A bit of a shorter chapter for you all today but I'm working towards posting the next installment as fast as possible. Enjoy!

"I have to go" I said, pulling against his arms and running across the field. I knew he wanted to come after me but I also knew he couldn't jeopardize the mission. Whatever that was. Making a scene now would only make the big picture even more difficult.

I wiped my tears on my sweater before opening the SUV's door. It was empty, much to my surprise. Both Markus and Landon were silent in the front seat. Landon glanced at me in the rearview mirror sympathetically. I didn't blame them for this. It was Valentine's own absurdity that made things this way. "We had no idea he was coming back so soon." Markus murmured quietly a few minutes later. I nodded in response, too panicked to say anything.

I ran my hands along the cool leather of the SUV nervously. There was no telling what I was about to walk into. Outside my window the city flashed by too quickly. It was making my head throb the closer we got to home. A familiar feeling of anxiety was creeping its way up my chest and permanently lodging itself around my heart.

"I cannot believe you!" Valentine shouted as we reached the house. I heard his voice before I actually saw him. The front door flew open with a bang, shaking the whole front of the house as his towering frame rushed down the steps, taking them two at a time. He was at my door yanking it open before I had the chance to do anything. "Get over here" he seethed as I fumbled back to the other side of the car, evading his captuere.

"Wait, just listen, please!" I gasped as he grabbed my sweater and wrenched me out of the SUV. Tears sprung up in my eyes and began streaming down my face as I stumbled along the cobblestone walkway.

"It was just a game. We won and everyone was celebrating." I sobbed, but he wasn't hearing anything besides the steam coming out of his ears.

"He had his filthy hands all over you!" he shouted, throwing me to the ground. My hands shot out in front of me to break my fall but my head still smacked the edge of the rock slabs, making me delirious. "I can't even touch you! Kirks, take her up to her room!" he shouted to Landon, referring to him by his surname. He was at my side in a flash, picking me up gently.

"I'm so so sorry Clary… So very sorry." He repeatedly soothingly into my ear. I couldn't figure out who he was trying to calm down more, me or himself.

I was crying too hard into his hold to say anything coherent. Blood and tears smeared across the front of his chest in an ugly fashion, completely ruining the previously crisp suit. As we passed the threshold I could hear things crashing down the hall. Valentine had never been so angry. "I want those clothes burned! Burned!" I heard him scream.

As we entered my room, Landon set me down gently on my bed while I cried, leaving with another sincere apology. I faintly heard the chaos ensuing downstairs. I shouldn't have been so careless and allowed myself to believe I could have anything close to a normal life. Stumbling over to my closet I quickly scanned the racks, picking out a simple long-sleeve cream dress with buttons down the middle. Valentine had always been impartial towards skirts and dresses, he was a bit of a traditionalist in that sense.

Heading over to the bathroom I quickly slipped out of my clothes and into the dress before fixing my hair. Removing the pins holding up the bun, I quickly ran a brush through the curls, cringing as it raked over a soft spot on my scalp. As I pulled my hair away from my forehead, I inspected the gash across the right side of my forehead where I'd smacked the rock slab outside. Blood smeared and trickled down my temple

Pulling out the first aid kit from under my sink, I pulled out some antibacterial wipes and began to clean the wound before covering it with some gauze and medical tape. I'd run out of real bandages so this was going to have to do for now.

I'd pulled my hair back and pinned it with a barrette after cleaning my wound, trying to keep my hair away from the area as much as possible. Usually I'd have tried to hide it under a mess of curls, but this one was so sensitive, I didn't want anything touching it.

"Clarissa?! Clarissa!" I heard his voice as he searched for me. "Where are you, you whore." He bellowed as his heavy footsteps stomping on the staircase.

The flower vase in my bedroom rattled before shattering against the floor as the door flew open and smacked the wall. "I'm here." I said quietly.

He paused in the hallway, looking at the dress. For a moment I thought all would have been forgiven, but his face hardened after a second. "Well I'm glad to see you've removed those foul clothes and put on something sensible" he growled stepping into the room and smacking me hard across the face without warning.

My body flew back and I landed on the floor. "Get up!" he screamed. "Get up right now!" his hand reached out and grabbed a handful of my hair, yanking me up. I screamed at the pain, my own arms flashing up to wrap around his.

"Please Valentine" I pleaded as he dragged me through the house. I wasn't quite sure where we were going this time. Valentine had never taken me anywhere when he was angry. He just unleashed his fury in wherever we happened to be.

"I am done putting up with your insubordination. We are going to see Hodge. He will fix you" He nodded, as if convincing himself. Terror spiked in my body and I struggled to pull myself free of him. The last time I'd seen Hodge, he'd nearly killed me. I was not about to go back to him willingly.

We'd made it back outside to the front door where two SUV's were waiting for us. Men in dark suits were waiting by the doors looking more like the harbingers of death than bodyguards. I noticed neither Landon nor Markus were present. The stony face men before me held no remorse for my cries. They believed whatever Valentine told them without question.

"No!" I shouted, finally pulling away from him, tripping and stumbling back. His eyes raged with fire at my protest. Reaching out he gripped the tops of me arms, pulling me up.

"You will get in that car and you will do it obediently or so help me, Clarissa.-"

"I said NO!" I screamed. I'd had enough. Never before had I defied Valentine in such a way. Never before had I ever defied him period. But this time I had reached my limit. I had seen too much of what my life could be to put up with this kind of abuse. Valentine had made it abundantly clear that he held no love for me as a daughter. And I'd rather be dead than live another second under his roof.

The familiar rush of energy filled my body as I realized I was never meant to live a life in his cage. This wasn't something I deserved. And he had no right to make me feel like it did. A hum buzzed beneath the surface of my skin and I no longer heard the obscenities he screamed at me. The pure euphoria flooding my system drowned out everything around me, reminiscent of the time I'd kissed Jace. The same electric, all-consuming surge that seemed to command my body spread like a wildfire. A smile crossed my features and he tugged at my arms. But the energy tugged back, harder. A flash of white sparked forth from my chest, blinding us both and throwing him up against the car. His body smashed into the shiny black exterior of the SUV, causing the metal to crunch inward.

We were both so stunned I don't think either of us knew what to do for a minute. But my body reacted quicker. The buzzing urged me forward and soon I found myself running for the main gate at the end of the driveway. I felt like I was flying. Behind me I could hear Valentine start screaming for his men to go after me but they were shell shocked. I didn't wait to see how long it took them to snap into action.

Slamming into the gate, I looked up and my adrenaline really kicked it up a notch. I began climbing as quickly as I could. "Hey!" someone yelled, grabbing onto my leg and attempting to pull me off the gate. My foot slipped and scrapped along the horizontal bars. My body smacked hard against the side of the gate as I dangled helplessly from the top of the rails.

"Let go of me!" I screamed, kicking my feet as hard as I could.

"You know I can't do that Miss, please don't make this harder than it needs to be." He said, struggling to simultaneously hold his weight up on the gate and pull me down.

"I refuse to be anyone's ragdoll to throw around as they please." I gritted my teeth, evading his hands and pulling myself up just enough to bring my foot down and bop him onto of his shiny bald head. I had no time to appreciate the fresh footprint now marking his head as I swung myself up and over the gate.

Dropping to the dirt on the other side I turned to look one last time at the man I never loved in front of the home that was never truly mine. I swore it would be the last. He glared at me furiously. Both wounded and freezing, I took off into the night, running where my intuition led. I'd started off going down the main road but I knew that it wouldn't be long before the SUV's caught up to me. I could already see the gates beginning to open. Deviating from my path, I stumbled into the woods, just barely catching myself before tripping over the roots of a large tree.

Tires screeched against the asphalt and I paused, waiting from them to pass as I breathed heavily against the trunk of the towering Alaskan cedar. As soon as I felt I'd cleared their line of sight I took off again, running further into the woods. I knew there would be a break up ahead soon that opened to where town was. It wouldn't be hard to find someone with a cellphone to dial help. The further away I got the more my tension eased. I kept up with the rapid pace I'd set. Running felt good. The cold air hitting my lungs awakened my senses, keeping me moving towards my goal.

From up ahead I began to see the vague outline of buildings coming into view. I surged ahead faster, not bothering to slow down until the worn soles of my flats slapped against the asphalt. Getting my breathing under control, I peered out at the road, checking for the familiar black SUV's. When none appeared I finally broke free from the tree line, running across the street to the grocery store parking lot. My feet swayed beneath me as I walked. I was coming down from the high of whatever had given me the boldness to fight Valentine and it was hitting me like a bag of bricks.

"Miss?" a voice called in front of me as I bumped into the cart corral near the front of the parking lot. "Miss are you alright?" an elderly woman asked as she unloaded her cart to her car. I looked like a deranged animal, running around in a ripped up dress and haphazardly bandaged head wound.

"Do you have a phone I might be able to borrow?" I asked, breathlessly. My body was quickly beginning to shut down. With the massive flood of adrenaline now leaving my system I wasn't sure how long I could go before I collapsed.

She nodded her head, digging into her purse and pulling out a cellphone before handing it to me. "Thank you" I murmured, quickly dialing Jace's number. I had to blink a few times as the numbers swirled on the screen.

He answered almost immediately and I cried into the phone in happiness. "Jace, it's Clary, it's me" I sobbed.

"Clary, where are you? We lost you when you ran into the woods." I couldn't believe they'd been there the whole time. When Valentine called at the football game he must have immediately called his parents team.

"I'm at the Thriftaway in the parking lot" I sniffled bringing my arms to wrap around my body as I looked around. "Jace I'm…I'm feeling tired. I can't seem to stay awake." I confessed as my eyes began to droop.

"I'm coming baby, we're right around the corner." he said, shouting directions to someone next to him. I could hear the rev of an engine on the other end as I leaned against the elderly couple's car and slid down to sit on the asphalt.

"Jace please hurry" I whispered. "Something's wrong with me" I cried. I could feel myself slipping closer and closer to unconsciousness. The bandage on my head had fallen off and started bleeding again, no doubt adding to the uneasiness I was feeling. Looking down I noticed the scrape on my shin was a lot worse as it had been bleeding for quite a while and begun to start drying against my leg.

From up ahead I could hear the screech of tires pulling into the parking lot. I could only hope it was Jace and not Valentine. I was too tired to move, let alone run from him again. My brain barely registered voices calling my name as I slumped over onto the ground. The couple in their car had jumped out and tried to wake me but I was so tired. I couldn't even open my eyes to let them know I was alive.

"Clary!" my favorite voice cracked in pain as he said my name. It wasn't long before I felt his familiar strong arms wrap around my broken frame as the unmistakable scent of citrus and pine assaulted my senses. He carried me over to a car, pulling me against his chest.

"She's breathing, but barely. There's a pretty bad gash to her forehead." I heard a woman say "We're en route, ETA 6 minutes. It'll be a miracle if she survives another 10 minutes, have a medical team ready."

"I'm right here Clary" his voice rumbled as I lay against his chest. "You're going to okay, I've got you" he murmured, lulling me into unconsciousness.

Big changes on the horizon for Clary! Let me know what you all think.

XX -Gwen