Phew! I finally got chapter 19 up. Yay! I beg for all of your pardons. Things have just been really crazy with school and all that junk that I just lost track of time. But here it is. The newest installement of Dangerous Living. Please enjoy and review!

Clary has discovered there is more to being Nephilim than she ever thought possible. The world is about to fall apart and these new skills could come in handy... that is if they can escape the secret room. They have been locked inside for hours in safety while the rest of the world falls apart. What happens when Clary learns the truth about herself? What will happen when Jace tries to comfort her? Read on to find out...

Chapter 19

It feels like I'm floating… I'm lying on something incredibly soft. This is too comfortable. I know this isn't what I'm supposed to be feeling. I should be breathing, but it feels like there's no air. I just exist. This feels strange. I don't know what this is, but I don't like it. It's too unbelievable…

All of a sudden I'm falling. I want to yell, but I can't fill my lungs with air. I open my eyes and I see that I'm falling through clouds. I'm falling at an incredibly speed.

Down below me is a wide field of green. I look up at the clouds as they speed away from my reach. I reach up, but it's a futile effort. The sensation of hitting the ground rips through my entire body.

In a moment I'm staring at the sky through a brown cloud. I know where I am, but it's hard to process. I'm so confused. I look up and see shadows. That makes me more confused. There are many of them. I move just parts of my body before I am able to stand properly. I feel myself floating again.

Somehow it feels as if I'm on the wind. I look down at the forms below me. They stare at me with wide eyes and reverence. They fall to their knees and raise their hands to me. I hold my hands up and light engulfs my entire body…

When I open my eyes again, I see myself falling toward my body. I see Jace leaning over my body trying to wake me up and the others looking on gravely. I squeeze my eyes shut as I hit.

I gasp and sit up with a start. My heart is beating a million miles a second. I breathe heavily as I look around the room. I'm back in my body and I'm back in the secret room.

Then I feel strong arms around me. I look up and see Jace. He's holding onto me tightly. I calm down a bit. I reach up and stroke Jace's cheek. "Jace?"

Jace opens his eyes. "Don't scare me like that again, Clary."

I wrap my arms around Jace then kiss him. Jace holds onto me until we break apart. The others move around me. Isabelle has tears in her eyes. "We thought you had died."

I look up at Jace's eyes. It looks like he's ready to break down. I wrap my arms around his neck and pull myself closer. "I'm fine. It was something else completely. I don't think I died either."

"But you had no pulse," Alec frowns.

"That may be, but I just experienced something really incredible," I try to stand, but Jace holds me to him.

Jace wraps his arms around me. "What was it?"

I sigh and just stay where I am. "Well, it was like I was outside of my body. When I feel asleep I was suddenly outside of the institute and I was standing in Central Park. It was all happening during real time and it was a complete mess out there."

Magnus moves forward. "Are you talk about astral projection?"

I nod. "Yes."

Magnus crosses his arms and cocks his hip. "I didn't know something like that was still possible. Especially for someone who doesn't have any magic."

"Since I'm part angel I think that gives me the ability to do some things other people can't," I adjust my position in Jace's arms.

Jace looks down at me. "So, does that mean you have a new kind of power? Does this mean I can have this power too?"

I didn't think of that. "That's possible. I mean, I know I don't know a lot about what I can do yet, but it feels like there's a lot more to it than what we barely know about it. The first time I came down here Arcadia did something that unlocked my powers. It felt completely overwhelming and I don't know if I could control it."

"Arcadia definitely knows something we don't," Simon mumbles.

We nod in agreement. Everyone sits down around Jace and I since he refuses to let me go. I sit on Jace's lap. "So, do you want to know what it's like out there?"

They nod. Isabelle asks the first question. "Are there demons?"

I frown as I remember. "No. I actually didn't see any. The only demon was the one Jace and I saw when we went looking for the Greater Demon."

"Do you know what caused all the shaking from before?" Alec asks.

I lean my head against Jace's shoulder. "Yeah, actually. The ground has been opening up and fire shoots out of them. These geysers have been showing up all throughout the city. I don't know what they're for though. I just know they're tearing up the whole place."

Magnus holds up a finger. "What was it like astral projecting? I've always wanted to try, but I heard rumors that it's way too dangerous. Some warlocks are able to do it, such as myself, but not being properly prepared could end up being very disastrous."

I nod in agreement. "You're right."

Isabelle looks between us. "Wait, what do you mean? How is it dangerous?"

I lick my lips. "Well, what I understand is that you are able to send your spirit out from your body and get into just about anywhere. You can move through walls and you're invisible to just about everyone and everything. The only down side is that your body is left completely open to attacks and anything else like that."

Jace makes me look at him. "You're not going to do it often, are you?"

"Not unless I absolutely have no choice," I answer.

We sit around talking about some stuff before I decide it's time we start searching for something to help us get out of this room. It may be safe, but we're not going to get anywhere. We need to figure out a way to try to stop the war that is bound to start.

For the next few hours we search through the hundreds of books in the secret room. We can't manage to find anything. Jace refuses to leave my side. I know I scared him bad this time. I grab him and pull him off to the side so we can have a private conversation.

Jace watches me carefully. "What's the matter, Clary?"

I shake my head. "I think I should be asking you that. You're not the kind of person to go for so long without saying something sarcastic or rude. I know I scared you bad this time. I'm sorry. I really wasn't planning on it just happening like that. It just happened."

Jace reaches up and strokes my cheek. "I've already lost so much and I just couldn't stand losing someone else I love. I don't want to ever lose you. You're everything to me, Clary. I love you."

"I love you too, Jace," I smile and go onto my toe to kiss him.

Jace leans down to meet my lips. We stay together until someone clears their throat behind us. Jace and I break apart and see Isabelle watching us with an arched eyebrow. "Are you two done or am I going to have to pry you two apart?"

Jace tightens his grip around me and gives Isabelle a look. "Can't you tell when people want to be alone? What if I randomly appeared if you and the bloodsucker wanted to be alone? You'd be pissed off, too."

Isabelle crosses her arms. "You better not get any ideas, Jace. And we're trying to figure out what we're going to do about getting out of here without being caught by that stupid demon you two saw."

I look up at Jace. "Come on, Jace. We really need to get back to work."

Jace groans then leans down to kiss me one more time. "Fine, but you owe me. That's two times you own me. You better not let it get to three because I'm going to get really frustrated."

Isabelle reaches out and grabs my wrist. "Come on, Clary. Jace is just being a baby. He doesn't like being denied his make out sessions. Let's get out of here before he decides to do something bad with you."

So Isabelle pulls me away from a pouting Jace. I go sit down at a table and pull out the book I didn't get to finish before. I continue reading. I try to focus, but all I can focus on is Jace sulking as he moves around the room looking for a way out of the room.

I roll my eyes and walk over to him. Jace sees me walking toward him. I kiss his cheek quickly. "If you don't stop sulking you won't be able to finish quicker and you won't get to be with me."

That seems to motivate Jace. He searches through the books quickly. Jace is an incredibly fast reader. I go back to my table just to be interrupted by Magnus. He sits across form me. "Hey."

"What do you want?" I ask, slightly annoyed.

Magnus arches an eyebrow, but doesn't say anything about it. "It's about your experience when you did that astral projection. I want to know what it was like."

I sigh and close my book. "Well, it was like floating on air. I was there, but not really. There was no physical part of me there. It was more like a dream than anything else before I realized that there was no way it could be a dream."

"How did you know?" Magnus asks.

I rub my forehead. "Well, I just knew. I was looking out at the city and I just knew that I was there and what I was seeing was real… and something else that happened made me realize that is was real."

"What?" Magnus inquires.

I shake my head. "I don't want to say."

A few minutes later Magnus leaves me along to read. I open the book and manage to get in a few pages of reading in. I'm starting to get a really bad feeling about this. Luke really is pouring his heart out here. He's telling me secrets about himself and about Jocelyn I never thought he would admit to. It's amazing and terrifying at the same time.

As I'm reading my heart rate picks up. My hands are shaking as I read on. Then I get to one part that shocks me so much I just stare at the book. How am I supposed to react to this?

I get through a few more pages before I shut the book. I swallow hard. It's impossible. My eyes are wide with shock. It can't be true. I want to forget what I just read.

Jace sees that I'm really freaking out and walks over to me. "What's wrong?"

I shake my head and don't meet his eyes. "I just can't believe it. It's not possible."

Jace sits next to me and places his hand on my shoulder. "You can tell me if something's wrong? Was it something you read in the book? Luke would give you shocking information."

"This isn't just shocking information," I turn to face Jace. "It's more like life changing information. I don't know what Luke was thinking when he didn't tell me about this. They should have told me a long time ago when this wouldn't have come as such a shock."

Jace puts his arm around me. "What is it?"

I swallow hard and squeeze my eyes shut. "I-"

"Look what I found!"

I'm interrupted by Simon yelling. Jace looks up with an annoyed look on his face. "What is it, vampire?"

Simon gives Jace a look. "I found this really old book over near the back of the room. It's written in a language I don't understand, but maybe one of you shadow hunters knows this language."

Alec walks over and takes the book. He frowns at the cover. "What the hell is this? It's that language Clary knows."

I walk over and take the book. I look at the cover. "It says 'Enchiridion of the Golden Bloods'. Doesn't enchiridion mean handbook, but like in the archaic term?"

Jace nods and takes the book. "What does it mean by 'Golden Bloods'?"

I take the book back and turn to the first page. I see signatures. "Who are these people?"

Alec looks over my shoulder. "Those are the names of the founding shadow hunters… come to think of it, we weren't called shadow hunters when we were first founded. I think it was something like-"

"Nephilim," Magnus puts in.

I frown. "Why?"

"Because back then human women would hate children with angels and they would be half blooded like the name Nephilim implies," Magnus explains.

I nod slowly then turn back to the book. I go to the next page. It's nothing, but the words I was taught when I was little. I mouth them as I read for some reason. Jace clears his throat. "What does it say?"

At first I don't answer, but then I speak up without looking away from the book. "It's talking about the history of the shadow hunters at first. They were nothing, but a bunch of farmers and merchants at the beginning. Then something big happened."

"Does it say what happened?" Isabelle asks.

I nod then flip through the next few pages. "I'm going to paraphrase here. Something fell from the sky. Apparently it was the size of a mountain as it fell, but when it hit the ground it was the size of a person."

"What was it exactly?" Alec asks.

I shake my head and read that section again and again just to make sure. "It says it is the source. Or it's the founder. I've never seen this form of the world before. Maybe creator."

Alec raises his hand up for me to stop. "Let's just say founder. Does it say what specifically it was? Could it have been a meteor or something like that?"

I shake my head. "It says it looked human, but it wasn't."

An image of falling, but feeling light, enters my mind. I shake the thought from my mind, but it's still there. I look up at the others. "Let me read this some more and I'll get back to you."

Jace grabs my hand. "What were you going to say before? About what you read in Luke's book."

I shake my head. "Forget about it. I'll tell you later."

When I look back at the book I get a really bad feeling that this is going to turn out really bad. I go to sit down at the table with the book opened in front of me. Luke's book lies next to me while I try to focus on the book that's in front of me.

It looks like whatever fell from the sky caused a huge earthquake, leveled a few villages, and created a crater deep enough for an entire city to be built in it. Which was what happened. Apparently, it was built in a country that isn't on any map I've ever seen and I've seen a lot of maps.

I look up and see Alec. "Hey, Alec."

Alec looks up from his book. "Yeah?"

"Come here," I wave him over.

Alec walks over after setting down the book in his hand. He sits across from me. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Where is this?" I point to the map.

It takes Alec a second to recognize the placement of the country. "That's Alicante. That's the home land of the shadow hunters. What does this mean? What does the book say?"

I shake my head and sigh. "I honestly don't know. I'm still figuring this stuff and I'm still distracted from what I read in Luke's book…"

"What did you read in Luke's book?" Alec asks.

I shake my head and look over at the book in question. "It's not something I want to talk about right now, but I'll tell you all as soon as I figure out what this enchiridion means. I'm still in the first chapter. There's a lot of history stuff."

"Alright," Alec walks off afterwards.

Once Alec's gone I go back to the enchiridion. I rub the bridge of my nose and sigh. Then I set the book down to rub my eyes. I am so tired, but I know I can't go to sleep. Not now. We still need to figure a way out of this room. Maybe another hour of reading will wake me up.

About an hour later my face is flat on the table. I'm trying so hard not to fall asleep. Jace walks over and seems my lame attempt to stay conscious. Jace chuckles. "Stop fighting it. Sleep will do you good."

I shake my head. "What if I accidentally do that astral projection thing again? I don't want to know what's going on outside. It looked really bad when I went out there before."

Jace sits next to me and strokes my back. "I'm worried you'll do it again too, but depriving yourself of sleep isn't going to help you or any of us. You can't read these books if you can't focus because you're exhausted."

I sigh and nods slowly. Jace lifts me so I'm sitting on his lap. Jace picks me up and takes me over to one of the couches. Jace sets me down on top of him. I cuddle up to him. Jace is surprisingly comfortable despite being mostly muscle.

Jace wraps his arms around me and lets me go to sleep. I'm grateful that I don't end up astral projecting this time. I'm actually able to get some real sleep in.

A few hours later I wake up to the sound of people arguing. I groan and shift my position. I'm still lying against Jace. His hair is messed up which tells me he was sleeping too. By the look on Jace's annoyed expression I can tell he was woken up by the arguing too.

When I look over I see Alec and Isabelle shouting at each other. Jace sits up with me. He glares at the others. "What the hell? Don't you know how to be quiet?"

Isabelle throws Jace a glare. "Shut up! Alec called me vein and shallow."

"Really?" Jace chuckles as he looks at Alec.

Alec shrugs then turns back to Isabelle with a shrug. "I'm not the one checking myself out in the mirror to make sure I look good. Who are you looking good for, Izzy? Simon? Sure, he's your boyfriend, but I think the situation we're in is more important than your make-up."

Isabelle throws her hands up in frustration. "You just don't get what it's like being a girl. Tell him, Clary."

I shake my head. "Oh no you don't. You're not dragging me into this argument."

Jace chuckles and puts his arms around me. We lie back down as we watch the others fighting with each other. I lay my head on Jace's shoulder. "Despite being in this situation it's good to see that they can still fight and argue like the siblings they are. It's refreshing. Since I didn't grow up with any-"

When I suddenly break off Jace looks at me worriedly. "What's the matter?"

I shake my head and sigh. "It's nothing. Just forget it."

Jace rubs my hand with his thumb. "Is it about what you were trying to tell me before? If it's important and if it's bothering you so much, you shouldn't bottle it up inside. Let it out. I'm sure I can help you."

I sigh and lean up to kiss Jace on the lips. "Thank you, Jace. Just give me a few minutes to gather my thoughts. Then I'll tell you."

Jace nods, content that I'm going to tell him at all. I sit back and think about what I'm going to tell Jace. It's hard even thinking about it. How can something so simple be so hard to wrap my mind around? I didn't know Luke and Jocelyn would keep such a huge secret from me.

When I turn back to Jace I lean in to whisper into his ear. Jace's eyes widen in surprise for a second then they fill with sympathy for me. He leans down to kiss me sweetly. I smile up at Jace when we pull away from each other. Jace strokes my hair and just holds me. I let out a little sigh of relief. That was a lot easier than I thought it was.

Of course, telling someone about this stuff, but accepting it for myself is another thing entirely. I'm just glad I have someone as understanding as Jace. Even if he is an ass sometimes.

When I look up at Jace, he's smiling. I give him a look. Jace just grins at me. "Hey."

I roll my eyes then punch his arm lightly. "Shut up."

Jace just laughs.

Then Isabelle turns on us. "What the hell are you laughing about? Alec and I are trying to have an argument here and the two of you are just lying there acting all lovey-dovey."

"Well, I prefer doing this than listening to you whine and complain," Jace wraps his arm around my waist.

Isabelle stalks over to us then eyes us carefully. Then a wicked grin spreads across her face. "Clary, do you want to know what it's like to sleep with someone? I mean, if you do then Jace is the perfect person to ask."

My face gets really red. Jace goes stiff. I glare at Isabelle. "What the hell, Izzy? We're just trying to relax here and you're snapping at us because we're not paying any attention to you."

The smirk on Isabelle's face falls into a scowl. "Yeah, well, I wouldn't have started complaining if Alec wasn't such a jerk. Magnus doesn't do enough to keep him distracted either."

"Hey!" Magnus calls indignantly.

Alec glares at Isabelle. "Leave Magnus out of this, Isabelle."

Isabelle glares at Alec. "Shut up, ALEC!"

We get into a glaring match. Then Simon clears his throat. "Um, I think you guys should come over here and look at this."

I grudgingly get up from my spot next to Jace and walk over to where Simon is standing. He's staring at the angel blood. I look down and my eyes widen. I grab the glass case and pull it off. The feather is floating over the angel blood with the tip facing downwards.

When I reach out for it the feather leans toward my touch. I pull my hand away quickly. I look up at Magnus. "Do you know anything about this?"

"No one really knows about angels and what their blood can do other than it gives shadow hunters the ability to fight demons," Magnus moves forward to examine the feather closer.

I reach out to touch the feather. When we make contact the feather sinks into the golden blood. I pull my hand away immediately. Then, the feather rises slowly. Unlike it's pure, white, softness from before, now it's a bright gold.

We all watch as the feather floats in mid air. They all look at me. I give them a look. "What?"

Isabelle motions with her hand. "Hurry up and do something already, will you?"

"What exactly do you expect me to do?" I give her a look.

Isabelle just shrugs. I turn back to the feather and swallow hard. I reach out again. This time when my finger touches it images float into my mind. I gasp and grab onto the feather. A string appears through the feather so it looks like a necklace.

Magnus leans forward. "What happened?"

I turn to Jace. "Come here."

Jace steps forward. "What is it?"

I hold up the feather. "This is for you."

Jace looks confused, but lets me put the feather around his neck. It glows softly with a warm light. Jace looks down at it. "It's really warm. It's like a little heart beat. What is this?"

My face gets really hot. "Well, apparently, back in the beginning, the 'founder', gave the original shadow hunters gifts to give their lovers these tokens as a sign of their loves. It was supposed to signify a promise of eternity together."

Jace looks down at the feather and strokes it softly. "Like a promise ring, but one that's for sure."

"I guess you can put it that way," I blush even harder.

Isabelle squeals. "Oh my GOD! It's like the two of you are engaged. This is so amazingly cute. Just wait. Before long they'll be married with kids and everything."

Alec gives Isabelle a look. "Stop it, Isabelle. Clary looks ready to drop from embarrassment as it is already."

Magnus gives me a Cheshire grin. "You weren't hesitant at all about giving that to Jace. It's amazing how much you trust Jace, Clary. Especially considering he was a total manwhore."

Jace gives Magnus a look. "Let it go already. I'm with Clary now and I'm not going to be sleeping around anymore."

Simon rolls his eyes. "Whatever."

Jace turns to me with a sincere look in his eyes. "I sweat, Clary. I wouldn't ever think about it."

I smile and lean over to kiss him. Isabelle groans in exasperation. "Seriously, you two. Why don't you two get a room already?"

"We are in a room," Jace smirks then wraps his arms around me.

When Jace holds me close I can feel the warmth of the feather charm around his neck against my skin. It does feel warm. Like a little heart beat. The warmth spreads throughout my entire body. It gives me a fuzzy feeling in my stomach. An image of a couple sitting in a meadow.

My face gets hot all over again when I remember that the woman was pregnant. I swallow hard and wrap my arms around Jace. Jace returns my embrace. "What happens now?"

I shake my head then turn back to look at the cup of blood. "Well, it's obvious that this chalice of blood is very important. I can just feel the power radiating off of it and it calls to me. It's protecting us from that demon out there terrorizing the city."

Afterward I go to the table I was reading at before and get back to the enchiridion. There's bound to be something in here to tell me how to get out of here. This room feels ancient. Ancient enough to be mentioned in the enchiridion. I see the writing my parents taught me when I was little all over this place. It has to be mentioned somewhere.

Of course there's always Luke's book, but I'm a little afraid of what I might read. I don't know if I can stand another huge secret like the one I shared with Jace.

If there's something important in Luke's book then I need to suck it up. I pick up the book and skip to the page after the big secret. I keep one reading to where Luke is apologizing about the horrible way of telling me that big thing.

When I get into the next few pages I come across something shocking. This is actually on the same level as the last thing. I stand up with the book in my hands and hurry over to the others who are surrounded by books and those sort of things.

Alec looks up. "What's up?"

I hold up Luke's book. "I found something in here that you might find very interesting."

I sit next to Jace with my legs crossed. "It says here that everything that has happened so far has happened for a reason. It was all going to happen no matter what anyone did or tried to do. There was no chance of changing fate. What's going to happen will happen no matter how much we don't want it to."

"What the hell does that mean?" Simon scowls.

I sigh and keep on reading. "It also says that because we are so important we need to be kept safe. The chosen six have to be kept away from the devastation the beginning of the war will bring. Even if that means locking them away in a room."

Jace's eyes narrow. "You don't mean-"

"The reason we're in this room is to keep us away from trying to stop the war from happening," I finish for Jace.

"They trapped us in here?" Isabelle asks, incredulous.

I look up at Jace. "There's a war going on out there and there's nothing we can do to stop it."

We all look at each other grimly, probably thinking about the same thing I am. The war is going to happen. And we're all trapped in here. Helpless.