Author's Note on bottom when you finish reading.

10. The Trial

I woke up to warmth buried in my side. For a small moment I had forgotten what it was. It was too small to be Jace, was it Church? Did Jace buy me a dog? I opened my eyes and looked down at the direction of the warmth, and there was Adam. I had never seen him more peaceful than he was then. His hair was tousled, and his thumb hung loosely from his mouth. I smiled to myself because of the sight. I didn't know he sucked his thumb. It was adorable. I suddenly remembered that we didn't have much time to spare. I had to get him out of here before Maryse got up and took him to a hospital. I couldn't keep him locked up in this room forever. I sat up some, and looked down at him again. I shook him awake, and as I did his mouth tightened around his thumb, and his eyes slowly opened He turned his head to look at me, as if asking me what.

"We should get up Adam." I said softly. He gently took his thumb from his mouth and sat up, but when he took out his thumb, I thought I saw blood. I quickly grabbed his hand to see blood on his thumb; he had been biting on it in his sleep. I got out of bed and lifted him out and on his feet. I took him to the bathroom and cleaned it off, before putting a Band-Aid on it. I looked at him longingly after I was done. He still had quite an impassive expression about him, but I knew that somehow somewhere I would get through to him. I made sure he was dressed, and made him sit to get his shoes on, but when he stood, he seemed weak. His legs shook, and when I would touch his hands they trembled in mine. I assumed that to be a sign of dehydration, and malnutrition. He needed to eat, and as much as I wanted to get him out of here, food was more important. I had packed his clothes in my backpack, I only grabbed my sketchbook and pencils, I didn't worry about my clothes since I had plenty at home.

I took his shaky hand and lead him down the hall and into the kitchen. It was still early; my watch read ten minutes pass six. The only one who could possibly be awake at this time is Jace, and I even hoped we didn't run into him.

After entering the kitchen I made Adam sit, I wasn't sure if I should make him eggs, or get him something fast. I wanted it to be healthy, but we didn't have much time. I poured him a glass of milk, and decided to fry eggs, and toast. Nothing else. I made enough for the both of us, and sat his plate in front of him, before I even sat it down he was digging in. dipping his bread in the yolk, and practically shoving it in his mouth. He was eating like a pig, but I couldn't blame him, he must've been starving. It was then that the kitchen door swung open, and there stood none other than Jace.

His face was blank at first, but then his gaze turned to Adam who didn't even noticed he had walked in. Jace lifted an eyebrow at Adam's silly way of eating. I had to suppress my laughter. Jace's is stilled face staring at Adam was priceless; it was like a scene from a comedy sitcom on TV. Adam finally noticed Jace on his last bite, and sip of milk. He slowed his movements to nothing as he stared back at Jace. I was sure that Adam hadn't forgotten him. At first they seemed to be having a glaring contest, I wasn't sure how to break the tension, but just when I was getting too nervous, Jace was the one to do it.

"Hungry much?" He said to Adam, - who- of course said nothing. "I'm surprised you didn't swallow the plate." Jace smirked. He then turned to look at me, I was awkwardly quiet, I wasn't sure why he was being to so nice to Adam, but I didn't know how to respond to it either. "Is he still not talking?" He asked me. I shook my head. Adam continued to stare up at him, now done with his food. Since he was done I wanted to jump out of there, but I was also afraid to move. I looked back at Jace who was still looking at me. I could tell he wasn't sure what to say either.

"Maryse is up." Was all he said. My heart dropped, did he call on her? Was she on her way? "If we want to keep her from taking him, then we need to go now!" He said with his face looking down at his feet. We? Did he say 'we'? He wanted to come with us?

"We?" I finally said it. He looked back to me, and smiled.

"Yes," He whispered. "We."

0o0o0

Upon arrival at Luke's place, Adam went inside on his own. He walked through the hallways, looking at the images on the walls. The Strawberry haired girl was in many of them. A few of when she was his size. He looked and saw two adults, with the strawberry girl, he frowned, something flashed in his mind, but too quickly it was gone.

"C'mon." He heard a voice say. He turned to see the girl coming towards him, with the tall man behind her. "Let me show you my room." She said and lead him down a hallway, she opened a door to a very orange room, with those drawings she had everywhere on her walls. "We'll be sleeping in here." She said. "If you want to keep exploring, feel free, I'm going to go and see what we could do for today." She smiled and left him there to look around. He decided to look at her drawings on the walls. They were beautiful, nothing he had never seen before. He looked over and saw a strange tall contraption with strings on it. When he touched them they made the most beautiful sound. He touched them again, and the sound was louder. He smiled to himself, when he swore he heard a sound from under the bed.

Nervous he went over, and slowly ducked down. But what he saw was nothing, completely darkness. Maybe it was a mouse? He decided to get flat on his stomach and slide under. He still saw nothing, and still couldn't feel anything with his hand, when suddenly two red eyes appeared. He jumped back and fell against the wall on the other side of the room. The creature withdrew from under the bed; his eyes still red even in the light. His horns were long, and it's snout snarled showing sharp wet teeth. It had found him. It grinned and pointed a bony finger at him just like it always had. All of the sudden the pretty room was gone, and he was in a large white room. The walls were high before a ceiling was made. And the only thing in the room besides him and the bull was a tall podium, with an even larger, scarier bull behind it.

The smaller bull grinned and turned to the master.

Good Morning worm your honor. It began to speak. The crown will plainly show The Prisoner who now stands before you! The smaller bull pointed at Adam. Tears ran down his face as more appeared and crowded the room. The boy was caught showing feelings, showing feelings of an almost human nature! This will not do!

CALL THE MASTER!

Then Graham entered the room. He thought he was gone, long gone. But here he was walking in, and telling every secret to the Bulls. Why would he do that? Graham hated them too. He was trying to save his own skin. That's what he wanted.

I always said he'd come to no good in the end your honor. He was lying; he always defended him, why would he give him away now? If they'd let me have my way I could have flayed him into shape. But my hands were tied. The bleeding hearts and artists let him get away with murder! No! He made him hurt those girls. They did it together!

Crazy! Toys in the attic I am crazy. Truly gone fishing, they must've taken my marbles away. Crazy toys in the attic he is crazy! He looked at Adam with a frown, tears fell from his eyes. Adam couldn't take this; he backed up against the wall, and slid down in a sitting position. He brought his knees up to his chest as the tears fell down his face. Then Graham turned to him and started shouting. Where was she? He wanted her to take him from here again!

You little shit; you're in it now. I hope they throw away the key! You should talk to me more often than you did, but no you had to go your own way. Have you broken any homes lately? He then looked at the judge. Just five minutes Worm your honor, him and me alone….

Then someone else appeared in front of him. A tall woman with dark hair, and a square face. She was beautiful, but sad. She looked so familiar to him. Who was she?

Babe, come to mother baby let me hold you in my arms. She looked at the judge with tears in her eyes. She was pleading for him. M'Lord I never wanted him to get in any trouble. Why'd he ever have to leave me? Worm your honor let me take him home!

Adam brought his hands up to his ears. He wasn't hearing any of this, it wasn't real. She told him it wasn't real. He squeezed his eyes shut. Begging for the images to go. He wanted Her, he begged his eyes to give him Her! Crazy over the rainbow I am crazy. Bars In the window. There must have been a door there in the wall when I came in. Crazy over the rainbow he is crazy! He opened his eyes, and there she stood. He smiled, and was about to run to her, but then she fell in front of him. Pools of blood formed around her, and he saw himself standing behind her with a large knife in his hand. The judge Bull stood up and roared loudly, and started shouting his verdict.

The evidence before the court is incontrovertible, there's no need for the jury to retire. In all my years of judging I have never heard before of some one more deserving the full penalty of law. The way you made them suffer. Your exquisite sister and mother, fills me with an urge to defecate. Since my friend you have revealed your deepest fear. I sentence you to be exposed before your peers!

TEAR DOWN THE WALL! They all started to crowd him. The monsters, Graham, The Bull, the women who claimed to be his mother, and Her. They surrounded him chanting the sentence over and over.

TEAR DOWN THE WALL! Their faces were dark, eyes held no color. Just black. The judge Bull became even larger has he roared.

TEAR DOWN THE WALL!

The ground was opening below him, and fire was rising from the floor and on to the ceiling.

TEAR DOWN THE WALL!

Ugly human creatures were crying below him. The burnt girl, the friends they killed. They were there. Crying and screaming in pain.

TEAR DOWN THE WALL!

They were all getting so close. The Giant bull looking like Satan as his eyes flamed with rage, and more creatures with giant wings flew from the hole in the ground. They all laughed, and Graham cried, like he didn't want to do this. Why was he? She looked angry. His mother looked broken, and here he was about to pay for all he's done.

TEAR DOWN THE WALL! TEAR DOWN THE WALL! TEAR DOWN THE WALL!

Suddenly a large explosion emitted from somewhere he wasn't sure, and for the first time in nearly six years his voice sang.

0o0o0

Jace and I were talking in the kitchen. I told Jace that I tried to get Adam to say my name, but he was having so many difficulty speaking. I told him that Magnus had told me he use to speak, and that he also told me that Adam was born with a rare condition.

"You're serious?" He said to me after I explained Adam's condition to him.

"I never knew of such a disorder." He said looking more than stunned.

"I know! I am going to do some research on it tonight." I said. "Find out what exactly people do to keep kids like him safe. But I also know we have to educate him. I'm not sure how to do that if he can't speak." I said exasperated.

"Well, of course there is a way to teach him." Jace took a step from leaning against the counter and took a seat at the table with me. "There are plenty of children all over the world who are mute, who are very well educated. The thing is though." He paused and thought long and hard about it. "If he was able to speak before, he should be able to do it again. It's just going to be somewhat difficult for him, before his throat muscles aren't used to it anymore."

"But until then?" I asked, we needed to communicate somehow.

"Well… we can teach him sign language." Jae said. "I'm sure Luke has many books on how to learn in the store." Of course why didn't I think of that?

"That's a great idea!" I became excited; I wanted to start teaching him now! All I wanted was at least one conversation with this kid. "And we can work on his speech in between, but at least we can communicate." Jace smiled at me, I was so happy that he had come. I didn't really want to do this alone, mainly alone without Jace.

"I just have one concern" Jace frowned, and so did I in return. "He's human, in the end he deserves a human life. How are we-" Jace was interrupted by a wailing scream from my bedroom.

Adam!

I always pictured his voice, but this was not how I wanted to hear it the very first time. He sounded like he was in so much terror, that I wanted to scream right along with him. Surprisingly, Jace was up faster than I was, and was sprinting towards my bedroom. When we got there, Adam was curled up in a fetal position on the floor in the corner of the room, sobbing. We both rushed to his trembling form, but when I touched him he screamed even louder.

"No no no no! Adam it's okay, it's me, it's Clary!" He was hallucinating; the poor thing didn't know the difference between fake and reality. He was so frightened that he continued to flinch from me. Finally I just grasped him in my arms, and cradled him, and began to sing

I'll sing it one last time for you.
Then we really have to go
You've been the only thing that's right
In all I've done.

And I can barely look at you
But every single time I do
I know we'll make it anywhere
Away from here

Light up, Light up
As if you have a choice.
Even if you cannot hear my voice
I'll be right beside you, dear

Louder, Louder
And we'll run for our lives
I can hardly speak, I understand
Why you can't raise your voice to say

To think I might not see those eyes
Makes it so hard not to cry
And as we say our long goodbyes
I nearly do…

He had finally stopped shaking, and to my surprise, Jace was on the other side of him, holding him too. The three of us where holding on to each other for dear life. And even though it wasn't spoken, I could feel something. All three of us needed each other. Jace's feelings were running through Adam like a soft flowing river, as visa versa for Adam. I could feel both of their pain, like it was passing through to me. Adam may not feel pain physically, but it was present. He felt it in his heart. Jace and I could feel it too. And even though I have only known Adam a total of three days, we were already a family. I gripped them both even tighter, and they responded the same. Adam's tears were soaking all of our shirts.

It was this moment that I realized that it felt good. All the times I cried on my mother's shoulder and left a soaked shirt behind, she soaked them into herself. And that was what Jace and I were doing for Adam. I wanted to take all his pain away, and soak it inside me, and make it disappear forever. I had images of Adam growing up and playing like a normal child running through my mind.

We were a family. The three of us.

We weren't going to ever give up.

Cause that's what families do…

Slower, Slower
We don't have time for that
All I want is to find an easier way
To get out of our little heads

Have heart, my dear
We're bound to be afraid
Even if it's just for a few days
Making up for all this mess

Light up, Light up
As if you have a choice
Even if you cannot hear my voice
I'll be right beside you, dear…

1. I wanted to touch base on CIPA! Just incase I get a random hater, or someone who is very naive. There IS such thing as CIPA! A disorder in your brain that you're born with. People with CIPA literally don't feel pain, ever! So every thing that Magnus said was fact. I researched this condition like crazy when I first heard about it. The only thing I sort of made up was the sweat glands thing. I thinkthat ALL kids with CIPA don't have sweat glands, but if that's true then Adam would be long dead already. Or at least mentally retarded due to lack of oxygen getting to his brain. I may be right, and some people with CIPA DO have sweat glands, but I am not 100% sure on that one.

2. I am starting a blog for all my stories on blogger. When they're complete I'll post them on my profile page. They'll include Bonus material and playlists.

3. The songs in this chapter are very important. I actually had a COMPLETELY different chapter going on here, and Word freaking wigged out on me, and shut down without saving my 8 page long chapter! :( BUT it was a blessing in disguise, because I like this chapter WAY better. I was listening to Pink Floyd's The Wall, and everything seemed to relate to Adam so well, and I thought of 'The Trial' and thought how Adam is still very confused, and disturbed. I changed the words to the song slightly. But other than that... yeah lol.

Songs:

The Trial ** Pink Floyd

Run ** Snow Patrol