City of All Things Ruined - A Mortal Instruments Fan Fiction (COMPLETED)

Chapter 20

CHAPTER 20 – LINK

CLARY

Clary’s head throbbed as her surrounding solidified around her. Grey metal floor, glass walls, panel ceiling. Sebastian and his associates were leaning against the walls, chatting fondly to each other.

"I’m impressed,” Amelia laughed, “Most people throw up on the second time.” Clary was too captivated by her surroundings to find any humour in her words.

There was a desk in the middle of the room, covered in paper, chalk, rulers, erasers, and a stele. She instantly made a step towards it, before finding Felix in her path.

“Nice try,” He growled, massaging his throat with the back of his knuckle. “You can’t use that until we’re all out of here.”

Clary paused, looking around Felix and into Sebastians eyes, “What? Where are you going?” She asked.

“We’re just going outside, you’re staying in here,” Sebastian said, guiding her by the shoulders to the desk chair, and forcing her down into it. “You’re going to do us a little favour: We have some… potential recruits in town, but their starting to get a little unsure about joining our cause, and that is where you come in little sister.” Clary turned around to her brother, staring in confusion.

“You want me to persuade some people to join your little army? Not happening.” She stated confidently.

The rest of the group laughed cruelly. “No Clary, you’re going to draw a rune to make them a little more… complying.” Sebastian sneered, leaning over Clary’s shoulder and grabbing hold of the stele. “Don’t worry, the rune only needs to ensure that when they look into our eyes, they’ll do what we say, but as soon as they’ve done it, they can get their free will back.”

Clary laughed, barely able contain her outburst. “If you control when and where a person uses their free will, it doesn’t count as free will anymore.”

She heard the sound of footsteps behind her, and the sound of an  door closing, then a locking sound. Turning around, Clary saw Sebastian, Amelia, Felix, Link and Seth standing outside the glass walls, observing her, each with a pad of paper and a pen in their hand.

“I’m not doing this Sebastian, you might as well just give up hoping.” Clary yelled, unsure if the glass was sound-proof or not.

Sebastian began scribbling on his piece of paper, then turned it sideways, revealing the letters to Clary.

*NO RUNE = NO FOOD*

Clary gasped, and then spun back around, thinking of a plan. She had already skipped breakfast, and her hunger was already becoming an annoyance, so waiting it out was not an option. Her second option was to say she’d drawn a rune, and then fight them all when they returned to the room.

Granted, Clary was gifted with runes, but she was not as strong a fighter as Jace was, and her against 5 fully trained, fully skilled shadowhunters and downworlders was not going to end well, on her part. Clary sighed, and pressed her pencil to the paper, digging inside  her mind to find a sign – anything to help her find a rune.

                        ***

A day later, Clary was still slumped over the desk, pencil in hand, fast asleep. Balls of crumpled up paper littered the floor around her, and eraser shavings nearly covered the expanse of the desk. Even in sleep, Clary’s stomach rumbled loudly, causing her to stir slightly. She had lost all her energy due to the lack of food.

After the first few hours, Clary had hoped Sebastian would feel sympathy for her, and bring in a plate of food, but he and his ‘colleagues’ had not entered the room since, only peeking round the door to check on her.