I'm receiving a lot of positive feedback about the last chapter and I am so happy. Is there anyone else's POV you guys would like to see a future chapter in? I know you guys are going to LOVE this chapter, so I won't keep you long. Enjoy!
Clary's POV
I felt like I had been run over by a freight train when I finally woke up. My head throbbed immensely and my throat felt like it was filled with sand and polished by a razor. "Ow."
"Clary, are you okay?" I almost screamed by the voice in my ear, but I easily recognized its owner.
"Jace? What are you doing in here?" I could only see half of his face in the dimly lit room. I realized we were both lying on my bed and a nightlight was sticking out of the closest wall.
"I asked first." He argued, sitting up on his elbow.
"My head hurts and I feel like death." I groaned, rolling onto my side and snuggling into the pillow. "What happened to me?"
"Don't you remember? Mia attacked you." Flashes of us standing in the bathroom crossed my vision. I felt the crown of my head lightly and winced at the immediate pain.
"Is she okay?" I questioned, remembering her crying as he pulled me out of the room.
"Why do you care?" Jace asked me, clearly taken aback by my inquiring.
"She's my friend." I defended her, sitting up as the blanket fell around me.
"She nearly killed you." Jace growled, running a hand through his hair.
"She was just upset. I'll go talk to her later and clear everything up." I assured him with a simple dismissive wave of my cold hands.
"You hurt my head." He sighed dramatically, throwing himself back onto the bed.
"What do you mean? And shouldn't I be the one complaining about my head?" I asked honestly confused. He threw an arm over his face and chuckled at me. I curled onto my side and rested my head on his other arm, craning my neck to look at him.
"You're just too… trusting and forgiving." He finally replied, smiling under his elbow.
"What's wrong with trusting people?" I frowned, my nose crinkling in dissatisfaction.
"Everything. Not everyone has your best interest at heart, Little Red." He removed his hand from his face, revealing a sad smile that made me want to hug him and make him feel better, but I didn't.
"And not everyone is out to hurt me." I reassured him, settling for placing my hand beside me on his upper arm. I felt his muscles moving beneath me and it made me want to giggle, but I held it in.
"How do you know which is which?" He inquired thoughtfully. I liked the way his eyebrows furrowed together when he didn't understand something.
"I don't." I shrugged, grazing my fingers across his collarbone, feeling the protruding bone beneath his shirt. "I just try to me nice, so they won't want to hurt me."
"Sometimes being nice isn't enough. Sometimes people just want to hurt you for the sake of hurting you." He froze beneath my touch and I thought he was going to pull my hand away, but instead his own fingers rubbed soothing circles on my side. It tickled at first, but for some reason I didn't want him to stop.
"Like you?" I whispered.
His fingers immediately stilled and he pulled back, looking me in the face. I'm sure my cheeks were bright red, a combination of embarrassment and something else. Jace's voice was surprised and rather loud as he opened his mouth. "When have I hurt you?"
I pulled away a bit in alarm and rolled onto my other side, preferring not to look at him at the moment. "When I first got here. You told me I was crazy and said you would make me bleed and you snuck into my room."
"I wasn't trying to hurt you. I was trying to protect you." Jace loosely gripped my hips, rolling me over to face him once again.
"Well you have a funny way of doing it." I laughed, smiling up at him. His hair looked really soft and I couldn't help but reach out and tug on it lightly.
As I pulled on it more, he bit his bottom lip for a minute before running his thumb across my lips. "Red?"
"Yes?" I answered him eagerly, despite the fact that he couldn't even say my real name.
"Do you trust me?" His voice was so low and husky that I almost thought I had imagined the words at first.
"Yes." I confessed without the slightest bit of hesitation.
"Are you sure?" He rolled on top of me, making me squeak in surprise. Most of his weight was on his elbows as he leaned forward and I nodded, suddenly unable to form coherent words.
His mouth soothingly grazed my neck, where he teasingly nuzzled the sensitive skin. I wanted to tell him to stop, but instead I found myself tilting my head back to give him easier access. My fingers wound into his hair on their own accord and my legs entangled themselves around his own. A burning hot palm slipped under my shirt and pressed into my hip before he looked at me.
I felt like we were staring at each other for an eternity before he shook his head and rocked back onto his knees. "You shouldn't."
I laid their feeling rejected for some reason and completely alone. I knew I didn't want to know why, so I asked him something else instead. "Jace, why were you laying in my bed?"
"Someone had to make sure you didn't die in your sleep." He cracked a smile as he flopped onto his back beside me.
"But why in my bed?" I rephrased it, hoping he would answer me truthfully.
"I wasn't going to sit on the floor. I never claimed to be a gentleman." Clearly he wasn't. I pouted my lip and reached to grab Theodore so we could ignore Jace together when cold fear washed over me.
"Where's Theodore?" I shot up and began throwing the blanket around desperately.
"Who's Theodore?" I could hear Jace's voice, but it was like we were miles apart.
"My elephant." I shouted, throwing everything onto the floor in hopes of finding my furry friend. I was about to give up when I heard high pitched cackling from the closet. "Theo!"
"Clary, what are you doing?" He tried to place his hands on my shoulders but I shook him off and curled myself into a ball against the corner of the wall.
"They took him!" I cried. The laughing grew louder as shadows of small monsters danced across my walls. I bawled into my sleeve and squeezed my eyes shut.
"Who?" Jace tried again, growing more exasperated with each passing second.
"The monsters. They have Theodore." I muttered over and over again, beginning to rock myself back and forth. If I wasn't quiet, they would take me, too. The bed creaked beside me and I whimpered, afraid that Jace was gone as well.
"Is this him?" I felt Jace force my chin up and I risked a glance, spotting a ball of blue matted fur in his hand.
My arms shot out to grab him as I hugged him against me so tight it hurt to breathe. "Theo, don't you ever scare me like that again. Do you understand?"
I was so happy to have my friend back that I forgot I wasn't alone until someone cleared their voice. "I think I should go."
"Okay." I looked up at him, smiling sweetly to show him I was okay. He got up to leave, but I caught him by the wrist. "Jace?"
"Yeah?"He asked; hope shining in his tawny eyes.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him down to my height. "Thank you for taking care of me and saving Theodore."
"Anytime." He laughed in my ear and enveloped my waist in his strong arms. We stayed like that for a long time and I wished I could have felt that peaceful and warm forever. "Goodnight, Little Red."
"Goodnight, Jace." I beamed at him as he covered me with the blanket I had thrown on the floor. I heard a faint meow as Izzy snuck in before he could close the door.
"Oh, Jace!" I exclaimed afraid he'd leave before I could say anything. He paused mid stride, halfway through the door. "Thanks for the night light."
He only smirked at me before finally leaving. Izzy jumped on top of the bed and meowed at me again.
"Hi, Izzy. Did you miss me?" She wormed her way under the covers and stretched out on top of my legs.
"I missed you, too."
Clary's POV
The next morning I lounged around with Izzy for awhile, enjoying her cuddly company for awhile. Finally I insisted that we go grab some breakfast.
The entire way over my stomach growled viciously like a cruel abused dog that wanted to eat me. I imagined there was a long rusted leash hooked to a spiked red collar and his teeth were gnashing restlessly.
Our table was empty, save a clueless Simon who was lost in some book. I grabbed a hot plate of pancakes, bacon, and scrambled eggs along with some freshly squeezed orange juice before taking a seat across from him. "Good morning, Si."
"Clary!" He practically shouted, nearly jumping out of his seat. "You scared me."
"Sorry." I apologized in fear that he wouldn't be my friend anymore.
"It's okay, Clare Bear." He reassured me, tucking his comic book one arm.
"Is that your nickname for me?" I jumped around happily, abuzz with a new outlook on the day. I couldn't wait to tell Mommy and Luke.
"Yes, if you like it, I mean. I figured since you gave me one-," Simon's words died off midsentence as I threw my arms around him and squeezed him until my ribs hurt. It didn't feel the same as when I hugged Jace, but Simon's embrace was still warm and welcoming.
"Three nicknames in two days. Who would have thought I would be so lucky here?" I gave him a toothy grin as Izzy climbed up onto his lap and licked the stubble on his chin.
He laughed, whether it was at Izzy or me I'm not sure, before scratching the back of her ear and cocking a look at me. "Who else gave you nicknames?"
"My real name is Clarissa, but Max decided everyone should call me Clary for short. Jace calls me Little Red a lot, but he didn't ask me if he could." I told him matter of factly as I counted on my fingers.
"Not that I don't love being the topic of choice, but you really shouldn't talk about people when they aren't around." Jace squeezed my hips quickly, making me jump a little, before sitting sideways next to me.
"We were just talking about how much of a narcissistic asshole you can be and pondered how your head can even fit through the door." Simon shot back quickly and I tried to picture Jace as a giant bobble head trying to pass under the doorway. I laughed to myself, but Simon shot me a quirky smile, probably thinking the same thing.
"That couldn't be true. Red would never say something bad about me, would you?" Jace's crooked grin widened as his intense stare landed on me. I felt my cheeks redden awkwardly before I opened my mouth, unsure of what I should even say. I wasn't good at talking to people.
Luckily, the rest of the gang chose that minute to show up. They quickly filled the remaining spots and I noticed sit on my other side purposely. I subconsciously felt myself leaning towards Jace nervously and he pressed his legs into mine.
She turned towards me suddenly and smiled at me weakly. The dark circle sunder her eyes were extremely visible and I noticed she didn't look at put together as usual. She looked nervous as she took a deep breath before speaking quickly. "Listen Clary, I'm really sorry about yesterday. I was having a really bad day and I shouldn't have taken it out on you. I know you would never intentionally hurt me or try to take my friends and Jordan away. If you don't mind, I would really like to be your friend again."
I could feel Jace stiffening beside me and I placed my hand on his knee without even thinking and squeezed it reassuringly. Everyone waited silently for me to reply and I noticed Alec smiling at Jace. "Mia, I know you didn't mean to do anything and I never stopped being your friend. Of course I forgive you."
She enveloped me in a celebration hug momentarily before returning to her usual more chipper self. As I turned back to face the front, I noticed Jace was now sitting farther away from me and refused to look in my direction. He really confused me sometimes.
"So, how was everyone's night?" Magnus interjected and the table returned to its normal chatter. I contributed to the conversations occasionally, but for the most part I thought about home.
Did Mommy make everyone breakfast? Was it my favorite, fresh blueberry waffles drowned in maple syrup, strawberry cinnamon oatmeal, jelly toast, and cheesy scrambled eggs? Or did she decide not to make them until I stop being sick?
Did the kids at school say mean things to some other new kid or did they just start getting along? Did Jayden find someone else to chase at the park? Did my art teacher miss my work already?
"You need to eat something." Jace bumped my shoulder and whispered low enough that no one else noticed. They were too caught up in discussing what they would do after breakfast was over.
I stared down at my plate, only able to see how the eggs weren't as whipped as mommy's and the orange juice wasn't pulp free like Luke's. "I'm not hungry."
"You haven't eaten since you got here." He argued, a deep frown dimpling his chiseled chin. I just shook my head and he sighed in annoyance. "Please, for me?"
I glowered at him before finally stabbing my pancake and shoving it in my mouth. He just grinned at me victoriously and I glared at him. "You're lucky you're cute."
"Shut up and eat your pancakes." He told me before turning to face Alec.
The food tasted better than I had thought it would and I devoured it all in a matter of minutes. When I was done everyone agreed to go outside and play kickball. I told everyone I had to run back to my room and change my outfit into something sportier and brush my teeth.
On my way back from the bathroom, I heard someone down the hall call my name and I turned to see a tall boy standing in my doorway. He had ebony hair and eerily identical eyes that looked like endless black holes. His smile was friendly but serious and I felt like I could fall into his stare and never be seen again. "Hodge would like to see you."
And that's a wrap. What do you guys think? Why is Jace acting so weird? Would you have forgiven Mia? Should Clary trust Jace? Will Izzy every speak? Who is the stranger at Clary's door and what does Hodge want? Make sure to review me your answers or what you think should happen next. I might just add it in. ALSO, THERE IS A BLESSTHEFALL BAND REFERENCE IN HERE. Whoever finds it, if anyone even knows what I'm talking about, will get the next chapter dedicated to them. Bless you all!