JPOV

It was Monday. Seven forty three on a Monday morning, if you insist I get specific about it. Rain was coming down in sheets from the thunderous grey clouds over head, playing havoc with my hair. I could feel it sticking to my face and forehead as if it had been pasted there with glue.

Great, I thought bitterly as I adjusted my position on the brick wall I was using for a seat, It's Monday; it's raining and my hair looks less than perfect. Just wonderful.

I glared up at the sky just as a roll of thunder echoed through the sky, feeling as though it had personally set out to offend me today.. I wouldn't have been surprised if there was a huge neon sign hovering above my head that read 'I'm in a foul mood. Stop me and ask how to make it worse'. On the other hand, I couldn't help but admit that even if the sun was shining I'd be in just as foul a mood. It was just the way it was going to be today.

"You look like someone just ran over the cat."

I immediately slid from the wall, shifting my glare to Isabelle. She snorted and raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow, her mouth set in an amused line.

"I loathe Mondays," I muttered, reading the question in her face.

"I know. You say that every week. It's not so bad, though. Just think of all the fun we'll have with the mundies today!" she grinned wickedly and hoisted her huge red leather bag up on to her shoulder. I glanced at the grey pea coat she was wearing and envied the fact she had a hood to shelter her head.

"Fun isn't the word I'd use." I replied blandly and took out my Stele. I twirled it absently in my hands, finding a small amount of comfort in the heat it radiated.

"Where's your idiot brother? We're going to be late."

Isabelle looked over her shoulder and nodded towards the door to the Institute. Alec stood in the doorway, shoving his feet hurriedly in to a pair of scruffy tennis shoes and looking almost as irritated as I felt.

"Hurry your lame ass up, Lightwood!" I called. He looked up swiftly and rolled his eyes. He finally stumbled, bleary eyed, out of the doorway and came to stand by his sisters side, yawning hugely.

"Remind me why we have to do this, again?" he implored lazily, running a hand through his already wet hair. Isabelle huffed and placed her hands on her hips; we'd had this conversation at least three times over breakfast this morning.

"Because apparently, in order to become well rounded humans, we need a proper mundane education." She reeled off automatically, knowing her speech perfectly by now. It was the same thing their mother, who was really mine, too, for all intensive purposes, had been saying for the last few weeks. I still thought it was complete bull.

"Obviously it's not enough to be an insanely talented and attractive Shadowhunter like me anymore. Shame. I was getting by so well." I stage whispered sarcastically to Alec. He snickered and shook his head.

"Whatever the reason is, I don't care much for the idea. It seems a little degrading."

"By the angel, can we just leave already? I'm getting wet." I seethed. Isabelle laughed wearily and tossed me an umbrella while Alec simply shook his head again, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like 'vein bastard' under his breath.

"By the angel…" I hissed furiously. I'd been sat for an entire ten minutes trying to light the stupid Bunsen burner and still I was having no luck. I must have been given a dud box of matches or was working at a broken gas tap or something. I was doing it right, so it can't have been me. I always did everything right, and that's a fact right there.

"That's a funny thing you keep saying." A voice whispered in my ear. I started and turned sharply to the source of the voice. I sighed and rolled my eyes when I realised it was the girl from the bench next to mine. She was looking at me with what I suppose could pass as a seductive look and leaning entirely too close so I could smell her over powering vanilla perfume, like she had done in English before this, and Math before that. She grinned as I appraised her, tossing a chunk of golden hair over her shoulder and pushing her chest out so I couldn't help but let my eyes wander. There was just so much to look at.

"Are you in to some weird religion, or something?" she asked, fluttering her eyelashes. I laughed internally at her efforts but I have been and always will be the only blonde I would ever be interested in.

"Or something," I muttered, turning back to the stupid contraption with a steely resolve.

"I think that's cool. Do you need a hand? I'm Louise, by the way."

"Jace, and no. I've got this."

"You don't look like you've got It." she pointed out unhelpfully and I shot her an annoyed look. She sniffed indignantly and turned her back to me, obviously offended by my offhandedness. I congratulated myself on my ability to irritate people. I don't care what Alec and Isabelle might say; it is a highly useful skill to have under ones belt.

I sat, seething, for the next half hour. I was about ready to throw the damn Bunsen burner out of the window, along with Alec who kept smirking at me from the other side of the room. His Bunsen had lit straight away and he had completed the test we were supposed to be conducting, earning himself praise from the teacher. Not that I care about that kind of thing.

When the bell finally rang for lunch I couldn't get out of the classroom quick enough.

"You didn't look too happy in there." Alec observed as we followed the crowd of students milling towards the cafeteria. I laughed bitterly and shot him a sceptical look.

"And you looked too happy in there. Man, you'd think you were and actual mundie."

"Don't insult me," he frowned, but let the subject drop. We walked in an unusually awkward silence to the cafeteria, meeting Isabelle outside of her Spanish class. She was literally buzzing with excitement.

"Ohmygosh, I love this whole idea. I know I was a bit weird with it at first but it's good to be able to be with people our own age for once. There's these girls in my class who invited me shopping with them, isn't that cool?"

"Yeah. Cool." I said blandly, giving my nails my attention.

She ignored me and turned to Alec.

"How have your classes been?"

"I think they've been great. Jace has been having trouble fitting in, though."

I shot him a look that clearly would have killed if I had that ability, but, alas, I didn't. He laughed quietly and began to explain to Isabelle the horrors of my morning.

"…And then he sat for the entire Science class staring at his Bunsen burner like it was a disease. He couldn't light it at all. Y'know Jace, you were putting the match to the wrong part of the instrument."

I rolled my eyes angrily and turned to face them, stopping them dead in their tracks.

"I don't care. Why do I need to know how to do that shit anyway?"

"It might be useful." Isabelle argued back, her hands sternly on her hips. Passers by looked at me with questions in their eyes but I simply huffed and glared at every one of them who dared to meet my eyes.

"Yeah, it might be useful to a mundie. Newsflash, we're not mundies! We're Shadowhunters, in case you've forgotten already. I highly doubt that some tube filled with gas will help much during a demon attack. This is degrading."

"Jace-" Alec started to say something but I threw up my hand to shut him up.

"I'm going. I'll see you guys later at the Institute."

And with that, I turned on my heel and strode away, ignoring their calls. I had no idea where I was heading, but before I knew it, I was out of the school and striding across the car park like the hounds of hell were snapping hungrily at my feet. I threw out my stele once I was out of the sight of other students and quickly traced an invisibility rune on to the base of my wrist, revelling in the soft kiss of pain it left on my skin. I was barley aware of where I was heading, but it felt like I had no control. I shoved my stele in to the back pocket of my black jeans and made a beeline for a patch of forest on the edge of the car park, ducking under branches and shielding my head from stray raindrops that fell on my face. The soft, wet ground squelched under my shoes as I marched forward towards a little clearing in the trees. I could spot a bench in the centre of the clearing, just off a path. I must have been on the edge of a park or something.

With a huff, I flung my self on to the bench and thrust my head in to my hands, kneading my eyes hard with the base of my palms. I was aware that I should have felt ashamed of running away from the school. It was weak, and Jace Wayland never ran away from anything, ever. But I was too busy feeling sorry for my self to care about that yet.

A short while later I heard someone clear their throat in front of where I sat. I didn't bother to look up.

"I thought I told you I'd see you at home later?" I grumbled, knowing that only Alec or Isabelle would have a chance of seeing me with my rune in place. I was a bit pissed that they'd followed me here, if I was honest about it.

"That's a little forward isn't it, considering I'm a complete stranger?"

I frowned in to my hands at the sound of the unfamiliar female voice. I looked up, then, baffled.

In front of me stood a tiny, fragile looking girl with wide bottle green eyes and an amused smirk gracing her lips. A cascade of fiery red hair tumbled down past her shoulders in smooth curls, making a direct and obvious contrast to her silky ivory skin. Her hands were folded lightly across her chest and she cleared her throat again, quirking up and eyebrow and commanding my full attention. I could only sit, dumbstruck in my seat.

"Why are you staring at me?" she asked, her head tilted a little way to one side.

"Why… h-how can you see me?" I stammered, sitting up straighter in my seat and plunging my hand in to my backpack, feeling for the hilt of my seraph blade. I mumbled its name almost silently and felt it glow in to life beneath my fingertips.

The girl snickered and rolled her eyes, whispering something under her breath that I didn't quite catch.

"It's not hard. You're sat right there."

"No, I don't think you understand. How can you see me?" I asked more desperately. I tried to peal back any glamour that might be hiding what she really was- a demon or a downworlder maybe… her skin was incredibly pale and she was beautiful, but I'd know if she was a vampire. She rolled her eyes.

"The same way you can see me." she answered somewhat cryptically. I exhaled an irritated breath through my nose, making her quirk her eyebrows even higher. My grip tightened around my seraph blade.

"You don't have to arm your self against me." she observed, gesturing towards my backpack.

"How did you know?"

"I can see the blade glowing through the canvas of your bag. I'm not blind."

I gawped a little but recovered quickly, pulling the blade out of the bag completely and pointing it to her chest. She laughed humourlessly and drew her own out of the back pocket of her jeans, naming it as she twirled it expertly in her hand so the point of the blade was pressing against my neck. My resolve didn't waver, and neither did hers.

"I said you didn't need the weapon against me." she said with tight eyes. I flicked my gaze towards her own seraph blade and laughed lightly.

"I can see that. I'll put it away if you tell me how you could see me."

She shook her head, letting out an exasperated breath.

"It's it obvious by now? Hell, I know I made that rune to stop them seeking me out, but still. This is ridiculous. I know what you are. You're a Shadowhunter, like me."

"Like you?" I asked quickly. The girl didn't look like a normal Shadowhunter. She had an air of weakness around her that only mundies possessed. But then, as I dove deeper, I could feel that there was something about her that I couldn't put my finger on; a kind of power emanating from her body that not even Shadowhunters possessed, simmering dangerously under the surface.

"You're impossible," she laughed and shoved the blade back in to her jeans. I didn't lower mine an inch, still not trusting her. What had she meant when she'd said she'd made the rune and why had it stopped him from knowing what she was immediately?

"Here. I'll show you mine if you show me yours." She grinned wickedly and pulled up the sleeve of her sweater to her elbow. I followed suit and we placed our arms beside one another.

I actually had to fight to keep down my gasp of surprise and keep my face impassive since Jace Wayland did not do shocked or surprised. She'd been telling me the truth and the proof was on her arms. It was littered with thin white scars of runes, obviously made by a stele, and there on the base of her left wrist was the mendelin rune for concealment- an inky black tattoo of overlapping circles standing out obviously on her pale skin. To the left of the rune there seemed to be an addition; an extra loop of the overlap with a tiny ink star in the centre.

"Now do you get it? Or do I have to write out a detailed explanation for you?"

"Feisty, aren't we? I get it, but we didn't think there were any more Nephilim in New York. Do the Clave know you're here?"

"Yup," she said, popping the 'p' lazily but she averted her eyes to the floor, like she was hiding something.

"Oh. So what's your name?"

"Clary. Yours?"

"Jace Wayland; practically perfect in every way."

"And modest to boot, I see. Well, Jace Wayland; practically perfect in every way, you're sitting in my seat."

CPOV

"Your seat? I don't see your name on it." he- Jace- said sarcastically. I laughed a little and pointed my finger towards the small engraving at the back of the bench that read 'Clary'. He stared at it, bemused, for a second before he laughed disbelievingly and scooted over to make room for me. I hovered unsurely for a long moment, trying to decide if I should trust this Jace character or not, before my mind made the decision for me and I sat down figuring one lone Shadowhunter boy was unlikely to be able to do me much harm.

"So what brings you to this neck of the woods?" I asked him slowly, turning to face the fierce looking golden boy beside me. His face was all hard planes and angles, but was softened by his amused tawny eyes and lopsided grin. He had a profile to die for, and I immediately wanted to draw him.

"I'm escaping from the mundie school and my brother and sister." He drawled as he span his stele around in his fingers. I watched with interest.

"The Mundie School? Why the angel were you there?"

"My question exactly. It was Alec and Isabelle's mothers' idea. Well, she's pretty much my mom too, I guess. Maryse. She said we needed to become well rounded human beings or some crap like that." He huffed, tossing his stele a little harder than before.

"That's degrading." I offered by means of consolation.

"That's what I said." He shrugged. I watched him twirl the stele again and again in his hand until he finally spoke up.

"So, why are you in New York? You can't have been here long if the Clave haven't informed Robert and Maryse that you're here."

I didn't answer for a while, not knowing what to say. I knew my hesitation would make him suspicious, but what was I suppose to tell him? The truth was too complicated and dangerous that there was no way I could say it, but I didn't feel like I could lie to him either. The boy offered me some kind of strange comfort that I hadn't felt since…

"I just needed to get away from Idris."

Jace turned to me with a stare that was so oddly intense that I felt like I couldn't move from my seat. I was pinned there by the hurt and confusion in his eyes. I wondered what I'd done to cause the pure agony in his eyes but my thoughts were quickly interrupted.

"Making friends already, Clarissa?"

My entire body stiffened at the sound of the voice, so I was as tense as a lioness ready to strike her prey. I turned my head slowly to my right, my eyes narrowing as I sought out the figure I knew would be stood there in the trees. He was dressed in traditional black, his sword drawn from its sheath and a sly grin gracing his lips. I uncurled myself from the bench and took a step towards him, drawing my own weapon in preparation for a fight. Jace, who was still beside me, frowned and stood up too so he could draw his own stele and seraph blade. All signs of hurt were gone from his eyes but it was replaced by an intense need for action. It almost felt as if he knew the man in front of him meant danger, or worse- death.

"Hello Jonathon. I'd say it was nice to see you here, but I'd be lying. Why did you follow me?"

"I just missed you, really." Jonathon said airily, his head titled daringly to one side.

"Yes, and pigs really do fly. Come on. Did he send you for me?"

I knew Jace was frowning beside me but I didn't dare look away from Jonathon's eyes. I knew he fought dirty, having trained with him for years, and I knew he would have no reservations going after the boy if it made it easier to get to me. I wouldn't let that happen.

"He did, so you can either come now without me hurting you or this charming gentleman you've been entertaining, or I kill him where he stands and take you by force. It's your choice, Clary. I trust you'll make the right decision."

I truly laughed at that and grinned his way, loving how his confidence fell at the sound of my amusement. He suddenly didn't look so sure of himself- the grip on his blade tightening so much that his knuckles turned white.

"Go to hell, Jonathon." I spat, before charging towards him.

JPOV

The sound of metal on metal erupted in my ears and that primal, animal instinct in me that yearned for the fight kicked in. I watched in complete shock as Clary charged at the man she'd been speaking with and swung her sword towards his torso with incredible, inhuman strength that she should not have been capable of having. Her blows struck the man's sword with a resounding thunk that drew me out of my state of awe.

"Clary!" I yelled, running head first in to the swinging of swords and the slicing of blades. There was something about this girl… I had to protect her no matter what. Trust no longer felt like an issue after the conversation I'd seen her have with the man. I just knew that she needed help, and I could give it to her.

"Jace, help me!" she panted, and I did as she said. Without a second thought I threw my self in front of her, in to the attacking line of the man. He glared at me and let out a feral snarl before diving towards me. I blocked his attack easily and fell in to the adrenaline pumping routine of attacking an opponent. I refused to deliver a deathblow- I would be killed my self for murdering another Nephilim- so I stuck to swiping at his arms and legs with my seraph blade. In truth, it seemed like the blade was no match for his dangerous blood red sword but it held out like a loyal friend.

I noticed that Clary had disappeared from my vision so I called her name over the ruckus I was creating with the man. She shuffled behind me, though what she was doing was a complete mystery to me. With one last heave, I managed to knock the man to the ground, panting for breath. Without hesitation I ran to Clary's side.

She was crouched on the ground, mapping out a rune that I had never seen before on the ground.

"What are you doing? He wont stay down for long." I said quietly, keeping my seraph blade pointed out towards the man.

"Jace. Will you trust me?" she asked me, her eyes wild and distant. I frowned but nodded my head. It didn't feel like I had control over the action.

"Good. When I say now, I need you to jump through that portal over by the tree and take yourself back to your Institute. I will follow straight after you and close it up, but promise you won't come back through if I don't make it through. Do you promise?"

"I can't promise that." I said stubbornly. The man was pushing himself off the ground now, massaging his shoulders and neck. I tensed again, ready to fight.

"Jace. Do as I say." Her eyes were dangerous as I searched them for any sign of mistrust or deception. I couldn't find any.

"Fine. But you better fucking explain all this when we get there."

"Deal. Well, the rune is ready, are you?" she asked me seriously and I nodded my head. She held my gaze for a long moment before screaming 'Now!' at the top of her lungs.

And I bolted for the portal, not caring yet how the hell she'd created the damn thing. I reached the edge and turned just in time to see a ball of energy erupt from Clary's hands and hit the man square in the chest. He crumpled to the floor, a look of pure shock on his face.

"What the f-?" I shouted, completely aghast, but Clary sprinted to my side and knocked me through the portal. I felt the somewhat familiar feeling of spinning weightlessly through space, building up an out of control momentum before I crashed to the floor on top of Clary. I looked down in to her now exhausted eyes and pushed my self up so my weight was resting on my hands and not on her. With a deep breath, I shook my head and swore loudly. She grimaced beneath me as her eyelids dropped with sleep. The portal behind us closed up slowly but before it did I saw the dark shape of the attacker struggling to his feet, a look of pure unadulterated fury gracing his face.

"Clary. Clary, you need to tell me; what the hell are you?"

Her eyelashes fluttered.

"Angels…" she breathed almost inaudibly, "he's part… and I'm part… my father. He's- my father is…"

I watched her struggle to form full sentences before, finally, her eyes drooped closed again and she slipped in to unconsciousness.