Here Today

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A/n: I'm redoing this entire story. I have the plotline all thought out now, so there shouldn't be too many mistakes. My writing is (hopefully) better, and the characters will be more fleshed out. Thanks for sticking with this story! Reviews are appreciated!

1 – Sara

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The credits rolled, and I stifled the yawn in my throat. All around me there was the noises of wrappers crumpling, last sips of drinks being taken, and people commenting about the film. Next to me, Ella's fingers tapped rapidly on her latest smartphone, commenting on some social network about how she loved the film – which I assumed she did, given by the smile on her lips.

I picked up my remaining trash. "Are you ready?"

"What? Oh, yeah. Yeah." She stuck her phone in her pocket, grabbed her nearly empty soda, and moved out of the row in front of me, excusing herself in front of the older couple that had stayed to watch the credits.

Outside, I rifled through my pockets for the loose change I'd stuffed in there, and counted it on my palm. "Mind if we wait a second? I have to pick up something for Mark." Mark was my younger brother. He had this obsession with cinema snacks; it was strange, but everyone had their quirks, right? Her mother had made her promise to bring home something, even though it was 2am. "Do you want anything?"

"No, I'm good, thanks," she responded, lifting her arms up above her head, revealing her stomach. More than a few guys in the area stared, and I rolled my eyes.

"Good. I didn't have money for you anyways." Ella snorted as I pressed the money onto the counter, glancing up at the menu to see what items I could afford. "One diet Coke, please." I turned to Ella, drumming my fingers on the glass. "Did you like it?"

"Yes, I did. It was as good as you described it."

Ella was one of those kinds of people who didn't read books if they didn't have to. I had read the first three books of the Mortal Instruments series about a year ago. When I had summarized to Ella, she had been interested enough to let me give her a synopsis of the series, but not interested enough to actually sit down and crack open the book.

But she got invested in it with me, discussing characters and plots.

When I had the soda in my hands we ventured out in the warmth of the late summer night. Even with the sun down, the temperatures were reaching well into the nineties, and my stomach churned. I hated the heat. But there was something off about this night. I couldn't quite place it, but there was a foreboding feeling in the back of my mind. But Ella didn't seem perturbed, so I ignored it.

We had made it to the car when a yawn escaped my lips, my eyes drooping.

Ella raised her eyebrows at me, watching as I dug the car keys to my truck out of my bag. I fumbled with them, trying to find the lock, and they slipped from my fingers onto the ground. Ella scooped them up before I could even blink. "Maybe I should drive? You don't look like you can make the next few steps to the passenger side."

"Yeah, okay," I mumbled, "but if you so much as scratch my baby, I'm ending you."

Grinning, Ella opened the door. "Don't worry about thing, Aves."

Curling up in the passenger seat, I brought my legs to my chest after I buckled myself in. I was too tired to wince when Ella pressed the gas and nearly took out a couple walking to their car. She apologized to them with a wave and then backed out of the parking lot, brushing her shiny black hair behind her ear.

My eyelids fell closed, and my chin hit my knees.

There was a sudden screeching noise as Ella hit the brakes, and I slammed forward, abruptly awake. My chest collided with the seatbelt and I winced, my head hitting the seat. I cradled my head within my hands. "Ella! What the hell?"

"You can't fall asleep! I haven't asked the question!"

"Your question is dumb and makes no sense," I retorted, turning over in the seat. I shut my eyes again, groaning when Ella's hand slapped my shoulder. "Fine, fine, I'll humor you. Go on." I opened my eyes despite my head screaming for sleep.

Ella beamed. "Okay, so if you could add a character to this universe, who would they be, and what would they be like?"

I thought. I stared blankly at the neon green numbers on the clock, racking my brain on what to say. "Okay, uh… Her name is Sarabella Daleheart. She's short-ish, with brown hair. She's okay with fighting demons and all, but honesty she works better with other people and helping out them. She can do parkour." I flicked my wrist. "Happy?"

She nodded. "Yes!"

After an abnormally long silence, I paused. "What about you?"

She tapped her fingers on the steering wheel. "I don't know." She blinked, as if trying to see clearer. "Hey, look how empty the street is."

I craned my neck to see. It was true. The usually crowded street was bare, save for the moon in the sky and the trees dotting the sidewalks. The street stretched on in front of us, no sign of oncoming headlights. It was weird, but not unheard of. I shrugged my shoulders and slid down in the seat again. "Don't use that as an excuse to slack off on driving, Ella."

Ella giggled. "I won't."

Not even ten seconds after she said something, there was the sound of her spinning the wheel rapidly, her breath escaping her lips. I lurched up, worried, fingers digging into the leather of the seat, eyes shooting open. I wasn't tired anymore. There was a blinding light that stung my eyes, and I covered my face with my arms, screaming, hearing my screams mix with Ella's, wondering what had happened so rapidly that I had missed it within ten seconds-

And then nothing.

/*\

"We bring you outside for the first time in a week, and you faint?"

"She's not awake, she can't hear you. What did you think would happen? She was violently ill, and then… and then suddenly better? Those kind of miracles don't happen overnight."

"Yes, but-"

"Guys, quiet. She's waking up."

Besides the voices, the first thing I was aware of was the splitting headache. I grasped my head, wincing, trying to get the pain to dull. I had recognized the voices. It wasn't Ella, or my parents or brother, or anyone I knew, really. I had been in an accident with Ella, though, I remembered suddenly, and my heart gave a jolt.

Was it the police officers speaking to me? Fire fighters? Doctors in the ambulance? Was Ella hurt? Was I hurt? Oh, God, oh God, if Ella was harmed or anything I would die, I would absolutely die-

Someone touched my arm, startling me. "Come on, Sara, up. Use your legs."

Who was Sara? Keeping my eyes shut, I slammed back, nervous, my head collided with the wall behind me. Pain exploded alongside my headache, and I yelped, throwing my head forward in my hands. Stupid! I whimpered, kneading my forehead in my fingers, trying to ease the pain. I was scared. I wanted my parents, or something. I was 20. I was an adult, and yet I was scared, wanting my mother.

The girl's voice spoke up again. "We'll meet you inside. She's probably too sick to help out. Let's leave her here, okay? I don't want to risk her being injured. C'mon, Alec."

I didn't know an Alec.

The footsteps faded away, and gingerly I opened my eyes, the sun burning them. How long had I been out for? I let my eyes get adjusted before blinking them rapidly, and gazing up at the person who was kneeling in front of me. It was a boy, and something about him struck me as familiar. He watched me, amused, as I furrowed my eyebrows, struggling to recall where I knew this boy from.

And then it hit me, sharply – it was Jace. Jace, from the movie and from the books. And, last time I checked, he had been a fictional character in a book that had been written by a woman who had thought up the entire universe. He looked somewhat like the actor who'd played Jace in the movie, but there were traits to him that were different, too. He was undeniably Jace, but I had to make sure.

"Jace…?" I asked, almost whispered, as if I was afraid to know the answer.

He looked confused by my question. "Yes," he drawled. "And you're sick. And should probably stay here."

"Sick?" I asked again, pressing my fingertips back into my forehead. The headache had dulled, thankfully. "I was in a car accident, of course I'm sick-!"

"Yes, you are definitely sick, and we'll get you some help after we're done here." He stood, pointing a finger at me as if I were a small child. "So, until we get back, you stay here. Don't move."

"And if I have a problem?" I retorted, angry. "What if I have a heartache or get sick or something?"

He grinned. "You're not that sick, Sara." And after giving me a nod, ducked around the corner and disappeared.

I frowned.

First things first: there was no way that was Jace. No way. He wasn't real, just a character from a book. Then who was that boy? Someone else named Jace? The girl had called the other voice Alec, and if everything was going the way I dreaded it was, then she was Isabelle. I gritted my teeth, wondering when I had gone so crazy.

What had happened after the car accident?

Maybe Ella staged it, made sure I knocked myself out after the car accident, and had brought in actors to prank me. This wouldn't be the first time Ella went to dangerous attempts to pull off a practical joke. But this… this was a prank on a major scale. There would need to be time, money, and my parents in on the joke, putting me in a place I didn't recognize.

Well, I wasn't going to let her get me. I pulled myself from the ground slowly, making sure my legs were steady before peering around. I would storm off and go find this Jace. I'd go along with it until they knew they wouldn't get anything comical out of me, and Ella would appear, claiming this to be all some huge prank.

I brushed my hair behind my ear, and then stopped, mouth dropping open. My hair was brown. A light, chestnut brown that was slightly curly as it wrapped itself around my finger. Ella had dyed my hair as well? She truly was going all out. I had recognized my skin being paler earlier, but I had thought it had been from not going outside as much, with the stress of finals and such.

Bracing myself, I glanced down at my body. I was skinnier. I was shorter, my legs not being as long. My stomach churned as I pressed my hand to mouth, feeling sick to my stomach. You couldn't fake height or weight. This was real. Had I gone crazy? Maybe I had died or been knocked unconscious in the accident, and this was my dream. But everything felt real. (I pinched myself to make sure, and I definitely felt it.)

My eyes stung. No, I would not get scared, I told myself furiously. I would take this like the adult I was, if I even was an adult anymore. I felt young. Young and vulnerable.

Until I was sure I wouldn't cry or do anything of the sort, I turned and stalked down the way Jace had gone. I turned the corner, glancing for any place he would have gone, when the sign on a club caught my eye – Pandemonium. My heart went straight to my throat, beating fast. This was following the plots of the books. I hadn't been thrust into some random timeline, this was the books. Oh, Man. Oh, Man.

Deciding idling wasn't doing anything, I started down the sidewalk, eyes scanning the line that stretched out. My eyes caught a flash of red and I focused, watching as the girl peered at the person in the front of the line, her eyes worried. The boy next to her with the glasses crossed his arms, noticing her mind drifting off.

I'm going crazy, I thought, before crossing the street after making sure there weren't any cars coming.

By the time I made it to the line, Clary Fray and Simon Lewis had already gone into the club, about to seal their fates. If I was going to crash the book, I was going to crash it in such a way that I was going to help people make better decisions. Even if those choices made the plot veer off track a little. I had already read the books and seen the movie. I knew what happened. I wanted a change.

If I was a Shadowhunter like the others, which I assumed I was, given by the fact they acted like they knew me, and the black marks drawn on my wrists and chest, I had glamour on.

Opting just to test it, I moved in front of the guard and let out a breath when he didn't stop me. I snuck into the club, not used to the loud music and flashing lights. I had always stuck myself in the library or my house, and the parties had been Ella's scene. I'd gone to a few, but I liked to recharge back in solitude after a long night out.

But now? Now I felt fine. I liked the feel of my heart drumming along to the music.

And it felt weird, but right. Oddly right.

I quickly found Clary in the crowd. She was glancing around, eyes skimming the people around her, dancing, I assumed, with Simon. They both looked like they were making weird lunges at each other, and I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing. Clary frowned, eyes locking onto one person in particular – the demon, although she didn't quite know it yet.

I stepped forward, about to speak with her before she could run off after the boy, when a sudden headache came just as quickly, the pain blurring my eyesight. I yelped, falling to my knees as I dug the heels of my palms into my eyes, trying to stop the pain. There was a bright flash of light that hadn't come from the club, and my mind suddenly stopped, briefly.

"I'm not sick," I said, shaking my head as I collected the papers on my desk, stacking them into a neat pile. I coughed, bringing my elbow up to shield it from the rest of my room. I scribbled my name on the bottom of a sheet and then placed it in the holder, content with my work.

Jace scoffed. "And I'm not insanely talented. Both of those were lies."

"Okay, all three of you can leave my room," I commanded, pointing a finger at the door. Alec and Isabelle exchanged a look, before shaking their heads. "I am completely-" Another violent cough left my lips, and I suddenly fell forward, unable to catch my breath. Alec caught me before I could hit the ground, and sat me down on the edge of the bed, worried.

"Yes," Isabelle mumbled, "You're definitely not sick."

"My head hurts," I whimpered, pressing my hands to my temples.

"You know medicine, right?" Jace asked, glancing at the numerous notes I had tacked to the walls, and the hundreds of books lining my walls. "Can't you diagnose yourself?"

I glared at him. I was about to retort, when another round of pain filled my body, and I fell back on the bed, gripping the bed sheet beneath me. It felt horrible. Felt like my soul was somehow being ripped from my body, leaving me slowly-

Someone touched my shoulders, startling me from the memory. That hadn't been my memory. It had hit me, slowly, but I figured it out – I was Sara. Sarabella Daleheart. The girl I had dreamed up on Ella's whim. "Excuse me, are you okay?" someone asked, seemingly for the second time.

I turned my head.

Clary had knelt down next to me, her eyes worried. We were in a secluded corner of the club, and although she was next to me, her eyes kept glancing around, searching for someone. "Yes, yes," I mumbled, getting to my feet shakily. "What happened?"

"I saw you fall," she said, "and it looked bad. No one else seemed to be helping, so I did." She smiled at me, her hand still steadying my upper arm.

"Thank you. I'm okay now."

"It's no problem. Hope you're okay." And after giving me one last sincere smile, she slipped into the ground, intent on finding that boy. And, although she wasn't aware, I had followed her, staying a few paces behind to follow her.

She opened the door and disappeared inside the storage room. I caught the door before it fully shut, and slipped through. I could hear Jace speaking, and Clary stood behind a pillar, eyes wide as she took in the scene before her.

I reached out, tapping her shoulder.

She whirled around, holding out her arm as if she held a weapon. My hands shot up in surrender, and I took a step back, trying not to make a noise. "Clary, don't do anything rash, okay?"

"How do you know my name?" she asked, blinking. "I didn't tell it to you out there."

"Yes, well, I know things," I answered vaguely. "But I'm here because I don't want you to make a wrong choice, and I'm just looking out for you."

She paused. "I don't even know you."

"Yes, well-"

"And look what they're doing!" she whispered again, glancing back towards where the three had gotten the demon tied up, about to kill him.

I reached forward, fingers brushing her arm, trying not to get her to yell.

"Stop!" she yelled, and I groaned, smacking my hands into my head. All four turned around, eyes locking onto Clary, and then me.

"Sara?" Isabelle asked. She turned to Jace. "I thought we agreed to leave her outside!"

"Shouldn't we be focusing on the mundane who can see us, instead?" Jace asked, peering at Clary, who was still frightened.

I crossed my arms. "I was trying to get her to stay quiet."

"Why wouldn't I be able to see you guys?" she asked. "I'm not blind or anything."

"Didn't you think it was weird that no one else was helping me in the club?" I shrugged, watching as she tried to figure out everything in her mind. "You saw me, because you can see people like us. The rest of them couldn't."

"People like you…?" Clary asked, eyebrows furrowing. "This is making no sense."

Suddenly the demon had torn itself free, launching itself at Jace. I went to move forward and help, but Clary had moved backwards, foot catching in some wire. She fell down, her hand reaching out to grip my wrist, tugging me down with her. I turned, catching myself with my hands above her face, breathing heavily. Clary gasped, having lost her breath from the fall.

I got up, turning to see that Isabelle had sent her whip down on the demon, striking him down.

Clary moved next to me, getting to her feet and standing, her hair messy. I got to mine, wiping my hands on my knees. As much as I believed that I was getting used to this whole world, and demons, I guess I wasn't – because as soon as the demon snapped his head over to look at me, I yelped, falling backwards again, hearing the sharp snap as my head collided with the floor.

/*\

The sensation of rocking awoke me. I blinked, shaking my head slightly. My head was hung down, my arms dangling by my sides. Whoever was carrying me was doing a sucky job. I could guess who it was. "You're acting like I'm dead," I groaned, pushing myself up into a sitting position. The person adjusted their arms slightly.

"And you very well could have been," Jace said, digging his fingers into my back.

I glared up at him. "But I'm not."

"And who was she, anyways?" Isabelle asked, walking alongside us, looking deep in thought. Alec was on the other side of her.

"How should I know?"

"You obviously knew her. Or, at least, she knew you. When you were knocked unconscious she held your hand before her boyfriend came to check up on her," she answered, looking down at her nails. She gave them a once over. "We didn't have much time to interrogate her."

It wouldn't do much to keep them in the dark. I let my head fall back again, sighing. "Her name's Clary Fray. She's an artist. I met her minutes ago in the club, when I had a headache and she helped me."

"She's certainly helping you a lot," Alec spoke up.

"Sometimes you need help." I shrugged, letting my arms dangle again. I closed my eyes, tired.

"Why could she see us?" Isabelle pressed.

"I don't know any more than you guys do except for those small facts," I argued, pressing my fingertips together.

Jace suddenly made a noise. "You seem fine now. Can't you walk?"

"I could. But it'd be a lot of work to put me down. You'd have to stop Izzy and Alec, they'd have to wait for you to set me on the ground, and who knows? Maybe I'll stumble and then set us a back a seconds."

Jace shook his head, giving a curt laugh. "Sure thing, Sara."

As we walked, I debated on telling them about my memories. Should I come clean? It might be easier to keep the secret, but I felt bad. I'd decide on it later. For now, I'd just suck it up and play Sarabella for a little while longer.

/*\

My room was huge. Seeing the Institute in person had taken my breath away, but the sheer number of medicinal books and notes on the walls made my heart burst. My love for medicine had carried over into this world. At least there was something familiar.

I dragged my hands over the notes, feeling my heart contract.

This world would kill me. And I'd make the best of it.