The Dark Ones

Chapter Thirteen

The silence in the room was deafening, I realized as soon as I escaped from the grip of my own thoughts, and Noah was looking at me with his eyebrows furrowed. "Okay," I said, followed by a smile.

"Okay," he responded back, handing me a plate. He sat down on the bed, opening the box and handing me a slice. "Here you go."

We talked for a while, sitting on his bed as we ate. When we were both finally full, we trotted down to the kitchen to put away the last few slices of pizza for tomorrow. Afterward, we made our way back to his room, making sure that we were quiet as we walked through the halls as not to wake anyone up.

"Are we going to just sit here all night?" I asked, dropping onto his bed yet again. I didn't mind the notion... Staying with him for the night sounded nice.

"I think it would be nice," he told me, echoing my thoughts. I smiled slightly, turning my body to face him. He propped himself up beside me, "you want to draw or something?"

"You have the best ideas," I told him, which earned me a chuckle in response.

•••

"What made you decide to draw Valentine?" He asked thoughtfully as we stared at the colorful page in my sketchbook.

"He's scary, you know?" I replied. "Putting him on paper... I guess it just makes him less frightening. I have the power when I'm drawing him."

It was a stupid explanation, but it was true. It served as a reminder that he was just a person, like me. He was able to be captured and put onto a page. He wasn't some intangible being. He was a shadow hunter, and that meant he was half human.

"You've got a very interesting mind," Noah informed me.

"Is that a nice way of telling me I sound crazy?" I asked, hastily flipping to the next blank page.

"No, not at all." He shook his head, his eyes looking into mine. "From what I've heard about you and from you, you're intelligent Clary. And you think about things in a different way than most people. It's admirable."

"Thank you," I murmured, and when his gaze lingered on mine, I looked down at the page. "Want to see something cool?"

It seemed to gain his interest when he gave me a quick nod, "sure."

"Give me something small," I instructed him. He looked around for a few moments before grabbing his stele and handing it to me. His stele was a bit different from mine, with a blue-colored hilt, and a thin snake wrapping its way around it. It had a few runes carved into it, and at the top was the same glass-like tip that mine had. Averting my gaze from it, I looked down at the page and began to slowly lower my hand downward. I could feel my hand breaking through the surface of the page, a cool sensation surrounding it. As if there was a table in front of me, I placed the stele there and pulled my hand out of the paper.

He looked at it quietly before speaking. "Is my stele stuck in there forever?" He asked in complete seriousness.

"No," I laughed, "Here." I reached back down into the paper, feeling the shape of the stele. I grabbed it and carefully lifted it from its place on the page.

"That's amazing." He told me, taking the book from my hands and examining it closely.

"Thanks." I smiled slightly, and after a few moments he handed the book back to me. "That's how I got the Mortal Cup."

"Wow." He looked at me, and I returned his gaze, "You're the first person I've met with that gift. I don't think you even realize how unique you are."

"I guess..." I awkwardly shifted my gaze downward to look at my pencil, "So... Any drawing suggestions?"