Strange Games

10: Morning, Afternoon, and Worry

Clary woke up in an strange position on the floor. Oddly enough, even though she was sprawled the way she was, she didn't feel uncomfortable. Completely opposite in fact. She felt very comfortable and safe. Had she fallen out of the hammock during the night?

A shadow moved across her face and she looked up to see the hammock hanging empty and limp by the window. Her brow furrowed and she carefully unwound her legs from her curled position only to hear someone sigh by her ear. She froze and lifted her gaze to see Magnus slumped in the corner of the room with Clary all but in his lap. His face was devoid of makeup and dark circles emphasized his eyes in an unflattering way. He looked absolutely exhausted.

Clary was confused. How had she ended up here? Why was Magnus holding her? Did something happen? Why couldn't she remember? Had she been asleep for the whole thing?

She tried hard to focus on something dancing tantalizingly at the edges of her consciousness. It was right there. Somehow, Clary knew if she could just catch that fleeting thought, then she'd remember. It was so close.

Monsters! Fear. Pain. Mom!

"I don't want this."

"She won't be a child forever Jocelyn."

Smoky blue, flickering, pulling.

Covering.

Ripping.

Blue.

Mom!

"Mom!"

"Clary!"

Her gaze was suddenly filled with worried gold -feline eyes, blue pulling- and she flinched away. The golden gaze Clary now recognized as belonging to Magnus vanished, replaced by hurt, glamoured brown. She fought back the bought of guilt from her uncle's reaction and leaned against his shoulder in apology.

"Are you alright?" he asked softly, running a hand through her mess ginger curls.

She shook her head. "No," she admitted. "What's happening to me?" She sat up and stared at Magnus. "What... How did I get here?"

Magnus cast his eyes around his bedroom before returning to Clary's face. "You had a night terror last night," he said. "Do you remember anything?"

Clary thought back to what had triggered the deluge of images, thoughts, voices, and sensations from earlier but found it difficult to grasp anything. Her mind resisted her efforts to remember almost as if it was aware of something she wasn't.

"Just... snatches of colors," she said, trying to sort through what her mind could remember without panicking. "Something pulling. Blue." She felt the telltale panic begin to rise and stopped digging. "Nothing else."

Magnus sighed and looked away.

"Why?" Clary asked, watching her uncle closely. "Is it important?"

Magnus shrugged unconvincingly. "It depends," he said. "Shall we?" he said, quickly changing the subject and beginning to stand.

Shifting so Magnus could stand and stretch. She chuckled when she heard several gratifying pops from Magnus' back. She stood herself and rolled her shoulders, wincing from the few pops she got. There weren't many but they were intense. She also had a crick in her neck from the way it had been propped up on her uncle's chest for who knew how long.

Speaking of, she hurried over to her messenger bag and began digging through it. She had plugged her phone in to the wall outlet under the window and left her phone sitting just under the flap of her bag. Sure enough, there it sat fully charged. She unplugged it and was greeted by a lock screen filled with texts, a couple missed calls, and at least one voicemail from Simon.