Who am I? *A Mortal Instruments Fanfic*

A New Home

I creak my eyes open and see darkness. Panic rushes through me as I check my clock. 8:00. A sigh of relief emits from me. I grab my borrowed jacket and rush down the stairs. "Bye mom! I gotta go!" An indistinct call says she heard. I run to the park, praying Jace isn't there yet. I come to the park and see its empty.

An icy wind snaps me. I realize how cold I am. I pull the jacket around me tighter as I huddle under a sculpture of Saturn. A faint light comes into my vision. The light continues to get brighter until it seems to be everywhere. I don't know what it was so I shrunk deeper into the shadows. "Ari." A familiar voice calls. "Are you there?" It calls again.

I peek out from behind the sculpture. Then I rise to my feet as silent as I can, hoping to surprise him. My foot makes a small rustle. "I know you're here." He says. I drop my arms to my side. "Damn. What gave me away?" I mutter. "That small movement with your foot. You look like you just woke up." He adds. "I did." I reply. "Well, shall we get started?" I nod eagerly, ready to embrace my Shadowhunter side. "Ok, we'll start with the deflect rune." I notice he hasn't brought paper with him. "Where will we write?" I ask. "On the ground. Mundanes can't see runes so they won't see it."

After about twenty minutes, I finally get the hang of drawing the rune. "Ari? What's that?" Jace asks, pointing to my right hand. I know what he saw. "My stele. You saw it this afternoon." I am stalling for time like I did with Alec. "No. The other thing." He says. Gingerly, he slowly grabs my arms and he turns my right hand in his spindly fingers. I wasn't expecting such gentleness from such long fingers. "What happened?" Jace asks, meeting my eyes for a second, then studying the ring and nail marks. "Did a demon get you?" I shake my head. "Was this from last night?" I shake my head again. "Tell me what happened. Please. If someone did this, then I can talk to them." I keep my mouth shut, biting my lip so hold back tears. He looks up and sees my throat. In an attempt to sidetrack, I ask, "What's that white thing?"

"It's a witchlight. Every Shadowhunter has one. It's like a flashlight." He responds irritably. "Ari, you can trust me. Tell me what happened. Please." He implores. I keep shaking my head and biting my lip to prevent crying and saying what happened. I promised Alec. He pulls me closer. "Who hurt you? Why can't you tell me? Why won't you?" My resolve is crumbling fast. I end up tasting blood in my mouth.

He puts his fingertips under my chin and tilts my head up to look into his golden eyes. There appears to be smaller, darker flecks in his golden disks. Without warning my mouth spills open, without me wanting to. "It was Alec! He did this!" I put my hand over my mouth, tears now running freely down my cheeks. "Alec? No. He wouldn't. Tell me what happened." Jace demands. I tell him everything since he left. I leave out the Clave. He doesn't need to know. "I need to talk to him." He goes to stand up

I grab his arm. "No! Please! I promised I wouldn't tell, he could do worse if you tell him." He looks back at me, and my tears that are still running. "Fine. Let's get back to work." He said grudgingly. We end up working for another hour and a half on two other runes, the iratze, and the clairvoyant, as well as the deflect rune. All the while, he keeps glancing at my wrist, neck, and face, which was red from crying. "Ari?" Jace asks, with pure curiosity in his voice. I look up once I finished my last iratze. "Come to the Institute. Hodge wouldn't know." I look at him quizzically. "What? I don't understand."

"Come back to the Institute. Please. Now that you know your Nephilim, demons will be on your trail. You're in danger. Please. For me." He finishes. "Fine. Let me tell my mom." Why did I say yes? After he said 'for me?' I put my stele in my pocket when Jace grabs my arm, spinning me around. "Here," he said, holding up a white rock. "It's your own witchlight." I pocket that too.

Once we leave the shelter of the trees, the cold smacks me. I begin shivering. "You ok? Are you cold?" Jace asks. I nod, too cold to say anything. He put his arm around my shoulder. Head radiates from him. It gives me butterflies. Once we get to my steps, he withdraws his arm. "Mom?" I call as I walk in. "What?" She calls back. "I'm leaving." I state, knowing no other way to put it but as it is. "Why?"

"I have to go. To protect you, and me. I'll visit. I promise." She gives me a hug. "Be safe. Who's that?" She asks, staring at the blond boy standing just in front of the door. "This is Jace. He's a friend." I say, hoping she lets me go even though he's there. "Be careful." I go upstairs and pack a suitcase full of my clothes, necessities, and a stuffed animal I've had for years. I drag it downstairs. I walk over and gave my mom one last hug. My mom is crying. I turn away, not wanting to see my mom in tears at seeing me leave, and walked out the door, to see Jace waiting. I glance back one last time and mouthI love you.

Once I start walking, making sure Jace was behind me, I let my tears fall. I know I would visit, but this is harder than I thought. I look down at my wrist. I see the Angelic Rune. I know I was going to a place I belonged. But I have to move, for my mom's sake. Jace walks up next to me and grasps my hand, for comfort. I look up. He has a compassionate look like he understands what just happened. I try to smile back, but I couldn't.

Once we get to the Institute, Jace leads me around the back. He climbs up a ladder. I hop over the side of the windowsill and see a monk like room. Clean white sheets, made perfect, nothing on the floor, nothing on the wall, just nothing. "This is my room." He says with a sweeping gesture. "It's so empty. Don't you have a picture of your family?" I ask, curious to know. "My parents are dead. My dad was murdered." I cannot bring myself to say anything. I couldn't imagine life without them. "Anyway, let's get you to your room." He says, shaking his head, like he wants forget a memory. A knock on the door sounds. He mutters a curse under his breath and shouts, "Who is it?"

"Izzy." A girl's voice calls through the door. He motions me to the closet. I creep over and close the closet. I hear Jace kick my suitcase under the bed. The door opens. "Come on in. What's going on?" He replies, as though nothing is unusual. "I thought I heard something." Isabelle says, peering around the room. "No, nothing out of the ordinary." Jace answers. "OK." It didn't sound like Isabelle bought it. "Got to go take a shower. Bye, Izzy." Jace rushes her to the door. "But Jace-!" The door slams and the sound is drowned. He knocks on the closet door. I poke my head out. "That was Izzy? The one who bandaged me?" I ask, walking out and sitting on Jace's bed. He nods. "So, don't I have a room to go to?" He shakes his head.

"Not tonight. Izzy's already suspicious and so is Alec, so you can just sleep on the floor." He replies. I stand up to get my suitcase when a wave tiredness crashes over me. I sway on my feet. I cannot stay on my feet any longer. I stumble forward and Jace catches me. "I retract my former statement of you were graceful." He teases. He sets me on his bed and places a grey blanket over me. "Good night, Ari." He turns off the light and closes the door.