CHAPTER-3
(Jace POV)
They were all going to check out the apartments when Alec came to Jace. "Hey, do you mind going to check out the place? I have to drive Izzy to Bane's." "Why? Jordon and I are going later to check out the things needed. She can come with us then," Jace said. "Do you think Izzy would wait?" Alec retorted. The former chuckled. "Alright I will be at 'home'."
Jace then made his way towards the apartment. It was a small and modern place. Enough for them. As he stood by regarding the place, something -or rather someone- crashed into him. It was a petite girl with straight blonde hair and spectacles. She was carrying a big box which had now fallen on the floor. Her head was tilted, holding a phone wedged between it and her shoulder. Her green eyes were wide with shock and panic. "Oh by the angels! I am so sorry. I wasn't watching where I was going. It was my fault. I am kind of klutzy and don't pay attention to my surroundings. I was talking to a friend and was so engrossed that I didn't notice you at all. Did I hurt you?" she said, her cheeks flustered, talking so fast that Jace hardly understood what she said. For some reason her flush didn't get along with her blonde hair. She was trying to look anywhere but Jace's face. Jace then realized that he hadn't said anything yet.
"It's no problem really." He said, flashing her a smile which soon turned to a smirk as he said, "And I don't think you could do some damage even if you wanted to." She narrowed her eyes and frowned at him but didn't say anything. It seemed as if she was trying to control herself. "You must be new here. I haven't seen you here before," she said. "So must you be," Jace said, tilting his head at the fallen box. She sighed, "For your information, I have been here for four days. I just hadn't shifted my stuff completely. Now tell me, where are you moving?" He raised an eyebrow at her forwardness. "Right there," he said, pointing to the apartment which was supposedly his now. "Great. Another idiot neighbour." she muttered in low voice, but he heard anyway. "Something bothering you?" he asked, grinning. "No, nothing at all." She said in a voice dripping with fake sweetness. "Welcome to the neighborhood, neighbour. I live in the apartment next door if you need anything." She said with a little more enthusiasm than necessary and with a bye, she hurried to her apartment. So she is Izzy's flatmate. Well, at least he'll get to see her again.
As he opened the door to the apartment with the passcode Alec had told him, he thought about what had happened. He didn't even get her name. He shook his head and made his way to his new temporary living space. Before he got through the second door beside the stairs, a dark haired man called out from above, "Hey you! How did you get in? What do you want?" Woah, Jace didn't even hear a sound. This never happened. Sebastian. Of course. He lived on the first floor. But Jace could feel that he wasn't your normal neighbourhood buddy. Jace masked his face into a shy one and answered, "Uh hey, I just shifted here. Ground floor of the apartment. Just came in to check the place." "Oh ya. So sorry man. It completely slipped my mind. You must be Liam." He said while descending the stairs, walking towards Jace. Liam was Alec's code name. "No no. Liam is on his way here. I am Jason. I will be living here along with him," he told him. "Right. Well I'm Sebastian. And the other black haired guy you might see in this apartment will be Raphael. So, how did you find this place?" Oh, now he was interrogating Jace. Brilliant. "Well Idris is a small place and we needed a place to live. We just shifted here from Allicante."
Yes that was the cover story. Liam and Jason were two best friends who had shifted to Idris to take care of Jason's grandma and find a job here in their hometown. "Why did you shift here? Allicante is a far better place." The other asked, voicing his curiosity. "Believe me I know. But I ran my car over a guy that I hated. So we had to run away and thus needed a new place to live." Jace said in all seriousness. "Well I will be careful not to be on your hate side then," Sebastian said, chuckling. "Hey I have to go. See you around Jason. Maybe we can hang out later sometime." Jace flashed him a fake grin, "Yes that would be great. It would do me good to have some friends around." As he made his way out, Jace breathed a sigh. That was close.
Okay. The place was decent enough. Now what did he have to do? The micro cams, right. He first checked if someone was there in the apartment. When he found no one, he started fitting the cams in the apartment at various places and some on the outside as well. You never know when you need them. Better safe than sorry. Now he had to wait for Jordon. So he did the only thing a sane person would do after this morning. He decided to take a nap. Sleep was like an escape from the present world where he travelled to the past and welcomed the memories that he usually tucked in the deepest corner of his mind. It was the only place he met her, so he always welcomed sleep with open arms. He jumped into the bed and allowed sleep to take me to another world, where perhaps she were still here, where he wouldn't have to grieve her, every living second.
.o0o.
(Alec POV)
Alec and his darling sister pulled in front of Bane's residence. If Alec said he was not nervous he would be lying. He hadn't met Magnus before and he seemed to be an important guy. As they got out of the car, Alec noticed how huge the house was. Scratch that, it was a huge mansion. Izzy strutted down the path as if she owned the place. Alec sighed internally and followed her. He knocked on the door and a high pitched male voice was heard saying coming. When the door opened, Alec felt as if the world turned upside down. He really didn't expect this. Standing in the doorway was the most flamboyant person he had ever seen in his life. He looked Asian in appearance from the curve of his eyes. Sparkly, that's the most appropriate word to describe him. His hair, eyes, clothes everything. And his eyes, by the angels. Those cat-like amber eyes, Alec suddenly jerked himself out of his daze realizing that he had been staring and that he had thought all that in a span of half a second. "Shadowhunters," he said. "Welcome to my humble abode." Alec scoffed internally. Humble, right. "I don't remember getting any notification that you people will be visiting," he continued. "Magnus," Izzy who had been standing behind Alec squealed and pushed his aside to hug Magnus. "Isabelle sweetie," Magnus said in a tone equivalent to Izzy's. "Long time, no see. And who is this magnificent beauty that you brought along?" "Oh hush Magnus. Go easy. That's my younger brother, Alec." Izzy told him. "Elder" Alec corrected. "I know, dear Alexander. Isabelle can't fool me. I have heard about you. Perhaps we can meet some time outside work." he said winking at Alec openly. "But for now, let's do business. What will you be needing Isabelle?" And that is how Alec turned red as the reddest tomato and for about an hour Izzy followed Magnus like a lost puppy.
Izzy was looking up various disguises with some special devices that the two had worked out together. Alec wouldn't know. He had no such interest in that sort of thing. He had the fashion sense of a zebra or so Izzy said. So he just sat by the whole time. The most boring work in this world is to go shopping with Izzy, and this was even beyond shopping. This was Izzy's passion. Angels! When will this end? As soon as he thought this, they both came out and he sighed in relief. The angels had finally listened to his pleading. Alec and Izzy were walking towards the car with Izzy squealing like a kid who got candy and with Alec's hands full of bags, when Magnus called out to them, well particularly to Alec. "Hey blue eyes! I got the news that goldilocks and Jordon are coming." Wait. Was Alec the only person who had not met him? He even knew Jace. Magnus continued, disrupting his thoughts. "Whatever they would need, I won't be able to deliver them immediately right then. So you," he said giving emphasis, "come tomorrow morning to pick up the equips." "Why me?!" Alec asked indignantly. "Because I said so," he said waving his hand dismissively and walking back inside the house, no mansion. Alec stared at the closed door in uncertainty while Izzy let out a laugh. He glared at her. "What are you laughing for?" Izzy just continued laughing. "Oh my innocent Alexander," she said, mimicking Magnus. "He so wants to see you again! And you were blushing like crazy. Tell me brother dear, do you have a crush?" Alec stared at Izzy in horror. If he said anything, he would definitely stutter and then she would never leave him with this gibberish. So he just walked to the car. Izzy sat in and started singing. "Alec has a cruush. Alec and Magnus. Sitting under the tree. Kissing" Looks like anyways, she won't leave him alone. In that moment, the thought of murdering his biological sister passed through his mind. But he just drove the car.
He would get his revenge later.
He stopped the car in front of the apartment. Izzy went to check out hers while he walked into the one that was supposedly his now. Liam's. He knocked on the door because he knew Jace was inside. But Jace didn't answer. So Alec used the passcode he got from Helen and opened the door. Jace was sleeping as expected. It's better not to disturb him when he is sleeping if you don't fancy a red hand printed on your face till the next day. Alec knew from experience. He never tried doing it after that. He started thinking about this assignment. Guess this mission will be the slow kind. Just sitting and waiting for news to pop up somewhere. Jace suddenly stirred. "Hey Alec." He greeted, squinting his eyes. "Coffee," he mumbled. "We don't have anything here yet. Our belongings will be brought by someone from the agency but we still need to go grocery shopping." Alec told him while inspecting the place from inside. "You go shopping. I will go get myself some coffee," Jace said, rubbing his eyes and getting out of bed. What the heck? Is today annoy the hell out of Alec day? Alec thought grumpily as Jace stumbled outside, leaving him to do the second worst thing in the world.
.o0o.
(Jace POV)
As Jace went out of the house, he could hear Alec calling, "Don't forget your meeting with Jordon." Oh yeah, it was in about ..he checked his watch..15 minutes. He quickly made his way to Java Jones, Sebastian's favourite coffee shop according to his files. Let's check it out then. It was a nice place by the look of it but the coffee would decide the final result. He went to the counter and was about to order black coffee when he heard a slightly familiar voice, "Hey new neighbour." He turned around and saw the girl from the morning.
The words got him thinking why he always meet unwanted people at inappropriate times. She was sitting at the table next to the counter, with another girl. Jace cursed her timings. He had been waiting for so long to get his hands on those beautiful guns. What did he do wrong for the angels to delay his visit like this? But whatever. He answered her with a hey and made his way to the table, all the while being amused at the fact that he didn't even know her name. "I see you found the origin of world's best coffee," she said as Jace sat down at the table, "We were just ordering. You can order along with us only." They ordered their respective things; Jace ordered his black coffee like usual and to his surprise the morning girl ordered the same. He quickly messaged Jordon to pick him up as he wouldn't be able to reach their meeting spot in time. "Hey, I didn't get your name this morning," Jace said casually "and 'the morning girl' seems way too big for a name." She grinned. "The name's Adams, Roxanne Adams." Jace let out a chuckle at her James Bond's connotation.
"Jason." He said in return. "Jason," she said as if testing it, but she seemed oddly amused. "Well nice to meet you Jason. Call me Roxy. And this is Sophia. I just met her too." Jace looked at her friend for the first time properly and what he saw left him gaping. It was Izzy. She was wearing spectacles and blue contact lenses. Jace didn't know much about makeup but he could see that she had somewhat toned down her cheekbones. Her clothes were completely not her type with the loose shirt and leggings she was wearing. Her hair were unkept compared to the normal 'Izzy hair'. And flats! She had ditched her heels! She had done quite a work. No wonder why Jace couldn't recognize her immediately. She smirked when she saw his face. The morning girl, Roxy, Jace corrected, looked between them and asked, "Do you two know each other?" Izzy immediately said, "Oh yes. Sort of. We were from the same high school. I was waiting for if he will recognize me. Nice to see you again Jason." Jace gave her a fake smile, "You too Sophia. You look changed." She grinned at him and he could see her enjoying herself.
"So Jason, how come I see you in this part of Idris? Weren't you supposed to be in Allicante?" He groaned internally as he saw that Izzy had no intentions to let him go. "Change of scenery." He said giving her a pleasant smile under which he was giving her his most poisonous look, which he knew she would see. "Allicante? Wow," Roxy said. "I also came here from Allicante. Though extraordinarily beautiful, it's quite small. And I don't remember seeing you there." She had a confused expression on her face. "I know almost all the people of Allicante," She explained further. Jace glared at Izzy. She always manages to land him in trouble. "Well I was supposed to go there," he drawled, "but the transfer my mom got, was cancelled. But I have been to Allicante. I was born there. I have so many beautiful memories of it. It really is beautiful as you said."
Roxy had a wistful expression on her face. "It is isn't it, especially if you are with the people you love. They make everything better." Then her face suddenly changed back to the normal face, the cheerful one. "Anyways," she said brightly, "Tell us about yourself Jason. Well me. I am sure Sophia knows the basics." Oh well. If they plan not to let him go, he may very well provide them with some entertainment till Jordon comes. "Well, I am not that interesting of a person. I am just a normal guy who likes coffee as black as his soul and hates ducks." Roxy laughed, "I wouldn't go as far as saying you are a normal guy. Who in the world would hate ducks? They are so cute." She had a giddy expression on her face, like young kids teasing each other. Like her. Control yourself Jace. Don't go there. "What?! Cute?! They are malevolent, cannibalistic creatures that are never to be trusted." She laughed even harder and Jace grinned. Even Izzy seemed amused. She might not have heard about this. Just then his phone rang.
It was Jordon. Finally. Jace excused himself and went outside to pick up the call.
"Hey Jace." Jordon said from the other end, his voice calm. "Do you have your emergency weapon?"
Crap. It was starting.
A/N: Heyaa pretties. Here is the next chapter. I hope it was good. It was short, I know. Also I got some reviews saying the length was fine but a guest suggested longer chapters for more insight and so I am gonna try a little longer chapters from now on. After this one I mean. Please READ AND REVIEW:)
Individual reply to comments:
Guest1: Thankyou so much. You don't know how glad I am that people are liking this. And yes Clary and Jon are siblings. The relations are all same as the book unless I mention a different story from the novel. I will tell you beforehand if I change something:)
atchleykera38: Glad you liked it. Here's more:)
Deblanchard34: Thank you. And yes, the story gets really exciting with Jon alive. I really really like the good Jon:)
blondechicka17: Here is the next chapter. Hope you like it:)
Lavander Hope: Thankyou for reading and reviewing. Hope you like this chapter:)
Kirito5: Thanks for reviewing. I hope you enjoy this chapter as well:)
Guest2: Thank you so much. Here is the further story. Please RnR:)
Guest3: Thank you for your wishes and speculations. I will definitely try writing longer chapters. Hope you like this chapter:)
Also sorry if there are any errors cauz I m too excited to upload this now. And I wrote a new story. Check it out!
~S