Who am I? *A Mortal Instruments Fanfic*

A Meeting with Hodge

I wake up staring at a ceiling. I am surprisingly warm

when I see I'm under some blankets in a bed. Wait, a bed? I also see I'm bandaged and my head still a dull ache. A moan escapes my lips. A movement comes from beside me. A blonde head comes into focus. "Are you ok? How's your head?"

          "Well, I feel better. And my head is still aching but definitely better." A sigh of relief seems comes from him. I still don't understand why I answer him. Something about him seems like I should trust him though I never a) trust anyone as easily as I do him and b) I hardly know this boy who saved me.

          "Hodge took care of that." I get self-conscious suddenly. "Izzy." Jace says. I begin to notice Jace in more detail. Now instead of black leather, he is wearing worn jeans, has wet hair, and is wearing a white, long sleeve shirt on. The thin material showed those strange black Marks again. A door creaks open. A boy with frost blue eyes, dark hair, and is wearing a short sleeve that shows the same strange black Marks. "Hodge wants to see the mundane." The boy says abruptly. "That's Alec." Jace adds.

          "Jace." Alec's eyes gave a warning. "Ok, ok." Throwing me some clothes, he motions to a bathroom. I go over, wash my face, and get dressed. I take a breath and walk out. Jace glances over and does a double take. He stares at me and I turn red, not used to boys I don't even know staring at me. He clears his throat and says, "Follow me." I catch Alec glaring at me with utmost contempt, On the way to where ever we were going, Jace begins to talk.

          "Hodge is an interesting character. He's kind of odd. He has white hair. He owns a raven named Hugo. He's going to question you about last night. Answer semi-truthfully." He drops his voice so Alec couldn't hear and only I can. "Whatever you do, don't show him your arm. He didn't see it when he fixed your concussion. He thinks you're a mundane." His voice becomes normal at the last phrase. Alec gives us a suspicious look. I glance at Jace quizzically at calling me a "mundane," whatever that is. "I'll explain later." He says.

          He swings the door open and motions for me to go in. After I step over the threshold, the door closes. Jace isn't behind me. I am alone. I look in and see row upon row of books. Apparently, this place is a library. I gaze at the books just waiting to be opened. As I walk over to one of the shelves with a particularly large book that's standing on a pedestal, I whirl around and see a slightly deformed bird. A raven. It caws and a voice calls from the shadows. "I see you've healed nicely." Since I was wearing a jacket, I pull the leather down slightly farther to make sure my forearm is covered. "What's your name, mundane?"

          "Chloe." It was kind of the truth. "Well, Chloe," The voice says as if tasting the name. "What were you doing last night in the graveyard?"

          "I'll tell you when I can see you and you tell me your name." This seems to infuriate the man, judging by the still and kind of angry silence that followed. "My name is Hodge, Hodge Starkweather." The man walks out. He is wearing a neat, darker grey suit, and grey/white hair, and had shadows and wrinkles on his face. "Now, why were you in that graveyard?" He asks again, his grey eyes searching me. "My mom was frustrating me so I wanted to get away. She knows where I like to go, so I went to the last place she'd look for me."

          "Do you know what you saw?"

          "No, I don't know it's all a blur." I had to lie. "You saw a vampire Rising. Because it just rose, it needed blood, so it saw you." He continues to tell me the same thing Jace told me. "That boy out there, Jace, told me the vampire tried to attack you. Why he was there I don't know." I do. I thought. "He also told me you got a concussion, which I fixed. How do you feel?"

          "I feel fine; it hurts a little but thanks." I add. "Well, I did what I could." The man sighs. The raven flies over and perches onto his shoulder "So is that it?" I ask eager to get away. "Well, yes. Just one more question. Do you know anything else? Besides the fact you're a mundane?" There's that word again."No." I reply instead of saying that.

          "Very well, you can go." The man walks over to a desk. The desk is brown mahogany, and on either side, two stone angels are seeming to hold it up. Their faces are twisted in agony, like it's painful to hold it up. I shrink away from the desk and Hodge slumps down into the chair, seemingly weary of asking questions.

*Outside the library*

          "Who's that?" Alec demands. "That's Ari." Jace replies calmly. "Is she the one you brought last night?" He orders, glancing at the door.

"Yes, if I didn't she would have died." Jace answers simply. There's something about the way that Jace was staring at Ari that makes him angry.         

          "Why do you care about some stupid mundane?" Alec asks, instead of getting on his case about starting at the girl. "She's different." Jace simply says. "That was impulsive and stupid." Alec states. Jace faces him. "No it wasn't. There's something about her that makes her worth saving. Is there anything wrong with that?" Jace snaps.

"She's different, all right. She is a mundane, that's why she's different." Alec starts.

          Jace's golden eyes flash. "She's not a-" He stops himself. "It's not the fact that she's a mundane that makes me think she's different. It's something else. I can't describe it." Jace says, covering his blunder. Alec gives him a suspicious look. "You like her. You think she's pretty. I saw the way you stared at her." Alec shoots back. "That has nothing to do with it. I don't like her. I just, I don't know why I saved her, Alec, so just lay off." Jace retorts. Alec opens his mouth to protest, but instead he turns just away, huffs and crosses his arms, clearly pissed.