Summary:

Clary Morgenstern is a normal 17-year-old girl who isn't necessarily an expert when it comes to boys, and part of the reason for that is her over-protective elder brother, Jonathan. But when shocking truths are unveiled, revolving around Clary and her brother's best friend, Jace Herondale, could her life be turned completely upside down?

-O-o-O-

Chapter 1

Clary

I awoke on a Saturday morning to the sound of pots and pans clacking and the much-too-familiar voices of none other than my brother and his best friend. Jonathan and Jace. Knowing that I would never be able to fall asleep again, I gather all the will-power I can muster and slowly trudge out of my room. The second I open my door, I regret my decision entirely.

The ruckus only continues to grow as I make my way down the stairs. A great way to start my morning, isn't it? I hear muffled voices, but they are still distinct enough for me to be able to decipher whom they belong to. I walk into the kitchen, hopefully with an intense and intimidating glare, but knowing me, probably not.

Once I step into the room, my nose is filled with the unpleasant aroma of burnt toast, and— oh god, what is that?

Both Jon and Jace are covered in flour and some other odd things. The island in the center of the kitchen is also covered in the same materials, along with a sea of cooking equipment and a computer that had its back to me so I couldn't see what was on it, although I would assume that it's the recipe for whatever it is they're making. Correction: Trying and failing to make.

Jace notices me first and offers me a lazy grin, which I happily return with an intense glare. Obviously, my facial expressions aren't conveying the proper message, so instead of looking scared, Jace's grin just grows even more. That boy could be so irritating sometimes. At this point, Jonathan has noticed me too, so now they are both grinning stupidly at me while I was glaring furiously at both of them. They also quickly move a couple of things around, so fast that I can't even tell what they are.

"Happy Birthday, Clare-Bear!" Jonathan says, breaking the silence. I stare at him in confusion for a while before the realization dawns on me. It's August 23rd. My seventeenth birthday! I had been so caught up in… stuff (A.K.A. nothing… ), that I had completely forgotten about my own birthday!

The two boys in front of me must have noticed what was going on in my head at the moment, so I'm not surprised when Jon asks me, "Oh, come on, Clary! Don't tell me you forgot your birthday!"

"Pssh! Of course, I didn't forget! It just… slipped my mind," I say in an attempt to cover up my stupidity.

It is just now that I notice the two boys' appearances. Jonathan is still in his pajama bottoms, but no shirt (because of his manliness or something), and his light-blonde hair is caked with… some weird colored substance. And Jace is in similar attire, again with the pajama bottoms and no shirt, with messy hair to match my older brother's.

"Of course it did, Midge. And happy birthday," Jace smiles at me with a light chuckle aimed at my previous statement. I was a bit surprised since Jace usually wastes no time teasing me about my height (or lack thereof), bright red hair, or some other embarrassing thing he manages to think of. Just as I was about to thank them both, Jace adds, "You know, Clary, you seem to have gotten even shorter since you were sixteen!"

I should've known.

I glare at him again and roll my eyes, but say "Thanks" to them both nonetheless. They're both standing in front of the counter and close together, almost as if they were… hiding something behind them!

I try to peek over their shoulders, but with my height, it's not possible. I also try to sneak a look by trying to find a gap between the two boys, but they were standing so close to each other, it was as if someone had glued them together. They both look at me with amused expressions while I struggle (and fail miserably due to their much-too-muscular builds) to look past them. "Where are Mom and Dad, anyway?" I say with a huff, this time aiming my question specifically towards Jonathan.

"Uh… they're… at the… library," he says will a very suspicious amount of hesitation. Whereas Jace looked as if he wanted to face-palm himself really bad. I couldn't blame him though, I was no detective but even I could tell there was something fishy going on.

-O-o-O-

Soon after this, Jonathan ushered me back to my room and told me to get ready fast. I was considering falling back asleep, but then I remembered that it was my birthday! I really do need to stop forgetting about that… I check the clock to see what time it is, and it reads 8:23 AM. I really should still be sleeping… Anyways, I unplug my phone from its charger and check it to see if I have any messages.

2 missed calls from Simon

12 missed calls from Isabelle

3 messages from Simon

39 messages from Isabelle

2 messages from Maia

18 messages from Magnus

1 message from Alec

1 message from Jordan

I roll my eyes at Isabelle's antics. Isabelle was my best girl-friend and a bit of a drama queen. I decided to check her messages first, and then call her back, since she would probably attack me with one of her 8-inch stilettos if I did anything otherwise.

12:00 AM: HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLARY!

12:02 AM: Clary?!

12:04 AM: CLARY! ANSWER MEEEEEE!

12:29 AM: Ugh, if you don't call me back by noon tomorrow, I will stab you with my heels! And happy birthday again ;)

The rest of her messages were either random strings of emojis or more threats. I laugh a little to myself before clicking the call icon under her name. She picks up on the first ring, which is something she usually does, but still scary…

"Clary?! It's about time, you have no idea how long I've been waiting!" she says in a tone that I would have easily believed if I hadn't known any better.

"Oh, quit being so dramatic, Iz."

"Okay, fine, not that long, but still!" she says in an exasperated tone causing me to laugh. "Anywhooo, how's your birthday been going, Miss Seventeen?"

I giggle a bit before replying, "It was going pretty well, but then I woke up to Jon and Jace trying to 'cook,'" I tell her with an eye-roll.

Our conversation goes on for a little while longer after that. I told her about what I did the night before and my eventful morning. Note the sarcasm. I also called Simon, and he said that he and the rest of my friends were going to come over later to hang out. I honestly had no idea what was going to happen today, but usually, in years past Jon and my parents plan something involving my close friends.

I decide now would be a good time to start getting ready, so I force myself to get off my bed—again—and walk over to my room. I don't look any different than I did when I was sixteen, which makes me think that all those cliche high school romance movies were big, fat lies. Well, I mean, I already thought that, but still! Since it was still summer, I usually didn't leave the house, so I didn't wear super nice clothes very often. Many people would call may lazy, but I like to think of it as being practical.

After trying to choose an outfit for a while, I finally settle on a thin beige sweater with a white shirt layered underneath, with light-washed blue jeans, and I leave a pair of light brown boots just in case we go out later.

By the time I'm done getting ready, it's 9:07 AM, and just then I hear the door open. I figure it's my parents, so I leave my room and make my way to the living room since that's where I hear my mom's voice coming from.

"Did you two finish?"

"Well, we, uh, you'll see!" Jon told her nervously, while Jace let out an awkward chuckle.

At this point, I decide to make my presence known, so I walk into the room. My dad seems very shocked when I do this, probably because I never wake up earlier than 10 AM, and I'm showered and ready almost a whole hour earlier than that.

"Clary?" he asks with a very odd look on his face.

"What are you doing up?" my mom asks following his gaze.

I roll my eyes, is it really that hard to believe that I'm up early?! Okay, maybe it is. Maybe.

"Well, it's my birthday, right?" As I say this, I see Jace and Jonathan's eye-rolls, as they're thinking back to our previous… situation.

"Of course, sweetheart," my mother says with a smile, "Now, why don't you kids take a seat and put on a show or something. Valentine and I have things to attend to at the moment."

And with that, she drags my father away to the kitchen, leaving me alone with the two boys. Not my most preferable place.

It's not that I didn't like spending time with either of them. Jonathan and I were very close, at least compared to other siblings. But Jace… I used to have a massive crush on him, but in her defense nearly every single other girl that came in contact with him did too, growing up. He was the "bad boy" and anyone would admit that he was gorgeous. The main reason I had pushed my feelings away to the depths of her mind, was because of Jonathan. He and Jace had been closer than brothers since they were 5 and I was 4. I knew that if anything were to actually happen between them, well, he would be pissed, to put it lightly.

Anyway, back to reality. I had zoned out for so long that the boys had put one of my favorite movies on without me noticing. It was Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Harry Potter was one of my favorite books, and I also loved watching the movies every now and then.

Once I was situated on the couch, I noticed that the boys were quietly arguing about something that I couldn't quite hear. I decided it wasn't important and devoted her full attention to the movie.

-O-o-O-

At around 6 PM, I was in the middle of drawing a scene from the book that I was just reading, when my bedroom door was pushed open.

Jonathan walked into the room with a grin plastered onto his face. It was the same grin I wore when I was up to something mischievous (their grin was the only part of their physical appearances that they shared, besides their green eyes).

"Hello, Clary," he said in a mock-professional voice that made her roll me eyes but smile nonetheless, "Would you accompany me to the basement?"

The basement? "Um, why?"

"Uh… that's not important! Follow me, now!"

She hesitatingly obeyed, still very confused until the realization dawned on her. For the third time that day, she had forgotten it was her birthday. That was seriously starting to get weird.

Anyway, she guessed that her family was planning something for her birthday! Now, she was more enthusiastic about going to the basement. Jon noticed this and chuckled at her antics.

A few moments later, Jon and I reached the basement. The lights were on, but I wasn't able to see anyone or hear anything in the room. All of a sudden, everyone jumped out and yelled "SURPRISE!"

I was shocked, to say the least, but she managed to thank everyone for coming and to people wishing her happy birthday. It was a rather small group of people, which is what I preferred. My parents left the basement a while later, leaving us kids by ourselves.

Right now, I was in the middle of talking to Simon about one of our favorite books, when Isabelle asked, "So, Clary, what have you done so far today?"

I told her about everything that happened until my parents got home, and then laughed a little to myself when I remembered what happened after we watched the movie.

My mom called us to the kitchen to eat breakfast, which consisted of a variety of foods. She told me about how she asked Jace and Jon to get the ingredients ready and start preparing the food for her since she and my dad were running late, but the boys made a total mess of the kitchen. When I looked over at them with a raised eyebrow, they started defending themselves immediately. They both said that it was the other boy's fault, so I wasn't exactly sure what to believe, but it did explain the situation they were in when she woke up.

I finished telling my story, and after a few more hours, the party had started to die down. The only thing left for everyone else to do was watch me open her presents. It was a tradition within their friend group (Me, Jonathan, Jace, Simon, Izzy, Alec, and Magnus) that on the person's birthday, they open all the presents in front of everyone.

Jonathan had given me my gift from him earlier, at the same time my parents did.

Alec and Magnus, who recently started dating, gave her a joint gift. It was the A Song of Ice and Fire box set. I had already watched the show, Game of Thrones, and had wanted to read the books for a while but never got a chance to. It was something I had told her friends a couple of times but I wasn't expecting anyone to get me the books!

Simon got me a t-shirt that said "I'm not short; I'm concentrated awesome," which made me laugh, along with everyone else, and roll my eyes.

Isabelle got me some clothes, about half of the bag was stuff I would actually wear while the other half was full of things that she was always trying to make me wear. But I was grateful nonetheless.

Lastly, Jace's gift was a small box that resembled a jewelry box. I looked at him quizzically, but he just urged me to open it, so I did, and inside of it was a necklace with four charms on it. There was the deathly hallows symbol (From Harry Potter), the TARDIS (From Doctor Who), a circle that reads "221B" (From Sherlock), and lastly a miniature version of the One Ring (From Lord of the Rings). It seemed like it was custom-made because it had 4 of my favorite things, and it was rare that I found something so perfect pre-made. I was staring at the necklace in awe and wondering why he would put so much thought into a gift for me.

I thanked all of my friends, individually told them how much I loved their gifts and gave them each a hug before we moved on.

Everyone was staying for a sleepover, so we stayed up until around 3 AM playing games and just having a good time.

I fell asleep happy and peaceful, blissfully unaware of what would soon be coming my way…