Hello everyone, I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while, it was Christmas and then yesterday, I left on vacation. Thanks everyone for the reviews! They really make my day.

Clary opened her eyes. She was in an old-fashioned room with wood floors and white walls.

What?

Clary mentally "retraced her steps" of the past day. She woke up in her room at her stepdad's, Luke's, house and went over to train with Jace. They worked on archery and flips. Clary vaguely remembered asking her mother to go to Pandemonium with Jace, Simon, and Isabelle.

Then it all came back. Jace kissing the blonde vampire, portaling to some town in Oregon, fighting a greater demon.

And meeting Nick. Clary watched them from the reflection in the window. He held the door open for a younger girl, "Jackie," as Clary learned later, and stopped when he saw Clary. As if she was breathtaking.

Clary's first thought was Jace had come back for her. But, no, Nick was definitely not Jace. They did, however, have the same golden hair and muscled body. But Nick was different. He had dark brown eyes, almost like Izzy's, and he looked like the kind of kid who would throw you off a cliff, then run to the bottom to catch you, just so he could get a good laugh.

Jace was a lion; Nick was more of a dog. A loyal, chivalrous, carefree dog. With a body like Taylor Lauhtner.

Finally, Clary found a reason to get up and get dressed. With a canine-Nick in mind, Clary dug through the closet of old T-shirts and cardigans from Jackie and Stella. Clary settled on a green "I heart Adams" T-shirt, blue skinny jeans, and some white sneakers.

After attempting (and failing) to tame her wild hair, Clary peeked her head out the door. From what she remembered last night, all the corridors looked excactly alike. They all had red carpet, white walls, and paintings from the 1500's.

On a whim, Clary turned right.

After a while, she realized that she probably went the wrong direction. Each hallway turned into a corridor, which led on to another hallway. How the residents of the Adams, Oregon Institute found their way around, Clary didn't know.

Groaning in frustration, Clary turned sharply into a hallway. Maybe the hallways moved like in Harry Potter. Maybe if she turned fast enough it would be too surprised to move. But alas, nothing ever goes right. Clary's face went hard into something- wait, someone. Someone's bare chest.

"Lola?" Nick. But he didn't sound mad, or embarrassed, or even surprised. Nick, like always, was just amused.

"Hey Nick... I just got lost," Clary said, trying not to stare at the boy's solid abs.

If Jace was here, he would've smirked and said something like, "enjoying the view?," but this was Nick, and Nick didn't even notice my attraction.

"Tell you what, I'll go put on a shirt and we can go to breakfast together. Agreed?"

Clary nodded shyly, " Agreed."

Breakfast was great. Marsye was a good cook, but Stella was off-the-chains awesome. Or maybe it was just because of the guests. Either way, that girl had mad skills.

When Clary walked in, everyone looked up from their waffles, which, of course, caused Clary to blush deeply. Nick smiled and gave a quick "she got lost" before slipping into a seat beside Stella.

Clary looked around the room. There were six other people at the table: Nick, Izzy, Stella, Andrew, Jackie, and another little girl. She looked to be about twelve, a little younger than Jackie. Actually, the girl kind of reminded Clary of Max. She had blonde-ish hair like Stella and Nick (Clary assumed the three were siblings) but big, round glasses magnifying her blue eyes, which, really, were staring right at her.

"Hello," said Clary to the girl, "What's your name?"

The girl cocked her head, glanced at Izzy and back again, and said, "Ruby."

"That's a pretty name." Clary sat next to her. Then, half wondering if this was the girl version of Max, put here in Oregon to confuse and annoy her, Clary asked, "Do you, by any chance, like Manga?"

Ruby made a disgusted face, "Ew, no! Only nerds like that."

Izzy let out something inbetween a giggle and a snort. Clary set her jaw and helped herself to some waffles.

After a few minutes, Stella cleared her throat, "So, you guys said you were going to help investigate the disappearances?"

Isabelle glanced at Clary and gave a look saying, You're on your own.

Clary sighed, "Yeah, uh, how many 'disappearances' have there been, exactly?"

"Four. Amy Lakes, Ally Smith, Jason Ketler, and Macy McMallord."

"Are there any patterns to the people disappearing?" asked Clary.

"So far all we can find is they were all last seen at night. They're all different cases. One of them was reported acting strange beforehand, the others were fine. Two we're under eighteen, the others were were 36 and 54. Two were from here in Adams, two were from Canada and Washington. It just doesn't make sense."

Finally, Izzy spoke up, "What do you want us to do?"

"Are you professionals in searching for missing people?"

Izzy scowled, "No."

"Then leave that part to us. You guys can help us train and prevent more disappearances by killing demons."

Having nothing to reply with, Izzy and Clary went back to eating their waffles, which were now lukewarm.

After a few minutes or semi-comfortable silence (neither Isabelle nor Clary took more than a few bites of their waffles), Andrew stood up.

"I'm going to go warm up," he announced, setting his dishes in the dishwasher and half-jogging out the door.

"Warm-up for what?" Clary asked Ruby in a whisper.

Ruby giggled, "Training, of course!"

"Do you guys train every day?"

Stella answered, "Yes. Then we go demon-hunting at night."

It was Isabelle's turn to be surprised, "Every day?!"

"Yes, that's what I said."

"When do you have time for fun?"

Jackie snorted, "Fun? Living under Stella's roof? Not in a million years."

Clary expected Stella to argue, or at least scowl, but all the woman did was shrug.

"Yes, yes, Jackie, dear. I'm going to go warm-up, too," Stella stood up, "Nick, Jackie, be there in five minutes. Lola, Malorie, take your time. Gear's in the closet. Lola, your's might be a bit small." Stella nodded and walked out.

Thanks greygirl2358, for you're request for Nick's description. I hope he's hot enough for you ;). Also Minty, Love Dreamer16, BabyKitty0101, Primrose Masen Weasely, contagonist, and all the guests, thank-you for your reviews!

Please everyone feel free to give suggestions, ask questions, or make predictions. Sorry if this chapter bore you, I know it was kinda a filler. Thanks anyways, and remember, follow, favorite and REVIEW!