A Hidden World

Chapter 8

Dark Forces

Clary

I was trying hard not to think the lake house but couldn't help myself. The image kept coming although I tried to push it away. I kept seeing the images of the house, the lake around it and how the forest nearby sounded at night. It was so real that for a second I thought that I was there. But at the same time Jace was shouting to me, not let go of his hand.

We were inside of the Portal now and we were going to our destination through purple bubbles. That's what I saw at the begging because after that we were falling. I closed my eyes waiting to hit the ground but it was taking too long. Jace was shouting again. I couldn't understand what he was telling me, and the images of the lake house came more vivid.

I stayed on the ground without opening my eyes. My body was in hurt because of the crash and my head was aching as the image of the lake house disappeared. I laid there for several minutes trying to calm down my heart beats, listening to the trees. There were trees near us; I could hear them as the wind was playing with their leaves.

I couldn't hear Jace though and for a moment I thought he was hurt but as I raised my head I didn't see him beside me. Sometime during the travel we lost connection of our hands. After that we landed immediately.

I stood up searching for him, calling his name without getting any respond. I noticed that I wasn't at the carnival. I was in big a meadow and I could see far away the mountains and a lake.

For a moment I thought that I was indeed at the lake house so after searching for Jace I went toward the lake. If I was lucky Jace would be there. He must be somewhere near. We just got separated for a few moments. He must be ok, I tried to convince myself. I didn't want to think that something bad happened to him because of me. But he should have been next to me.

Portals take you at your destination, right? So we should have been together. But Jace was thinking the carnival and I was thinking the lake house. What if the Portal sent him there and me here? That would be terrible. Even if this was the lake house no one would be there. My parents were long gone to Paris and I didn't have my keys. I could break in but again I doubt if I could find a phone. We didn't have a phone number since we didn't spent much time there and when we needed to make some calls, we always had our cell phones.

What If Jace is looking for me, would he know that I am here? I doubt that. He wouldn't know which place I was thinking. Could Simon know? He knew about the lake house, we had spent one summer together there but how could he have known I was thinking that?

I put those thoughts away for now and concentrated on the lake. I kept walking towards it with the moon light above me strong to light my way. As I approached I noticed a house but couldn't know if it was the lake house so I went closer. It was a big white mansion in the middle of nowhere. This wasn't our lake house. Suddenly I realised that this scenery wasn't familiar to me.

I was thinking the lake house when I entered the Portal and the Portal didn't sent me either to the carnival or to the lake house, but somewhere very similar to the lake house.

There were lights coming from the windows and smoke from the chimney. I decided to go there to ask for help.

Jace

Something was wrong. I landed near the carnival but without Clary. I could hear the noise and the lights far away. I looked for Clary, shouting her name, calling her but couldn't get an answer.

I was afraid that she was thinking of a different destination when we entered the Portal and that was why we had been apart. The only way to find her it was for Magnus to track her.

I began to run hoping that Clary weren't in trouble or hurt.

Clary

I didn't have time to ring the bell because the moment I stood in front the door, someone opened it. It was an old lady with white long hair and green eyes, smiling at me.

"You must be Clarissa or should I say Clary as Jace informed me that you liked it that way. Please come in." She said and showed me inside.

"How do you know my name?" I asked as I reluctantly stepped into the house. She knew my name and that made me felt uneasy. I know I shouldn't go inside but this was the only house around and my only chance if I wanted to get back home.

"I was expecting you." I must have looked puzzled to her because she said... "I am Dorothea. Jace told me about you."

Jace. So Jace knew her. She must be the Dorothea he was talking about. But why isn't she at the carnival? I wanted to ask her how she knew that I had ended up here and why not at the carnival as Jace had arranged but instead another question came up.

"Where is Jace? Is he ok? We lost each other through..."

"Don't worry he is fine. Now sit down till I get some tea and cake."

She led me through the hallway passing a few closed doors before entering a big red room. Everything in the room was in different shades of red. The sofas were dark deep red and the carpet was a light red. The tablecloth was red; the chairs' covers were red and even the tea cups she brought were in colour red. Every little thing in the room was red, except from one thing. The bookcase. Despite the fact that the whole room was red colour, the books weren't. There were a lot of books, but only two colours covered them. Black and white.

"So Jace tells me that you see visions." she said, pouring me some tea.

"Well, I wouldn't say that they are visions. The hardly show me the future."

"Humans." She sounded tired. "You think you know everything. Visions are not only seeing about the future. Is about fate, destiny. A story being told. Humans always had them, but because of the lack of knowledge they tried to eliminate it. I am sure you are familiar to all these historical facts."

"You mean, the witches' burning?"

"Among others. Many suffered and died those days because of the humans. They didn't appreciate the gift that was given to them."

"But you said witches. Aren't they downworlders?"

"No. They are humans. They are the only humans that are allowed into our world. The female is called witch and the male... "

"Warlock."

"Yes," she smiled at me, "but only women can have the visions."

So Magnus was human. And she said that only women had visions. Did that make me a witch? The only strange and not normal about me were the dreams. Apart from that, I was doing normal staff. There were no sparks coming out of my fingers nor objects were appearing out of thin air in front of me.

"I know what you are thinking." Dorothea told me as she carefully watched my face.

"Am I a witch?" The question came out of me in a rush.

"I don't know."

"Can't you see? You can tell the future, right? So, can't you tell me?"

"The future is never stable. Is like walking on a road between two mountains. You keep going, thinking that you know where your next steps will be. You think you know because you see the road. You keep walking not thinking that something may interrupt you and bring you away from the road. And you won't see it because all your attention was on your feet and not around you."

"So you can't see the future." I said a little disappointed. I thought that she could have helped me. Tell me why I am seeing visions. "Then what can you tell me."

"Clary, I am not a fortune teller. I know though some things about visions. I may not be a witch but I have a few talents of my own. Now let's start by your hand." She said and gestured for me to give her my hand. "Not your right hand. Your left one."

She grabbed my left hand and placed it between her palms. She brought it close to her face and her eyes closed. She was quite and didn't move. Her eyes were moving underneath her eyelashes and I was afraid that she fell asleep when she yanked my hand away. She stoond up fast despite her age and looked at me with wide and terrified eyes.

"You have stolen something from him, don't you?" She started passing fast across the room eyes not leaving me.

"What? From whom?"

"Don't you dare lie to me in my own house." Her voice higher now.

"I don't know what you are talking about. What did you see?"

"I didn't see anything. I said I am not a witch but I can sense your aura. And your aura is all wrong."

"Wrong? What do you mean? Is this have to do Moira Forest?" At the sound of that she stoped passing.

"That's what you are seeing, aren't you?" She kept looking intensively, her eyes not blinking. "The dark forces are all around you. I am not surprised that you saw the Moira Forest."

"So, what does this all mean?" She came closer grabbing my arms. Her grasp was strong.

"He will come after you. Chase you, you and whoever else is with you. You must leave." She said releasing my arms and getting away from me. "And don't tell anyone about our meeting. No one."

"But..."

"Did you understand me?"

"No." I said angry as I stood up in front of her ready to conform her. "I came to find some answers and instead I found myself with more questions. I am not leaving until you tell me exactly what's going on." The look on my face had probably made her think again because she went to the windows and closed the curtains, not before looking outside searching for something.

"Fine. But after this you will leave and never tell anyone that you saw me. Do you understand?"

I just nodded.