Happy New Year! (Two days late, but oh well. It's the thought that counts.) This is kind of a filler chapter, but still expect some action…

Disclaimer: I don't own the Mortal Instruments, and all the characters and most of the ideas belong to Cassandra Clare.

Clary slumped down in Simon's car seat, the hard bench unyielding against her body. He glanced at her from the wheel. "Why so sad?" He said, making a puppy face at her. She sighed. "Not funny, Si. The last thing I feel like doing today is joking."

"Why?" he asked, though this time the question came without the face. "Mum wasn't happy I missed school without her permission. The blowup this morning- well, let's just say it wasn't good."

He frowned. "If you haven't been at home, where have you been?" She'd forgotten for a moment that Simon didn't know her secret. That he wasn't part of her world, no matter how good a friend he was. And that there was no way she was telling him and risking the punishment the Clave handed out for revealing the Shadow World to a mundane. "Uh- I was staying at home. She just- didn't realize I wasn't, um, going to school."

The frown carved deeper lines into his face as he struggled to take in the massive lie. Clary wasn't sure that if someone told her she would even consider believing it. "So, what have you been up to?" she asked brightly, trying to divert his attention.

"Um. Nothing." He replied absently. Obviously, the diversion wasn't working.

"Have you heard that in January they're updating that D&D manual?" Clary questioned.

"I'm surprised you have." Good. Thoroughly sidetracked. Clary slumped in relief further into her seat.

While Simon nattered on about D&D, she wondered how the day was going to go. Would Jace pretend that nothing had happened? Or would he reveal to the whole school what was going on? Jace was in a constant spotlight- one that Clary did not want to be under with him, no matter how much she wanted to spend time with him.

She absently pulled the books out of her locker, still wondering what was going to happen with Jace. She'd already seen Alec that morning- he completely ignored her, which was pretty much what she had expected.

"Hi, Clary." A boy from her art class greeted as he walked by.

"Hey, Connor." She replied. Then, she heard them. The shouts and giggles from Jace's little entourage- well, it wasn't so little. Clary grabbed her books and shut her locker door. Down the hall, Jace and Isabelle were walking together, surrounded by people. Now that she knew they were Shadowhunters, she could see the grace in their steps, the alertness in their gazes.

"Hey, Clary!" Isabelle yelled, waving to her.

"Hi!" She called, grinning. Her line of sight shifted to Jace and she smiled. He opened his mouth to say something, but she shook her head and walked in the opposite direction down the hallway.

She had decided. There was no way Clary wanted to compared to the bimbos Jace went out with occasionally, all fake blond hair and too bright lipstick. She didn't want people to give either of them a hard time about it. And then she wondered; what did he see in her? Was it just that she was another Shadowhunter, and he was starved to share secrets outside his family? No. She shook the thought of. I'm not doing this. Jace liked her for who she was. He'd asked her out before he knew. Clary sighed and headed to homeroom. Today was going to be a long day.

Dropping her books on the table, Clary pulled out a chair and sat down heavily. For a few seconds, there was peace and quiet.

"Hey." A familiar voice said. Izzy set her books on the table next to her. All around the classroom, people were staring- Isabelle Lightwood sitting with the nobody Clary Fray? "Turns out we have the same homeroom."

"Yeah." Clary replied. "Why are you sitting with me now though?"

Isabelle blinked. "You don't want me to? I guess I can sit somewhere else."

"No! That's not what I meant! I just wondered why you were sitting with me now. Why not sit with your other friends?"

"No one here is the same as me. It's nice to have someone else outside my family that knows, I guess." She shrugged. "Anyway, have you heard about the nest of Vetis's? We're going to clean them out tonight, if you want to come."

The student next to them was giving them a weird look. Clary guessed it wasn't everyone day you heard your classmates refer to being different and clearing out 'a nest' as though they were exterminators. But the boy had no reason to suspect anything- not that there was a world full of demons that those with angel blood running through their veins had a mandate to kill. That there were part demon Downworlders, that there was a country in the middle of Europe that no mundanes could see. When you think about it like that, it's a wonder all Shadowhunters haven't gone completely insane.

Clary easily decapitated a baby Vetis demon and whirled around as it started to fold in itself, seraph blade ready for another, but Jace was already spearing the last demon through heart. The dark alleyway filled with silence, ichor and trash strewn all over the place. Even the sight of a job well done couldn't rouse Clary from her misery, but that fact seemed to have passed everyone by. The whole day had practically been torture. Jace hadn't said a word to her, and she definitely hadn't said a thing to him. He pulled his usual act, flirting with girls and being arrogant. But they still hadn't said anything to each other.

"Guys?" Alec asked carefully. "I think we have a visitor."

The boy who was in Clary and Isabelle's homeroom- the one that had sent them a weird look when they were talking about clearing out the nest was standing at the entrance. His black hair contrasted sharply with his pale skin and bright green eyes, and the shadows that the alleyway cast on his face made him look all the more mystical.

Jace spoke up, his voice even. "Hey, man. What are you doing here?"

"Nephilim." The boy's voice was a sneer. "I should have known. But you're existence will not continue while I'm here."

Shock registered on everyone's faces. Clary couldn't believe it. A demon, at their school. How could that have been missed by everyone? The demon- Eidolon- launched at Izzy, who cracked her electrum whip, severing one of its arms from its body. Everyone lurched into action. Seraph blades lit up, forming long black shadows of their owners. In her peripheral vision, Clary could see the shadows engaged in a deadly dance, mirroring the true battle. The Eidolon demon slashed at Alec, who darted out of the way, but not before receiving a long slash that tore through his gear and the skin beneath. "Alec!" Jace yelled, launching himself in front of the demon and neatly severing its head. The demon folded in on itself, shrieking. "Jonathon Morgenstern will have you all! He will kill every one of you- except for her." It lifted a hand and pointed at Clary, disappearing with a screech.

I'll be going skiing for two weeks, so I won't be updating until I get back. But I'll still write, so expect lots of chapters when I got back!