CITY OF BONES Read-Along: Chapter 1: Pandemonium

Shadowhunters! We’re kicking off the City of Bones Read-Along.

Starting now until August 12, TMI Source, Page to Premiere, Mundie Moms and Fangirlish will be hosting a read-along to prepare you for The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, which hits theaters on August 21.

CHAPTER 1 – PANDEMONIUM

Our story begins outside a little all-ages club called PanDEMONium where we meet our protagonist Clary Fray and her best friend Simon Lewis. Clary’s attention immediately falls on this blue-haired kid trying to get his way into the club. That attention continues when Clary and Simon get inside the club.

Once inside the club, the blue-haired demon’s attention falls on a gorgeous girl with ink black hair wearing a floor-length white dress and a red pendant. The girl beckons him with her eyes and he follows her into a storage room, unaware that he is being followed.

Our attention shifts to Clary and Simon are dancing — albeit awkwardly, but dancing nonetheless — and right out of the gate we know that these two do not fit in to this club scene. We get a sense of Simon’s adorable humor and his and Clary’s relationship. As Simon tries to get Clary’s attention, Clary notices the blue-haired guy’s attention has fallen on a gorgeous black-haired girl. She watches as the blue-haired guy follows the girl into a storage room. Clary watches as two guys slip into the storage room after them, a blond guy holding a knife. Clary shouts for Simon and tells him what she saw, but he didn’t see it. Clary makes her way through the crowd toward the storage room in search of answers.

Back in the storage room, the blue-haired demon discovers the girl’s name is Isabelle. After some flirting he notices a bracelet — no, runes — etched into her skin and before he can react she lashes out and soon is striking him with a whip. The two boys that Clary saw join Isabelle and we, along with the blue-haired demon, learn they are Shadowhunters.

Clary eases her way into the storage room to get to the bottom of what she saw. At first she sees nothing — an empty room — but suddenly she hears voices and sees Isabelle, Jace and Alec. Clary ducks behind a pillar and watches the scene unfold. The blond-haired boy interrogates the blue-haired guy. Words like demons and Clave and dimension are thrown around as Clary can only watch and think they’re insane. The blue-haired boy mentions someone named Valentine, which seems to grab their attention. As Jace prepares to kill the blue-haired guy, Clary jumps out from the behind the pillar and screams for them to stop. The three are are stunned and whip around to get a look at Clary. They seem surprised that they can see her, but of course she doesn’t find it surprising. Why should she? 

Clary begins arguing with Jace and he explains that the blue-haired guy is not a person, but a monster. The blue-haired demon throws himself at Jace and they roll around as the demon claws at Jace. Clary watches as the three work together to kill the demon. Clary doesn’t want to believe them but the body of the blue-haired guy disappears. Jace begins asking Clary questions about her past, wondering why she can see them. Simon then enters, security guard in tow, calling for Clary and she realizes that only she can see these three people standing before her.

Outside the club, Clary and Simon try to hail a cab and they discuss what happened at the club. Clary is beginning to think she’s going crazy.

Head to Page To Premiere for Chapter 2 tomorrow (July 21).