Raziel High

Shopping

Clary's POV

I am awoken by my mother gently shaking me awake. She looks already dressed and ready to go, why did she only wake me now? "The showers free honey, I'm just going to grab us some food for breakfast, I will see you when your out."

The slightly scolding stream of water wakes me up but also makes me feel like I'm at home, at least the shadowhunters wash the same way as "mundanes", their name for non shadow world folk. I don't know how I would cope without the comfort of a hot shower in the morning. I dress in my jeans and a t-shirt that says "You better believe it buster!". I cram on my combat boots and sit on the end of my bed flicking through the codex waiting for mum to return.

Finally mum gets back with a loaf of bread and some honey she found at a market, I am craving fruit loops but I won't disregard the trouble she went to, to find us this meal. We drink weak tea that we found in a cupboard and then head out the door. "So I saw you looking at the codex, have you managed to finish it yet?" Jocelyn asks as we walk the cobbled streets of Idris,
"Yeah, I finished yesterday morning, it has been a week since you gave it to me and I have had nothing better to do!" I say, "It's not like I can talk to Simon about this sort of stuff can I?",
"Well maybe it would be a good idea to." Jocelyn replies,
"What? You mean I can just go around telling everyone I know about my secret second life? Your crazy! That must be against some sort of rule!" I whisper yell at her,
"Well in your case you can tell everyone one you know, because everyone you know is Simon! You have known each other all your life, you only have each other, you can't just disappear off the face of the earth with no explanation!" Jocelyn whisper yells back, "You are allowed to tell one person who is a big part of your life, such as a boyfriend you plan to spend the rest of your life with or a best friend that you can't give up, but you have to be able to trust them to not expose our world, and I think you can trust Simon.",
"Well at least you have told me that, but how am I going to tell him?" I ask,
"I don't know, but you will have some time to think about it because we're here".

We arrive at a weapons shop and mum leads the way in. The walls are covered in mounted swords, knifes, bows and daggers. Mum walks straight up to the counter and asks for some assistance, "Hello, I need to purchase a practice blade for my daughter who is starting at Raziel High in a week, do you have any suggestions?" Mum asks politely,
"Yes, I have a wide array of practice blades but first I have a few questions" the shop assistant replies, "How long have you been training prior?",
"I have no previous training, I guess I'm a late starter" I say,
"Oh okay, in that case I will find you a beginners blade. It might be a bit hard finding one for your height and strength considering our market for beginners blades is 8-12 year olds" the lady laughs, I don't find this in the least bit funny, more an attack.
"Oh well we will just wait until you find something suitable" I say trying to hold back my anger.

Mum leads me over to a counter filled with steles while the lady looks for a blade. Mum did say I will need a stele so I guess this is where we are getting that too, "How about this one honey, it's slim enough to slip into your boot, that's always a good place I find" Mum asks,
"I guess so, I'm not the expert" I say, really not being in the mood anymore,
"Come on honey, cheer up!"

The lady comes back with a seraph blade she deems suitable for my height, strength and blade skill level. She hands it to me and it feels just right in my hands. I feel like its and extension of my arm which I guess is a good natural shadowhunter feeling, finally I get something right! "That's not something I will be slipping into my boot that's for sure!" I joke, but the lady takes my comment seriously and insists she will be back with some throwing knifes.

Mum is now eyeing a weapons belt and asks the other shop keeper to get it down of the wall, "Yes, that one to the right" Mum instructs. Suddenly the belt is being thrust into my hands. I loop it around my waist and tighten its straps, again it feel normal and natural, maybe I am getting somewhere? Mum slides my new stele into a pocket and my new seraph blade into another. The lady comes back with three identical short throwing blades/daggers and slides them into my belt as well. I just smile, a wide, true, full face grin, I'm ready to kick some demon butt!

We go to the checkout counter to pay and I ask "So this shop is stocked by the Iron Sisters?",
"Oh yes, as are all other shadowhunter weapons shops" the lady says. I am proud to have known something, to have used something I have learnt from the codex. I walk out of that store happy.

We walk a short way down the road to a gear shop which is pleasantly deserted, I really didn't want to have my first time wearing gear be a public fashion show. A bell jingles as we walk onto the premises, I don't know if I am mentally prepared for this, but there is no turning back now. "Well off you go, browse, we need to fill your wardrobe with black clothing!" Jocelyn exclaims, it turns out they don't only sell gear here they also sell normal shadowhunter clothes, which mostly happen to be black. I find some amazing leather pants in two styles, both skinny type pants but one with patches of black jean incorporated into it. I find my size in both then throw them over my shoulder and continue to browse. I find a jackpot of black tank tops in various textures and pick out a few and add them to the pile. The door jingles but I hardly notice as I pick up some charcoal and grey tank tops and shirts. Then I get to what mum calls the fun part, the leather jackets. I reach for a leather jacket that catches my eye but I find it is already being pulled at from the other side of the rack, I let go and smile at the girl who was pulling at it at the same time as me, she is breathtakingly gorgeous, thin, tall with waist length, straight black hair. I gasp a little and she holds out a hand noticing I'm staring a bit, "Hi, I'm Isabelle, and you are?" she says,
"Hi, I'm Clary, you can have that jacket I will find another" I manage to say with a smile,
"Oh well thank you Clary, I might just buy it!" she says back with a smile, "I guess I will see you around". I walk back down the line looking for a different jacket but all I can think about is Isabelle and her beauty.

Mum comes over to my changing room and slips another couple pairs of pants and a shirt under my curtain. She comes back later with a couple pairs of combat boots and slides them under as well to "Complete the look". I come out a minute later looking a bit ridiculous in my eyes. Mum gasps and exclaims "That's my girl! A real shadowhunter" I look in the mirror again and see that even though I look a bit out of place and silly, I don't really care what others think because this is the new me, Clary Fray, Shadowhunter.

Isabelle's POV

That girl, Clary, was pretty, with her red hair and fair skin. I knew there was something different about her, first of all she was way to polite to be a trained shadowhunter living with other shadowhunters, and second she had no runes. I was right, she must not live with a shadowhunter family, and I wanted to know more.