Sweet Creature ▹ Alec Lightwood [2] ( SLOW UPDATES )

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER SEVEN
THE MONTGOMERY HOUSEHOLD

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     Clary had to knock on the front door. Adrian couldn't bring himself to. His hands were shaking too much, and he could feel anxiety crawling all over his skin, making him jumpy, making his stomach feel odd, like he was going to be sick. After Clary knocked—since there wasn't a doorbell—they waited on the front porch for only about thirty seconds before Adrian's entire stomach jerked uncomfortably. He let out a trembling breath.

"No one's here!" he said, masking his fear with a wide smile. He clapped his hands together as he turned away from the door, fully ready to bolt back to the main road. "Too bad, let's try again next week—" Clary shot him an exasperated look, opening her mouth and reaching for his wrist, no doubt planning to keep him there by force. Her hand locked around his wrist right when they both heard the doorknob turn. Adrian whirled back around to face the door, eyes going wide, heart jumping into his throat. He held his breath as the door creaked open. Part of him expected to be filled with disappointment, thinking it would be anyone except his mother opening the door, but that wasn't the case.

It had been nearly twenty years since she looked like she did in all the photos he had of her, but there was no mistaking her long blonde hair, or the brown eyes that mirrored Adrian's own, or even the smile she gave Clary and Adrian. She had barely changed from her early twenties. Time had been kind to her, so there was no way for Adrian to be in denial about who the woman was, no way to convince himself it wasn't her. The woman who had answered the door was Alice Rosewell, his mother, and he had a very short amount of time to absorb that before Alice spoke.

"Hi," she greeted kindly, glancing between the two of them with no recognition on her face. She looked a bit confused as to why teenagers were at her front door, but she didn't look wary. She barely looked at Adrian. She would try, but then her eyes would slip naturally to Clary. It must've been Clary's rune at work. He was suddenly very grateful it was getting colder and colder in New York. It meant them both wearing turtlenecks wasn't all that odd, and that allowed them to hide the runes on their skin. "Can I help you?"

"Hi," Clary said, matching Alice's friendliness with her own, even offering her hand. She was wearing gloves, but Adrian noticed her offer her non-dominant hand for Alice to shake. The one that didn't have a rune on the back of it. Alice took it, brow furrowing suddenly as she took in Clary. Adrian wasn't that surprised, considering Clary looked nearly identical to Jocelyn. He just hoped it'd been so long that Alice wouldn't rely on memory alone. "I'm Maia Fray, and this is my brother, Simon." She let go of Alice's hand and motioned toward Adrian, who forced himself to smile and offer his hand. He was wearing leather fingerless gloves, so he needn't worry of Alice spotting the rune on the back of his dominant hand.

"Nice to meet you," Alice said, still looking confused, but less suspicious now. She had stopped eyeing Clary curiously the second she lied about her name being Maia Fray. "I'm Alice Montgomery. How can I help you kids?" As soon as Alice revealed her mundane name to be Montgomery, Adrian had to look away. He disguised it by glancing over the front porch. There were moving boxes sitting out on the front, tape still stuck on the top, freshly cut. The one closest to him had 'kitchen' written in clumsy, child-like handwriting. His throat closed up even more.

"Sorry to bother you," Clary was saying, and Adrian blinked rapidly to get out of his own head and looked at Alice. He had the sudden urge to speak up, because seeing the moving boxes made Adrian realize what their cover story for being at the house could be, but his throat was still closed up and his anxiety was still running rampant. Fortunately, Clary was smart enough to notice the moving boxes as well, because she added, "Um, our grandparents used to live here and we were wondering if we could look around?" Alice tilted her head then, looking surprised. Clary quickly followed up the request with, "If not, that's totally fine! Just say the word and we'll leave—"