The Light of Heaven

Chapter 4

After that Jace and Clary lived in peace. They looked after their children and Jace wanted to start training Imogen, but Clary thought that she was too young. Weeks passed. Sophie helped with the housework. Isabelle and Jace killed off the eventual demons that came in the city. It was a peaceful time.

But peace never lasts.

Clary still missed Jocelyn and still blamed herself. She kept herself busy and tried not to think of it. Sophie helped her. But Clary's mind was not at peace. She was still angry at herself for not saving her. Jace didn't understand. He had never had a real mother. But Clary wouldn't tell him that.

She walked around the institute with nothing to do, looking around at the beauty and decorations. It had always surprised her that even though everything was made out of wood, it still seemed like a modern place. Not modern as in 'it has many electronic gadgets', but modern as in 'it could as well be a house Clary had lived before she discovered she was a Shadowhunter'. To keep it short: it was Clary's dream house. The beautiful curves in the wood made her feel like she was important, but she couldn't explain why. Maybe it was because of the forms: they were all angels. Clary hadn't known much about Shadowhunters, but she did know angels were important. Being surrounded by angels therefore made you feel important as well. Clary had also always thought living in a completely wooden house would mean living in a completely dusty house. It wasn't like that at all: there never seemed to appear dust in their house. This was mainly because of Sophie, who -even though Clary and Jace had always told her not to- always cleaned the house. She did this when Clary and Jace didn't notice, so that they wouldn't make a comment about it. The fact that the house was cleaned over and over again didn't bother Clary. It was the fact that Sophie always was the one cleaning that bothered her. You could say that -thanks to Sophie, of course- they lived in a palace: it was beautiful enough to be one. Before the Calton Hill Institute, Clary believed a palace would include gol -lots of gold- and luxury. However, this wasn't what she believed now. Gold didn't make a palace a palace, it just made the place shiny. But shiny didn't mean it was a palace, it was the beauty it was all about. And Clary couldn't believe there was any house, castle, palace, institute, whatever you want, that was more beautiful than the Calton Hill Institute. If so, she still wouldn't move away from the Calton Hill Institute: she had a wonderful time here, with Jace, both of their children, Simon, Izzy, and all three of their children. Simon and Izzy didn't really live here -especially Simon, who didn't have permission to stay on holy ground. Izzy was away a lot -as you've probably guessed, she was away with Simon, of course- so Clary and Jace watched their children. Not always... Sometimes Simon and Izzy brought their children with them on a mission. Except for Camilla -their youngest daughter- who was too young to participate. Lily and Max were old enough, and they always complained when they weren't allowed to come with them. Now, Izzy and Simon were away again, leaving Camilla alone with us in the Institute. She didn't seem to care about that, and so did Sophie. When Izzy and Simon were away, she took care of them. It almost looked like they were her children. 
Which maybe is, Clary thought, because Sophie feels that way: she feels like they are her children, and would give anything in the world to protect them.