Dance idea from MrsTateLangdon
PoV Clary
I rested my head on Jace's shoulder as we headed back to the school, quietly content with myself. Sure, I got beat up, and sure, I hurt all over, but over all, it had been a good night. I opened my eyes as Jace started to run his hand through my hair, and I smiled up at him. He smiled back softly, and kissed my forehead.
"Hey, Jace," Alec said. "Would you mind, um… Staying in Clary's room tonight?"
"Why?" Jace asked.
"I wanted to spend some time with Magnus," Alec said, his cheeks rapidly turning scarlet.
"I don't see how me being there or not has anything to do with that." Jace had a look of confusion on his face, his golden eyes clouded with puzzlement.
"Oh, my god," Magnus sighed. "Jace, please stay away from the room, we want to have sex."
Jace's cheeks gained a tint of pink. "Oh." He coughed, trying to regain his manliness. "Yeah, sure, whatever."
Izzy and Simon were giggling to themselves, covering their mouth with their hands. I laughed out loud, looking at the scowl on Jace's face.
When we pulled up to the school, Magnus nearly pulled Alec's arm out of its socket as he shot out of the limo. Izzy laughed loudly, and a little drunkenly, as Alec stumbled out after his sparkly boyfriend. Simon followed Izzy and I was followed by Jace. I started in the direction of my room, but Jace grabbed my arm.
"It's after the dance," he said, his voice suddenly calm and serious.
I nodded, and we made our way through the snow to the little gazebo outside of the science wing. The hem of my trousers was soaked, and my feet were frozen, but we kept going. When He sat down, I felt like I couldn't sit next to him. Like there was an invisible barrier between us.
"Listen," he said, "what I said before, about my parents, their house, my mum getting remarried. I lied."
"Oh," I said stupidly. "That's okay."
"No, Clary, it's not," he said. "I just wanted to seem cool, to impress you."
"Well, it worked," I said, smiling.
Jace let out a bark of humorless laughter. "Yeah."
I sighed, and looked around into the night. The sky was crystal clear, the stars little pin pricks of light in the ink black.
"When I was ten, two men broke into my house and killed my dad," Jace said.
I slowly turned my head back to him, my face blank of emotion.
"I was hidden in the closet under the stairs, and the left without finding me. I remember finding him, slumped forward at his writing desk, his eyes open. His throat was slit."
"Jace," I whispered, starting to feel tears prick at the back of my eyes. "Please. You don't have to."
He didn't seem to hear me. "I call the police and they sent me to live with my only relatives. My mum and her new husband, with their three kids. Three weeks after I moved in, they were in a car crash, and my mum died. Her husband and two of her kids were brain dead. It was me and Molly, my step sister, who survived relatively unscathed. " He took a deep breath and I saw tears glitter in his eyes.
A dam broke in my and I started to cry, and I rushed to his side, wrapping my arms around him. He slid his arms around me and cried into my shoulders. He didn't make a noise, he just shook.
"What happened to Molly?" I asked quietly.
"She was sent to a family in Canada." Jace wiped the back of his hand across his eyes. "I still get emails from her every few days, and she seems happy."
"And you?"
"I got sent to live with the Lightwood's. They had recently lost a child, and they wanted to do something for someone who's lost a parent. His name was Max."
"What happened to him?" I asked, realizing I already knew the answer.
"He was kidnapped, and then killed." Jace sniffed. "He was barely a toddle, he was only one year old."
"Izzy's little brother," I mumbled. "I knew that."
I pulled him closer and let him cry; let myself cry. I had never felt so open with anyone in one moment, and I knew that me and Jace were taking a new leap forward. We really trusted each other, with our secrets, our fears.
After a few minutes of cry (and maybe some kissing0, we made our way back to Jace's room.
"Wait," I said, placing a hand on his arm.
"What?" he asked.
I placed my ear against the door, and, upon hearing nothing, opened it.
"Oh, right, Alec and Mags," Jace said.
They weren't in the room, though. The beds were both made and the room was clean.
"Maybe they went to Magnus' room," I said, and we started out the door.
"Wait," Jace said, replicating my actions from the not so distant past.
He knelt in front of the door and touched the cold tile with the tips of his fingers. When he brought them back up, they were covered in something black and shiny. I reach and turned on the light, and the black became dark red.
Blood.
