Chapter 8

Simon and Jace stood awkwardly next to each other against the wall in the theatre waiting for Clary to come out the bathroom. Jace leaned against the wall with one leg up and arms crossed. Simon just stood with his hands in his pockets. He looked over at Jace.

"So you're the famous Jace." Simon started up conversation.

"That's my name don't wear it what four eyes."

"Simon, my name is Simon."

"Whatever." Jace said.

"Why do I get the feeling that you don't like me much?"

"Should I?"

"You know what I've decided I don't like you either."

"Good."

When Clary finally emerged from the restroom Jace and Simon stepped away from the wall. Jace held out his hand. She took it and smiled at him. Simon looked on in disgust. How could Clary want a guy like him? Simon thought.

"Are you and Simon getting along?" Clary asked.

"Oh yeah, I'm diffidently getting with four eyes." Jace lied.

"Please stop calling me four eyes." Simon murmured.

Clary slapped Jace on the shoulder giving him a warning glance. Jace looked over his shoulder at Simon pulling Clary closer to him as if to tell him she's mine. Simon shook his head then followed them into the theater.

It was pinch black when Sebastian and Jonathan pulled up to the warehouse. The parking lot was empty. They were on a mission to find a chest. In order to enter the dragon's lair you needed gold or jewels. You had to make an offering to the dragon, even if you are a member of the order.

"Are you sure this right one?" Jonathan asked his brother looking around.

"I'm sure." Sebastian replied. "Come on let's go."

They entered the warehouse through a metal door on the side of the building. It was here that their family had kept a chest full of gold and jewels. They had to find it before anyone else did. The two brothers crept in quietly around the warehouse. Sounds of other footsteps and voices came from with in. They were not alone. Sebastian recognizes one of the voices as Raphael's. Both of them hide behind crates careful not to be seen.

"Are you sure they came in here?" asked Meliorn.

"Their here." Raphael said.

"What do we do now?" Jonathan whispered to his brother.

"Find the chest." Sebastian whispered back.

They crept slowly across the warehouse floor trying not to be noticed. As the two approach the pipe, Sebastian opened the secret door. He took out a small wooden chest. The pipe had been discounted from the other pipes when Luke bought it. It wasn't a huge industrial size warehouse but big enough to keep new shipments of books and store them. It was also convenient for him to keep books he didn't sell in the store. The ones he sold online at the stores website. Jordan and his girlfriend Maia ran the warehouse, they had worked for Luke for years.

Jordan keeps track of the books sold on the website. He also orders new books for the store and sends out books daily. Jordan had been the one who came up with the idea of selling books online. He told Luke it would increase his sales. Luke agreed and profit has been through the roof. As long as Jordan kept control of the website Luke had no problem with it.

Sebastian opened the chest; a small velvet pouch was tucked inside. He took it out and stuffed it into his jacket pocket. He then handed the wooden chest to his brother telling if they get caught, he could give them the wooden chest. Jonathan agreed to the plan.

"Over there." Kyle pointed in the twin's direction.

"Surround them don't let them leave." Raphael commanded.

The four of them surrounded Jonathan and Sebastian blocking their every exist of escape. Raphael stood in front of them looking at them with devilish smile. Sebastian stared him down. His fist clutched at his side. His muscles tense at the sight of him. Sebastian hated Raphael for killing his father.

"Sebastian Morgenstern, how nice to see you again." Raphael grinned.

"Raphael" Sebastian snorted.

"What do you want Raphael?" Jonathan said looking around him.

"I think you already know the answer to that question." Raphael stated.

"We don't have it." Said Sebastian.

"Then what's in the box?" Meliorn asked.

"Nothing absolutely nothing." Jonathan quoted. Then looked at his brother and nodded.

The two then sprinted off going in opposite directions. "Get them you idiots." Raphael shouted. They scattered in both directions. Raphael and Kyle followed Sebastian and Meliorn and Helen went after Jonathan.

Jonathan ran through the maze of boxes pushing over stacks to slow his pursuers down. They manage to jump over them or dodge as the stacks fell on the floor. Jonathan looking back over his shoulder tripped over a low to the ground pipe. He heard bone crack as he fell to the ground. The wooden chest flew out of his hands and skidded across the floor. Jonathan crawled across the floor to reach the chest. When he reached it as he tried to grab only to have a booted foot stomp on his hand. Jonathan winced with pain as he looked up to Meliorn staring down at him with wolfish grin.

"Looks like we win Morgenstern." Meliorn teased stepped off Jonathan's hand. He picked up the chest from the floor then threw it to Helen. Jonathan rolled over on to his back to look at her when Meliorn blocked his view. He saw Meliorn's fist come up pass his shoulder then move down towards his face. Then blackness fell over Jonathan's eyes.

When the movie ended, Simon gave Clary a hug before he went home. Jace looked on at their embrace. He hated seeing another guy except him touch Clary. Then Clary and Jace walked down the boulevard together hand in hand. When they got to Jace's house he led her up the back stairs. These stairs went passed the restaurant. The stairs went all the way up to the roof. Jace opened the door to the roof revealing a garden. Clary's gasped at the site of the garden. There were all kinds of flowers from roses to lilies.

"Wow, it's beautiful." Clary exclaimed

"I thought you would like it." Jace said.

"Do you come up here a lot?" She asked.

"Yeah I do. It's good place to think. Come on I want to show you something."

Clary followed Jace through the garden. Both of them stopped when they reached the edge. The view was breathing taking. Clary could see the tops of roofs through out the city. Lights led up buildings like a forest of Christmas trees. Jace saw the sparkle in Clary's eyes as she glanced out towards the city. He pushed her red hair back behind her and cupped her face. Looking deep in her eyes he lean forward, touched his forehead against hers. He could feel her breath against his lips then he lightly kissed her. Then kissing her hard parting his lips with hers. With his other hand he pulled Clary closer to his body. Clary wrapped her arms around his neck as he kissed her. Jace's hand slipped from her face down toward the small of her back. They continued kissing each other passionately. Jace thought from this moment on that Clary was his and only his and no one was going to take her from him.

Simon opened the door to find his mother sleeping on the couch. He took an afghan and placed it over his mother kissed her on the forehead then removed her glasses. He had been the man of the house since his dad passed away when he was ten. Simon had taken care of his mother ever since. He loved his mother and wanted a girl just like her. He hoped Clary would be the one but she never seemed interested. It was like she preferred the bad boys to guys like him.

Well in the long run when school started again in the fall he didn't have to deal with Mr. Sarcastic or so he thought. Simon went to bed kicking his shoes off on the floor. The text message he had gotten from Clary when he arrived home was about her first kiss with Jace. It made him feel sick to his stomach. Just imagining him all over Clary made him sick. How could she want a guy like that anyway Simon thought to himself. He closed his eyes and was soon fast asleep.

"He's coming around." A voice said. Jonathan opened his eyes. His vision blurry at first but eventually cleared. Jordan was kneeling over him. Maia stood behind him with her hands on her knees and Sebastian crouched beside him.

"Hey little brother. You took quite a spill." He said clutching Jonathan's hand.

"What happened? Last thing I remember was seeing Meliorn's fist." He said slowly coming to a sitting position. Warm liquid started to flow when he sat upright. Maia immediately handed him a towel.

"I think his nose might be broken." Jordan said.

"We should get him to the hospital." Maia included.

Jordan and Sebastian lifted Jonathan up by the arms carefully. Jonathan leans on the two men for support trying not to put weight on his ankle. They managed to get him out into the car carefully positioning him in the seat. Jonathan still held the towel to his nose, which was mostly soaked with blood. Jordan and Maia climbed in the back seat. By the time they reached the hospital the blood from Jonathan's nose had dried.

Once in the emergency room it didn't take long for Jonathan to be seen by the doctor. They took X-rays of his ankle and nose. When the X-rays finally came back the doctor revealed that his nose and ankle were indeed broken. The doctor also said that Jonathan would have to go into surgery because the X-ray also showed that he had torn some of the ligaments in his ankle. Jonathan had to stay over night. His surgery would take place early the next morning. Jordan, Maia and Sebastian left the hospital.

"I'll be back tomorrow." Sebastian said.

Clary opened the door to the apartment and danced into the living room where Luke was sitting on the couch reading the evening newspaper. He looked up at her smiling. Clary flopped on the couch and sighed.

"Your in a happy mood." Luke said with a side ways glance.

"Jace kissed me." She said.

"Ah, I see."

"Where are Jonathan and Sebastian?" Clary asked.

"They went to get something from my warehouse."

"Oh."

"Why?"

"Just asking."

The door opened and Sebastian walked in. Luke and Clary looked up curiously. They both noticed that Jonathan wasn't with him.

"Where's Jonathan?" Luke asked.

"He's in the hospital." Sebastian replied.

"The hospital? Is he ok?" Clary jumped from the couch her heart thumping hard in her chest.

"Yeah, he's fine. Just a broken ankle and a broken nose." Sebastian replied back. "He tore some ligaments in his ankle too so he has to go into surgery tomorrow."

"How did he get hurt?" asked Clary.

"He tripped." Sebastian said.

"On what his shoe lace?"

"No he tripped on a pipe at the warehouse. Meliorn punched him in nose."

Luke shook his head. "I told Jordan to get those pipes removed or marked. In the meantime I'm glad he's ok. Did you get them?"

"Get what?" Clary looked at Luke puzzled.

"Yes, I did." Sebastian said retrieving a small black velvet pouch from his jacket pocket.

"Good," Luke got up from the couch and held out his hand for the pouch.

"Is that going to be enough?" Sebastian said leaning on the back of the couch.

"I hope so. I have a feeling we're not the only ones who need to deal with the dragon. Meliorn being there only indicates that Camille is not far behind. I'm assuming that he wasn't alone."

"No, Kyle, Helen, and Raphael were there with him."

"Helen? What was she doing there?"

"I don't know she must have gotten recruited by Camille."

"This is not good Sebastian not at all. You might want to get someone to guard your brother in the meantime."

"Already ahead of you."

"Great who did you get?"

"Can someone please tell me what's going on? I don't like being in the dark." Clary interrupted.

"Adam and Herald. They arrived shortly after I left." Sebastian continued.

"Don't worry about what's going on right now Clary. I'll explain everything to you in time." Luke told her.

Clary slumped back on the couch pouting. She wanted to know why all this kept happening and why no one would tell her anything. It was hard enough that her mother wasn't here the last thing she heard about her mother condition Luke said she was coming in and out of her coma. She hoped her mother would come out of it soon she missed her very much. Clary wanted to tell her about Jace and about everything that had been going on in her life in the past few weeks.

The next day Jonathan was prepared for surgery. Sebastian, Clary and Luke were by his side praying for him. They all sat in the waiting room drinking the hospital's burnt coffee. It was very strong and made your nerves jittery. It would be at least two hours before Jonathan would be out of surgery.

Raphael carried the wooden chest under his arm smiling. He hadn't opened the chest to see what was in it. Though he figured he let Camille have the first look inside. As he walked the corridor his footsteps echoed. He opened the doors to the room.

Camille was standing by the window looking out. She was dress in a long black evening gown that touched the floor. She saw Raphael enter the room through the glass. Her attention went straight to the object under his arm. Her head quickly shot toward him and she smiled.

"Raphael?" She said.

"Camille I have brought what we have been searching for." Raphael stated holding out the box with a bow.

"Bring it to me."

Raphael walked towards Camille. He handed her the chest. She took it smiling. Camille rubbed her hand over the top of the box before opening it, but when she did her smile faded. She shot toward Raphael.

"Is this a joke?" She asked.

"I beg your pardon mistress. I'm not sure I understand."

With one quick movement Camille threw the chest across the room. Raphael ducked just in time before it hit the wall then smashed to the floor. He looked at the pile of wood that was once the chest. It was empty. He looked back Camille.

"Mistress please I swear. I thought it had the journal."

"You fool. I gave you a simple job to do and this is what I get. An empty chest." She said her nostrils flaring with rage.

"Mistress please, they must have taken it."

"Who took it?"

"The Morgenstern brothers."

"You let them escape with the journal. You idiot. I could you do this to me after everything I have done for you."

Raphael tried to back away but was stopped by two men in black suits. "Camille, please. Don't kill me. I will retrieve it for I promise."

"Kill you," Camille laughed. "No I will not kill you not today. Though I think we may have a change of plans."

"So you don't want to get the journal from twins."

"No, perhaps we will let them led us to the dragons lair instead." She said smiling devilishly.

With that Raphael smiled. They would let the Morgenstern brothers led them to the dragon. Camille told Raphael to watch the Morgensterns and tell her when they moved.

Simon was sitting on the couch playing transformers on his Xbox when his phone buzzed. He looked at the screen and saw a text message from Clary. Simon hesitated about reading it. He didn't want to hear how much of a good kisser or how great Jace was. He opened it any way if he didn't his phone would beep at him every minute until he answered it. Simon read the message. He sat up quickly and immediately called Clary.

"What happened to Jonathan? Is he ok?" Simon asked as soon as he heard Clary pick up.

"He's fine. He fell yesterday." She replied.

"You said in your message that he is in surgery."

"Yeah, he tore some ligaments in his ankle."

"Oh, well at least he is all right." Simon chuckled.

"Yeah." Clary smiled.

"Are you looking forward to starting school soon?" he said changing the subject.

"Not really."

"Why not?"

"Because it seems like the summer has gone buy so quickly."

"Yeah it has but still I mean will be juniors next year."

Clary laughed, "Yeah one year away from graduating."

They talked for a little while before Clary had to go. Simon was looking forward to going back to school because he was starting to get bored. He hadn't spent very much time with Clary ever since she met Jace. It seemed like she was with him every week and even everyday. He hoped that it would be the last he saw of Jace and that this was just a summer fling. For some reason in the back of his mind he felt as if Jace was going to be around for a long time.