Middle School of Bones - A Mortal Instruments Story

Chapter 22

"Simon!" I called. "Wait!" But Simon was already gone. I stormed into my room and slammed the door. I knew Simon was mad at how close I'd gotten with Jace and the others. He'd always been somewhat skeptical of them because of their reputation in school. But he had to know he was still my best friend no matter what. Right?

I stared at my wall in anger for a moment before I got up. I didn't feel like waiting any longer to call Luke. I didn't care if I woke him up. It wasn't like he'd get mad at me, and even if he did, I would happily accept the distraction from Simon and the memory of Jace's gentle hand in mine.

I slipped out of my room to make the call, and Luke picked up on the first ring. He told me he'd get to the school in ten minutes. While I waited, I hunted down a change of clothes. I ended up with a pair of Isabelle's pants she allowed me to cut to fit and one of Max's black t-shirts. I left Jace's jacket over a chair in the kitchen and headed upstairs.

He drove up in his truck, and I hopped in. I didn't know what my relationship was with Luke after everything had changed, so I'd been expecting the drive to be silent. But he asked me when the last time I ate was, and when it took me a minute to remember, pulled into the nearest 24-hour drive though. He ordered enough food that the backseat was filled with greasy paper bags when we got back on the road. Luke usually had a big appetite, but even this was more than he usually ate.

"Don't we have enough food already?" I asked when Luke parked the car in front of a Chinese restaurant. 

Luke smiled absently. "We're not here for food. Help me grab the bags; I'll show you."

Luke unlocked the restaurant, which I found was dark and empty inside.

"The Jade Wolf," I read aloud from the sign. "Why are we here?"

"This is where my pack meets," Luke said as he set the bags on the empty front counter. "The Jade Wolf is a cover. Get it? The Jade Wolf. And we're, you know, werewolves."

"So... do you serve Chinese food?"

Luke laughed. "Sometimes, if someone calls when the pups are bored. This way."

Luke led me through the Employees Only doors. Through them, the room was set up like a living area. There were couches around a TV, a dining table with a bones-and-fruit bowl, and dog beds lined against the walls.

"Pack, this is my sort-of daughter, Clary," Luke announced to the room. "Clary, this is my pack."

"Awoooo!" they all greeted me. I said, "Hello," as people do.

"Clary, I believe this is yours," a wolf said. He had a big wound in his arm, and in his other arm he held a knife. "Nice throw, by the way. Ouch."

I stuck the knife in my pocket.

"Clary, sit on down, there's much to reveal," Luke confessed.

Once I'd gotten comfy on one of the dog beds with wolf rugs, Luke began his tale.

"So, I've been a werewolf since I was an eighth grader, but before that, I was a Shadowhunter. I was on a mission when it happened. I didn't think I'd actually turn. There's only a ninety-nine percent chance werewolf bites work. But I found out the next full moon that it had. When the Shadowhunter Middle School learned about it, they expelled me. Jocelyn was the only one who stayed friends with me. I joined the closest werewolf pack I could find, and Jocelyn and I would meet up outside of Idris on the weekends. I was the only one Jocelyn could tell about her husband, Valentine."

"Valentine?" I asked. "Is that-"

"Your dad," Luke said. "But that's not important. Valentine had taken control of the Shadowhunter teens since the sixth grade. We were all high schoolers now, and Valentine was doing evil things, like killing vampires and werewolves and warlocks and faeries. Jocelyn wanted to stop him or run away, but it was too late. She was pregnant.

"Jocelyn stopped meeting up with me shortly afterward. The next time I heard from her was years later, when she found me in the middle of the night and told me she needed to leave. She told me about you, how she didn't want you to grow up the way she had. She ran away to New York, and I followed her and became alpha of this pack. 

"Jocelyn told me she wanted to raise you as a mundane, and I agreed. She only spoke of Valentine once after she left. She said that one day, he'd come looking for something she stole, and I had to protect you if she went missing."

"So that means Valentine has my mom," I said. I finished off the last of my fries and wiped my hands off. "Great, we'll go there right now. Come on, Luke. Run, with your little wolfy legs!"

"No, Clary! That's dangerous," Luke said. "I promised I'd keep you safe."

"Fine then. I'll go by myself." I was a Shadowhunter now. Plus I had Jace. 

"No, Clary, no." Luke dug in his pocket and handed me his keys. "Go back to my house. I stocked up on Goldfish crackers in preparation for this day."

I took the keys. "Fine," I grumbled. Then I stomped out of the Jade Wolf and all the way back to Jace Wayland.