A/N: I'm eating apple and cinnamon flavoured yogurt as I write this, so this chapter might be a little… cinnamon flavoured…

If you have been on my profile, you would have read my note about this story, but I figured it would be better if I actually put it on here… XD

- I haven't read City of Fallen Angels yet, so I don't know what that's like and I didn't want to read any spoilers because I want to properly read the book, but looking at the title, I'm concerned that my plot might overlap/contradict with the plot of the book XD

Please imagine that in my fanfic, it does not follow onto the City of Fallen Angels, and instead takes another path. ^^; Thanks

Disclaimer (if it's a fanfiction site, why do I need disclaimers?): I don't own the Mortal Instruments.

Chapter 1: The Beginning

"… While English Prime Minister David Cameron has been pressing forwards firms to the banks' recent closure…"

Clary switched the TV channel again, in restlessness rather than actually looking. She yawned and drained her third cup of coffee that morning. Rubbing her eyes, after a failed moment of consideration and without bothering to sweep the cluttered mess of books and loose sheets of paper in front of her, she slumped her head down on the kitchen table with a groan.

She heard footsteps coming down the stairs, and the squeak of the kitchen door as it swung open. "Hey kiddo," Luke Garroway ruffled her hair and swept past her towards the cupboards, "Late night?"

"Yeah," She yawned again and sat back up, stretching, "Morning Luke."

There was a sound of what seemed like a mini avalanche in the kitchen, "Oops…" She heard Luke murmur, "I really do need to get these cupboards sorted out…" Clary turned round to see Luke, his hair in a curled mess and his glasses askew, surrounded ankle deep in half empty pasta packets and a variety of tins and boxes. He turned to give her an abashed smile. He held up a dented tin of tomato sauce. "Pastas on tonight, amigos! Am I obliged to assure that you shall attend?"

Clary grinned at him apologetically, "Sorry Luke, I'm eating out with Simon tonight. I promised ages ago. And amigo is Spanish… Pasta is Italian."

"Oh right, so bon appetite?"

She grinned, "No Luke-"

"Morning Luke, morning Clary!" Jocelyn Fray walked in, fully dressed in a tidy white blouse and black trousers (unlike Clary who had half her uniform on, and Luke who was still in PJs), and set about opening the windows. She eyed the mess that Luke had made on the floor around him and raised an eyebrow, "I take it that that's another piece from your magnificent artwork gallery and not just another mess I'm going to have to clean up along with the rest of your house?"

"Of course," He smiled wanly, "I take just after you." At her accusing stare, he added quickly, "I'll clean it up myself, of course!"

Jocelyn laughed and sat down next to Clary and poured herself a cup of tea. There was a pause of Luke grumbling and giving a half hearted attempt at sorting out the cluttered floor around him, and the TV blaring out some weird folk music that looked like it had come from the prehistoric era. At least it wasn't the news this time. Clary could not look at the news the same way again. Politics and sports just seemed like a whole different world from her, and at every big scale incident, she could not help but wonder if it was really terrorist attacks, a plague or a mistake in the machinery. Maybe it was demons. It gave her an uneasy feeling. It was a weird thought; that the Shadowhunter world could overlap outside the realms that she was so used to seeing them in. The institute, Idris… It had done before, but the thought was still alien to her. She wondered if Jace and the others ever had these thoughts, as they watched the news, always doubting, always questioning… Wait… She frowned to herself, and felt silly for thinking it. Of course they wouldn't. They don't even watch the news. Jace didn't even know what eBay was, for God's sake… She felt herself smile a little at Jace's name though. She couldn't wait to see him again. It had actually worked out well, and for a week after, all she could think about was–

"Clary."

Her mum's voice brought her back into reality with a start, and she looked up quickly. "Yes?"

"Clary, I want to know what this is about." She spoke softly, so even Clary, who was sitting beside her, had to strain to catch what she was saying. Clary bit her lip, and a strange mixture of unease and upset clutched at her heart. "All of this. I know you're not sleeping properly, you're always so tired, and all of these lapses in concentration. Your teachers at school have called me up to tell me that your grades are going to drop if this continues, and although you're a Shadowhunter now, you live in this world, and you've still got work hard here, and earn a good place in society. I know it's not the time difference from Idris. I just want you to know that, although I know you wouldn't lie to me. It's been two weeks since we've got back! You've missed school for 4 weeks now, and you just got back to school last week. You've had enough time to recover."

On any other day before she'd experienced what she had, and gone to Idris and back, Clary would have turned her nose up at a talk like this, but times had changed. She bit her lip, and swung her legs, unsure. What could she say? That she'd been having weird dreams? Although her mum had been happier on their return – she and Luke were already planning the place and time for their wedding in the immediate future – she still bore signs of bags under her eyes, and now she'd gotten a new full time job at an office, stress was inevitable. She didn't want to cause her anymore upset or confusion. They were just dreams. No big deal. It was nothing to get worried about.

Her expression softened, and she gave Clary a concerned look. "Honey, if you want to talk, I'd gladly listen." She reached out and folded her fingers lovingly around her daughter's hand.

Clary thought hard. What should she say now? Homework? Too obvious a choice. Friends? What friends? Simon? What about Si-

"Is it about Jace?" Jocelyn frowned and leaned closer in, "I saw that smile on your face earlier on. You know, I recognise that smile" She gave a small grin, "I used to smile like that when I thought about Valentine years and years ago…"

"Ew, mum." Clary wrinkled her nose, "Valentine? Seriously?" Despite the carefree tone she put on, she felt a sense of relief. If she wanted to think it was Jace, all the better. It partially true, what she said anyway. She was thinking about Jace… The thought jogged her memory of the personality of the Faerie Queen. She told only the partial truth, just like what Clary was doing now… She wondered if she was turning into one of the Fair Folk herself. The thought gave an extreme sense of the creeps.

Her mum laughed, "I was younger then… and naïve."

"Yeah. Whatever you say." Clary stuck her tongue out and got up, picking up her school bag, wrestling a brush through her hair and putting a school jumper on. She glanced at the clock on the table leaning against a stack of books, "I'm going to have to go to school now, or I'm going to be late."

"So do I, actually." Jocelyn smiled, put on her jacket and picked up her handbag. "We'll talk later okay?"

Clary nodded and glanced at Luke who had finally finished clearing up the mess on the floor, and was now rifling through a variety of boxes on the shelf in front of him. He was muttering to himself about how he had 'left this house for a few weeks and it becomes like this'. Clary grinned. "Bye Luke!" She called. Jocelyn did the same.

Luke replied something unintelligible and waved vaguely in reply. Clary smiled, and stepped out of the front door, shutting it behind her and Jocelyn.

"Hey…" He said suddenly, turning and holding up an empty pot of something, "Why is my coffee pot empty? I only just brought a new box the day before yesterday! How many cups of coffee exactly did you–"

He trailed off into silence at the empty room.

"Nevermind," He shrugged and went back to rifling through the heap of boxes.

XxXxX

"Simon!" She finally drew to a stop, bent over and panting at his front gate. Simon was sitting on the stone wall that surrounded his garden.

"Hey Clary," He gave a big grin and dropped down to stand beside her, "I was beginning to worry that you weren't coming."

"I'm sorry, I lost track of time!" She finally regained her breath and stood up straight, rubbing her eyes, she didn't feel that sleepy anymore, but her eyelids still felt like sandpaper. "I ran here as soon as I could…"

"I can see," Simon teased her, and swung his bag over his shoulders, "And it's okay, you're forgiven. We'd better be going."

"That's easy for you to say! You're immortal now! Try being human!" Clary grinned and kept in pace with him. She could tell that he was holding back from going full speed, otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to keep up at all.

"I did. It sucked. I didn't like it."

"Ha! That's not what you told me a few weeks ago…"

"We vampires are stealthy beings that have an ever changing opinion. Weeks for you is a millisecond for me."

"Right." Clary grinned.

"You're not taking me seriously, are you? I swear down!"

"Right, whatever Simon, okay, I admit you are the higher form of life and I bow down to you, oh Lord Almighty."

Simon grinned, "Happy to be of service." They paused as they crossed a busy road. "Clary, I forgot to ask last night, you know I'm doing that exchange student thing?"

"Yes, my Lord Almighty?"

"I could get used to you calling me that" He grinned, wrinkling his nose. "Anyway," he continued, oblivious to Clary's raised-eye-browed stare, "He came last night and he was kind of quiet… So I tried to get him talking, and before you know it, I kind of invited him along for dinner with us. So um…"

Clary considered for a moment, eyes cast down.

Simon looked panicked, "Look, don't blame me; my mum put me up to it. Apparently I've been 'antisocial and cold' for the past week, and 'an interaction with the outside world could help me'. Quite frankly, the way she puts it, I don't see any real change at all."

"What? No!" It was Clary's turn to look panicked, "its fine if you bring him along! I wasn't thinking about that."

"Okay. Good." He breathed out a sigh of relief.

"So what's his name?"

Simon looked suddenly distant as he considered her question. "I don't know." He replied, his eyes glazed over, "He didn't say."

"Ha!" She grinned at him, "Nicely done, Simon." But her smile quickly faded. Something was wrong. She could feel it. "Simon?"

He blinked and looked up again. "We'd better hurry now; we're going to be seriously late…" He began to walk faster without a glance back.

Clary watched after her, and the sense of unease twined around her heart came back - although, in all honesty, it never really left.

Can I just make this part clear before we move on: Yes I spell 'mom' as mum. I grew up in England, what do you expect? It feels weird to call someone 'mom', even if this story is set in America :/ You're going to have to deal with this, I'm afraid! It's my Onew Condition….

Also, you have to forgive my inability to be sarcastic. Simon's character is meant to be snarky and pretty geeky, but I have never played a video game in my life apart from Mario Kart DS (but that was only because my brother forced me into it) and sarcasm does not go down well with me.

I tell bad jokes and fail at funny. I am dreading writing about Jace now. –cries-

Oh and I need to bring to your attention that I will be bringing in an OC Character! (Many OC characters, actually)

Thank you for reading :D Sorry it's boring at the moment =_= But it had to be written! It needs climax, I say!

I do love reading your reviews, and I will reply to them all :D So I will thank you kindly for leaving me some? Thank you~!