City of Shadows

Chapter 13: A Distant Memory

"I knew you'd be here."

Ember Fairose yelped in the middle of the produce section of her favorite grocery store, and the yellow onion that she had been holding rolled out of her hand and thumped to the ground as she whirled around, fingers already reaching for the glamoured silver and gold dagger she had stuck through one of the belt-loops of her jeans. Her fingers froze, however, when her eyes landed on the flame-haired girl standing behind her. Her arms were crossed, her green eyes sparkling and her lips twitching with an urge to laugh.

"Clary!"

Roselyn giggled from her seat in the cart, delighted by the fact that her aunt had scared her mother, and Ember sent apologetic glances to the passing people that sent her strange looks.

"How did you find me?"

"Tracking rune," Clary answered simply. She held up her silver charm bracelet, a pleased smile on her lips. "You didn't exactly make it difficult. If you're going to sneak out, at least use an anti-tracking Mark next time you go out. My brother could have easily found you."

Ember snatched the bracelet from her and clasped it around her wrist. "I left my ring at the Institute," she muttered. "I don't think he would want to track me right now anyway."

Clary shrugged and fell into step beside the dark-haired girl as she pushed the cart further down the aisle. "Don't be so sure. You'd be surprised at the things my brother would do. Especially for you."

Ember sent her a subtle sideways glance when she wasn't looking. "Clary, what are you doing here?"

"No, what are you doing here, alone?" Clary asked as she carefully selected mangoes and placed them into a bag. "Yesterday you made it very clear that this was going to be a girls' trip. I don't see Isabelle anywhere around here, or Katherine for that matter."

"Isabelle stayed with Alec and the rest of the family. Katherine's here." Ember stopped walking and gestured to the pharmacy section in the distance, where Katherine stood reading the backs of several vitamin bottles. "She's actually kind of hard to get rid of."

She felt Clary smile as she placed the mango-filled bag into the cart. "You like her, don't you?"

Ember felt her lips twitch as she inspected some carrots. "She grows on you after a while." She looked back to the cart and raised an eyebrow at seeing the barely-closed bag. "Why so many mangoes?"

"They're Jace's favorite," she said. "I'm trying to stock up on extra good girlfriend points."

Ember shook her head, fully smiling by that point. "You don't need them. Clary, you could get Jace a stick and he would still love it."

"So could you to Jonathan."

Her smile wavered at the mention of his name. She hadn't seen him since the previous afternoon, after he had told her to give him space and stormed off. She respected his wishes, although she had spent the night tossing and turning, worrying, wondering if he had gone home or was in his room at the Institute.

She doubted the latter. She knew he wouldn't have been comfortable staying after fighting with Alec, knew he would think that no one wanted him there after what he had done.

"I didn't think you would care," Ember said, careful in her choice of words. "You ran off after what happened."

"I know," Clary whispered. "Ember, he—he told me the truth. I know what really happened."

She almost dropped the cluster of parsley she was holding. She turned to Clary, her eyes wide and face incredulous. "And you believe him?"

"I—I do." She sounded almost surprised by the fact that she did. "Jonathan—my brother—he wouldn't lie about this." She sighed, and that was when Ember saw the dark circles beneath her eyes, the wanness of her face.