Stone Circle Friends on the other side

Clary refused her sister's offer with a back still turned in silence. She hated this, she hated it all, she hated the anger, the way the nauseating heat prickled her ears and skin. She wanted things to just go back to normal, for them to pretend this never happened. But every time she looked at Steph she remembered, and the more she tried to tightly wrap her feelings, she found they only grew stronger. Things couldn't go back to normal.

The second rise of her sister's voice drove in the final thorn. Every careful measure broke, and Clary spun with a violent twist to face her siblings - to face Steph.

"I thought you died!" Clary pushed forward to confront her sister, and hoped Ezra wouldn't try to get in the way. She would never hurt her sister, and stopped herself short of pressing her nose straight into the darker girl's face. "I thought you were dead, Steph! I thought you were never coming back! I thought I would never talk to you again or run with you again or do anything with you ever again! Why did you do that!" She choked, not really knowing what she was saying, but feeling the blame as clear as a cloudless sky. Waves of anger and hurt rose to her eyes in a pooling mess, but she refused to turn her face from her sister. Let Steph see every measure of pain. Things had to go back to normal, and this was the only way Clary knew how.