Middle School of Bones - A Mortal Instruments Story

Chapter 5

I ran up the stairs, struggling to get my key out from my shoe without slowing down. It turned out that I didn't need it because when I finally got there, our apartment door was knocked off its hinges. Without thinking, I charged into the room.

Everything had been torn to shreds. Mom's art on the walls, the couch cushions, even the cabinets. The whole place was destroyed.

I stood there in shock. I couldn't imagine what had done this. A year ago, I'd forgotten to lock the door behind me when I'd left for school, and we'd been robbed while I was gone. But they hadn't left it like this. And I was sure I'd locked the door when I left for the party.

I ran to my bedroom. It looked the same. My dresser had been flipped over and my bed was leaning to one side, the boards beneath it broken. My sketchbooks were scattered all over the floor, some flipped open. I felt sick at the thought of the burglars seeing them. They weren't very good.

I went to mom's room next, hoping that somehow, she was inside. I crept to her door and opened it just a crack.

"Mom?" I called. No one answered, and I opened the door the rest of the way.

There was a creature taking up half of the room. It was the size and shape of a crocodile, but it looked a centipede with hundreds of legs sprouting all around its body. Goo dripped from between its long teeth and landed on the ground with loud, wet plops.

It charged at me before I could do anything other than scream, and it was on me in an instant, knocking me to the ground. It was too heavy for me to move at all.

"Help!" I yelled, but I knew how small of a chance I had at being saved. It was the middle of the night, first of all. And even if someone came, I doubted they'd be able to help me. This creature was larger than a person, and I didn't even know what it was. I felt pain all over my arm, stinging as the monster's goo dripped onto me. Its mouth was above my face, and I shut my eyes, waiting for it to be over.

"Begone, beast," a voice said over me. The weight of the creature disappeared, and I scrambled backward. Jace was standing on my side, holding a glowing blade in his left hand. He threw it at the demon, and it flew directly between the creature's eyes, through its skull, and into the ground. I knew without a doubt that it was dead as black liquid pooled beneath it.

"Did it bite you?" Jace was looking at me now. My arm still burned, but when I looked it over, I didn't see any bite marks. 

"I don't think so," I said. "But it dripped goo." I held out my arm for Jace to see. He grimaced.

"You'll have to come with me to the Institute," he said. He was already walking past me into the hall.

"But my mom-" I protested.

"If you don't treat that, it'll burn through your bones." I stopped talking. When I didn't immediately move, Jace pulled me by my good arm toward the door. My head spun. I felt like I was going to throw up.

"Wait, Jace-" I started. Then I passed out.

--

I woke up in a bed surrounded by white. My vision was blurry, and it took me a second to separate the white tile floor from the curtains around me. I sat up. It looked like the nurse's office at school. How had I gotten here? The only times I'd ever been to the nurse's office was whenever Simon got hit in the head during dodgeball in PE and I had to take him to get an ice pack. Had that happened to me?

I looked down at my outfit and remembered the night before. The party, the Lightwoods, the monster, and Jace Wayland. But it didn't explain why I was at school.

I got out of the bed and stepped through the curtains. The room was empty, and I made my way to the door. I could see the familiar hallway outside, but it was dark. No one was there, either.

I tried the door handle, and it didn't move. I pushed the door and kicked it, but it didn't open. I was locked inside.

I sank back onto the bed and tried to process my situation. Someone had locked me in the nurse's office, but why? Was it that monster? I glanced at my injury, but it wasn't there anymore. My arm looked as if it'd never been hurt at all. I touched it to make sure I wasn't missing anything, but it felt the same as ever. That couldn't be possible. The only thing in the nurse's office was ice packs and band-aids. Could I have dreamed the whole thing?

Something vibrated against my foot, and I realized I still had my phone. I tugged it out from my boot. There was a voicemail from Simon's home phone. Simon never left voicemails, and I realized that I had never told him where I'd gone. I called Simon back, and he answered immediately, talking rapidly.

"If you don't bring Clary back right now, I promise I will find you and beat you up. I've watched a lot of karate tutorials while I've been waiting for you to call, and I wouldn't mess with me if I were-"

"Simon, calm down, it's me," I said. He stopped.

"Clary? Are you okay? Where are you?"

"I'm okay," I said. "I think I'm in the clinic at school. I don't remember how I got here, but I'm locked inside."

"Stay there, I'm coming," he said. "As long as I don't actually have to beat anyone up because I was lying about the karate thing. I mean, I totally would for you if I had to, but I don't think it would work unless I was fighting, like, a baby-"

"Simon, can you just get here?" I asked.

"Okay, I'm getting my mom," he said. "Don't hang up." 

Footsteps down the hall jolted me from the phone call. They grew louder until they stopped in front of the door. I barely had time to brace myself as I heard a key turn in the lock before the youngest Lightwood sibling entered.