It was 11:45 and Clary was already sitting in the food court, waiting for her brother. She had contemplated asking if Jace was coming, but decided not to. At exactly 12:00 a white haired boy appeared in front of her. She couldn't help but feel a tinge of disappointment when she saw that Jace wasn't with him.

" Hey little sis, what's up?"

" Hey…."

His carefree expression suddenly changed into one of concern.

" what's wrong? what happened?"

Clary didn't know how he had picked up on her distraught so easily, but she figured he was just good at reading people.

" My mom disappeared yesterday…"

" oh my god, Clary are you alright?"

She didn't know what to say. of course she wasn't alright! Her mother just disappeared. How could anyone be alright?

" yeah, I'm fine."

He didn't look like he believed her, but he didn't push her either.

" so, why'd you wanna meet? Do I have some secret sister I didn't know about or something?"

" no. No more secrets, I just wanted to get to know you a bit. You know, sibling bonding time, shit like that."

" oh, umm… sure…"

" okay, let's go." And with that, Clary's hand was in her brother's and he was dragging her through the mall.

" where are we going?" she said, giggling despite the weight of all of her problems holding her down.

" somewhere I think you'll enjoy"

Clary had thought the the place he was taking her was inside the mall, but it became clear that it wasn't when he started pulling her out the huge automatic exit door.

" Jonathan, where are you taking me?!"

He just laughed, and looked at her with the most carefree eyes. They were the same eyes that had looked down on her only days before. When her mom and her had tried to make cupcakes, but they ended up tasting terrible and the kitchen was a mess.

" we're artists, not chefs" her mother had said.

" Almost there"

Being with Jonathan didn't make the pain or fear go away, but it did make it fade a bit. Like His presence was pushing out anything else that wanted to be in her head.

After another five minutes of running, who knows where, they got to a sketchy looking street, with old restaurants, and those clubs that you only see on TV.

" Jonathan where are we?" Clary asked nervously.

" Trust me, I'm not taking to to a strip club or anything, We're almost there."

He led her to an old run down building, but instead of going inside, he took her to the back of the building.

" Close your eyes" he said.

" I am so not closing my eyes here. This place is just screaming murder scene."

" just do it, I swear I won't let anything Happen to you."

She didn't quite trust the environment, but she did trust Jonathan. She closed her eyes.

He put his hands on her shoulders and led her a little further down the side of the building.

" okay, open." he said.

When Clary opened her eyes, she saw one of the most amazing places she had ever layer eyes upon. It was an old alley, with a few lights, that were half broken. There were liquor bottles all over the dirty, wet ground, But if you looked at the walls, they were filled with street art. There were so many styles, and symbols, and different colours, Clary couldn't even process it.

" what is this place?" she asked, still in shock.

" they call it the art alley"

" who does?"

Jonathan laughed.

" the artists that paint here. There was a big problem with graffiti in this area a couple years ago, so the police gave all the graffiti artists this little alley. There's still a graffiti problem, but those are just the people who like to vandalize, this is where all the real artists go."

Clary couldn't take her eyes off of it.

" it's incredible"

" your part of it now."

She looked at him wide eyed.

" I can't just come here and paint what ever I want, and how did you low I like art anyways?"

he smirked,

" Jace told me, and yes you can. This place belongs to any artist, who loves art. Tomorrow Jace is picking you up, and taking you here and you, Clarissa Fray, are going to paint something amazing."

She smiled. Art had always been Clary's escape from the world. While some read, or wrote, or watched movies and TV, Clary drew, and painted. She could already feel the comfort of this dark wet, alley, rising inside her.

" okay." she said, Still trying to soak everything in. " I'll do it."

Hey guys! so I hope you're all still enjoying this. I'm actually loving writing this, its so much fun! please review, i really appreciate it! i love you guys!