Warning: This chapter's pretty boring. Soowweeeey. The next one's better, I promise. 3

He slowly opened his eyes and remembered where he was. Looking down at Clary, who was now laying on the bench, her head in his lap, he smiled. How had this happened so easily? He'd never made friends easily. His mom had homeschooled him. He was lucky that Luke came over all the time and once he's adopted Maia, he'd practically seen her every day. The only choice they had was to be friends, not that they didn't want to be. But here he was, this pretty girl curled up next to him, sound asleep. He smiled again.

He looked around, it was still dark out, but the street light lit up the area a little. He checked his watch, which read 4:37 am. His arms still around Clary, he shut his eyes, willing himself to fall back to sleep. Sleep didn't come though, because only a moment later, he heard the sound of a door opening then closing. Then someone was yelling and running towards him. His eyes flew back open and he frantically look around. He saw a shadow running and then it hit the light. It was that Alec kid.

Jace lifted Clary into the sitting position. "Clary, wake up," He half-whispered, half-yelled. He stroked he tangled, curly hair down with one hand and tapped her arm with the other. "Clary," he said again.

Her eyes were slowly fluttering open when Alec reached them he grabbed Jace be the sleeve and pulled him off the bench. "GET OFF OF HER," he was yelling, "What do you think you're doing?"

"We were just—I was here, and then she—" Jace struggled to find the right words, "I don't know, we just fell asleep!" He pulled himself out of Alec's grip and stepped back, brushing himself off.

"Alec, Jesus!" Clary said, standing up. "What's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you! What were you thinking?" He asked, "Sleeping out on a public bench with some stranger? No glamours or—"

"His name is Jace. Jace Fray," Clary said, her face completely serious, her eyes not leaving Alec's, "This is Alec Lightwood."

"oh, I'm sorry," Alec said sarcastically, "Now that he has a name, he's not a stranger?"

"Nice to meet you too…" Jace muttered.

Alec looked taken aback and looked at Jace like he was a puppy he'd just kicked. He sighed and his face looked more relaxed and less constipated. "God… I'm really sorry. You're obviously not a threat—"

"Not a threat!" Jace repeated and laughed.

"—I just don't want something bad to happen to Clary. I can be a little overprotective sometimes."

Clary smiled. "Yes, you can," she said, ruffling his hair. He pulled away, embarrassed, but a look of adoration had spread across his face when he did.

"Sorry," he said again, pulling his gaze away from Clary, "Nice to meet you, Jace." He held out his hand. After a moment of confusion, Jace took it.

"You too," Jace said, unsure if he meant it or not.

They all stood there for a few seconds not knowing what to say.

"What time is it?" Clary said interrupting the awkward silence.

"Almost five," Jace replied. He watched as she stretched her arms out above her, squished her eyes shut tight, and yawned. It reminded him of a little kitten. She straightened out and opened her eyes, and Jace quickly looked away. He couldn't help but notice Alec doing the same.

"We should go inside," Clary said, oblivious to their stares. "Alec, do you think he can come in?" she asked, "I mean, if you want," she quickly added, looking at Jace.

"Sure," both boys said at the same time.

"Welcome," Clary said, turning to the building right next to them, "to the Institute."

At first, the building had looked like a worn down, abandoned building, but after the glamour swept away, Jace had had seen it practically transform into the gleaming building it really was. Looking around the inside, he saw it was just as beautiful and very old fashioned.

Clary and Alec lead him to a set of huge doors. Swinging them opened, a huge library was revealed. There was a wooden desk in the center with a man sitting behind it. He peered over the top of his book, sighed, and then put it down. "Alec," he said, "What did our little Clary get herself into this time?" He eyed Jace curiously. "This boy is not a Shadowhunter, is he?"

"He could see through the glamours. But he doesn't have any spells on him to give him the sight." Clary said. "We talked about it earlier," she added, "And… he kind of knows everything now."

The man shook his head, "Clary, Clary Clary…" he began, "I guess it's not as bad this time, under the circumstances that he has the sight on his own." He turned to Jace now. "Are your parents Shadowhunters? Or even just one of them, by chance?"

"It's just me and my mom. I don't think she was ever a Shadowhunter. She'd never told me about anything like this. I've never known my dad; he died before I was born. So, I couldn't tell you about him."

"Hmm…" the man tapped his finger on his chin. "I suppose it's possible he could've been one… Oh! I'm sorry! How rude of me," He stood from his chair and walked over to them. "I'm Hodge."

"Jace." They shook hands. There was a lot of hand-shaking going on recently, Jace noticed.

"What a peculiar name."

"My mother made it up. It was nickname she had for my father. His initials were J.C., Jonathon Christopher."

Hodge nodded, obviously thinking. "What's your last name, Jace? If he was a Shadowhunter, I could find out."

"Oh, my mother and I use her maiden name, Fray. She never told me his last name." Jace hadn't realized this before, and wondered why she hadn't mentioned it. Was he really a Shadowhunter? Does that make him a Shadowhunter also?

"Well, Jace, I think you and your mother need to have a talk. You may be one of us."