She liked his sense of humor. She liked the way he looked at her. She liked the way he was so fascinated by certain things. Sure, he was arrogant, but the way he was with her was never in a mean way. When they were together Clary felt like soaring. She forgot about all her problems and it was like everything faded from her vision but him.
"You ok?" He asked her.
"Hmm? Oh yeah." She said smiling at him. "Just zoned out a bit there, I guess." She laughed and he chuckled with her.
"I'm not boring you, am I?" He asked.
"Oh no! Not at all!" She answered reassuringly. Jace gave her a crooked smile and they kept walking. Jace stopped for a moment and Clary stopped with him, looking up at his face with curiosity. Then he smiled like he had an idea and pulled her arm behind him as he ran in an unknown direction. Clary stumbled behind him and then, out of nowhere, they came to a complete stop. The two of them now stood in front of a long line of small shopping outlets boutiques and restaurants.
"This is my favorite part of town." Jace said smiling widely. "Let's explore, 'eh?"
Clary looked up at him with wonder then her lips cracked into a bright smile. "That sounds great."
For the next 2 hours, Jace and Clary went in and out of little stores and boutiques. Clary would find a ridiculous hat and would place it on his head; he'd then pose and get fashionable. She'd laugh at his dorky actions before he quickly retaliated with a hat he'd found on his own. Clary took pictures of them simply for the memories. Clary liked taking pictures and had albums full of them in her new room, she had been smart enough to bring a couple from the storage garage.
At 5:00 pm, Jace pulled Clary's arm towards the restaurant that was at the end of the long street. Looking up she saw the name of the restaurant: Taki's. They stepped inside and Clary felt a huge wave of relief from the fact that she didn't feel under dressed at all, it was just a regular diner. Jace led her to a booth on one of the walls without waiting for a waitress to seat them. Clary sat across from Jace and smiled lightly and he smiled back.
Clary felt eerie chills go up her spine, all of a sudden. She turned around to see Kaelie glaring at her as she wiped various forks and knives and slammed them down angrily. It was truly frightening, but she held up her hand and wiggled her fingers at her with a wide smile. Kaelie gripped one of the freshly cleaned knives in her hand, looking as if she wanted to fling it at Clary. But knowing she wouldn't, Clary turned back around to face Jace with a smile.
"What?" He asked, "Do I have something on my face?" Clary giggled and shook her head.
"Nope, just the fact that Kaelie really wants to murder me right now." Clary said with a laugh. Jace's eyes widened as he looked in the general direction of Kaelie, whom was probably still glaring at the back of Clary's head.
"You want me to do something about it?" He asked her.
"Absolutely not," Clary said. "It's funny as hell."
Jace chuckled and shook his head at her. A brown haired waitress with a frilly skirt walked up to their table with a small notebook flipped open and she smirked. "Hi, welcome to Taki's, my name is Gretchen and I'll be your server for today. What can I get y'all to drink?"
"Do you have orange soda?" Clary asked her.
"Yes, we have Fanta Orange, will that be ok?" she asked.
"Yes, that'd be great, thanks." Clary said with a smile.
"Okie dokie, and you sir?" She asked turning to Jace.
"Dr. Pepper,If you please." Jace said. Gretchen nodded and scurried off toward the kitchen.
Clary looked down at the menu that sat on the table. She opened the large folder and was surprised to see the selection; she couldn't decide what she wanted.
"May I suggest the coconut pancakes? They're phenomenal." Jace said. She smiled in gratefulness.
"I think I shall, thanks." Clary said with a bright grin. A few minutes later Gretchen came back with their drinks and set them in front of the pair. Gretchen was smiling cheerfully at Jace and Clary when she began to speak.
"So, are y'all ready to order?" she asked with a bit of a southern drawl to her voice.
"Yep." Jace said smirking at her. Clary felt a jealous bubble at the pit of her stomach, but she ignored it.
"Okie dokie! What would you like?" She asked, nope, she is no threat.
"We'd both like the coconut pancakes." He answered for Clary. Clary grinned at him, he smirked back.
"Alrighty, one moment please." She said and swayed off to the kitchen.
Suddenly there was a spark in Jace's eyes and he stood abruptly, turning to leave the booth.
"Were are you going?" Clary asked slightly alarmed.
"Oh, um, I forgot to tell her something about my order!" Jace said a bit too quickly. Clary didn't know if she believed him, but it didn't matter because he'd already gone. He trotted up to Gretchen and talked to her in that smooth way that he always does. He leaned up against the bar as he talked to her in a way that made her green with envy, something she'd never truly felt. Gretchen nodded enthusiastically and clapped her hands excitedly at whatever it was Jace had just said to her. A few minutes later Jace plopped back into his seat looking immensely satisfied.
"So it took you 5 minutes to tell her what you screwed up with your order?" Clary asked him.
"Yup, I forgot a lot." Jace said smirking.
"Uh-huh, sure you did." Clary said rolling her eyes.
"What." He asked, "You don't believe me?"
"Not in the least, Mr. Flirt." Clary said. She looked at a small special menu that was open next to her as if she were reading it.
"Oh, I can see how –wait a minute… are you jealous Clary?" Jace asked, his face broke into a wide grin.
"Me, jealous? Ha!" Clary answered.
"Uh-huh, sure." He said mimicking her earlier tone and words. Clary stuck out her tongue at him and he chuckled. 10 minutes later Clary saw Gretchen come out with the pancakes, and then she heard clapping from the 3 or 4 waiters and waitresses behind her.
Once they got to the table, Gretchen set down the plates and started clapping with her coworkers. Then they started to sing, oh the horror.
"Happy happy birthday, from all of us to you, we wish it was our birthday so we could party too, Happy happy birthday, from all of us to you, we wish it was our birthday so we could party too!" sang the restaurant workers. At first Clary hid her face, which was the color of her hair. Then she glared at Jace accusingly, this was his doing and she knew it. Jace just smirked back at her in a way that made her want to melt, but she stood her ground and kept glaring. When the song finished they yelled "Happy birthday Clary!" And everyone in the restaurant clapped, and then the waiters and waitresses walked away, leaving Clary and Jace onces again.
"See! I wasn't doing anything bad earlier Ms. Jealous-Pants." Jace said still smirking.
"You're an ass." Clary repled.
"You love it." Jace said with a wink. Clary shook her head but she couldn't help but smile. "So, try the pancakes, you'll love 'em." Jace said to her. Clary did as asked, she took a slow bite from her pancake and literally moaned in delight.
"Wow, I should get you pancakes more often if this is your reaction." Jace said chuckling, Clary just ignored him and continued to eat her pancakes, and she was in complete bliss. For a bit they ate in silence, but it wasn't uncomfortable. Every once in a while they'd look up at each other and smile. A little later they talked to each other in a nice way, Jace cracking jokes to make Clary giggle, talking about school, and friends. Clary felt as if she could tell him anything and not worry about judgment. He nodded intently as he listened to her and made comments where necessary, basically the perfect 'active listener' you're always stuck learning about in health.
"So, about my mom… how are we going to look for her?" Clary asked.
"Good question… well maybe the best place to start is the scene of the crime?" Jace said to her questioningly. Clary nodded thoughtfully.
"Yes, that seems like a good idea." She said. They talked about more about the subject before Jace paid the bill and then the pair walked out of the restaurant hand in hand.
LINEBREAK
Simon POV
At noon on Sunday Simon sat at Clary and his usual table at Java Jones. There was a cup of coffee sitting in front of him and he fiddled with it with his thumbs as he waited for Clary. He had done some thinking over the time apart from Clary. Simon had known Clary for a very long time, and over that time Simon had believed he was in love with Clary, but maybe he wasn't. Simon hadn't ever really thought about whether or not it was truly love that he felt. He'd like to think that it was, because then all this craziness wouldn't have been for nothing.
Clary walked into the restaurant and sunk into the seat across from Simon with a soft but shy smile. "Hey," She said.
"'Ello." Simon said back.
"so… I suppose we ought to talk, yes?" Clary asked him. Simon nodded solemnly, he honestly didn't want to talk anymore on the subject, but he couldn't stand the thought of losing Clary.
"Yes, I believe that's the course of action we must now take." He responded.
"Well, you start, get it out of your system." She said, her head was faced downwards. It was the first time Clary had ever acted shy in front of him. Simon didn't like it. He was used to Clary being confident and open with him at all times.
Simon sighed before answering her. "Clary, I have always been here, watching from afar, waiting for a time when you might actually need me. During that time, I somehow managed to fall in love with you. For the longest time you didn't notice, but that was ok because I always thought that someday you'd wake up from your daydreams about dark princes and such and realize that I was here and always be. But then you met Jace and he just gets under my skin so much, and the worst thing is that you look at him like he's fresh from a fairytale, like you finally got your knight in shining armor. And not only do you look at him like that, he looks at you, well, the same way I look at you." Simon finished looking directly at her face, but she wasn't looking at him, she was looking down and her face was scrunched in that cute way that meant she was thinking.
AT last she looked straight at him, took a deep breath, and with a steady voice began to speak. "I am not in love with you, and I will never be." Simon's heart plummeted, on sure course to be just a splat on the concrete floor. "But I do love you, and this is going to hurt, but I love you like a brother. If I lost you it would kill me. But Simon, you need to move on from me, you have to find a girl who is actually capable of loving you in the way that you want me to love you. You'll find her, I promise that, but you won't find her in me." And splat it went. Simon looked at his hands, he didn't know why, there wasn't anything particularly interesting about them, but he just stared. Simon knew that what she was saying was true, but he couldn't bring himself to process that. The girl he'd loved for so long told him to let her go, so as one last testament to his love for her, let her go he would.
"Can you forgive me?" She asked.
"Yes," He said, and it was true, after all it wasn't her fault. "But it may take some time for us… to act like us, y'know?"
Clary smiled brightly at him looking relieved and Simon felt a pang in his chest. "Yeah, I do, but time we have." She said.
"Let's get some food, 'eh?" Simon asked. A few minutes later, Simon and Clary's veggy burger and chicken tenders sat in front of them in all it's delicious glory. Simon had been a vegetarian since an elementary school fieldtrip to a chicken plant where he witnessed the gruesome beheading of a chicken. He stared, disgusted, as Clary ripped into a chicken tender after having dunked it into a small container of honey mustard.
"So," He began, trying to get his mind off the poor chickens. "I got accepted into Shadow Nyx." He knew it was a big surprise, his mom really didn't want him to go, but he couldn't leave Clary behind so he got his older sister Rebecca to sign off on the parent form. Rebecca had been surprised that he wanted to go in the first place, but she had accepted it. His mom would be harder to convince that it was the better place for him to be.
Clary looked up at him mid bite, dropped the chicken tender, and squealed in delight, frightening a couple of customers around them. "Oh my gosh! Why didn't you tell me you had applied? I hope you're in at least some of my classes!" Clary gushed, Simon couldn't help but laugh at her words and actions. Clary talked for a bit about the school, saying that she'd have to show him around and how she really wanted him to meet and get to know the new friends she had made. She also talked about the various teams in the school and what she had learned about the relationships between all of them.
"Gold team, the team I am on, tends to be rather arrogant and aren't very liked amongst most of the teams. Red team and white time hate each other, green team is more stuck up than even the gold team but you can always count on them to be truthful, so the teachers like to use them to do things. The purple team, that's the team Magnus is on, is a lot of fun. They have a lot of people who are a little weird or dress funkily. Gold team and purple team have a sort of friendship, purple team helps them out on some things and gold team returns the help with other things." Clary explained with a perpetual smile on her face.
Simon had listened to the whole explanation intently, figuring it was pretty valuable information. Simon decided that no matter what team he was put on, he would hold no feud and he would continue to be frends with Clary no matter what. Though he silently wished he was put on the gold team with Clary.
LINEBREAK
Jace POV
Clary was walking next to Jace, her face set in a cute determined expression. They were going to her apartment to see if there were any clues as to where her mother was. Jace knew how it felt to be alone and to not know what to do or where your parents were.
Jace's father had died 7 years ago and he would never forget the day it happened. Jace hadn't known who his dad was, yes he knew him as a person, but he didn't know what he'd done. His father had told him all his life that his name was Michael Wayland, but in reality the man who raised him was named Valentine Morgenstern. Jace refused to go by Morgenstern, or Wayland, a name he had no right to in the first place, so he went by Jace Lightwood, his adopted family's name. In reality Michael Wayland had been a kind man whose wife had died, leaving him with a new born son. Valentine had killed him and his son, the only reason he had gotten away with stealing the name was because Michael lived in the middle of nowhere had little to no friends.
Jace was only 9 or 10 when it happened. 2 men had broken into the house, armed with knives. Jace's father had told him to hide, so he did. Jace hid under the staircase, giving him the perfect views, that he'd later regret having, to everything that was going on. This was the first time he'd heard bits and pieces of the truth. The armed men had shouted something about him being Valentine and how they wanted a portion of the wealth he'd earned from the house of the people he had murdered.
His father had yelled back that he would never give up his riches. He threatened them, pulling out a knife of his own, but one of the men came up behind him and dragged the knife across his throat viciously. Blood sprayed across the floor and the men just let him drop. The men rummaged through drawers and they both went to the back of the house. Jace had stood from his spot under the stairs and ran to stand over his father's body. Valentines blood soaked his shoes as he said a silent goodbye to his father, then without a word he ran out the door and into the woods. He didn't know how long he ran/walked after that, but the sun had long sunk behind the trees by the time he got to a town that he could use a phone in.
So in short, Jace knew what it meant to be lost, and he would make sure to help Clary out of this unfortunate state. Clary and Jace stepped into the entryway of Clary's apartment. Clary's facial expression showed determination, but Jace could see that she was scared from her eyes. He reached for her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. She looked up at him gratefully, then they waled up the stairs to the top apartment.
"Why exactly doesn't this building have an elevator?" He grunted.
"Because this building has character." Clary answered immediately. Jace chuckled and jiggled the apartment door. "Do you have a key or do I have t pick the lock?" Jace asked. Clary bent down and untied a set of keys from her shoelaces.
"I have a key, so stop trying to sow off your 'manly abilities' and move so I can unlock the door." Clary said to him, attempting to move in front of him.
Jace raised an eyebrow as he stepped out of her way. "My 'manly abilities'?" He asked with a smirk.
"Oh shut up!" Clary grumbled. Jace chuckled and she unlocked the door. The two of them stepped into the apartment and were surprised at what they saw.
Jace had only seen the apartment once. At the time he had briefly looked around to see shattered glass, torn canvas, ripped up pillows, and a complete heartbreak. Clary had been on the floor, not crying though, that was the first thing that Jace noticed, that in a time where everything seemed to be going wrong in her life, Clary wasn't crying. He could tell she was sad though, from the set in her shoulders to the way she was slumped in a defeated way. Jace had walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder in what he thought was a comforting gesture. But that's when she attacked him. With a bat. Which impressed him even more, because she was actually hurting him, she was defending herself even though her situation seemed hopeless.
But now, as they stood in the doorway of Clary's apartment, there was nothing to see. Literally nothing, the room seemed to have been scrubbed clean of everything. The ceramics that had been previously scattered all over the floor, was now swept up. All of the furniture in the apartment had also been removed. The only evidence that anyone had recently lived in the house was squares in the wall where the paint was lighter because that's whether various pictures and paintings had once hung.
Clary let go of the hand that he had held out on their way into the apartment and ran down a hallway and into a room, Jace followed closely behind. The room Clary had gone into was also completely empty as well, its walls painted orange. This must be Clary's room, He thought, or it was…
"No…" Clary whispered, she then ran out the door and into a room on the other side of the long hallway, it was empty, along with every other room.
"C'mon Clary, let's get out of here, we're not going to find anything in here ." Jace said. He took Clary's hand in his and pulled her out the door. Clary leaned on Jace for support as they went down the stairs and Jace took it without any complaint.
Jace was looking at Clary and when they got to the bottom of the stairs Clary straightened up. When Jace looked away from Clary he could see why she'd done what she did. Standing in front of them, one hand on hip and the other on a cane, was an old woman whom Jace didn't recognize.
"'Ello Dorthea." Clary asked. Jace's eyes flicked to the name on the apartment next to where the old woman was standing, it read 'Madame Dorthea; Property manager'
"Clary what is with all of the racket?!" She barked.
"I –but, we um, but" Clary stuttered out.
"I've got this one Clare." Jace whispered to her. "Excuse me, Madame Dorthea, Clary and her mother haven't been home for the past few weeks, therefore any 'racket' that you heard was not caused by them.
"Well I know thatdim-wit, it was that friend of Clarissa's mother that was, but I wanted to know why he was up there removing all your furniture." Jace was appalled, the old woman had some serious bite to her. Jace couldn't tell if he liked it or not.
Clary's jaw had dropped as Dorthea was speaking. "L-Luke was here?" She managed.
"Don't ignore the question, Clarissa! Why was he up there removing all of your furniture?"
"Well… I honestly don't know Ma'am…" Clary said looking down at her feet.
"Is this the south, Clarissa? No, it is not. Call me Madame!" Dorthea huffed. "Now, next time you're planning to remove all of your belongings from this complex, please take care to inform me!" With that the elderly woman glided into her apartment and shut the door with a slam.
"Why would Luke take everything? There was hardly anything valuable in there. Did he really think that we were never coming back?" She asked half to herself. All Jace could say was that he really had no idea.
"So, coming here wasn't a complete waste." Jace said, "We found a clue!" he was smirking at her, trying desperately to retrieve a smile from her upset face.
"Yeah, we're good sleuths, but it still really sucks… What could've made Luke do something like this?" She asked eyes still sad.
"Don't lose all hope with him just yet, haven't you ever seen Scooby-Doo? It's almost never the first guy Fred and Daphne guess!" Jace said.
"I can't be Daphne," she said, her nose scrunched, "Daphne's much too tall." Jace laughed aloud.
"C'mon, let's try Luke's place, maybe we'll find more clues." Jace said with a wink. Jace called a cab and they both stepped inside.
I guess this'll just have to be the mystery mobile
So the chapter is done! So much happened in this chapterrrrrrr, I am seriously about to drop down asleep but I have to post this so I'm not gonna sleep yet.
Did y'all like it? Yes, no? REVIEW!
Hey, challenge to everyone, come up with a really cool name, or silly, and put it in your review (or if you're a guest make it your name and then put who you are in your review) for ex. SuperBubbleGum, don't use that one. Whoever has the best name will win the chance to be in the story for a chapter or two!
Ok, later y'all, please review for meeeeee!
Lilly