Hello again my lovely readers! I know it's been awhile and I want to apologize for waiting this long! As some of you know, (I tried to private message everyone!) a few months ago I was involved in a car accident when a drunk driver slammed into my car head on, knocking me into a coma. I have been in the hospital ever since in recovery. With all of that mess going on I was thus unable to update! But I'm back and really excited to continue on stronger than ever. Because of my extended absence, I made this chapter extra long! Or..at least it felt like I did. I hope you all like it, not a whole lot happens in this chapter but I can't have major action in every chapter, gotta let the story develop. Anyways without further adieu, I give you chapter 6 of the NCB-009.


CPOV

My eyes flew open seconds before the alarm began to blare. Moving the covers aside, I smoothed my hand over the bandage. Lifting it slowly, I peaked beneath the gauze and sure enough, it hand't been a dream. Running along the side of my hip was a long tender pink scar surrounded by blue and purple bruises that disrupted my otherwise milky white skin. The pain when I walked had reduced down to a dull ache and not as excruciating as the previous night, however if anything touched it, I was back to square one, doubled over on the ground with my face in the carpet.

Walking into my closet, I lazily threw on a long sleeve navy Hermès cotton tee, charcoal jeans, black ankle boots, and a grey Armani jacket. Thankfully, the weather had been cold so I had no qualms with covering up head to toe. My wrists and ankles both sported bright red marks from the cuffs and light purple bruises dusted the length of my arms and side from where Hodge had poked and prodded. It seemed he kept working, even after I had passed out. Convoluted bastard. Grabbing my foundation and sponge. I made quick work of covering up my wrist marks, just to be safe.

As alluring as the idea of burying my weak and fragile body under a mountain of fuzzy blankets sounded, being out of the house and in school seemed much more appealing than waiting for Valentine to have another episode. Convincing him to allow me to go to school had been less than easy. He had been set on keeping me home a few days, not wanting to take any chances, but upon seeing how much better I seemed this morning, I was able to sway his opinion.

I dragged my feet across the pavement, forcing myself to put on a brave face and deal with school for the day. Isabelle and Magnus had tried multiple times to hang out and talk but I brushed them off lightly. Too much was already running through my mind to be able to stop and deal with high school drama. They caught on quick and let me be. Even Jace had got the message when I completely tuned out his daily tease. During lunch I sat down at the end of the table, away from the group, staring absentmindedly at a weeping willow outside the window. Its branches hung low to the ground, almost reaching the dirt. The limbs swayed rhythmically in the wind as rain pelted hard against them, but the tree never faltered or gave way. It was solid. There had to be some kind of inner meaning to that right?

Whatever.

Jace sat across the table a few seats down. I could feel his stare burning a hole into my skull as I stared out the window, but paid him no attention. To my left Magnus and Izzy chatted loudly, over the voices of the cafeteria. "Clary…Clary? Hey, did you hear me?" Izzy's voice interrupted my thoughts. "What, hm?" I snapped my head up, glancing over to them. "Sorry..uhh, bad headache, I think I'm just gonna head over to the library..it's too loud in here." I stated, grabbing my bag and heading towards the other side of campus before Izzy could even finish her thought. "Oh..uh okay then.." I heard her say.

The voices in the room seemed to rise louder and louder as I fought my way through the impenetrable crowd. I had originally intended to head over to the library but was surprised when I found myself trudging through the pouring rain towards the old weeping willow behind the school. My slender frame easily slipped through the curtain of lavender willow branches and under its comforting protection from the storm. Shrugging off my sopping rain coat, I hopped up onto a low lying branch and leaned against the trunk, letting out a deep sigh I had been holding in all day.

Resting against the thick trunk I found myself starting to relax for the first time all day. This spot was peaceful and made me think of Denmark where we had lived for nearly three months during the summer before my thirteenth birthday. It was one of the few locations my father had been truly relaxed. A few weeks preceding my birthday interpol showed up and burned our home to the ground, causing Valentine back on the run. Shaking my mind clear of the saddening thoughts I focused my attention down at the spot where my scar laid beneath the fabric.

Lifting up my shirt slightly, I ran my fingers along the scar. People don't just miraculously heal from a knife wound. they don't just…glow. Its a known fact! There had to be some sort of logical reasoning behind the phenomena. The only time I ever believed in magic was when I was 5 years old and dreamed of Angels; even that small fantasy had been squashed quickly by Valentine.

I moaned out in pain as I accidentally applied too much pressure in one spot. "Ow! Dammit" I seethed through gritted teeth. My eyes watered and my breathing picked up as I struggled to get it under control. Thankfully after a fews minutes, the pain subsided and I was able to shove myself off the branch to grab my things, class was in a few minutes and I would probably have to run to make it in time. Nearly a minute later I heard the second bell ring. Shit, I'm late I silently chided myself as I rushed across the lawn toward C-Block

JPOV

My hands balled into fists at my sides as I remembered Clary weaving mindlessly through the crowd. She had been off all day today and it had obviously taken a considerable toll on my mood. Earlier when she had asked about some papers for our chemistry assignment, I had made a joking remark about her finding any excuse to talk to me. Okay..so maybe I had been an dick, but she usually just laughs them off, or if I'm lucky she'll rebuttal with some smart ass comment. My little firecracker. but today, she had snatched the paper out of my hands and shoved right on by. She wasn't angry, or even the least bit annoyed. She was… indifferent. My mouth curved down in dismay at the thought.

"Baby, whats wrong" Kaelie, my flavor of the week, murmured as her hands explored beneath my shirt. I'd snuck into a broom closet for a quick fuck, hoping to brighten my mood. Suffice to say, it didn't work. I couldn't stop thinking about her. "Not feeling it today." I replied flatly, pulling my pants up and zipping them in one swift move. "You're going to be late for class" I added sharply while looking down at my watch.

"Since when do you care if we're late for class" she purred in an act of seduction. It failed miserably. I had once found that voice sexy and seductive, but now. Well, now it was just plain annoying. I refused to acknowledge even the slightest thought of Clary being the reason behind it. She couldn't be, there was simply no way. End of story.

"Goodbye Kaelie" I smirked, disentangling myself from her grasp. Damn slut. Wait, since when do I care whether they're sluts? They're my ideal woman! Love 'em and leave 'em, that's been my motto for years.

I shook my head as I stepped out into the crowded hallway, running a hand through my mess of blond curls while looking around for Izzy. As the corridors thinned, I noticed a certain red head walking slowly towards her next class. At first glance, she looked fine, but the longer I stared, the more I noticed the pain she attempted to cover. And quite well at that. "Hey firecracker" I whispered, wrapping my arms around her slender waist, as I approached her from behind. Her body tensed immediately before twisting around in my grasp. My mind wasn't even able to register what was about to happen before I felt her fist connect firmly with my jaw.

"Jace!" she gasped in shock as I stumbled back a few steps. Girl packed a real punch. "God dammit Jace! You scared the hell out of me!" she continued while stepping forward to inspect my face. "I'm…I'm so sorry.." she murmured. She was so close, close enough to feel her breath against my chest. I fought the urge to grab her waist and close the distance between us. Her pale slender fingers brushed lightly along the length of my jaw, sending shivers all along my body. Closing my eyes, I reached up and grasped her wrist lightly, relishing in the feel of her touch against my skin. Clary's breath caught in her throat before she wrenched her hand free.

Her full rosy lips parted into a smile but it didn't quite reach her eyes. Something was bothering her. I stared down at her face wordlessly, studying her expression. She fidgeted uncomfortably under my stare but I didn't falter. "I'm sorry.." she repeated, her voice barely above a whisper. My eyes scanned the whole of her body, checking for any sort of injury but of course, she was covered practically head to toe. I noticed the left side of her face had been given a bit of attention from her concealer while the rest of her face remained unpainted. It struck my strange but I didn't think too much of it. Girls.

"Here let me take your stuff, it looks heavy" I changed the subject quickly in attempt to lighten the mood while snatching her books and bag before she could offer protest. Her face wrinkled into the cutest expression as she tried to figure out why I was being so nice. "Thanks.." she said finally as we walked down the hallway. God, what was I getting myself into.

CPOV:

As we walked down the hallway the only sound heard was the shuffle of our feet against the floor. You'd think it was awkward but it wasn't, we had slipped into something more of a comfortable silence. I felt horrible for my reaction to him grasping my wrist. It wasn't his fault they were so tender from the cuffs. I longed to tell him everything and collapse in his embrace, but I knew it would do more harm than good. Looking up I dared a peak at his face. I'm not going to lie, Jace was good looking, if not the hottest guy I've ever seen. But that still didn't change the fact that 1.) He was an ass and 2.) My father would never allow it. As if he could sense it, Jace glanced down at me, catching my stare. Dammit! I looked away quickly.

"See something you like there firecracker?" he smirked. My face instantly colored and I fought the urge to burry my head in my hands. See what I mean? Asshole. I rolled my eyes and gave no response as we neared my class. I was soo late but I no longer cared.

"Ms. Fray, so nice of you to join us" Ms. Bargonas said sarcastically as I stepped into the classroom. My face reddened in embarrassment as the entire class turned their attention to me. "Sorry Misses B! It was might fault I held her hostage in the hallway" Jace poked his head into the room, earning a few gasps and whispers from students. He smiled adorably at the teacher, hoping to ease her mood. She looked at him sternly for a moment before breaking into a slight smile and waving him off.

"Go to your class Mr. Heronalde, and please refrain from keeping my students out of class from now on" she quipped. "Come along Miss Fray, say your goodbyes." I giggled softly at the exchange, thankful that she seemed to let my mishap go. "Goodbye Jace…thank you" I breathed while staring at the ground. He lifted my chin slightly to meet his gaze, "Anytime firecracker" he smiled before his signature smirk settled back on his face. And with that, he vanished.

Turning around I walked down the rows to my assigned seat right smack dab in the middle of the room. Great. I dropped my bag at my feet, pulled out my pen, notebook, and sat down, ignoring every pair of eyes that were now trained on the mysterious girl being walked to class by the infamous Jace Heronalde. I tried to focus on what Ms. Bargonas was saying but it was hard with people openly staring and some obviously whispering about the little mishap. One girl was looking me up and down continuously as if I was some little bug munching on her sandwich. After the fourth time of her flipping her bleach dyed blonde hair over her should and smacking her overly glossy lips to turn in her seat to glare at me, I snapped. "Why don't you just take a fucking picture, it'll last longer." I deadpanned. Thankfully, Ms. Bargonas had been thoroughly engrossed in some paper on her desk and didn't notice my crude remark.

Blondie's eyes widened immediately and she snapped back around in fury. Despite my joke about her taking a photo, I actually heard a few people taking out their phones to snap a few photos. What the fuck is wrong with these kids?

The last 10 minutes of class passed by at a painfully slow rate and at three minutes to the bell I was already packed and ready to go. Ms. B had just finished assigning us homework for the day when a deafening shrill reverberated off the walls, signaling the end of class. I jumped out of my chair and flew past my classmates.

The first person I found was Izzy, or really, she found me. I felt terrible about moping around all morning and desperately needed to apologize. "Clary!" She called out excitedly while people parted to let her through. "Come on, we have a LOT to talk about!" she called while grabbing my hand and running down the hallway. We had free period right before art so I wasn't worried about missing any classes.

"Hi Izzy, wait I need, I need to apologize" I yelled over the roar of everyone shuffling around to their next classes. She waved her hand in the air dismissively.

"Don't sweat it Clary, I know you were just having a rough morning." She whipped her head around flashing me a dazzling smile. "But you still like hanging out with me…right?" her face suddenly clouding with worry.

My eyes widened instantly as my arms flew around her neck, squishing her in a very Izzy-like hug. "What-Yes! Of course I do! I was afraid you would be mad with me." Izzy simply laughed before grabbing my hand again and pulling me into an empty room at the end of the hall.

"Great! Now that that's all settled, Sit! And tell me everything I'm hearing about this you and Jace christening the C-Block hallway?!" She giggled while pointing a long manicured finger to one of the four bean bags occupying the far corner. I was pretty sure if I wasn't careful it would swallow me whole.

"Jace and I were just-WHAT?!" I paled. "We weren't, we weren't ..christening.. the hallway" I stuttered, almost whispering that last part in embarrassment. Sinking down on the bean bag, I covered my face in my hands. "People really think that?" I said near the verge of tears.

Izzy smiled down at me reassuringly, "Clary hun, I know you guys weren't doing the nasty, but you seemed to have really pissed off Kaelie. She's not dangerous, but I wouldn't go quite as far as calling her harmless." She continued while flopping down onto her own bean bag. My stomach churned and I thought I would throw up. "But forget about that, we have waaay more important things to think about! The Annual Fall Festival is tomorrow night and I still haven't figured out what to wear! Also, I'm pretty sure Ms. Fairchild is going to ask you to run the art booth. You're the obvious choice. Hmm…that's even less time. Oh! I know! If we skip last period tomorrow we might just have enough time to be dressed and ready half an hour early! I live right by the school so it'd only take like 5 minutes to get here." She grinned, satisfied with her quick solution. I stared at her in amazement and slight confusion.

"Woah, slow down there Izzy, what festival?! I don't even know if I'm going." her face fell and I felt immediately guilty. "I'm sorry, it's just..my dad doesn't really like me going to school events unless it's strictly academic..he's he's just overprotective I guess." I continued while picking at the frayed edges of my t-shirt. She stared at me as if I had just told her that her pet cat had died. But then, the funniest thing happened. Her lips curled up into a devilish grin.

"What if it was ..'strictly academic'" she replied excitedly. I glanced at her in disbelief. This oughta be good.

"What do you mean?"

"Just…trust me" she winked while standing up and straightening out her skirt. "Come on, we're gonna be late."

VPOV:

I clenched my fists together, pacing back and forth behind the newest recruit as his fingers flashed across the keyboard, trying desperately to impress yours truly. "Nothing has come up on the radar's. The closest agent of SD-13, as far as we can tell, is in the California sector…Sir" he added quickly. I relaxed slightly, but it still didn't settle the uneasiness that coursed through my veins. California was just down the coast."Very well." and with that I left, shaking my head as I made my way towards Hodges lab in the basement. "HODGE!" My booming voice echoed off the empty concrete walls.

"Sir, I found some very interesting leukocytes in young Jocelyn's blood. I don't think I've ever seen this particular strain in-"

"Do NOT refer to her as YOUNG. JOCELYN." I spat venomously. "Her name is Clarissa and you will refer to her as such." I finished with unsettling calmness. Vials and scientific instruments rattled noisily as Hodge nervously fiddled around.

"Yes o-of course sir…As I was saying! I have never before seen microorganisms like these within a genus, or any particular species for that matter. This specific strain is highly hypothetical and rarely brought up even in theory." Hodge's voice rose in excitement as he babbled on. "Scientist, in the ET-X department of the CIA ,have not even attempted further research because of its astronomical complexities. It makes our young Clary all the more interesting. I only caught it after accidentally spilling some water into the scope and.."

"-Hodge, English!" I demanded. He looked up at me as if realizing for the first time that I wasn't a scientist, such as him. "Ahh yes sir, of course" he replied quickly. "Basically, Clary's DNA is a mystery. There really is no way to explain it. Scientifically, she's not even human at all, well I mean of course she's human hehe I mean she's..she's Clary but her DNA and the way her genetic makeup functions..it's just not how a normal homo sapien sapien functions."

I frowned, turning to pace back and forth against the cold stone flooring. It was the same answer he had been hearing for the better part of 16 years. "And theres..nothing? You can make of this?" I grumbled annoyed. Hodge looked at me in concentration. "Why don't i just show you" he responded. Thinking of nothing else to say, I nodded, walking closer to the lab table and leaning over. "Well?"

"Right, okay so if you look up at that screen, you will see the red blood cells, white blood cells, and of course the platelets. These are all normal, she has a remarkable white blood cell count which would explain why she does not ever get sick. Now, this all seems normal, however-" he paused running over the edge of the room and clicking off the lights. Immediately a set of black lights illuminated over them "When you turn off the lights, and observe the sample under Ultra Violet illumination, you will see an entirely different set of organisms moving around within the strip…See this would be normal if they turned green or even blue, but they are violet, and various shades of gold. It's just unheard of!"

I frowned as I watched the screen completely change and different cells i hadn't even seen begun to illuminate. "What is the meaning of this!" I yelled, while keeping my eye on the screen. "I…I am not quite sure sir…these particular microorganisms do not even exist! They don't have names and are of no certain taxonomic class. All that I can say for certain sir is that you're daughter is not a regular girl….I'm not even sure if she is of human origin at all!"

My hand flew across the table in anger, causing several glass vials to shatter against the concrete. Ten years of research and we were still exactly where we started. I had been about to scream a bit more at Hodge for his incompetence when the familiar shrill of my cover cellphone rang. Taking a moment to compose myself, I stepped out of the lab and began walking upstairs before answering the call. It was Clary's school. My face hardened into a frown.

"This is Valentine" I answered in a smooth confident tone.

"Hello Mr. Fray, this is Mrs. Fairchild, Clarissa's Art teacher. I'm calling in regards to the Fall Festival tomorrow evening." A gentle voice rippled through the phone line.


Awh, isn't Mrs. Fairchild great? We'll have to wait until next time to see if she actually gets Valentine to let Clary go.

In case anyone is wondering: No, Mrs. Fairchild is not going to be Clary's mother or anything like that. I'm still undecided as to if I'm going to introduce Jocelyn into the story or not. What do you all think?

Also, I was reading through my older chapters and it was brought to my attention that I made a mistake. When I mentioned football a while back, I was not talking about American Football, I was referring to what Americans call Soccer. So yeah, I'm sorry about that, I will refer to it as soccer now so I don't confuse anyone.

Love you all! As always, leave a little note in the review box, I love to hear from all of you and see what you have to say!

XOX - UnpublishedDreamer