Lacie: Hello my special readers! Thank you so much for those of you who reviewed, and those of you prefer to read in silence, that's cool too.

Clary: DO IT CHRIS DO IT

Chris: Must I do this?

Lacie: Of course you do :D

Chris: But I-

Clary: I AM HAVING SHOCKING SEIZURE/HEART ATTACKS EVERY DAY AND I GYSPY DANCED, AND YOU'RE COMPLAINING ABOUT THIS?!

Chris: Oh fine, if it'll get you to fix your caps lock…..

Noaverageangel, you have accompanied me through this journey since many chapters ago, supporting me, I wish I could hold your hand and look into your eyes as I send to you my gratitude, I love you.

Faith, you have become a familiar sight on Lacie's review page, and therefore you are now someone very close to me, I love you, and all the things you have said proves to me that this story is worth writing.

Huntress3419, you always look at our story with enthusiasm, therefore I love you as well, and love you as equally.

Avaatquevale2250, your joy causes a streak of light to illuminate my dark heart, a way out of my inner monstrosity, I love you, and that is all you must know. For I do, love you.

89724princess-lauren: for a princess, you are quite murderous, and that causes my demonic core to reach for you, I love you with all my black heart can muster.

Greygirl2348: I love you, simply because you love this story.

Lyraherondale10: You made my stone cold face crack, and reveal the smile buried underneath it, I love you as well.

Chris: Okay this is too many people, and I am way too sappy, and getting out of character.

Lacie: FINE LET ME DO IT. Message to all my wonderlovely reviewers and constant readers, I'm sorry if this sounded kinda corny to you all, but I'm so happy when you guys reviewed, I swear I had a fangirl meltdown, my cousin was letting me use her laptop, and I told her I wanted to see if anyone had reviewed, and when I checked to see, I had a panic attack because of all these beautiful messages. I LOVE YOU and the fact that you all love this story!

Chris: That's a lot of love. I don't think I want to be in this story anymore.

Lacie: No you're the main character, you gotta stay.

Clary: Hey….what about me

Chris: I already read the chapter, you don't have a point of view in it.

Clary: WHAT!? D:

Lacie: Anyway, sorry for the long intro, it's my thing, anyway I hope you guys enjoy the chapter, and remember, any suggestions can be sent to me via PM

Enjoy!

*Random force causes Chris to say: AlphaOmega314 I love you.*

Jace POV

"Where were they again last night?" Alec was sitting amongst a large pile of books, reading short histories on all the places that they have discovered Clary was at.

Isabelle was at the map on the table, trying to find a pattern to the jumps of locations. Her hair was in a braid, starting halfway up her head and going down her spine, possibly the first braid Jace saw her in for years, having matured out of it and taking on a 'I'm hot and dangerous' look. Personally, maybe just because he thought like an older brother, he thought she looked even more beautiful with her hair like that, face holding no makeup. She looked younger, and innocent, even though when you thought of Isabelle, innocent was probably the last word you'd associate with her.

Pushing back a long strand of dark hair, she said in his direction without taking her eyes off the map, "Russia,"

Alec gave her a huffed sigh, "Yes, but where? Russia is huge, was she in the north, south? Near which city?"

Isabelle frowned at him, "I don't know, somewhere east, about, twenty, maybe ten miles from a city named," she squinted at the small name written in a handwriting as old as the Institute itself. The Shadowhunters needed an upgrade.

"Named what?" Alec asked again, deeply concentrated on a book written in Arabic with a dictionary at hand.

"Yakutsk," she finally pronounced.

"Is the city large? Prosperous? Does it mine, or is it large for its ports?" Alec pushed her.

Isabelle snapped at him, "I don't know! Isn't that what you're supposed to be doing!" She finally looked up from where she was busy practically having a staring showdown with the map. "I look for patterns, Jace contacts the places around where she's been, and you give us information on the places she's been at!"

Alec tossed the book he was reading aside, and stood. "Well, let me take a look at the map, I'll see if there's something you missed, and you read the books."

"Are you crazy? I don't understand any of that crap, I hate researching and you're better at it," She crossed her arms, and despite the fact that what she said made sense, she made it sound like they were two children fighting over a toy.

"Isabelle, let me look at the map." Alec stepped forward and Izzy blocked his way, pointing at the books, "I'm doing just fine! Now go back to your books Alec!"

Jace felt could feel his temple throb, they were both acting like such kids, and he wanted to yell at both of them to shut up, but when he looked up from the phonebook he was going through, he didn't see two bickering kids, he saw his two partners, his friends, who both had bags under their eyes, and who undoubtedly had lost weight to this, as well as himself. They were his teammates, the ones he would always rely on, who he trusted his life with whenever they would go on expeditions to clear out vampire coves, or a demon infested building. They were both putting their concentration to help find Clary, because they knew he needed them, that he couldn't do this without them.

He wanted to get up and hug the two of them, tell them how much they meant to him, but knowing that that would be awkward and completely unJace-like, he simply repositioned the phone on his lap, looked back down at the number he was calling, and hung up on the poor English speaking Arabic man who spoke of a white angel walking through their city, giving people a lot of money for their cheap stuff.

Probably just some organization for the poor or something, he thought, or the poor sap was drunk on alcohol.

He put the phone away, stood up, and stretched his legs. Man, he'd been sitting in that chair for so long he could have been a part of it. Taking slow strides to the table of the two angels where the map sat at, he folded his hands together and put them behind his back, observing the circle that they had drawn on the last few days. Five times they saw the little golden light appear on the map, the only thing proving Clary's existence. And all those appearances were happening at the same time, around evening, when the sun had set, and how Clary was managing to do this was a wonder to him, half of him considered the possibility of how she was even doing it.

Jocelyn said that she didn't know about the tracking rune, unless Sebastian found out about it and told her, which was most likely in that case. But how was she sending the signal then? And at the exact same too.

Jace's eyes followed the circle on the map in the order in which they had drawn them.

First was that small village in Saudi Arabia, where Clary's little light had flickered for two nights, before moving onto Peru in South America, Madrid in Spain, and finally Russia. There was no pattern as far as they could see as to predict in which part of the world that Clary would end up. It felt like they were playing a game that nobody knew the rules to, and for all Jace knew, the house itself might as well be pulling up random cards every time it switched locations.

Ahh Clary, where are you?

The desperate panic that Jace had felt a few days ago had died down, though that might just have been due to the fact that he was holding himself together for the sake of his friends, whenever he was alone in the training room, or awake at night, he could feel the pressure that he was trying to suppress break apart and he overwhelms himself in his sorrow. Lately he spends half the night staring at a picture of Clary and him, it was a recent one, he was laying in the infirmary still, sheets pulled up to his waist, and knees pulled up so that a book rested on them. Clary was on his left, wearing a red and blue checkered shirt with the buttons open, revealing her purple camisole underneath and his ring on a silver chain around her neck. She had on blue jeans and pulled up her legs so that they were on the bed, and was wearing brown combat boots. She had wrapped one arm around his neck and was leaning into him, their cheeks pressing into each other, her red hair mixing into his golden blonde, her green eyes were looking at the camera, which she held out with her other arm.

In the photo, she was looking into the camera, making it look like she was looking at him, right now, and in the picture Jace wasn't looking at the camera, but at her, unable to look away.

Jace couldn't help but be jealous of the Jace in the picture, if only life could be like one, forever caught in one single moment, how amazing it would be if could stay with Clary by his side, smiling, for as long as possible. But of course, nothing lasts forever, not even photographs.

He had the picture in his pocket right now, kept safe in his wallet, and felt very tempted to pull it out, but didn't. He didn't want Alec and Isabelle more reason to worry. Speaking of his parabatai and his sister, they were still bickering. Jace turned around from where his vacant eyes were no longer even examining the map, and shot a sharp look at the two, "Will you guys stop fighting? If you're tired of what you're doing then go ahead and take a break or something. Alec, shouldn't you be in Alicante with Maryse and Jocelyn attending the meeting, you know, now that you're an adult and all that junk."

Alec turned away from where he was holding a book defensively in front of him, as if the torn and worn out pages would protect him from his sister's wrath, "I asked if I could be excused from the meetings, and mom said yes, I made her promise to tell us what went on. By now, there should be no reason for them to hide things from us."

Jace nodded, he knew that Alec just didn't want to leave Jace, the meetings in the Clave have gotten to the point where they had to be held in Alicante, causing Jocelyn, Maryse, Luke, and others to have to Portal there. Thought he understood and appreciated his parabatai's decision, he would have felt much better knowing that the information came from Alec himself. Yes, Maryse had no reason to keep things from them, but Maryse still saw them with mothers's eyes, meaning that she would hide whatever she thought would upset them even more. The Clave was still persistent on the fact that Clary was working with Sebastian to tear down the law and turn everyone into Demon Shadowhunters. There was good news though, not everyone participating in the meetings or in the Clave considered Clary a menace to them. Jocelyn had contacted many of the Shadowhunters that were there the night the Valentine had shut down the glass towers, having them speak up on Clary's behalf on how she helped create the rune that helped Shadowhunters combine strengths with Downworlders, how brave she was, and how willing she was to help them in their dire situation.

The bad news was that it was only those people that supported Clary, no one on the council were convinced enough about the idea, so the search for them was still on, though whether or not they had any clues as to how to find them, he wasn't sure. The only reason they were still holding meetings was because there was enough people complaining about it that they had to think rethink and consider everything.

So they were still at a standstill. Clave didn't know where she was, but that meant neither did they, and they had to find her first.

He sighed, straightening out his already ramrod posture, he walked over to where the two were still giving each other mocking looks. Though they were fighting, Jace could see how much they actually enjoyed fighting. It gave them something else to think about than the mess of things that they were already in.

Bending over, he picked up the Arabic book that Alec had dropped off, and started fingering through the pages, "Alec, if you and Isabelle are going to fight over positions then I'll switch with you, you sound like you'd be better at talking to people over the phone than I would."

The siblings exchanged glances, trying to read his tone of voice to see for any hidden meaning, but Jace sat cross legged on the ground, several books open in front of him, all in Arabic, Spanish, and Russian. He squinted at the Spanish words, some of them making sense, considering he spoke Latin, but the rest was random jarble. He saw Alec pad over to where he had left the phone, and pick up the phone book that had the numbers of the Institutes around the area, and start to dial nuimbers. Isabelle was back to her place, having another round of staring at the map. Jace internally sighed this time. It felt like they were doing all they could, but really they were doing nothing at all.

Giving up on the Spanish book, Jace heaved a large Russian volume onto his lap, and called over to Isabelle, "hey Izzy, is there a Russian to English dictionary anywhere around here? I can't understand any of this."

Isabelle looked around, mumbling to herself, "I'm pretty sure Mom left it somewhere around here," She walked around the library, looking at the shelves, and turned to Alec, "Alec do you know where she left it?"

Alec said something into the phone, and then responded, his blue eyes sure of it, "Mom always leaves things she just used in the drawer of the desk, remember?"

Isabelle made a nod of understanding, and walked over to the other side of the desk, opening the drawer, and Jace could hear her shuffle through some things, "Alec I can't find it, it was a thick blue one ri-" she abruptly stopped halfway through her sentence, and Jace looked up at her when he heard a sharp intake of breath come from her.

"Everything alright Izzy?" Alec asked.

Isabelle's face had gone pale, and said something in a small voice, but then cleared her throat and repeated herself, sounding stronger and more sure of herself, "Um, guys, you may want to see this."

Alec and Jace gave each other looks before quickly standing up and heading over to where Isabelle was, looking like Raziel had suddenly popped out of no where asking for directions.

At first, the sight didn't shock him, it comforted him, it was normal, he had seen her style of art all the time.

But then his fingers clasped around the sketch paper, his mind's eye practically seeing her hand go across the paper, pencil in hand.

Clary, his Clary.

She got through to them.

Chris POV

Paintball.

Clary wanted to play paintball.

As to what the hell that was, he had no clue. Probably something only an artist would play, he thought, at first imagining a ball of paint, and as to what they would do with it was far from him. When he had her what that was, she gave him an unbelievable look, as if she couldn't decide whether or not he seriously didn't know what it was, but then as he continued to stare at her, waiting for an answer, she giggled, a sound that made his ears tingle with delight, but at then was irritated when she only said, "You'll see!" Then left to get changed.

Sometimes Chris saw how much of a disadvantage he had when he realized he didn't have a normal childhood. He never played games, or played outside, demons don't do that, of course he knew what petty child games were, hide and seek, the weird game where someone was 'it' and then everyone ran away from 'it' as if 'it' had some weird disease. Chris always thought that game must have been invented to shun people.

He also knew about soccer, baseball, football, basketball, but paintball? Clary better clue him in.

Irritated, he had waited by the door, decked out in black snow pants and a thick black jacket, a red scarf around his neck and white stitched gloves. He was a demon but the pre-winter season was cold to even his hot blood. It was snowing lightly, little flakes coloring land bare landscape. And tapped his foot impatiently, not happy that cavalry didn't tell him what paintball was. It was enough he hadn't confronted her about the drawing, why hadn't he? He should right? But he felt like if he did he'd only push her away, and they were just closing the gap between them.

But his demonic mind banged and raged against the fact that she would go against him like that. He wanted to go up to her and demand that she explain why she would do that, and who, even though he already had a guess, she sent it to. He wanted to fit with her, and now that her demonic senses were just like his, have her unleash her wrath too, just to have someone equal to fight with. But something was wrong with him lately, things that he wouldn't have thought twice about doing we're now doubts in his head. Here wanted to go out and find things to kill, but even since Clary accepted to be with him, she just, wasn't into it.

He heard light footsteps coming down the steps, and Clary emerged, wearing thick red tights, though they looked amazing on her, a black skirt with a layer of lacey patterns, black snow boots, a large white trenchcoat, and a black scarf tied around her neck. She was wearing red mittens that made her hands look so small, and black earmuffs that went behind her head hand under her hair, which was let loose around her. Her hair nowadays was no longer plain straight and white, it was wavy, the bottom edges curling, and her hair was edging on a red-ish color. He could even see some freckles start on the bridge of her nose.

Some people might think of her as small and cute, but to him she was gorgeous without her even having to try.

After she gave him quick look, she nodded, then asked, "Ready to go?"

"Yes, now will you tell me exactly what it is that we're going out into the cold to do?" He gave her what he hoped was a stern look, but even he knew his look wasn't into chastising.

She gave him a look of her own, one that he didn't know how to feel about, because she looked like she was happy to know something that he didn't, and that she wouldn't tell him until she thought it was necessary to. He wasn't used to being on this end of the stick. Yet strangely, he found it oddly satisfying that Clary was taking on his habits. He kind of liked it.

She walked backwards, looking at him, until she rounded the bar separating the living room from the kitchen, and stepped in front of the cupboards. She reached in, and pulled out a black bag, bulging with something inside.

Chris eyed the bag, "What's that?"

Clary sang, "You'll see"

They stepped outside, the cold air hitting their cheecks, but their warm blood warming them, and Chris walked off towards the left of the house. Clary instructed him that they needed a large space, but with objects to be able to hide behind, like a boulder, or a range of trees, maybe some hills to make it exciting. She still wouldn't explain what all this was for.

They walked until the house was the size of a penny in the distance, their surroundings being circular clearing in the middle of bare trees, frost tingeing their branches.

Clary set the bag on the ground with a thump, and finally opened the bag, revealing...

"Guns?" He asked, his mouth twisting in a mix of feelings. he never really used guns, Shadowhunter magic interfering with the way human technology worked, also because he didn't like the way they worked. As a Nephilim, you had to go through intense training, putting your mind in body in a specific state to be able to accomplish what they were meant to do, and then you were given the tools needed to do that. But anyone who knew how to pull a trigger could kill someone instantaneously. On one hand, it was advantageous, you didn't have to get your hands dirty, a job done quick and easy, in cold blood, something that rather suited his inner Sebastian, but on the other, someone with much less skills than him, could do the exact same thing.

"Not real guns," Clary responded, leaning down to pull one out, assembling it in a way that Chris didn't care to pay attention to, "They're guns used to play paintball."

Chris made an exasperated sigh, "Now if only you'll finally tell me what that is?"

Clary gave him a pointed look, "Well, I don't know the exact rules, but," she paused, handing him a gun of his own, it was black, and felt unfamiliar in his hands. He shifted his grip until the position felt right, "I do know, that we're against each other."

Chris could feel she wasn't finished, "Aaand," he groaned.

She stepped back a few meters, and raised her gun so that it was at her eye level. The gun in her grip was silver, and maybe longer than her arms. She looked a little ridiculous, like a little kid playing with big kid toys, but the look in her eyes and the color of her hair, now very distinct amongst the white background, made her look like a Russian princess defending her castle.

She looked ready to kill.

"Aaaanndd," she continued, "then you dooo, THIS!" She pulled the trigger, and Chris felt a sudden impact on his chest. Looking down, he saw a large, red splatter on his coat, smearing him.

Clary grinned wickedly, causing his inner demon to purr, and ran as fast as her abilities allowed, weaving in through trees, taking more shots at him, though this time, he knew what to expect.

Before he knew it, they were in a locked battle. They ran up and down the field, ducking behind trees and shooting at each other. It took him a couple of tried before he got the hang of shooting the stupid gun, but he caught on, even managing to get Clary sometimes. Being as small as she was, she was a hard target to get, and even though she aimed and fired at him multiple times, even she didn't get him very often.

He hid behind a massive tree trunk, bent down in a crouch, gun positioned so that if he saw Clary in front of him, he would be instantly ready to fire, suddenly though, he heard movement coming from behind him, and he just managed to roll out of the way before he felt the paint ball fly past him, nearly centimeters from his face.

"Damnit!" He heard before turning back and just catching a glimpse of Clary's white coat jump behind a small hill.

Carefully, he rounded around the hill, taking a wide turn, wanting to catch her from behind, keeping an eye on everything that moved, and his ears picking up any sound. As soon as Clary was in his vision, she still thought he was where she left him, so her attention was fixed on the tree where he used to hide, he centered his gun on her.

He had been aiming for her chest, since she was kneeling, but she had heard him, and in her attempt to duck down, the paintball hit her across the cheek. Baby blue dye splattered against her face, spots getting in her hair, and trickled into her mouth, he felt triumphant that he managed to get her, but then he wondered if he had hurt her.

She was coughing, and when he walked up to her, she choked out, "Eww," cough, cough, "it got into my mouth, gross." He was about to offer her his scarf to wipe her mouth on, but she retaliated and aimed her gun at him, spraying more red paint all over him.

He jumped over her, stretching out his leg to kick the gun out of her hands, and stealing it from her.

"Hey!" She pounced on him, causing them both to come crashing down, rolling in a fight for either weapon, one second she was one him, the next he on her. And then again and again. They were the only ones in the area for a long distance.

Anyone who was nearby would only hear laughter.

Simon POV

"Yup, that's Clary's style alright. It surprises me that she did a portrait though, she never did like making those of herself." Simon nodded at the drawing that Jace handed to him, examining every detail. "The signature too, I've seen plenty of Clary's stuff in the past, no one can do this like her."

He could see the tension in Jace's shoulders relax a bit. They were sitting on the rooftop of a tall seven story building, looking over the edge at the city. It was dark out, and the people and movement that he saw below seemed like nothing in comparison to what he was going through. Hard to believe that everyone down there had their own set of hard troubles.

Isabelle had texted him about an hour ago, saying that they had evidence that Clary was alright, but that they wanted him to make sure it was real. He had expected Isabelle to invite him over to Taki's or something, but instead Jace had called minutes later saying to meet him in this location, and that he would bring the evidence. Simon hadn't know what it was until it was shown to him.

He'd seen Clary's art his whole life, watching as her skills progressed from drawing Crayola potato shaped people, to realistic objects. He'd watched her every time she would pull out her sketchbook just to doodle, and even those were masterpieces. It always fascinated him, how she could take a pencil and some scratch paper, and make it into something he wanted to put in a frame and hang on a wall. He remembered playing a game in which he would draw random lines and figures, and she would have to make a drawing out of it. Always going way past his imaginative boundaries. Once he had only drawn two lines and one going perpendicularly through them, and she had made a monkey climbing a huge banana wearing an Abe Lincoln hat. Only the monkey was a realistic monkey.

So the instant Jace took the drawing out of his pocket, Simon knew in his no-longer beating heart that this was one hundred percent Clary.

"Where did you get this from?" Simon asked, after Jace had taken the drawing back. He was going to ask if him if he could keep it, but looking at Jace, he felt like Jace would need it far more than himself.

"It was in the drawer of the desk in the library," Jace said, his face grim, "How it got there, I don't know."

Had Simon still been human, he would have shuddered, "Do you think that somehow, Sebastian got in?"

"I'm not sure," Jace thought aloud, "But even if we do assume that he got in, why would he put this in there? What point was there to him, what advantage does this give him?"

"What makes you think he did it for himself, maybe Clary asked nicely and she consented."

Jace snorted, "As if, that bastard won't do anything unless it benefits him somehow."

"You don't know that, maybe Clary's rubbing off on him," Simon said in a light mood, trying to get Jace to ease up. He only shot the vampire a glare.

"Sebastian's a blood thirsty, no offense, sociopath that only does things when they mean something to him. We don't know if he maybe forced Clary to do this, make it seem like she did it, or if he had any other motives." Jace trailed off.

They both leaned over the edge of the roof, neither fearing the tall height, or the risk of falling. Both of them standing in silence, a comfortable one, where they didn't have to say anything to understand each other, they just had to be in each other's company.

"How's your hunger?" Jace asked, out of the blue.

Simon took a few seconds, not used to Jace of all people worrying about him, "I haven't had blood in almost two days, and even that was just some blood bags, I'll have to find more."

Jace raised an eyebrow, "From a live source….."

"NO" Simon protested, "I mean I'll have to find some blood bags or something, I think they're having a blood donation thing tomorrow, and I'll sign up as a volunteer. When they're not looking I'll have a few bags and sneak some with me."

"Just remember that I was a one-time thing, I know I'm irresistible and all, but back off." Jace took on his oh-I'm-so-high-and-mighty aura for a few seconds before it died down. "Isabelle too."

Simon almost got whiplash by how fast his head turned to look at Jace, eyes widening, "She told you?" he asked.

Jace laughed, "So you DID bite her? I knew it, that Isabelle, always looking for something new and dangerous."

Simon resisted the urge to push Jace down the seven story tall building, knowing that the Shadowhunter would simply land on his feet, unharmed. Instead he settled for flicking his forehead with his vampire strength.

"Ouch," Jace rubbed his head with his palm.

They continued to stare out at the city, and Simon could see Jace's hand, slipping into his jacket, and undoubtedly touching the drawing Clary made.

"Hey," Simon told Jace, just before he was about to leave, "you know, it could have just been Clary that sent the drawing, right? And if she did do it, it means that she's okay,"

Jace nodded.

"And that means that she could find a way to escape on her own."

Jace turned his head slightly, his golden eyes piercing in the dark.

"I'm counting on that."

Lacie: Am I in trouble?

Chris: Yes. Very.

Clary: Where have you been? And you did not make Chris do all the I Love You's like you promised.

Lacie: I have very good reason. 1) school is a drag that drowns me in homework and studying to the point in which I barely have an hour to myself. 2) last week my room flooded (I sleep in the basement) and my laptops charger was on the floor so I couldn't use my laptop and I don't like using our computer because I like typing in my room. 3)I did not expect that many reviews. Seriously. Everyday I was just like, 'WHAT DO YOU GUYS SEE IN ME?' and now I feel like such a bad author for making you guys wait this long, and for this chapter being so terrible.

Clary: what about chris…

Chris: Clary shut up.

Lacie: Chris, wrap it up.

Chris: *sighs* can I just randomnly say I love you? I'm going to do that

I love you d, I love you Guest, I love you GingerDivergent, I love you Rachel, I love you ShadowWalkerxX, I love you Destiny, I love you forevaevaafta, I love you awesomealways, I love you Molly m caleenan, I love you guest, I love you georgie.

Clary: That's not fair, some of the first people got better I love you's

Lacie: LACIE IS VERY TIRED, IT IS VERY LATE AND SHE WANTS TO GO TO BED.

Chris: Oh no, her caps lock is broken.

Clary: Before Lacie throws a tantrum, thanks you guys for reading, we'll post the next chapter whenever its ready, DON'T lose hope, we'll always work hard on the next chap even though it seems like we'll take forever.

Chris: Review!