I'm Not What I Seem [COMPLETED]

Chapter 20

Clary POV

Going to a hotel room feels so different. It feels like I should be going home to my dad's place, but apparently he moved away after I ran away. I feel so bad about leaving because he probably thinks it was something he did. I just wish I could tell him that it wasn't his fault.

Actually, I think I can.

I pull out the new iPhone 6S I got and go to my dad's number. Hopefully, he hasn't changed it. I wait hopefully for him to pick up the phone. Finally, on the third ring, his voice fills my ear. "Hello."

("It's me.") "Daddy? It's me, Clary," I say as I start crying silently. It may not have seen like it, but my dad and I had a pretty strong relationships.

"Clary! Where are you!? Are you safe!?"

"Yeah, Dad. I'm safe. I'm back in New York too," I smile slightly as I sit down on the hotel bed. "I was wondering if after all this time you'd like to meet. You know, to go over everything that's happened." (I'm sorry I had to. Adele is queen. Go download 25. Embrace the queen. XD)

I hear him sigh in relief. "You have no idea how happy I am that you said that."

We make plans to meet up next Friday seeing as he has to get off work and get here from Baton Rouge. I almost started laughing when I heard where he was living because I was about an hour and a half away in New Orleans. The universe makes awfully good coincidences.

I hang out in the hotel room for a while until I get a text from Iz.

Iz: Can you be at Central Park near the duck pond in 20 minutes? We have questions and you have the answers.

Me: Yeah. I'm be there.

I get off my bed and grab both my motorcycle keys and my room key. Once I have them, I start out of the room and to the elevator. While I wait, I quickly text one more person and tell them where to meet me. I start to get hot, so I take my leather jacket off, revealing my two tattoos.

One is just a star on my left wrist for luck. The other is cursive writing on the inside of my right forearm saying. Les cicatrices sont la définition de nos vies. It's French for 'Scars are the definition of our lives'. (Those are the two tattoos I want in real life by the way.) I got them right after I was legally able to. I got better about the cutting after a year of being on my own after I had forgotten about the other people in my life. It had just been me, my thoughts, and a few natives to the city I had befriended. I kind of miss it to be honest.

I guess I'll be back to it in a month or two.

What? You didn't think I'd be staying for good, did you? My life is in New Orleans now. I'm just here to right my wrongs and tie up loose ends. After that, I'm going away forever.

After I exit the elevator and hop on my motorcycle and start driving, it takes maybe twenty five minutes to get to central park and another three to get to the duck pond.

I see Izzy, Simon, Alec, Magnus, Tessa, Jem, Will, Cecily, and even Gabriel waiting for me. "What are your questions?" I ask as I sit on a bench.

"To start, where the hell were you these past two years?" Iz demands as she stands from the bench across from me.

"Louisiana. Next question." They all start asking questions so I just interrupt saying, "Okay, why don't I just tell you what's happened in the past two years."

"That sounds good," Simon says as he puts his arm around Izzy once she's settled next to him again.

"Okay. When I ran away I ran away to New Orleans. I got a small apartment on the French Quarter and got a job in some voodoo shop. When I wasn't working I got my GED. I pretty much laid low the entire time. Still partied, still smoked, still drank. Stayed off the drugs more though. I traveled a bit when I got the money--went to London for a few weeks to catch up with my friends Charlotte and Henry. That's pretty much all that happened the entire time."

"But how did you sign up for stuff and register for things without getting caught?" Jem asks.

"It's amazing what you can do when you shorten your last name to Morgen," I state while I absentmindly pick at my nails.

"How did you not go insane without really talking to anyone?" Cecily wonders. I would be annoyed by all the side questions but hey, the deserve answers.

I actually laugh at the question slightly. "I made some friends there. There was Stefan, Damien, Niklaus, Cami, Haley, and a few other people." (To the TVD and The Originals fans, yes I did that on purpose.) "Plus," I add somewhat guiltily, "there was one person here who knew where I was."

"Who was that?" Iz asks looking a little shocked and angry.

"That'd be me," a new voice states as it walks forward.

I smile and run over to give him a hug. "Thanks for coming Jon," I say while I hug him. When we brake the hug I turn to the others again. "So this is my brother Jonathan. You guys may have met him after I left but it's not likely."

After we all talk for a while, I figure it's about time I ask. "Hey, do you guys know what happened to Mark? I want to know what places to avoid."

"I think he spends most of his days at a bar in The Bronx," Alec says simply.

"Thanks." Luckily, I get a text so I can keep the act going. "I have to get going. I'll see you guys sometime in the next few days."

I get up and start walking to my bike, slipping on my fingerless leather biker gloves. You'll all understand just how much I changed shortly. Because tomorrow...

I'm gonna be going to a certain bar in The Bronx to tie up some loose ends.