The Mortal Instruments: City of Past Ghosts (Book 1)

Chapter 4: Convincing Matters (part 2)

Chapter 4: Convincing Matters (part 2)

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Clary stared in open mouthed surprise, falling her jaw hang as if it's hinges were loose.

"Who...are you? What are you?"

The blonde's face crumbled and it actually hurt Clary to see him so...broken.

"I'm sorry...but I'm not the Clary you are looking for." she said softly, tucking a lock of hair behind her ears.

The blonde looked at her for a moment, eyes narrowed like a predator. All vulnerable emotions wiped clean of his face, a shiny, impenetrable shield of arrogance and confidence wrapping around him like armor.

"Fine. Let's just say you aren't my Clary. But how could you see that creature?" he questioned, in the midst of a soliloquy. He stood, swinging moods in a blink. Utter exasperation and arrogance laced his voice and Clary felt a pang of annoyance towards this boy. He paced in the alley, looking at her as if she were a science oddity created for his amusement and examination.

"Of course I could. I'm not blind." Clary said, annoyed as she slowly got to her feet. How could he have annoyed me this fast? Clary thought in amazement.

Super powers, Clary thoroughly decided.

"Ah, but you are," he said, giving a smile that offered the presumption that she were a drooling idiot with the same amount of brain cells as an ostrich. "You're a mundane, since you aren't my Clary. Yet you can see the Shadow World. It's a conundrum...then again, you may not be a mundane at all. Like my Clary."

"What's a mundane? Besides the obvious dictionary entry."

The blonde sighed and a small, amused but devastated smile appearing on his face, none too friendly and none too kindly. "Someone from the human world. As in a human. People with fickle minds, enormous arrogance though they may not know it, no special abilities or powers—"

Clary groaned in frustration, cutting him off. "If I'm not a human then what am I?" Clary sighed in frustration. He was getting her nowhere.

The blonde looked at her, his golden eyes narrowed and his head cocking ever so slightly to the left, the look of utter arrogance and ease on his face.

"Let's go find out, shall we?"

........

A few seconds later, by what had to be the influence of dark, putrid magic and tribal spirit possession that enticed the mind, Clary was following the mysterious boy.

He didn't speak to her, just stared straight ahead as he walked.

"Where are you—we going?" Clary asked, trying to keep up. He had much, much, much longer legs compared to Clary's and had a quicker stride too, making it hard for Clary to keep up. She had to practically jog.

She was handling her attack rather well and merely decided that the shock and hyperventilation would come later when she was probably alone.

He didn't turn around to look or acknowledge her. "Your home. Wherever the hole is. I need answers and that's exactly where I'm going to go get them."

"My home? Why? My mother knows nothing about all this." Clary groaned, already panicking about what her mother who was completely and utterly against the idea of boys was going to say when this probable dyed blond wannabe goth teenage boy who was into wicked tattoos and killing showed up on their front steps. She was so grounded.

Jace muttered something that sounded like 'that's what my Clary said to.'

Clary rolled her eyes at his muttered comment.

Her phone suddenly buzzed in her pocket and Clary ignored it, keeping a watchful eye on this possibly psychotic and extremely pronounced arrogant saviour slash jackass slash demon killer.

It cut off and rang again, buzzing and demanding. Again, she ignored it.

When her phone buzzed for a third time, the blonde whirled on her with the grace of dancer, glaring exasperatedly as if she were a very annoying fly that was about to be swatted into the wall.

"Answer that. Please. It's annoying." he said, annoyance lacing his tone. His eyes were hard, burning with a terrifying emotion that Clary couldn't quite decipher.

Clary looked at her phone with a soft sigh and saw the caller ID flash: Mom

Clary sighed exasperatedly and hit the answer icon, bringing her phone to her ear.

"Hi, mom, I'm coming home. Don't worry, I haven't back up and fled to Wimbledon or eloped or anything." Clary groaned, pushing red hair out of her eyes.

"No. Clary, I need you to run away. Far away. Don't come home, please. I want you to know I'm so sorry for keeping secrets. I wish I—" A crash sounded faintly in the background and Clary jumped, her body stiffening, her grip on her phone tightened to the point she was afraid she would crush it.

"Mom?" Clary gasped, her heartbeat quickening drastically. She could feel herself swaying as if she were at a very high peak with thinner air.

The line went dead and Clary swore loudly, the word foreign in her mouth, her blood pounding in her ears.

What was going on?

"Clary? What's wrong?" the blonde asked, clutching her wrist.

"Let go of me. Now," Clary hissed, glaring at him as she yanked her hand free but not without effort.

The blonde reached for her hand again and acting on pure impulse, heightened by the heaviness of the situation, landed a sharp slap on his cheek, a sharp but satisfying pain going through her palm as their skin made contact. The sound of skin against skin echoed into her ears, mild disbelief at what she have done momentarily stunning her.

He looked her in shock, his mouth slightly open. "Cla—"

Ignoring him, she took off running, praying that everything was alright at home.

She heard someone groan exasperatedly behind her but she didn't stop to turn and look back.

..........

A/N

Hi guys! Now, if you're wondering why I'm using certain lines from the CoB movie for this book when Clary is saying the same things she said to Jace in the first one is because I'm following the books, not the movie. So technically, anything that I write in this book from the movie never really happened in the real books so it's not a rewrite. Confusing, I know.

Continuing, most of the deja vu lines I use are from the movie, therefore, technically, Clary never said it in CoB book. If you understand.

ILYASM thanks for reading...I dunno why you read this. it's kinda boring and cheesy, isn't it? But thnx anyway. CARRY ON READING!

PS: If you hate me for making Clary forget Jace, go ahead. I kinda hate myself too.