Clary lazily opened her eyes. It was so comfortable, wherever she was, with her head resting on a fluffy pillow, and a worm comforter surrounding her. Maybe she was at Simon's house. She'd fallen asleep there enough times to know how comfortable his spare bed was. No, she wasn't in Simon's spare room. It smelt different. A lot like… something burning. "Isabelle! We're not eating that!" A voice yelled. It was kind of familiar, but right now, Clary was more focused on the throbbing in her left leg. It had been noticeable when she woke up, and it had steadily increased until it was positively piercing. She needed something to distract. And fast. The ceiling was painted with a Rococo theme of angels, the colors bright and almost hurting Clary's eyes. There was fuzziness in her head that only increased as she turned her head to the side, noticing that the bed was rumpled, as if a lot of people had sat on it. Sitting on the bedside table was a tall glass of water. Clary reached out greedily åmd savored the feeling of the cool glass beneath her rough palm, calloused from many hours of holding a pencil. "Are you actually going to drink that water, or are you going to sit there staring at it?" Clary turned so fast that the world went blurry and the water sloshed out of the cup in her hand, soaking the comforter. "I guess you're not going to now, seeing as you spilt it all over the bed." Jace pushed himself off from where he'd been leaning against the doorframe and starting walking towards her. "Where am I? Why happened? Who knows I'm here?" Clary asked rapidly, her heart still beating fast from the shock he gave her. "Whoa, slow down. Don't you remember?" Jace looked a little concerned. He took the glass out of her hand and set it back on the bedside table. "Of course I don't remember, why would I be-" Clary broke of as images floated back to her. Demons, frozen and caught in flames. Alec, hand on his belt. Isabelle, electrum whip drawn back and ready to strike. "There was a hunt. I followed you there." Clary whispered. "That you did." Now Jace looked pleased. 'And I was right." And now he was smirking and looking way too pleased with himself. Clary decided she wouldn't bolster his ego and ask what he was 'right' about- it was already too inflated. Thankfully, before she had to reply, someone interrupted. "Jeez, Jace, it's a wonder poor Clary hasn't fallen asleep already, with you talking about yourself as usual." Jace leaned back on his hands and gave Isabelle an easy grin. "Everyone loves me. Why would they not want to listen to me talk about myself?" Clary decided to cut in. "Uh, because it's incredibly boring. Where did Aline go?" Jace was acting offended. "How could you not want to listen to me-?" Isabelle cut across him. "Look Clary, you got a pretty bad bite to the leg. Aline had to go home, but your mother knows you're here." And where, Clary thought, is here? "Do you want something to eat?" At that Jace, started making barely perceptible slashing motions across his neck, but Clary's stomach gave it all away by giving a loud grumble. Embarrassed, Clary blushed. Isabelle grinned. "Thought so."
"Isabelle, I think I would rather eat my own eyeballs." Jace said flatly. She rolled her eyes. "Good. That means Clary can take your mu shu pork, rather than scabbing of everyone else." Clary had been watching the exchange with much amusement. Like most only children, she didn't sympathize when hearing siblings bicker- it was almost as good as watching TV. "Oh no." Jace had a dangerous look in his eyes that could only be described as a kind of glittering malice. "Don't joke about the mu shu pork, Iz. Never about the mu shu pork." Without warning, he launched the contents of the glass his hand had slowly been creeping towards since he had started talking. Isabelle was dripping with water, but you wouldn't guess it from the fury lighting up in her eyes. Clary was almost scared, even though the glare wasn't directed at her, and felt kind of sorry for Jace- until he grinned. That idiot, she thought. Isabelle screamed, a sound that was not entirely human, and threw herself and Jace, fist curled in preparation of a punch. He just rolled out of the way and began swaggering merrily towards the door, whistling all the way. "He's showing off to you- that was extreme, even for Jace." Isabelle told Clary as she picked herself up. Clary just snorted. She's never heard something so ridiculous in her life. Jace wouldn't be showing off to her, ever. "Come on. Let's go before Jace eats all my food to get me back for saying that to you." Clary already felt something of a bond between her and Isabelle, even if she had been pretty hostile before. Maybe it was the mutual love of Shadowhunting. Shaking her head, Clary got up and followed her downstairs.
When she entered the dining room, Clary stopped in her tracks. She couldn't take it in. Her head went a little dizzy for a couple of seconds. It was the strangest thing to walk into a room full of people that had a secret that you thought you only knew about, and then found out someone from your completely regular life has found their way into that secret too. Which is exactly what happened when she saw her history professor sitting at the table between Alec and Jace. "Mr. Starkweather?" She blurted out, making everyone look up at her. Clary felt her cheeks going very red, and she mumbled. "I'll just sit down now that I'm done making a fool of myself." Alec mumbled something so softly that she was sure no one was meant to hear. "I'm not so sure of that." Clary felt her cheeks going a darker shade of red as she moved to sit down. "Hello, Clary." Mr. Starkweather greeted politely. "Please call me Hodge." She just nodded and took the food that Isabelle passed her way. The smell drifting from the box was delicious, and reminded her of many nights spent with her mum and Luke, laughing and wolfing down buckets of Chinese. She spooned some noodles and veggies onto her shining white plate and grasped the wooden chopsticks , eating automatically. She was tuning in and out, snatches of conversations reaching her ears. Demons and Shadowhunting interwoven with such ordinary topics, like football and homework. It was all so familiar to Clary- the tastes, the conversations, the joking manner that everyone spoke with- that she let herself relax, something she would never normally do outside of home or with Simon. At school she went by unnoticed, and when she was, it wasn't a pleasant experience. "Clary!" Someone's sharp voice jerked her out of the daydream. She looked up and saw Isabelle looking highly impatient. "I said, where was that rune from you drew in the battle? I haven't seen it before." Oh no. What to do, what to do? Clary knew that these people were Shadowhunters, but just how much could she trust them? Just because they were Shadowhunters, didn't mean they weren't clinically insane, or evil beyond measure. Look at Valentine. The man who was supposed to be her father had tried to use her once he had found out about her rune powers. Thankfully, Jocelyn had taught her to stay away from him, and he ended up in the Silent City jail. "Ah…" She trailed off, still unsure. Finally, she decided. "I have the ability to make new runes." Maybe if this all went wrong, she could create a new rune to make them forget. There was a stunned silence. Clary could feel blood rushing to her face again, her cheeks going as red as her hair. Then Alec started laughing. "You?" he choked out. "Yeah, right. Good one, Clary." Everyone else was still silent. Alec's laughter dropped off, and his cheeks were beginning to get flushed too. "Prove it." Jace said in a tone that brooked no arguments. His face was deadly still, showing no emotion. Isabelle looked mystified and Hodge seemed as if it was all news to him, but something was a little fake about it. Whatever. Clary would have time to ponder that later. Okay, she thought determinedly. She pulled out her stele and went to Alec. "Arm, please?" she asked resolutely. He looked unsure. "Oh, come on." Clary rolled her eyes, feeling exasperated and fairly annoyed. She was shaking just the tiniest bit because however much she didn't want to admit it, Clary Fairchild was also nervous. Alec gave in and held out his arm, sleeve already rolled up to his elbow. Clary could see the blue traceries of his veins winding up his arm, and the pulse at his wrist, beating quickly. She drew her stele out of her pocket and set it to Alec's arm. She drew freely, letting her mind roam. She remembered the rune she scribbled on her book-the one that Jace was staring at when he 'asked her out'. She remembered Alec's snide side comment. Once she was finished, she set her stele down on the table expectantly looked up at his face, along with everyone else in the room. Alec looked a little pale. "Are you ok?" Jace asked hesitantly. Alec looked down at the thick black lines on his lower arm, then back at Jace. "Am I ok?" He repeated slowly. "Yeah, I'm fine." Jace didn't look convinced. In fact, no one was convinced. Clary looked at the rune again, the pieces coming together in her mind as the meaning finally came to her. I Oops. I. "Ah, guys. I know what the rune does now." Clary spoke up hesitantly. "I mean you can't blame me. I didn't know what it did. I'm not even sure how long it lasts- maybe it's like an hour sort of thing?" Isabelle took a step towards her. "Clary." She said slowly. "What have you done to my brother?"