Hello, Lovelies. Here's the next installment. Those who reviewed got a sneak peak of the first half. Hope you enjoy! (:

Clary's POV

I was abruptly awakened from my dreams by an intense burning in my lungs and a heavyweight on my chest. My eyes shot open in alarm as I realized a dark figure was sitting on top of me. I tried to pull away from them and cry out for help, but their legs were tightly secured around mine and one large hand covered my mouth while the other pinned my hands above my head.

A man's voice chuckled darkly in my ear, his warm breath washing over me and causing goose bumps to rise on my chilled skin. He relinquished his grip on my hands quickly as he flicked on the lamp, only to immediately restrain me once again.

Now that I could see where my captor was, I proceeded to kick at him wildly in hopes of scaring him away. Panic and fear overrode my common sense and I could feel myself beginning to black out.

"Clary!" The voice hollered deeply, forcing me to look directly at him. I immediately recognized the shinning golden eyes staring down at me intensely. I blinked in surprise, having expected it to be one of the monsters from my nightmares. His hand moved down a fraction of an inch, allowing me to breathe through my nose.

Jace stared down at me calmly, unfazed by my actions until my breathing had finally returned to normal and I stopped fighting him. My heart was still racing with adrenaline, but for some unexplainable reason I knew his intentions weren't to kill me.

"Good girl. Now, can I remove my hand without you screaming your head off?" I nodded obediently as he removed both of his hands and wiped them on his jeans. He was still seated above me, but now most of his weight had shifted to his elbows and knees as he leaned forward.

Our faces were inches apart from each other and I was completely terrified that maybe I wasn't as good at reading people as I had thought. We remained like that for awhile until he finally broke the silence. "Did I not tell you that this hellhole is full of crazy people?"

"You did." I whispered.

"Then why the fuck are you sleeping with your door wide open?" I started to cringe at his filthy words, but thought better of it and only looked at him confused and embarrassed.

"I forgot my nightlight at home." I mumbled, my cheeks flaming red in embarrassment and I felt like I was about to cry. Mommy told me that if the kids at school found out I still slept with a nightlight, they might make fun of me. That's why I was sure that Jace, who was easily ten times as scary as any school bully, was going to laugh in my face and taunt me relentlessly.

Jace was quiet for a long time and I watched in amazement as his beautiful features contorted into different emotions. I really wanted to touch his hair and to hug him, but I don't think he will let me. Finally his lips parted, but his voice came out softer than I had ever heard it. "You're afraid of the dark?"

"I'm afraid of what's in it." I whispered, my eyes brimming with tears. I tried to blink them away but only caused one to spill down my cheek. I felt the pad of Jace's thumb slowly reach up and swipe it away, slightly grazing the corner of my lips.

I gave him a small smile in return and all he did was look down at me. I suddenly felt overjoyed by happiness that someone was my friend and I wrapped my arms around his waist, pulling him on top of me. I buried my head in his chest and breathed in heavily, causing Jace to grow stiff beneath me. His shirt smelled really good and I had one more chance to take another long whiff before he was shoving me away and standing beside me.

"What the hell?" He asked, his face crimson red as he backed away.

"I'm sorry." I apologized, equally as red for a completely different reason.

"Damn right you better be sorry. What was that?" He spat out as he paced the length of the bed.

"It's called a hug." I defended myself, trying to glare at him through my blurry eyes.

"I know that," he rolled his eyes in frustration. "Why did you do it?"

"I thought we were friends. Friends give each other hugs." I sat up, my blanket falling down around me, making me realize how cold my room was.

"I'm not your friend." He told me with a stubbornly hard jaw line.

"I realize that now. Can you just leave?" I mentally swatted myself for letting my voice shake. I don't know why he bothered me so much, when I already knew he wasn't a nice person. I threw myself onto the bed dramatically, hiding my face from him.

"Gladly!" He shouted and stormed over to the door before throwing it wide open. "You can leave it open and get killed for all I care!"

I watched him leave guiltily before getting up and slowly padding across the room to shut the door, leaving the light on. I looked up at the clock and realized it was almost three in the morning.

Why was Jace even awake right now?

I felt remotely bad for yelling at him, but Theo assured me that I wasn't in the wrong here. Jace had snuck in my room and tried to scare me anyway. I spent the next hour trying to block out images from today as I finally fell asleep.

Clary's POV

"Meow." I opened my eyes and was immediately met with innocent dark ones. I blinked a few times until I realized Izzy was sitting on top of me, rather than an actual kitty.

She was sitting on top of my ribcage, curled up in a ball with her limbs tucked in as she purred lightly. She continued to look down at me with curious wide eyes and I giggled back a reply. "Meow."

Izzy purred louder at this and rubbed her face against my neck, nibbling lightly at the surrounding skin. I shot up out of bed, knocking her into my lap. "Izzy, stop it! That tickles."

I barely had time to breath before she had hopped off my mattress and strode over to my dresser on all fours, planting herself in front of it patiently and looking at me with demanding eyes. "Do you want me to get ready?"

"Meow," was her only reply before she began to lick her hand to clean the back of her head.

I walked over to her, scratching her behind the ear kindly, before grabbing a sea green cotton t-shirt and faded blue jean shorts. "Alright, give me a minute."

When I had finished changing and ran a comb through my hair, I looked down at Izzy with a curious expression. "How did you get in here last night?"

I specifically remembered slamming my door shut, similar to how it was now, but I hadn't remembered Izzy ever being in here. Maybe she can walk through walls.

"Meow." Izzy repeated, pawing at the door until I opened it. She slipped out quickly and I followed after her, afraid of being all alone on my second day.

I made sure to stay a few strides back so that I could study her. I liked watching Izzy scamper around, because even though I knew she wasn't really a cat, her body was so graceful and elegant when she walked. I wish I could find a dirty lamp and ask a genie to turn her into a real cat, maybe a big sleek panther, to make her happy. Yes. Izzy was definitely a strong, agile panther prowling around the facility.

"Clary!" Max called, shouting loudly over the rest of the crowd. I realized Izzy had guided me to the cafeteria for breakfast, but now that I was here I wish she hadn't. I didn't want people to stare at me again.

People were always staring at me, but I didn't really know why. Mommy used to swear that they weren't but I could feel their gazes. I could hear their whispered conversations about the strange girl. It made me want to hide under my blanket and cry, but mommy said I can't get out of here if I let them scare me.

Jace scares me. He's sitting at our table, next to the only open spot and I try to fold in on myself. But then I remember what mommy says, and I stick my chin up, striving towards the table at a much faster speed. I wasn't going to let anybody scare me off, especially some jerk face like Jace.

"Hi, Maxi." I sat down between the two boys, much closer to max than Jace. I might not be afraid of him anymore, but that didn't mean I was overly fond of him either.

Izzy climbed up Alec's back before perching herself around his neck. It looked awfully uncomfortable, but he didn't seem to mind.

"How was your first night here? Did you sleep well?" Jordan asked politely, bumping Mia who was picking at her small plate in distaste.

I felt Jace's eyes on me and my cheeks immediately flushed, but I ignored him as I smiled back. "It was wonderful, thank you."

"Aren't you going to eat breakfast?" Simon asked, concern evident on his face.

"I'm still not very hungry. I'm sure I'll eat lunch later." I reassured him, not wanting to make him feel sad.

When everyone had finished, they all got up and went their separate ways. I sat their awkwardly, not sure where to go. Max seemed to realize this and smiled up at me. "Do you want to go to the rec room with me? If we're lucky, the TV might be open to watch cartoons."

"Sure! I love cartoons." I got up quickly and trailed after the small boy, making sure to stay close while still taking in my surroundings.

This hallway only had a few decorative paintings. Instead, there were chunky picture frames lining the walls every few feet. They were filled with several of the other patients doing different activities over the years.

One had everybody sitting in a circle and holding hands as a much younger Hodge spoke, but I noticed a few of the people refused to touch the others. Jace, of course, was one of them.

Another featured them outside with huge smiles and laughter as Alec hit a beach ball over a net to a small girl I hadn't met. This looked more recent than the others.

The final one I had noticed before Max led me through a doorway had every patient, excluding me of course, out in front of the main building. Hodge and an elderly lady stood in the middle holding a sign that read "The Iris Psychiatric Center 2013". There were even a few staff members, but I realized there were much fewer than I imagined an insane Asylum having.

"What do you want to do?" Max asked me with eyes full of excitement.

"Whatever you want to do." I replied sweetly, not really caring what we did as long as he'd be my friend.

"How about we watch Pokémon and play a round of Apple to Apples?" he suggested as he flicked on the large black screen and grabbed a box from inside of a cabinet off to the side. "We can invite the others to play if you want."

"I don't really know what Apples to Apples is." I told him with a faint blush, but I rushed out the last part. "But I would love for you to show me."

In the end, we gathered up a few stragglers and this girl Molly, her friends Mary and Jane, Alec, Simon, Jordan, and Magnus joined us. Izzy chose to stretch out beside us and dose off for awhile, but occasionally she would stand in the middle of the circle until one of us surrendered our laps for her to stretch out on as we scratched her belly.

Jace was also there, but he refused to play for the longest time. Finally after Simon had managed to win his fifth green card by choosing Anne Frank for the card touchy-feely, Alec looked at his companion. "Why don't you play the last few rounds for me?"

I had quickly learned that, though Jace was extremely good looking, he hadn't made a lot of friends at the center due to his over usage of sarcasm and narcissistic habits. That didn't keep people from treating him kindly, especially since he was probably the most intimidating person here. I also learned that Alec was his best and only true friend.

"I'd rather not." Jace mumbled from his respective spot on the couch. He acted like he was watching the screen, but I knew he had his eyes on me nearly the entire game.

"Come on. I've got to go to the bathroom." Alec urged, pouting a lip dramatically and batting his eyelashes.

"Fine, but don't expect me to win." Jace mumbled and took his place across the circle as Alec left. It was Jane's turn to judge as she chose the word sexy. I blushed at even the mention of such a dirty word. Mommy wouldn't be happy if she knew I was playing this game, but she wasn't here. Besides, I was making friends.

By the time everyone had thrown in a card, I had nearly forgotten what my choice was until she read the Backstreet Boys out loud and I giggled. Magnus winked at me and I tried to wink back, but I just ended up squinting awkwardly.

"Oh, I don't know. Backstreet boys and Red Riding Hood are probably my favorite." Jane drew out her words. Finally she smiled. "Red Riding Hood."

Everyone joined in at her choice and Jace quietly slid the card into his pile. I wasn't the only one who noticed as Jordan raised a crooked eyebrow at him. "Really, Jace, Red Riding Hood?"

"What can I say," Jace smirked over at me as our eyes locked, "I have a thing for red heads."

Oh, Jace, you. What does everyone thing? Sorry that it's still kind of short, but I have hardly any free time lately. Expect an update sometimes this weekend. Remember, review = sneak peeks and secret information. I hope you all have a wonderful night/day/afternoon.