"Basically," Clary said to Isabelle as they sat in her car outside of the Lightwood Manor. They had driven there in silence, but now Izzy demanded answers. "I got out of bed, took not even one step, and suddenly I was in the greenery of the Herondale Manor. I guess I skipped about three hours. It was kind of weird this time because I didn't pass out."

"We were freaking out," Isabelle said. "When Alec and I couldn't find you we called Jace. He rushed over but eventually, he and Alec had to go to school. Alec let me stay home just in case you came back."

"Jace..." Clary muttered as she thought of the conversation his mother had been having earlier. "When I was in the Herondale Manor, I overheard his mom talking to someone named Maryse on the phone."

"That's my mom." Isabelle nodded. "They're friends."

"Well, I'm pretty sure that Jace's mom is pregnant. She was staying stuff about 'keeping the baby' and Jace having a 'little brother or sister.'" At Clary's words, Isabelle's jaw dropped. She covered her mouth with her hand and sat forward in her seat.

"Do you think that Jace knows?" She asked breathlessly.

"No." Clary shook her head. "His mom was saying that she was going to tell him and his dad this morning, but then Jace ran out."

Isabelle rolled her eyes. "Because we called him about you. My bad looks like I ruined amazing news for him."

"He'll hear about it some other time," Clary consoled her.

"Yeah, you're right." Isabelle opened the car door and started to get out. "Come on, let's go inside. I need to text Alec and Jace that you're back so they're not freaking out all day."

"I'm just thankful that I didn't travel to another country or state again," Clary said following.

"Or that you didn't miss too much time," Isabelle added.

They went to Clary's room so she could get dressed. While Clary changed, Isabelle texted her brother. After a couple of minutes, her phone started ringing and she answered.

"Yeah?" Pause. "Yes." Another pause. "Yes." Isabelle sounded irritated. Clary furrowed her eyebrows as she pulled on a shirt. "Okay, fine." She held out the phone to Clary. "Alec wants to talk to you."

Clary took the phone and held it up to her ear in fear of the stern yelling she was about to get. "What the hell did I tell you the first day you were staying with us?" Alec immediately asked.

Clary winced. "Not to run away..."

"EXACTLY!" The screech hurt Clary's ear. "And what did you go and do?"

"Alec, it's more complicated than-"

"You went and you ran away. For three hours. You scared the crap out of me and Izzy and Jace. You're just lucky I hadn't called Magnus yet."

"I called Magnus," Clary cut in and the other line went quiet.

"You did?"

"Yes, Alec, because I needed Isabelle's phone number." She sat down on her bed. Isabelle sat beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders comfortingly. "Despite what you may think, I'm not a complete idiot. Yeah, I... ran away for a couple of hours, but you have no idea what I have going on ergo you don't get to judge my actions in the manner that you do. So, Magnus knows I was gone for a bit and I'm going to talk with him when he returns home, but for now you guys can calm down because I'm back and I'm fine."

With that, Clary hung up the phone. She gave it back to Isabelle then plopped backward on her bed. She closed her eyes tight trying to will all of her insane magical issues away. When it didn't work, she opened her eyes again.

"Izzy?"

"Yeah?"

"What if Magnus can't find a way to stop my time teleportations? What if I'm stuck having to deal with randomly disappearing for the rest of my life?"

"Don't think like that," said Isabelle, "Magnus will figure out something. I mean, you said he left because he needed to get other warlocks, right? Well, even if Magnus can't do anything then I'm sure one of them can. They'll fix this."

"I guess," Clary mumbled.

"In the meantime." Isabelle grabbed Clary's wrists and pulled her so she was sitting up. "Why don't we go out for brunch or a movie or something? Do something to take all this off your mind?"

"I'd rather not." Clary sighed. "I kind of just want to be alone right now." Isabelle rubbed Clary's back and stood up.

"Of course, well I'll be in my room if you need me." Then, she left.

Clary rolled over on her bed and grabbed her sketchbook. She saw her phone on the nightstand and took it too. She had two missed calls from Alec, four from Isabelle, and ten from Jace. Clary dropped her phone on her bed and opened her sketchbook. At least she was missing her history test today...

The rest of the week droned by without excitement. Clary missed Magnus. As much as she loved spending so much time with the Lightwoods and Jace, she wanted an old friend back. Not to mention, she felt she was ready to visit Jem's grave and only Magnus could bring her there.

It was Monday meaning that Magnus had officially been gone for one entire week. He had said it would just be a couple of days and so for the past several days Clary had been anticipating his arrival. She couldn't imagine what was taking him so long wherever he was. Didn't he just have to talk to a couple of friends and then teleport back here?

After school that day, Clary was sitting in the kitchen drawing. She paid little attention to her surroundings even as Church, the cat, circled around her feet purring. Clary recalled that Jem had a cat named Church. It was probably just a coincidence though.

Clary was drawing the Church that Jem used to own when the one that currently existed hopped up on the island. She looked up at him and compared him to her drawing. Maybe it was more than a coincidence...

"Strange," Jace said. Clary jumped at his sudden presence. "Church doesn't like anyone, but he looks pretty cozy with you."

Clary cocked her head at the cat. If Magnus was immortal then why couldn't a cat be? "Yeah, strange."

Jace walked over behind Clary and peered over her shoulder at her drawing. He then pulled out the stool beside Clary and sat. "You're very talented," Jace commented. His eyes were glued to the sketchbook.

"Oh." Clary didn't entirely know how to react. She felt jittery. "Thanks." Jace reached to change the page of the sketchbook. Clary's instincts immediately took over and she slammed her hand down on his. He raised a single eyebrow at their hands then at her.

"If you wanted to hold my hand you could've just asked," he said smirking.

Clary rolled her eyes and pulled her sketchbook towards herself. "Sorry, it's just... some of these drawings are very personal." Her mind went to the sketches of Will. Jace was sure to recognize the man considering he had portraits of him in his house. "Very personal."

Jace held up his hands. "No, I'm sorry. I should've asked first."

"It's fine," said Clary. In truth, she almost wished that she could show him the drawings the same way she showed them all to Simon and Isabelle and Magnus. It felt nice when she could share her creations with others. Hiding them just felt wrong.

"So." Jace cleared his throat. "What are you doing sitting all alone in the kitchen? Don't you usually draw in the library or in your room?"

Clary shrugged. "A change of scenery is nice every now and then. What are you doing in the kitchen? Well, I mean this particular kitchen. Shouldn't you be at home with your parents? You spend an awful lot of time at the Lightwood's." Clary was now attempting to figure out if Jace knew about his mother's pregnancy yet. It had been a couple days and it was actually killing her that she knew the secret.

Jace shrugged in return. "The Lightwoods like me, they don't care how much time I spend over here."

"Well, what about your family?"

Jace's eyebrows furrowed and he looked away from Clary. "My dad left on business again yesterday and mom is leaving tomorrow."

"So, why aren't you over there spending her last day here with her?"

"I don't know." Jace sighed. "I guess she's been acting kind of different lately. It's like something has changed at home and in all honesty that makes me a little nervous." Clary's eyebrows shot up. Jace was being so emotionally vulnerable with her right now. She didn't know how to respond. "With my parents always away on business, it's usually easier for me to spend my time here. Even when they are home, they're always working."

"I'm sorry," Clary sympathized. "I know what it's like to have an absent parent." She thought about her own father and how she had never met him. Will's family had been like her own and even before everything that had happened, Magnus had been a rather active male figure in her life. She had never suffered growing up with one parent, she thought.

"You don't really talk about your family," Jace commented. "Any particular reason why?"

Clary fiddled with her own fingers and bit her lip. She debated telling Jace a bit about her own family. She hadn't even really talked to Isabelle about that.

"I never met my father," Clary suddenly said, "and my mom once told me about him. She told me the story of when he accused her of having an affair with his best friend. He then tried to murder said friend and when he failed, he left. Neither of them ever saw him again."

"Oh," was all Jace said. After a moment of silence, he lifted his hand and put it over Clary's to stop her from fidgeting. She looked up at him and he smiled. Will. "You guys were better off without him."

Clary's lips parted slightly. She was having difficulty breathing because that was Will's smile. Clary jolted up from her seat. She snatched her sketchbook from the island and didn't look directly at Jace.

"I'm sorry," Clary said, "I just can't. I can't. I need closure and I never got closure. I don't know if I'll ever be able to get closure, but until I do I just can't." Clary stormed out of the room. After a few moments, she heard Jace scrambling to follow her.

"Hold on, Clary!" He had to jog to catch up. "What do you mean you can't?"

"I can't look at you," she said honestly. "I can hardly be in your presence. It's hard, it is so hard. I thought that I had gotten better about it but obviously, I have not. Being around Isabelle and Alec is perfectly fine. Great, even, because they're not such a hindrance on my entire existence! But you? No, I can't." Clary stopped walking when she reached the foyer of the manor. She didn't know where, but she wanted to go someplace just to get out of the house. "I'm sorry, Jace."

Jace opened his mouth to say something but was cut off when the front door opened behind Clary. She turned around and took a step back so she was beside Jace. Magnus entered the building first. He removed a hat from his head and grinned when he saw Clary. She took a step forward to greet him with joy when someone else walked in behind him.

The flowing brown hair and bright gray eyes were unforgettable. Clary collapsed on the ground in tears at the sight. She couldn't believe it. It was completely unreal.

Tessa.

Hope y'all liked this chapter! The story is about to start picking up drama wise. In the next chapter I'd like y'all to try and start guessing what's going to happen. Please comment!