When you read the name of the chapter 'Coming Home' did you think of that song.
I coming home, i'm coming home. Tell the world i'm coming home. ???
Clary was drawing Jace in her sketchbook. His face had began to fade slightly from her memory over the years. All she'd had were her drawings. And he looked different now. Taller, more muscular, more attractive. How was that fair? She'd gotten slightly taller and more shapely over the last two years, but she still wasn't pretty (well, in her opinion anyway).
There was a knock at her door and she jumped. She quickly hid her sketchbook in the drawer on her nightstand and walked over to the door. She opened it.
Isabelle was standing outside. She smiled. "Hi."
"Hi," Clary wasn't expecting to see her. "What's up?" She said slowly, frowning.
Isabelle glanced down at Clary tiny white nightgown that she wasn't particularly fond of. "Sorry for bothering you at this hour. There was a demon sighting at Pandemonium. Did you want to come?"
"Yes," Clary said immediately. Adrenalin was exactly what she needed right now. "I'll just change and meet you in the weapons room."
"Great," Isabelle smiled. "Oh, Pandemonium is a nightclub, so... Dress accordingly."
Clary blinked. "Nightclub."
"Um... It's hard to explain..."
"I know what a nightclub is. Why do I have to 'dress accordingly'? Can't I just wear gear?"
Isabelle looked at her for a long second.
To much like me, Clary thought. "Alright. I'll see you in a few."
Isabelle nodded and left.
Clary shut her door and ran to her closet and threw it open. She looked through the dresses Scarlett had packed her. She pulled out a short looking black dress and went into the bathroom to change.
She looked in the mirror once she was in the dress. It was way too tight, way too short, and the neckline was far too low. "Scarlett!" She hissed under her breath.
Someone knocked on her bathroom door and she jumped. "Who is it?"
"Are you ready?" Said Isabelle's voice.
Too late to change now, Clary thought. "Almost."
"Okay. I'll wait out here."
Clary- as fast as she could- put on her makeup and walked out. Isabelle was sitting on her bed, waiting. She was in a short purple dress with lace sleeves. "Ready."
Isabelle looked her up and down. "How are you going to cover your runes?"
"Um," Clary hadn't thought of that.
"You could just not wear any and be bait."
Clary frowned. She hated that idea, but she wondered if she should say yes just for that reason. "... Alright. Sounds good."
"And are you planning on going barefoot?"
Clary looked down at her bare feet. Oops. "Right," she went to her closet and looked at the line of shoes. "Uh..."
Isabelle came up and picked up a pair of black velvet high heeled boots. "These are nice."
Clary took them, sat on the bed to put them on. She stood up and wrinkled her nose. She disliked high heels. She could walk in them now, but she still didn't like them. "Alright, now I'm ready."
Isabelle chuckled quietly.
They entered the weapons room. Jace and Alec were already armed.
"You two took your time," said Alec.
Jace was staring at her- but in a different way this time. She turned her head slightly so he wouldn't see her blush.
Clary couldn't carry many weapons, just a knife and her stele. She wished she'd looked more closely at the dress before she'd put it on.
Clary held on to the pole and glanced at all the men staring at her. "Why did we have to take the train?" Clary asked in a hushed voice.
"What other ways are there?" Asked Isabelle.
Clary opened her mouth, shut it and shrugged. She was going to say portals, but she forgot she wasn't supposed to be able to do that.
"Next stop is ours," said Jace.
Clary nodded and looked at him. Stared. She'd thought about him first thing when she woke up each morning and until she went to bed every day while she was with the Woods. She'd dream of him every night, too. Dream of the heartbreaking look on his face when Sebastian drove his sword into her chest as he was forced to watch.
She shuddered at the memory. The train began to slow and they all stood up.
Clary spotted the demon Isabelle was talking about. He was sitting at the bar, eyes scanning the place. Looking for his next victim, Clary thought bitterly. She took a deep breath and sat down next to him. She gave a smile. "Hey," she tried to be as flirty as possible and tried to hide her disgust.
The demon- disguised as a human- looked her up and down and a sinister grin stretched across his face. "Hello."
"I'm Cl- Loren. What's your name?"
"Josh," His eyes jetted to the right for a split second before he answered. This was how Clary could tell he was lying.
"Hi Josh."
"Would you like me to buy you a drink?"
Clary smiled playfully. "I was actually thinking we could head somewhere more... Private."
He looked surprised, but relieved- probably because this would be his easiest victim. He didn't have to butter her up like he did other girls. "I'll follow you."
Clary stood up, took his hand and lead him to the storage closet she'd first seen Isabelle enter. When the door was shut, he grabbed her shoulders, pushed her up against the wall and ran his tongue down her neck.
Clary shuddered. She felt like she was about to vomit. Where are those guys?
As if on cue, the door was thrown open and in came her backup. The demon released her and stumbled away, not knowing what to do.
Clary pulled the knife out of her boot, ready for a fight. Isabelle's whip was already around his throat. Clary threw the dagger and it went right into his neck. Clary was instantly proud of herself.
The demon fell to the ground and coiled into itself, disappearing.
Isabelle looked at her, impressed. "Well done, Loren. You're pretty impressive."
"Thanks," it felt weird fitting in with them. When she was last with them, she could barely hold up her own sword. Now, she could nearly beat her trainer.
"Was that it?" said Alec.
"Not quite," said Jace, looking at the tracker in his hand. "There's one more."
"I'll get him," said Isabelle, walking out.
Jace rolled his eyes and shook his head, smiling fondly.
Clary couldn't help but smile, too. She'd missed his smile.
"I've got to admit, you're pretty good," said Jace.
"Coming from you, that's certainly a compliment," said Clary.
He raised his eyebrow.
"Um," Clary quickly recovered. "I've heard about your abilities."
Jace nodded slowly and looked away.
Clary bit her bottom lip.
"We should probably not wait in here," said Alec. "Come on."
......................
The next morning, Jace stood in the greenhouse, standing where he and Clary had had their first kiss. Ever since Rosie had gotten there, all he could think about was Clary. She looked just like her. So much so that it was scary. She had the same face, but without freckles, then her hair and eyes were different, but other than that, she could've been her twin.
It wasn't the best time to be reminded of Clary. He was just starting to get over her with someone new, and this would make things complicated.
Jace spotted someone below, walking to the Institute gates. Jace left the greenhouse to answer the door.
When he got there, he opened it. It was Simon. "Hello bloodsucker."
"Jace," Simon nodded at him. "Is Isabelle around?"
"Let me check," Jace slammed the door in his face then went to look for Isabelle.
Isabelle, Rosie and Alec were in the dining room, talking.
"Isabelle, your boyfriend's here," said Jace.
Isabelle looked up and smiled. "See you guys later," she said and stood up.
Loren smiled slightly as Isabelle dashed out.
Jace sat down where Izzy had sat and took a piece of cold pizza from the box.
"Who's Isabelle's boyfriend?" Asked Loren. Her Voice was like Clary's, too.
"A vampire," said Alec.
"I'm kind of surprised she's dating him," said Jace. "He's kind of an imbecile."
Loren frowned. "Who?"
"Simon Lewis," said Alec.
Loren's eyes widened for a second.
Jace frowned. It was as if Clary was having a reaction to this.
Loren looked at him and cleared her throat. "Didn't you guys say he was a vampire?"
"Yeah," said Alec.
"Well... It's day time. Wouldn't he burn up?"
"He's a daylighter," Alec explained.
Loren nodded in understanding.
Maybe this was all in Jace's head. He wanted Clary to be alive and back. He was imagining these signs. He had to be. If she was Clary, she would've told him at least if it was a secret- though he didn't know why it would be.
.....................
Scarlett,
This is harder than I thought it would be. Lying to Jace is the hardest thing I've ever done. All I want every second is to be in his arms again, to smell his scent, to hear his voice... Lying to the ones you love is worse than being away from them.
The high warlock of Brooklyn, Magnus Bane, is throwing a masquerade ball at his house and I don't have anything to wear. Not sure what to do. The last thing I want to do is borrow Isabelle's clothes.
So, it's been a week now. What am I supposed to do really? Just pretend like I'm getting to know them? It's a little complicated.
Yours in distress,
Clary/Loren
P.S. If anyone asks, I shot Sebastian, not Daniel.
Clary sent the firemail and let out a sigh. It was hard. Especially since Jace didn't feel anything for Loren Woods, but she was still so in love with him. It was like having a crush in school, but the boy didn't even know you existed- but much, much worse.
..........................
Clary was lying on the ground, knowing instantly where she was. The sun blazed hot in the sky, and the cliff next to her would drop a few stories down into the water. She turned her head to look at Jace- who was bound a dozen feet away. She looked up now at Sebastian standing over her- sword in hand.
"This is what you get when you reject me," said Sebastian. "You brought this on yourself."
He grabbed the blade with both hands and lifted it. Clary heard Jace shouting, but wasn't sure what he was saying. The blade entered her chest and she screamed.
She sat up rapidly in bed, gasping, feeling at her chest. Just a memory, she thought. She looked over at the clock. It was six in the morning. Clary dreaded the idea of going back to sleep, so she got up. She stripped off the nightgown and put on random things from her drawer, then walked out.
She found herself in the library without knowing why. She looked for a book to read on the shelf- something to distract her. She found the Shadowhunter codex and pulled it off the shelf. This would be good.
She sat down on the couch and opened it to the title page. Clary Fray was scrawled in her handwriting. Her eyes widened. She'd forgotten about it. She had put in commentary, as well as Simon and Jace. She opened it up to to the first page and read her and Simon's scrawl. She laughed remembering. She went on and on and read the notes. She was smiling now- her dream all but forgotten.
"That was Clary's," said a voice that made her jump. Jace was standing behind her. She hadn't even heard him come in.
"You're very quiet, you know that?"
Jace smirked. "That may be the first time someone has ever said that."
Clary laughed at this. "I thought Simon Lewis was a vampire," she tried.
"He stole it from Clary," said Jace, making his way around the couch and sitting next to her.
"Were they friends?"
Jace nodded.
Clary realized she wasn't supposed to know who Clary Fray was, so quickly asked. "Who's Clary Fray?"
Jace swallowed, looking at the book on her lap. "She was... She..."
"Sorry, was she the girl who died?"
Jace swallowed again. "Yes."
Clary didn't like making Jace sad, but she had to know. "Who was she to you?"
It took Jace a long time to answer. "She was my girlfriend."
"I'm sorry," Clary put a hand on his shoulder.
He turned away, and she worried she'd gone too far. "You were there weren't you? When Seb- Jonathan Morgenstern killed her?"
"Clary was Clarissa Morgenstern?"
"She was born Morgenstern, yes. She preferred not to use her father's name."
"Of course. I wouldn't either."
Jace looked at her and she took her hand off his shoulder and looked back at the book. "I could put it back if-"
"That's not what I meant," said Jace. "You can read it if you'd like," he stood up and left.
Clary watched him leave and sighed.
.........................
"Isabelle? Isabelle? Isabelle?"
Isabelle looked up at Simon. "What?"
Simon frowned. "You're awfully distracted. Everything okay?"
"Yeah," Isabelle considered not telling him, but thought it was best to. "That girl, Loren Woods... She's here- at the Institute."
"Oh yeah," said Simon. "I forgot she was coming. Is she terrible?"
"Actually... No. She just... She... She looks a lot like Clary."
Simon swallowed at the mention of his deceased best friend.
"Sorry," said Isabelle. "I shouldn't have told you."
Simon shrugged. "It's fine. How much?"
"A lot. She could almost be her twin."
Simon nodded. "Is she nice?"
Isabelle shrugged. "I guess. She seems to have developed a crush on Jace already."
Simon scoffed. "Why am I not surprised?"
Isabelle smiled at this. "Yeah. I feel kind of bad for him though, since she reminds him of Clary so much. Doesn't really matter, though since he has a girlfriend."
"Guess not."
"So, how's The Arctic Spiders?"
"Actually, we're Kriptinatic Alcoholics now."
Isabelle laughed. "Kriptinatic Alcoholics? Oh my god, that's awful!"
"I know."
.......................
Clary heard the sound of a piano and immediately knew it was Jace. She went to the doorway of the library and watched him. She wasn't completely sure what song he was playing, but it sounded beautiful. His eyes were closed.
Clary slipped quietly towards him until she was right at the other side of the piano.
"Alec? Is that you?" Asked Jace, not opening his eyes.
Clary smiled. "Nope, but close."
He opened his eyes. His playing hadn't faltered once. It was rather impressive. "Hello."
"You're pretty good," she smiled.
"I know."
She chuckled quietly at this. She'd missed his confidence, too. He'd been kind of sad-looking the past week. He was returning to normal.
The song came to an end. And Jace smiled at her.
Clary fought off the blush, but was pretty sure he'd seen it.
"Are you hungry?"
Clary nodded.
"I'll order Chinese food. We shouldn't be subjected to Isabelle's cooking again this week.
Clary laughed. "Got that right."