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City of Bones Chapter 20 Summary

How It All Goes Down

In Rats' Alley

  • Hodge traps Clary in an invisible box (a real, magic invisible box, not a fake, weird invisible box like the kind used by mimes) so that she can't pursue him when he flees the Institute.
  • But before he does that, he spends a lot of time trying to convince her that he's not a bad guy, even though he just let Valentine take the Cup and Jace.
  • Also, he tells Clary, "You were not raised as one of us. You have no part of this life of scars and killing. […] Leave the Institute, Clary. Leave, and never come back" (20.21).
  • Dude, you just locked her inside an invisible magic box. She can't even leave the room, much less the Institute.
  • Anyway, Hodge leaves, and Clary pounds futilely for a while until she realizes she still has Jace's stele in her pocket. She uses that to get out of the box and chase Hodge.
  • Clary corners Hodge in an alley and demands to know where Valentine is.
  • As if he'd give up the information that easily. Hodge attacks Clary with his chakram, a sharp flying metal disk (you know, like the kind Xena used?).
  • She ducks, but Hodge has another ready to throw.
  • Before he can attack again, a giant werewolf leaps into the alley. Hodge throws his chakram into the wolf's side and the wolf drives his teeth into Hodge's shoulder. We'd say this is a tie so far.
  • Luckily, this big hairy distraction gives Clary the opportunity to make a break for it.
  • She's almost made it out of the alley when the werewolf grabs her by the ankle and drags her to the ground.
  • Hitting her head on the pavement, she passes out, coming to later in the werewolf's lair.
  • It's not just any werewolf that kidnapped her. It's her Uncle Luke, last seen leaving his house/bookshop with a duffel bag full of glowing weapons.
  • A couple of other werewolves in human form, Gretel and Alaric, bustle around Clary and tend to her injuries as Luke tells Clary a bit about what's going on.
  • Looks like he's been watching her a while. It was his wolf pack that attacked the vampires at the Hotel Dumort.
  • Clary's still mad at Luke for abandoning her mother, so he decides to tell her his side of the story.