Make A Move

OCTOBER 2016

Jace stood far away from Simon as he brought out Monkey out of her tank. The reptile immediately wrapped herself around Simon's arm. "See? She's harmless."

"You said, she tried to eat you." Jace said, stepping backward. He wanted to slap the amusement on Simon's face.

"She's a snake." Simon said, simply.

"She's a..." Jace threw up his hands. "I give up."

"OK, you said you'd touch her." Simon said. "She won't hurt you." To the snake, he cooed. "Isn't that right, sweetheart?"

"I changed my mind." Jace said as the snake stuck out her tongue. "You are insane."

"True. But no take backs." Simon said. "Come on, Herondale. Everyone has touched her. She even sits on Izzy's lap whenever she's here."

"Izzy is crazy." Jace said, stepping back as Simon moves closer. "Lewis, I swear to God." He would deny the high pitched squeak he made as Monkey lifted her head and stuck out her tongue.

"Dude, calm down." Simon was laughing. "I promise nothing will happen to you."

"Alec knows I'm here." Jace said, walking with his back against the wall until he stood behind Simon. He pushed at Simon's shoulder as he tried to turn. "Don't ...don't do that. Stay still..." he took a deep breath and reached out and ran a finger on the snake's body wrapped around Simon's arm.

She felt...unlike what he expected. She was dry and surprisingly warm. He snatched his hand back when the snake moved her head again. "OK, I have touched her. Can we go now?"

"I'm proud of you." Simon said and turned back to her tank. "Look at you, being a good girl for Daddy. I'll get you a treat, yes, I will."

"You..." Jace shook his head. "I don't even want to know."

Simon closed the tank and turned. "She is a beauty, isn't she?"

"She is a snake." Jace said. "She tried to eat you."

"Actually, she was trying to see if she could." Simon said, grapping his coat and waiting for Jace to join him outside the apartment. "She never actually tried. She needs to be bigger."

"I can't believe you are living with something that can actually kill you." Jace said, "Why didn't you get a cat or a dog like a normal person?"

"I had a ferret, once." Simon said. "Monkey ate him."

"Oh God."

They were on their way to grab dinner with their friends. Then Simon had practice with Alec later on. When they got to the diner, Jace announced that Simon had a death wish.

"You met Monkey?" Maia said, wrinkling her nose.

"Aww, how's the baby girl?" Izzy asked.

"She ate his ferret." Jace said,

"Good thing too." Izzy said, "I hated that beast."

"Roland wasn't that bad." Simon said, it was obvious they had done this before. "He was abused as a baby."

"He bit me." Izzy growled. "And I wasn't even near him."

"Even I'm glad your snake ate him." Alec said. "He always looked at me like I was his nemesis."

"He looked at everybody that way." Simon laughed. "Always upset about something. So cute."

"Why don't you get a normal pet?" Jace asked.

Magnus and Simon looked at him with identical expressions of shock. "Why?" They both asked in unison.

"I think Samantha is exotic with all his pets." Magnus said. "Did you know he had an iguana once?"