A Hidden World

Chapter 2

The white dress

I was deep in the forest surrounded by big thick trees as the sun was setting down. There was something familiar to this place although I couldn't remember being here before. I didn't know where I was going when I saw a path with fire sticks along it, like the one at the party. That's strange, I thought, I remember going to a party and I clearly remember the path but I don't remember anything after that.

I continued to walk along the path and suddenly I realised what I was wearing. I was barefoot wearing a white dress covered with something red. I looked closer and realised it was blood. My hands were also covered in blood as I checked myself for injuries but I could find none. I kept walking like this hadn't bothered me, like seeing me in blood was something I was expecting.

A bright light was coming from some trees at my left. I felt the urge to go towards it but something inside me was telling to stay and follow the path but I didn't listen and went out of the path when everything went dark........

"Clary? Clary can you hear me?"

Someone was calling my name but I couldn't be sure. My whole body was in pain. I tried o move only to regret it as I felt a wave of more pain.

"Clary, don't move." A firm voice told me. I tried to open my eyes to see who was speaking to me but my vision was blurry. The only thing I could see was a yellow thing above me moving around my head. As my vision started to clear I could see that there was a blonde boy looking at me with those watchful golden eyes.

His eyes were somehow familiar and I tried to remember when it hit me. I remembered last night's events, how Simon and I went to a party and that someone pushed me into the pool and then the golden boy with a knife looking angry was coming towards me.

I tried to get away from him but he put his hands on my shoulder holding me back.

"You should stay still, the venom isn't out of your system and I am afraid that will bring you dizziness if you get up."

"What? Let me go." I said trying to get his hands out of me but my hands didn't felt strong enough and my left arm was in severe pain.

"As you wish." He said and let go of me. I looked around me before I tried to get up. I was in a room unfamiliar to me and lying on a big bed. There was some light coming from the window, it seemed to me that it was late in the afternoon. I tried to get up, my body was moving but I couldn't feel any part of it, except probably my left arm. I stayed up for a few seconds then I started to fell backwards when he caught me and helped me sit on the bed.

"I told you so" he said grinning to me.

"Where is Simon?" I said my eyes searching for him in the room not able to find him and realising that I was alone in a room, on a bed with a boy that I didn't know.

"Don't be afraid." He said as he saw me panicking. "He is downstairs with Isabelle. They sent me to come and check on you. You have been sleeping the whole day. We got a little worried you know." He got up and went to the dresser to pick something I couldn't see. "Is your arm still hurting?" He asked me as he approached me and now I could see he was holding a green bottle with a dark liquid inside of it.

"Yea and it is the only part of my body that I can feel right now."

"It will go away soon." He said and sat beside me and took my arm in his hands. I felt the warmth coming from his hands as he gently took off the bandages. "It is almost out."

"What's almost out?" I asked and look my arm. There was a big wound on my upper left arm and it was purple. In the center of it there was something coming out of the skin and the skin around it was red covered with dried blood. "Is that ..."

"A sting? Yes and I would suggest not to remove it, not yet." He said and took the green bottle and put some drops of it on my wound.

"What happened last night? Why am I here? Why there is a sting in my arm? And who are you?" I felt the need to know what was happening.

"Ok, one question at a time." He closed my wound with a new pair of bandages and my arm started to feel a little better after he had applied that dark liquid on it. "First of all, my name is Jace and I already know yours Clary and...." He looked in my eyes his eyes thoughtful, trying to decide if he should tell me or not.

"What is it?"

"Well I am not supposed to tell you anything but you have already seen a lot.....and besides your friend already knows."

"Simon? What...."

"Don't get up yet." He said as I tried to get up again which was pointless because I fell back again. My legs weren't strong to hold me. "The venom is all out yet and that's why you feel like that." He said as I put myself in a better sitting position across him.

"Venom?" Nothing made sense.

"The venom coming from the sting. That's what ravener's sting do."

"Ravener?"

"A demon." He said and looked me carefully to see how I would react.

"A demon did that to me?" I said not believing him. All I could remember was him holding a knife and not a demon.

"Yes." He sighed and continued with a dismay look on his face. "You see, Isabelle had the brilliant idea to have a human party. I told her that that may attract demons but she wouldn't listen. The party had started and people kept coming when I heard screams coming from outside. I went out to see that a ravener demon had crushed the party and was throwing people in the pool. He hadn't attacked them yet and the humans of course couldn't see him. We told everyone to leave so we could deal with him while we were alone. The ravener of course wasn't happy and there was a big fight. We killed him but we didn't realise that there was one more. Then you came and I think you know the rest."

"I must be dreaming." I said in a low voice mostly to myself but he heard it.

"No you are not. The proof is in your arm."

I looked him carefully to see if he was lying but he seemed very serious about it. He opened his mouth to tell me something but the door snapped opened and Simon came in.

"Clary you are awake!" He came closer to me and gave me a hug. "How are you? Is the sting still insider her?" He asked Jace.

"It's almost out." He replied seeming annoyed that he had interrupted us.

"Simon what happened?" I turned to him expecting to hear a more logical explanation from him.

"He didn't tell you?"

"He did but nothing makes sense."

"Believe me, he is telling the truth." I turned look at Jace but he was gone. "I saw the demon Clary."

"But I didn't see anything!"

"That's because we humans can't see them."

"Then how did you see them?"

"Isabelle blew some weird powder in my eyes and after that I could see."

"Who is Isabelle?"

"That would be me." A girl sanding at the doorway told me. She was wearing a blue skirt and a white top while her long black hair was loose down her back. "Jace told me that it is time for the sting to get out." She said and came and sat next to me. She took the bandages off my arm not trying to be gentle as Jace was. "Now close your eyes."

"Why should I close my...." I flinched at that point because Isabelle had pulled the sting out and God that was painful. My arm started to bleed but she managed to stop the bleeding with more bandages.

"Thanks." I said to her and she nodded.

"There are some clean clothes in the bathroom if you want to change." She said and then she left.

"That was thoughtful." Simon said. "Well I'll see you downstairs."

"We are not going home?"

"Well I already did....so my mother won't get worry and your parents are out of town for a couple of days so.......besides they want let you leave until they make sure you are ok. He stated it very clearly that you won't leave from here until he made sure you were perfectly fine." He said flinching his face at the last sentence.

"That's ridiculous."

"I know. Come downstairs where everyone is and they will explain it you" He said and left.

I was so confused but trying to think about all these things made my head hurt even more so I gave up and went to take a shower. The hot water made me feel better and as stepped out of the shower I found the clothes that Isabelle was talking about. There was a pair of jeans with a top along with it and a white dress. I picked the jeans only to find out that they were huge on me so I went for the dress.

I went into the room to find the long-length mirror and took a closer look of myself. My left arm was covered with bandages and my shoulder above my arm had small purple bruises. That wasn't what surprised me though. It was the dress. I hadn't noticed it before but it was the exact same one with the dress in my dream. The difference was that this one wasn't covered with blood.