" so... why are you walking me home?" Clary asked.

" I told you, it's going to get dark soon, what if you get mugged or something"

Jace answered dramatically.

" don't you have like, more important things to do?"

Jace looked at her, and smirked,

" what trying to get rid of me already? But we only just met."

Clary couldn't help it. She laughed.

" do people usually want to get rid of you?"

He smiled again before answering,

" why else do you think I came along today?"

She rolled her eyes, but didn't answer.

" so, how far away do you live?" Jace asked.

" not far, about ten minutes"

They walked in silence for awhile. She couldn't help but notice how smoothly he walked. Barely making a sound.

" so, how did you meet Jonathan?" Clary finally asked, trying to break the awkward silence.

" umm... when we were young, we met at this boxing class. We stopped going last year, because of school and stuff, but I guess we've just been friends ever since."

Boxing class, Clary thought. Makes sense.

Clary racked her brain for something else to ask, to keep the conversation going.

" umm... do you have any siblings?"

" Well this is getting personal now, isn't it." Jace joked.

" I just figured, since you have equal knowledge of my family as me, I should get to know at least a little about yours."

" alright, that makes sense." He said.

" I have two brothers and one sister. My younger brother's name is Max, and my older brother's name is Alec."

" cool. And your sister?"

" oh, right, her name's Isabelle. We call her Izzy though."

Clary thought about that. Having siblings. Because Clary was an only child, she had a better relationship with her mom than most kids her age, but that didn't mean she'd never wanted a sibling. She remembered her first crush, and how she really wanted to tell someone. Sadly at the time, she couldn't tell her best friend ( his name was simon, and he was boy) And telling her mom was out of the question. She had wanted a sister so bad.

Then there was that time when a man started following her home from school when she was in grace seven. She had wanted an older brother more than anything, so he could walk her home, or maybe even beat the guy up for her. She had Simon though, He wasn't the most athletic person, but he was better than nothing.

Point was, Clary was jealous of Jace, for having grown up with not just adults in the house, but actual kids. Not ones that came over then left later on, but ones that lived there with you.

" must have been nice. Growing up with them." She said, almost dreamily.

" I didn't. Not completely at least."

Clary looked at him, confused.

" what do you mean?"

" I was adopted when I was seven. My dad passed away, so the Lightwoods adopted me."

" oh."

They walked in more silence, not knowing what else to talk about.

" so, what do you do?" Jace suddenly asked.

" umm... you mean like hobbies?"

" yeah. Like I like to study old crime stories in my free time... Don't judge."

She laughed.

" crime stories? why?"

"maybe I'll tell you some day, but what about you?"

" okay... I like to draw... and paint... just art in general."

" cool. Maybe if your really lucky, I'll let you draw me some day."

There was that heart attack causing grin again.

They stopped, seeing the building in front of them.

" so, this is where I have to go..." Clary said, trailing off.

" We should meet again."

She looked at Jace expecting to see that smirk again, but her eyes landed on a face that was dead serious.

" If I agree, will you tell me why you read crime stories?"

He grinned.

" possibly."

Clary held out her hand.

" phone."

He passed it to her, and she typed in her number.

" call me when you're bored again." and with that she walked into the building.

" mom, I'm home!" She called as she entered the apartment.

she looked around, but there was no sight of her mom. Finally she got to her mother's bedroom, and found the room was a disaster. clothes were tossed all over the floor. The lamp lied broken on the floor. It must have been thrown, because there was a hole in the wall above it. Various objects had been skattered around the entire room, and holes were all over the walls.

Jocelyn Fray would never leave the house in this shape, at least not willingly.

Clary ran into her room and sobbed. When she finally stopped, she looked at her dest through her blurry vision. The framed picture of her mom and her, from when she was seven, was gone.