Disclaimer: I do not own the Mortal Instruments series. Everything recognisable belongs to Cassandra Clare.

Just to clear up: Last chapter, with Jace, Clary and the ring, yes she read his thoughts, I don't know if that could actually happen in the books, but I felt like Jace was begining to trust Clary a bit too much.

"I don't know, I mean, sure she would've grown up hating the Shadow world as we know it, living with my former husband." Jocelyn couldn't get herself to speak Valentine's name. Not before and certainly not after learning the truth about what had happened fifteen years ago. How he had kidnapped his own daughter.

Just thinking of the man's name made her inside twist in a horrible way, making her feel like she was two seconds away from throwing up.

"What do you mean as we know it?" Celine asked, bringing a cup of hot, calming green tea down on the table next to her clearly upset friend.

Jocelyn had known Celine almost her whole life, growing up in Idris together and going to the Academy. When they were younger, due to Celine's abusive childhood, Jocelyn had never really gotten to know the beautiful blond Shadowhunter, not until they turned fourteen.

Valentine had a way of convincing people his words were the only truth. A way of showing people the light, no matter how dark the end of the tunnel would turn out to become.

Celine had trusted the cunning, clever and handsome man that ended up being Jocelyn's future husband. She had put her trust in a man that showed her kindness beyond anything she had even experienced before.

After Celine joined the Circle, she and Jocelyn grew closer and closer, forming a bond that later proved to be a honourable parabatai worthy relationship. They had always been by each other sides, never losing faith in one another, not even when the days seemed darkest.

Celine and Luke had been the two closest people she had after the Uprising, losing her mother, husband and daughter. They had grown as close as a family could get. Celine had been the one slowly nudging Jocelyn back into the Shadowhunter society.

"I mean our new type of views, our new allegiances with the Downworlders, even though that seems to go downhill with the vampires at the moment," Jocelyn added with a shudder "Clary never grew up in this society, she lived with the same supremacist we grew up with."

Celine curled down on herself like she was trying to vanish from Jocelyn's sight. Celine and Jocelyn had never shared the view of Valentine Morgenstern, as he wanted the Downworlders wiped form the surface of the planet.

"I know it might seem scary Jocelyn, getting her back and not being able to understand her behaviour and difficult background, but I promise you it will get better. We will get Clary Fairchild back." It was impossible to dislike Celine; she had this sweetness in her voice and her chocolate brown eyes made you trust what she said, no matter how ridiculous it actually was.

"I'm not scared." Her voice sounded surprised as the words left her thin lips, "I guess it doesn't make sense, I should be scared of what he has made of my child." her voice barely raised above a whisper.

"But it doesn't make me scared, it makes me sick and so, so angry. It makes me want to find him and make him pay for the monstrous things he's done to my family. It makes me hate him even more than I already do to know he experimented with her, making her.." Jocelyn choked on the salty tears pressing dangerously close to her eyes, "a demon."

"No. Jocelyn don't say that, Clary is not a demon. She might have blood of a demon in her veins, but she is far from a demon. What she did for Iwan and Max, I owe her my life for that. A demon would never even consider saving my son." Celine's voice grew strong; powerful enough to make the tears behind Jocelyn's eyes disappear.

"You're right." She nodded, "I didn't.. I didn't mean it that way, I know she's not."

xxxx

Jonathan propped down in the chair next to where his sister sat with her nose buried in another book.

"Do you have a goal of reading all the books we have in the Institute? Because if so, I think you'll be staying here longer than even the Consul is planning on keeping you here." Jonathan sent Clary a brilliant, unreciprocated smile.

Clary looked up from her book, sending him an irritated look. "Unfortunately for your Consul, I'm only reading enough books to find my own way out of this hellhole."

Jonathan replied with a soft laughter, "You never fail to be a delightful companion Clary."

Clary plastered a fake smile on her lips, "What do you want?"

"I just wanted to check how you're doing." Jonathan replied, narrowing his eyes.

"I'm fine, thank you for asking." Clary answered indifferently.

"You sure? Because I spoke with mom earlier and she seemed pretty concerned about something." Jonathan leaned forward in his chair, staring at his redheaded sister with great intensity.

"I'm sure she did." Clary's words left a bitter taste in the air, making him lock his bottle green eyes with hers.

"Your neck isn't healing." It wasn't a question.

Clary smirked, sending a shock of confusion through Jonathan. "What?" he asked.

Clary lifted her red hair away from her neck, revealing a perfectly healed neck, only a pinkish pair of dots left as a reminder of the bite.

"Your mother might be a great manipulative little bitch Jonathan, but you can tell that I am a thousand times stronger than her, and I'm not scared of her and her little tricks."

Jonathan stared at his sister in complete bewilderment. "Okay?" he said sceptically, "May I ask what my mother has done?"

A strange expression appeared on Clary's stony face, she seemed almost hurt, anger flashed in her eyes, but the anger was not directed towards him. "If you don't already know, there is probably no need for you to know now either." Her voice was low, breathed out with a handful of air.

He sent her another confused gaze, what the hell was the meaning of that cryptic message?

"Fine, I don't need to know. But I hope you know what your father has done, because-" Clary stopped his angry reply, "Because he acted like a father to me." Clary told him.

"My father taught me the things Fairchild never did. My father taught me how to fight, how to survive." Clary explained, her voice dangerously calm.

"Didn't do such a good job did he, seeing as you're here and not with him." Jonathan had meant it as an insult, but Clary just smirked unaffected by his words.

"Yes, well I have to agree with you on that one Fairchild, a minor setback, I admit that." Jonathan noticed the cruel twitch in her lip as she spoke. Like she had the power to kill him with the flick of her finger if she wanted to.

"But as you can see," Clary lifted her book, showing him the cover. "I'm already working on that am I not?"

"You can just forget it Clary. You won't find a way out, and Valentine won't come for you either. You're as good as dead to him by now." Jonathan didn't know if what he said was true, hadn't Valentine tried to break her out of the Silent City, he would probably try again. But he wouldn't manage it. Jonathan was sure of that.

Clary relaxed back in her chair, a chuckle leaving her lips.

"If that is what you think Jonathan, you really don't know our father very well." Clary bit her lip hiding the wicked smile pressing at the corner of her lips.

xxxx

Clary was left alone with a deadly silence hanging in the room. Her head had begun aching in a steady rhythm following her heartbeat.

She watched as Jonathan's white blond hair disappeared around the corner. He had been dressed in casual mundane clothes, which still surprised Clary. The Shadowhunters living in the New York Institute seemed to have such a carefree dress code. They often used mundane clothing, and it was something Clary still hadn't become fully comfortable with.

She brushed her red hair over her neck again, covering her small scar. After she and Jace had parted yesterday Clary had applied a perfectly normal healing rune to the skin beside her wound. She knew why it hadn't healed, and she was one hundred per cent sure Fairchild knew as well. In fact, she had probably made sure her bleeding wound hadn't been healing.

Leaving a vampire bite open and bleeding like hers was not dangerous, but after a little while it became extremely painful.

The only thing she had to do was apply an iratze, and the skin would be as good as new. When Clary had gotten back from the Hotel she had been so severely bruised, which forced the healing runes they had applied to Clary's body to work on the larger cuts as bruises first, leaving the marks to die before they got to heal her vampire bite.

It left Clary an intense disgust, Fairchild was just like her father had told her she was. Manipulative and guileful.

xxxx

Hours turned into days in a matter of seconds. At least it felt that way. Iwan bit his lip. It was the end of September, and the Academy would start up their training programs again. Iwan and Max were starting their first year there in two days, and even though Iwan would never admit it out loud; he was terrified.

The other Shadowhunter kids could be twice, or even thrice as good as him. He knew both his father and Jace had given him the best pre-academy training they could, and the Herondale's had a reputation of being fantastic fighters.

His grandfather, Marcus Herondale, had actually been one of the top trainers at the Academy. He had held courses there for the last ten years of his life, until he died three years ago. Iwan had been very close with his grandfather, and even though he was young when he died it had still been hard on him.

Shadowhunters died all the time. Often in battle.

To honor a Shadowhunter's death, most of them would be burned and their remains would later be interred. And those, like Marcus, who died in Idris were often entombed in the necropolis outside Alicante's walls.

Iwan felt a sting of pain in his chest as he thought of leaving his family and now, because of Jace's recklessness, he was leaving without any family members.

"Make sure you don't screw up my perfect image now Iwy." Jace smirked over his plate of food.

"What image?" Iwan replied with a snarky tone to his voice.

"Ha-ha. Funny." Jace sat on the worktop with his back leaned against the wall. His plate balanced on his kneecaps.

"It actually was kind of funny." Alec retorted, taking a large bite of his dinner.

"Really? You're siding with him?" Jace asked sceptical.

Alec was about to reply, a small, playful smile on his lips when Jonathan walked into the kitchen with a clear frown on his face. "What's wrong?" both Alec and Jace asked in unison.

"Clary." Jonathan began, "I don't know what the fuck she has against me, but-" Jonathan, usually being the calm and collected one out of the four Shadowhunters bit his lip when he saw Iwan sitting in the chair two seats down the table from Alec. "Sorry" he muttered, excusing his cursing.

"It's fine. I've lived with Jace for the past twelve years." Iwan smirked impishly.

"What did she do?" Alec asked, ignoring Jace's sarcastic comeback, and stopping Iwan from replying with another one of the infamous Herondale utterances.

"What did she not do is the real question." Jonathan sighed, propping down in the chair next to Alec.

"Okay, what did she not do?" Alec asked, ignoring the glare Jonathan sent him.

"I just don't get her. I barely know her and she acts like she hates me. Actually I don't even think she's acting." Jonathan said irritated.

"I mean, come on, she's not exactly picture-perfect herself." Jonathan continued.

"She's just frustrated because she's not in control at the moment," to everyone's surprise it was Iwan who answered, "I would be too, if I was surrounded by the enemy, unable to get free." Iwan explained loudly, earning a few intense stares from the boys in the room.

"Since when did you become so deep?" Jace mocked.

"Since I was captured by a bunch of stupid vampires." Iwan answered abruptly.

Jace looked down at his plate again; clearly ashamed he had forgotten what had happened to his brother. "Iwan, I didn't mean-" Iwan cut off Jace's apology.

"It's fine, who can blame you when you've got the brain capacity of a pea." Iwan replied slyly.

"Hey, what the hell did I do to you?" Jace asked, his fake-hurt voice solid.

"You mean besides tormenting me about 'ruining your perfect image' the whole day and just, basically just being you?" Iwan replied with a smirk.

"Yes, besides that, what did I do?" Jace laughed, Iwan rolled his eyes at him, the awkward moment between the two brothers soon forgotten.

Jace sent Jonathan a thoughtful look, he felt bad for him. Jonathan had just gotten his sister back, and it couldn't be easy having her hate him so intensely. Jace couldn't even imagine Iwan hating him the thought was absolutely absurd.

Iwan scoffed, "I'm too exhausted to hit you right now Jace, but could you be a good brother and remind me later?"

Jace jumped off the worktop, "Yeah, no, somehow I think I'll be forgetting to do that chum." He ruffled Iwan's hair before he walked out of the room, leaving them behind with amused expressions on their faces.

Iwan opened his mouth confused, "Did he just call me chum?" he asked with a small smile hanging on his soft lips.

Jonathan smiled slightly, his mood far better than when he had entered the kitchen.

xxxx

"Hey Ariel." he hadn't known where she was, but went with his instincts. They turned out to be correct.

"What?" Clary snapped at him.

"I just wanted to talk." Jace explained with a careful voice. He hadn't spoken with her in a few days. The two of them had parted on bad terms last time they spoke, and Jace still didn't know exactly what had happened, but Clary had clearly avoided him.

"I don't really feel like talking Herondale." Her reply was curt.

"I don't really care Morgenstern." He echoed her.

Clary looked at him, studying his face carefully, her emerald green eyes lingering for a few seconds on his golden orbs. "So.." she began, "Which Fairchild sent you?"

"No Fairchilds, I'm just a Herondale coming in peace." Jace sent her a brilliant smile.

"Okay, so what do you want?" Clary's voice softened a tiny bit.

"According to my sources, you're quite the ray of sunshine today." Jace explained, his smile dropping.

"Your sources?" Clary snorted. "And who could possibly that be?" Clary brushed a hand through her red hair in irritation.

"They would like to remain anonymous." Jace smirked, seeing the annoyance forming in Clary's expression.

Clary sighed, leaning against the wall in a careless way, "So, Jonathan."

Jace smiled a genuine smile, "You know, the point of having anonymous sources is that they are supposed to remain anonymous." Jace explained, taking a few steps towards her.

"Then you should pick your anonymous sources a little better next time." Clary snapped back, "And whatever he said, I don't care." Clary finished.

She began walking away from him, out of the room towards her own bedroom. "Okay, can we make this conversation about something else?" Jace asked, following her.

"No, but we can end it." Clary replied. She was walking fast, ignoring his reply.

"This didn't go exactly as I planned, I was actually hoping you would-" Jace stopped mid-sentence, Clary had stopped walking, her eyes fastened on something in front of her. Jace walked up on her side, watching her bemused. "What are you doing?" he asked.

Clary didn't answer right away, her gaze never leaving the spot she so intensely watched.

Jace let his eyes wander; all he saw was a plain open door. One he had passed a million times. But it had always been locked. Jace recalled the end of their last conversation:

"I was just wondering, what is that room in the end of the residential wing." Jace hadn't known what she was talking about then, but this had to be her mystery room.

Except, Jace couldn't see what was so special about it.

"Please tell me you can see that open door as well." Clary whispered.

"Yes, I can." Jace answered, looking at her in bewilderment. Why was she whispering?

Clary began walking towards the room; her steps steady and fast.

"Clary?" he said.

She reached for the doorknob, but Jace stopped her. "What do you think you're doing?" She asked angry.

"I should be asking you the same." He replied.

"No you should leave." Clary said in a solid voice.

"So should you. You don't have the authority to enter that room."

Clary snorted, "Like I care."

Clary wrestled out of his grip and opened the door before he could protest any further.

Jace looked around the room. It had grey, plain walls. A dark, shabby desk stood in the middle of the room. The dim lights in the room kept most of the room hidden from view. "Okay, so we went in, there's nothing here, lets go out again." Jace gripped her wrist, about to drag her out when he noticed her confused look.

"What?" he said irritated.

"You don't see it?" she asked, her voice showed more emotions than he had ever heard from her before. See what? He couldn't see anything except a few broken pieces of furniture.

Thank you for reading. I'll update soon, just give this chapter a little review :)

Sorry for dragging it out here, but I need a little bit more time before the whole thing explodes with, well you'll know when we get there..