Lacie: So… How's everyone doing?

Clary: Umm…. Fine?

Chris: That is such a stupid question

Lacie: Yeah…..I know it is, but like, in reality, nothing to do with this story, but like what you're actual plot is in TMI.

Clary: Oh, you know, visiting Jace. Checking out his glowing self, getting grounded for, like forever by my mom for running off on my own and putting my life in danger. The usual.

Lacie: Chris?

Chris: Did you not read City of Lost Souls? 'I am coming'

Lacie: Yes but what does that mean!?

Chris: I can't tell you that.

Clary: Will probably toss us another dead angel…

Lacie: Anyway, I don't really look at the Internet for any sneak peeks or stuff that Cassandra Clare may talk about, so if anyone wants to tell me anything they might know about the next book feel free to tell me!

Chris & Clary: Lacie-Abyss does not own the Mortal Instruments.

Lacie: I OWN WHITE HAIRED CLARY AND CHRIS!

Chris: You don't own me!

Lacie: I don't own Sebastian, but I do own Chris ;)

Enjoy!

Clary POV

Clary couldn't see as Sebastian (they were training) tied the black scarf around her eyes tight.

"Can you see anything?" He asked.

Clary shook her head, and stood still waiting for Sebastian to tell her what the blind fold was all about. After ensuring that what she saw in the kitchen, that she did have black blood, Clary quickly cleaned the wound, covered it with a bandage, and dressed in lose lime green yoga pants and a white long T-Shirt. Before meeting Chris back downstairs, she took a couple of breaths, and calmed herself. She also drank a cup of coffee when she went back down, which stopped the pounding in her head from before. (Ugh, she was addicted to coffee) She didn't know why she didn't want to tell Chris about her black blood, she just didn't. Clary wondered if her black blood was because of Sebastian's demonic qualities, but then remembered that Sebastian had red blood, she remembered back in Alicante, the way his blood had burned at her arm. But it was red.

Shaking those thoughts out of her mind, Clary focused on training. When they had first gotten here, Sebastian had put her back where she left off, fifteen meters away from the target. The three daggers in her hand, she didn't even struggle to aim them in the center of the target. With her new strength and eyesight, thanks to the rune, she chucked all three knives in the center, the blades so close together that they competed for space.

With that he pulled her back another five meters, and on the fourth try, all three knives once again were very close together in the center of the target. It hadn't been exactly easy, twenty meters was a long distance, but it would have been much harder if she was regular old Clary, not white haired Clary.

Sebastian had nodded, as if he didn't actually want to see if she could do it, but as if he wanted to see the how much better the rune had actually affected her. He then pulled out a black scarf, sliced it in half, and tied it around her face. Clary waited, and was about to open her mouth and ask, "Now what?" when she felt like something was quickly coming towards her. She didn't know what instinct told her to move, but she ducked as a rush of disturbed air hit her face and her hand automatically reached for her cheek and demanded, "What was that?"

Sebastian's voice sounded, about five feet in front of her and two to the right. She turned towards the sound as he said, "I just wanted to see if you really were telling the truth about not being able to see, and to test how well your senses are, well, my senses considering that you're borrowing them from me."

"So to test that you threw a knife at my face!" Clary shrieked as her hands reached up towards the blindfold.

"Don't remove it yet," Sebastian stated, "Yes, I threw a knife at you, because if you could actually see, you might have moved before it was anywhere near you. Besides, I wasn't aiming at your face, the knife would have gone past your shoulder if you hadn't moved. You see, Shadowhunters rely greatly on their senses, the five of them as well as instincts. But you have to learn to rely on your other senses, not just what you see. We're simply going to activate them so that you learn to use them when needed. Now, quick question, how did you know that I had thrown a knife? It could have been anything but you're sure it was a knife."

If Clary's eyes weren't squeezed shut by the blindfold, she would have blinked. How did she know? "I'm not sure, the way it came past me, the sound of the wind, like something was cutting through it. If it was something bigger, bulker, the wind would have sounded different, in the other case if it was something smaller, like a coin, it would have been harder to detect."

Clary was compelled to say, "Also that last thing you were holding was the knives from target practice so it's not like you could have thrown a spoon at me or something," but that would have ruined her answer.

She couldn't see Sebastian, but she could feel like he was smiling, something about the way he said, "Good, that's good." Her senses must have been pretty well tuned.

"Now," Sebastian said, she could hear his footsteps coming close to her, then she felt his hand on her back, the other one, gripping her right shoulder. His long fingers were lightly pressing the top of her breasts. She tried to ignore it, but since she couldn't see her other senses were working overtime, so she could feel his fingers on her through the shirt she wore, hear his breath in her ear, and smell his guy shampoo. He lead her towards what she assumed was the center of the training room.

Letting go of her, she heard him walk away to her left, probably to the turret that Clary remembered was right there. She could hear him as he took something lining the turret, and came back to her. She felt his hand grasp hers, his hand warm, and curled her fingers over something that was sort of heavy, yet hollow. She moved her hands over it, trying to determine what it was.

"A pole?" She asked. "No, a bamboo stick." She corrected herself. Her fingertips recognized the smooth surface of it.

"You're right, it's a bamboo stick, and it's going to be part of your training for today." Sebastian said, "Since you're going to learn to rely on your other senses, I'm going to try to attack you with another bamboo stick, and you will have to try to defend yourself with yours."

Clary processed this information. "Wait, what!" She said.

"Let's begin." All of a sudden a Clary felt movement going for her legs, she fumbled with her bamboo stick, but couldn't move in time. A large pain bloomed in her calf as Sebastian whacked her.

"You'll have to be quick, Clary," Another whack hit her on the shoulder, this time Clary didn't even feel it coming. She winced as she felt her shoulder throb, but refused to let go of her bamboo stick to press at the pain. This time, she thought she heard wind coming towards her forearm. Quickly, Clary moved her stick to deflect the attack, but Sebastian must have changed direction because that whack hit her other forearm this time.

"Stop!" Clary screamed, dropping her bamboo stick to the ground, Sebastian must have stopped too because she couldn't feel anymore whacks. "You can't just say 'Ready? GO!' because I'm not ready!"

"Clary, demons aren't going to wait for you to get ready, they'll just attack." Sebastian said with a sound of annoyance in his voice, but Clary could also hear the tone of satisfaction coming from him. He was enjoying this.

"Give me a minute!" She responded, "This isn't practicing my senses, you're playing Piñata, except this time, the Piñata has its own stick!"

"Fine then, I'll give you a minute to get your bearings." Sebastian said.

Clary took a deep breath, and tried to slow her heart rate. She knew that she wouldn't be able to stop Sebastian from every attack, but she had to get an idea of how she could sense him coming. She leaned back on her heels, and listened to the way the floor slightly creaked when there was weight on it, when someone moved on it. She took a step forward, and one step back, noticing how it sounded. She took another deep breath, not to calm herself, but to see if she could still smell Sebastian's shampoo. He was right in front of her, so she could smell it a little, but not too much. Her nose was never that strong, but now it was much more delicate to the air around her. She moved the bamboo stick around, testing the best ways to move it around, quickly learning how to switch it from hand to hand, and estimating that it was about four feet in length.

She was aware of Sebastian being in front of her, probably watching her every move, and that more than a minute had passed, but she was getting into her instincts, and that took some time. Soon it would be faster, automatic, like flipping a switch.

Taking one last deep breath, she stood where she was, not even bothering to try to find where Sebastian was standing, for she had moved away a bit. She stood with both hands on her bamboo stick, holding it parallel to the ground.

"Ready." She said.

She didn't feel that her body had moved until she left the disturbed wind across her collar bone. In a blurred second she realized that Sebastian had, as fast as sound, swung his bamboo stick and had aimed for her injured shoulder, but she had sidestepped just before his stick made contact. She was about to feel a burst of pride, when she heard the floor squeak as Sebastian's rubber soled shoes moved behind her, Clary turned around, just about to raise her stick when she felt the impact of his bamboo hit her side. It took massive amounts of will power to not cower and hold her side in pain when she felt Sebastian coming at her again on her right. She didn't know where he was aiming at, so instead of bringing up her bamboo again, she ducked and rolled, ignoring the pain in her shoulder and side. Standing on her feet again, she quickly regained her bearings as she heard a croak of wood, the floor. Without even realizing, Clary raised her bamboo stick with one hand on either side of it, and heard the hollow sound of bamboo against bamboo.

Before Sebastian could attack again, Clary released her stick, and guessing where Sebastian was, she pounced on him, wrapping her arms around his waist, knocking both of them to the ground. She heard him grunt as they fell on the wooden floor, and two sounds as their bamboo poles fell to the ground.

Clary could feel Sebastian's chest falling and rising rapidly, unevenly, so she removed her blindfold to see what was wrong.

He was trying not to laugh.

But when he saw Clary looking at him, he burst out, leaning his head back as he did.

"What's so funny?" She asked him. Was it because Clary was a lot weaker than he had expected her to be, or was it because she chickened out and decided to throw herself at him. Either way, she was mad because this didn't seem like such a humorous moment for her.

"Stop it!" She banged her fists on his chest, but that only made him laugh even more. Clary stared at him, her black eyes watching as he tried to regain his breath, but as he lifted his head up to look at her, he barked out another burst of laughter. After a while, she couldn't help but join in. They laughed for a few more moments, until they both stopped. They stayed that way for a while, until Sebastian looked at her and said, "So, how long are you planning on lying down on me like that?"

Clary looked down and realized that she was still on him, her white hair going around her like a curtain, her chin meeting with his breastbone. Their legs were intertwined and her elbows were on either side of her, her palms resting in his chest. She could feel her cheeks burn bright, and ducked her head. She attempted to roll off of him, but she felt his arm wrap around her waist, holding her secure. She looked at him, accusingly, but questioning.

"I never said you had to get off." His eyes were bright, after his round of laughter, and Clary felt herself relax into him again, against her will. She was very conscious of the fact that they were both wearing very thin shirts, hers white and his blue, so she could feel his muscles. She tried to ease up the moment by saying, "You could have killed me back there."

He chuckled, "I would have not."

"Yes you would," She put a lock of hair behind her ears. She liked this hair; it didn't get tangled even after fighting. "That last attack could have bashed my brains in if I hadn't stopped it."

"I would have moved it to the side at the last second, I was just trying to see of you'd notice it." He smiled devilishly, "Is that why you threw yourself at me? So that I wouldn't attack you again? And here I thought that you were taking back what you said about me just being a brother."

Clary felt her cheeks burn up again. Sebastian might be saying that in a jokingly way, but Clary didn't feel like it was a joke.

She looked him in the eye, and as quietly as she could, she said, "I wasn't joking about that you know. I really do want you to be a brother." She looked down, and then back up again, her voice louder "I know that you said that you don't care if we're siblings, but I do."

Sebastian had stood up so fast, that Clary barely managed to sit up before he knocked her down. She shouldn't have said that, they were going so well. Why had she stirred things up? Jace was right, sometimes she just had to stay quiet.

But that's why she did that, for Jace. She might not think about him too much, but that was for her sake, so that she wouldn't miss him so much. But deep down, everything she did was to protect him and the others. She had to tell Sebastian how she really felt before things went out of hand.

Kneeling on the ground, she watched as Sebastian looked at her with a new emotion in his eyes. No, emotions. She could see anger, confusion, sadness, loneliness, and despair. Silently, his eyes asked her a question. Could you ever love me?

Not as a brother. As him. Like she did Jace.

Clary could see that he was struggling with this, with her wish for him to be her brother, and his wish to have her love him.

His eyes showed everything while his face showed nothing.

Clary didn't want to see it anymore. She couldn't stand to see his eyes like that. Slowly, as if she didn't want to startle him with sudden movement, she reached for the blindfold that she left on the ground. She stood up with it, walking carefully towards Sebastian. His gaze followed her, but he didn't move. She walked behind him, and on her tip-toes, she tied the blind fold around his eyes. Clary gathered the bamboo sticks, and going back to Sebastian, she placed her hand on his spine and led him back to the center of the training room. She placed one of the bamboo sticks in his hand, and taking a few steps back, she said, "Your turn to be the Piñata."

Placing her stick firmly in her hand, she said, "Ready?"

He nodded.

Clary nodded as well, even though he was blindfolded, she sensed that he knew.

"Go."

Simon POV

"Waitress! Another cup please!" Simon gestured towards the blue eyed waitress that served at Taki's.

Kaelie came out from behind the counter, and took the empty cup that rested at the booth that he was sitting in. "Another round?" she asked. Simon nodded. Kaelie sighed, "This is gonna cost you."

"Don't worry, I'll pay you every cent." Kaelie soon returned to him with a large white Styrofoam cup. His fifth white Styrofoam cup. As Kaelie walked away, Simon removed the lid that hid the liquid inside. When he did, he took in a deep breath, ravishing in the smell. Blood. It still disgusted him that his body could enjoy the taste of it, he could remember when blood tasted metallic to him, the time when he bit his tongue so hard that his whole mouth was a fountain of dark red. He had shuddered at it, and still today, as he lifted his cup for a sip, expected for the drink to be disgusting, to feel impossible to taste. But it was sweet, and sure enough, the sip that Simon had planned to take, had turned into a gulp.

He restricted himself from chugging the whole thing down. The blood was good, but it wasn't fresh. Better than having to steal from hospital donations and drink the blood from meat bought from the grocery market. Usually he could contain himself from drinking so much blood, but to him blood was like water to a dying man of thirst. No matter how much he drank, he just couldn't get enough.

It was partially due to these past, what, almost three days? Tonight would be the third evening of Clary's kidnapping, and ever since Isabelle had told him what had happened at the Institute, Simon was running his own search party. On the day Clary disappeared, he searched all over the city, using his supernatural vampire speed and sight to check every place that he and Clary had ever been to, and every place that she had ever mentioned. He spent hours, from day and through the whole night, looking everywhere, turning over every rock. At dawn the next morning he only stopped to take a break. He tried to sleep on a park bench, more from old mundane habits than the actual need of sleep, but only managed to get about two hours of sleep before he was up and looking again. He walked around the whole perimeter of the city, and came up with nothing.

That's why he had told Isabelle to meet him at Taki's, they needed a plan. He couldn't stand to just wait for something to happen. This was Clary, his best friend of all time. Clary was always there for him, and he was always there for her. He had always thought of her as something fragile, a fine piece of China that had to be taken care of, but in the past few months, that thought had begun to change. Before his very eyes, he could see Clary changing. She became more aware of everything, and he blamed this on Jace. Clary had started wearing things to make her more appealing, though she still wore her baggy clothes, now and then she would wear something that made her stand out.

She was losing that glimmer, that innocent look in her eye that Simon had loved about her ever since they were kids. That made him love her. But now he could see that look in her eyes hardening, the innocent look becoming a flame of determination. He could see Jocelyn in her.

They had to find her, he couldn't lose his best friend. No, they were more than best friends. Not many best friends have gone through what they had gone through. Simon could swear, that since the day they had met, Clary and Simon's souls had been tied to each other.

Simon's thoughts were scattered when he heard the familiar chime of the bell ringing, signaling that someone had entered the door. He scooted over to the farthest side of his booth as Alec, Jace and Izzy entered his vision.

"Hey Simon!" Isabelle immediately shoved herself next to him, shoving herself so that their legs touched, even though there was plenty of room in their side of the booth. Jace and Alec seated themselves across them on the other side, Jace saying nothing while Alec gave him that thing that guys do when they nod their heads at each other. The three of them took menus that Kaelie had given them, and silently decided what they were to order. Simon could feel Izzy's right hand tracing circles on his jeans.

When he had first met Izzy, he had known that she was a glamorous, beautiful, one of a kind girl. The kind that a guy would kill for, the kind that even he would kill for. But at that time, he had only followed her around to try and get Clary's attention, to see if he could make her jealous, because no matter how much Simon was in love with her, she just couldn't see it. He had long ago abandoned that dream, Clary and him were better off as friends. Now though, Isabelle seemed more interested in him, not like before, where he was just a pet to pass the time with. He still wasn't sure if she wanted him for him, or she liked the idea of him, the fact that he was a vampire, a dangerous, blood sucker that could kill her if he wanted to.

Of course, she could kill him if she wanted to, too.

Simon was very conscious of Isabelle's long leg twining itself with his. He could smell her, her perfume, her cherry red lip gloss, her blood…..

STOP THAT

He was on his fifth cup of blood, he didn't need any more blood. At least that was what he tried to convince himself.

Kaelie came back soon enough, and they all placed their orders. Except for Jace.

"C'mon Jace, you have to eat something," Alec tried to urge him to eat. Jace looked awful, Simon could see the shadows under his eyes, and his cheek bones were much more prominent than they were before. He looked at Jace's eyes, which had bags under them. Some people would say that they saw emptiness in them, a deep grief hidden beneath those golden irises. Simon always though it was weird when people said things like that. He couldn't see it, so it just looked like eyes to him. But even he could tell that this whole thing was hitting Jace harder than Simon. He had just gotten back with Clary, freed from Sebastian, now they were apart again.

Simon couldn't help but pity the guy, the whole universe seemed to be against him.

He took a quick glance at the menu. "He'll have a Fettuccine Alfredo with parmesan and some Barbeque Chicken wings," Simon ordered for him.

Jace lifted an eyebrow at him as Kaelie wrote that down and went back behind the counter to get their meals. "Why did you order for me?" Jace said, "I didn't want anything."

Simon carefully covered his cup with the lid and sipped through the straw instead, his eyes watching as the blood came up through the plastic and into his mouth. "Your mind might say you're not hungry, but you're body tells otherwise." Simon wiped his mouth with his sleeve.

"So you were checking me out. I thought I caught you staring at me," Jace smirked at him, but it didn't look like it usually did. "I thought I told you, I like you and all, but I'd rather be friends."

Simon rolled his eyes. "Jace, even I can tell that you haven't slept recently, not to mention you haven't eaten. I know that you're pretty bummed out with this whole thing, but Clary would kill you if she saw that you weren't taking care of yourself."

Jace looked at Simon with a lion like gaze. "Take care of myself? How can I take care of myself if I don't know where Clary is! She could be anywhere, and that bastard Sebastian could be hurting her! How can I even worry about myself when Clary could be ten times worse! You probably didn't even think about that you blood sucking monster! You're best friend is gone and all you're doing is sitting here DRINKING BLOOD!"

Jace ended those last words by slamming his fist on the table, getting some suspicious glances at them from other people in the diner. Simon willed himself to not yell back at Jace. He wasn't mad at Simon, he was mad at everything, mad that he couldn't do anything to find the love of his life. He wanted to break something, lash out at something, and Simon was the first thing he saw.

Simon tried to tell himself this. He was about to take a deep breath to calm himself, before remembering that he didn't have to breathe anymore, and if he did Jace would only use it against him, so he didn't. Instead he met Jace's gaze, and tried to match the ferociousness he saw in them.

"First of all, calm the fuck down. I know you're mad, but it's not me you're mad at. Second, how can you even say that. You know what Clary is to me, she's practically my sister, maybe more than that, and the only reason why I'm here, is because for the past three days, I have been searching the entire city for her. I haven't stopped, and have barely rested since you guys told me she was gone. The only reason I am here, is because I know Clary well enough to know that she wouldn't like it if I exhausted myself to the point where I'm half dead. Well, one and a half dead really. Clary cares about us, and she would hate it if we beat ourselves up about it while she's counting on us. So yes, I'm taking a quick rest, and refreshing myself the only way I can."

He stared at Jace, watching as his features softened, and he dropped his gaze. Jace stayed quiet. Isabelle took the opportunity to say, "So how did it go, you're searches I mean."

Simon shook his head, "I looked everywhere, high and low. Nothing, so we might as well go outside the city."

Alec folded his arms on the table and leaned back in the booth. "We've already determined that Sebastian most likely took her to another one of those houses, so they're probably popping up all over the world. It's kind of obvious that they weren't here."

Catching Simon's look, Alec added, "It was still good that you checked everything out anyway, though."

"Simon, there's another thing too." Isabelle was looking down at her nails, which were painted a dark blue color. "The council has ordered that Sebastian might be using Clary to his advantage, use her powers with runes and stuff against us."

"I wouldn't be surprised if he did." Simon really meant it. It was something he had already considered.

"Yes, but, due to this, they have ruled that, that Clary….." Izzy looked at Alec for help.

He sighed. "They said that Clary was possibly too much a threat to us. As soon as anyone sees them, they are to capture both Clary and Sebastian, and if not possible, kill them."

Simon could feel all three of their looks as he stared off into the distance, his mind blank. They wanted to kill Clary. Kill his best friend. Because she was too much of a 'threat.' How could they think that a small, short, skinny red head, could ever do anything to them?

They had lived such a normal life, everything was in harmony, but everything changed when the Shadowhunters appeared. (Writer's POV: haha Avatar reference)

Calm down. He wouldn't let this get to him, he had read too many comic books and watched too much anime to not remember that panic would get him nowhere. A calm mind can find an answer to anything.

So when he looked back up, his expression was smooth. His voice was even when he said, "Well then, I guess we'll just have to find them before they do."

Izzy stared at him, "Okay," she said dragging out the ay, like she had expected some more reaction from him. They all probably did. "Have you tried talking to her through the faerie ring you two have?" She asked hopefully.

Simon sighed this time, "No, Clary destroyed her ring back when she was with Jace and Sebastian."

Isabelle only said "Oh."

They sat in silence, as if the realization of how useless they were finally sank in. Kaelie had come back and dropped of all of their orders, giving Jace an ugly look that he either ignored or didn't notice.

As they ate, Simon sipping his drink while Jace only poked around with his fork, Simon remembered coming here again, about over a week ago. Clary had texted him to meet her at Taki's, so he obliged. He wasn't doing anything anyways. They had sat in this very booth, Clary eating her food while Simon was sipping his mug o'blood.

Faintly, he could remember their conversation.

"So what were you doing? Did I bother you or something?" Clary has asked as she calmly, a bit too calmly, like she was trying not to seem bothered by something, sipped her drink.

Simon ignored it. Probably relationship stuff, and he did not want Clary to launch into that. "Nothing really, Jordan's never home, he went out with Maia, so I was bored watching Tv. You saved me from boredom, thank you sensei." He playfully bowed to her.

"What about you? What have you been up to?" Simon asked her.

This was where Clary seemed to force her air of 'Everything is fine.' Her words were too forced, her content expression looked plastered, like a doll. "Oh, you know. Visiting Jace, hanging out with Izzy, how are you two by the way, don't think I don't catch the way you two look at each other." She had changed the subject.

Simon ignored her question. "What did you do before you called me here, I'm thankful, but even for you, this is a little sudden."

He knew well that Clary sometime called him to be with her when she needed somebody to calm her, even when he didn't know she needed calming. His presence made her feel secure, so what happened that she needed him now?

Clary took her time in chewing and swallowing her food before responding. "Oh, I was just walking around, looking at the stores, relaxing and enjoying my city you know?"

Oh something was definitely up. Simon wanted to confront her, ask her, but he knew that Clary would only deny everything. So he had answered her question about Isabelle, getting Clary interested, and seeming to relax her a bit. Her smiles no longer seemed forced, and her laugh seemed more natural. He had let it out of his mind, and didn't ask her about.

Looking back at that, Simon regretted not confronting her in the first place. Because they had met up several more times before her disappearance, and in those times she had acted in much the same way.

He had to bring this up. "Guys, has Clary been a bit, weird around you guys lately?"

Isabelle stopped drinking her soda, "What do you mean?"

"You know, like, has she been a little too cheery, like she was acting that everything was fine. Fake laughing, forced smiles, stuff like that?" Simon tried to explain.

Strangely, Alec was the first to respond. "Actually, I remember seeing her about five days ago in the Institute. She was leaning against a wall, she looked deep in thought. When I passed her and said 'hey,' she looked up in surprise. I asked her if something was wrong, and she, kind of looked like she thought I knew something. She immediately said that nothing was wrong, that everything was okay. I just thought she had a fight with her mom or Jace or something."

"Jace?" Simon questioned.

Jace's gaze was still on his untouched plate. "I remember, that when Clary showed up while I was fighting Sebastian, she said 'I accept your offer.'"

Isabelle suddenly sat up straight, her leg no longer intertwined with Simon's. "Simon, when did you start noticing Clary acting strange?"

Simon did some mental math. "About, a week before she was taken. Why would-" Realization hit Simon. "Oh."

Isabelle nodded, Alec looked up in confusion, but then his eyes widened in understanding. Jace could only nod.

"Clary had talked with Sebastian, about an offer, and he gave her time to think about it. Clary agreed to go with him, she wasn't taken by force, it was her choice." Simon said silently, like saying it out loud would make it have more sense.

"I wonder what he threatened her with to make her want to go." Alec wondered aloud.

"Us," Jace said, "What else would Clary risk herself for?"

They all sat in silence again. Finally, Simon had enough. He stood up, getting looks from the three of them again. "I'm gonna pay Kaelie. You," he said pointing at Jace, "are going to eat some of that because if Clary risked herself for us, then we might as well take care of ourselves and not let her sacrifice be in vain." Sheesh I sound like an old man from an anime I used to watch….

Jace argued with him, "I'm not hungry."

Simon looked at him, and unconsciously, his fangs slipped out. He was really pissed. "Eat your food, before I make you my food. And trust me, don't think I won't."

Simon scooted out of the booth, took two steps away, before looking over his shoulder and saying, "By the way, Clary loves to eat that that pasta and those chicken wings, it's what she ordered the whole time during the times we were here last week."

Jace's eyes widened, and looked over at the food with new fascination. From where Simon gave Kaelie a couple of bills to pay for all the blood he bought, he watched as Jace tentatively tasted a forkful of pasta. Soon enough he was eating it like his life depended on it.

Clary was right. Sometimes Jace just needed a push, a threat, and something to remind him of why he does what he does.

Clary POV

It wasn't as easy as Clary thought to keep quiet around Sebastian.

It had been around three hours since she tied the blindfold around him, not that she really felt time pass, but with Sebastian's knowledge in her mind, she could read the time just by glancing at the sky in the high windows of the turret. It was about five in the afternoon, and Clary was starting to feel the effects of not having a proper meal since her subway yesterday.

"Quiet your breathing," Sebastian told her for the millionth time. He was standing around the middle of the turret, and even though his eyes were blindfolded, it felt like he was staring right at her. Besides, she thought that she was quieting it. Even with Sebastian's qualities in her, if she didn't know how to use them, they were no good. She had his speed, which she used while they were locked in a bamboo fight, but her mind wasn't used to the speed, so it didn't react to things like it should.

It was like forwarding a movie as fast as it could go and then trying to stop it at an exact moment.

Pretty difficult.

"I can practically hear you thinking," Sebastian said, seeming to turn in the general direction of where she was. This wasn't working, he was a little bit too in touch with himself. Clary had managed to whack him a few times, and that was fun, she had to admit. But if you stripped her down, her body was an artwork of bruises ranging from green to dark purple. When she was the one who was blindfolded, Sebastian would aim for her arms and legs mainly, but now he went for wherever the stick would land.

Clary decided to hold her breath, and tried to make herself weigh as little as possible, just like Jace had taught her. She emptied her head, slightly paranoid and only half believed that Sebastian really could read her mind. She tried to erase her presence, make it so that she wasn't here at all. It looked like it was working, calmly, she side stepped around him, seeing that he wasn't turning with her like he was just before. She was about five meters away from him, her hands holding the bamboo stick lightly, fearing that even tightening her grip would give her away.

She had to get closer, still side stepping, she closed in on him, walking around but getting close to the center like a swirl. Still emptying her mind, she slowly raised her arms, and when she was about two feet away from Sebastian, she stayed perfectly still. Her hands were raised, the bamboo stick positioned so that she could swing it like a baseball bat on her right side. Clary hadn't realized that she was still holding her breath, and didn't think she could hold it much longer.

I have to do it now….

As quick as her faster muscles would allow, Clary brought down the stick in a blur or movement. She was so sure that it would whack Sebastian right on the shoulder, but suddenly another blur of arms and sticks came into focus, and in less than a millisecond, he had moved his arm back, slightly twisting himself to block the blow.

"That was close," Sebastian was grinning like a madman, "I almost didn't catch that."

Before he focused again, Clary twisted her arm so that it slid off of Sebastian's stick, pressing it down, and aimed for his hip. He deflected it again, stepping back and then thrusting forward, landing a blow onto Clary's aching wrist.

This wasn't working! The last time she managed to catch him off guard was when she did something he didn't suspect. That was when she threw the stick away and used herself as a weapon when she tackled him.

Getting an idea to end this, Clary readjusted her grip, and surged forward. Sebastian blocked her attack, holding his stick in place like two locked swords. Clary then pretended to slide her bamboo down, like she was aiming for his calf, even stepping her foot back to get a better aim. Sebastian sensed this, so when he moved part of the stick down, so that it was diagonal across his chest, and took a step back, Clary lifted her other foot, and linked it on his ankle, tripping him in the process. He was going to regain his balance, but she grabbed her bamboo diagonally too, pressing it against his so that the sticks made an X. She used his weight and the strength she had from him against him, and knocked him to the ground.

"Yes! I finally win one!" Clary half screamed half moaned to the ceiling while she dropped to her butt, her legs spreading out so that her hands were on the floor between them.

"You got lucky," Sebastian simply stated, removing the blind fold from around his eyes. "That was good, if we keep that up, maybe you'll be able to touch me with that stick of yours." He smirked at her.

"Hey, I managed to get a couple of hits in." Clary argued with him, but wasn't really into the discussion.

"Those little pokes? I barely felt them." He grinned and moved his hair away from his eyes where the blindfold had pressed into them. Was that sweat?

"Oh yeah?" Clary asked, raising an eyebrow, matching his previous smirk, "then what are those bruises I see?"

Clary pointed at two purple circles that were on his right forearm, some of the few blows she had managed to make this whole time.

"Okay fine, maybe I did feel them. But only a little bit." Sebastian, now Chris because they were done for today, said.

"Good, because I would be disappointed if you didn't. You don't make a very good piñata, because you're not supposed to fight back." Clary said absentmindedly while she pulled her hair out of the ponytail she had placed it in. The white hair spread out around her, not even frizzy or anything. Though she missed her red hair, she couldn't help but admire the fact that this hair was so much easier to care for, and after hours of training, it still looked perfect. She finally understood how Isabelle felt.

Chris had been staring at her as she did so, plucking a white strand of hair that had gotten tangled in the hair tie. She ignored his stare, and placed her hand on her stomach as she felt it grumble.

"I'm hungry." She said plainly. "Let's go down and eat, maybe we can watch some cooking shows cause when it comes to making food, breakfast is my limit."

Chris snorted, "I think we've all seen what you do with breakfast," he stopped saying anything else about her cooking when he caught Clary's vicious look, "Okay, fine, you're cooking was actually good. No more jokes about your cooking."

Clary hmphed.

"But still, neither of us know how to cook, and I don't think watching a cooking show will improve our skills anyway." Chris said this while standing up from where he was sitting. He picked up both fallen sticks and propped them up against the nearest pillar.

"So then what do you suggest, because you seem to have an idea, seeing that you're shooting down the only thing I got." Clary said this teasingly, while braiding her over her right shoulder. "Do we order out or something? Like pizza? Can we even do that, considering that our house in on a Lake?"

Chris shook his head, "We're not in Chicago anymore Clary."

Clary glanced up at him from where she was almost done with her braid. "What? Oh right, moving house. Where are we then?"

He shrugged and leaned against the pillar next to the bamboo sticks, "I'm not sure, somewhere in Saudi Arabia."

If she had been drinking something, Clary was sure she would have spit it out, "Arabia!? As in, Aladdin and Jasmine Arabia? How the heck do we go from Chicago to Arabia?"

"Saudi Arabia, and I'm not sure how, the house moves as it pleases." Chris looked at her, "What do you mean by Jasmine Arabia?"

"Can't you influence the house on where to go?" Clary ignored his question. Of course her brother had never watched a single Disney movie.

Chris frowned, obviously noticing that she hadn't answered her, but still said, "No, I can't just tell the house where to go, I don't ever know where it's going, if that makes you better about being here."

It did, she had always thought that Chris chose all of the places they stopped at, but it appears that it was a mystery to him as well. "Okay then, back to our first topic. I'm hungry." Chris chuckled, and stood up, walking towards her. He put out a hand, ready to help her up. Clary quickly considered taking it or not. Not taking it would just seem rude, she didn't have a reason not to, so she did.

Still holding her hand in a firm grip, Chris gave her a smirk, but it was quickly replaced by a smile. He held out an stele, and carefully started drawing iratzes on her. Clary could feel her many bruises ease until they were no longer painful. "Then let's go out to eat."

Chris: Let's go out to eat? That's how you ended this chapter?

Clary: I expected something better. Compared to the last one…

Lacie: I'm sorry! I planned to have this chapter have an Arabian night and stuff, but it seems like I'm putting too much into this one, and I' m trying to have each chapter revolve specifically around one main concept.

Chris: and this chapter's concept would be…..

Lacie: Ummmm

Chris: Thought so.

Clary: Just start the next chapter soon.

Lacie: I will :D I already have what's going to happen all planned out. So I'll start it as soon as I post this one.

Clary: Will it be out sooner than usual?

Lacie: To be determined….. But how did you like that I put a Simon POV in? I tried to catch his personality as best as I could.

Chris: I don't know him, so I don't care.

Clary: It was alright.

Simon: I thought it was perfect.

Lacie: O_O

Chris: O.o

Clary: SIMON? O:

Simon: Ummm….. Review?