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Sie door shut "Order pizza?"

"I already did," said Luke, co into the kitchen with the cordless phone in hand "One large veggie pie, three Cokes And I called the hospital," he added, hanging the phone up "There’s been no change with Jocelyn"

"Oh," Clary said She sat down at the wooden table in Luke’s kitchen Usually Luke was pretty neat, but at the moment the table was covered in unopenedacross the back of a chair She knew she should be helping with the cleaning up, but lately she just hadn’t had the energy Luke’s kitchen was sy at the best of times--he wasn’t much of a cook, as evidenced by the fact that the spice rack that hung over the old-fashioned gas stove was empty of spices Instead, he used it to hold boxes of coffee and tea

Simon sat down next to her as Luke cleared the dirty dishes off the table and dumped them into the sink "Are you okay?" he asked in a low voice

"I’ed a smile "I didn’t expectshe’s--waiting for so"

"Do you knohat?"

"No Just that so" She looked up at Luke, but he was involved in vigorously scrubbing the plates clean in the sink "Or someone"

Sied "So it sounds like the scene at the Institute was pretty intense"

Clary shuddered "Alec and Isabelle’s ain?"

"May-ris," said Clary, copying Luke’s pronunciation

"It’s an old Shadowhunter name" Luke dried his hands on a dishcloth

"And Jace decided to stay there and deal with this Inquisitor person? He didn’t want to leave?" Simon said

"It’s what he has to do if he ever wants to have a life as a Shadowhunter," said Luke "And being that--one of the Nephili to him I knew other Shadowhunters like him, back in Idris If you took that away from him--"

The familiar buzz of the doorbell sounded Luke tossed the dishcloth onto the counter "I’ll be right back"

As soon as he was out of the kitchen, Si of Luke as so of him as a olf"

"Really? Why?"

Sied "I’ve heard of olves before They’re sort of a known element So he turns into a wolf once a --they’re like a cult"

"They’re not like a cult"

"Sure they are Shadowhunting is their whole lives And they look down on everyone else They call us s They’re not friends with ordinary people, they don’t go to the same places, they don’t know the saly leg up and twisted the frayed edge of the hole in the knee of his jeans "I met another olf today"

"Don’t tellout with Freaky Pete at the Hunter’s Moon" There was an uneasy feeling in the pit of her sto it Probably free-floating stress

"No It was a girl," Sie Named Maia"

"Maia?" Luke was back in the kitchen carrying a square white pizza box He dropped it onto the table and Clary reached over to pop it open The sh, tomato sauce, and cheese reminded her how starved she was She tore off a slice, not waiting for Luke to slide a plate across the table to her He sat doith a grin, shaking his head

"Maia’s one of the pack, right?" Si a slice hiood kid I’ve had her over here a few ti out for the bookstore while I’ve been at the hospital She lets me pay her in books"

Simon looked at Luke over his pizza "Are you low on ed "Money’s never been important to me, and the pack looks after its own"

Clary said, "My mom always said that e ran low on uy I thought was my dad wasn’t my dad, and I doubt Valentine has any stocks--"

"Yourher jewelry off bit by bit," said Luke "Valentine had given her soensterns for generations Even a shed "Those are gone now--though Valentine e of your old apartave her so off his stuff like that" He took a third piece of pizza It was truly ae boys were able to eat without ever gaining weight orthemselves sick

"ItMaryse Lightwood like that, after such a long time"

"Not precisely weird Maryse isn’t that different now from how she was then--in fact, she’s more like herself than ever, if that ht it did The way that Maryse Lightwood had looked recollected to her the sliiven her, the one with the haughty tilt to her chin "How do you think she feels about you?" she asked "Do you really think they hoped you were dead?"

Luke smiled "Maybe not out of hatred, no, but it would have been more convenient and less messy for them if I had died, certainly That I’ the don pack can’t be so they’d hoped for It’s their job, after all, to keep the peace between Doorlders--and here I come, with a history with thee They’ll be worried I’m a wild card"

"Are you?" asked Simon They were out of pizza, so he reached over without looking and took one of Clary’s nibbled crusts He knew she hated crust "A wild card, Iwild about ed"

"Except that once athings," Clary said

"It could be worse," Luke said "Men e have been known to purchase expensive sports cars and sleep with superht," Sied"

"Thank you, Simon, I appreciate that" Luke opened the pizza box and, finding it eh you did eat all the pizza"

"I only had five slices," Si his chair backward so it balanced precariously on its two back legs

"How many slices did you think were in a pizza, dork?" Clary wanted to know

"Less than five slices isn’t a meal It’s a snack" Sioing to wolf out and eat me?"

"Certainly not" Luke rose to toss the pizza box into the trash "You would be stringy and hard to digest"