City of Heavenly Fire: TMI

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Clary tried to pull herself together. She didn't want to unravel like this, not in front of everyone, but she just couldn't pull herself together. All those feelings of guilt that she had kept bottled inside her for the last two weeks seemed to spill over the surface, The guilt she felt at hurting Jace, not killing Sebastian, putting the people she loved in the way, she just couldn't take it. Suddenly she stopped crying. She had found the strength inside her to stop. She knew she couldn't let Sebastian have the satisfaction of getting to her like this. That's where the strength had come from and she desperately clinged to that flicker of strength. 'What would Jace do? He wouldn't collapse like this. Pull yourself together.' She scolded herself slightly and stood up, no longer relying on Izzy to hold her up.

"Clary are you listening?" said Alec sharply, bringing her out of her thoughts.

"Sorry Alec" she mumbled and Alec gave her an exasperated look. She turned to look at Alec and as she did, she could really see the effects of his breakup with Magnus. He looked like he hadn't eaten in days and hadn't slept in longer. She felt really bad for her behavior, here she was, crying at a little note. But in the end she would have someone there to comfort her and support her but he had just lost that.

"As I was saying," he said looking pointedly at Clary, "We need to make a plan. This could just be his way of scaring us and trying to put us on edge or he could be serious. I think, Clary, you and Jace need to stay at the Institute. It will be easier to keep you safe." he paused, looking at Clary to see how she would respond. To his surprise, she nodded. She smiled slightly.

"JACE!" shouted Izzy in surprise. They all turned to look in the corner that Izzy was looking at. There would have been nothing out of the ordinary if it hadn't been for the glowing light that was emitting from behind the couch. Clary squinted at it, it was too bright to be witchlight, it was almost like it was fire. It really was Jace. She felt elated but at the same time it felt like a weight had been put on her shoulders. This was exactly how she had felt when she was in the infirmary and quickly around to see what was going on. Isabelle's face was a mix of surprise and admiration, as if she was proud but surprised that he had managed to sneak past her. Alec's face was impassive but Mayrse's face was full of cold fury.

"Jace! What are you doing?" she shouted and as she did, her rage seemed to grow into an untamable fury that filled the huge room. Jace stood up and looked Mayrse directly in the face. Maryse had gone red with fury and words seemed to have escaped her.

"Jace, what were you doing?" said Izzy, not sounding angry like her mother, but worried.

"I knew Mayrse wouldn't have called a meeting unless it was really important. Mayrse has been looking at me like I would drop dead at any moment and I also wanted to know why everyone was avoiding me. " As he said this he looked at Clary directly. He knew he shouldn't have been angry or frustrated with her but he just didn't understand why Clary was feeling guilty. She had saved him for angel's sake!

He looked around at everyone else, almost defiantly, but they held his gaze, not backing down. All but one. Clary was looking at her feet and he could tell she was desperate to get out of here. "Well know that you know, it saves us the trouble of lying to you." said Isabelle. She turned to look at her mother. "So what are we going to do?"

The way she said this, as if it were beyond doubt that they were going to be included astonished Mayrse. "You will be doing nothing." said forcefully, in an attempt to stop any protests and continued quickly as she saw Isabelle open her mouth. "The adults will decide whether or not to inform the clave and what action to take from there. But, under no circumstances, will you be participating in any group discussions, decision making processes and/or implementing of any of these decisions."