First Fanfiction! I hope you enjoy it! (No copyright intended, all characters belong to Cassandra Clare)

CASTLES MADE OF SAND, CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Chains

"Chains, well I can't break away from these chains. Can't run around,
'cause I'm not free. Whoa, oh, these chains of love,
won't let me be, yeah.."

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Magnus groaned, as he was awakened by the bleak repetitive thrumming of his iPhone. Beep. Beep. Beep. It continued -the thick walls of Magnus' room bounced the sound around steadily, making Magnus feel increasingly irritable. Without lifting his head up and away from the confines of his fluffed silky pillows, Magnus stretched his bare arm out to the side, the muscles there trembled unexpectedly, and then he snatched his phone from his glossy crystal glass night table.

He brought it steadily to his ear, and clicked it on, sighing as he did so. "Hello?" His voice was muffled from sleep. He had a terrible time falling asleep that night -with a bruised confidence, and shattered self-esteem, Magnus was due in for many restless nights. He wanted to almost desperately get away, escape just for awhile, and not look back; but that just made him flimsy in his mind. Magnus really didn't want to feel wasted, he wanted to feel strong, purposeful, and worthy of being able to stand his own ground. So running away for a long time, wasn't an option.

"Mag! Where are you? You were supposed to pick me and John up at eight." Clary said rather hurriedly. "We had to ride with Jem and Tessa. And, you weren't in English."

"Not... Going... Today..." Magnus said into his pillows, his voice stretched and scattered to Clary on the other end.

"Excuse me?" Sarah's accusing voice wafted into his bedroom, from the now opened double doors, to the right of his bed. "Did I just hear you weren't going to school?" Magnus lifted his head enough to turn his face towards her, letting Clary's voice slip away -to show Sarah his utter disdain in that moment. But he felt weak and pitiful; because he couldn't even properly raise his head without wincing in pain at the tender skin around his jaw line, and his shoulders. He dipped his head low, and breathed a strangled unsteady breath into the fabric of his canary colored bed sheets.

"Clary, I got to go. If all hell doesn't break loose, you might see me in the afternoon." Magnus clicked his phone off, and again attempted to pick himself up from the soft comfortable confines of his bed -but he found no solace in that; everything shook under the weight of what had transpired yesterday at dinner. If he had to be painfully honest, he felt precariously weak because of the words his father spoke, the lies in the depths of his acid eyes -Magnus had always yearned for his father to let him in and be honest with him, but that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. And yes, he was physically weak, but it didn't faze him as much, as his emotional weakness at the moment. It's not as if he was beaten, punched, kicked, choked -Gerald would never go that far. He had a shred of empathy within him, that Magnus could feel sometimes, when Gerald was calm and himself, but in times when things became stressful he turned into a man Magnus hardly recognized.

Gerald had grabbed Magnus, rather forcefully this time, but Magnus didn't take notice to it, and or dwell on the ramifications. Magnus was the one at fault, he decided later; acting out in the most unruly of ways in front of their guests -the Lightwood's -really, he should have been able to deduct that his actions would entail a few consequences. It was just the fact that Gerald lied about a topic pertaining to Magnus' mother. And for what reason? There was no need to disgrace the remembrance of Palmer Bane; the lovely woman, with rich flowing oak wood brown hair, with bright feverish yellow eyes, and a smile which could be compared to the smile of angels. The mother who cared for her son like no other, and put up with the tremendous amount of hell he would give her as a kid. The wife, who loved her husband with a passion as great as to be compared to Romeo and Juliet. The friend, who would always be there for the ones she cherished.

'It is the caring that she lovingly gives, The passion that she shows, And the beauty of a woman, With passing years only grows.' Magnus used to mutter those words to himself, when he thought back on his mother. Those short lines seemed to describe her so perfectly.

"I'm not going." Magnus said to Sarah harshly through his teeth. He was mad and abrasive. He didn't want to have to slave away at applying multiple layers of makeup just to cover up the bruises around his jaw, that he was sure were there. He didn't want to have to talk to William about the dinner, and discuss new strategies or whatever it was William would most likely want to talk about.

And he sure as hell didn't want to face Alec. That would only make matters worse. He absolutely hated seeing pity in others eyes when they looked upon Magnus, in the darkest of times, and he didn't think he would be able to stand Alec looking upon him in that way either. He was surprised that Alec had even tried to find him, or quite possibly he wasn't trying to find him, and stumbled upon the room as a stroke of fate. But nevertheless, Alec had witnessed some of what went on in that room -really the worst of it, and Magnus didn't want or need his pity.

It might have just been Magnus' imagination, or had he actually seen the tips of Alec's ivory fingers shift to attention at the way Gerald was holding Magnus? The fire in Alec's eyes was very evident, but that didn't amount to much -if what happened to Magnus, had been happening to someone else, Magnus was sure Alec would react in the exact same way. Magnus knew he wasn't anything remotely special in Alec's mind; just another friend that went to his school. And Magnus was okay with that, he couldn't ask for much, he knew that, and accepted it -all he could hope for, was Alec's friendship.

And maybe, just maybe, after a long time, this whole thing would blow over with William, and he would disregard the plan completely.

"Yes you are, now come on," Sarah pulled back his bed covers, a shrill wave of cold air flowed perfectly along the curve of Magnus' back, tickling the fine hairs on his tawny skin. Thankfully he was wearing pajama pants to bed that night, otherwise, this would be quite an embarrassing situation for the both of them. Sarah continued on, rather quickly, yanking him by the wrist, forcing his arm to bend in a disheartening way. Magnus bit down the pain that shot up over his chest and shoulders; he could almost taste the coppery lace of his blood in his mouth, as he bit down hard on his bottom lip. "Magnus..." Sarah gasped in horror, shrinking away from him. Magnus quickly looked over himself, to find purpling and reddening finger shaped bruises trailing over his arms. Sarah's eyes were wide, and terribly sad.

"It's nothing Sarah. Just please, I don't want to go today. Please." Magnus watched as Sarah's face contorted in outward pain; he didn't know what it must have been like, to be her, and see Magnus weak and harmed by his father on occasion. All he could guess, was that it wasn't a good situation, because Sarah and Olive were somewhat forced to stay quiet about these things. Sarah regained her composure, and pushed back her conflicting emotions. She shock her head once, back then forth, Magnus sighed, and then she turned her chin up then down. Man she was being very indecisive today.

"How about you go in the afternoon? For now I'll go down to Harper's shop and get the burn rub. I'll be back soon," Sarah turned on her pudgy heal, and made her way briskly to his bedroom doors, taking short steps across his room.

"These aren't burn marks Sarah..." Magnus whispered lowly as she fled his room. He sat there for a few minutes watching the shadows of clouds change across the wood floorboards of his bedroom. It was going to be another good day for weather -bright, and sunny. The warmth from outside seemed to seep through his windows, making his room stuffy and warm. The small clouds in the sky were white and fluffy, almost non-existent, across the great harsh expanse of vibrant blue sky. Today would be a perfect day to visit his mother and his lake -that's exactly what he would do. Go to school for a little bit, pick up his books needed for his upcoming projects and escape for a day -or two.

Sooner or later, Magnus had made his way into his bathroom, washing himself gently, not to strain the muscles in his arms, coaxing his body with his wild berry soap, and afterwards, fixing his makeup to make it seem as if the bruises around his jaw were never there. He turned his hair up to one side, again leaving a few bangs to be scattered over his forehead -he liked it better that way, instead of his usual full faux hawk. He changed hastily into light grey tight cut offs, which were folded up to the middle of his calves, a bright glittery orange low cut tank top -resembling the one Sebastian had worn the other day, but Magnus' was much, much more glitter-littered -and spotless white toms. It wasn't his usual outfit -he mostly went for a few statement designer pieces.

So what, he thought gazing at his reflection in his floor length mirror, it's not like I'm trying to impress anyone. But somehow as he thought of that, bright searching lake blue eyes, crimson flushed angular cheeks and thin pink lips scuttled there way into his mind. Magnus attempted to push them away, but nothing seemed to help. Even the thoughts of the newest line of Micheal Kors watches, couldn't steal his mind away. It was as if his mind was bent on torturing him, and destroying his emotions.

Magnus grabbed his keys, and shoved them into his back pocket. He made his way down the grand staircase, and just as he was about to leave, Sarah met him at the opening of the front door. "Ah, ah, ah. Where do you think you're going without the burn rub?" Sarah picked through her small yellow, red flower covered, tote bag, and pulled out a long tub of ointment. "And dressing like that? Magnus, the...The marks on your arms, everyone will see..."

"Sarah it's fine. I'm only going, to pick up a few things, and leave." She looked up at him with bewildered, wondering, chocolate brown eyes. "Don't wait up," Magnus bent down and quickly pecked her on the cheek, rushing out of the door quickly; before Sarah could voice her protests. He hopped into his car, and sped just as quickly along the roadways to the school.

Twenty minutes later, Magnus found himself walking through the front doors. He made it to the school, when fourth block was about half an hour from ending. It was likely he wouldn't see anyone of importance really -only the few random people, going to the washrooms or their lockers. And he was thankful for that. His 'mission' was to get into the school, and get out just as quickly, without running into anyone who might question the marks on his arms. Yes, it was risky that he even showed up to school with a tank top on, which quite predominately showed off his bare fragile tan skin, well. But he would only be there for a couple of harmless minutes.

He turned the corner which would bring him the closest to his locker, on the far west side of the school, and instantly collided with a hard firm body, knocking foreheads with the person. The muscles in his arms ached where it was also hit, by the other persons body. "Ouch," He knew that voice.

Magnus locked eyes with Alec rather quickly, and took a hesitant step back. The proximity of their bodies was making Magnus shutter with a form of anticipation he couldn't quite readily decipher. "Sorry, I didn't see you there," Alec apologized rubbing his forehead, with the palm of his hand. His charcoal hair was absolutely dishevelled on top of his head, in a cute boyish way, and as Alec continued to swipe his palm over his forehead, he messed around his hair even more. Alec was wearing dark blue jeans -no surprise there -and a loose fitting long sleeve black shirt with no design or logo in sight.

"No problem," Magnus shrugged, fixing the hem on the bottom of his tank top, suddenly very self conscience of Alec seeing the marks along his arms. "Now, if you'll excuse me-" Magnus inched his way past Alec, but was stopped when Alec dared to move in front of him, and block his path once again. Magnus quirked his eyebrow in determination, not at all happy with the situation Alec deemed to place him in. They stood there in silence for a few beats too long, just starring each other down relentlessly.

"You weren't in English," Alec's eyes dropped a shade in color, as if the lightness and happiness disappeared from the depths of his eyes. Was that honestly all he had to say?It was obvious enough that Alec's eyes were darting to Magnus' arms, inspecting the damage -cautiously. Alec was attempting to make it seem as if it didn't affect him, but his body faltered, and his chest instantly went rigid, as if he were holding in way too much air. He gazed into Magnus' eyes then, and held them steadily -despite the flush that dared to turn Alec's face a darker shade of red -he was holding up quite famously. "Are you going to be in Bio?"

"Why aren't you pitying me?" Magnus interjected rashly, snaking his arms over his chest, and jutting his leg out to the side -cocking his hip. He strived to get to the point as fast as he could, so he could be down with his little 'mission' at the school, and head out for the lake.

"ShouldI pity you?"

"Answered with a question," Magnus muttered to himself, and shook his head, laughing briefly to himself. He could faintly remember that his mother used to do that a lot. And really, he had never met any other person that would have that same quality -that is, until just now. "Well, Alexander, it is quite obvious you've noticed the marks along my arms. And you, and I, both know where those came from," Magnus said without a sign of indifference. He was putting on a front, to save himself from appearing weak.

"I don't think you want my pity. Let alone anyone else's." Alec shrugged, pursing his thin lips together tightly. As he did so, a subtle dimple appeared in his left cheek.

A dimple. Oh, how Alec continued to gain tiny quirks and traits which made Magnus want to melt where he stood.

"And why would you think that, lovely?" Magnus challenged him.

"I don't know... I just -I," Alec began to stutter on his words. A cloud passed from the skylight overhead, letting rays of pure sunlight seep into the hall. It fell over Alec gracefully, outlining every small detail in his face, and lightening the blue of his eyes. "You just strike me as the type of person who would hate that." He breathed out a long sigh.

"You hardly know me, Alexander. I can't possibly see how you could be the judge of that." Magnus straightened his back, and returned to his regular stance, readying himself to move past Alec again. What he didn't expect was for Alec to grab a hold of his wrist, with those clammy warm hands, and pull him to his side -the edges of their hips connecting. Alec's hand held a delicate resistance to them, making sure not to hold on too tight that it could hurt Magnus, but firm enough that it kept Magnus there.

"Then let me get to know you," Alec said low enough, that it caused Magnus' blood to flow hotly throughout his veins. His heart pace picked up tenfold, and beat incredibly fast -crashing against his chest. This was quite possibly the first time Magnus was at a loss for words. His breath hitched in his chest, and his voice was relentless to utter a single word.

He managed to calm his mind and rapidly beating heart, after a few seconds too long; Alec still having a hold on Magnus' arm. Magnus turned and nodded his head to Alec, "I'm going to this place right now, it's a lake. Y-you can come with me?" Magnus actually stuttered. Somehow Alec was able to elicit the most uncommon occurrences in Magnus. It was ridiculous, that he even felt a shred of nervousness and hesitation in the presence of Alec -a feeling he had never had to endure before. Possibly when he was younger, and naive, but definitely, now of days, Magnus had thought he left that part of himself in the past.

"We're just going to ditch Bio?"

"Look, if you don't want to come, that's fine with me -"

"No I'll go." Alec cut in sharply, and released his hand from Magnus' wrist. The warmth that spread from their contact instantly dissipated, leaving Magnus yearning for more.

"We will be gone all day," Magnus quirked another eyebrow high on his forehead, challenging Alec to back out -although on the inside, he did want Alec to come.

"Fine by me," Alec smiled, and stepped out of Magnus' way. Magnus smirked haughtily at Alec, and continued to walk towards the area of his locker, Alec following in tow. Magnus wasn't sure if this was a good idea or not; he knew for sure he wasn't thinking rationally -never had he ever taken anyone to that lake. But for some odd reason, he wanted and essentially desired for Alec to be there with him today.

A/N: Transition chapter into what is next to come! Sorry again for the four day wait. Seriously I've been swamped with so much school work it's driving me absolutely insane. But hey.. guess what? Next weekened, I start spring break! So, I will be able to write a whole bunch more, and make up for all the lost time in between my recent updates. I wanted to give a brief description of Palmer Bane -there will be other times where I will get more in depth about the person she is. I didn't exactly want her to look like Magnus, only for the fact that Gerald is the one that has mostly, if not all, of Magnus' features (besides the gold in his eyes, and the slightly delicate planes to his face).
Sarah is kind of that figure in Magnus life, that does try to look out for him, but can't express it in the right way. (Just as a side note).

I'll try to update as fast as I can, and honestly, comments do make the process go faster! Don't be lazy, go ahead and click that button at the bottom, and if all you have to say is 'Hi', I don't mind!

Here's a little snippet from another chapter (which will be coming in the near-ish (?) future):

"Robert, what are you-" Maryse's voice seemed to get smaller and smaller as she followed Robert down the hallway, to the front door, "ROBERT!" She yelled, as Alec heard a sharp but suddle impacting, crunching sound."

Amber,