Me: Um, hi again.

Crowd: WHERE WERE YOU? WHAT TOOK SO LONG?

Me: Hey, this chapter is pretty long! Think of it as my present to you for what ever holiday you celebrate.

Crowd: Fine! Happy Hanukah to you!

Me(How'd you know I was Jewish?) Oh, everything belongs to someone else, you know who it is. But, I'm wishing for Jace this year! ;) (Who isn't?)

I'd been through many things in my life, including this one time I'd been forced to hide in a washing machine and it had been turn on. But I'd never been through a Portal. It felt like falling, but I could feel solid ground under my feet. I could hear Clary screaming, loud and terrified. It cut off for a second, and then started up again when we came out in our dimension. We fell out of the sky and I could see the river and trees. I fell on her just as she seemed to be getting up. I rolled out of it, but Clary wasn't so lucky. She caught herself in the face with her knee and hit the fence.

'Ow.' She coughed, winded. 'What was that for?'

'I didn't mean to fall on you.' I said back angrily. 'But I had to do something when you jumped through the Portal like a fool.' I stood up and brushed myself off. 'If you had gotten us in the East River, though, I would have been pissed.'

I reached up to help Clary up, but she swatted my hand away. 'You didn't have to follow me.'

'Yeah.' I muttered. 'I did.'

A silence followed as Clary looked around. Then she froze. 'I know this place.' She whispered.

You do?'

She looked over at me, her eyes wide. 'It's Luke's house.' She walked over to the front door and tapped a sign. It read "Garroway Books. Fine Used, New and Out-of-Print. Closed Saturdays"

'Is this his house or his store?'

Clary shook her head. 'Both. He lives behind it.' She looked around, like she was judging the distance between where we'd been before. 'Jace, how'd we get here?'

I shrugged. 'The Portal. You must have been thinking of Luke.'

'I wasn't thinking of anything.'

I shrugged again. 'Well, you must have been. We're here, aren't we?' I walked to the door, and tested the lock. 'Since we're here…'

'What?'

'What should we do?'

'Go back.' Clary spat. 'He doesn't want me here, remember?'

'Are you going to just take that?'

Clary, who was standing behind me, looking wistfully into the front window, shivered slightly. 'What's the other option?'

'We could go check out the house. If you have the keys, we could get some clues about why he doesn't want you here.' I looked at her questioningly.

'I don't, but he leaves the back door unlocked sometimes.' She pointed around the corner.

'Let's go then.'

We started around the house, going though the narrow space between the houses. There weren't any windows for someone to be looking down on us, but I still felt like I was being watched. I loosened another blade in my coat and gave another look around. 'You sure he isn't here?

Clary nodded slowly. 'Yeah. His truck isn't here. Besides, the store's closed and the lights are off.'

We reached the end of the ally and got to a chain-link fence the surrounded Luke's backyard. The yard was pretty sad, though; mostly weeds with a few flowers, dying from a lack of water in the heat.

'Up and over it is.' I murmured and stuck my boot into a space. It didn't take too long to get to the top, but the fence rattled loudly. I could see Clary looking around nervously for on-lookers.

When I got to the top, I stood for a moment, balancing on the very top of the fence and started into horizon. The sun was setting, sparking a flame in the sky. There was a slight breeze, and I could smell sweat. I froze, but when I heard someone breathing, I looked down.

There, in the bushes, was a skinny kid with glasses. He wasn't very hidden from above, but he couldn't be seen from either side. I sighed and dropped down, slightly to his left, landing softly. He heard me, but I gave him no time to react. I yanked him out of the bushed and shoved him against the fence, holding him in place with an elbow to his windpipe. The fence shook and a few seconds later, Clary dropped down, with a lot more noise, beside me. She took one glance at the kid and she gasped.

'Who are you?' I snarled. The kid was skinny, glasses and was wearing a t-shirt with some sort of bird-like crest on it. It was dirty and his pants were covered in loose particles of mud from kneeing in the shrubs. His face was clean scrubbed and he was wearing plain, black rim glasses.

'Shove the hell off, you pretentious asshole.' He shoved and tried to spin out of my hold. It didn't work.

'Simon?' Clary asked and crept closer to the boy. I blinked and actually looked at the boy. It was the same guy from the coffee shop and Pandemonium.

'Oh.' I sighed. 'And here I was thinking I'd found something of interest.'

'Hold on. Why were you hiding in Luke's bushes?' Clary reached out and brushed some dirt out of his hair with such gentleness, even with Simon's death glare, that I felt my eyes narrow and jaw clench. Simon swatted her hand away, and my jaw loosened.

'I can fix my own hair, Fray.' He shrugged off her second attempt to pick a stick out. We were on Luke's back steps, just under the overhang. Clary and Simon were sitting, and I was standing a few feet away, leaning against the side of the house. My head was bent down, the quintessential of a moody demon slayer, but I could see them through my hair. I wasn't trying to listen to them, but they weren't exactly whispering.

'Does Luke know?' She asked. 'That you're in his bushes, I mean?'

'I don't know about you,' Simon said, annoyed, 'but I'm sure Luke has a fairly stringent policy about random teenagers lurking in his shrubbery.'

'Luke knows you; you aren't random. ' I saw Clary's hand twitch slightly towards Simon, but she closed her fist to stop herself from touching him. 'At least you're alright.'

Simon barked a short laugh. 'I'm alright? Do you have any idea what I've been going though the past three days? When I last saw you, you were running out of that coffee shop like something was chasing you, and after you…You- disappeared. You never picked up your cell- you home phone is disconnected- then Luke told me you were off some cousins or something upstate when I know you don't have any cousins. I though I'd done something to piss you off.'

'Why would I be mad?' Clary reached again, this time going all the way, and my jaw clenched again. It loosened again when Simon moved his hand.

'I don't know; I said it was something I thought I'd done.'

The way they were talking, it sounded like they'd spent years and years together. And not only that, but nights and days; it was like they'd spend so much time together they could have this conversations without words. There was a small catch in Simon's voice. Clary' voice had it too, but, like a reflection in a pond, it was distorted, different. I couldn't name the feeling that would cause a catch that wasn't tied to anger or pain. The word seemed to be at the tip of my tongue; I tried to spit it out, but all that came out was a cough. Clary looked over at me for a split second, the catch in her voice, which was mirrored in her eyes, hit me. I flinched like she had touched me, but kept my head down.

She looked back at Simon. 'We're best friends.' She muttered. 'I wouldn't be mad at you.'

'Yeah, well, apparently, we aren't friends enough for you to call me and tell me that you're shacking with some wanna-be dye-blond goth that you probably met at Pandemonium.' Simon gestured wildly in my direction. 'I spend three days looking for you; hoping you weren't dead.'

'Simon, I'm not shacking up.' I saw Clary blush, even better than I would have been able to if the sun wasn't setting. I doubt Simon even noticed.

'Also,' I put in quietly, but still managing to sound like a "pretentious asshole", 'I am a natural blond. Unless, of course, someone's been dying my hair and not telling me.'

'So what have you been doing then?' Simon demanded. He already sounded less angry. 'Do you really have a second cousin Matilda who got swine flu and needed to be nursed back to health?'

Clary blinked. 'Luke actually said that?'

'No,' Simon took a deep breath and launched into the rest of his story. 'But he did saw you went visiting a sick relative and you phone wasn't working because you were out of the country. I didn't believe him, but he waved me off his porch. Then I came back here to see if I could find out what really happened. The only thing I saw was him packing up a green duffle bag like he was going somewhere. After that, I decided to stay around here until he came back. Or you did.'

I looked up at Simon and get a feeling of déjà vu. The exact same expression was on his face from Java Jones; the one that said he'd been trailing after this girl for years because he liked her and she hadn't noticed yet. I glowered him, and then frowned. Why was I getting parental over the fact that Simon liked Clary? She was nice, and pretty and…. I quickly clenched my fists. Can't think about that now, Jace. I yelled in my head. You know what happened last time.

'So you've been here for hours because Luke decide to go on a road trip? Clary asked.

'He wasn't going on a road trip unless it involves killing someone.' Clary's face turned to one of surprise, then she closed her eyes. I just looked up.

'What kind of weapons?' I demanded.

Simon looked from Clary to me and his expression became angry again. 'Knives, a couple of daggers and even a sword. That's not even the strangest bit, though. It looked like some of them were glowing.' His became suspicious again as he realized that what he just said sounded insane. 'I'm telling the truth.'

I stood up from the wall. 'Do I looked surprised?'

Clary stood and faced me. 'I'm telling him the truth.'

'Fine.'

'Aren't you going to stop me?'

I shrugged. 'I can't tell him, but you can. Laws bind me, but no such law binds you. You can tell him what ever you want. You can even tell him that my hair is natural because by the look on his face, he still thinks I dye my hair.' I was rambling again. I shut my mouth and went back to leaning. Clary nodded and turned back to Simon.

'Alright,' she took a deep breath. 'Here's the truth.'

'That's so awesome.' Simon laughed.

It took about half an hour for Clary to tell Simon everything. The sun was gone and I had lit up my witchlight for them. My vision was still fine, but Simon had started to look uncomfortable when Clary had told him about vampires. Everything Clary had said to Simon I knew already, most of it I had told her, but I didn't care. It meant half an hour where I got to listen to Clary, not have to say anything, not have to do anything; I could just listen. I'm sure if I had shut my eyes, I would have fallen asleep, even though I was still standing.

When Clary had finished and asked Simon if he had questions, he shot off a bunch, which Clary had answered. But when he had asked if this was really all real, his reaction was not what I had expected.

'Awesome?' I asked.

Simon nodded enough to make it look like he was being electrocuted. 'It's like D&D, but- but real!'

'D and….D?' I asked. I left out of it, not something I left very often.

'It's a game.' Clary explained. 'You kill things as a vampire or elf or whatever.'

I pretended to understand. 'Are real dungeons involved? Because if you've found a good dungeon in Brooklyn, you should probably tell me.'

'No, not real dungeons.' Clary rubbed the side of her face. 'None of it's real.'

'Vampires are real.' Simon pointed out. 'But the real questions is; are they hot.'

Clary collapsed her head into her hands.

I shrugged. 'Some of them are, I suppose. It's not a rule, but something about the fact they're dead does add something.'

Clary stood up. 'Are we going to search this place? It's getting dark and we don't really have a way home right now.'

'Right.' I got off the wall and went to the door.

Simon looked at me eagerly. 'Is this the part where you kick the door in and then I rush in guns blazing?'

I pulled out my stele. 'First off, no, I don't kick down doors. Too messy. Second, who said you were coming?'

'I did.' Clary pushed Simon out of the way. She tried the door, but it was locked.

'Why do you think I have this stele if I don't kick down doors?' I traced the Open Rune about the door, and the lock clicked. Simon muttered something behind me, but I ignored it. I pushed the door and walked into the back room. It was filled with boxes and shelves, but a red glint of light in the far corner caught my eye.

'Jace, where'd you go?' Clary asked.

'Over here. I think you should look at this.'

She stood behind Simon, who pushed their way over to where I was standing. The red glint of metal was made by a set of manacles in the wall. The steel wasn't red, but the dried blood on them was.

'Are those-'

'Manacles.' Simon finished. 'That's kinda-'

'Don't say kinky.' Clary warned, cutting him off. 'Luke wouldn't have manacles for that.'

I touched the blood. It was dried, and turned to powder. I leaned closer and saw that the plaster was crumbling near the bolt that held the manacles to the wall. 'It seems that someone, probably the person that was in these manacles, tried to escape. ' I mused.

'I hope they tried to escape.' Simon muttered. 'They were chained to the wall.'

Clary shushed him and I shot him a look. 'Yeah, but look at the amount that the plaster was moved. The person in these manacles must have been absurdly strong.'

There was a small silence. It was a thinking silence at first, but as we all came to the same conclusion, it got more deafening.

'Do you think he's okay?' Clary asked in a small, quiet voice. 'Luke, I mean.'

'We'd better find out.' I whispered back.

We opened the door out of the back room, and came into his living room. The house wasn't cold, and I could smell old food coming from the kitchen. 'He's still here.' I murmured.

'There's coffee on the table. Still hot.' Simon called from the corner. Clary started to wander around, trailing her figures slowly over the books in the shelves. She made her way around the corner, and down the hall. I was left standing in the middle of the room, alone. Simon was looking through the fridge for anything edible, but from the smell that was pouring of the there, the things in there wouldn't have been edible weeks ago. There was a piano in the room, its keys rather dusty, but when I hit one of the notes, it wasn't too badly out of tune. Simon came back, and raised his eyebrow at me.

'Do you play?' He asked.

'Yes.' I murmured, still looking at the keys.

'Shoulda guessed.' He cleared his throat. 'Do you play anything else?'

'I know how to play the violin, the lyre, the harp, the viola, and most other string instruments.' I looked up at him. He looked flabbergasted, and then rolled his eyes.

'I play too.'

'What do you play?' I asked, my fingers starting to dance lightly across the keys.

'Well, I'm in a band, and I play-'

'SH!" I hissed.

Simon, who had fallen to the ground at my outburst, looked up. 'What?'

I looked wildly around the room for something to hide behind. I turned again and saw the screen. I shoved Simon behind it, and ran, quietly down the hall for Clary. She was just coming out of a bedroom, wearing clothes that fit her this time, looking rather content. When she saw my face, though, she looked worried. 'Jace! What is- Ummmph!'

I had clapped my hand over her mouth, and pushed her down the hall. 'There's someone coming.' I whispered in her ear. 'I heard the footsteps outside.'

We both got behind the screen, with barely enough time. The people had already entered the house, and come into the room just as my foot was getting behind out cover.

'So you're sure she didn't tell you anything about it?' A boy's voiced asked. It was sharp, but polite.

There was a clunk, the sound a dozen or so weapons makes when put down on a table. 'Yes.' It was Luke, I remembered it from the phone conversation. It was a lot more tired sounding though, and his voice was scratchy from something.

'She did tell you something?' It seemed the boy and Luke were the only two here, besides us.

'No, I mean, I'm sure she didn't tell me anything.'

There was a pause, and, with my stele, I used a Rune to make a sort of window. We could see through it, but the people on the other side wouldn't. I could see most of Luke, and the chest and chin of the boy. Luke was wearing a flannel shirt and jeans, his glasses were quiet crooked, and there were bruises on his neck and arms, where the sleeves had been rolled up. He was young, but the look in his eyes was aged. There was an energy about him, but I couldn't place it. It was like when you smelt something you knew, but it had been changed slightly., another spice added. I tapped my chin, and looked at Clary. She looked alarmed at the injuries, but other wise just looked muddles. Simon was watching the boy with a strange expression on his face. He turned to me, and opened his mouth. I put my finger up before he said anything, so gesturing wildly, he made a box, and then spread his arms out. Bigger, he mouthed. Make the square bigger.

I nodded and added another Rune. The square almost doubled its size, which meant I could see the boy. He was tall, white-blond hair, with was pin-point straight, and angelic features. He was muscled, I could tell that much, even under the long robe he was wearing. I he turned his head slightly towards us, and he looked right into my eyes. My hand shook slightly as I looked into his golden eyes, light as syrup. I knew he couldn't see me, but they was he looked was nerve –racking. He turned back to Luke, and gestured.

'Well, then if you don't remember anything, perhaps there is something I should tell you.' He straightened his back a little more, and turned away slightly. The robe rippled as he moved, the Runes that were on it glowed slightly, as if they were active. 'Valentine.' The boy whispered, as light and deadly as the breeze that transforms into hurricanes. 'Valentine is back.'

Luke snorted. 'I knew that. Who else would take Jocelyn like that? And then send their…' He paused, and looked the boy up and down. 'Who are you anyway?'

The boy turned back, and I could see his face again. He wasn't really a boy, though. His voice was too low for that, and his face too strong. It was familiar, though, the lightness of his bone structure, the color of his hair, but I couldn't place it. He smiled, dangerously. 'Jonathan Morgenstern.'

Luke blinked. 'No… No. It couldn't be. What's your middle name?'

'Christopher.' He fired back. He wanted Luke to know. You wouldn't just give your name around like that.

Now, Luke staggered back, and it the wall. 'It couldn't be! You're dead!'

'I, as anyone could see, am not dead. There are many things you will find out, Lucian, if you come back and join us. He needs a new army, and you'd be the perfect one. Someone he trusts.' I could see Luke's eyes slowly fading out, like he was remembering something. He was close to snapping…. I shifted, and Clary put her arm on me, like she was holding me back. 'Someone he cares for,' Jonathan whispered.

That took it too far. Luke's eyes narrowed, and his eyes became wolfish. 'I doubt Valentine wants me back after throwing me off his property and telling me to kill myself. After saying I was no longer his friend, not even a man.' He shook his head. 'Do not through out lies of which you don't know the consequences.'

Jonathan shrugged. 'Have it your way. If you don't join him, you can still have Jocelyn back. Her, for the Mortal Cup.'

'I told you that I don't know where the Cup is. And if I did, I wouldn't trade it for her.'

I glanced over at Clary. She looked worried and confused, but I don't think she knew if they were talking about her mother. It would have hurt to hear your mother's best friend saying he wouldn't want to save her. Simon, on the other hand, could have been given a bucket of popcorn and he could have been watching a movie. I turned back to the sense in front of me, and found Jonny Boy looking like he had just been seen kissing his sister. He seemed flustered and his face was red.

'I- I had been told, that you and Jocelyn, had, once-'

Luke snarled. 'Don't speak of things you don't understand. You weren't even alive to remember the Uprising, or the events surrounding it.' He moved closer to the younger man. 'Why did Valentine send you? You know nothing of what happened then. I know for a fact that he had people with him that know me.'

'Not any more.' He seemed pleased that he had the power again. 'My father saw traitors in all of them, and killed them all. It just him and I now. And you, if you'd wish.'

No.' Luke spat viciously. 'I'm not going back to him. Now, get out of my house.'

Jonathan shrugged, like he was born for it, and the put his hand where his belt would be. 'I could stop you. I may not know your past, but I know you weren't anyone for fighting, Graymark.'

Luke laugh was hollow. 'I hope you could, being raised by Valentine. The first thing he would have done was train his flesh for battle.' Luke picked up the bag of weapons and gestured towards the door. 'By your leave.'

Jonathan shrugged again, and raised his hood. 'If you hear anything, I'll be the first one to hear, yes?'

'I don't have anyone else to tell.' Luke sounded so tired at that.

They both walked out, and the door click shut. We waited for a minuet, then two. At three we all let out the breath we'd been holding.

It was over; they were gone.

The shock of overhearing the conversation was wearing off. Clary took her arm off of me, and sat on the small chair that was behind the screen with us, and Simon tapped his chin with two figures. Which meant I was felt there, my thoughts reeling.

Valentine was back? He was dead, or so everyone thought. Apparently, he was alive and well, planning things with his son. And Luke was a Shadowhunter? Graymark was a Shadowhunter name, and I'd heard it before, although, I couldn't recall where. I could feel the anger boiling up at some of the things they'd said, so I swallowed and I turned to Clary, who seemed shell-shocked, and Simon, who was surprisingly functional.

'Well, that was informative.' Simon said, his, straight-faced.

Clary turned on him. 'Simon, what are you talking about? None of that made any sense!'

Simon shook his head. 'It makes sense,' Simon continued, 'Just not right now. It will later. It happens in every plot, ever, with games. Fire Emblem, Kingdom Hearts, all of them.'

I had no idea what Fire Emblem or Kingdom Hearts was, but it seemed to make sense to Clary. 'Fine,' She snapped, 'But I need an explanation for what did make sense.' She turned to me. 'Jace.' But, when she looked at me, she must have noticed something. 'Jace?' She asked more quietly.

I turned my face towards the screen, and found it wasn't as angry as I'd thought it would be. There was fury in my eyes, but not as much as there would have been. As there should have been. What had changed? The monster that should have been raging inside was quiet, and I wouldn't thought I'd be able to stop myself from cutting the boy to pieces. I closed my eyes and turned back to her.

'I'm fine.' My voice was lower than usual. Most likely because of the anger. 'It's just.' I paused. I didn't want Clary to worry.

'What?' Clary asked, like she was talking to an unstable person. 'Do you know that guy?'

'No, but Valentine's the one responsible for the death of my father. If that was his son, I should have torn him apart.'

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