The lights were too bright, burning Jace's eyes, as he slowly began to open them for the first time in the past 12 hours. He took everything in all at once; the baby blue walls, the ceiling (painted like the Sistine Chapel), and a girl, whom Jace clearly remembered from the night at the club as the raven haired beauty in the white dress. She sat in a chair next to his bed, her jet black hair pulled back away from her sculpted face. She was wearing normal clothes this time. Well, more normal than before, in a short black skirt, blouse, and heels.
The girl looked at him with bright blue eyes filled with fascination. "Drink this," she said, thrusting a cup of blue liquid into his palm. "It'll make the headache go away." She stood up and strode out of the room without another word.
Jace shrugged and drank the substance, he doubted it could possibly make him feel worse. Now, Jace had only tried marijuana one time, but whatever this concoction he consumed was, it made him feel about a million times better. He could finally focus clearly on what was happening. One, he didn't know where he was. Two, he didn't know where Jocelyn was. Three, the horrible pain in his calf slowly melted away.
He swung his legs over the side of the bed and ran a hand over his face. He internally groaned while landing on the floor, as there was still quite a bit of pain left in his lower leg. He dragged himself across hardwood floor, into what seemed to be a bathroom. After a quick shower, he walked out into the room where a pile of clothing lay on the bed for him. He quickly pulled on the dark long sleeve shirt, that was too tight on him, and a pair of dark jeans. He found his shoes.. covered in the reptile thing's blood. He shrugged and decided barefoot would be the best decision.
He quietly padded down the hallway, not quite sure where he was headed exactly. He passed many rooms. Some empty, some full of things Jace had never seen, and wished he hadn't. One room, however, peaked his interest. He looked around the empty corridor before quickly sliding inside. The floor there was metal, it was cold against his feet. The walls were also metal, but lined with rows upon rows of various weapons. There seemed to be every dangerous thing ever imagined contained in this small room. There were some things that Jace could never even have imagined; long swords, short daggers, knifes carved with strange markings, throwing knives and stars, also some random sticks that seemed to be the most important objects within the arsenal of weapons. Everything in this room, however, shared one common characteristic. They all had some sort of mark either dug into the hilt or the metal of the object. Jace pulled one of the various daggers down from the wall, he traced the hilt and the curve of the blade. He tried to swing it around, the way he saw in the movies. He barely caught it after nearly dropping it. During that moment, however, he heard a chuckle at the door, breaking his focus and actually dropped it.
"That thing will literally go straight through your foot. I highly suggest you put it back before you hurt yourself." Clary leaned against the doorframe with her arms crossed, raising her eyebrows at what looked like a kitten in a death trap.
Jace grimaced, quickly picking it up off the floor and carefully placing it back onto the wall where he had retrieved it. "You really shouldn't sneak up on people like that. It's quite rude." He said, crossing the room to leave. He stopped when he got to her, noticing how short she actually was for the first time. She stood, roughly, close to 5'4" and came up to Jace's shoulder.
"Well perhaps you shouldn't be in places where someone of your," she eyed Jace, "brain capacity could easily harm himself." She spun on her heel and began to walk down the hallway.
Jace quickly caught up in a few steps, landing next to her gracefully. "Well I wouldn't have needed to be in places I do not belong, had I not been left alone in this oddly large building, which has many terrifying rooms by the way. I'm quite certain one growled at me." He responded, his bare feet padding gently on the floor as he followed slowly behind Clary.
"There are a lot worse in here sweetheart." She turned to look at him. "Be glad that was the worst you saw, or heard." Clary's eyes widened when she saw his face light up after she said that. She shook her head and continued to make her way through the various twists and turns of the building.
"So where are we off to now?" Jace asked, after a long pause. He stared intently at the back of her head, waiting for a response.
"We are going to find out who you are," she said as though Jace didn't already know, "and the reason for behind the large dog sized bite taken out of your leg". He abruptly stepped in front of her, allowing her to walk right into him. "By the Angel," she said, shoving him in the chest hard enough to make him stumble, "what's wrong with you?"
"Jace Fray," he said, bowing in front of her, "17, caucasian, male, and human." He looked up at her and grinned in response to the scowl she hadn't stopped giving him since the second he opened his mouth.
"Half human." She corrected. "Clary, by the way." She said, nudging past him and continuing her way down the corridor. Jace stood with himself for a moment, silent in confusion. Clary turned to look at him. "Are you going to come?"
"Okay, wait a second. So, shadowhunters are half human and half angel?" Jace confirmed. Clary nodded, taking another turn down a hallway Jace swore they'd just walked down. "So who was the lucky bastard that got to fuck an angel?"
Clary laughed, "No one got to fuck an angel. I'm pretty sure that if it was even possible, the mundane would be dead long before conception." She stopped in front of a set of large, wooden double doors, she swiftly opened one.
Jace couldn't focus on one thing within the library, his eyes trying to take it in all at once. The two floors filled top to bottom with books, the whole room appeared to be made of wood, including the beautiful oak desk with two carved wooden angels as legs. The other boy from the nightclub was perched on the couch next to the fire place, looking as though he would have liked to be anywhere else except there at that exact moment. But most importantly, the man in the centre of the room. He appeared to be middle aged, with square frame glasses placed gently on his long, beak like nose. The man, however, was dressed professionally in a tweed suit jacket and slacks, despite the thick scar running up the right side of his face and the streaks of grey in his neat black hair. He almost had an ageless look to him, but his tired eyes showed that he had aged much more mentally than his appearance demonstrated. He introduced himself as Hodge.
"Hello Jace." The man addressed him. "How are you feeling?"
"Aside from the fact that my mother is missing, I have a chunk missing from my leg," Jace pulled his pant leg up to prove his statement, "I have no clue where I am or who any of you are, I'm doing swell."
"Yes the ravenor appears to have done quite a job on you. How did you manage to kill it, if you don't mind me asking?" The man pushed his glasses up his nose and proceeded to sit behind the wooden desk. Jace jumped at the feeling of something brush the back of his neck, he whipped around just as an object flew past him and landed upon the man's shoulder. The jet black raven nipped at the old man's glasses as he petted it.
"That thing looks like it just came straight out of a Edgar Allen Poe poem." The bird crowed in response to Jace's comment.
"The baseball bat he used was covered in runes." Clary responded. "I guess the stupid thing tried to bite at the bat and ultimately between being hit with it, and the runes burning it, it died." Jace hadn't noticed that she had sat down next to the boy on the couch, and he was left alone standing at the entrance.
The room was silent for a minute that seemed to stretch out for hours. Jace sat himself down in a love chair next to the fire and put his feet on the coffee table in front of him.
Alec rolled his eyes at Jace's obviously mundane response to Hodge's explanation of demons.
"So what are we going to do with the mundie that now knows all of our secrets?" Alec questioned the group, purposely looking away from Clary. "There has never been a human within these walls. If the Clave were to find out-"
"But he's not human." Clary responded. "I put a rune on him when I found him." Hodge looked at the girl wide-eyed, obviously stupefied.
"Clarissa!" The old man stood up, "why on earth would you even test that?"
"He was about to die Hodge," Clary stood up in response. "I couldn't just let him die!" They continued speaking, forgetting that Jace was in the room.
"You know how dangerous that could be. You could have killed him!" Hodge threw his hands in the air. "I cannot handle your blatant disrespect for human life!"
"But he didn't die Hodge. He's perfectly fine," she glanced down at Jace's injured leg. "For the most part at least."
Hodge shook his head sighing. "I suppose that is true." He turned to Jace, "is there anyone you can call. Anyone that will know you are missing, or who could possibly know why your mother was attacked?"
Jace nodded. "Would you mind if I borrowed your phone?"
Hodge gestured to the old spin-dial phone on his desk. "I think it's best if we leave Jace to his affairs." He looked at Alec and Clary and began to leave the room.
"But I found him! He wants me here." Clary looked from Hodge to Jace. "Right?"
Jace averted his gaze. He looked down at the desk and said nothing. Clary's eyes turned to slits, and she through her head back. She quickly strode out of the room, without another word. Alec and Hodge followed her. But Jace did want Clary there. He wanted so badly to wrap his arms around this stranger and allow the thoughts of his mother, the pain in his leg, all his problems to just melt away. However, there were issues to be dealt with, things Jace had to do before allowing himself to become distracted. Without thinking he dialed in the one of the few numbers he knew by heart.
His breath caught in his throat as the familiar voice spoke through the phone. "Luke?" Jace whispered. "Luke, someone attacked my mom. She told me to find you."
The line was silent for what felt like hours. "Jace, I don't have time to deal with your mother's problems. I'm sure whatever situation she got herself into, she can get out of. Just stay with Sidney for a while and do not go back to the apartment. Don't call me again."
Jace was taken aback as he hung up the phone. It was at this moment that the blonde haired boy realized just how truly alone he was. He had no one to call, no where to go, and nothing, not demons, not shadowhunters, not even angels, was scarier than that thought.