Chapter 1

Clary woke up to a beautiful day. It was summer in New York and she was excited to get out and start drawing. She thought Jace might want to tag along, but when she went to his room she found it empty. Thinking he must of went hunting or gone out wandering around New York looking for trouble as he usually did. Clary got her sketch pad and a few pencils and headed out.

Clary was walking towards Central Park to sketch some scenery for practice before her art gallery that was going to open soon. She was lost in thought when she heard some moans coming from an alleyway and she turned her attention to the sounds. A cloud moved away from covering the sun and Clary stood astonished to see that Jace was with a blonde woman half naked in a full make out session on the floor of the alley. Jace was on top of her with his hands wandering in places a boy shouldn't go when he had a girlfriend.

Clary looked in horror and finally managed to say something, "Jace?" she asked with a broken voice. He immediately looked up and with swollen lips and a look of horror on his face.

"Clary, it's not what it looks like. I swear!" He croaked out, but Clary couldn't stand it. He was lying to her face saying it wasn't what it looked like! That asshole!

"I think it looks pretty clear to me," Clary said with her voice full of tears, "I never want to see you again Jace Herondale! You hear me NEVER AGAIN! And don't you dare try to touch me with your filthy hands. Just stay away from me!" Clary growled, and with that Clary sprinted down the sidewalk hearing Jace scream her name. She kept running with tears running down her face making it hard to see where she was going. How could he do that to her?! He said he loved her. Well obviously not anymore, those feelings were gone. She knew she couldn't live in the Institute anymore with him there, so she grabbed her stele and kept running.

She stopped in front of an abandon alley and ran into it with her stele ready and she drew the portal rune and disappeared into the portal hoping to land in California. Her wish was granted and she landed on a small beach right next to the Golden Gate Bridge. She looked around taking in the beautiful hills of California and the green-blue bay that was ten feet in front of her. Then she turned around to see a boy around her age walking towards her with a smile. He had short brown hair and beautiful brown eyes that were almost an amber color. He came and asked who she was and where she had come from.

"Hello I'm Clary Fray. I'm sixteen and a Shadowhunter. I came from the New York Institute looking for a new start." She said with a faint smile.

"Well nice to meet you I'm Thomas and also sixteen," he said while he helped her up, "I live in the San Francisco Institute and would gladly take you there if you would like?" He said with compassion.

"I would love that," she said while thinking that she was going to like it here.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=2 years later-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

I was happy with her new life. Over the last 2 years Thomas had grown close to inseparable from me. We were both in love and now that they were 18 Rae, Thomas's aunt who ran the San Francisco Institute let us share a room. I soon learned that Thomas a better trainer than Jace had ever been. Thomas was patient and compassionate and I learned twice as fast as I had in New York. I was now an excellent shadowhunter and could take down Thomas if I tried. I became fierce with knives. I didn't even need to look at the target to hit it dead center and two inches deep in the board. Though I tended to use swords for hunting bigger demons, but I always had her trusty knives in her belt. I thought back to the better part of the day when I arrived at the Institute.

When I arrived I was greeted by a boy and a girl both one with brown eyes and the other with hazel eyes and brown hair. They were obviously twins though the girl had lighter hair than her brother. It was almost golden and her eyes were closer to Thomas's. Thomas told me that they were Rae's children. Rae had lost her husband to a greater demon so she was always trying to make it up to him. They introduced themselves as June and Ben. They were both 14 years old and I later found out that June was older by one minute. She would always tease him saying she was older and taller, but within a few months Ben had passed her in height and now she only could brag that she was older.

After being introduced Thomas brought me to Rae's office and Rae asked what lead me here. Rae was a nice woman in her mid-thirties with short dark brown hair and startling blue eyes. It took me a minute, but I told Rae my story of why I ran away. After I was finished Rae looked a compassionate, but Thomas looked really pissed off. Rae instructed him to show me to my room. He walked me down from the common area and then brought me down a maze of halls then showed me which room was mine. Thomas said he was right across from me and asked if I had anything from home and I had answered no. At that moment I realized I was so angry and shocked that I had ran away from that horrible scene right that instant without anything, but the clothing on my back and my sketch pad. He told me that I could go shopping tomorrow.

Before he left my room he asked one question. "Do you think that you will ever return to him?" I looked at him and said very confidently, "no never. He made his choice and I have made mine. I would rather fight a greater demon than return to that bastard."

"Well I hope you can forget him here in sunny California." He said with a cheesy smile which made me laugh.

Thomas and I became close friends fast. I had only been there for around 6 months when Thomas and I had kissed. We were fighting demons on the bad side of China Town and Thomas had been chasing the last of the pack. He managed to corner the last demon in an alley. I was right behind him when he turned around and by accidently slamming his lips to mine but then after realizing what had happened I kissed back and so did he and he stood there for a good 10 minutes in a total make-out session. We separated gasping for air. He turned his head to look at me and smiled. I smiled back and then we fell back into yet another kiss, but this one was much shorter and gentler like we could both break at any moment.

Later that night my head was in Thomas's lap and he told me that he had wanted to kiss me since we had first met. I smiled at that and told him that I was glad to have him there as a boyfriend and a best friend and then I told him that I would easily trust him with my life. He smiled to and kissed me on the lips and said he would trust me with anything and that he would never cheat on me in a million years and that he would protect me with every fiber in his body.

I soon came out of my flashback to remember where I was. It was around 1:00am and I was in Thomas's bed that we now called our bed. I was on Thomas's arm and using it as a pillow while his other arm was protectively placed over my waist as if someone was going to take me in the middle of the night. I soon drifted off to sleep feeling safer than I ever have in my life.