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CHAPTER FOUR:
❝ Forsaken ❞
Esme stared dumbly. The sun had slipped entirely past the horizon, and the porch was in darkness by the time Clary stopped speaking. They had listened to her lengthy explanation with a nearly impassive expression, only wincing a little when she got to the part about the Ravener demon. When she was done speaking, she cleared her dry throat. "So," she said, "any questions?"
Simon held up his hand. "Oh, I've got questions. Several."
Clary exhaled warily. "Okay, shoot."
He pointed at Jace. "Now, he's a ─ what do you call people like him again?"
"He's a Shadowhunter," Clary said.
"A demon hunter," Jace clarified. "I kill demons. It's not that complicated, really."
"No, it's absurd," Esme rebutted. She looked at Clary.
"Don't you remember what you saw back at the Pandemonium?" Clary asked. Of course, she remembered what happened there. She had a healed scar as a token. But living in denial and ignorance had been so good. It had been so good to her. Just like forgetting her father was still out there, somewhere wreaking havoc.
"For real?" Simon asked. His eyes were narrowed as if he half-expected her to tell him that none of it was true and Jace was actually a dangerous escaped lunatic she'd decided to befriend on humanitarian grounds.
"For real."
There was an intent look on Simon's face. "And there are vampires, too? Werewolves, warlocks, all that stuff?"
Clary gnawed her lower lip. "So I hear."
"And you kill them, too?" Esme asked dubiously, directing the question to Jace, who had put the stele back in his pocket and was examining his flawless nails for defects.
"Only when they've been naughty."
"This is insane!" Esme was on her feet with the force of her words. "Preposterous!"
She looked at Simon who hadn't said anything yet. He merely sat and stared down at his feet. Clary wondered burdening him with this kind of information had been the wrong thing to do. He had a stronger practical streak than almost anyone else she knew; he might hate knowing something like this, something for which there was no logical explanation. She leaned forward anxiously, just as Simon lifted his head. "That is so awesome," he said.
Esme put her hand on her heart. Jace looked as startled as Clary felt. "Awesome?"
Simon nodded enthusiastically enough to make the dark curls bounce on his forehead. "Totally. It's like Dungeons and Dragons, but real."
