City Of Bones

Chapter 19

C'mon, careful now. Don't move to fast." Jace teased as he opened the door of the car. "Wouldn't want to trigger any nausea again," He continued as he carefully helped Clary out of the car onto the pavement.

Her ankle had begun to swell and turned an awful reddish color. The pain felt worse than before and Clary fought the urge to cry out as she moved it.

"Just remember, if you're going to throw up again, don't do it on me." Clary rolled her eyes at him but took his outstretched hand as he helped pull her out of the car.

She stepped out of the car using his hand to keep her balance. She couldn't stop from wincing as her foot made contact with the cold, hard pavement. Fortunately, the rain had finally stopped half way through their drive, but they were both still drenched from before and the cool wind was chilling. Clary shivered, her soaked clothing felt as if it were weighing her down.

"I can't make any promises," she replied dryly. Jace moved his hand to hold onto her arm causing a small surge of warmth in her which she gladly welcomed.

"Can you walk?" He asked gently and she grimaced.

"Yeah," she answered and he slowly let go of her arm, the warm feeling lingering before disappearing altogether.

She found herself missing the feeling but shook it off before attentively taking a step forward. She held her breath as she placed her bad foot to the ground in front of her. Pain flared up her foot through her ankle and she hissed out in pain, the air she held flowing in between her teeth as she clenched them together. Her ankle gave out and her knee buckled bringing her down to the wet pavement below.

"Okay, never mind." She huffed out as she squeezed her eyes shut in pain. Jace rushed to her side with a look of worry on his angelic face and helped her stand up before slipping his arm under her legs and lifting her into his arms.

"Well then, I guess I'm just going to have to carry you," he stated with a smirk. Clary squeaked slightly as he swept her up and her arms wrapped around his neck of their own accord.

"You could've just helped me walk," she mumbled, looking down shyly, and his smirk widened.

"I want to get back before next month though," he chuckled and she rolled her eyes while relaxing her grip around his shoulders, giving in. "Plus, maybe I enjoy this." He winked at her causing a blush to flare up her face unwillingly. A cold breeze flew past them and Clary couldn't wait until they arrived to the Institute.

"Do my eyes deceive me or is that a blush I see?" His voice was light and joking and Clary grumbled in response, looking at her shoes. They were ripped and drenched from all the running and rain. She knew that they wouldn't make it for another day but unfortunately, all she had left in her bag were flats.

Jace began to move, holding her close to him so not to jostle her foot. Clary glanced at him to see a very amused expression on his face, surprising her slightly.

"What's so funny?" She demanded and he let out a small chuckle.

"I was just thinking, you've killed, seen blood, flesh, bone and basically everything I'd rate unpleasant and stayed calm, yet after one simple drive...you throw up." He explained in amusement and she looked at him in shock, her eyes widening.

"Simple?" She exclaimed in disbelief, looking at him as if he lost his mind. "You call that simple! You were going 100 miles per hour Jace!"

"Oh c'mon," he laughed as they made their way across an empty street. Dim streetlights lined the sidewalks sending off an eerie glow. Clary predicted that it was around ten PM as she took in her surroundings. They were near a park, trees lined along the sides of the pavement. There were a few benches that were wet and falling apart but otherwise it looked like a nice quiet place to take a walk in the morning, "You've got to live a little." Clary let out a small laugh before it went silent between them.