Chapter Five

~A Tricky Abduction~

Hallelujah! Chapter Five is up! Everybody, allow your souls to sing out of pure happiness. ;) Let's get this show on the road. Also, the title was changed to 'Clockwork Violinist'. I thought that that sounded better…

Review Responses:

DystopianKitKat: Well, it seems that there are two… but only one original. Keep that in mind.

Guest: Awesome as always? Yes, I know… ;) Nah, I'm not that arrogant, but thank you for the flow of reviews!

Miranda O'Hara: Yes, be confused. I suppose. ;)

"I think that you have absolutely nothing to worry about," Maryse said calmly, "and that somebody had an idea for a prank where they were to try to scare the living daylights out of somebody." Tessa returned the Head's gaze just as evenly.

"Of course," she responded, just as Jem asked, "Living daylights?" Standing side-by-side, Jem hooked his little finger around hers affectionately as their words overlapped, an action that he had once always done during their short engagement. Suddenly, Tessa became all too aware of the marks on her neck which she had evidently concealed with a heavy gray turtleneck jumper which brought out her eyes, and her face felt a little warm, as though everybody could see through the fluffy gray material. Truthfully, Tessa and Jem had never really had an overly, well, intimate relationship. Meaning, no intimate moments. She wasn't ashamed to have had one, no, that wasn't why she felt her face was colouring. It had just been a very long time since she had had one of those relationships, which had been way back in the 1900s.

"I think that we had established that last night," Jem said, with a meaningful glance at Tessa, who nodded quickly. Today, all of her fears from yesterday seemed like such silly, petty things, like a nightmare from her childhood.

"We planned on leaving today," she clarified. "We wouldn't want to intrude on your hospitality too long. And nor is it my place to remain, seeing as I cannot be categorized with the shadowhunters." Jem applied a little more pressure to her finger when she said that, as though saying, "That's not true," and Tessa responded with a light squeeze of her own, one which clearly stated, "You know it is."

"No need to say that," Maryse chastised. "Shadowhunter blood is dominant, remember, and even if it wasn't, you've done a great enough deed to us to ensure a roof over your head here for many, many years." Tessa smiled bitterly at that, but otherwise didn't reply.

"We'll be leaving now," Jem said, and shot a look over at Tessa, who gave a small nod of confirmation, before smiling at Maryse.

"Thank you," she said, and Maryse responded, "My pleasure."

"They're leaving?" Clary exclaimed, leaping from her seat furiously. "But they can't, what about–"

"Honestly, Clary," Jocelyn said with a sigh, "I don't see why you're getting so worked up about it. They clearly feel no reason to stay, and we should be getting back to Luke anyway."

"But what about that guy who–"

"It means nothing to them from what I can see," Jocelyn said, cutting across Clary once again. "Nothing to worry about."

Jessamine seemed to think there was something to worry about, Clary thought with a little bit of sulk. She felt her pocket to check that the angel was still there before sighing loudly and walking away.

"Where do you think you're going?" Jocelyn snapped, and Clary called back, "Aren't I allowed to say my much anticipated farewells to Jace and Izzy?"

"And not Alec?" Jocelyn asked dryly, clearly overseeing the 'much anticipated farewells' part, which Clary didn't seem too happy about.

"Alec's off with Magnus, I think," she replied, her tone slightly annoyed. "Why, don't you trust us without him? He's the responsible one, now isn't he?"

"I'm not allowed to be curious?" inquired Jocelyn, pursing her lips, and Clary noticed a small line between her mother's eyebrows form. She braced herself. Something was coming if her mom was frowning. "How about Simon?"

Clary's heart plummeted.

"I… I don't know," she whispered. "He's not really adjusting to the shadowhunter world as well as he did before. He prefers the old world, I think."

"Nothing can happen the same way twice, Clary," Jocelyn said sagely, which made Clary feel even worse as she remembered Simon's memories swirling around the room, an intangible television screen viewing his life. She remembered her last desperate wish being whispered, a wish that would never be heard again. She remembered stretching her hand out, her fingers struggling in vain to catch the memories, as though she could hang on to them, keep them safe. Safe from Asmodeus the demon, never let him touch them, never let him dirty them. But she had failed. Clary's eyes began to grow hot and tingly as she remembered.

"Please–" she had said, Jace's arms restraining her, his arms like fetters around her. Clary hurriedly scrubbed her eyes and didn't reply to Jocelyn, merely turning and striding down the hall. As soon as she was out of sight, she took off at a bound, scrambling up the staircase and looking frantically up and down the corridor, fighting to catch her breath and figure out where Isabelle would be. The training room would be the first place that she would most likely be, or perhaps her bedroom. Breathing heavily, Clary clambered up to the training room where, for perhaps the first time, it was empty. Grinding her teeth, she ran back up the corridor, her feet slipping on the floor as she neared Izzy's door.

Clary floundered for a moment as she skidded to a halt in front of the door, and her limbs became all tangled up as she tripped over her own feet and crashed into the black door.

"Ah…" she clutched her head, wondered when she would be able to draw an agility rune down on her arm. Yanking herself to her feet painfully, she grabbed the door handle and turned it.

Isabelle's head snapped around to stare in alarm. Clary noted that she was wearing an over-sized shirt that looked very much like something that Simon would wear – Star Wars merchandise, no doubt – and Clary next saw what was clutched in her hand. The golden ring that the Seelie Queen had sold to them with a cheap purpose. Her eyes next moved up to meet Isabelle's, and saw her own thoughts reflecting back.

Clary burst into tears.

"Okay, okay, I'm… I'm okay." Clary drew in a deep sniffle at the exact same second that Izzy did, and expelled an awkward laugh at the coincidental timing. Jace looked on uncomfortably, clearly unsure of what to do. He had walked in on the two girls allowing their emotions to flow out, sharing the pain. Clary was now calming down, and she rubbed her eyes, which felt puffy and sore.

"It's going to be alright," Izzy whispered, so that Jace couldn't hear her. "He'll remember in the end. He will."

Simon. Clary didn't look directly at her as she finally linked her hand with Jace's, allowing him to pull her up from the bed.

"See you, Izzy," she said, fighting to keep her breaths even, and Izzy called back, "See you, Clary."

As soon as the door was closed, Jace took her face in his hands, his ochre eyes gentle as he searched her face.

"You didn't tell me that you still worry about Simon," he said, and for once, there was no trace of sarcasm in his voice. Clary sighed, taking his wrists in her hands and removing her skin from his and tried not to notice the hurt in his eyes.

"I– I don't. I've just got to let it out, sometimes." She closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose, and then reopened them and looked at Jace calmly. "It doesn't matter."

"God, Clary, you've got to stop pushing me away," he said roughly, grabbing her by the shoulders so that she couldn't walk away.

"Ever since you turned eighteen, you've become quite bossy," Clary said, attempting for teasing as she pried his fingers away, but Jace didn't follow the path that she was laying out – an easy getaway from the conversation. He continued down the old, rocky one.

"I'm serious," he growled. "If this is going to work, you've got to trust me more…"

"Trust you more?" Clary exclaimed, disbelieving. "Just last year, was it not you who was pushing me away because you thought that you were half demon or whatever–"

"Don't start on that now–"

"Oh no, I most definitely will! If you want me to lay more trust in you, then you've got to lay more trust in me!" She glared at Jace, who glared back, greatly resembling an angry and highly dangerous lion.

"Take your old married couples' quarrel elsewhere," Izzy's voice sounded from inside her room, but she was ignored entirely.

"I had every right to avoid you," said Jace, his tone sharp. "If you thought that you were demon, would you go prancing about–"

"Prancing?"

"Yes–"

"No–"

"I just wanted to keep you all safe–"

"And I could have helped, if you'd just talked to me–"

"You wouldn't have understood, and then there's this Simon situation–"

"Only Izzy would understand that…" Clary trailed off, feeling hot and irked. She stared at Jace, who stared directly back, and they were both silent for a moment, and then his eyes narrowed, and it was hard to tell what he was thinking. He took a step towards Clary, and Clary involuntarily took a step back, which Jace soon stole the distance from with another two steps, and then his lips were on hers, dominant and angry and desperate and laying claim on everything. Clary wanted to push him away, still mad at his stubbornness, at how unreasonable he was being… yet she couldn't, and then she was kissing him back, her body acting as though it had a mind of its own as her hands moved up and clasped onto the lapels of his shirt, and she felt his hands tangling into her hair.

"Jesus, Clary–" she heard Jace mumble against her lips, and then they separated, breath coming out rapidly. Clary gasped, trying to catch her breath, and wondered what on earth had just happened.

"Jocelyn's waiting," Jace said, his voice expressionless, and Clary directed her gaze on him, unsure of what to say. But Jace got there first, "I know," he said, and he sounded a little roused. Clary felt a small smile on her lips as she gave a single nod and turned and practically tripped down the stairs.

"Mom?" She called as she opened the doors of the institute. "We can go–" she cut off as she realized that Jocelyn was nowhere to be seen. "–now…" It was completely empty outside the institute. Frowning, she walked down the path and opened the gates, which only a shadowhunter could open.

"Mom?" said Clary, peering up and down the street. Nothing. A little puzzled, Clary tried to remember whether she had passed Jocelyn on her way down, neither of them seeing each other. But she recalled no flash of red hair at all. She walked up to the gutter of the street, glancing across the road, down the road, up the road. Not a soul in sight, not even a mundane. With a small shrug meant for nobody, Clary wheeled around and opened the gate again, planning on checking inside again, but she never had her chance to.

From behind, she felt a pair of hands seize her, fingers biting into her neck. Caught unaware, Clary opened her mouth to scream, anything, but no sound came out as a hand slapped across her mouth, muffling her voice. Clary saw the gates swinging shut as she was dragged away, and her eyes went wide. Struggling to open her jaws ever so slightly, she managed to bite down on the gloved hand, and the person's grip weakened momentarily, enough for Clary to wriggle her mouth out of the hand's way, and screamed, praying that somebody could hear her, that her mom was coming out of the institute now, "HELP–" but that was all that she managed as she felt something incredibly hard connect with her temple, and her skin felt like it was on fire for the one second that she was still conscious, before she fell, tumbling head-over-heels, into the awaiting darkness, beckoning for her like death itself.

Good? Bad? :) It was nice to write from Clary's POV for an entire chapter, her being a modern-day girl like myself, and therefore way easier to relate to… is she dead?! Thou shalt not worry, for thy hero approaches rapidly, atop the back of his noble steed!

~Black Cat Widow~