Hiding in the shadows isn't fun, but after you get used to it it's hard to get out
Jordyn and Alec have gone through a lot, from their first meeting to fighting monsters and opening up to each other, its been hard
But with one-two broken hearts and...
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【Ｃｈａｐｔｅｒ ｕｎｕｓ： Ｂｒｏｋｅｎ ｐｈｏｎｅ】
"𝔓icture something calming. The beach in Los Angeles-white sand, crashing blue water, you're strolling along the tide line..." Jace cracked an eye open. "This sounds very romantic."
The boy sitting across from him sighed and ran his hands through his shaggy dark hair. Though it was a cold December day, werewolves didn't feel weather as acutely as humans, and Jordan had his jacket off and his shirtsleeves rolled up. They were seated opposite each other on a patch of browning grass in a clearing in Central Park, both cross-legged, their hands on their knees, palms up.
An outcropping of rock rose from the ground near them. It was broken up into larger and smaller boulders, and atop one of the larger boulders perched Alec and Isabelle Lightwood. As Jace looked up, Isabelle caught his eye and gave him an encouraging ing wave. Alec, noting her gesture, smacked her shoulder. Jace could see him lecturing Izzy, probably about not breaking Jace's concentration. He smiled to himself-neither of them really had a reason to be here, but they had come anyway, "for moral support
Though, Jace suspected it had more to do with the fact that Alec hated to be at loose ends these days, Isabelle just wanted ignore her emotions so she focused unnecessarily too much on Jace and Alec
Jordan snapped his fingers under Jace's nose. "Are you paying any attention?" Jace frowned. "I was, until we wandered into the territory of bad personal ads." "Well, what kind of thing does make you feel calm and peaceful?"
Jace took his hands off his knees-the lotus position was giving him wrist cramps-and leaned back on his arms. Chilly wind rattled the few dead leaves that still clung to the branches of the trees. Against the pale winter sky the leaves had a spare elegance, like pen and ink sketches. "Killing demons," he said. "A good clean kill is very relaxing. The messy ones are more annoying, because you have to clean up afterward-"
"No." Jordan held his hands up. Below the sleeves of his shirt, the tattoos that wrapped his arms were visible. Shaantih, shaantih, shaantih. Jace knew it meant "the peace that passes understanding" and that you were supposed to say the word three times every time you uttered the mantra, to calm your mind. But nothing seemed to calm his, these days. The fire in his veins made his mind race too, thoughts coming too quickly, one after another, like exploding fireworks. Dreams as vivid and saturated with color as oil paintings. He'd tried training it out of himself, hours and hours spent in the practice room, blood and bruises and sweat and once, even, broken fingers. But he hadn't managed to do much more than irritate Alec with requests for healing runes and, on one memorable occasion, accidentally set fire to one of the crossbeams.
