My Beautiful One

2. Clarissa Adele Morgenstern

S E V E N  Y E A R S  L A T E R

 

 “You have a rune?” A curious voice broke me out of my restless sleep, and I came awake with a start, nearly knocking the boy in front of me on the head.

 “I uh maybe uh…” I scrambled, sitting up and hastily pulling down my sleeve. It took a moment to recall where I was, but the moment the memory of falling asleep on a bench in Central Park came to mind, I remembered the stranger in front of me, and glared at him. “Who the hell are you?” I snapped. Crouched in front of me was pretty much the most attractive boy I had ever seen. Tall and lean, with blond curls and curious golden eyes to match, he was definitely a looker, but his rude personality appeared to contradict the whole thing.

 A Shadowhunter.

 “To answer your question, I’m Jace Morgens-“ He cut off abruptly, but covered it with a cocky grin. “No. I’m Jace Herondale: Shadowhunter extraordinaire and unfortunately not available to you because I have a girlfriend.”

 Yup. Definitely a Shadowhunter.

I made a noise of disdain. “I don’t date Shadowhunters. Even just to see the look on their previous girlfriends’ faces.”

Jace gave a lopsided grin. “You sound like my sister. I would ask you if you had any Lightwood blood, but that’s obviously not true,” He tucked my hair behind my ear to see the delicately-pointed tip, and I slapped his hand away. “Which brings me to my question. How can you have a rune? You’re a faerie.”

“Not entirely.” I said reluctantly, and looked down at the path that would lead me away from this Shadowhunter and his annoying questions, but knowing he would never let me past. He raised an eyebrow at me, telling me to explain. “I’m three eighths Shadowhunter, so too faerie for your precious Clave to employ me, but too Shadowhunter for runes to kill me. I don’t know if they work on me; this is the only one I have, and it's disfunctional anyway.”

 A sad memory came to me; a memory of the torture inflicted on me by Valentine Morgenstern, the man who had bound me to the boy who helped me escape in the end. Jonathan Morgenstern. I hadn’t seen him since, but his name had been circulating rapidly around the Downworld, tales of a ruthless flaxen-haired warrior who had dealt with demons and sold his soul to Hell.

That can’t be the Jonathan I knew… I thought to myself. He may only have been ten, but even then he was the kindest, most selfless-

 “In any case, I’m pretty sure the Institute would like to see you.” Jace’s musings cut through my thoughts, and I glowered at him.

 “I’m not going anywhere with you.” I spat, gathering my things and straightening my coat in a hurry, ready to bolt back into the depths of Central Park before the Shadowhunters could get me again. The last time I ‘went somewhere’ with a Shadowhunter, I wound up being experimented on by a psychopathic zealot called Valentine Morgenstern who pitted his own ten-year-old son against me in a fight to the death. I glanced at my forearm, and even though the rune was covered, it was like it was burning through my shirt and glaring at me, daring me to defy its existence.

I made a break for it. Moving with the unnatural (even for a supernatural) speed of a faerie/Shadowhunter hybrid, I ducked under Jace’s arm and sprinted in the direction of Turtle Pond, the closest door to the faerie kingdom. But he was fast; just as fast as m, despite appearing to be pure-bred Shadowhunter and proud of it. He grabbed the sleeve of my coat, spun me around, and tried to get me into some kind of head lock, but I was too quick, nimbly dodging his other arm and jabbing with stiffened fingers at a pressure point in his neck. He gave a hiss of pain, and moved to strike at me.

 “Look at you, Nephilm.” I sneered as I dodged a punch. "Picking on innocent, defenceless girls."

Not that I believed that girls where any less capable of being excellent fighters, but boy this guy could fight! As our battle progressed, I noticed that the strangest thing had started to happen to Jace: he was glowing, and his skin literally burned mine as we fought.

“You’re not like any girl I’ve ever met,” Jace retorted, blocking my kick aimed at his ribs. “If you're even a girl at all. What are you, anyway? One of Valentine’s experiments? Somebody with the speed and beauty of a faerie, but the rune abilities, strength, and fighting instincts of a Shadowhunter must be-“

 “You have no idea what you’re talking about.” I snarled. “But no. I am not an experiment by Valentine, though when he found me he sure as hell was curious. Curious enough to-"

“Stop!” A clear voice rang out over what would have surely become a terrible fight, and Jace and I both stopped and froze to see a petite red-haired girl standing opposite us, small fists clenched and green eyes bright with the January cold. She was a Shadowhunter, no doubt about it, but there was something about the way her gear didn’t quite fit that made me think she had not been one very long.

 “Clary.” Jace said finally, exhaling sharply. The little redhead called Clary looked back at him with a fierce expression on her face.

“What’s going on here?” She demanded, crossing her arms. Her gaze shifted to me. “He didn’t hurt you did he?”

 I snorted. “He wishes.” Jace shot me a glare, and I smirked back at the hint I’d got him into trouble. It was a bit of a lie, as there were burns on my palms from fighting him, so I stuffed my hands in my pockets before anyone could notice, hoping my accelerated faerie healing would kick in soon.

“I was just taking… this one here to the Institute. She’s a rather odd case. I’m sure she will explain later.” Said Jace.

After a moment of tense silence, I spoke up. “By the way, my name’s Amari Silverdown. Just in case you wanted to verify that I am actually a person, not a thing to be bickered about.”

Clary looked guilty all of a sudden, and scuffed her converse-covered feet against the ground as if trying to make a hole big enough to hide in. “Sorry.” She muttered, looking at her toes, and then up at me again. “I’m Clary Fray.”

 I watched her with eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Fray isn’t a Shadowhunter name.”

 “Silverdown is a faerie name, though you don’t appear to be completely faerie.” She retorted, glancing at the rune on my arm. I looked down as well, sure I had covered the Mark, but somehow, during the fight my sleve had rolled up. I yanked it down again and glared impatiently at the tiny red-haired Shadowhunter before me.

 “So could you come to the Institute with us?" She asked, "I’m sorry it’s so sudden, but with all this stuff about Valentine going on, we need to be sure that-“

“You two are hardly ones to talk.” I pointed out, crossing my arms defensively. “You two aren’t normal Shadowhunters either. I can sense it.”

Jace’s eyes widened and he shared a look with Clary. It was one of those weird looks that seems to communicate a whole sentence worth of words, leaving the person who doesn’t understand it standing by, clueless, and getting gradually more ticked off.

“Look,” Jace said, when the ‘look’ had come to pass. “I know the Fair Folk aren’t exactly on our side at the moment, but whatever you are, you aren’t totally faerie. We need all the help we can get, so if you would just kindly just get over yourself and-“

“I’ll come.” I said, cutting Jace off before he could finish off that remark about getting over myself and irritate me even more. Clary’s face lit up, and she opened her mouth to speak, but I held up a hand. “If you,” I looked Clary dead in the eye, “tell me your Shadowhunter name.”

Clary stared at me, shocked for a second, before taking a deep breath and saying something that shocked me.

“My full name is Clarissa Adele Morgenstern.”