Chapter 2: I Denied
Clarissa smiled. She'd be laughing if she could make a sound. 'Weak'.
Jace pointed to her and looked at Mayrse. "I like this one." She wasn't really paying attention to him. She walked over to Clarissa and led her to a chair.
"Now, I know you've never been out of that house before and the clave can be very frightening, but if there is anything you know about what your brother is doing or where the missing people are, you need to tell me." She handed her a pen and paper. "My son, Max, was taken. Tell me where he is."
Clarissa picked up the pen slowly. Mayrse as gently, "Can you write?" Clarissa wrote in almost a style of calligraphy. "Yes."
"Do you know where the missing are?"
"He hasn't told me."
"What has he told you?"
"Your questions are irrelevant. The council you put me in front of already asked me this. Did you think they really wouldn't give me a pen? I told you he never told me what he's doing. He said to wait and to be unafraid. Please I don't want to hear more of how you will kill my only family. Why do you people forget that he's still my brother?"Clarrisa's eyes were pleading.
"I understand. Have a good after noon Ms. Morgenstern." She sighed deeply. "Why don't you take her outside, Jace?"
They walked out of the institute in silence. On the street cars bustled by and people scurried to their destinations. It was started to get dark and all the light form the city were beginning to sparkle.
Jace brought her to a little building with the name Taki's sprawled across the front in red letters. "This is where anyone that's a part of the shadow world comes to eat," Jace explained. "You know what that is, right?"
Clarissa nodded. They sat down at an empty booth. Soon a waitress with multi-colored skin came by. "Jace! Nice to see you. Want the same thing as always?"
"Umm, yeah could you do me a favor? My friend her doesn't really talk can I get some paper or napkins."
"Sure thing, but I really don't see what the clave is doing integrating a little mundane."
"She's a Nephilim. She just doesn't have any marks yet." The waitress winked and a few awkwardly silent moments later returned with a little notepad and a pen.
Clarrisa took the pen. "How'd you get all the way out here?"
Jace sighed. "Valentine stopped coming, so eventually I just left home. I didn't know he was Valentine at the time, so yeah. The clave put me here at random."
"You were the first person I ever saw outside of the family. I tried to go back to see you. Sebastian caught me though." Clarrisa explained.
"Did put that spell on you to stop you from coming to talk to me?" Jace felt guilt build in his chest.
Clarrisa shook her head. "Valentine had the spell put on me. Sebastian sat me down an explained to me why I couldn't go," she took a slow breath. "I miss him. He is a bashful little hellion to everyone, but me. He was always so nice to me."
"Did you think he'd be capable of this," Jace said
"Of course, I'm not blind," She wrote.
"Why didn't he take you with him?" Clarrisa tapped the pen on the paper, but didn't write. "Do you agree with what he's doing?"
"No. It's why I denied him."