Chapter 7: Waking Up_
**********************Jace's P.O.V***************************
It was two in the afternoon. He had no idea why he was still there. Or why he was drawn to her; it felt like she was someone he had lost long ago and had finally found. The same as it had when he'd first lain eyes on her in the Pandemonium. Ash had told him he liked her, he'd denied it. But he didn't know if she was right. He couldn't like her, he'd just met her. He'd only left to get breakfast and skipped lunch. When he'd come back after leaving Ash, she hadn't been there. She'd most likely finished drawing Clary. 'Why am I still here?' he asked himself again. He looked around; there was a blue ceramic pitcher holding a potion that she was to drink when she woke up, a black leather book that resembled a sketch book with a pencil strung through the top and a small bundle of what looked like Isabelle's clothes that Clary would probably never fit.
He looked over to her. And what he saw made him leap out of his seat and run to the door.
***********************Isabelle's P.O.V*********************
"What is this thing?" Ash was holding a minuscule red ball that would turn green when you would touch it.
"Beats me." Said Isabelle. They were sitting on her bed looking through a box of old stuff. So far they had found three of those balls, a deck of battered playing cards, seven of Ash's old CDs ("Hey! How'd they get there?"), and a few shoes that no longer fit Isabelle. But they did fit Ash ("Awesome, but how the hell do you wear these things? They're like 12 inches tall!" said Ash.). Ash had now recovered an old dagger, her eyes lit up. "Where'd you get this?" she asked, not taking her eyes off the blade.
"Oh, that? I got it from a werewolf a few years ago in Idris. Never used it though. Thought the design on the hilt looked cool and it was cheap because of the scorch marks; see, right here." She pointed to different parts of the blade and hilt.
"The sapphires yeah." She was obviously thinking about something else though.
"Planet earth to Ash, are you in there!" she waved a hand in front of Ash's face.
"Yeah, I'm closing in on a marshan, so shut up!" they were silent for a minute then Ash burst out laughing. The door flew open suddenly, hitting the bed and knocking Ash off it. "Jace! Wha-"
"I think she's waking up."
"Who's wakin- Oh god am I slow." She got up and started to the door. She turned to Jace, "You sure?"
************************Jace's P.O.V*************************
He thought for a moment, "You'll never know if you don't come."
"You are strange, you know that." Ash told him, "And that sounds like something I would say, not you."
"I was aiming for that."
"Why?"
"You'd follow me and Isabelle would follow you."
"Oh, damn; that's so obvious."
Jace looked over his shoulder. Sure enough, there was Isabelle.
"I would have followed you anyway, you know."He was silent for a few seconds. Then Ash said, "But do you really think she is waking up? I mean, she's been in some kind of a coma for three and a half days."
"You're the one who told me anything's possible."
"Damn, we'd better get ready for the flying pigs. I hope that insane pair of stilettos of Isabelle's doesn't fit anymore." They rounded the corner into the infirmary shortly followed by Isabelle. They sat by the bedside for a few minutes- or at least Jace and Isabelle did- waiting in case she did wake up.
"You sure you saw her move?" said Ash from atop one of decorative pillars next to the window.
"Yes I- how'd you get up there?"
"I climbed. Duh."
"Ash, sorry to break it to you; but you're only five foot three. The nearest one of those to the ground is 8 feet up; not to mention the top of that one is 9 feet shorter than the one you're sitting on."
"Si opus sit, videri posse ardua quod falsa in somnis." Ash said.
"You know I haven't memorized the whole Latin language."
"Then I will translate; though the task may seem daunting, that illusion is but a dream."
"Poetic, but it doesn't quite make sense."
"Yes it does;" said Isabelle, speaking for the first time, "It means that the task may seem daunting but that it is possible."
"Glad you understand it. But really, Ash; how'd you get up there?"
"I have my ways."
"What ways?"
"Mine- I am having the oddest feeling of déjà vu here; didn't we just do this?" she was now laughing.
"Yes." He said, "Just this morning, actually." Ash laughed for a while then they were silent, silent enough to hear the clock's steady clicks. They sat for a few minutes.
"When I came up here," Ash said, finally breaking the silence, "I didn't think how I'd get back down. That was stupid of me…. Hey, Izzy; you think I could jump down onto that bed?" she pointed to the bed Jace was sitting on. He got up automatically and moved to the foot of Clary's bed.
"Maybe… it's twenty feet up. You need to start thinking before doing."Isabelle said. At the exact same time Jace said 'Yes.'
Ash looked at them both then the bed, "Huh, can't hurt!" and she launched herself off the pillar. She landed on her shoulder and rolled off the bed onto her feet. "Well… That was fun!" she had an insane smile on her face that he had learned to recognize from when she'd just done something totally insane and stupid, yet then he had told her to jump…
Ash walked over to the foot of the bed and pulled over a chair that she offered to Jace, he said she could have it; so Ash (being her stubborn self) pulled over a second, grabbed his shoulder and pulled him down into it. He got back up. "Sit, puppy!" she said, pulling him back in to the chair.
"The last time I checked," he looked at his arms then his left foot, "I was not a dog."
"Really? But the resemblance is stunning!"
"I've got something better to do than wait for someone to 'Rise from the dead' because you know that's what she is; dead." And he walked out the door.
***********************Alec's P.O.V*************************
Jace pushed past Alec- who was coming through the door- and stormed out. Ash followed him closely and said "Jace!" then "Jace, get back here!" she called out for him three more times, when she realized he was ignoring her she bellowed out in a voice he didn't think her (Or any human but a drill instructor) possible of; "JACE! GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!" she pushed Alec aside and rushed out the door. He'd caught a glimpse of her face as she'd passed; it was bright red. He looked down the hall then at Isabelle, her eyes met his and he pointed behind him. They could still hear her loudly cursing at him.
"Don't ask." She told him. There was a tone of finality in her voice.
"Did you see her face?" she shook her head no, "It was redder than blood!"
"Shit, Jace better run!" Any other time he might have been able to take her on, but when Ash was angry, she was a force to be reckoned with. "Have you ever seen her so angry?"
"Not since she was…14."
Ash came back twenty minutes later- her face was no longer red- looking as if nothing had happened. She pulled herself up on to one of the many tall pillars and pulled out her stele. She pressed it to the skin on the back of her hand. They were all silent for a moment
"Do you think she'll ever wake up? It's been three days already." Isabelle said, trying to break the silence.
"You have to give her time; demon poison is strong stuff, and she's a mundane. She hasn't got runes to keep her strong like we do." Alec said.
"Mundies die awfully easily, don't they?" asked Isabelle.
"Real tactful, Isabelle." Said Ash sarcastically. "My mom told me once that even if someone's in a coma they can hear you."
"It's true!" Isabelle defended.
"Isabelle, you know it's bad luck to talk about death in a sick room." Alec scolded. "Anyway, isn't she the girl from the Pandemonium? Because she looks a lot like her."
"I told you it was the same girl."
"I know." Isabelle said, "Little thing, isn't she. Jace said she killed a Ravener."
"Yeah, I thought she was a pixie the first time I saw her. Not pretty enough to be a pixie, though."
"Well, nobody looks their best with demon venom coursing through their veins. You think Hodge is gonna call the Brothers?"
"I hope not." Isabelle said, "They give me the creeps. Anyone who mutilates themselves like that-"
Alec cut her off, "We mutilate ourselves." He pointed out.
"I know we do, Alec, but when we do it, it isn't permanent, and it doesn't always hurt…"
"My lotion smells like play-dough." Alec looked up. Ash was sniffing her hands. she was speaking to no one in particular, so he ignored her.
"If you're old enough. Speaking of which, where's Jace? He saved her, didn't he? I would have thought he would take some interest in her recovery." Said Alec.
"Hodge said he hasn't been to see her since he brought her here. I guess he doesn't care." Isabelle told them. "Today he probably was curious and decided to come by, then thought he saw her move and decided to tell us." Ash smiled slightly, but covered her mouth quickly. Isabelle didn't seem to notice and continued, "Sometimes I wonder if he-Look! She moved!" Alec looked down, she moved again.
"I guess she's alive after all." He sighed, "I'll go tell Hodge." He got up and left through the door.
*************************Ash's P.O.V************************
"So, you're finally awake," Isabelle's voice was slightly dry, "Hodge will be pleased. We all thought you'd probably die in your sleep."
"Sorry to disappoint you." The girl's voice rasped as if her throat were made of sandpaper.
"I like her already." said Ash.
"Is this the Institute?" she asked.
Isabelle rolled her eyes, "Is there anything Jace didn't tell you?"
"Oh, I imagine there is quite a lot he didn't tell her. And quite a lot she is capable of finding out for herself." Ash told Isabelle, "So you can relax."
The girl coughed, "This is the Institute, right?"
"Yes. You're in the infirmary, not that you haven't figured that out already."
The girl suddenly doubled over, clutching her stomach and gasped, Isabelle and Ash looked over to her in alarm.
"Are you ok?" Isabelle asked.
"My stomach."
A look of remembrance passed over Isabelle's face, but quickly vanished. "Oh, right. I almost forgot, Hodge said to give you this when you woke up." She grabbed the blue ceramic pitcher that Hodge had set there only a day before full of potion. She poured some of the contents into a matching blue cup. She held it out to the girl who took it. "You haven't eaten anything in three days," she told the girl, "That's probably why you're feeling sick."
"What is this?" the girl asked.
Isabelle shrugged, "One of Hodge's tisanes. They always work. I'm Isabelle Lightwood, by the way. I live here."
"And I'm Ashtrid Nightstone. I also live here… Obviously."
The girl nodded, "I know your name. I'm Clary, Clary Fray."
SOOOOOO sorry for the long wait! I'll start posting more frequently. So Clary is awake! Yay! I'll write again soon, please leave reviews. Bye! -IADS