Chapter 11
I am so terribly sorry for being MIA for so long! I started this chapter right after I posted the last one but then I got stuck and I had finals, and graduation, and state softball, and then work…. I'm so sorry (again)! Now with me working I will try my hardest to update at least every other week (if possible once a week). If I don't I am terribly sorry. Please just be patient with me, trust me, I know how frustrating it is to wait weeks for the next chapter to a fanfiction. Please don't hate me! But I do hope this chapter makes it up a little. (It also happens to be the longest chapter I have ever written so far, if that helps at all.)
Clary was surprised by how well her weekend went. Saturday, after she left the school, she went straight home and had just finished making supper when her father walked through the door, a string of fish in hand. The fact that he had taken the time to go out to the country with some of his friends and fish made Clary happy, it had been a really long time since her father had found interest in any of his old hobbies. When her father finished his meal Clary helped her father fillet fish. It was another one of those moments that made it seem like old times and it made Clary's heart ache a little. Sunday, Valentine was in a good mood all day again. He spent his day watching sports and Clary did her school work when she wasn't needed to cook.
So, needless to say, when Clary walked into her second hour class and sat down beside Jace she was pretty happy. Jace seemed to pick up on her good mood as well and smiled at her as she pulled out her things from her bag.
"Why are you in such a good mood on a Monday?" Jace seemed oddly amused.
"Why? Is it a crime or something?" Clary snorted.
"No, but it's not necessarily normal."
"I had a good weekend, now shush so we can work on our assignment."
"But if I shush then I can't talk to you about the assignment."
Clary gave Jace a pointed look to which he just returned with one of his half smirks.
"Fine, let's work on our assignment." Jace said when Clary stayed silent.
The rest of class went by quickly and without a hitch. Jace didn't ask any tricky questions and Clary didn't get mad at him once. They had managed to decide on what traits they wanted to look at: hair color, eye color, dominate hand, height, hair type, and a few other traits.
When the bell rang Clary was surprised that class was already over and hurried to shove her things into her bag.
"I think we will be able to get a lot done at your house tonight." Jace said as he slung his bag over his shoulder and started toward the door.
"Yeah-" Clary started but then stopped when Jace's words sunk in. Clary's eyes widened and her heart skipped a beat. She had completely forgotten about Jace coming over. Snapping her eyes up to Jace she was just about to tell him that maybe they should meet somewhere else when her teacher called her name, stopping Clary in her tracks. She made her way to the front of the room and stopped at her teacher's desk and looked towards the door to see that Jace had already disappeared. Suppressing a sigh, Clary turned her attention back to Mr. Banner.
"Yes, sir?" Clary said as she forced a smile.
"I was just wondering how it was going with Jace. I know he can be a little. . . problematic at times." Her teacher smiled at her.
Clary had to suppress a laugh at the fact that even her teacher found Jace's personality a little tedious to deal with. "Things are going well."
"Good to hear."
"Sir?" Clary asked a little hesitantly.
"Yes?"
"I know you already explained how this project is supposed to help us get to know our partners, but why does it matter?"
Mr. Banner smiled. "Because you will be working with Mr. Lightwood for the rest of the semester, and more than likely next semester as well unless I find it necessary to change a few pairs. I created this exercise because I don't want any quibbles breaking out during a lab and having someone blow up my class room." He laughed a little. "That and I think you will find out that you two have more in common than you think."
Clary was lost for words at her chemistry teacher's last comment and knew she had to be looking at him with a puzzled expression. "Sir-"
"Now you better get to your next class before you are late, here's a note just in case." Mr. Banner held out a slip of pink paper.
"Thank you." Clary said as she nodded her head and, note in hand, she exited the classroom.
Clary made a beeline for Mrs. Kyle's English class and hoped that if she was late that she didn't walk in while her teacher was talking about Friday's reading assignment over The Great Gatsby. She couldn't believe she had forgotten to ask her father, or at least inform him, of Jace coming over to do school work. Valentine didn't like not knowing when someone may or may not be at their house, especially one of Clary's friends. A little voice inside of Clary told her that was because he didn't want to come home drunk when he was a cop. Clary quickly silenced that little voice and shrugged the thought off. He father was just very precautious ever since the accident three years ago, she couldn't blame him for wanting to know almost everything and being so strict. It didn't mean Clary liked it, not in a long shot, but she understood his view point on it, unlike a lot of teenagers her age. With a sigh Clary speed walked into her English class and slid into her seat a mere second before the late bell rang.
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Thankfully Clary's two classes before lunch went by quickly, unfortunately, however, Jace was nowhere to be seen and lunch was halfway over. Clary suppressed a sigh and continued to pointlessly stir her applesauce.
"Okay, what's wrong?" Magnus placed his hand over Clary's to stop her movements. Clary looked up at her friend who had decided on sparkly purple eyeliner that day and noticed his yellow cat eyes had held a mixed expression, half being concerned and half aggravated.
This time Clary did sigh. "Jace and I are doing this project in Mr. Banner's class and we only had today in class to work on it, so Jace decided it would be a good idea to work on it at my house tonight. Which we had decided this Friday, but it completely slipped my mind and I didn't ask my dad and now I don't know what to do."
"Why don't you ask if you can go to his house instead? Or even the library?"
"Because Jace said his house would be too noisy and the library we wouldn't be able to talk that much. Plus, either way I would have to ask my father if I could stay out, and I wouldn't be giving him very much advance warning." Clary replied, a little defeated.
"Well, whatever you do just be careful."
"Magnus." Clary's voice held a warning.
"Look, this week is going to be rough and your dad will probably be having a rough time. So please just promise me you will be careful and call or text me if anything happens. And I do mean anything." Magnus said a little defiantly. Clary decided to not fight him on it because it was apparent that he was going into one of his mother bear phases and there was no derailing Magnus after he had decided there was a reason that Clary needed to be looked after. But no matter how annoying it was, Clary couldn't help but love Magnus even more for caring.
Clary allowed her lips to curve into a small smile and refrained from rolling her eyes as she complied, somewhat hesitantly. "Fine. I promise."
Magnus scrutinized Clary for a few second before nodding his head in acceptance. "Good." Then after a few moments of silence, "so, how are you holding up so far?"
Clary didn't have to ask to have to know what Magnus was referring to. "I'm doing alright actually. I don't think it will really hit me until Wednesday. The last few weeks have just been so crazy that I haven't really had time to dwell on that, which is weird, since usually it's all that I can think about." Clary shrugged as she continued to stir her applesauce.
"Maybe that's a good thing. It's been three years. It's time you moved on in your life."
Clary knew Magnus's words were supposed to be positive and somewhat encouraging but she couldn't help but freeze and take in a sharp breath at Magnus's comment. Deep down inside Clary knew that Magnus was right and that his words weren't intended to hurt her, but the rest of Clary ignored that tiny voice of common since because no matter what anyone said Clary would always blame herself for what had happened three years ago. No else did, in fact everyone had told her that it wasn't her fault, but no matter what anyone said Clary couldn't shake the fact that she was the reason behind the accident, she was the reason her family was broken, and she was the reason her father suffered from a broken heart. It was all her fault, so why should she move on with her life? Yes, she had stopped crying every day. Yes, she had stopped thinking about them every second of every minute of every hour of every day. Yes, she had gone on living her life and was able to get through the day and seem relatively happy. But the one thing she had never been able to do, and may never be able to do, was stop blaming herself and completely and fully move on.
"Clary." Magnus said, his voice a bit hesitant and worried. Clary closed her eyes for a second and took a deep breath before looking at her friend. Apparently she didn't hide the emotions fighting inside of her as well as she thought she had because once Magnus saw her face his frown deepened. "Did I say something wrong?"
"No, Mags."
"Don't lie to me, something's wrong."
"Nothing's wrong. I just remembered I have homework I forgot in my locker so I am going to go to the library real quick." Clary lied. She really didn't want Magnus to know how much his words had affected her. Not because she wanted to hide her feelings from her friend, but because it made her feel weak, and she hated feeling weak.
Standing up to leave, Clary shoved her untouched applesauce into her brown paper sack, not caring that she hadn't ate anything that day and that she was wasting food. With a sigh, Clary turned to leave, but before she could even take her first step Magnus's hand flew out and grabbed her wrist.
"Clary." Magnus said, his eyes searching hers for the truth. It was obvious not only in his voice, but how he was looking at her that he didn't really believe her. Magnus knew something was wrong, just like he always did, but Clary just couldn't bring herself to admit that she still hadn't stopped blaming herself. Partially because she didn't want to trouble her friend when he was already worried enough about her and partly because she didn't want to have to listen to a well know lecture from Magnus about how she couldn't blame herself, stuff happens, it wasn't her fault, blah blah blah. It was all the same and it didn't matter what anyone said because it was her fault.
Shaking her head before she started to through another pity party for herself, Clary forced a smile onto her face and cocked her head to the side. "Really, I'm fine. I just need to think a little bit. That and I really do have an assignment I forgot to take home over the weekend." When Magnus didn't let go of Clary she added, "I promised you, didn't I? I said I would tell you if something was wrong. Well nothing is wrong, beside the fact that I have unfinished homework."
Magnus kept his grip around her wrist for a few more seconds before nodding his head and letting her go. Clary smiled at her friend a little bit and then left. As she walked out of the doors she threw away her lunch, not caring that she hadn't had breakfast that morning.
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Jace was far enough away from his normal lunch table that he hadn't been noticed yet, but he was close enough to Clary and Magnus to pick up the tail end of their conversation.
"Look, this week is going to be rough and your dad will probably be having a rough time. So please just promise me you will be careful and call or text me if anything happens. And I do mean anything." Magnus told Clary, his voice an odd mixture of concern and determination. Jace frowned a little.
"Fine. I promise." Clary responded after a few seconds.
Some kids at the table closest to Jace started to yell and laugh and there was the sound of someone falling out of their chair, causing Jace to miss how Magnus responded. Jace kept himself from glaring at the people occupying the table and took a tentative step closer to where Magnus and Clary were sitting.
"It's been three years. It's time you moved on in your life." Magnus was saying as Jace came within hearing distance again. Jace had no clue what they were talking about but it peeked his interest, and for some strange reason whatever it was he wanted to know.
Clary didn't say anything and this seemed to bother Magnus because after almost a minute of silence Magnus said Clary's name in a very worried and hesitant tone and then asked, "Did I say something wrong?"
"No, Mags" Clary said softly. Jace wasn't sure, but he felt like she was lying.
"Don't lie to me, something's wrong." Magnus retorted obviously worried for some reason.
Jace didn't get to hear if Clary replied or not because of the kid who fell out of his chair earlier tipped his friend out of his chair and there was a loud clatter as the kid fell out and the chair hit the ground. The others at the table all laughed and it took every ounce of Jace's self-control to not snap at the idiots. When Jace trained his attention back onto Magnus and Clary he saw that Clary had stood up and Magnus had stopped her by grabbing her wrist. From his angle he saw Clary put on a smile, one that was obviously very fake and then before he could even get halfway to the table saw her walk away in the other direction and eventually out of the cafeteria doors.
Jace sat down in the seat Clary had just previously occupied and look at Magnus. It took the sparkle teen a few seconds to realize Jace was even there because he was staring after Clary very intently. When Magnus finally did look at Jace his eyes seemed to harden for a split second and then changed to a cautious look. His expression changed so fast that Jace wasn't sure if he hadn't imagined that hard look for a few seconds.
"What's up with Clary?" Jace asks, trying to seem nonchalant about the whole thing.
Magnus continued to give Jace a somewhat guarded look before he sighed and ran his hand down his face. "Nothing really, just Clary being her normal stoic self."
Jace frowned in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"Look, there are things you do not know about Clary, a lot of things actually, and it isn't my place to tell you all of the little secrets of her life. If Clary wants to tell you, she will, but that doesn't mean I'm against pounding you into the ground if you give her a hard time or do or say anything that will cause her harm. Understood?"
Jace was taken aback a little by the abrupt change in subject and by the tone in Magnus's voice. Usually if someone had threatened Jace he would have gotten mad and then threatened the other person back, but the fact that this was Magnus kept Jace from getting angry. It didn't however do anything but stir up his curiosity of what else Clary was hiding from him.
"Understood." Jace nodded. Then after a few seconds of silence, "She told me about Jonathan."
This rewarded Jace with a startled Magnus as he snapped his head back to Jace, eyes wide.
"She did?"
"Yeah, she told me about him Saturday. She was getting ready to head home from painting the back drops for the dance and I had stopped by to grab homework I left out of my locker and I ran into her. We talked a little bit and somehow she ended up telling be about her brother and showing me the tribute case."
"She told you about Jon."
"Didn't I just go over this? Yes, she told me about her superstar brother."
Magnus gave Jace another odd look and Jace had to keep himself from sighing because he didn't appreciate the fact that Magnus was completely unreadable at the moment.
"Then you know what this week is." Magnus stated. Jace frowned a little and shook his head slowly. This caused Magnus to sigh. "Did you even pay attention when she showed you the case?"
When Jace didn't respond Magnus shook his head a little. "Her brother died on Halloween."
Jace's eyes widened a little at what Magnus had just revealed and Jace mentally wanted to kick himself for not paying more attention to the dates on the plaque. How could he not have noticed?
"That's why she didn't want to go to the dance." Jace said, everything was finally starting to make a little bit of sense.
"Yeah, needless to say she isn't the biggest fan of the holiday anymore."
Jace didn't say anything in response; he merely sat there and thought about everything he had learned over the last three days. Clary had a brother, named Jonathan, who had died three years ago on Halloween. It wasn't much, and it most definitely didn't answer half of the questions that Jace had, but it was a start. He understood a little better now why family was such a sore subject with Clary, but he still wanted to know what had happened to her mom and what was up with her dad. Jace didn't know why, but he felt like there was more to Clary's dad than him just being an overprotective parent that also happened to be a cop. There were other questions he had as well, such as the burn she had had on her leg and the bandage that had been on her arm a couple weeks ago. Clary said she was a klutz but other than her running into him a few times he hadn't notice her being a klutz at all, especially in gym, turned out she was a decent athlete. Jace had a suspicion that the random injuries that Clary would get weren't accidents, but he wasn't for sure and he definitely hoped he wasn't right.
Looking up at Magnus, Jace was about to ask him a question right as the bell rang. Before Jace could even get any words out Magnus stood up and took a couple steps away before stopping and looking back at Jace over his shoulder.
"Jace, just don't make things worse." Magnus's voice was dead serious and even though his eyes were a little guarded Jace could see the tinge of worry that they held.
Jace didn't even get the chance to respond because as soon as the words had left Magnus's lips he had turned back around and started walking away again. Granted Jace had no idea how he would have responded even if Magnus had given him the chance to say anything at all. Jace continued to just sit at the table until he felt a hand on his shoulder. Looking up, he saw his brother's blue eyes looking down worriedly at him.
"You alright?" Alec asked him.
Jace nodded and forced a smile onto his face. "Yeah, I guess I just zoned out."
Alec studied him for a few moments before nodding his head. "Well, we better get going, unless you want to be late for class that is."
Jace acted as if he was thinking about it. "Well, I haven't been doing a good job of not making it to class on time so far."
Alec gave him a look and shook his head as he started for the door. Jace followed suit.
Jace get the chance to talk to Clary the rest of the day, not even during gym. Part of that was due to the fact that one of them seemed to have a match when the other didn't and the part was due to the fact that the short five minutes they had before the bell rang Sebastian had been talking to her and Jace wasn't about to force himself to be around that jerk more than necessary.
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Clary had been looking at the clock the entire hour during her art class. Normally she didn't want the class to end because it was her favorite class and art had always been a sort of escape for her. But today was different, today she was so anxious for school just to be done so she could talk to Jace. She hadn't had the chance to talk to him at all that day and she had finally decided to see if he was okay with postponing until tomorrow that way she could ask her father about it at dinner and hope he said yes.
Clary had already cleaned up her area for the day and was bouncing her knee as she waited for the bell to ring. When the bell finally did go off Clary grabbed her bag and was on her feet in a second. She felt a little bad for not waiting for Magnus, but she hoped he would understand. Since she had walked as fast as she could without running, Clary had gotten to her locker in almost half the time. As quick as she could she grabbed what homework she had and started to close her locker when a piece of paper fell onto the floor. Picking it up, Clary noticed that it had her name on it in a surprisingly neat hand writing that she knew. Opening the note she scanned it quickly:
Clary, I will meet you at the doors to the parking lot by the gym as soon as school it out.
~Jace
Hitching her bag up a little more onto her shoulder, Clary made sure her locker was locked and made her way down the hall to the gym. The seconds she saw the doors that led to the parking lot Clary had to force herself to not flat out run to them. Once there she looked around impatiently, Clary really just wanted to talk to Jace and be done with it. Clary was edgy, in fact when she finally spotted Jace's curly golden hair in the crowd she had to keep her feet planted in their spot not to rush to him.
"Hey, Clary." Jace said when he was finally standing in front of her with an easy going smile on his face.
"Jace," Clary started but stopped when his laid back posture seemed to tense up a little bit and his eyes lost some of their light as he analyzed her.
"What's up?" He asked, his eye brows pulling into a frown.
"It's just. . . Well you see. . . I uh. . ." Clary stumbled over her words, not knowing what to say. She could see the concern written on Jace's face and for some reason unknown to her it bothered her.
"Clary." Jace said, his eyes encouraging her to continue when she didn't say anything.
Clary sighed a little. Perhaps Jace could come over. As long as he was gone before he father got home and she had supper done he would never know. She started to fidget a little as she thought about it.
"Clary." Jace said again, his eyes looking a little worried.
"Oh, sorry." Clary allowed her lips to pull up very slightly into the smallest hint of a smile. "I was just thinking."
Jace seemed to relax a little at her explanation and nodded. "Alright, but what were you trying to say earlier?"
Clary swallowed as she looked up at him and squeezed her hands behind her back. Could she really take the chance? Was it worth it? Jace really seemed excited to work with her and they had been getting along really well, she didn't want to ruin that now. She also didn't want to disappoint Jace or be an inconvenience. But she also was afraid of what her father would do if he found out that she had had someone over without his knowledge, especially someone he had never met before and was a male. However, even if Clary got in trouble it wasn't like it was going to be anything new, she might as well have a good time while she could. Finally she made up her mind.
Jace was sitting on Clary's bed with his notebook spread across it. Clary had finally allowed herself to just give in and let him come over. She had decided to give him a somewhat half-truth and told him that she had actually forgotten to tell her father about the study date and had asked if he could park a few houses away from hers and be gone before her father came home, if it wasn't too much trouble. Jace had agreed with a smile and made a joke about her being a rebel. Clary had merely rolled her eyes at him and told him he could follow her home.
"Well it says here that the ability to fold your tongue is recessive." Jace said as he started to make a chart.
"So, did you get the dominant or recessive gene for that?" Clary asked, writing down her own chart. As far as she could remember her father couldn't roll his tongue, but her mother could. She remembered when she was little they would all be in the kitchen making breakfast and they would do silly things like whistling a tune or folding and rolling their tongues. Clary could only toll her tongue, and even that had taken practice, but both her mother and Jonathan had been able to fold their tongue and twist it to the side and several other weird things. Valentine had always been in the same boat as her but had always tried with the rest of them.
"Recessive." Jace responded before showing her until he couldn't suppress the smile that spread across his lips any longer.
"I see you have a very talented tongue." Clary laughed, until she realized what she had just said and to who. Her laugh turned into an embarrassed chuckle as her face turned red.
"Yes I do, actually." Jace said laughing a little. Clary couldn't tell if he was being serious or if he was teasing her a little.
"So, dark eyes are dominant." Clary squeaked a little, changing the subject. She was still looking down at her homework.
"I take it your mother had light colored eyes." Jace said, a little softly.
"Yea, my eyes are the same color as hers. My brother had dark eyes like my father." Clary smiled a little, but she still refused to look up.
"My father had blue eyes, and my mother had light brown eyes." Jace said with an almost sad tone of voice Clary didn't understand.
"I guess that's just another thing were you are dominant and I'm recessive." Clary replied, not knowing how to react to Jace's tone.
"Yep, just proves how awesome I am." Jace's usual cocky self was back. Clary couldn't help but roll her eyes. "So, hair color."
"Let's see." Clary said as she flipped some pages in the book she had borrowed from the library. "It says that dark hair is dominant over the other hair colors and that all of the others are dominant over red, but red is just blond hair with a mutation, so I guess that makes since."
"So you are doubly recessive then." Jace remarked.
Clary scoffed a little as she finally looked back up at him. "That's not even a term. It just means that my having red hair wasn't a very likely possibility. I probably should have had blonde hair like my dad or something."
Jace scrunched up his nose a little. "I cannot imagine you as a blonde. That would just be too weird, besides, your red hair looks really pretty."
Clary's eyes widened in surprise at Jace's words and this time it seemed to be Jace's turn to blush a little as he realized what he had just admitted.
"Anyways," he said as he cleared his throat a little, "My hair is co-dominant I think."
Clary looked at Jace in confusion. "But, both Isabelle and Alec have dark hair."
Jace's face whitened a little at the comment, but before he could open his mouth to say anything Clary raised her hand to keep him quiet as she heard the clock downstairs toll out six. Clary's heart immediately dropped to her stomach and simultaneously started to race.
Clary cursed under her breath but Jace seemed to still hear her as his eyes widened a little. She had to force herself to keep from panicking. Grabbing her phone, she unlocked it to see that it was indeed 6:00 P.M. and the clock downstairs wasn't fast. With it being a Monday, her father should be home within the next twenty minutes, thirty if she was lucky. She wanted to face palm herself for not paying more attention to the time.
"Clary." Jace said, his voice bringing her out of her thoughts and helping her panic to ebb just a little. Clary looked up at him to see that his was frowning at her a little and seemed confused. "What's wrong?"
Clary almost wanted to laugh at the absurdity of the question, because at that point in time what wasn't wrong, but she didn't. "My father is going to be home in the next," she looked at her phone again, "eighteen minutes."
Jace's face seemed to pale a little. "Oh."
"Look, I have to go downstairs and make supper really quickly, so if you-" Clary stopped when she heard a car pull into the drive way. Her heart stopped for a second and Clary went cold. It couldn't be. How could her father already be home?
"Clary."
"Look, just. . . just stay here. Don't move around too much and don't make a sound. If you hear footsteps coming up the stairs and it doesn't sound like me just hide in the closet, alright? And please, no matter what you hear don't you dare come out of this room." Clary said quickly as she jumped off her bed and sprinted to her door, not giving Jace the chance to respond or even agree to what she had just told him to do.
The second she was out of her room she closed her door and made her way down the stairs as fast as she could. She could her hear father opening the door as she pulled out a pot from under the stove and some canned soup from a nearby cabinet. Clary was quick to dump the large can of tomato soup into the pan and turn on the burner. No longer had she tossed the can in the trash, and thankfully making it, did she hear the slam of the front door and her father's heavy footsteps coming into the kitchen.
Turning to face him, Clary was even more dismayed to see that his eyes were already a little red. Apparently she wouldn't be catching a break.
"Clarissa," Valentine said, his voice hard, but not yet slurred from drinking. "I see you still aren't done with supper."
"I'm sorry. I wasn't expecting you to be home early toda-" She started but didn't get to finish when she felt the sting of her father's hand across her cheek.
"Don't give me any lip. How hard is it to have dinner cooked by the time I walk through that door? It's not like you have anything to do after school. It's not like you work all day." Her father bellowed.
Clary bit her lip, she hated when he was like this. She hated that he let his anger get the best of him, she hated that he took it out on her, and she hated that no matter what she did she was never good enough, even when he was sober. But most of all, she hated that there was nothing she could do about it and that in the end it was her own fault. Clary knew that she shouldn't blame herself and that it wasn't healthy, but she just couldn't help it. No matter what she did, she just couldn't help but blame herself for what had happened three years ago and what was happening now. Clary hated feeling weak, she hated feeling like there was absolutely nothing she could do, but in the end that was exactly how things were. She couldn't fight back and there really wasn't anything that Clary could do to help her father. Every fiber of her being hated it, but it was how things were.
"I know. I'm sorry." Clary said, trying to appease her father.
It didn't seem to work because the next thing Clary knew her father had grabbed her arm and twisted it behind her in a painful position. It took all of her will power to not whimper a little.
"You stupid little wretch." Valentine sneered at her before he shoved her away from him and Clary tried to brace herself against the stove only to get her hand too close to the burner. Breathing in sharply, Clary pulled her hand to her chest instantly. Biting her lip against the pain, she looked at her right hand and was a relieved that her skin was only a little red and that the burn wasn't that bad.
Her relief was short lived because the next second she saw something fly by her head out of her peripheral vision and then a second later the crash of glass as it shattered against the wall. Clary closed her eyes for a few seconds and took in a deep breath, trying to prepare herself for whatever was to come and praying that Jace wouldn't hear anything and that if he did that he would do as she told him and stayed in her room.
Valentine was yelling at her again, but she couldn't focus enough to actually hear the words that were coming out of his mouth. Clary saw her father's eyes harden and his hands curl into tight fists at his side before he chucked another bottle at her. Ducking just in time, Clary turned a little and covered her head as the bottle crashed against the cabinet now to her left as the glass fell onto the counter top and ground beside her. Not wanting to get into even more trouble later, Clary turned off the soup that was on the stove and quickly placed the lid on top. It was a slightly silly thing to worry about, but she wasn't about to hear the wrath about her father not having supper once he was done with his little tirade.
Abruptly, Clary felt her arm being held in a very tight grasp and then being shoved against the island in the middle of the kitchen, the sharp edges of the counter top biting into her skin. Then Clary could feel her father grab a handful of her curly hair into his large hand and she bit her lip as he pulled her out of the kitchen and then flung her against the hallway wall. Once again Clary tried to brace herself, just for her right hand to take all of the weight as she crashed against the wall. Gasping, Clary hugged her burned hand as pain shot up through it, not only from the pain of her sensitive skin, but also from the sharp pain that was stemming from her wrist.
It wasn't long before her father grabbed her newly injured wrist and tugged her up, off the ground. Clary bit her lip again to keep from crying out as tears started to whelm up in her eyes.
"You are such an ungrateful little bitch." Valentine jeered. Not about to cower in front of her father Clary attempted to straighten her back a little, only for it to be resulted in her father shoving her against the wall and kneeing her in the stomach, knocking the air out of her lungs. Clary doubled over in an attempt to not only protect herself but to try to breath as well. Before she could even attempt to get oxygen into her lungs she felt the force of her father's fist against her lower jaw and the power of the hit sent her to the ground, her right shoulder and hip taking the full force of the fall. Clary had just managed to curl herself into a ball when she felt the first kick hit her shins. Forcing her back into the wall, Clary made it as impossible as she could for her father to land a solid kick to her torso.
After a few minutes Valentine stopped and Clary tensed as she waited for what he was going to do next, when nothing happened she relaxed just a little and dared to look up just enough to see where her father was. The instant she did, she realized she had made a mistake because her father had a very hard, dangerous look in his eyes and Clary could feel her body growing cold in fear. She didn't even have time to try to move when her father once again grabbed a handful of her hair and started to drag her across the floor and back into the kitchen. On instinct clary reached up to her father's wrist to try and relieve the screaming of her scalp. Her father stopped once they were in the kitchen, and cursing some more at Clary he slammed her head against the cabinet under the sink before letting go and walking into the living room after he had grabbed more beer.
Clary just lied were she was. Her head ached and her shoulder and hip where screaming in pain along with her sprung wrist and burned hand. She had a feeling gym would not be fun the next day, but at least she was left handed. Finally after several minutes had gone by, she forced herself onto her knees and then pulled herself into a standing position with the help of the counter. Looking around the kitchen, Clary sighed as she realized she would have to clean up the broken glass and spilled bear before she could retreat to her room. It took Clary longer than she would have liked to clean up all the glass and to safely dispose of it and then mop up the alcohol. As soon as she was done she slipped into the downstairs bathroom that was in the hallway. It only had a toilet, sink, and mirror, but that was all she needed.
Looking in the mirror she saw that her cheek and chin was already starting to bruise a little, but there was nothing she could do about that. Thankfully there was no blood, so she didn't have to worry about cleaning any open wounds. She still had some burn ointment in her bedroom that she could use for her hand. Deciding she really needed some Tylenol for her headache she left the bathroom and made her way upstairs as quietly as she could. The moment her hand touched the knob to her door she froze.
Jace.
Jace was still in her room. Closing her eyes tightly for a few seconds she rested her forehead against the door. There was no way Jace wouldn't be able to figure out the truth now. Things were falling apart, her life was falling apart. Clary had done everything she could to keep her life at home separate and a secret from the rest of her life, and now all of that was changing. Taking a deep breath, Clary prepared herself as best as she could and opened the door.
…..
…
…..
The second the clock started to toll six and Clary's face went pale and her body went rigid, Jace could tell that something was wrong. He could also tell that she was trying to stay calm until the sound of a car pulled into the driveway and her head snapped to the door once again.
"Look, just. . . just stay here. Don't move around too much and don't make a sound. If you hear footsteps coming up the stairs and it doesn't sound like me just hide in the closet, alright? And please, no matter what you hear don't you dare come out of this room." Clary told me, her face still pale and her hands visible shaking a little.
Jace wasn't sure if she noticed or not, but he was too shocked and confused by her words to ask her about it. Then once the full meaning of the words sunk in Jace's heart sunk a little and he was about to ask what she meant, but before he could even utter a word she was out the door and a few moments later he could hear the slamming of the front door. To Jace's surprise, he stayed wear he was, too afraid to make a sound. Normally he wouldn't have done what Clary had told him in that situation, but she had seemed so. . . terrified that he couldn't bring himself to go against what she had told him to do.
It wasn't long before Jace heard what sounded like yelling and then glass breaking. There was more yelling and more glass and Jace couldn't help the frown that made its way onto his face. There were a few seconds of silence and then a thudding sound, Jace couldn't imagine what could have happened to make such sound but at the same time he had a fairly decent idea and it made him sick to his stomach. Ignoring, slightly, what Clary had told him he quietly slipped off the bed and put his ear to the floor to try to hear what was happening better. There was an almost silence for a few minutes, it was one of those silences where Jace couldn't hear what was happening but he knew something was, then there was more yelling. A minute later the television came on and Jace pulled himself back onto Clary's bed, his head swimming with what he had just learned.
Jace couldn't help but constantly look at his phone to see how much time had gone by as he waited for Clary to come back into her room. He wanted so much to just go down stairs and find her and make sure she was okay, but he had seen the conviction in Clary's eyes when she had told him to stay put and he didn't want to go against what she had just said, that and deep down he knew it would be a very bad idea to go downstairs. After what seemed like hours, but had only been about half an hour Jace could the light footsteps of Clary as she made her way up the stairs and to the door. Jace could feel his body tense and it tensed even more when he realized she had stopped at the door but hadn't opened it yet, and for some reason that made him even more nervous.
Finally Clary opened the door and, hesitantly, turned on the light. Jace sucked in his breath when he saw her. She was holding her right wrist a little and her head was down, allowing her hair to cover her face a little, but Jace could still tell that she wasn't okay.
"Clary," Jace said softly, just loud enough for her to hear and no one else.
Clary didn't look up at him but she did make her way closer to the bed. Jace cautiously stood up and made his way too her and grabbed her shoulders. Clary flinched a little at his touch and Jace's heart sunk a little.
"Clary," he whispered, his voice cracking a little he was so worried. When she didn't say anything or even look up at him he gently tucked his hand under her chin and lifted her head up so he could look at her. When he did and he saw the bruises on her face that hadn't been there an hour ago and the look in her eyes, a look of defeat and shame, Jace's head spun. Part of him was so angry he wanted to march down those stairs right now and beat up the man who had done this to her and the other part of him was so devastated for some unknown reason that he just wanted to hug her and never let her go.
"You have to go, Jace." Clary finally said, looking over her shoulder a little towards the door.
Jace was hurt that she would say such a thing and started to protest but she cut him off.
"No, you don't understand. You have to get out of here. I never know what he's going to do and what he will be like when he's like this. If he comes up here and catches you. . . who knows what would happen. I'll be fine. I'm always fine, besides it's not even that bad." Clary told him, not an ounce of pain in her voice, only concern for him. Jace felt a silent fury start to build up in him at her words, at the fact that she was use to this and claimed that she was fine when obviously she wasn't. Once again Jace was torn because part of him wanted to just tell her that no, she wasn't alright and the other part of him wanted to know what else had happened to her for her to just brush off the bruises and whatever injuries she had.
"Can't I just stay a few more minutes to help you?" Jace asked, his eyes all but pleading with her.
Clary smiled at him a little and her eyes softened slightly. It nearly took his breath away that she could still smile. "No, I know how to take care of myself, Jace."
"But-"
"Jace," her voice stern, "you need to get out of my house and to your car now, while he's currently preoccupied and not in a completely sour mood."
Jace just stared at Clary for a few seconds before silently sighing in defeat and nodded his head.
Clary sighed in relief and he could almost visible she her relax a little. Once again Jace was stunned by how she was so worried for him and didn't seem worried at all about herself, and then the moment that feeling settled in he was angry for her being in the position to begin with, and then finally he was both amazed that she was so strong and composed and irate that she could so easily brush something like this off. Jace couldn't remember the last time he had felt so many conflicting emotions and it was almost enough to make his dizzy.
"Alright," Clary said as she walked across her room to the window. "There is a tree outside my window and there is a branch close enough you can reach out and grab it, from there you will be able to climb down the tree. Thankfully the tree isn't visisble from the living room or the kitchen so my father won't see you as you climb down. But once you are on the ground you will have to go to the north side of the fence and hop over it. My neighbors are almost never home, so don't worry about getting spotted or in trouble. From there you can leave go to the road and go to your car." Clary turned around to face him after she had opened the window and looked at him.
"Got it?"
"Yes, tree, north fence, car. I got it." Jace replied, trying to lighten the mood a little. "It'll be like I'm James Bound or Mr. Smith from Mr. and Mrs. Smith."
This rewarded Jace with an eye roll from Clary and Jace smiled a little bit. Still not wanting to leave Clary alone Jace didn't hurry too much as he gathered his homework together and shoved it back into his book bag. Pulling his bag onto his back he looked at Clary as she stood between the window and the door.
"Clary," Jace started but then stopped when he saw her expression as she look from the door to him.
"Jace," Clary's voice was quiet and a little hesitant. "Promise me you won't tell anyone about this."
Jace opened his mouth to protest, but Clary held up her hand and her eyes became more determined. "You have to promise. Only Magnus knows and I can't have the others finding out."
"But-"
"No, Jace. Promise. If you have to know all the details, fine, I will tell you. But not right now, right now you need to get out of here. "
Jace looked Clary in the eyes and saw that she was next to pleading with him and he couldn't say no when her emerald eyes were staring at him the way they were. Finally, Jace nodded and he started towards the window. But before he could even place his hands on the window he felt Clary's frail arms wrap around him. Jace stiffened for a minute before relaxing and turning so he could wrap his arms around Clary. He was surprised by how small and delicate she was, wrapped in his arms, and he was afraid that if he hugged her too hard he may break her. After what seemed like forever and yet at the same time not nearly long enough, Clary pulled back and looked up at him.
"Thank you." She said softly. Jace swallowed and nodded his head a little.
"I'll talk to you tomorrow." He said looking at her for a few more seconds before climbing out of the window and onto the tree. Once he had a form hold onto the branch he swiftly made his way down the tree and couldn't help but wonder how Clary managed to do this, because she was a good head shorter than he was and even some of the branches were a bit tricky for him. Granted, Clary hadn't come right out and told him she had snuck out of the house by use of the tree, but it was obvious by the precise directions she had given Jace that she had. She didn't cease to amaze him.
Once his feet were firmly on the ground he looked up to see Clary leaning out of the window, making sure he reached the ground safely. Jace was just about to turn and make a run for the fence when he saw her eyes widen a little and she snapped her head behind her before snapping it back to him. Jace could feel that sick feeling coming back as he looked at her. He looked at her in a way to ask what was wrong.
Go. Clary mouthed before shutting the window and spinning around. Jace made a dash for the fence even though every fiber of his being was yelling at him not to, that he needed to go back into the house and either defend Clary or take her with him. But he didn't, because he knew that it wouldn't make things any better, at least not right then it wouldn't. Pausing at the fence after he had vaulted himself over it he looked back at Clary's window to see that she had closed the curtains, but even with the curtains he could see Clary's small shadow, and the larger one beside her. Jace froze for a second and squeezed his hands into fists so tight that his nails cut into the palm of his hand. Still feeling sick to his stomach he forced his legs to move away from the house and towards the street and his car.
When he finally got into his car he just sat there. Not able leave yet, let alone drive. Jace had had suspicions that Clary's injuries weren't accidents, but he hadn't thought her father was the cause. Never in a million years would he have thought of such a thing. Suddenly Jace regretted wanting answers, because he had gotten them and they weren't what he was expecting. Eventually Jace managed to pull himself together enough to start his car and drive home, but before he pulled away from the curb he promised himself that he was going to do everything possible to protect Clary, rather she wanted it or not.
Finally! When I started this story the scenes from when Clary realizes she lost track of time until Jace is out of the house is what I have been working up to. So, now I have no idea where I'm going with this story. I guess we'll just see were the wind takes me. Granted if any of you have any ideas I will be glad to take them into consideration.
But, Jace now knows the truth and he is determined to protect her, even if he doesn't know how he is going to do so. I hope this chapter made up for the fact it took so long. It was 14 pages long by the time I was done, which is crazy. And well, Jace knows the truth now. I also realized in my past chapters there were several stupid little mistakes and errors and I am really sorry for that. Usually I am so excited to finish a chapter that I don't take enough time to thoroughly proof read and edit them when I'm done, but I will try harder from now on to make sure there aren't any more errors, granted that may mean it takes a little longer for me to post new chapter. Also, if there are any I missed in this chapter I am deeply sorry, especially in the last section in Jace's point of view. Once again I was just so happy to have this chapter, especially this one, done that I couldn't wait to post it so you guys could read it! Lots of love and thank you for the patience.