Disclaimer: I do not own the Mortal Instruments series. Everything recognisable belongs to Cassandra Clare.
What Clary reads is taken from the Shadowhunters Codex written by Cassandra Clare and Joshua Lewis.
I think this can be considered a fast update, right?
And I hear you guys, you want Clace! So I've tried to give you some of it, probably not exactly what you wanted, but it's important for the rest of the story. Please just bear with me.
The next two weeks passed slowly. Clary had kept to herself most of the time, only being interrupted by either Jocelyn or Jonathan asking her simple questions, "Are you hungry?", "Did you sleep well?", "Is there something you need?".
Clary continued her routine of not answering.
Clary sat in one of the comfortable chairs in the library with an old copy of The Shadowhunter's Codex. There was no reason for Clary to actually read the book; she basically knew it by heart now. Her father had always pushed her to read books, all types of books. The Gray Book, books describing both Shadowhunter and Downworlder lives and natures, fighting techniques.
Her father's words rang in her ears, "Clarissa, fighting is not the only superior advantage you have." She remembered asking him what he meant, "Knowledge. If you have knowledge, you have power."
That was all it took, it sometimes surprised Clary how easily affected she was by his words.
The Codex lay open in her lap, on a passage about the magical Wards. She had to Clary's relief received another 'call' from her father. He had informed her that they were studying the wards placed around the Institute from its centre, Wrangel Island. They couldn't enter the Institute because of the wards placed around, Clary didn't know exactly what they'd done, but it kept intruders from entering, even those possessing Nephilim blood.
Clary had gotten a witchlight, which enlightened the place around her. The new wards placed around the Institute had left most of the Institute in darkness. Only the kitchen and training room was given powers. This didn't really bother Clary, when she was at home in Morgenstern Manor the powerful misdirection wards and protection wards kept the whole manor without power, forcing them to rely on witchlights and Clary's useful runes to keep the place going.
Clary was deep into the books pages, 'Wards are the simplest magic we know of, other than glamours. All Shadowhunter wards are pale reflections of the great wards of our world, the protections that largely prevent demons from entering.' Clary scanned the page quickly.
'Wards exist at all levels of power. Today wards can be quite complex, and specific as to who is warded and who is allowed through.' Clary sighed. She already knew all of this and after reading it over a few times she turned the page.
"Trying to find a way out?" a voice behind her rang in her ears.
Clary closed the book and turned her head, looking up at Jace Herondale. He was wearing a pale blue shirt, the sleeves rolled carelessly up barely covering his elbows, and a pair of mundane jeans.
Clary didn't answer, seeing as he already knew what the answer would be.
"You don't talk much, do you Ariel?" asked Jace, sitting down in the chair facing hers. He placed both his feet onto the table separating them and looked at her.
"Not to you. And it's Clary." Clary told him with a growl and put the Codex down on the table.
"I know." Jace replied with a shrug, leaning back in his chair.
Clary picked up another book, trying to find out something about the wards she didn't already know. Opening the book and looking at the page for a few minutes.
Jace was clearly looking at her. Growing more irritated by the second, Clary looked up at him.
"Is there something you want?" Clary snapped.
"Nope. I just like being here. It's not my fault you had to be here as well." Jace told her with a smirk on his lips. Clary had noticed he usually smiled that way, careful and mischievous.
Clary rolled her eyes visibly and met the boy's golden stare. "I'll gladly leave." she informed him and was about to stand up when he declared, "You'll come to like it you know."
Clary looked at him calmly, "Like what?"
"The Institute, it grows on you. You'll come to like it, just wait and see." Jace smiled a loop-sided smile.
"Well, don't hold your breathe. Or do it, I don't really care." Clary snapped back and got to her feet.
She heard Jace chuckle cynically and in the matter of seconds, he too was on his feet.
"Why are you making this so hard for yourself? You're lucky, you know that?" Jace looked into her emerald green eyes as she turned to face him.
"Lucky? You Shadowhunters have called me a lot of things while I've been here, but lucky it's a first." Clary raised her voice as she spoke angry.
"Well you are. After what you've done, you are lucky they didn't strip you of your marks and leave you as a mundane or just killed you. You're lucky that you've gotten a second chance, and you should take it, after all it's not normal for the Clave to give second chances, and certainly not to someone like you!" He had raised his voice, but it still held the uninterested tone.
"Someone like me?" Clary snapped back at him, "You mean someone with demon blood?"
Jace set his jaw in a stubborn line as he struggled to find the words he was looking for, "Well, yes. It's not like you can deny it." he said finally.
"It's not like I want to either." she replied.
She was, again, about to turn around and leave when he spoke up. "Hey. I didn't mean that."
Clary looked at him in confusion. "Didn't mean what?"
"That whole demon blood thing." his luminous eyes rested on her as she narrowed her eyes about to answer him when another voice rang from the doorway.
"JACE!" a boy with the same blond locks as Jace walked into the library, "I can't believe you, you said you would help me train at four, in five minutes, it's six." he had bright blue eyes that stared with irritation at his older brother.
"Iwan, I completely forgot." Jace said with a smirk playing on his lips.
"No you didn't, you just didn't want to." Iwan replied and leaned against the door.
"Yeah, you're right." Said Jace shortly walking past Clary, ignoring her.
Clary went back to the chair and picked up the Codex from the table. Both boys were about to leave when the younger boy turned around with a mischievous smile on his lips, "Do you want to come?" he asked Clary.
She could hear the older Herondale boy swear under his breath at his younger brother.
"I'm not," Clary began before she realised they might not know she wasn't allowed into the training room. "Yeah, sure." Clary smiled falsely. Iwan smiled, while Jace frowned slightly at her reply.
It was a short walk to the training room and they had mostly walked in silence, if one didn't count the younger Nephilim and his short, meaningless questions.
Both boys went into the changing room, while Clary looked around. It was the same room they had kept her in before she had changed into her true self, when they questioned her.
It took nothing more than two minutes for both Herondales to enter the room. They looked like two copies of the same person, one slightly younger than the other, and with blue eyes.
Jace ignored Clary as he lifted a sword; it had a cruciform hilt with a straight double-edged blade and he commanded that his brother did the same.
Clary looked at the sword Jace had in his hand, he instructed his brother and soon the swift movements of the boys encircled the room. Clary heard metal hit metal with soft clinks.
Both Jace and Iwan moved quickly, giving the other little time to think, making the opponents next move more instinctual. Jace was clearly overpowering his brother after a little while, the blue eyed boy breathing heavy moving fast, his sword hitting the silver sword in his brother's hands.
Jace blocked him and linked his own heavy sword in the one in Iwan's hands and with a powerful move the boy lost his sword. Jace pointed the tip of his sword at Iwan, before lowering it giving Iwan an irritated comment about gripping his sword better if he wanted to survive.
Clary backed away, leaning against the cold walls in the training room. She found the fighting fascinating; it felt like a long time since she had held a sword herself. Even if Clary liked the slender blades of rapiers better, especially the ones Maggie had made of silver and gold. Silver for Downworlder protection and gold for demons.
She found herself lost in thoughts when she saw the Herondale boys had moved on to another exercise. With a thick dagger in his hand, Iwan weighted his body correctly before throwing the dagger fast through the air. It hit its target, a human looking dummy, in the chest, but it clearly missed the heart, where he was aiming.
Clary uttered in suspiration, "You know, knife throwing is probably the least profitable skill to possess."
Jace turned around as the other boy threw another knife. "Excuse me, did you say something?" Jace asked in an annoyed tone.
"Yeah," Clary pushed away from the wall, "As a matter of fact I did. You shouldn't teach him how to throw knives." she declared.
"Oh." The single exclamation dripped of sarcasm as he looked at Clary, "And why is that?"
"Well, primarily, how are you supposed to carry enough knives for it to actually be a useful weapon? Secondly, it's a lot more difficult to make than other weapons, like arrows or chakrams." Clary pointed out, receiving a glare from the golden eyed boy.
"You probably just don't know how to throw a knife properly." Said Jace irritated.
"Seriously?" she exclaimed as she walked towards him. "I know perfectly well how to throw a knife." she raised her voice slightly as she spoke.
Jace just raised his eyebrows at her before turning to his brother again. He told Iwan to keep going, but the younger boy wasn't finished with Clary.
"Prove it." He said loudly.
"What?" Clary asked startled.
"Prove that you know how to throw a knife 'perfectly well.'" He air quoted her words and slid a sharp dagger toward her.
Clary picked it up and looked at him astonished. "You want me to throw a dagger?" Clary asked.
"Yep." Iwan replied at the same time as Jace said "No."
Clary smirked at the uneasy looking Jace before replying with a short, "Okay."
Clary walked over to the place where Iwan stood, her hand carefully gripping the hilt of the dagger.
Jace eyed Clary as she moved, his tense gaze following her movements carefully. She knew he would be ready to attack if she as much as moved an inch too much towards his brother.
The dagger felt familiar in Clary's hand, it honestly was one of Clary's favourite, but she rarely used them in battle.
Clary looked at the dummy Iwan had stabbed. His knife was still caught inside the body's chest.
Jace sent her a warning look before backing away. Clary saw a glimpse of concentration in Jace's eyes that had nothing to do with anger or protection towards his brother. What Clary saw was the lust to see her actually preform the throw, he knew she was good, and after fighting her, he wanted to see how well she did when she was not attacked by four other shadowhunters, or a Greater Demon. But Clary didn't know that.
Clary inhaled before placing the knife in a blade grip in her dominant hand. She took one step back and lifted her hand, bending her wrist slightly.
Iwan looked at her suspiciously, irritation from her words showing in his expression.
Clary moved her hand rapidly and the knife zoomed through the air. The knife cut into the dummy's neck, violently tearing it apart.
"You didn't hit the heart either." Iwan stated with a satisfied smile on his lips.
"I didn't aim for the heart." Clary replied, sending the boy an annoyed look.
The blue eyed boy looked back at her raising one eyebrow. "Why?"
"Because that's dumb, that's why." Clary sighed and walked to pick up the knife.
Jace looked at her with a slight smirk curving one side of his lips up.
"It's not; the heart is one of the most important organs in a body and-" Iwan's sentence was cut off, "The heart is not that easy to hit, as you just demonstrated with that horrible throw. You will probably miss or leave your opponent capable of continue fighting." Clary explained.
"Not if I throw it hard enough." Iwan shrugged.
"Yeah, but you would have to get through the sternum and the ribs before you could even touch the heart, and if you do get your knife as far, you can't be sure you actually threw the knife hard enough to kill or seriously maim your opponent." Clary continued.
"Okay, so why did you stab it in the neck!" Iwan asked somewhat provoked.
Clary smirked and touched the dummy's neck, showing the rift her knife had made.
"Parting a carotid artery in the neck cuts off the blood supply to the brain." Said Clary in a bored voice. "Your victim may be conscious for up to half a minute after, but nothing more, and if you stab the neck right it will also cause your victim to aspirate blood that will lead to suffocation and eventually death."
Iwan looked up at Clary with narrow eyes. He bit his lower lip contemplating her words.
"Can you show me?" He asked with a wide smile on his lips.
Clary could hear Jace groan irritated and looked up meeting his golden eyes. A nearly invisible smile played on his lips and he looked away.
A short chuckle escaped Clary and she looked Iwan again, "No." she replied and turned around.
"What? Why not?" He asked stubbornly, his age showing in his words.
"Because you said the heart is the most important organ. Learn how to stab it."
"No, but-" Iwan looked at Clary with twinkling blue eyes.
"I don't want to teach you anything." said Clary.
"But, you can't just.." Iwan's words died as they left his mouth.
"Yes I can." Clary told him and began walking away from him, her tense exterior back in place.
As she moved towards the door she mentally cursed her own behaviour, but she didn't get a long time reflecting it, as she opened the door a redheaded Shadowhunter stormed inside.
"Clary!" she sounded out of breath.
"I've said it a million times now Fairchild, don't call me that."
"Clarissa." she corrected herself and continued, "What are you doing here, you know you aren't allowed into the training room."
"Of course I know that, but they, they don't." Clary pointed at the two Herondale boys and sent Jocelyn a smirk.
Jace sent Clary an anger filled look, but before he could say something to her, Jocelyn grabbed Clary's arm and began dragging her out of the room. "LET ME GO!" Clary snapped angry.
"Fine, but get out. I don't want the guards to see you in here, you should know better than going against direct orders." Jocelyn snapped back.
"I do, I just wanted to show you how easy it is to get in there. You can't control everything I do." Clary smirked.
"By the angel Clarissa, I don't want to control you. I want to show you that you don't belong with your father, he's not a good man." Jocelyn said.
"A good man, are you really going there? You think you have any say in who's good and evil in this world?" Clary yelled back angry.
A flash of hurt shone in Jocelyn's eyes, but it was gone in a second.
"Just get back to your room, I'll tell them I found you." Jocelyn said stiffly.
Clary growled an answer and walked down the stairs to the residential wing. Her head had begun thumping painfully again and she massaged her temples carefully. She let her hand slide down the side of her face, brushing her scar with her fingertips. Anger consumed her as she slammed the door to her room closed and leaned against the door.
So, what did you think? Please leave a review, because I love reading what you think. Next chapter will be up soon.
And just keep in mind that this chapter was a very important chapter for future chapters, I'm sorry it wasn't very long and not a lot of action happened, but it will be some action in a few chapters.