My head is killing me. I feel someone shaking my shoulder. Clary, I think I hear someone saying in the background. There's also a rhythmic thumping in my head. I can't get it out. CLARY. The shaking gets harder until I start flailing my arms. "Clary."
My eyes slowly pry open. There's a blinding light. Actually a multicolored light. I realize I'm in a club. There's a kid shaking me. He has freshly scrubbed dark brown hair, and glasses perched crookedly on his scrunched nose. Where am I? "Clary are you alright?"
I sit up. He's talking to me. So I guess I'm Clary. Who's Clary? "Um, excuse me, can I just, um go to the ladies room?" He looks confused. "Alright. I'll be right here."
My head is still swirling as I push my way through the crowd to the bathroom. When I get there I stare at my hair in the mirror. It's red. I now have red hair. Why? I'm on the verge of tears when the door opens. My face turns as red as my hair when I notice who it is.
"THIS IS THE WOMAN'S BATHROOM!" I scream at the gel guy.
"Hey I'm just here to help," he says.
"Because you're so helpful." I say as I glare at him.
"Come on, you can use all the help you can get. After all, you did almost get thrown into a mental house." I just sit there silently because I know he's right.
"Fine." I eventually say.
"Great. So this is what you're going to do. Follow your instinct, 'cause that's the author telling you what to do. And follow what you can remember of the book."
"About that. Where am I?"
"Oh, The Mortal Instruments novels. The first book: City of Bones." Oh. I know this book. Wait, so I'm in a club, so I'm right at the beginning. Uh-oh, now I wish I hadn't stopped reading after the first chapter.
"Ok, I think I understand. But one more thing, what's your name?"
"Oh, Nemo."
"Nemo?"
"Nemo."
"Like, Captain Nemo? Finding Nemo?"
"Yep."
"Okay."
"So what's your name?"
"Oh, well, it's-, well, I mean…It's, um, Cherry, wait no Clary, no wait, what? It's um, why can't I remember my name?! Oh my god! What? I don't understand!"
"Calm down. It's alright. You'll probably remember in a while. I'm sure this happens sometimes. Of course most people don't end up in stories like us." I just stand there trying to catch my breath and calm down. Breath-in, breath out.
"Alright…I'm fine," I lie.
"Great. So just get out there and remember, follow your gut feeling."
"Alright, Captain."
"It's Nemo."
"Yep, Captain Nemo." I say as I walk out the door. I scan the dance floor but see no one that remotely resembles Jace, or any of the other shadow hunters. But then I see a flash of blond hair over on the other side. I get over there and find the door they disappeared through.
I open it and find myself in a storage room with faint light spilling down from dirt smeared windows. I crouch behind some boxes as I wait for my gut instinct to tell me to do something.
There's a woman who looks like she belongs on the cover of a Victoria's Secret magazine. Then there are two guys standing behind her, a blond one, Jace, and a black haired one, Alec. Then there's the demon with electric blue hair. They're all having a conversation about demons or something.
Suddenly I hear Jace say "You can join him there." I feel my instinct kick in and I stand up and begin to yell stop, but my foot catches on a stray electrical wire and I trip over it so it comes out more like "STOWOOPPS!"
As I fall to the ground I can hear the music in the other room stop and people start booing. Woops. Looks like that wire connected to the sound system. I quickly get back up and recollect myself. "Stop." I say as intimidatingly as I can. Everyone else in the room seems confused beyond belief. So there's just an awkward silence. Finally Alec breaks it by saying "What?"
"She can see us." Isabelle whispers to Jace. Alec also whispers to Jace. "What's this?"
"It's a girl." Jace replies.
"You don't say." I say him, my voice dripping with sarcasm. Jace looks confused, but recovers his composure.
"A mundie girl. And she can see us." He says.
"Of course I can see you. I'm not blind you know."
"Oh, but you are." He says bending down to pick up his knife.
"Wow, so ominous." I say to myself.
"What?"
"Oh, nothing."
"Look, you better get out of here, if you know what's good for you."
"I can't do that, cause if I do you'll kill him." I say motioning toward the demon. Of course I know it's a demon, but I'm following my instinct and what little I can remember of the first chapter of this book.
"What do you care if I kill him?"
"Because you can't just KILL PEOPLE!" I exclaim.
"Exactly."
"What?"
"I said exactly."
"I know you said exactly, but I mean exactly what?"
"I mean you're exactly right, you can't just go around killing people!"
"What?"
"Oh my god! He's a DEMON! For Christ's sake…"
"Jace, that's enough." Isabelle says with a warning tone.
"You people are crazy, but luckily I already called the police. They should be here any moment."
"She's lying." Alec says, but there's doubt on his face. Then, right on schedule, the demon tears free of his restraints. Everyone jumps into battle mode, while I just stand here awkwardly trying not to get killed. Suddenly I notice a stray pipe, so I pick it up.
At that moment the demon jumps on Jace and is about to slash at him when I hit him squarely on the back with my pipe. He lets out a shriek and faces me with a look of immense fury. I'm about hit him again, but Jace sinks his knife into the demon's back and the black liquid explodes from the hilt. He began to fold in on himself until he vanished entirely.
I decide to take my leave now, before anything else happens. I turn to sneak away, but Isabelle is standing in my way. She looks kind of pissed. "I have a pipe and I'm not afraid to use it." I say.
She flicks her whip at me and pulls the pipe from my hand. "Hey. Um…I don't have a pipe anymore, but I'm still not afraid to use it."
She looks like she's about to whip me to death, when Jace interrupts. "She knows too much."
"So what should we do?" Isabelle asks.
"Let her go." Jace answers.
"We could bring her to the Institute." Alec suggests.
"Or you could let me go." I add.
Isabelle glares at me. "No one asked you, you stupid little mundie." I'm about to sass her back, when Jace says "But is she a mundie? Girl, have you had any dealings with demons? Walked with warlocks, talked with the Night Children? Have you-"
"First off, I have a name. Second off, you're all crazy-" Because I'm one to talk. "And third off, I'm not answering any of your questions if you keep being so rude to me."
I'm pretty sure that at this point Simon is supposed to intervene, but I'm not seeing him. I guess I'll just have to escape myself.
"Also, you called that kid a demon. Could there not be more demons here? Cause that guy standing behind you looks pretty demonic to me." Of course there's no one there, but they all turn in surprise. Gotcha. I jump at the door and plunge back into the crowd of the party. I frantically search for Simon, and pray that they haven't found me yet.
I see him over by the bathrooms. "SIMON!" I yell out. "Let's go. NOW!" I grab his hand and we run off into the night. We run for a few blocks, and then grab a taxi. My heart is still pounding though. I'm so lucky that worked, but I don't think I followed the book exactly. Oh well, I'm sure there's no harm done…
Well, I guess there was a little harm done. My "mom" Jocelyn is furious when I get home so late. And honestly, I'm so tired I don't even care. I just plop down on "my" bed and immediately fall asleep.
The strange thing was, when I wake up I remember strange things from my dream. It wasn't even really a dream, it was more like a lifetime of memories. The really eerie thing was that they weren't even my memories, they were Clary's. But they felt so real they might as well be my memories.
The one prominent thing that stuck out from these dreams was a box with the initials J.C. on it. There was an image of Jocelyn crying silently over it with a strand of white blond hair in her hand. I don't know why it bothers me so much though.
So anyway, then I get a strange urge to draw something. Well not something, Jace. But I know I can't draw. I failed art in 2nd grade. But low and behold there is a sketch book lying on Clary's desk. So I grab a pencil and plug in her ipod.
At first I'm hesitant because her music isn't really what I'm into, but as I listen more and more I find myself appreciating it. I make a mental note to download some of these Stepping Razor songs.
Another weird thing begins to happen. I start to draw, and it looks good. Not even good, great. I mean like you can actually tell what it is I'm drawing great. When I'm done I just hold it up and stare in awe at it. Who knew Miss Hansin, my art teacher from last year, was such a remarkable teacher. This is definitely going on the refrigerator when I get home.
If I get home. Right now it's not looking so great. I feel a rush of longing in the pit of my stomach and wish I was sitting in my room instead of some stranger's.
But the mood is interrupted as I hear the phone ring in the other room. I pick it up.
"Hi, I'd like to order 12 pepperoni pizzas with extra cheese." I immediately know its Simon.
"I'm sorry our authentic brick ovens currently don't exist. I suggest you try a real pizzeria, Simon." I hear him laughing through the phone.
"So why'd you call?" I ask.
"Well, I was really just checking up on you, because you seemed to be kind of out of it yesterday."
"Thanks, but I'm really fine now." Not. I'll probably never be fine again, but I can handle it.
"Cool. And also, um, Eric" Eric? Ahh Eric. The one with the band, as I recall from my dream memories. "is having a poetry reading at Java Jones, and the whole band is going to show their support. Do you wanna come?"
I pause, trying to find my "gut instinct." Nothing's there, so I guess this one is up to me. "Sure. I'll just have to ask my mom when she gets home." I can almost hear his smile on the other side of the phone.
"Awesome. Get back to me asap." We both hang up just as the front door opens. Luke walks in carrying what look like big squares of pasteboard. I also remember him from my dream.
"Hey. Where's mom?"
"Parking the truck. Remind me again why this building has no elevator service."
"Because our landlord has been considerate enough to know that we live in America and can use as much exercise as possible, and we are also cheap as hell." I smile at him and he smiles back.
I hear boot heels clicking on the wooden floor and know Jocelyn has entered the apartment. "Thanks for bringing up the boxes." She says to Luke. I see a glance flash between them and know something's up.
"What are the boxes for?" I asked suspiciously, narrowing my eyes to slits.
She seems to take forever to answer. Just as she takes a breath and I think she's going to say something, she sighs. "We're going on vacation." Luke and Jocelyn both tense up as if expecting an argument.
"Where to?" I simply ask. They both share a puzzled glance.
"Um, to the farmhouse." A farmhouse? Seriously? L-A-M-E.
"Why not Hawaii. I hear it's lovely this time of year. OH, or Washington D.C. We could take a tour of the White House!"
"Well. Um maybe next time. I'm sorry for now you'll just have to deal with the farmhouse. And also, it's for the rest of the summer."
"Ok." What do I care? It's not like I'll be here for the rest of the summer. At least, I hope not.
"So I'll start packing, but um can I go to like a poetry reading thingy with Simon?" Jocelyn and Luke still seem shocked by my calm. "Sure. But you're not angry about the farmhouse? Not even a little?"
"Nope." Just as I say this the door flies open.
"JESUS!" Luke exclaims. Simon stands in the doorway. "Actually, it's just me. Although I've been told the resemblance is startling." He waves at me from the doorway. "Did you get the okay from your mom?"
"Yep." But Jocelyn quickly adds before we go "Don't forget your cellphone sweetie!"
"I won't mom."
As soon as we walk out the door I catch sight of a cat. I believe its Dorothea's. I quickly bend down to pick it up and start petting it. I hold it tightly against my chest so I can properly hold it. I starts purring loudly and the sound is so familiar I just want to go home and snuggle with my cats. I've always loved cats. Then I notice Simon glaring at me.
"Why are you glaring at me?" I ask blatantly.
"Not you, it." He says spitting out venom and pointing at the cat.
"You don't like cats?" I ask innocently.
"Are you kidding me? I've always hated them. Allergies. Geez, how do you not remember? We've been through this a million times." He adds, still glaring at the cat.
"Of course I remember, I was just- um, testing you. Yeah, wanted to make sure you remember." I ask while laughing, when in honesty I don't remember anything about it. That's one memory that didn't appear in the dream. I put the cat down and we continue out.
As we walk to the café or whatever, Simon does most of the talking, about like band names, or girlfriends, I don't know. I add helpful comments sparingly, and nod my head when necessary. My phone goes off a few times, but I just leave it because my "instincts" are telling me to.
Before I know it we're at the café. I sit down as Simon gets us coffee. The poetry sucks. I mean flat out sucks. But this is where the story is going so I stay put and just try to block it out.
I feel a tap on my shoulder and spin around about to kungfu whoever's sneaking up on me, but it's just a girl.
"Excuse me." She says, not intimidated by my catlike reflexes. "Is that your boyfriend?" She asks, pointing to Simon.
I follow her finger. Then motion to Simon and back to her to be sure I got it right. She nods her head. I repeat the motion. She nods her head again.
"Simon?" I ask. "Like glasses standing in line over there with two cups of coffee, Simon?" She nods her head again. "And you're asking me if he's my boyfriend?" She nods her head.
I immediately burst into laughter. I feel terrible, but I can't help laughing at the absolute absurdity of all this. And then I just start laughing harder because Simon thinks he's known me all he's life but in reality it's only been a few hours. And then people start giving me confused looks, and even some angry looks for interrupting Eric's poetry or whatever, and this makes me laugh even harder. And I take one look at the girl's face who asked this question and I just can't even take it anymore and I just pound my head on the table to calm myself down.
When I can finally talk again I simply answer "No, he is not my boyfriend." And turn back around. Simon comes back a few moments later, apparently not having noticed my laughing fit.
"I hate it when they run out of mugs. Those things are hot." He comments about Styrofoam cups.
"You're staring at me. Why are you staring at me? Have I got something on my face?" He asks. Alright I'm gonna tell him, I decide.
"Don't look now, but blondie twelve o'clock thinks you're cute." His eyes flicker over to her.
"Orange top?"
"Yep"
"What makes you think so?"
"I can read minds, what do you think? She told me."
"Really?"
"I know I'm in as much shock as you, but yes, really."
"Um, well actually that's kind of funny because it kind of leads into what I wanted to ask you."
"Which is?"
"Um, well, all the other guys in the band have girlfriends, and while that blondie is cute, I would rather I date someone closer to home."
"Oh god. You know incest is against the law right?" Simon looks very confused. I continue, "All I'm asking is please don't kiss your sister in front of me because I will be very disturbed."
"NO! Don't worry I'm not incestual. I just meant someone I've known for a long time." I nod my head.
"Like who?" I ask. A look of pure pain crosses his face.
"Like someone who's been my friend since we were little. Like you." I pause to think. I certainly don't know anyone, but it's very possible that Simon simply is talking about someone not in my memories. He's just sitting there waiting for me to comment. So I do, "So, who is it?"
He looks like he's ready to claw his eyes out, when I heard a very loud laugh behind me. I immediately turn, ready to use my kungfu moves again, and I realize it's Jace from the night before. I feel terrible but I immediately stand up and say "Simon, I'm sure who ever it is you're crushing on will say yes, but I just realized that I, um, left the phone at home. Yep! I have to go home immediately to get it."
"No you didn't" Simon replies. "It went off a bunch of times while we were walking here." Oh damn.
"Yes…" I stall as I try to come up with a better excuse. "What I meant was, my phone is dead. Yeah, it like, just died, so I better go home and charge it."
"But I have a phone charger. You can totally borrow it and plug it in right here." Simon says pointing to an outlet conveniently located right next to our table.
"How convenient." I mutter.
"What?" Simon asks.
"I said I FEEL LIKE I'M GOING TO PUKE AND I'm LEAVING now!" And I run away before he can foil my excuses again. I turn the corner, and Jace is already standing outside.
"You're friend's poetry is terrible." He says in a deep voice while looking at me through his bangs. Wow…How cliché. Oh well, just go with it.
"Please," I answer, "He's not MY friend."
"Well, it sounds like he ate a dictionary and started vomiting up words at random."
"I don't know if it was vomiting or explosive diarrhea but it sure was horrible." He laughs at this.
"So, why are you following me?" I ask casually.
"Who said I was following you?" He asks coyly.
"Are you kidding me? So what? Was it a coincidence you just so happened to walk into the same café and happen to sit behind me and just so happen to eavesdrop on my conversation? You're right, I think that's stalking."
"Alright. You caught me. But to be fair, I was sent to get you."
"And you somehow made this creepier. Why?"
"Because you're a mundane." And he starts rambling on about an institute or something or other and mundanes and warlocks and demons, blahblahblah.
"And that's why you need to come to the institute." He finishes.
"I'm sorry can you explain that one more time, I kind of blanked out there." He looks kind of shocked that anyone as common as a mundane could have the nerve to stop listening to his voice halfway through his speech.
"Look, you're coming whether you want to or not."
"Excuse me? Who do you think you are? You're coming whether you want to or not." I joke in a mocking voice. "Please. Don't be so dramatic. All you have to say is please."
Before he can reply my phone goes off. I decide I better pick up this time, since she keeps trying. "Hello."
"Clary oh thank god. Listen to me-" It's Jocelyn and she sounds upset. I've been expecting something dramatic to show up soon.
"Clary, you can't come home. Go to Simon's. Stay there until I-" but she's cut off midsentence.
I sigh. "Well, it's been nice meeting you, Jace, but it looks like that's my cue to go," I say as I start walking away.
"Hold up. I'm not leaving without you." He threatens.
"Well then I guess you're not leaving." I shoot back as I run off towards home.
I feel compelled to help Jocelyn even though she's not my mother. I say this because even though she's just a character, who's to say she doesn't have feelings or can actually die? I ponder this as I walk into the apartment. It is silent as the grave, and there is no sign of the cat.
I grab a vase and hope it will help me defend myself from whatever's in that room. I've read enough books to know how these scenes go. I just need to give it one fatal blow. I wander through the empty apartment, but find nothing. What I do find has been torn up so terribly I can't even tell what it was once supposed to be.
I notice the silence isn't quite silence anymore, but there's a faint slithering noise in the background. Maybe it's a mutant snake?
But then I see this centipede like creature slither along the floor through the doorway. I shriek at the top of my lungs. The one thing I hate more than anything in the world is antifeminism, but the second thing I hate more than anything in the world is bugs.
I immediately throw my vase directly on its head with a deafening crash! As it breaks into a million pieces. I push the cabinet right next to me onto the monster. I then jump on it and repeatedly jump up and down throwing all my weight into squishing it while yelling, "die, die, DIE, DIE!"
Eventually black ooze starts spilling out, but I jump a few more times just to be sure. It stops moving. I run into the kitchen, grab the biggest knife I can find, and run back. It's stopped moving for good.
A moment later Jace steps into the apartment. The look of shock on his face is priceless as he tries to figure out what happened here.
"Thanks for finally showing up." I say dripping with sarcasm.