Chapter Three
Clary brought down the seraph blade with as much force as she could manage. Proud, she took a step back and looked at the stuffed dummy torn in half.
"Better, but you still need to come at more of an angle," Jace encouraged.
Clary threw up her hands, "I did come at an angle!"
Jace shook his head. "You need to slice from one shoulder to the opposite hip."
"That's what I did."
"No, you sliced from the shoulder to the belly button," Jace laughed.
Clary sighed and went to the next dummy. She drew back her blade and sliced exactly from the dummy's right shoulder to the left hip in a straight line.
"Better?" Clary asked.
"Well, it could have had a little more power…"
"Ugh!" Clary raised her blade.
"I'm kidding," Jace laughed and grabbed her weapon before Clary to do any harm, "That was great."
"Ok," Clary smiled, "Can I try something else now?"
Clary had been practicing with her sword for three hours today and for three hours the past four days. Now it was beginning to get on her nerves. She wanted to have a signature weapon of her own like Isabelle and her whip. Clary had no idea what weapon she really liked, though; she had never really been one to use weapons.
"Why don't we try learning some runes now?"
Clary nodded and pushed some sweaty pieces of hair out of her face. At first Clary didn't understand the purpose of learning the runes if she already knew them so well. Jace had to explain to her it wasn't about knowing what the runes mean, it was about learning how the runes and the combination of runes affected the outcome.
They walked down the hallway to the library and Jace opened the Gray Book. Clary sat down beside Jace and did as she had been taught by Jace, to clear her mind and focus on breathing. Jace opened the book, and Clary's mind registered the V shaped lines crossed in the middle with a wavy line as COURAGE. Jace flipped the page and a new rune was beside courage. The meaning went from courage to heroism.
Clary and Jace did this for ten minutes before they stopped for the day. It wasn't good to learn too many words a day. The runes could cause a major headache if you looked at too many in a short period of time. It was this that slowed Clary down from learning more about runes, not that she didn't want to learn about them or grew bored with them. If she could spend all day learning runes and studying them, Clary would.
"What do you want to do now?" Jace asked Clary.
"I'm not sure. I don't have any training left, and I don't have any plans for today."
"Did you want to see Simon?"
"No, I talked to him on the phone last night and I think he and Isabelle are hanging out today."
"We did," came a voice from behind them, "We watched a movie; it was fun."
Clary saw Isabelle in a dark green, flowing dress. "That's good. It wasn't Dracula, was it?" Clary asked.
Isabelle laughed, "No, thank the Angels. It was just a comedy. But the reason I came in here was that Mom wanted to let you know your mom and Luke are coming over soon."
"Really?" Clary stood up, "Do you know when?"
Isabelle shook her head, "Not exactly, just soon."
"Thanks. I'm going to take a shower then." Clary turned to Jace and kissed him lightly before rushing to the bathroom.
Jace watched Clary leave and sighed. He never did feel the same without her beside him. Jace noticed Isabelle looking at him and raised his eyebrows. "What?"
"You know you have to tell Clary." It wasn't a question.
"Tell her what?"
Isabelle rolled her eyes. "You also know exactly what I'm talking about, too."
"I don't read minds, Isabelle."
"But you do know what I'm referring to. It's Clary's choice to decide whether or not she wants to be a lead warrior for the Clave."
Jace glared at Isabelle. "She hasn't trained enough to fight for the Clave."
"Are you that worried she'll get hurt? Or do you think she's going to run off and leave you?"
Jace just looked at her.
"Clary wouldn't do that, Jace. Besides, she's not the only one with angel blood. The Clave wants you, too."
"I'm not the same as Clary."
"No, you have a skill equally as talented."
Jace sighed. He didn't want to talk about this. "Look, Izzy, I will tell her; just not now." With that, he stood and walked, determinedly, out of the library.
Clary had put on a nice top and some blue jeans; now she tugged on her shirt as she walked down the hallway. Luke and Jocelyn were probably here by now. Clary had been walking around trying to find Maryse or Robert.
"Clary!" yelled a voice in the kitchen.
Clary stopped in her tracks and peeked in the doorway. Her mom and Luke were in there along with Isabelle. She walked into the kitchen and hugged her mom.
"So what's up?" Clary asked.
"Luke and I were about to go out to eat, but Luke thought we should stop by and see you first," Jocelyn said happily, but there was a hint of confusion in her eyes.
Luke walked out into the hallway, "Come here for a second, Clary, please."
The confusion grew more pronounced on Jocelyn's face as Clary met Luke in the hallway.
"Okay, so what's up?" Clary repeated.
"Follow me first," Luke said and walked down the hallway until they reached the weapons room.
"I'm going to propose to your mom tonight, Clary," his voice was a mix of happiness and nervousness, "I wanted to be sure it was fine with you first, though."
"If it's fine with me? Are you kidding? Of course it is; it's about time, to be honest!"
Luke smiled, "Well, that's good news."
Isabelle and Clary were standing over an even more confused Jocelyn, who was sitting in a chair at Isabelle's vanity. Clary told Isabelle about the news in the hallway, and Isabelle wanted to dress Jocelyn up and do her makeup.
Isabelle grabbed the mascara and put it to Jocelyn's eyelashes. Clary wandered over to Isabelle's closet. Some of Isabelle's clothes could fit Jocelyn since she was just a little taller than Izzy. Clary searched in the dress's section until she found one she liked.
"This would be perfect," Clary said as soon as Isabelle said, "All done!"
Isabelle looked at the dress Clary was holding and nodded. It was a royal blue, strapless dress with ruffles that fell from the top and flowed out to the hem. In record time, Isabelle had Jocelyn in the dress with her hair curled to a romantic wave that matched the dress's ruffles. Clary knew she would be drawing this later on tonight.
"You look beautiful, Mom," Clary said.
Jocelyn hugged Clary, "Thanks, and thank you, Isabelle, for dressing me."
"No problem at all," Isabelle replied.
They walked back down to the kitchen and watched Luke's reaction. His mouth dropped for a second Clary noticed, but he quickly recovered. Jocelyn blushed.
"You look stunning," Luke told Jocelyn.
"Thank you," Jocelyn smiled.
Luke took Jocelyn's hand and waved good bye to Clary and Isabelle. "Have a good night, girls."
Clary looked at Isabelle when Luke and Jocelyn stepped out of the room and smiled, pleased with their work.
Sorry this chapter is so short; I was trying my best to upload it by Wednesday. But I bet your thinking Finally something happened! I know it's been kinda boring, but I'm getting past the exposition now and into the plot. I'll update next week, please comment! :)