the next chapter is here! :) review, favorite, follow, etc, tell me what you think! it really keeps me motivated no joke, lol.

TMI and characters belong to Cassandra Clare poem belongs to his/her name at the bottom. Thanks for reading! :)

The sunset gun booms out in hollow roar

Night breathes upon the waters of the bay

The river lies, a symphony in grey,

Melting in shadow on the further shore.

A sullen coal barge tugs its anchor chain

A shadow sinister, with one faint light

Flickering wanly in the dim twilight,

It lies upon the harbor like a stain.

Silence. Then through the stillness rings

The fretful echo of a seagull's scream,

As if one cried who sees within a dream

Deep rooted sorrow in the heart of things.

The cry that Sorrow knows and would complain

And impotently struggle to express –

Some secret shame, some hidden bitterness –

Yet evermore must sing the same refrain.

Silence once more. The air seems in a swoon

Beneath the heavens' thousand opening eyes

While from the far horizon's edge arise

The first faint silvery tresses of the moon.

'Nocturne'

by

Eugene O'Neill

Simon peaked around the corner of the alley they stood in waiting for any sign of Clary, it had already been nearly twenty-five minutes and still she had yet to show up.

Isabelle smirked as she leaned up against the brick wall and looked up at the dark sky above.

Simon turned and began to pace, "Where could she be?"

"Easy." Isabelle replied looking at him, "She's making out with Jace."

Simon stopped pacing and made a face, taking note of the sarcastic tone in Isabelle's voice.

"I highly doubt Clary would do that knowing the current situation." Simon replied defensively,

Isabelle laughed without humor, "I don't."

Simon watched as she gazed back up at the sky, her one booted foot was flat on the dark pavement of the alley, as her other rested on the brick wall she leaned against, her shadow that casted on the pavement from the nearby street lights looked like large monsters with squared teeth, making Simon shudder, as he turned away from her.

Simon peaked once again out from behind the edge of the building they stood near, the Institute was no longer in sight, for they were a block away but Simon gazed around in every possible direction for a sign of Clary anywhere, but he still saw none.

He sighed, as he saw Isabelle also peak around him out into the street.

"You don't think she just forgot?" Isabelle asked quietly,

Simon looked at her and shook his head, "No way, Clary wouldn't forget about us, about you."

Isabelle didn't seem convinced as she pushed her hair out of her face again, and went back to lean against the wall, she didn't answer at first until she was walking away.

"Do you still love her?"

Simon was taken by surprise as he turned to see Isabelle looking at him, her eyes perfectly serious but large like that of a small confused child.

"No, I mean, I love Clary of course, but not like that, not anymore, I never really did I just thought I had…" Simon let his voice trail off as he began to ramble; he took a deep breath as looked at Isabelle, a playful smile twitched on her lips.

"What I mean," he began, "Is I love Clary as a friend, she is my friend but nothing else."

Isabelle nodded and looked straight ahead at the other wall across from her, as Simon moved toward her slowly and leaned against the wall next to her and looked at her.

"What is on your mind, Izzy?" he asked softly, as the temptation to touch a strand of her long dark hair hit him, but he fought it back not wanting to make her draw away.

"Just what you asked…before we left the Institute." She replied, equally as soft as his words, almost a whisper.

"What I said?" he asked her, keeping his voice low, she looked at him.

"Yes."

Simon watched her as she spoke again shaking her head slightly,

"What I said that night, it wasn't just meaningless words, they weren't empty they were full of emotion, they were truth of my heart, but the truth is now Simon I don't know about myself, my heart, I don't trust it, I don't know how I am here again, it terrifies me almost as equally as love did and still does."

Simon took in her words and nodded. "I understand what you mean."

She watched him, "You do?"

He nodded. "Yes."

"How?"

He took another breath out of habit, "I'm still not fully convinced your actually here."

Isabelle nodded, "I am."

Simon looked sideways at her, "You are?"

"Convinced I'm here?" she looked at him, shyly. "Of course, when I woke up, it was worst feeling ever, I was wearing white of course and I couldn't breathe at first, it was like I was suffocating I couldn't breathe and my whole body was numb, and cold, and when I finally could breathe, it felt like I had breathed in ice…"

Simon saw her shudder at the memory she was remembering.

"And all I could think of was, how I was dead, how I died in your arms, I was confused so confused…I had no idea what was going on, and I could barely see, or walk I staggered like a drunk man through the city, I knew I had to find someone at the Institute, when Clary answered the door this morning I was relieved and both annoyed, I knew she had to have done something to me, so I demanded answers, and I came to find even she was equally as puzzled."

Simon let her finish as he thought back to when he talked to Clary about what happened, and got the feeling she knew more than she was letting onto, but it was apparent Isabelle thought she was as clueless as themselves.

"You were the news Clary told me of." Simon whispered not looking at Isabelle fully, but out of the corner of his eye saw her nod.

"Yeah, the not overly bad but not overly good news, that is me, always been me." She let the end of the sentence linger and fade off her tongue, barely making is audible.

Simon looked to her again a small smile in place as Isabelle noted it, and smirked.

"What's the smile for, Lewis?" she demanded,

He shook his head, "Nothing, I'm nearly convinced this is a dream a bad one, you're not acting like Isabelle at all, your kind of…whiny." He chuckled.

Isabelle raised a delicate brow.

"Whiny you say?"

"Yes."

"And still unconvinced it's me."

"It isn't you." He told her, "Your dead."

Isabelle smirked and considered this for a moment and then agreed. "Yeah, I am."

Simon looked at her, he was just joking but she had taken it serious, but before he could tell her he was sorry for upsetting her, she was in front of him, her hands gripping the front of his jacket her, and he was looking into her eyes.

"Isabelle." He gasped out, unsure what was happening as she leaned up against him, her face inches from his, and before he could ask her what was going on, her lips crashed into his.

They were just as he remembered, warm and soft and fierce like Isabelle herself, he kissed her back, as his hand flew to her silky hair, he had been dying to run his long fingers through it sense he had first seen her again, to feel the texture of it, the smoothness.

Isabelle gripped Simon tighter to her, as her breasts flattened against his chest, and she tangled one long leg around his. Simon placed his other hand at the small of her back, pulling her closer to him where he could feel all her warmth against him.

Isabelle groaned once against his mouth as she tangled her hands into his dark brown hair, Simon deepened the kiss, the softness of it turning fierce as he held her to him, he had wanted this more than anything in his life, wanted to kiss her senseless, as she filled him with a joy he had never felt.

But as he gripped her waist to lean her up against the wall, she broke away, turning her head away from him as she breathed heavily, her heart slamming against him as the sweet scent of her filled his senses and Simon too breathed heavy.

Isabelle smiled wide and looked up at him as he rested his forehead against hers, his hand once again in her long hair; he closed his eyes and just fell into the moment.

"Still convinced it's not me because I'm dead?" she asked, her voice thick husky even.

Simon shook his head rapidly a few times. "No."

She laughed as his voice came out in a breathless slur.

Simon opened his eyes and gazed at Isabelle, perfect Isabelle, he now knew this was Isabelle, his Isabelle, where he was unsure before, he was certain now, she was back. And he was overjoyed to know she was back, but a part of him still in the back of his mind told him something was still wrong, something he couldn't quite reach for.

Isabelle reached up and kissed him softly once more, as if she were testing something, Simon growled as he flipped them around to where Isabelle was now against the wall, and one of his hands went flat against the brick of the way, Isabelle gasped out once in delight, as she laughed a wicked grin spread across her inhuman face.

"I have a no growling policy you know." She told him, as he smiled.

"Think you can make an exception?"

"Hmm." She replied as if she were thinking really hard, "I'll have to consider."

Simon laughed once softly, as he moved in to kiss her again when a sharp.

"AHEM."

Sounded at the end of the alley, quickly Simon pushed off the brick wall away from Isabelle, as they turned their heads toward the speaker.

"It seems can't leave you two gone for ten minutes without you acting like horny monkeys." Clary snorted, as she stepped out of the shadows, wearing a coat that no doubt belonged to Jace, the sleeves threatened to fall down over her hands as the gray shirt under it bore the words,

'Wish Not Want Not' in large pinkish red letters.

Isabelle snorted. "As if you and Jace aren't part of the horny monkey troupe."

Clary shot her a dirty look as she turned to Simon who was contemplating if he should play the innocent she attacked me card or take half the blame; he figured the latter would be better than the former, if he didn't want to get Izzy smacked later, it was worse than any bitch slap he had ever gotten.

Clary crossed her arms over her chest and eyed them like an evil mother you hear about on the news, who just found out one of her dear children had broken a rule.

"Explain yourselves." She demanded,

Isabelle looked at Simon who looked back at her, as they both looked to Clary who pursued her lips in an unsympathetic manner, her expression said I want answers and I want them now.

Simon wasn't quite sure why Clary was acting this way, it was only a kiss any other time she'd had laughed if he had kissed Isabelle, considering they all figured he was being used anyways.

"I wasn't convinced she was actually alive and she kissed me to prove it." Simon finally spoke up, as Isabelle stared off into nowhere and he wondered what she may be thinking about, but found it was probably a better idea not to ask that question in front of Clary Dearest.

Clary seemed half way between convinced and terrified, which made Simon wonder even more what they were hiding from him.

"Clary? What's the big idea; nobody has a fit when you kiss Jace." Isabelle spoke up, her tone irritable as she stood up straight, and narrowed her eyes at the shorter girl.

Simon looked from Isabelle to Clary, Clary's face was turning a very unflattering shade of red, which clashed with her hair, however he couldn't tell if it were from embarrassment or anger, from what she said next made it clear it was the later rather than former.

"For your information, I can't kiss Jace without him turning me into a human candle!" Clary wailed and walked up stabbing Isabelle with her finger, Isabelle didn't budge just placed her hands on her hips and looked down at Clary, her black hair spilled out behind her like a shadow,

Simon watched unsure if he should break up the fight before it began or wait and watch, he stood frozen unsure what to do.

Clary took a deep breath and looked from Isabelle to Simon, and spoke again.

"She can kill you."

"What?" Simon asked puzzled, as Isabelle looked down and swallowed.

"Yes." Clary continued, "Whatever brought her back, she has heightened powers, strength, speed, she can crush a brick to dust without any effort, one flick of her finger and she could easily snap you in two."

Isabelle looked up at them, as Clary's voice held bitterness as she spoke, Simon saw her eyes glistening with tears, and even if he had doubted what Clary said just then, Isabelle's tears told him what she was saying was true.

"Izzy…" Simon began, walking toward her but she stopped him,

"She's right, when I first got back to the Institute and I was confused, we both were and Clary was trying to puzzle things out, I got so mad…" she paused as if remembering was painful and she shook her head slowly.

Simon stood awkwardly as he stuffed his hands in his pockets and watched her, her pale form illuminated in the pale light of the moon overhead, the thin pale beams shone into the alley like long streaks of laser lights on the pavement.

Clary now stood back from them to one side with her arms crossed, her eyes narrowing as Isabelle fought for a way to explain.

She shook her head again with a humorless laugh and turned her head toward Simon as she slid down the brick wall and sat against it her head in hands.

"Isabelle…" Simon began no caring what she did, but as he drew closer she moved her hands and glared at him.

"Simon." She said, her tone firm as he froze once more, and watched her as she picked up a loose brick not setting far from where she sat, Clary uncrossed her arms and watched Izzy with a hint of worry to her expression, Simon didn't take his eyes off the brick as Isabelle took it carefully between her two hands and began adding pressure.

He gasped slightly, as she pushed her two hands together, crumpling the brick between her hands as if it was nothing but mere crackers, easily destroyed.

She can crush a brick to dust without any effort, Simon thought of the words Clary had spoke just a moment ago and now knew they were very much true.

Both Simon and Clary watched as Isabelle opened her hand, and the light breeze took the brick dust from her hand and blew it away from them, across the road to another alley, after what seemed like several minutes, Isabelle looked back to them, tears still in her eyes but where it was tears of sadness before these were tears of rage.

"You see that?" she demanded to Simon, as she stood up from her sitting position and brushed the left over brick dust residue on the thigh of her gear. "Did you see how easy I crushed that brick? How easy I could crush either of you!"

Simon stood silent as he looked to Clary, she watched Isabelle begin to shake with uncontrollable spasms of not only anger, but also fear.

"I'm a monster now, more than I was before, whatever you did to me has made me like this!" she shouted and pointed to Clary, and then inspected her hands clenching them into fists.

"Isabelle." Clary began, her tone stern but her voice held a hint of softness, but she dared not move toward Izzy.

Isabelle ignored Clary's words and continued on her rant, "Why? Why you would even put a rune on one of us that you had no idea what it really did? Why would you risk it? Why would you do it? If it were Jace…"

"I'd had done the same with Jace if he were dying as well, Isabelle." Clary cut her off, her eyes flared like green flames. "I'd have done it to anyone I care about, Jace, you, even Alec, I'd had taken the same action I had that night to anyone, because I thought it was an advance healing rune."

Isabelle laughed, "Yeah well, apparently it was, so advanced it brought me back to life."

Simon opened his mouth to intersect the conversation when Clary jumped back startled, and Simon heard a loud crack.

Shocked and unsure what he had expected to see he watched in terror as Isabelle removed her fist from the hole she had just punched in the wall.

Izzy gave out a little squeak and tripped, falling backward, Simon in a flash was behind her to catch her, unsure what her impact to the ground could cause, and the last thing they needed was an earthquake, not that Izzy was able to do that, but Simon didn't want to take any chances.

"I…" Isabelle began, confused even she at what she had just done, Simon helped her stand back up straight, the tears were gone, but her shaking hadn't subsided at all. Simon turned his head to ask Clary something but she had moved around and was inspecting the large hole Isabelle had made into the wall with her fist.

"Shadowhunters are strong I know," Simon began as Clary still inspected, "But is this normal?"

There was a pause as Isabelle clung to Simon to steady her wobbly form, Clary turned to them and shook her head slowly.

"I'm beginning to think everything that happens to us is anything but normal." Clary sighed, and Simon agreed.

"Yeah, well I thought that a long time ago."

Simon looked down as he felt Isabelle shift her weight as she saw the damage she had done to the wall fully, she stared wide eyed, and Clary turned to her.

"It's not as bad as it looks…"

"Not as bad as it looks? I punched a freaking
wall! And it didn't even hurt me at all!"

Simon watched as Clary sighed and wiped a hand across her forehead, not turning toward Simon and Isabelle.

"Well, you may not be hurt, but I feel kind of bad for the poor wall…" Simon's word held light humor, but even he knew it wasn't enough to clear the tension.

Isabelle looked up at Simon; her large dark eyes were wide and reminded Simon of coal in the dim light,

"What's happening to me?" she whispered softly, Simon couldn't help but wonder if she had said it to herself as she looked away from him right as she spoke the soft words he was sure he wasn't supposed to hear but couldn't help it.

"I don't know, Izzy…I just don't know." Simon tightened his grip around her arm; Isabelle looked back at the wall.

"I can't go on like this." She said, looking at Clary now, Clary looked back at Isabelle as they locked eyes.

"No." Clary agreed with a nod, "But that is why we need to find out about this rune as soon and fast as possible, somehow."

"How?" Isabelle asked bitterly, "How when it came from your mind?"

Clary rubbed her temples with her fingers muttering.

"Hey." Simon began without much thought, "Stop it."

He paused as both girls looked at him, puzzled,

"Quit arguing," He continued, "If we're going to work together we need to stop the fights and work together, we don't know what the side effects of this whole situation could be, and we need to find out the info before we find out because I for one don't want to find out."

Clary and Isabelle looked from each other to Simon and nodded, Isabelle released a long sigh, and Clary began rattling off an idea.

"I think fist, we need to get back to the apartment, get some rest and start first thing in the morning."

Simon nodded, as he looked at Isabelle who yawned, and he guessed she was getting tired as he was, but he figured coming back from the dead and punching a wall would do that too you.

"Let's go." He told them, as Isabelle let go of his arm and the three, as swift and silent as shadows made sure they weren't being watched as they slipped their way down the darkened street, however they didn't notice that above them, in a swift movement they were being watched, with a smirk in place and shinning eyes the dark figured moved away, following them once again in the dark unseen, this time swiftly by roof top.

okay, here's ch. 8 tell me how you like it, and yes soon the answer of who was following them will be revealed, but at the moment i'll just let everyone see if they can guess who it is watching them. Review, please! i like reading them and want to know what all readers out there think, it's a big, big help! new chapter hopefully coming later today or tomorrow. :) thank you for reading! P.S. i'm not very good at writing kiss scenes so i hope the one here in this chapter came out ok, i think it was terrible because i'm horrible at getting the emotions right lol. ah well, i hope everyone enjoyed it! :D