Man, this chapter took too long to write. I lost my inspiration for a while there, but stayed up late and got hit with a stroke of genius. I hope you guys like it!
Jace squinted at the sunlight that poured into his bedroom. No, not his, Skylar's. He opened his eyes the rest of the way, and saw that he had his arm around her. Memories from the previous night floated through his mind. He swallowed.
He jumped when someone knocked on his door. "Jace?" it was Brooke.
Skylar was suddenly awake by his side, and looked at him with a panicked expression.
"Jace, I'm coming in," said Brooke.
Skylar and Jace seemed to think of the same thing. Sky ducked under the covers, and Jace pulled her on top of him.
The door opened, and Brooke smiled. "Hey."
Jace felt at his head. "Hey."
Brooke was holding a tall glass of green liquid in her hand.
"Is that the potion people keep giving me for hangovers?"
Brooke chuckled, and set it down on his nightstand. "So you're familiar."
"Extremely."
Brooke pressed her lips together to keep from laughing. "I'll see you at breakfast," then she left the room, closing the door behind her.
Jace lifted up the covers, and looked at Skylar. She squinted at the light, but crawled out of under the covers.
"Morning," she corner of Jace's mouth pulled up. She was still in her jeans, and her hair was messy.
She yawned, and yanked the curtains on the window shut. Jace chuckled. She took the glass off the nightstand, and handed it to Jace. He downed the whole thing, then set it down on the dresser.
"... Are we going to talk about last night?" asked Jace, breaking the silence.
Skylar cleared her throat, and looked away. "No. I wouldn't have done that sober. Sorry."
"I may have," Jace surprised both himself, and her by saying that. He thought about it for a second, and decided he would've.
"Jace..." she looked down. "This can't happen. You're with Brooke, and I can't hurt her."
Jace swallowed. "I understand."
She looked up at him slowly. He felt completely sober now, and he wanted to kiss her again, but knew that was out of the question.
Sky swallowed. "I have to go," she stood up and walked over to the door.
"Wait," Jace stood up, opened the door, and poked his head out. "You can go now," he whispered.
She silently thanked him, and slipped into one of the other rooms.
Jace went back into Skylar's room, and sighed. He wasn't sure what to do about this. He didn't want to hurt Brooke- and Skylar probably wouldn't date him if he did- but he wanted to be with Skylar.
He thought of Clary then. When they thought they were siblings, it was like this. He wanted so badly to be with her, but couldn't be. Somehow, this situation felt similar. He wanted to be with Skylar, but he couldn't be, but the thing about this situation was that is he took away what was keeping them apart, she'd hate him for it.
He felt like he needed someone to talk to about this, but pushed the thought away. Anyone connected to the situation would hate him, too, including Alec.
Jace let out an exasperated sigh, then left the room, and headed downstairs.
Skylar had climbed out the window, and was now on the roof. She lie towards the top with her arm draped over her eyes. She now remembered why she usually didn't drink: she hated hangovers, not to mention the bad decisions. What was she thinking, kissing Jace? She'd done it again. The worst part was that Brooke didn't know. Skylar deserved to be hated, but she couldn't bring herself to hurt her sister like that.
"Sky?" she heard Brooke call. "Sky, are you on the roof?"
"Yeah," she called back.
"Well, come down! I've got a potion made for you. It also is a terrible idea to be on the roof while you have a hangover."
"Coming," Sky sat up and squinted. The sun was killing her. She slowly started to make her way down the roof, but slipped, and started rolling down. She heard Brooke call her name, and caught herself at the last second. She was now hanging from the roof by one hand.
"Oh Raziel!" Brooke exclaimed. "Sky, are you okay?!"
"Yeah," Sky managed. She could feel her fingers slipping, and grabbed the roof with her other hand.
"Hang on," said Brooke. "I'll help you," she heard Brooke run inside.
Sky looked for the closest window. It was slightly too far from her current location to be able to get to it. She cussed under her breath.
She heard someone come out of the house. "Sky?" it was Brooke again.
"Still here," she said. "See this is exactly why I don't drink!"
"Skylar," said Jace's voice. She closed her eyes and cursed under her breath again. Why did it have to be Jace? "You have to let go."
Skylar scoffed. "Are you kidding me?! No!"
"Fine then, but you've asked for it."
"Asked for what?" Sky felt a pair of arms wrap around her waist. She made a sound of surprise, and let go of the roof by mistake. Before she knew it, she was in Jace's arms, and he was standing on the ground. She looked up at him with a shocked expression.
"How did you do that?"
Jace smirked. "The one good thing that came with Valentine's experiments."
Skylar blinked, suddenly bothered by the sun again.
"Thanks," said Brooke. "Can you bring her inside?"
"No," said Sky. "I can walk," she kicked her legs a little.
Jace laughed, and she felt that they were moving. When they were somewhere darker, she opened her eyes. They were in the main room of their house, where everyone was looking at her.
"Put me down," she hissed.
Jace chuckled, and set her down in a chair at the table. Brooke handed her a glass, and she quickly started drinking it.
"What were you doing on the roof?" said Brooke.
Sky stopped drinking for a second. "Dunno. Woke up there," she lied. She finished off the glass, then glanced at Jace.
Brooke laughed. "Well, I think you shouldn't drink again," she said jokingly.
"You think?" Skylar said whispered darkly under her breath. "I'm going to change," she stood up and left, wanting to get away as quickly as she could.
Skylar walked into Thymeless. It had been a while since she'd been here, but today, she felt like she needed to be somewhere familiar that wasn't near her own house, or near anyone in it.
"Skylar," said the store's manager from behind the counter. "It's been a while since I've seen you around here. How can I help you?" he smiled.
"Hey, Jeff," said Skylar. "I'm just browsing for now."
He nodded. "Cool, cool."
Skylar wandered around the store aimlessly. She didn't really need a new pair of boots, she just wanted to get away from the house, and Thymeless seemed like a place. No one would look for her there, but it wasn't too far away from home.
The place was generally pretty small, with brick walls, and shelves lined with boots, and there was an out of place fireplace in the back- which was never lit.
Sky sat down in front of it. Her mind wandered back to Brooke. She felt like she couldn't be around her right now because she'd betrayed her. Brooke had always been the most kind, caring, wonderful person to Sky, and if she knew the truth, she'd hate her. She'd lose her best friend.
Something caught Skylar's eye, and she looked at it. There was a small gap in the back of the fireplace in the corner. Skylar frowned, and looked closer. There was something that caught the light slightly from a certain angle in the tiny gap. Skylar crawled up to it, and tried to get whatever it was out with one finger. She heard a click, and the entire fireplace shifted. She gasped, and froze as the fireplace began to transform into a stone staircase, and she nearly fell, but caught herself.
She gaped down the black staircase. She considered going back, but curiosity poked at the back of her mind. She pulled out her stele, and drew a night vision rune on her arm, the stood up, and started down the stairs.
She walked down for a little while. It must lead really far down, she thought. Se considered turning back, but saw a tiny gap of light in the distance, and trotted down the remaining stone steps till she was in front of a door. She pulled out her stele, and drew the unlocking rune. Smoke came up from the lock, and she walked in.
The room she walked into looked like a dungeon. The ceiling was poorly cut out of stone, and the floor was flat, but also stone. There were flaming torches lining the walls, tables with tools on it, along with herbs, and viles. A potions lab, she thought.
There were tables lined up down the room, too, one of them had someone laying on it. Skylar made her way over to them slowly.
When she reached them, she studied them. Their clothes were torn, and filthy, and there were minor scorch marks on the person's skin, and cuts with dried blood on them. The person was strapped down, too.
Skylar gasped, wondering what she'd walked into. The person turned their head so they were looking at her, and she gasped again. "Magnus?!"
"Quiet," he hissed, his voice strained. "He might hear you."
She went up to him. "Oh my god, what happened?" she whispered.
"Thyme," he growled. "There's something going on here. I think he's blocked your sister's mind, but I don't know why."
Sky fumbled at the restraints, but didn't have luck. "A block?"
"I sensed it a while ago. I think he's blocked your mind, too."
Sky stopped what she was doing, and looked up at him. "Me? Why?"
He gave her a look.
She yanked at the restraints again, but it did nothing. "Can't you use your magic to get out?" she asked.
"I can't use my powers for some reason. If I could, I'd have gotten out days ago."
"Days," Skylar repeated quietly.
Magnus frowned. "Weren't you guys worried that I was missing?"
"Well..." Skylar scratched the back of her head. "We didn't exactly... know."
Magnus' brows furrowed.
"Edwin said you needed space, and that he torched your phone. Something about him stealing your girl..."
Magnus locked his jaw. "He lied. Edwin Tron isn't even his real name."
Skylar frowned.
"His name is William Thyme. He's one of the most dangerous warlocks in the downworld."
"But... That isn't possible," she insisted. "Edwin has been our family's most trusted warlock since before I was born!"
"Shh!" Magnus hissed again.
Sky swallowed.
"Listen," said Magnus. "You'll have to get out of here. He could come back any minute, and if he find you-"
"I can't leave you down here!" she whisper-yelled. "I'll get help."
She pulled out her cellphone. She had one bar, but scrolled through her contacts.
"Don't call anyone from your family," Magnus said. "Or your boyfriend's."
Sky frowned. "Why?"
"He could have touched them, too," he said darkly.
Sky swallowed, and went to the next number that came to mind. She put the phone to her ear. It rang several time. Pick up, pick up, pick up, she chanted in her head.
"Hello?" said a voice on the other end. It was slightly fuzzy.
"Jace," Sky breathed. "Thank Raziel."
"... Who is-"
"Listen," she said. "I'm underground, and I found Magnus."
"What?" his voice was slightly fuzzy again. "I can't-"
"Thymeless," she said. "That's where-"
"What are you doing here?!" a voice boomed from behind her. She spun around and saw Edwin Tron, looking extremely angry, and dangerous.
Sky gasped, and held her phone in her hand, but not to her ear.
"... What's happening?" Sky asked, not able to hide the fear in her voice. "Who are you?"
Edwin clenched his jaw, and his hands lit up.
"Clary, run!" Magnus yelled. "RUN!"
Sky took off to one of the other sides of the room, and grabbed a metal rod from the wall. When she turned back to him, he was in front of her. The light came out of his hands, and she was thrown back. She crashed into a table full of things, and screamed. The table crashed to the ground, and a ton of vials smashed, mixing multi-colored liquids.
"Clary!" Magnus called. That was when she noticed Magnus had called her Clary- twice.
Her phone made a strange sizzling noise as she potions touched it. Smoke came up from it.
Sky moaned at the pain she now felt in her back, and everywhere the glass had cut. One of the potions- a purple one touched her skin, and she screamed a gut wrenching scream. It felt like liquid fire.
Edwin came over her and scowled. "Troublesome brat," he spat. That was the last thing Skylar saw before she blacked out.
I don't know why, but webs isn't working, so I can't post a sneak peek. Sorry.
What did you think if the chapter? PM me or leave a review if you have any ideas. Thanks! :)
Wisterian Princess