I feel like puking. Jonathan is completely right. Valentine will find us, and he'll see nothing but Jonathan battered and tied down. It's only a matter of time. The cold rain beats down on us, mixing with my tears of frustration, both dripping off of my face like crystals. They shatter on the ground like my jumbled thoughts, one after another.
"Clary."
I pick my head up and find Jace kneeling in front of me, his hands resting gently on my thighs.
"What are we going to do?" I whisper, sucking in my lip in a desperate attempt to keep from breaking down. Jace sighs and pulls out his stele. I watch as he traces a rune just above my knee, and warmth floods me. I didn't realize that I was shivering until he drew the rune. If only there was one to make you dry. He helps me up and leads me into the small shed that I hid in earlier, out of the rain and wind.
"We're going to figure a way out of this," he tells me confidently as I flip a bucket over and sit down on it. He glances at the watch on his wrist, swiping away moisture. "It's seven-thirty, they'll be looking for us by now. We can't go back down there looking like this," he says, glancing back to where Jonathan sits bound up against the outside of the little shack that we're seated in.
"We need to get to the basement," I groan and shake my head. "What the hell are we going to do?"
"Just—just give me a minute, okay?" He says in a tight tone. He sounds almost angry. I've never seen Jace crack under stress, and it worries me. If he can't figure something out, then what the hell are we supposed to do?
I rub at my temples as Jace paces the small shed, wracking my nerves up higher and higher. The clicking of his dress shoes on the cement floor, the sound of wet fabric brushing together and him constantly cracking his knuckles sets me on edge.
"Jace, stop!" I finally snap, rubbing at my temples. "You're freaking me out."
"Good! You should be!" He shouts back, throwing his arms outwards. I jerk upwards as if I've been slapped and glare at him. His usually sweet golden eyes are sharp and wary, piercing through me with a single gaze. "Look at where we are right now, Clary."
"You think I'm not scared?" I ask him carefully. "I'm scared, Jace. They have Isabelle, and we have nowhere to run."
"Listen, Clary," he whispers through tight lips, his anger going from sixty to zero in seconds. "I don't have all the answers. I know you expect me to, but I don't, okay?
"And I know that you're scared, but I am too. I'm fucking terrified that something is going to happen to you. Do you know what it felt like coming up onto this roof and seeing Jonathan? I knew you were up here, but I thought you were dead. I've never felt as hopeless as I did then. And then you came charging around the corner, and I almost lost it. You were okay," he sighs, kneeling down in front of me. He takes my tear-stained face in his calloused hands and presses his forehead against mine, our warm breath mingling in white puffs inside the cold shack.
"I'm sorry," I whisper as his lips come down on mine, so soft and yielding. I pull away and give him a weak smile. "We can figure it out together, then."
A crash sounds from outside and we jump apart, our weapons in hand and hearts racing. Jonathan is still sitting right there where we left him.
"It looks like your pathetic cavalry has arrived," he sneers as we pass by him.
The sight of Isabelle standing at the door roof access makes me cry out. She turns to face me, and then she's running to me, crashing into me like a tornado. Our prayers have been answered.
"Oh my God, you're okay," I cry, gripping her tightly. I can hardly breath under her death grip, and she pulls away with a brilliant smile. She's wearing Shadowhunting gear, something that I'm not used to seeing on her.
"My knight in shining… slacks came to rescue me," she beams, nodding her head to where Simon stands awkwardly in his staff uniform, watching us all. His eyes linger on Jonathan the longest. Maia and Jordan stand beside him, both of them looking out of breath, their eyes darting around the area. Assessing the danger.
"We need to hurry," Jordan calls out to us. Jace goes to greet them briefly before they bow their heads together, discussing whatever plan they've brought with them. I hope it's a good one, because we don't have long. Tick tock, tick tock.
"What's going on?" I ask Isabelle, pulling her away from Jonathan. He sits there placidly, still so sure that we'll be caught and he'll be set free by our father.
"The power is being cut soon, so we don't have long," she tells me quickly, calling Simon and the others over to us with a wave of her hand. "So there's been a slight change of plans."
"Alright, let's hear it," I nod eagerly as I take the clothes from her, eternally grateful to be able to change out of this ripped dress.
"We don't have time to make it to the basement. Isabelle has already sent a call to Magnus Bane. Your…special runes won't work with all of these wards here; it's not reliable enough to risk it," Jordan explains, his voice authoritative. I don't argue with the rune thing, because I don't even know how it works, let alone if it works up here. I haven't exactly gotten a chance to try it yet.
"So where is he dropping the portal?" I ask. I haven't seen anything up here.
"We don't exactly know yet," Maia adds. "But it'll be here soon."
"So… he's creating a portal for us…and we have no clue where. The Clave could be storming up here as we speak, and we're still stuck?" I ask, my voice pitching higher and higher. Jace settles a hand on my back in an attempt to calm me.
I thought for sure that with our friends here, we'd have a solid plan. But we still don't.
"Can you try calling him again?" Jace asks sharply, thinking the same thing that I am.
"We can try, but all of the wards mess with the signal," Isabelle tells him. She tosses her backpack at me, gesturing for me to open it. She takes out her pink cellphone—of course she didn't lose it, even with the invasion and travelling hallway across the country—and dials a number before stepping away from us. She wanders towards the edge of the rooftop, holding her phone up in the air, searching for a signal.
"This is a freaking mess," I mutter, glancing back at Jonathan. He grins at me, just to irritate me. I flip him off, but it doesn't do a damn thing to make me feel any better.
"Tick tock, tick tock," he calls to us. Jordan glares at him before looking to me.
"Can I go kick his face in?" He asks as I open up the bag and rifle through it. There's a set of dry clothes and sneakers, along with a seraph blade, some daggers, and a stele. Bless her heart for thinking of me.
"I wouldn't be opposed to that in the slightest," I shrug. I guess Jordan was serious, because as I shut myself alone in the little shed to change, I hear a solid thud and a grunt come from right outside the door. It doesn't phase me at all,
"Guys, I'm not getting anything!" Isabelle shouts as she comes back to us with a pout on her lips. We regather in the shed, lit up dimly by witchlight.
"I think we might have to try and make our way down," Maia says, chewing on her lip nervously. I shake my head.
"That won't work. They're going to be looking for Jace and I specifically, and we're all wet and obvious. There's no way we could sneak all the way down to the basement," I tell them. We're running out of options way quicker than we can come up with solutions.
For the second time tonight, the loud groaning and crash of the door on the wall pushes us into action. And yet again, it's not someone here to hurt us, but someone that I never thought I'd see again.
"Mom?" I cry, running to her. Her fiery red hair is flying around her in wet clumps, and she has a manic expression on her face, until she sees us. It's as if the rain lets up a little, the universe finally giving me a break.
"Oh, baby," she sighs as she wraps me up in her arms, squeezing me tightly. More tears are shed, these ones of happiness rather than frustration or anger. "Are you okay?"
"I'm okay, mom, I'm okay," I keep whispering into her shoulder as she holds me. All too soon, she pulls away from me and glances around us, her eyes hardening dangerously when they land behind me.
"Do you know who that man is?" she asks me quietly. I glance behind me, where Jonathan sits against the shed, giving us a delirious smile.
"I do. Jace and I fought him, and bound him with runes," I nod, biting my lip harshly. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I don't have time to explain everything right now, baby. We need to go, it's a mess downstairs. The Clave is locking down the building and it won't be long before they think to check up here."
I frown but accept it. She's right; we only have so much time.
"Hey Mama Fray," Isabelle smiles at my mom as we approach, holding her arms out for a hug. She's always been more of a mother to Isabelle than her foster parents, and I suppose that's because of my mom's friendship with Maryse. They embrace briefly before my mom completely takes control of the situation like the naturally bossy woman she is.
"The Clave is frantic right now. They're locking down the building, and the power is going to be cut soon. That means we need to leave. Magnus Bane has had some trouble getting a portal all the way up to us with the wards, so we need to be ready the second that he gets through," she explains, watching us all carefully.
"What do we do right now?" Jace asks, frowning at the lack of a real plan. Waiting is not his strong suit, and the frustration on his face accentuates that.
"We prepare, and we wait."
Jace turns around in a huff, throwing his hands up on top of his head with a groan, and Isabelle, Jordan, and Maia look frantic.
"We can't keep waiting," Isabelle finally says. "We have to be gone before nine, or we're going to get caught in the crosshairs."
"I know that, Isabelle." My mom sighs. "But we have no choice. Going down through the building is riskier."
"I think we should try it," Jace speaks up, turning back to face us with a steely face. "We can sneak through, they're going to be focusing on the main hallways, but I know some other ways around."
"I can help with that. I've been working here for weeks, there's a whole different network for the workers," Simon says, his eyes lighting up in the hopes of doing something to help.
"No, absolutely not!" My mom shouts indignantly. "I will not let my daughter walk back into a building crawling with the Clave! I trust Magnus to get to us on time!"
"Yeah, well I don't trust this Magnus guy, and your daughter needs to be taken to safety!" Jace shouts back at her. My eyes widen in horror as their glares turn on one another, Jace looking like the over protective boyfriend, and my mom like a mother bear protecting her cubs.
"I am the judge of what is best for my daughter, Jace," she hisses, her eyes narrowed venomously.
"And was not telling Clary who she really is what was best for her? Was letting her be whisked away by the Clave what was best?" My head snaps back to him as he speaks, but I'm unable to form the words that need to be said to diffuse the situation.
"Who the hell do you think you are, boy?" She snarls, stepping closer to Jace and it's her arm that automatically reaches for her seraph blade that jolts me into action.
"Stop!" I yell, coming to stand in between them. My mother's eyes flick to me and soften at the distress on my face. Her hand drops from her blade and she straightens up. I turn to see Jace, his nostrils flared in anger, his hands clenched in fists at his sides. "Please." I whisper to him, stepping closer and taking his hand in mine.
"I've always put up with your attitude, because you're one of Maryse's, Jace, but I won't tolerate disrespect or questioning of my skills as a parent. Everything that I have done was to protect Clary. Don't challenge me," my mom says, a deadly sort of calm coming over her face before she steps away.
"Oh my God," I groan, letting go of Jace's hand and stepping away.
"Looks like mommy doesn't care too much for the boyfriend, eh?"
I glance over at Jonathan, wishing more than anything to kick him in the gut. I just don't have the physical or emotional strength right now.
"Jordan, pal, buddy, friend," I chime sweetly, my eyes pleading. He grins at me and steps up closer.
"The pleasure is all mine," he laughs as I pass by him.
Not a second passes after I find somewhere to sit and clear my head, that I hear Maia calling out to all of us.
"Guys?" Her voice is as shaky as the cold wind whipping around us. At least it's not raining anymore. "We have a problem."
"What's wrong?" My mother asks, crouching down in front of Maia. She has her head in her hands, her eyes squeezed shut.
"Shh," Maia hisses and we all hush for a moment. "They're coming. I can hear them."
"Shit," Jace mutters, pulling out his seraph blade and glancing towards the door.
"They're a couple flights down," Maia says as she pushes herself up, her and Jordan getting ready to transition into their wolf forms. "You might want to tell Magnus to hurry up."
"Clary, take Isabelle and Simon and hide. This rooftop is huge, go," she tells me, but I glance at Jace, not wanting to leave him. Isabelle and Simon start running, looking for a place to hide.
I know that I don't have the time, but I rush to Jace and throw my arms around him forcefully. "I love you," I whisper against his chest, pulling away. I'm all too aware of my mother's eyes on us.
"I love you—more than anything. We're getting out of this together, okay? It's you and me, I promise," He whispers fiercely, pressing a chaste kiss to my lips. He's warm and pliant against me, but the kiss is fleeting and full of worry. He spins me away from him and pushes me towards Isabelle who lingers back, waiting for me.
I'm barely around the corner of the closest set of air ducts when the door flies open with a crash. Isabelle yanks me down with her, so that we're crouched awkwardly and trying to weave under and over the winding network, trying to find Simon.
"Iz! Clary!" Simon whisper-yells. We locate him and dive for his small hiding spot tucked in back between two channels. We're covered on three sides and above, but the space is extremely cramped, all of us crouching uncomfortable. Isabelle's elbow is digging into my side and Simon's knee in my thigh.
"Ow, move!" I hiss, my chest tightening. Isabelle scoffs and shuffles around so that all of our backs are against our own little wall.
"Better?" She asks sarcastically. I nod, but Simon holds up his hand to silence our bickering. We can hear the sounds of a struggle, clashing and clanking and groans of pain all mixing in with the roaring wind. It sets my nerves on edge, thinking of my mother and Jace. What if one of them gets hurt? Or captured?
"What do we do?" I ask them. I don't want to sit here the entire time doing nothing, but I'm not an experienced fighter like Jace and Maia and Jordan. And my mom I guess, because she's been keeping this whole side of me hidden my entire life. And the whole time, she was working with the resistance.
"We should stay here," Simon says, a frown on his face. "Trust this Magnus guy to get us out of here."
I sigh irritably and step out, slapping away Isabelle's arm as I quickly peek over the edge of the duct that sits above us. Flashes of silver and blue angel blades light up the far side of the rooftop. There aren't as many Shadowhunters up here as I would have thought; less than a dozen. I fall back into a crouch.
"There's less that twelve from what I can see. Against two Shadowhunters and two werewolves. I think we should help. We can handle the extra."
"Clary, we don't have any training, we're going to get ourselves killed if we do that," Simon hisses. I shake my head.
"You have no training. Isabelle and I have some training; I took down my brother for God's sake! He's psychotic!"
"I don't care, we need to wait! Like your mom said!" Simon groans. To my surprise, Isabelle steps in. Not once in the time that I've seen them interact—all lovey dovey, soul mates—have I seen her raise her voice to him or even come close to anything but cheesy adoration.
"Simon, shut it. Clary's right. We can do something to help them. You can stay here, or you can help us, but I'm going with Clary," she says sternly. I beam, ecstatic that for once since she's met him, she's putting him on the back burner and the more important matters first. I would hug her, but we have more important matters to tend to right now.
"Let's do it," I tell her, taking out my own seraph blade and calling it to life successfully.
"Wow, you finally learned," she smirks at me. "I was expecting you to call it Razazza again."
"I didn't know any better back then!" I chuckle, remembering the time that she saved my ass and took down the Hydra demon all on her own. I've come a long way from then. This new me that tears across the rooftop with Isabelle, ready to fight for our family and friends is someone who I never imagined I would become. I feel strong and powerful, and I love it. I feel useful as I apply my newly acquired skills to the Clave member that has Maia pinned down, her jaw snapping at him viciously. I knock him off of her with all of the force I can muster, a little hesitant on whether or not to bring my blade down as well. Maia jumps on top of him instantly, and it's over.
As I watch her tear him apart, my stomach drops in the realization that I may have to do that. What was I thinking? I felt so powerful just a moment ago, and now I'm terrified at the thought of actually having to kill someone. My thoughts are put on hold as I'm shoved to the ground, my hands coming out to cushion the fall, getting cut open by the gravel.
"Your father will be happy to see you," someone says from above me, shoving my face down. There's no way that I can throw him off of me. I can see my seraph blade in my peripherals, slowly stuttering out without my touch, like a witchlight would. My arm stretches out painfully for it while the man above me tries to bind my legs together, not paying attention to my arms. My fingers brush against the cool handle and I pull back a little, throwing myself out that extra inch that I need, my muscles screaming at me to stop. My hand closes on the blade and I swing it behind me, turning my head as best as I can to see, praying that I don't hurt myself in the process.
He screams and suddenly he's gone. I roll over, holding the sword out in front of me, breathing heavily. Jace stands there, and the man lays unconscious just a few feet away.
"What do you think you're doing?" He yells at me, pulling me to my feet and pushing me behind him as another man comes charging.
"I had him Jace, it was fine! None of them can hurt me, Valentine wouldn't allow it!" I yell back, frustrated with him. Why won't he let me just help him for once? I'm capable of it, I know that I am.
"You hesitated, Clary. You can't hesitate. It'll only take a split second for one of these guys to overpower you; and I don't care what Valentine orders, they have weapons, and accidents happen!"
"I can take care of myself," I insist, pulling away from him with a deep frown. "I'm a Shadowhunter too, Jace. You've trained me yourself, you've seen what I can do!"
"Clary, I am not having this argument with you right now. You can hate me, but I will not let you risk your life for your own pride," he says lowly, his hand gripping my arm tightly. "Now—"
"Move!" I scream, shoving him out of the way of a blade; it cracks into the ground right where he was standing, and I bring my own down harshly on the man who wields it, with no hesitation. I can't hesitate. It'll get me killed, it'll get Jace killed. I won't have that. I'll fight right alongside him and prove to him that I can do it. It only takes one second to make it or break it.
There are three men left on the rooftop.
"I can do this, Jace," I tell him in a deadly calm voice before brushing past him and helping Isabelle fend off another man who is using two blades against her one. I run up behind him, kick out his knee from behind so that he collapses and drops his blades, letting Isabelle do the rest.
Two.
It's not long until I fall into an easy pattern with Isabelle, the two of us tag teaming whoever decides to come our way. Blood splatters the rooftop grotesquely, but the numbers of the Clave members who decided to pick a fight with us are lowering significantly. We're winning.
One left.
"Clary! Isabelle!" My mother screams through the howling wind. I whip around and see her on the far end of the rooftop, finishing off the last one standing. She rushes to look over the edge of the building. "NOW!" I look from Isabelle to Jace and the three of us race over there, slipping and skidding on the slick gravel until we're at the edge of the roof with my mother. Simon rejoins us as well, pulling Isabelle into a hug as he does. The door to the rooftop clatters open once more, and six more men spill out.
I peek over the short wall and see a glimmering blue pool below us, whirling and crackling with magical energy. Magnus' portal is here, but it's halfway down the side of the building, and there's no telling how long it'll be here.
"You four have to go now, I'll stay back and handle them," she pants, pulling me to her chest. "I love you Clary."
"Mom, just go with us!" I yell, pulling her closer to me as she begins to step away, towards the other Shadowhunters that are here to take us back. She can't go back to them, they'll kill her.
"Jace, get them out of here!" She barks at him, her voice like a drill sergeant. He turns to me and cups my face, looking me in the eyes. "It'll be okay, I promise. I need you to get out of here, go."
I nod turning towards Jace with tears in my eyes. He pulls me up onto the ledge that Simon and Isabelle have already disappeared from. I look down just as they're sucked into the portal, taken to safety. We hear a scream and we both whip back around. They're overpowering her, and my heart stops. I can't lose her again. I jump down from the ledge, but Jace pushes me back.
"We gotta go, guys, the clock is running!" Jordan and Maia scream, now back in their human forms. Hand in hand, they jump together, clutching each other for dear life.
"I need you to go, Clary. I'll help her, but you have to go," he shouts, pushing me backwards. "I'll help her, I promise. I'll be right behind you, please, just go."
"I can't lose you both," I cry, hardly able to see out of my eyes properly now. "Let me stay, I can help!"
Jace glances back and more men have arrived on the rooftop. He takes my arm, tapping at my wristband that forever reads 0.00, the one that he shares with me. "You're not losing me. It's you and me, Clary," he tells me with blazing eyes, leaning down to kiss me softly. "I don't need a damned wristband to tell me that much. It's you and me."
"Okay," I choke, shaking the tears from my eyes as he helps me back up. "Okay, I trust you, Jace. Don't let me down."
"I love you, Clary," he tells me as he pulls out his blade again.
"I love you too," I glance back down the building where the crackling blue sparks of the portal still looms, waiting for me. I squeeze his hand one last time, memorizing the angles of his face, the sharpness of it that is softens every time he smiles at me and his golden eyes that threaten to spill diamonds much like mine.
I close my eyes and let myself fall, my stomach and heart left back on the rooftop of my father's building, wishing that it was all just a dream. Wishing that I would wake up back in my bed back home to a million and one text messages from Izzy about what she should wear to meet her soulmate, while I stare blankly at my wristband, forever stuck at 0.00.
Who would have thought that such an insignificant number would lead to the wildest ride of your life? That being an anomaly, being soul mate-less would bring such danger and power and newfound abilities. I wouldn't have, but I don't think I could ever trade this for the world, not when I have Jace now. He's helped me realize that I don't need a number of my own to be important, to be special, because I'm important to him.
Time is the most significant thing we have in this world. It runs down no matter what your watch says; even if you're forever stuck at 0.00, life's clock moves on, and it'll leave you behind if you don't run with it. Sometimes you just need to take a leap of faith and trust that the universe will right itself out, the way it's meant to be.
LOOK AT THAT MOTHERFUCKING TITLE REFERENCE GUYS LOOK AT IT IM SO PROUD OH MY GOD ITS GREAT AHHHHHHH OKAY OKAY ARE YOU READY FOR THIS WE ONLY HAVEA COUPLE CHAPTERS LEFT AND ITS GONNA GET BETTER AND WORSE AND AGH STAY TUNED AND REVIEW PLEASE BY THE ANGEL REVIEW I LOVE YOU GUYS AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
XOXOXOXOX VERY EXCITED EMILY
(sorry if there are a million typos this chapter guys im so excited i can't even right now)