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." "Come on,"Isabelle said."The door is about to open." Clary glanced around.The sun had set completely and the moonwas up, a wedge of creamy white casting its reflection onto the pond.It wasn't quite full, but shadowed at oneedge, giving it the look of a half-lidded eye.Night wind rattled the tree branches, knocking them against oneanother with a sound like hollow bones."Where do we go?" Clary asked."Where's the door?" Isabelle's smilewas like a whispered secret."Follow me." She moved down to the edge of the water, her boots leaving deepimpressions in the wet mud.Clary followed, glad she was wearing jeans and not a skirt as Isabelle hiked hercoat and dress up over her knees, leaving her slim white legs bare above her boots.Her skin was covered in Marks like licks of black fire.Simon, behind her, swore as he slipped in the mud; Jace moved automatically to steady him as they all turned.Simon jerked his arm back."I don't need your help." "Stop it." Isabelle tapped a booted foot in the shallowwater at the lake's edge."Both of you.In fact, all three of you.If we don't stick together in the Seelie Court, we're dead." "But I haven't-," Clary started."Maybe you haven't, but the way you let those two act." Isabelleindicated the boys with a disdainful wave of her hand."I can't tell them what to do!" "Why not?" the other girlCreate PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com) demanded."Honestly, Clary, if you don't start utilizing a bit of your natural feminine superiority, I just don'tknow what I'll do with you." She turned toward the pond, then spun around again."And lest I forget," sheadded sternly, "for the love of the Angel, don't eat or drink anything while we're underground, any of you.Okay?" "Underground?" said Simon worriedly."Nobody said anything about underground." Isabelle threw upher hands and splashed out into the pond.Her green velvet coat swirled out around her like an enormous lilypad."Come on.We only have until the moon moves." The moon what? Shaking her head, Clary stepped outinto the pond.The water was shallow and clear; in the bright starlight, she could see the black shapes of tinydarting fish moving past her ankles.She gritted her teeth as she waded farther out into the pond.The cold wasintense.Behind her, Jace moved out into the water with a contained grace that barely rippled the surface.Simon,behind him, was splashing and cursing.Isabelle, having reached the center of the pond, paused there, up to herrib cage in water.She held out her hand toward Clary."Stop." Clary stopped.Just in front of her, the reflectionof the moon glimmered atop the water like a huge silvery dinner plate.Some part of her knew that it didn'twork like this; the moon was supposed to move away from you as you approached, ever receding.But here itwas, hovering just on the surface of the water as if it were anchored in place."Jace, you go first," Isabelle said,and beckoned him."Come on." He brushed past Clary, smelling of wet leather and char.She saw him smile ashe turned, and then he stepped backward into the reflection of the moon-and vanished."Okay," said Simonunhappily."Okay, that was weird." Clary glanced back at him.He was only hip-deep in water, but he wasshivering, his hands hugging his elbows.She smiled at him and took a step backward, feeling a shock of iciercold when she moved into the shimmering silver reflection.She teetered for a moment, as if she'd lost herbalance on the highest rung of a ladder-and then fell backward into darkness as the moon swallowed her up.She hit packed earth, stumbled, and felt a hand on her arm, steadying her.It was Jace."Easy does it," he said,and let her go.She was soaking wet, rivulets of cold water running down the back of her shirt, her damp hairCreate PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com) clinging to her face.Her drenched clothes felt as if they weighed a ton.They were in a hollowed-out dirtcorridor, illuminated by faintly glowing moss.A tangle of dangling vines formed a curtain at one end of thecorridor and long, hairy tendrils hung like dead snakes from the ceiling.Tree roots, Clary realized.They wereunderground.And it was cold down here, cold enough to make her breath puff out in an icy mist when sheexhaled."Cold?" Jace was soaking wet too, his light hair almost colorless where it stuck to his cheeks andforehead.Water ran from his wet jeans and jacket, and made the white shirt he was wearing transparent.Shecould see the dark lines of his permanent Marks through it and the faint scar on his shoulder.She looked awayquickly.Water clung to her lashes, blurring her vision like tears."I'm fine." "You don't look fine." He movedcloser, and she could feel the warmth of him even through his wet clothes and hers, thawing her icy skin.Adark shape hurtled by, just out of the corner of her eye, and hit the ground with a thud.It was Simon, alsosoaking wet.He rolled onto his knees and looked around frantically."My glasses-" "I've got them." Clary wasused to retrieving Simon's glasses for him during soccer games.They always seemed to fall just under his feet,where they were inevitably stepped on."Here you go."He slid them on, scraping dirt off the lenses."Thanks." Clary could feel Jace watching them, feel his gaze likea weight on her shoulders.She wondered if Simon could too.He stood up with a frown, just as Isabelledropped out of the heavens, landing gracefully on her feet.Water ran from her long, streaming hair andweighed down her heavy velvet coat, but she barely seemed to notice."Oooh, that was fun." "That does it,"said Jace."I'm going to get you a dictionary for Christmas this year." "Why?" Isabelle said."So you can lookup 'fun.' I'm not sure you know what it means." Isabelle pulled the long heavy mass of her wet hair forwardand wrung it out as if it were wet washing."You're raining on my parade." "It's a pretty wet parade already, ifyou hadn't noticed." Jace glanced around."Now what? Which way do we go?" "Neither way," said Isabelle."We wait here, and they come and get us." Clary was not impressed by this suggestion
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