"The earth is round," his voice droned through the microphone. "Like my basketball. And I have found, the way they fall, is the same."
Jace groaned and fell down in the seat beside Sidney, handing her a coffee. "This mumbling idiot is making every person in here dumber with his poetry. I can actually feel myself losing brain cells."
Sidney didn't respond. She just rolled her eyes and took a sip of her coffee. She wrinkled her nose at Jace. "Ew. Black coffee is disgusting. What is wrong with you?"
Jace shrugged. "I think my soul feeds on black coffee. Both are bitter and dark."
She blinked her eyes repeatedly in response. "I'm going to get some sugar and milk for my coffee, because I don't have demonic energies feeding off bitter liquids in my body." She stated loudly, getting strange looks from nearby customers. One girl shushed her. Sidney glared at Jace and got a grin in return.
His phone buzzed against the table. He glanced at it, although he already knew whose name would pop up on the screen. He clicked ignore, and placed it back on the table. Jace laid back in his seat and tried to find something to distract him from the recurring thought of the fiery haired girl from the previous night. He noticed a group of girls just a few seats behind him staring at him. He sent a smirk their way, and they all giggled.
He was in the middle of getting up to talk to them when he spotted it in the window. He rushed to the door quickly, and only turned once to quickly see Sidney watching after him with a confused look, coffee in hand. He shook the thought out of his head and continued forwards. She would forgive him later, but he may never get this chance again.
Jace pushed his way through the glass door, and turned quickly into the neighbouring alley-way. "Why are you following me?" Jace grabbed the short girl's arm, spinning her around so he could see her. Before he knew what had happened, a fist came in contact with his jugular.
"By the Angel, why the hell would you just grab me like that?" Clary exclaimed.
Jace looked at the girl in awe. "Why the hell," he said between coughs, "would you just punch someone in the throat?!"
Clary shrugged. "Stop being such a baby, I barely tapped you."
Jace glared at the girl, "I could have died."
"But you didn't." She raised her eyebrows, waiting for his next response.
He just shook his head, and turned on his heel to walk away. "Wait." He heard her voice from behind him, and he internally grinned. "What?" He snapped at her.
"Well, don't you wanna know why I'm here?" He heard her step closer to him.
He turned once again, to look at her. "Not after that."
She crossed her arms. Jace noticed the dark, inky markings on her skin, clashing against her pale skin. Also, the fact that her tiny frame was fit in all black clothing, which also clashed against her skin. Her red hair was clipped away from her face, but fell in a curling waterfall of red against her back. It was almost untameable. Jace remembered the first night he saw her, with her hair free, and falling around her face. He unconsciously made the decision that he definitely likes her hair down better.
When Clary realized there was no way she would get anything she wanted from him until she got on his good side, she sighed. "I'msorryforhittingyou." She mumbled.
"What was that?" Jace grinned, and raised his eyebrows.
She groaned. "I'm sorry for hitting you in the throat!" Clary crossed her arms and scoffed at the older boys immaturity.
"You really should be more care-" Jace started when his phone began to buzz in his pocket. He knew if Jocelyn was calling him again, either she was incredibly pissed off, or something was wrong. He hesitantly answered the phone.
Before he could say anything, his mother's voice sang through the speaker. "Jace, baby, I need you to find Luke okay? You need to tell Luke that he found me. Don't come home."
"Mom," Jace turned away from Clary, "what's wrong?" He heard a crash through the speaker. "Mom, talk to me, who found you?"
Clary placed her hand on Jace's arm. "What's happening?"
He began to shout his mother's name into the phone with no response until the line went dead. "For fuck sakes." He threw his phone against the coffee shop's exterior wall. He heard the crack as the phone irreparably broke. "I have to get home."
"Jace what did your mom say?" Clary was suddenly in front of him, her green eyes searching his face for any clues to what had just taken place. "Jace I can help."
"I can't do this right now okay, I have to go." He tore himself away from the girl and sprinted off down the street, back towards his home. As he passed the coffee shop, he saw a glimpse of Sidney sitting there, and she wasn't alone.
"Mom?!" Jace shouted as he ran up the stairs to the apartment. He reached the front door and found it was wide open. His breathing was ragged as he forced himself into his home. He was surprised the door was still even on its hinges, the lock was completely snapped. It made no sense, but he still closed it behind him as he moved quietly. Everything in the maze of connected rooms was completely destroyed. Paintings were torn off walls, books were ripped apart, the cushions from the couches were shredded and stuffing was laid upon the ground like snow. Jace found an old picture of Jocelyn, Luke, and himself out at the farm back when Jace was just a kid. The glass and picture frame were shattered, but he carefully got the picture out and tucked it into his coat pocket. He ran a hand through his blonde mess of curls and continued down the hallway towards his mother's room.
He was surprised to find that nothing in his room had been touched, but Jocelyn's was a different story. Her's was probably the worst in the entire house, there were claw marks in the walls, the bed was completely taken apart, her mattress flipped over. Jocelyn's vanity mirror has been smashed, her clothes all shredded into pieces. She, however, was not there. Jace kicked the bed frame and sat down on her dresser, placing his face in his hands.
He was startled by a slithering noise, which was odd considering he had never seen a reptile before in his life. He lifted his head up, and slid off the desk, looking for the source of the sound.
"He'll never know." Jace heard it again, from behind him this time. He spun on his heel, but found nothing there. "One little snack. I think I've earned it." Again, the noise came from behind Jace. He turned, quicker this time, to try and find the creature, but was left with nothing. "He can't be mad if he does not know." This time, Jace knew exactly where it was. He glanced up and surely, a large, ugly looking lizard was hanging upside down, off the roof, directly over top of him. He quickly moved as the creature fell, landing right where Jace had been standing.
"What the fuck are you?" Jace said, looking at the thing that he knew was not an animal. "Lizards can't talk!"
It's black, dripping tongue flashed in and out of it's mouth as it began to move towards Jace. He was so stunned that it could move with such speed, he hesitated before moving. The creature clamped its jaws around Jace's calf. He shrieked and reached under the nearby bed frame for the baseball bat Jocelyn kept there, claiming it made her feel safer.
Jace brought the bat down on the lizard thing's head repeatedly until he felt its grip loosen on his limb. He kicked it off him and shuffled his way into the kitchen. He grabbed a bottle of vodka from the top cabinet and sat down at the only chair left standing at the table. He took one good, long swig before passing out.