Pandemonium: Chapter 6
The main characters depicted herein are the sole property of Ms. Cassandra Clare; some minor characters or randomly appearing individuals belong to other authors whose work I have decided to allude to for fun; other characters that you may have never heard of before are creations of my imagination. This is entirely a work of fiction; any resemblances to events or people, past or present is purely coincidental. I would really appreciate it if you wrote some reviews! Thanks, and enjoy!

The tour was lengthy and boring; Alec had paid attention to the best of his abilities, but it had been rather difficult with the two very good looking boys near him the entire time. It seemed that his ability to banish these horrid thoughts from his mind was not working. The only city that really interested him was the City of Lost Souls.

The streets there were filled with thousands of peculiar people, each wandering aimlessly calling out names or saying random things that could not be discerned: A raggedy man in a bow tie, asking for a Pond; A beautiful, elfin woman in a slim sheer black dress and sunglasses, trying to find a man named Fred; A man named Mersault, untouched by the death of his mother; A woman with insanity in her eyes, rubbing her hands together to get rid of a spot.

Alec was thankful he saw those people, those lost souls. Otherwise he himself would have become a lost soul here, worriedly calling the names of the two boys he couldn't help but feel a sudden attraction to.

By the time everyone returned to the palace, it was dark and Alec found himself extremely tired. After a brief, solitary meal he made his way to his rooms where he slept deeply for the remainder of the night.

-The Next Morning-

That morning, Alec was shaken awake by a figure that looked as bright as the sun. As it turns out, the figure was glowing; it was Jace. He was tersely informed that he had a number of meetings today, and that he must pay strict attention to them. The first meeting was with the very important Baron von Morgenstern, and his daughter the beautiful Clarissa.

Alec quickly made his way towards the meeting chambers, and was thankfully intercepted by Simon, who told him to be kind and courteous towards the Baron Valentine, and to be especially careful around him; he wanted the throne.

As he arrived in the chamber where the Baron Valentine and his daughter were seated, he was taken aback at how different they looked. The Baron had hair white as snow and eyes as dark as coal. His daughter was somewhat beautiful-or so he guessed, after all, he was terrible a judging women-with her red locks and deep green eyes. As soon as he walked in, Valentine's smile turned into a sneer of disgust. They barely exchanged pleasantries before Valentine started telling him some frightening things: the Noble Council needed to be addressed, new policies needed to be created, and the arrangements for the ascension ball needed to be made. It all was too overwhelming for Alec, who was barely used to his home.

Then came the strangest part: Valentine, started laughing; he whispered something to his daughter, who looked at him with her mouth turned down; Valentine then proclaimed that his daughter Clarissa would be staying in the Palace for the next few weeks to help Alec with whatever he needed. In his words she was there to "attend to his needs."

Alec understood the tone in that statement and was disgusted by the thought, but thanked Valentine anyway. The Baron gave him one last cold look before sweeping out of the room, stating some feigned excuse.

For a few moments there was a terribly awkward silence. Before him sat the girl, Clarissa. She stared at him intently, then after a long pause she spoke: "You know, you're not half as bad looking as I thought you were going to be. In fact, you might even be good looking. There's something dark and mysterious about you with the way your face is so angular and your eyes such a deep blue, which compliment that black hair of yours very well."

Alec was stunned; nobody had ever said these things about him; he stammered, "T-t-hank you, Clarissa."

"Call me Clary" she quickly told him.

He didn't say anything; the room was about to fall into another awkward silence, when Jace barged into the room. He was about to address Alec when he caught Clary's eyes. Jace just stood there, jaw open for a moment; Clary sat there as well, with a look of confusion on her face, unsure of what to do or say.

"Ahem," Alec interrupted, "I think you ought to take our guest to her chambers, Jace."

Jace nodded and moved out of the room; Clary followed in suit, barely acknowledging Alec as she left the room.

Alec felt something strange going on between the two of them, but did his best to ignore that. Instead his mind turned to his next meeting; he would be discussing affairs with Magnus Bane. His mind began to wonder to what might be. Then, he was stopped mid thought by a sharp knock on the door.

With his heart hammering in his chest, Alec said "Come in..."

A brief note: Thanks for reading this far! I hope it's been getting more interesting, I know it was a slow start. Within the next few chapters there will be a Malec kiss and maybe a Clace kiss. We also get to see bitchy Queen Charlotte again! Then, I go on a brief hiatus for a week or so; I'll be bringing the Framing Device back for that!