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Chapter Four: When One Is Kidnapped
Clary stretched and sat up in bed yawning. She looked around her small room, trying to find her watch before finally locating it on her wrist. She gazed down at it before momentarily cursing and leaping out of bed. She ignored the pain as her foot came down onto an old piece of Lego and hopped towards her chair, where she had draped her uniform. She pulled it on minus the blazer and shoving her books into her bags, ran out of her bedroom into the kitchen outside. Her mother was already busy making breakfast, Jonathan, her younger brother was trying to do his homework and her father, Luke was trying to fix the breakfast table leg but clearly failing.
"Morning Clary' he said, several nails in his mouth, 'I just wanted to make some headway before I went off to work".
Clary nodded, even though she knew that this project had been going on for the past six months before turning and grabbing some white, plastic bread from the packet and heading for the door.
"Clary' called her mother, 'don't you want breakfast?"
"I'm late' she called, 'see you at dinner".
She closed the door on everyone's questions before heading down her apartment stairs, out the door and careening towards the end of the street. Her bag juddered on her back behind her but she ignored it, passing a man riding very slowly on his bicycle. Over the years, she had become quite a good runner, having to run to the train station quickly because she had no alarm and often overslept.
As Clary made her way down the hill, she ran into someone, falling to the floor. Her tights split open immediately, her knees grazing. She got up apologising slowly and tried to go around them. The person just stepped with her, their bulky and muscular body easily blocking her. She looked up and saw her reflection in dark shades.
She then turned to cross the street but a black Mercedes drew up in front of her, causing her to skid to a halt. Another man got out and she was grabbed from behind. Before she could scream, a flannel was clamped over her mouth and immediately a harsh, burning smell ripped through her nostrils.
She struggled in vain against their grip but these weren't small town crooks or teenage boys playing men, they were trained. And as the chloroform made her eyes descend down, her brain woozy and her legs floppy, she managed to get a glimpse of someone opening the window and staring at her solemnly. Jace Wayland. Then she was falling into a...
It was Isabelle who convinced her to come to Idris Academy. Isabelle, whom she had never spoken to, never been friend with, never interacted with, Isabelle, the famous model who only needed her first name for people to recognise her by. Always smiling, long black raven hair, dark brown-gold flecked eyes, pale and tall but also one of the nicest people who had ever graced the screens and billboards of the world.
It was at an open day at Idris and Clary had been forced along by her mother, who was keenly interested in Idris even though she never expected Clary to get in. However when Clary had seen that Isabelle, a former student at Idris, was coming to speak to the public, she had dragged her mother along to listen. Isabelle stood at the podium, elegantly attired and addressed everyone with the same courtesy and grace she did everyone.
"I'm Isabelle and I graduated in 2009. Welcome to Idris Academy today".
She nodded at everyone and Jocelyn muttered to Clary
"She's gorgeous".
Clary pointed at the brochure and said
"She is the daughter of Maryse Trueblood and her husband Robert of Company Trueblood. When she isn't modelling, she is studying abroad in France".
Jocelyn read the rest of the brochure and said loudly
"Wow what an amazing person".
Everyone around them leapt at the sound and even Isabelle looked over. Clary reddened, her blush clashing with her hair but Isabelle just smiled. She said
"I'd like to say something to those who are still deciding what path they wish to take. Be true to yourself".
Clary gazed at Isabelle, a smile forming. She was brilliant. Isabelle said
"If you do this, then I am sure you will have a great school life".
Clary sighed. Isabelle was her role model in life. From that moment on, she wanted to attend Idris so she could turn out to be exactly like this wonderful person. She had watched as Isabelle stepped down off the podium and interacted with anybody who came up to her with questions. Clary wanted to meet her but eventually Isabelle was pushed off in another direction and Jocelyn was telling her that she had to get back to school.
So she never got to meet her idol but she would enter Idris and eventually one day, she hoped that she would be every bit as successful and happy as Isabelle. Idris seemed like a dream that when she achieved that dream, she felt like she could never come back down to Earth. Until she actually arrived.
Clary's eyes opened slightly and adjusted to the bright light. As her brain slowly lost the groggy feeling, she began to take in her elegant surroundings. The expensive flowers, the chandeliers, the golden plaited and Turkish and Swedish furniture, the glass mirror in front of her.
And then she noticed someone in front of her, a stunningly beautiful girl. She had sleek red-gold hair that had been draped round one side of her neck in a pearl clasp. Her green eyes were illuminated by expertly done mascara and eyeliner, her small frame complimented by a gold dress that didn't quite stick to her curves but wasn't a sack. Adorning her neck was a diamond necklace that set off the dress.
Clary started to stand up and started to apologise for the intrusion but the girl simply copied her in movements and speech. Then Clary realised it was herself, which she admired so much. She gazed in astonishment at the change that had happened, how much makeup and hairspray and expensive clothes could change a person. Magnus was right when he told her she could look so much better than she did. Not that she would ever let him know.
She started to smile before someone else came into the mirror's reflection behind her. Clary jumped again and turned around to see Jace Wayland, eying her with evident pleasure. Before he could say anything Clary said
"What is the meaning of this?"
Jace, in quite plain clothes (for him), designer jeans and a short sleeved top, shrugged and said
"Withdraw".
He moved to the bar and said
"Drink?"
Clary stared at him in bewilderment and he said
"Don't worry, it is all non-alcoholic. My parents insisted I didn't rot my brain cells until I was at least 21".
When she still didn't respond, he looked at her and said
"Don't tell me, with great beauty comes great stupidity".
Ignoring this, Clary said
"Withdraw?"
He looked up from where he was pouring something into a glass and said
"You declared war, right? Withdraw".
Clary felt her anger return and she said
"I wasn't kidding".
Jace laughed, without looking up and said
"10,000 dollars".
"Excuse me?" said Clary.
He motioned with his hand and said
"That's the amount I have invested in you".
Clary's voice went shrill and she said
"$10,000?"
Jace laughed and said
"Total spa treatment, hair and makeup is $2000, the dress is a further $2000, whilst the shoes are $500. The jewellery makes up the rest".
Clary found herself stuttering
"So you have done this to me with the intentions of pushing me into debt?"
Jace said with boredom dripping off his tongue
"Stop, it doesn't matter how much, if you want these kind of things, I'll give".
He stepped away from the bar with his drink and walked towards her. Clary eyed him and said
"Why would you do such a thing?"
Jace laughed to himself and Clary said
"What are you laughing at? You think I would want these kind of things"
She started trying to take off the necklace but couldn't find the clasp. It would be just her luck if he had superglued it to her neck, she would be mugged in the street. Jace raised an eyebrow and said
"Why were you fascinated then? Before you saw me? You were fascinated, weren't you?".
Clary looked away, trying to find any sort of reason other than she had been taken away by what could be done. Jace said
"You see you are like everyone. People's hearts can be moved instantly by money. You have disappointed me, Clarissa Fray".
Clary clenched her teeth and he took a sip before saying
"Smile. You are ecstatic that such a transformation is possible".
She still wouldn't look at him and he came towards her.
"Smile' he said forcefully, 'SMILE".
Finally Clary looked up and said
"Are you stupid? HOW CAN I SMILE?"
Jace went to say something but she cut him off
"Such a thing done by you, I am not the slightest bit ecstatic about it. You cannot persuade everything in this world with money".
Jace looked at him, shock and something else running through his eyes. Clary turned and stormed towards the door, leaving a silent room. Clary stormed out of the room, angrily muttering to herself.
"The nerve of that guy. How dare he tell me that...' then another thought hit her, 'crap, where are my clothes?"
She looked both ways down the long, bright hall, filled with portraits and mirrors before seizing the nearest door handle and opening it into a study, which was roughly the size of her house. She looked around, trying to find any indication of her uniform or even life in this dull, large house and her eye caught sight of a series of photographs on the counter by the wall.
She walked towards them and saw they were of a girl, with her friends, smiling on a couch and one of her in a wedding dress. She was half Asian, with striking looks, curved cheekbones and a black bob but her gold eyes immediately pointed her out as Jace's sister. Maybe she was his half sister. It was the only bit of humanity in the room, everything else generic wealth and elegance.
"Clary' she said to herself, 'this is not the time to be admiring someone".
She opened the other door and came out into a billiards room that contained seventeen pool tables. She ran to the next door and for the next ten minutes spent her time running around, counting three more billiard rooms, as well as a Harry Potter dining hall, more than enough hallways, fourteen bedrooms, six bathrooms and countless amounts of stairs.
"Where in the world is my uniform?" she practically begged an ugly looking man in the portrait next to her.
As she stumbled out into a humongous hallway, the doors to the other side of the hall opened and she watched as a blonde woman stepped onto the marble accompanied by several bodyguards. She walked along the hallway, her heels clacking, her face impassive and walked straight passed Clary. Instead she said
"Would somebody please do something about that?"
Clary looked around and then realised she was talking about her. She watched as two bodyguards detached themselves and taking her by the arms, forced her along the corridor and away from the main hall.
Twenty minutes later, she had bruises, scrapes and lost dignity but she had finally found her uniform after pleading with them to give it back to her. She then stormed along the path away from the Wayland mansion and as she reached the gates turned around. The mansion spread horizontally as far as the eye could see and went up seven stories. Clary exhaled and said
"This is really something".
Inwardly she thought it might be a bad idea to make enemies with such people.
Clary gingerly made her way to the cafeteria the next day, half looking out for Jace Wayland and the multitudes of things he might contemplate doing to her. Unless he employed a torturer to think up ways to infuriate her or something. As she walked in, she realised a crowd had gathered around a window and as she half looked, she got the shock of her life. Scrawled in paint across the window was: CLARISSA FRAY IS A SLUT. Several other things were scrawled around it but Clary was too angry to look. Someone giggled and said
"Ah, I don't think I could live if they weren't lies".
Someone else said mock sympathetic
"But it seems so true that I can't back her up".
Clary's fist clenched and she turned and stormed out of the cafeteria. As she reached the door, she ran into Jace who looked at her.
"Did someone put salt in your tea?" he said as he walked past.
He then saw the writing on the windows and turned towards her, a strange look in his eyes. He opened his mouth.
"DON'T SAY ANYTHING" yelled Clary and she stormed off. What the heck? What the heck? What the freaking heck? Even if he hadn't physically written anything there, he encouraged and condoned it all. To hell with him.
She ran to the fire exit, as per normal and screamed once she got out there.
"What's with those people?' she growled, 'I AM STILL A VIRGIN".
Her voice echoed across the courtyard and as she stared, she suddenly remembered. She spun around but her eyes met empty steps. She exhaled, relieved Simon hadn't heard her yell that. She looked across the yard and Simon said
"Virgin, huh?"
Clary jumped and Simon stood next to her, his hands in his pockets. He laughed at her expression and she stared at him. Somehow...he seemed to be in a very good mood.
"Don't laugh' she said sheepishly.
Simon shrugged and said
"Fine".
He opened up a magazine and started reading from it. Clary watched him and he suddenly said
"Do you know the time difference between here and France?"
"What?" said Clary.
"Time difference?" he said.
She bit her lip and said
"Roughly...five hours?"
He moved his head in a neutral way and then smiled at the picture he was looking at. Clary watched him and said
"Do you have some acquaintance in France? Or are you travelling there?"
Simon shrugged and Clary realised he was looking at pictures of Isabelle. Excited she said
"Isn't she amazing? Have you seen her in person? I REALLY want to meet her"
Simon looked up and said
"Really?"
Clary grinned and leant in closer to read the article. Simon considered moving away but in the end watched with amusement as Clary gasped at what Isabelle had to say. Above them, Jace watched them, his stomach tightening with a feeling he had never experienced before. How dare Clarissa Fray be so happy talking to his best friend? What was wrong with him, Jace Wayland? The great and almighty. She would never know what was coming next.