Chapter 8

As soon as Jace showed her where she would be sleeping, not before showing her his room in case she "got scared and wanted to cuddle," it hit Clary just how tired she really was. She collapsed onto the oversized fluffy bed, sighing in relief as her weary muscles finally relaxed.

There was an oversized t-shirt on the dresser next to the bed, presumably for her pajamas, but Clary couldn't bring herself to move from her sprawled position enough to actually wear said pajamas. She didn't even turn the light out before falling into restless sleep.

In her dreams there were shadows chasing her, varying forms made out of darkness. They approached but she couldn't place them until just before they caught her, when they would turn into something else. One of the creatures Jace had told her about.

Clary shot straight up in bed just before another werewolf pounced on her, groaning in misery when the clock next to her table read 3:08 am. She crawled out of bed, finally put on the pajama shirt, and then set out to find Jace. She truly was exhausted, and she wasn't going to be fit to meet anyone tomorrow if she couldn't get some sleep. Surely he must have some magical potion of some sort to put her to sleep.

She walked through the corridors sleepily, happy for the first time that Jace had made sure to take her directly from his room to hers, just so she would know exactly how to get there. Even though she was pretty sure that 3 am sleeping issues weren't exactly what he had in mind.

Once she reached the room, she lifted her arm to knock before hesitating slightly. She didn't really want to wake him up—partially because she felt bad, but mostly because she wasn't sure if she could deal with his arrogant self at this time of day. After a moment of deliberation, she decided it was worth it and banged on the door a couple of times. She even tried calling out his name, but he didn't answer. She wasn't sure why that surprised her. He seemed like the type to sleep well at night.

Finally she decided that her getting some sleep was more important than however irritated he would be with her for waking him, she pushed the door open.

Clary walked into the room a couple of steps before realizing that there was very little chance of her actually finding Jace in the room, due to the fact that it was pitch black. She made a mental note to ask him how he did that, as the moonlight streaming into her room had probably contributed to her inability to sleep.

She held her arms out warily, shuffling her feet along the floor inch by inch. She heard a thud as her shin ran into something hard, and did her best to muffle her cursing. Clary decided that the best plan was probably just to locate the bed, get onto it, and then find Jace. Judging by the position of the desk, she turned the other direction.

As soon as she felt her shins hit something else she braced herself, but luckily this time she had actually found the bed. Unfortunately she had been moving a little too fast and ended up falling pretty hard onto the bed. And of course it had to be Jace's side of the bed.

As soon as she landed on him, she was flat on her back and he was on top of her with a glowing rock and a knife at her throat. As soon as he saw it was her, he put the knife down and groaned.

"Jesus Clary. Give a guy a warning. I could have killed you!"

"I'm sorry was my pounding on the door not warning enough? Clearly you're a light sleeper…" she said as she sat herself up, trying to recover from his surprise attack.

"I don't even… nevermind. What do you want anyway? Came to cuddle?" His charmingly cocky self was returning now that he was waking up. Clary was thrilled.

"Haha. So funny. I just can't sleep. Do you have any sleeping pills or anything?" Clary had decided that flat out asking for a sleeping potion might be a little weird. She wasn't entirely sure that that was an option and didn't need to give him anything else to make fun of her for.

"Yeah I can make you something for that," said Jace, crawling out of bed, "but you probably aren't going to like it." He cracked a smile and held out his hand with the glowing rock, leading them out of the room.

"So what's with the glowing rock?" Clary's voice was curious but cautious. It didn't seem natural and she wasn't sure how she felt about it. Actually, that was the way that she felt about most of the stuff that Jace had told her over the last day or so. The glowing rock should actually probably be the least of her concerns.

"Oh this baby? You'll love it. I'll get you one in the morning. It's very helpful for navigating dark rooms," Jace said pointedly, and Clary shrugged. She felt bad for waking him up, but he was the one who had invited her to bed with him.

"It's weird. Seems unnatural," said Clary, choosing to stay focused on the rock. She didn't need him dwelling on the fact that she had fallen directly on top of him. Or on the fact that she wasn't wearing pants, a fact she had just realized as her heart skipped a beat in horror.

"After everything I've told you today—well, yesterday—that's what you choose to refuse to accept?" Asked Jace incredulously as they reached the massive kitchen. Clary shrugged and mumbled something about the fact that it would probably grow on her—as soon as she'd gotten some sleep.

He moved around the kitchen pretty quickly and efficiently for someone who had just been woken up, beginning to brew her something that smelled absolutely horrible.

"Are you trying to poison me?" Clary asked, looking dubiously at the teacup that Jace was trying to force into her hands. "Because if you are, it probably would have been much easier to do at the prison."

"Oh shut up just drink it," he said, "you woke me up for this, you'd better damn well enjoy it. Actually no. You definitely won't enjoy it." He laughed at that. "Take it up to your room while it cools down. As soon as you have a couple of sips, you'll be out."

"Okay, thanks again," said Clary, not realizing the implications of what he had just said until he started to walk away, "Um… I'm not a hundred percent sure that I can find my room by myself."

Jace stopped, not turning around, and sighed. For a fleeting moment she thought that she had actually upset him, until he finally turned around with a grin and said, "Clary, if you wanted to invite me to bed with you, all you had to do was ask."

"Never mind, I changed my mind. I'll just wander around the house all night," said Clary, promptly turning around and walking out the first door that she saw. She really hoped that it was the right one.

"Hey Clary?"

She tried not to respond. She really did, but the lilting tone of his voice was enough to spark her curiosity and force her to look back at him, "Just a tip. Your room is this way."

She rolled her eyes and turned back toward the direction that he was pointing. Of course. It would be the door in literally the opposite direction that the one she had chosen. She walked directly out of the room, deciding that if she at least had the right direction she could probably eventually locate her room, before realizing that she could still feel his presence.

She turned back and sure enough, he was standing just behind her, holding that stupid glowing rock as he flipped off the kitchen light. The hallway was plunged into darkness and she realized for the first time how dark it would have been going back to her room. The walk from her room to Jace's was filled with windows letting in light from the moon, but the kitchen was in the middle of the mansion. There was no light here.

"Thanks," said Clary in a small voice, trying not to let too much gratitude seep into her tone but also wanting to thank him. For the first time he said nothing, shocking her instead by grabbing her hand to steer her in another direction. She tried to ignore the tingles running up and down her arm, expecting him to let go once they turned the corner, but his hand tightened on hers instead, sending the tingles up in full force.

They spent the rest of the walk in silence, and Clary wondered what he was thinking. He was so hard to read—every time he got serious, he would break the moment with some smart ass comment, leaving Clary more confused than she had been in the first place.

"Here we are," he said finally, his voice hoarse. He cleared his throat as he dropped Clary's had. It seemed almost as though he hadn't wanted to let go, but Clary couldn't tell for sure. "Sweet dreams."

He turned to walk away, leaving Clary dumbfounded with the lack of any scathing remarks as she fumbled with opening the heavy wooden door.

"Oh, and Clary?" Clary's head shot up at the unexpected words, "if you have any more nightmares, don't forget my bed is always open."

There it is, thought Clary as she rolled her eyes. She knew that nothing would really subdue him enough to go a full conversation without being a jerk.

She walked into her room and closed the door with her feet, blowing on the drink once and trying not to allow the acrid smell to get to her. She plugged her nose and took one, two sips, before setting it down and waiting for it to pull her under as Jace had promised.

It didn't take long before it took its toll, the warm embrace of sleep welcoming her to a thankfully dreamless slumber.