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Chapter Text

Alec POV

I sighed for the umptheenth time that day. I had just gotten off a call from the clave asking me to go to a meeting with them. After the entire circle fiasco, the clave members were still weary of us. The meetings with them were hostile at best and sometimes downright humiliating. I walked up to the elevated step, causing the others to look up at me.

“Attention! I’ve been asked to meet with the clave. While I’m gone Isabelle will be in charge. Everything should be the way I left it when I get back.” I announced.

While I was getting ready to portal to Idris, Jace came up to me.

“What do they want this time?” He asked.

“I guess I’m going to find out.” I replied while stepping into the portal to ideas.

“How kind of you to finally join us Alexander.”

I looked up and saw that everyone was already there. I walked up to the table and took my seat.

“I apologize. I was busy.” I said.

“Yes, well so are we but we don’t make excuses.” One of the council members said. “We called you here today due to a prediction made by a warlock. While they are not the most trustworthy source, the consequences are too dire to ignore it. We have been told that in a few months time there will be a huge absorption of the New York leyline which will ruin any chance we have at forming an alliance with the faeries and warlocks.” I was shocked, this was really bad news.

“The most concentrated area is directly under a highschool and is the most likely target for the greater demon so we will need four shadowhunters to be stationed there. They will impersonate students while they are there. In front of you we have placed a folder of who they will be there as. And you Alexander will lead the mission.” He continued.

“But what about the institute!” I opposed.

“We will appoint a suitable leader while you are gone. You are already on thin ice after what happened with Valentine. Just because it turned out ok doesn’t mean that you didn’t break all those rules. Any other questions or have I made myself clear?”

“Crystal.” I replied with an icy tone. “I’ll see myself out.” I took the portal back to the institute and was met with a concerned Jace.

“You okay Alec?” Jace asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Can you bring Izzy and Clary to my office. I have something to tell you guys.”

“Ok, I’ll be back in a bit.” Jace replied.

I walked down to my office and took a seat. I didn’t have time to look at the people we were going to impersonate during the meeting so I started to scroll through them.

“Jace said you wanted to see us?” Clary asked.

I looked up and saw that they had arrived. “Yes, take a seat.” I said. “The clave wants us to go to a highschool to look for increased demon activity there. Apparently they’d been told by a warlock that there will be a absorption of the leyline there and want us to do everything we can to stop it.”

“Wait, what? How long are we going to stay there? And who’ll run the institute?” Izzy asked.

“The clave will find a substitute for me while I’m gone and the mission will probably take us at least a few months.” Alec answered. “I’ll give you guys your profile. The clave has tried to include as much truth as they can in it so it’s easier to lie but Jace and Izzy will have to have different last names because they can’t know that we are related. Our cover story is that our school is being renovated due to a storm that caused it to collapse.”

“I’ve always wanted to try out those mundane schools! They seemed so fun in the movies!.” Izzy squealed. “We need to go shopping right now! I need to update my wardrobe.”

“You guys have fun.” I replied.

“Where do you think you’re going big bro? You’re coming with us.” Izzy said with the biggest grin on her face.

Chapter Text

Izzy POV

“Alec hurry up, we don’t have all day.” I said for the twentieth time since we got to the mall.

“I didn’t even want to be here, Izzy.”

“I know but your here so deal with it.” I replied, annoyed with Alec.

“You do know that Alec probably won’t buy anything, right?” Clary whispered to me.

“Don’t worry I’ll make him.” I reply.

Alec dragged his feet the whole way to Hollister.

“What even is that?” Alec asked pointing to a shirt I had held up to him.

“It’s a shirt Alec, lots of mundane guys wear them.”

“It’s green, bright green. I don’t wear green–especially bright green.” Alec replied rolling his eyes.

“Oh come on, just try it on.” I said throwing the shirt at him.

“Fine.” Alec replied gritting his teeth.

“It looks...great.” Jace said trying not to laugh.

“Jace…” I warned under my breath.

“You know what? It’s really not that bad.” Clary said.

“Like I’m taking fashion advice from the orange one.” Alec replied going back into the change room.

“What did you expect?” Jace said turning to me. After Alec went back, I turned to Clary.

“Come on Clary, you’re becoming like Alec.” I said trying to get Clary to try on a shirt.

“Iz...I’m not wearing that.” She replied.

“What’s wrong with it?” I asked.

“Everything..” she replied getting mad at me.

Why are they all so bad at trying on clothes, gosh. At least Jace tried on like 3 things.

“Izzy you’re not buying that.” Alec said sternly pointing to a shirt I had picked out.

“You’re not my father Alec, I am my own adult.” I replied.

“Nope.” Alec said taking the shirt from me.

“Fine.” I said annoyed with him. He’s always so protective, it gets on my nerves sometimes.

“Izzy can we finally leave?” Alec asked for probably the tenth time.

“Hold on, you haven’t bought anything.” I said.

“I have plenty of clothing at home.” He replied.

“Alec, come on, it’s all black and very dark grey. Those are funeral colours for mundanes.” I told him.

“You know what, Alec is right. Can we just go? We have been here for ages.” Clary said.

“Thank you! For once Clary is right.” Alec told me.

“You guys are terrible people to go shopping with.” I said back to them.

“Great, you agree. Let’s go home.” Alec said.

“Fine...hold on where’s Jace?” I replied.

“Oh he left like 30 minutes ago.” Clary replied.

The ride home was fairly boring and not a whole lot happened.

“Why do I need all these pencils, Izzy? It’s not like I’m actually going to do school work.” Alec asked when we got home.

“Well we have to pretend to be students and Clary said you need a lot of pencils.” I replied.

“I’m just so excited for these next crappy months.” Jace said annoyed.

“Why do you guys never stop complaining?” Clary asked.

“Because it’s all so annoying.” Jace replies.

“Jace, I get it but we just have to deal with it.” I said facing Jace.

“What’s the point of this.” I said, pointing some metal thing at Clary.

“It’s a compass.” She replied.

“Are you stupid, a compass is for seeing which way is north.” Alec says.

“No, there are two types. The type Izzy asked about is for drawing circles.” Clary said.

“Because teenagers actually want to draw circles.” Alec said under his breath.

All this school stuff is so confusing for Alec, Jace and I. Since we didn’t go to school for normal things like mundanes do. I’m actually kind of excited to go to a mundane school, couldn’t say the same for Alec and Jace though

Chapter Text

Alec POV
We had gotten our schedules and Clary and I were in class 12A while Jace and Izzy were in class 12B. I looked down at my schedule. We had homeroom with Mr.Smith first. Clary and I walked into the room one after the other.

“Class, I would like to introduce you to our new students. They are transferring from Balzac International for the remainder of the school year due to a storm that caused their building to collapse. Would you like to introduce yourselves?” Mr.Smith said while looking in our direction.

Clary walked up to the front of the class. “Um...Hi. My name is Clary. I like to draw and hang out with my friends. I’m 17 years old.”

“Ok! Thank you Clary. You can sit next to James. James, raise your hand please.” The tall, green haired kid in the back reluctantly raised his hand and Clary started to walk towards him.

“Hi, my name’s Clary.” She said.

“I know, you said it a minute ago.” He replied, clearly annoyed that he had to socialize.

Clary awkwardly shuffled into her seat, discouraged by her conversation with James.

I decided to keep my introduction as short as possible.

“Hi. My name is Alec.” I walked towards Clary and sat in the seat right in front of her.

“Ok...I guess you can sit there for now.” Mr.Smith said, confused by my actions.

I decided to tune out the rest of the class until the bell rang. I started heading for science class.

The class ended up being a completely bore. I decided to make a schedule in my head to patrol the school grounds for demon activities. Clary was trying to get me to play along with the introduction game that our teacher had planned for us, but unfortunately I had to leave for the bathroom before it was my turn. By the time I came back, class was already over and we were headed to math.

Clary actually tried to take notes in class and I spent the time staring at the clock. It was almost lunch time and I had to check in with Izzy and Jace.

When it was time for lunch, we found a table that all of us could sit at.

“How was class?” Clary asked.

“Oh, it was awesome!” Izzy said.

“Yeah. It’s great. There’s soooo much fun stuff to do.” Jace replied sarcastically.

“Jace, don’t be such a downer! You have to give it a chance.” Izzy said.

“I think you guys are forgetting that we are here on a mission. Going to school is just a cover for us. No need to get so worked up about it.” I said.

“We always have missions though! We should get to do something fun for a change.” Izzy argued.

“And you can have fun—as long as it doesn’t interfere with the mission. We’re already on thin ice with the clave, we don’t want to make it worse.” I said, frustration seeping into my voice.

The bell rang, signalling the end of lunch.

“We’ll have this conversation later.” I said before heading for social studies. Clary followed me after a quick goodbye to Izzy and Jace.

“You don’t have to be such a stick in the mud Alec. Have fun once in a while.” She said when she caught up to me.

“Someone has to be since you guy think it’s okay to play around while we are on a mission.” I replied. We walked silently to social studies. It was the only class I was slightly interested in since we had never learned about mundane history in detail before.

The class was pretty intriguing and the teacher was bearable. She didn’t drone on about one topic and actually tried to make history fun. That was probably my favourite class of the entire day. We had a study period next and I decided to leave. Clary wanted to stay and try to find anything of interest in the school. She said would get a ride home with Jace and Izzy. I wanted to check out our new place out before the rest of them came. The clave had decided we should live closer to the school so they had bought us a 4 bedroom flat half a mile away.

When I reached the flat I was immediately met with a pile of boxes. I picked mine up and walked around the place. I decided to pick the bedroom farthest to the right and put my things in the room. It had the bare minimum- a bed, a closet, and a cabinet.

I put my clothes in the closet and took a map of the school out. I crossed off all the places I’d went to and put notes down if there was any traces of demons. After about 45 minutes the front door opened up, which meant that Jace, Clary and Izzy were back. I went out of my room and looked for them. They were all sitting around the table in the living room.

“Hi guys.” I greeted them. They responded with hi's and hellos’ of their own.

“We were just talking about our day!” Izzy said.

We spend the rest of the day talking and decided to order takeout since there was nothing in the fridge. It was overall a good day and they had fun at school (no matter how much Jace liked to say otherwise, his grin always gave him away).

Chapter Text

Izzy POV
After Jace and I said bye to Alec and Clary, we headed to our homeroom class. I was so excited because we had never had the opportunity to go to normal school. What we had learned was crammed in between fighting lessons and none of us (with the exception of Alec) actually wanted to spend our free time going to the library.

Everyone was talking when we walked into class. Which was immediately followed by a hush when the people noticed the new kids come in. Which were, of course, me and Jace.

The teacher saw us and said, “Class, I would like to welcome two new additions to our class. Would you like to introduce yourselves?” She asked.

“Hi, I’m Jace. It’s nice to meet you guys. Hope we get along.” He said, flashing a charming smile at the class. I heard a few girls giggling in the back and could already see a ‘book club’ forming. It was too bad Jace was already in a relationship.

“Hello. I’m Isabelle but you can call me Izzy. I hope we have a good year together.” I said.

“Wonderful. Now that we got the introductions over with, just pick any seat you want.” The teacher informed us.

I scoped the place and decided to sit next to the cute nerdy guy in the middle of the room.

“H-hi, my name’s Simon.” He introduced himself.

“Izzy, but you already knew that.” I replied, giving him a smile.

When the first bell rang, Jace and I went to math. The teacher was talking on and on about some kind of parabola and I decided to zone her out. Instead, I looked around the classroom and observed. My eyes fell on Simon and I saw how concentrated he looked. I decided to observe him for longer. After awhile I noticed that he would chew at the back of his pencil whenever he was thinking. I looked away so I didn’t get caught staring.

Jace had decided that he was too good for this class and had put his head down to take a nap. The teacher was too absorbed in teaching that she didn’t notice, or maybe she was just used to it.

We had English next. It wasn’t the most interesting class but it was okay. The teacher was pretty chill and told us the write an essay about something we liked. She apparently didn’t care that more than half her class was on their phones so that was a plus. I was really looking forward to lunch to tell Alec and Clary about our day.

Lunch didn’t go exactly as planned, with Alec constantly reminding us about our mission. But I still got to try the infamous school lunch. I had seen in movies that they always tasted bad and wanted to try it for myself. I was a bit disappointed when the food turned out to taste decent. I guess movies aren’t the most accurate place to look for information about school.

We moved on to gym class. What was supposed to be a friendly game of basketball turned out to be torture. Apparently Jace didn’t like the fact that he wasn’t the best at something and decided to go all out. Suffice to say, their team won.

Clary had texted me that Alec was going to go home early and that she needed to catch a ride with me and Jace. I guess he got bored of school and decided to leave. I had one last class before my school day was over. Social studies was best described in one word—boring. Everything the teacher was saying went over my head and I didn’t even bother to pay attention. It’s not like mundane history will ever be useful to me.

We picked up Clary when school ended and went home. We found our belongings as soon as we got in. Apparently they were too lazy to put it in our rooms. I picked up my boxes and went to pick a room. Clary took the one second to the right and Jace took the room farthest to the left. We went into the living room to discuss our day and Alec decided to join us.

We talked about all kinds of things and I told Clary about Simon. I’m pretty sure Alec and Jace overheard though, because they started acting weird and Jace told me I should sit next to him in class from now on, ‘To make it easier to talk to each other if something happens with the mission.’ He seemed to conveniently forget about the invention of phones. I decided to not continue that conversation and started talking to Clary about her class.

Chapter Text

??? POV
We had heard that there were a few new students in our grade. I wasn’t that keen on meeting them and it seemed suspicious. Even if they were here because of reconstructions in their old school, how could there be only 4 students? I decided to get one of my friends to find out.

I chuckled to myself. I guess it will be an interesting year.

Chapter Text

Clary POV
School is finally over for the week. I’m not exactly excited about this evening though. Its the club fair. Our teachers said its highly encouraged that everyone join a club. So far I haven’t made new friends, unlike Jace and Izzy, so maybe this was a good chance to make some. Alec doesn’t even count because he just ignores everyone including me most of the time.

“Alec, Jace, Clary we have to go to that club thing!” Izzy yelled. I looked down at my phone and saw that it was about 30 minutes til the club fair was supposed to start.

“Why are we even going to this thing?” Jace asked.

“We can’t draw too much attention to ourselves plus Izzy wants the full high school experience.” Alec replied grabbing the car keys. The car ride was boring. Alec played a song on the radio but nothing helped ease the mood.

We got out of the car right at 7:30 since Alec didn’t want to be even one minute early. We walked into the school with a lot of the other students.

“Ok well this event lasts for like 2 hours so do whatever and don’t get yourself killed.” Alec said sarcastically once we got inside and he walked away.

A group of kids flocked over to Izzy asking them to join her. Then Jace walked over to some other classmates. That left me all alone. This was starting to feel too much like actual high school, which I graduated from not too long ago.

I saw a table advertising art club. Now that was something I could be a part of! “Hey, how do I sign up for Art club?” I asked the person looking after the table. He looked up and smiled, pointing at a stack of forms.

“Thanks.” I said. I sat down on a nearby bench and filled out the form.

“Hey, any luck?” Izzy asked, sitting down next to me.

“Hey, yeah art club.” I responded, showing her the form.

“I signed up for a jewelry club.” Izzy said.

“That's good, you will probably be really good at that.” I replied.

“Isabelle Lightwood, a jeweler.” Izzy said, laughing. Which caused me to start laughing. Some of the other students awkwardly looked at us so we tried our best to stop laughing.

I gave my form back to the guy at the table. Then Izzy and I started walking around. “Where did your squad go?” I asked her.

“My squad?” she asked, looking at me.

“Those kids you were hanging out with.” I replied.

“Oh them? I don’t know. I escaped. They were kind of annoying to be honest.” She said.

I nodded and looked around the gym.

“Oh Dance club, perfect! Come on Clary.” Izzy said, grabbing me by the arm.

“What are we doing here?” I asked, looking at the table Izzy dragged me to.

“We’re joining dance club.” Izzy replies nonchalantly.

“We’re? Ok no. You can, but me dancing?” I asked, surprised that she would even suggest it.

“Clary, I want to do it but I’m not doing it alone. And frankly your my best friend so your gonna have to deal with it.” She replied.

“I hate you.” I said through gritted teeth.

“Oh, I know you’ll thank me later.” She said, seeming proud of herself. After lots of begging and threatening by Izzy I signed the form to join Dance club. After signing that dreaded form Izzy and I went over to a snack table.

“Clary you don’t have to be annoyed, dance won’t be that bad.” Izzy said. I just smiled at her while eating the stale chips they had on the table. Izzy picked up a juice box, grape flavoured, which I always hated as a child. She opened it and took a few sips. She immediately made a squeaking noise, turned and spit it into the garbage can. “That...was....disgusting.” Izzy said in between coughs.

“That's what you get for signing me up for dance.” I said trying not to laugh as Izzy continued to cough. I handed her a bottle of water with a smirk on my face.

“You know I thought you were nice when we first met but now…” Izzy said, stifling a laugh. We just looked at each other and started laughing, knowing that what I’d just done was probably the rudest thing I’d done in my entire life.

Maybe doing senior year of highschool again wouldn’t be too bad. Izzy and I spend the rest of the club fair sitting on the bench talking and laughing. Jace and Alec were pretty confused on the car ride home when Izzy and I just kept talking. I realized that night, when Izzy and I were watching the discovery channel before bed, how happy I had been the past few months. How happy I was to have these friends.

Chapter Text

Jace POV
This was going to suck. We were in the car heading to some dumb club fair the school was holding. Apparently it's important or something, I never payed attention in class. When we arrived at school, we all went our separate ways. Some of my very boring classmates invited me to join them. The girls giggled way too much for my liking. One of my classmates, John or Jack or something, got me to join the football club with him. I thought it would be an okay club to join, far better than a lot of the other ones I had seen.

I also signed up for fencing since I thought that it could be interesting. It seemed similar to sword fighting so I wanted to give it a try. Next to that table was the jewelry club. Even I know that jewelry and fencing are not similar things but they were put near each other anyways. I saw Izzy signing up at the jewelry table. My sister the jeweler, great.

“Hey Iz.” I say walking over to her.

“Hey Jace, signed up for anything?” She asked.

“Fencing and football.” I respond.

“Good job Jace! As you can see I’m signing up for jewelry.” She says pointing to the form she was filling out.

“Yeah, have fun with that.” I said quickly as I notice some girls gesturing for me to come over there.

“My will is in the 2nd drawer in my dresser. Just in case something happens.” I said, mostly as a joke to Izzy. I grudgingly walk over to the group of smiling teenagers.

“Hey….Jace.” This blonde girl whose name I forgot said, staring at me.

“Hi.” I responded back to her. I spend the next painful moments trying to escape these girls. Thankfully Alec called me around 9pm telling me to meet him by the gym doors.

“Hey what's up?” I said when I got to the door.

“You done with the clubbing?” He asks.

“You probably shouldn’t call it clubbing.” I said trying not to laugh.

“Oh right. Well I signed up for a club and would like to go home.” He replied.

“Yeah I signed up for 2, wait what did you sign up for?” I asked knowing that Alec doesn’t like to do these things.
“Archery. Where are Izzy and Clary?” Alec replied, quickly changing the subject.

“I don’t know.” I said as we started looking for them.

“Jace…!” The girl I was with earlier called. I quickly ducked into the nearest bathroom.

“What the heck Jace.” Alec said as he closed the bathroom door.

“They won’t leave.” I replied.

“Just tell them you have gonorrhea.” Alec said.

“ALEC! no! Absolutely not.” I said shocked Alec would say such a thing.

“Saw it in one of the movies Izzy's been watching. Lets go Jace.” Alec responded, walking out of the bathroom. I sighed then joined him. Luckily what’s-her-name had already left.

About 5 minutes later we found Izzy and Clary sitting on a bench at the corner of the gym laughing. Alec shook his head and hissed at them to stand up so we could go. In the car they wouldn’t shut up. Even when Alec turned on that terrible 1960s blues music we all hated so much.

At home we ate some stew-like thing I heated up. It was very liquidy and the meat tasted a bit like cardboard. After like 2 bites Clary just shook her head and tossed the rest of her plate into the garbage. Izzy and Alec followed suite shortly after. I ate about half of it because I was hungry but even I couldn’t finish it.

We watched some youtube videos on the tv. Alec picked this 45 minute long documentary about like bobcats or something, I left after 2 minutes. Strangely enough, Izzy and Clary got through maybe 20 minutes before Izzy threw the remote at Alec telling him to turn it off. Then I put on some videos about conspiracy theories that Izzy, Clary and I got way too into. Alec just got annoyed halfway into the first one and sat in the kitchen. After that Izzy decided to cut apples for us to eat and she “accidentally” flung one of the pieces at Alec's head. He threw a dishcloth at her which she ducked to escape. Then Clary fell off the counter and we all just started laughing. It was a weirdly entertaining night.

Clary and Izzy watched the discovery channel while Alec did laundry since it was his turn. I just ate chips while looking at the ceiling. There was this one black spot that I found particularly amusing for some reason. It was very different falling asleep to no noise this past week. Compared to falling asleep to the craziness of the institute that I was used to. A good kind of different.

Chapter Text

Clary POV

Unfortunately, we had to go to science class first. While there was nothing wrong with science, I just couldn’t understand it. I didn’t care about the periodic table or what was needed to make certain chemicals. My attention was brought back to the front of the class when Mr.Tramp cleared his throat.

“Class, today we will begin a group project.” He said.

I could already hear the sighs and groans coming from the class. I looked at Alec next to me and I could see a small frown maring his face.

“You will be in a group of 4 and will be making a science presentation about something that can improve the environment. I will give you a specific topic to focus on after the groups are formed. I expect it to be done outside of school and it is due the day after tomorrow.” Mr. Tramp continued, ignore the class.

‘Great.’ I thought to myself. ‘Now he was going to say that we couldn’t even pick our own partners.’

“I will pick your groups for you because I don’t expect things to get done otherwise. Group one is James, Tyson, Mark and Clary. Group 2 is Ella, Tyrone, Jackson and Jim. Group three is Emma, Petunia, Alec and George…..”

I drowned out the rest of his speech after that. I was trying to think of ideas for the project. I went up to the front of the class when he finished calling all the names to get our specific topic. We were told to go to our groups and start brainstorming but the guys in my group kept on talking about what game they were currently playing or what sports team they were rooting for. The only thing we were able to decide on was that we were going to meet at my place today to work on the project. Hopefully they would do something then.

The rest of school was a complete bore and I was glad when it was over. I was walking home with Alec since he actually decided to stay in school for study hall today.

“My group is meeting at ours at 7. Just wanted to give you a heads up.” I told Alec.

“Good thing I’ll be at the institute then. Apparently the substitute head is a idiot and I need to go check up on him. Just make sure everything is okay until I come back.” He replied.

Sometimes I forget that Alec is the head of the institute since he’s always there for us.

“Okay, when will you be back?” I asked.

“Probably around 9.” He said.

When I got home I watched tv to pass the time until the guys came over to my place. I invited them in and guided them to our living room.

“So it says that we have to create an alternative way to provide energy.” I said for the fifth time. The guys apparently thought that the project wasn’t as important as the game that was going to happen Friday night. “Do you guys have any suggestions?” I said with more force than necessary. At least they turned to look at me this time.

“How about we install solar panels in corporate buildings?” I said, trying to start the conversation.

“Yeah, why don’t we?” Tyson said in a mocking tone.

“And while we’re at it, why don’t we feed everyone cake and preach world peace!” James chimed.

“That’s not the worst idea guys….” Mark said, trying to act as a mediator.

“Stay out of this Mark. I bet she doesn’t even understand how the real world works. She probably thinks that if you say something, t will happen. Of course, I didn’t think she’d understand, coming from a prissy private school. I bet she hates the fact that she has to go to public school.” Tyson continued.

There was a sharp intake of breath and I looked behind Tyson to see Alec standing there.

“Your back early…” I said weakly.

“What’s going on here?” He asked. But the way he said it showed that he knew exactly what had transpired.

“Oh. It’s nothing. Just working on the science project.” I said, trying to hide the tears in my eyes. Why was I even crying? I had been through much worse that a verbal lashing from someone 4 years younger than me. This was pathetic.

“Can I speak to you Tyson and James? Privately?” Alec said it like a question but there was no room for argument.

They returned about 5 minutes later, visibly shaken. Tyson had a nasty bruise forming under his right eye and James would flinch from the slightest movement from Alec.

“I think they want to help you with the project Clary. Right boys?” Alec said, directing the question to James and Tyson.
James furiously nodded his head while Tyson started to walk towards the sofa and had a seat.

“Are you forgetting something Tyson?” Alec asked.

“I’m sorry that I behaved like that. I shouldn’t have assumed what your views are and it wasn’t my place to judge. I should see for myself how you behave before putting you under a certain label. I hope you can forgive me.” Tyson said.

“Yeah...it’s fine.” I replied. I was shocked that he was apologizing. Alec really did a number on him. I had to have a chat with Alec. He can’t just go beating people up!

We started our project after that and the boys were actually kind of helpful. Izzy and Jace had came back a few minutes later. Jace stayed behind and watched us work for a while but then went back to his room. I decided to order pizza since it was getting pretty late and I didn’t want to make anything. The project was finished by 9:30 and the guys left soon after. I decided to go and look for Alec.

“Izzy! Do you know where Alec is?” I yelled from across the hall.

“Did you check his room?” She yelled back.

Sure enough, when I knocked on his door, Alec came to open it.

“Alec, I wanted to talk to you. Can I come in?” I asked.

“Sure, shortstack. Just make it quick.” He replied.

“Look, I don’t want to come off as ungrateful but you can’t just go and beat people up. I understand that you were mad and I appreciate the fact that you care but we can’t do things like this.” I said.

“All I did was teach them a lesson. But if you think it’s not necessary, I’ll tone it down a notch.” He said.

“Thanks Alec. I’ll talk to you later. Goodnight.” I said, happy that he understood what I was trying to say.

“Night.” He replied, closing his door.

I walked back to my room and drifted off into a peaceful sleep that night.

Chapter Text

Jace POV

School was very boring. People kept hanging off of my every word and Izzy didn’t have it any better. I guess it was a perk of being on the football team but it was getting very annoying. Our day passed by pretty quickly, with me barely paying attention and Izzy stealing glances at the nerdy kid up front. I was meaning to ask her about that but whatever she does in her free time is her business.

When social studies rolled around I couldn’t be more glad because it was the last class of the day. The teacher was babbling on and on about some kind of prehistoric stuff that I couldn’t be bothered with. Like when were we going to learn something useful. With only a few minutes left of class the teacher told everyone to quiet down.

“I have an announcement to make. You guys will be making a project for history class. It will be about your family tree. Now I know that it might be hard to dig up things about your family but try your best. It will be due on Thursday. I expect it to be neat and presentable.” She finished.

Great. A stupid project that I had to make things up for. At least I don’t have to do any research and can just put the stuff that was on my profile.

The bell rang a few minutes later and I rushed out to my locker, happy to get away from the people around me. I walked up to Izzy and asked her if Clary needed another ride home. She said that Clary went back with Alec.

“Oh, yeah. Did Alec tell you that he’s going to the institute today? He’ll be back at around 9.” Izzy stated.

“Really? I bet the new substitute was being a pain. Didn’t they pick Florence for it or something? That kid is super annoying. Always trying to show us up.” I said.

“Yeah. I hope the clave realize what a terrible choice he is for the job.” Izzy replied.

“Hey, want to go check out the new cafe that just opened up? I heard it’s a pretty big place and they let you stay as long as you want if you order something. We can finish our project there cause I heard that Clary’s bringing home some people for her project and I don’t want to bother them.” I said.

“Sure.” Izzy answered. “I want some coffee anyways. Might as well get some work done while I’m at it.”

“Great. So it’s settled!” I said. It was a 3 minute drive from the school and was located right next to a bookstore. Overall it was a comfy little place with a handful of customers. I decided to order a cup of coffee, I would probably need it.

They project turned out to be fun, especially when I got to make up things. John McLaughlinson was now one of my favourite ‘great grandparents’. He loved sitting on trees and had one of the longest records(75 hours). He worked at a beauty parlour and made everyone chocolate covered oatmeal. Or at least that’s what I put down. By 8:30 I was almost done with my slideshow and I was actually pretty proud of it. Izzy on the other hand was shopping online.

“You know, if you keep this up you’ll never be done.” I commented.

“When did you start caring about school work? And besides, it’ll take me maybe 30 minutes to finish this. I’m already halfway done. I just need to finish aunt Helena’s side of the tree.” She replied.

“Ok. Well do you want to go home?”I asked.

“Sure.”

The drive home was quick and silent except for the constant tapping of Izzy’s nails on her phone. When we got home, I saw that Clary was working on her project with some of the kids in her class and decided to stay for a bit. After making sure they weren’t giving her any trouble I walked back into my room. I could see that something had happened but the atmosphere wasn’t serious so it was probably ok now. I decided to ask what had happened later.

I played a few games on my phone and looked over my project one last time. I decided to go to sleep after a while since it was getting pretty late. I could get used to this carefree life.

Chapter Text

Alec POV
I could hardly wait to present the lovely science projects we had to do. My group was basically three good for nothings. Which left me doing pretty much all the work. Like the smart people we were, we did it all last night. We hardly finished and it took us until 11. We did it at Petunia’s, which was a huge mistake. Petunia’s mom was there and way to into what we were doing. The Emma girl was alright and took some notes. George was late and ended up spilling water everywhere while Petunia did nothing and spent the whole evening yelling at her mother.

The teacher (I don’t remember his name) prepared his clipboard for when he needed to grade everyone. “Alright, let's begin! Any volunteers?” He finally asked. Some girl named Ella raised her hand. Her group's presentation was one of the most boring things on planet earth. Even more boring then playing dolls with Izzy when we were little. It was about adaptations of animals or some crap.

After that one, the group who all looked stoned went. They couldn’t even stand straight or pronounce half the words. The teacher just shook his head the whole time. It was kind of hilarious, though I didn't laugh. Clary tried hard not to. Next, my wonderful group was called.

Our project was about climate change. Emma and I basically presented all of it while George said like 4 words. Petunia, whom I’m really starting to hate, just stared at her phone. Mr.I have no idea yelled at her the whole time. We probably failed but its not like I cared a whole lot.

After our group Clary’s group went. It's the only presentation, including my own of course, I actually paid attention to. I had to make sure the people in Clary’s group were not bothering her. Tyson and James were so boring to listen to. Mark and Clary presented most of it. At least the guys didn’t do anything I had to deal with.

“Good job” I whispered to Clary after she sat down.

“Really?” She questioned.

“No, I’m just trying to be nice.” I replied.

“Thought so, you did...pretty good.” Clary said.

“Ha, sure.” I said. Clary and I have an interesting friendship, if you could call it that.

The bell rang and it was finally time for lunch.

“Hey, how was your presentations?” Izzy asked coming up to my locker right before lunch.

“It was wonderful, I did great!” I said sarcastically.

“Did he actually?” She asked turning to Clary.

“No, what do you expect?” Clary replied.

“Really Redhead? We were getting along today.” I said. Clary and Izzy just laughed and I shook my head.

In the cafeteria I sat in the corner like every other day so far, friends are overrated.

“Hello can I please sit here, no one notices you.” Jace said sitting down.

“I guess, what's up?” I said genuinely curious.

“It sucks being popular or whatever they call it. Like these people engage in the weirdest activities and like I can hardly ever get away.” He replied.

“Well Jace, as you can see I dont have the same problem but I suggest not putting yourself out there in the first place.” I said trying to advise my brother even though I knew he was not going to listen.

“Putting myself out there?” Jace questions.

“I’m not sure if your aware but you kind of attract people, you know book club and such.” I replied.

“It's not like that though, I’m not seducing anyone.” He said.

“Okay but I think the women think you are.” I said.

“Oh, so what do I do Alec?” Jace asked.

“Just try to put your head down and not focus on others much.” I replied.

“Oh so be like you.” Jace said.

“Sure, you could put it like that.” I said.

“Thanks I guess for the advice but um I’m just going to go somewhere else.” Jace said suddenly standing up.

“Suit yourself.” I said. Jace quickly left, going back to his group or whatever. I look around and see Clary sitting by herself.
Then I see Izzy with way too many guys around her. I made a mental note to talk to Jace about that.

Chapter Text

Clary POV

School was over which is wonderful. Today was pretty boring, we had the science presentations, that I didn’t do the best on. Now I have an art club meeting to attend since it’s Wednesday. Alec has archery today and I’m surprised he signed up for anything to be honest. I finally made it to art room. Since we don’t have art as a regular class it’s the first time I have ever been there.

“Hello, what's your name.” A guy, who looks about twenty, asked me.

“Clary” I replied and he checked me off on his list.

“Great! Alright, well your seat is over here.” He said leading me to my assigned seat. I smiled awkwardly and sat down, of course there are assigned seats. A couple other students filed into the room. I recognized some of them from around the school.

“Hey Clary, I’m Ella from your class.” One of my classmates said, sitting in her assigned seat which was in front of mine.

“Hey Ella, you into art?” I asked, awkwardly trying to make conversation. I mean she obviously liked art since she chose to do this club.

“Yeah, I have been in this art club since freshman year.” She replied.

“Hey Ella.” A boy said sitting in his assigned seat next to her.

“Hey Dan, this is Clary.” Ella says pointing to me.

“Hey Clary, your first time at this club?” Dan asked.

“First time at this school actually. I came here almost two weeks ago.” I replied.

“Oh okay, well welcome to our lovely school. This club is really cool.” Dan said which was followed by Ella nodding in agreement.

“Hey guys, I’m Derek.” The guy who was sitting next to me said.

“Hey Derek. I’m Ella, this is Clary and Dan.” She said while pointing to us.

“Are you new to the school?” Dan asked.

“Yup! My first day was actually on Monday.” Derek replied.

We talked until the club officially started about 10 minutes later. Our first assignment was to paint a simple gradient and then paint our names on it in cursive. It was pretty easy and mainly just a warm up activity. I decided to do a dark to light purple gradient. Ella did the same but in blue. While Dan did it in red and Derek in green.

It was pretty relaxing and it took about 10 or 15 minutes to paint the gradient. We did have to wait for it to dry though which didn’t take that long. The instructor gave us scrap paper and black paint to practice painting in cursive. Ella was pretty much perfect at it. Dan was pretty good and he only had 3 letters to do. Derek was okay at it but pretty shaky. I however was terrible.

Sure, I’m pretty creative and I think I’m good at art. Cursive however was never my strong suit. I remember crying in 3rd grade when we learned it. It was that traumatic for me. Needless to say, I still can’t do it about 12 years later.

“Clary you have to let your hand flow more.” Ella says after watching me struggle for about 20 minutes.

“Hey, it's okay. I suck too It's fine.” Derek said lighting putting his hand on my shoulder.

“Not as bad as me” I said shaking my head at disbelief because of my horrendous cursive.

“It's not that bad.” Dan said trying to sound nice.

The three of them tried helping me to the best of their ability. Eventually I got something that resembled my name in cursive, well sort of. On my good copy the cursive was okay but mostly because Ella did some of it for me. It was a bit stressful but it was the best 2 hours I had since we had come to the school. I made 3 new friends which was so weird for me since I had next to no friends in actual high school. By the end of the club we had made a group chat and I had gotten all their contact information.

Alec POV (Archery)

After the boring school day I expected to be going home. However the redhead reminded me that we had our first club meetings so I had to stay at the school and attend Archery. Archery club was being held in the gym. When I got there I saw a few classmates and some other people I would see at lunch.

The instructor looked about nineteen and positively sucked at archery. When he was demonstrating he shot about 15 arrows and got one on the target. I just shook my head the whole time. Even shortstack was better and I had only let her shoot arrows at the institute maybe 3 times. My siblings and I had been doing archery since we were around 5 and even then we had better form than this guy.

After what felt like forever of the instructor embarrassing himself he let us get some bows and arrows. He attempted to teach us about form not that he was qualified to do so. No one learned anything. Finally he let us just try for ourselves. I went to an empty target and shot about 10 arrows and of course made them all. The instructor came over and just watched me in amazement.

“How long have you been doing it?” He asked dumbfounded at how good I was.

“Since I was about 5.” I replied while getting the arrows from the target.

“Wow, guess that's why you're so good.” He said. That's not why I’m good. Izzy started around age 5, Jace too I think even though I didn’t know him then. They both only make maybe 6 out of 10 arrows. All my instructors always said I was made to be an archer and here I am.

Many compliments and stares later the club meeting was finally over. I enjoyed it so I guess, I wasn’t going to drop out or anything. I packed up and went to pick up Clary from art so we could go home. I got lost on the way to the art room and had to ask the 80 year old janitor. I finally showed up to the art room.

I looked down at my phone and I remembered that art club finished after archery. So I just stood around looking through my phone for about 20 minutes. When the door finally opened, I stepped back letting everyone pass.Clary came out talking and laughing with 3 others. Great she had actually made friends. I waved in her direction and she hastily said goodbye to her friends and walked over to me.

“How was archery?” Clary asked as she got into the car.

“Fine I guess, everyone sucked.” I replied as I started the car. Clary spent most of the car ride discussing art club and her new friends. I did not pay that much attention. Clary and I are friends but I just did not have enough energy to really pay attention to her. At home she luckily talked to Jace and Izzy while I hid out in my bedroom. This whole school thing was really starting to bore me.

Chapter Text

Izzy POV

I walked into social studies class with a group of classmates trailing behind me. We had to do our history presentations today and I couldn’t wait to get it over with. Jace seemed weirdly happy with his project though. I sat down at the back corner of the class, hoping that the teacher would pick me last.

“Good morning class! Today we will be presenting our family trees. I hope you had fun researching about it.” The teacher said as soon as she walked in. “Does anyone want to go first?”

Almost no one raised their hands except for Simon and surprisingly Jace.

“Ah, Mr.Herondale! Taking initiative! Please come up and present your family tree.” She called.

Jace confidently strode up to the front of the class and turned the projector on. And that was all I paid attention to. It was a beginning of a very boring presentation that I didn’t want to listen to nor care about. Instead I started to doodle on my paper. It was over in the next few minutes and it was Simon's turn. This I wanted hear.

“So...uhh hi guys! My name is Simon...obliviously. Uh so this is my family tree!” He started, fumbling over his words. It was just adorable and I was trying hard not to smile.

“So my sisters name is Rebecca. She’s a few years older than me and loves art. And my moms name is Elaine. She’s awesome and makes the best lasagna ever. My dads name was Levi.” He paused for a while, clearly uncomfortable. “Um...so anyways my grandparents are….”

I stopped listening after that and just stared at him. His voice seemed to melt away into the background as I looked on. After a while I was taken out of my thoughts when the teacher called on me.

“Isabelle! Would you like to go next?” She asked. Even though it sounded like a question there was no room for me to say no so I reluctantly agreed.

My presentation was pretty much me just putting down what the clave gave me on my file. I pretty much had to put no effort into it since I already had all the information.

The rest of the class passed by in a blur and I walked up to Simon when the bell rang.
“Hey!” I said when I caught up to him. “I liked your presentation.”

“Thanks.” He said, flustered.

“What to hang out sometime?” I asked, since I didn’t want to beat around the bush.

“What? M-me? Um yeah! Of course! I mean…. sure.” He said, trying not to sound too overjoyed.

I laughed at his antics and walked away.

“Hey, What was that about.” Jace asked when we got to math class.
“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Don’t try to act innocent. I’m talking about you and that Simon kid.”

“Oh, him? That’s none of your business, now is it?” I replied.

“Whatever. Just be careful.”

We spent rest of the math class trying to stay awake. When lunch came around I invited Simon over to sit with us.
“Hey guy, this is Simon. He’s from my class” I introduced him to my friends.

“Hi Simon! I’m Clary, and the grumpy guy sitting next to me is Alec.” Clary responded cheerfully.

“Ha ha. You’re so funny.” Alec said sarcastically.

“Have a seat.” I told Simon, who looked a bit lost. He and Clary seemed to hit it off right away, talking about some kind of movie with spaceships. I would be a bit jealous if not for the fact that Clary likes Jace, and Simon kept stealing glances at me.

The rest of the school hours were boring and the only thing that made it worth the pain was when Cindy spilt coffee on herself trying to impress Jace. I met up with Alec at the end of the day.

“Hey, do you know where Clary is?” I asked.

“I think I saw her trying to go out through the back. Why?” Alec replied.

“Oh, no reason. Just thought that she might try to escape.”

Alec gave me a look and left, clearly not wanting to know what it was about.

I raced to the back of the school to try and find Clary. I was just about to give up when I caught a sight of her red locks.
“Look at what we have here. Did you think it was going to be this easy to escape? You are coming to dance with me and that’s final. I don’t care if I have to drag you there.” I said, coming up from behind her. She jumped in fright, clearly not expecting me to have found her.

“Ok, ok. I’ll go. Just know that I don’t appreciate this.” She said.

“Great! Let’s go.”

Chapter Text

Jace POV

School was over but I had fencing club.The gym was partly filled when I walked into class. I decided to sit in the bleachers. Five minutes later a tall, skinny guy along with a slightly shorter guy walked up to the middle of the gym.

“Hello guys! I’m assuming that you all here for fencing?” He asked. A chorus of yeahs’ and hmms’ followed. “Great. So my name is Timothy and my friends name is Grayson. So we’ll explain the rules and give you a bit of a demonstration.”

“Right. So since most of you are beginners, we will start using the foil. For those of you unfamiliar with a foil, it’s one of the three weapons used in fencing. They are all pretty much the same except each weapon has a certain targeted area. For example, when you are using the foil, you can only touch the blade to your torso. There is also a 40 something feet long mat which is about 4 feet wide. You start at a line called the on guard line. They are about 12 feet apart from each other.” Grayson explained.

“We’ll start and explain more later because we don’t want to bore you.” Timothy joked as he put on his mask. Grayson followed the action.

They both walked towards the on guard line and a person called out, “On guard, ready. Fence!”

They looked at each other for a bit and Timothy decided to take the first strike. He missed but Grayson retaliated and hit him square in the chest. “Halt!” The same person yelled.

“Someone says that after you score. There’s more things to this but that’s about all you need to know to get started. Put on a uniform and pair off.” Timothy said after he took off his mask.

I waited around to see if anyone was left out since I didn’t want to go and find a partner. When everyone was paired off, only me and a girl were left. I walked you to her.

“Hey, I’m Jace. Want to partner up?” I asked.

“Sure, since no ones left.” She replied. “I’m Maia by the way.”

We had reached the mat and decided to start. The match was slow in the beginning since we couldn’t decide whether we should strike or not, but I soon got annoyed so I decided to go first. I wasn’t expecting her to dodge so quickly and instead hit me under my rib cage.

“Wow. I’m surprised. You’re pretty good at this.” I said. The only thing I got in response was a smirk as she went back to the on guard line.

We spend the rest of the time fencing, and the score was super close. Every time I got a point Maia got the next and so on. The instructors only had to come around a few time to correct our posture or to show us a move. At the end of the class we were sweating and laughing without a care.

“You’re not half bad blondie.” Maia said, laughter in her voice.

“I could say the same.” I replied. We decided to bid each other goodbye. Fencing was actually pretty fun. It was a bit similar to the things I learned at the institute except less deadly and with more rules. I looked at my watch and decided to go pick up the girls. Their practice was ending in a about 15 minutes. When I reached my car, I saw that I still had a few more minutes so I decided to play a game on my phone.

Clary POV

Dance was absolute torture. I couldn’t contort my body to do half the moves but Izzy on the other hand was having the time of her life.

“Come on Clary! If you don’t try you won’t be able to do it.”She said over the music.

“I am trying.” I replied. I decided to try the new dance move again with Izzy helping me. After 10 minutes I finally got it. It was actually kind of fun once I got the hang of it.

“Ok, class. Now that you guys know some basic moves, I would like you to split up in groups of 3-5 and make up your dance. We will be presenting them at the end of the year showcase.” The instructor said, turning off the music.

Great. Now we had to embarrass ourselves in front of the whole school. How were we going to even find another group member?

“Hi, I’m Emily. Can I join your group?” She asked saving us the trouble of looking for a member.

“Sure, we needed another member anyways.” I replied.

“Great. Then it’s settled. We should pick a song.” Izzy said.

The next 30 minutes were spent scrolling through YouTube in search of a good song. We finally landed on a instrumental song that we liked. We had decided to do a more classical piece because we noticed that most people were doing hip-hop or Jazz.

“Ok, so Emily should do the spin in the middle while I go off to the side and Izzy should lay on the ground until Emily is done.” I said. We were currently planning the dance moves for the presentation. The instructor had told us to include at least 3 spin, whether it was a axel, barrel roll or a fouetté didn’t matter. We decided to take a break and plan our costumes for the event. In the end we settled for a plain black and white theme to reflect the tone of the music.

Izzy was helping me do a fouetté–which she had gotten down on her first three tries–when the instructor signaled for us to stop.

“Great job class! Unfortunately that’s all the time we have for today. Have a good night and see you guy next week!” She said.

Izzy and I walked Emily outside. We waved her goodbye when her brother came to pick her up.

“Do you know when Jace is showing up?” I asked.

“He should be here by now. I just texted him a few minutes ago.” Izzy replied.

Sure enough, Jace was driving the car up toward us.

“What took you so long? Didn’t fencing end like 10 minutes ago?” I asked.

“Sorry guys, I got distracted by the game I was playing.” He responded.

We got into the car and put on a song. The car ride was mostly silent except for the music. When we reached home, we were greeted by the sight of delicious homemade food.

“Wow, who made this?” Izzy asked.

“I thought that since we had take out almost every day I could make something today.” Alec said.

It was a long time since we had had a home cooked meal and had a meal together.

“So how was fencing” I asked when dinner was over.

“Oh, it was great. I met this girl named Maia and she’s really good at it.” He replied. “How was dance?”

“Not as bad as I thought but still not my favourite” I said. “Some of it was almost fun after I got some of the moves.”

“I told you that you wouldn’t hate it.” Izzy said in a smug tone. We decided to watch a movie after that.

I walked went to my room when I felt too sleepy to keep on watching. It was Izzy’s turn to do the dishes so she was still in the kitchen. Today was a pretty great day and it was the happiest I’ve been in a long time. I guess I didn’t realize how much stress I was in before I came here. I fell asleep as soon as my head touched the pillow.

Chapter Text

Jace POV

We had science class first which was probably the worst class. Izzy was on her phone the whole time– it’s not like the teacher would notice. I just stared at the floor while the teacher blabbed on about something to do with birds or something. I just did the usual ignoring everything she said routine.

After the crappy science class we had crappy social studies. The Social Studies teacher was like sick or something so we got a dimwit substitute. The guy was way too old to be a teacher– he was like 65. And he knew about as much social studies as I did. About 10 minutes into class I accidently dropped a pair of scissors and they landed on this girls foot. She was wearing a flip flop so it hurt and she screamed.

The teacher got so mad at me that he kicked me out of class. On the way to the door I had to pass Izzy and she was trying so hard not to laugh. I closed the classroom door behind me and sat against the wall next to the lockers. The teacher would probably forget about me so I had about 45 minutes until the next class. So after a few minutes I decided to get up and walk around the halls.

I walked around and I saw a guy from fencing club so I waved to him. He waved back and we talked for about 2 minutes before he went towards the washroom. I walked a bit farther down the same hallway and around the corner I felt really weird, kind of like getting an immense chill. After passing the corner I felt fine again. I was really confused so I walked back towards the corner.

I felt a kind of chill again, like the air was different around the corner for some reason. I kept walking around the same area and everything was fine until right around the corner–what the heck. Thankfully no one was there to see me since it was the middle of 2nd period. I started to examine the corner after I had walked by it about 10 times.

If I squinted my eyes I could see a sort of black cloud right where the two walls met. I put my head near the corner where I could see the smoke and I heard shuffling and what sounded like muffled talking. I hit the wall with my hand and realized it was hollow and not solid like I thought it would be. Which meant that there was probably a room that had been there at some point but it was covered up.

“Um Jace the teacher wants you to come back to the classroom, what are you doing?” said a girl who I think is named Lindsay.

“Oh nothing, you know, just checking out the school.” I said before walking back towards class.

“Alright then.” Lindsay says while nodding her head and following me back to class. When I got back to class the sub talked at me for a few minutes while I was consumed in my own thoughts. I sat down in my chair and spent the last 15 minutes of class staring at the wall.

“Izzy, I think I found something.” I whisper to Izzy as we walked to Health.

“Jace, what do you mean?” She asks.

“I’ll explain to you Alec and Clary at lunch.” I said while walking away from her. Health was boring like all the other classes had been that day. The teacher blabbed on about dental health and I zoned out pretty quick. Right before class ended I texted Clary and Alec to meet up with Izzy and I at the beginning of lunch.

“Jace what is up with you?” Izzy asks once we meet up with Alec and Clary. I quickly explain, in as little words at possible, what I had found out.

“It's probably the demon activity that's been reported.” Alec said once I was done explaining.

I nodded in response. “Probably. It was just the weirdest thing.” I said.

“Also Jace, please do not continue to hit walls and put your ear up to them. We are trying not to draw attention towards ourselves.” Alec said. Clary and Izzy tried not to laugh at that remark.

“Thanks Alec, I’ll keep that in mind.” I really love my family, especially Alec.

The rest of the school day went by terribly slowly. The teachers were extremely boring, like more than usual. I also pissed off the gym teacher by accidently throwing a softball in his face. So I have lunch detention on Monday, lets hope he forgets. School is going alright I guess but at least the mission is finally starting to develop.

Chapter Text

Izzy POV

I walked into the room where they hold jewelry club– which was just another normal classroom. I noticed some kids from my class and others I saw at lunch. I sat down at a random table near the back. After a few minutes, a dark haired girl sat across from me and I smiled at her to be nice. She looked back at me like she's was about to beat me up so I went onto my phone. Jewelry club started and just as the instructor introduced herself this guy rushed in apologizing for being late.

The instructor just shook her head and told him to find a seat. He looked around and took a seat right next to me and the instructor went back to explaining what the club was about. The Instructor handed out some string and beads so we could make a simple bracelet as an introduction to the club.

“Hey, I’m Magnus what’s your name?” The guy sitting next to me asked as we began making our bracelets.

“Hi, I’m Isabelle but everyone calls me Izzy.” I replied as I started picking out my beads. A few minutes later the dark haired girl moved to a different table.

“What’s up with her?” I asked Magnus.

“I don’t know. Her name’s Camille. We have gym class together.” Magnus replied. I nodded and went back to working on my bracelet. After I placed about 15 beads onto the string, I put my bracelet lightly on the table while I went to use the washroom. When I came back I picked up my bracelet and ended up accidently knocking the beads I had already placed off the string. They flung around and one of them hit a guy in the face.

Magnus started laughing as I profusely apologized to the guy. After Magnus calmed down he helped me collect the beads. The instructor came around as we were picking them up and she just shook her head. Gosh this woman loved to shake her head I thought.

Magnus and I spent the rest of the meeting chatting and laughing about my stupidity. This other girl ended up accidently flinging a bead into the instructor’s coffee, not sure how that’s even possible. The instructor got so mad that she ended up walking out of the classroom to calm down. I actually thoroughly enjoyed myself during jewelry club and was excited for next week. I said goodbye to Magnus and then headed to the gym to see if Jace finished his football meeting.

Football Club

Jace POV

I walk into the gym three minutes late and the football coach looked like he wanted to kill me. The normal football coach was actually sick so we had a substitute coach. Which, of course, was the same guy who had subbed for social studies earlier that day. That’s when I realized how low budget this school was.

The substitute made me and another guy show everyone some simple football techniques. Which was annoying, but easy, so I didn’t really mind. After that we got a chance to practice the techniques. I teamed up with this guy named Steven to throw the football around. I actually had some fun. Steven was a pretty cool guy.

After that we did some running across the gym. I was one of the fastest. This one guy accidentally tripped me on the third run and twisted my ankle so it hurt for the rest of the club meeting. Near the end of the meeting we split up into 2 teams to play a quick game. Steven and I led the team since the rest of the guys kind of sucked.

The club meeting ran a little bit too long so Izzy had to stand by the door for about 10 minutes. I walked out of the club limping since my ankle was pretty bad by this point.

“What happened to you?” Izzy asked after she noticed my limp.

“Oh it's nothing I’ll fix it in the car.” By fix I meant use my stele.

In the car, I let Izzy drive while I used my stele to fix my ankle. Izzy and I talked about our club meetings. I laughed when she mentioned that she’d flung a bead in a guys face. She laughed at my agony of tripped and spraining my ankle.

When we got back to the apartment, Clary and Alec were cleaning the place up surprisingly. Izzy and I got into our pajamas and helped them finish cleaning up. After that we ate pizza that Alec had ordered. We had a fairly relaxing evening just talking and watching tv. I guess today ended up being a decent day.

Chapter Text

Alec POV

As much as I would hate to admit it, I was getting antsy because we still hadn’t found a lead on our mission. School was starting to lose it’s already limited amount of charm and all the classes were becoming worthless time spent outside of the mission to me. History had become boring after my almost daily trips to the library and there was nothing left to learn.

I started to think that the mission was a dud and the clave just wanted us to away to keep us contained. I quickly dispersed the idea though because even if the clave hated us, they couldn’t risk losing their best fighters.

So I did the only logical thing–skip class. It would give me more time to investigate the school and it wasn’t like I couldn’t get the assignments from Clary. I would of course show up to some of the class the keep up the appearance of a normal student but most of my time would be spent lurking around the school building.

After I got out of first period I decided to try and find any hints of demon activities or anything suspicious. When I found no luck, I went to the place that Jace talked about last time. It was a very plain corner with nothing particularly suspicious about it. But when I walked closer it felt like I was being smothered by something. I walked even closer and I could see traces of what looked like black tendrils of smoke.

‘That’s so weird.’ I thought to myself. I decided to note it down. Maybe this was the source of danger that the warlock detected. I closed my notebook and tried to see if there was any way to go behind the wall. I spend a good 30 minutes on that until I finally saw a slightly unlevel tile on the ground. I took out a small knife I had hidden in my boot and wedged it into the tile. When I finally got it out I saw a metal handle that seemed to be attached to a wooden surface.

I decided to stop for now and put the tile back on to cover everything up. I would come back at lunch along with Clary, Jace and Izzy to investigate.

Lunch

“Hey guy.” I said once we were all seated at a lunch table. “You remember the spot that Jace found last time? Well I decided to check it out and turns out Jace was right. There is something suspicious about that place.”

“What do you mean? Did you find something?” Izzy asked, her eyebrows scrunched up in worry.

“Well I was looking around and I found a handle on the ground next to the wall. I thought that maybe we could go at lunch there should be anyone up there right now.” I said.

“That’s a good idea. But we should be careful. No splitting up, okay?” Clary replied.

After we quickly finished our lunch we headed over to the spot. It took me a few minutes to open the handle because it seemed to be stuck but when I finally got it opened there was a huge hole. I decided to go first just incare there was some kind of trap. The hole led to the other side of the wall.

When we were all at the other side I signaled for them to make no noise. The space was a bit cramped but there seemed to a door a few feet away. Jace decided to go first and carefully opened the door. He was met with a ravener. He quickly pulled out his blade to slay the slimy creature. This only seemed to attract more of the demons and all hell broke loose. The next few minutes were spent fighting them and when it was finally over we saw a figure talking into a device.

“We have been compromised. There seems to be shadowhunters in this school.” They snapped furiously at the device.
They didn’t get to say anything else because Jace had already dug his blade into the creature.

“Great. Now they know that we are here.” Izzy said.

“At least they don’t know who we are.” Clary said trying to lighten the mood.

“Well it’s not going to be hard to figure out. We are the only transfer students who came around the time they got discovered and I’m sure they can put the pieces together.” Jace replied.

“They can’t do anything until they’re sure. Even if they know who we are–and they might not if they think that we were here all along–they can't kill us because then there would be even more shadowhunters storming the place.” I said. “They probably don’t want to draw too much suspicion and IF they know about us they will probably just try to monitor us, nothing more.”

“So what? Are we just supposed to sit around while they control us?” Jace said, clearly frustrated.

“I never said anything about doing what they want us to. If we have any chance at beating this thing then we’ll have to be discreet about it and let them think that we’re doing nothing.” I responded.

“Guy, lets have this conversation at home. It’s almost time for class and this isn’t the best place to a have a chat.” Clary said.

“Ok. You guys go back. I’ll try to find some more stuff in here.” I said.

After they had left I snooped around the area, looking for anything suspicious or off about the place. I found lots of different types of ritual symbols and it was almost like they were trying to summon something. I took a picture of everything and by the time I was done, it was right before the end of school. I quickly got out of the place and rushed over to the car.

The rest of our day was spent analyzing the images and almost everything led to a dead end. We decided to call it quits for the day and try again tomorrow. That night I had a restless sleep. I had almost forgotten about the mission because of how normal I felt here. Like I didn’t have any responsibilities and my only worries were on if I’d pass my math test or not. I had to start paying more attention to the mission from now on.

Chapter Text

Izzy POV

School was beyond boring today. We got a bunch of homework to do over the weekend. At least I have jewelry club, which made the day slightly more bearable. If not for Jewelry club I would have faked being sick and left hours ago. Jace was about to but then I reminded him about football.

As I walked into Jewelry club I nodded at the instructor who probably didn’t like me because of the bead incident last week. I took a seat at the table I sat at last time. Magnus showed up 3 minutes late again and the instructor looked like she was about to murder somebody.

“Hey Izzy.” Magnus said as he sat next to me.

“Hey, the instructor really doesn’t seem to like you much.” I replied.

“Yeah, you could say that.” He responded trying not to laugh. The instructor told everyone to be quiet. Then she spent an enormous amount of time talking about basic jewelry techniques. Afterwards she turned on a 45 minute documentary about jewelry.

“Well this is going to suck.” Magnus said to me quietly as the documentary began.

“You can say that again.” I responded.

“We may as well talk the whole time since it's not like we want to watch this.” He said

“Yeah.” I replied. We talked for a while about random things and laughed at the interesting people in the documentary. After the documentary finally ended we had about 20 minutes left of the club meeting.

The instructor asked us if we had any questions about the documentary. No one raised their hand, probably because no one had paid attention. So she ended up talking about the documentary for the next ten minutes. With about 10 minutes left of my meeting, Jace texted me saying that he went home about 20 minutes ago because he got injured again and he couldn’t heal himself there. He said that Alec was on his way to come get me. I responded to him by saying that would be fine and then went back to ‘paying attention’ to the instructor.

With about 3 minutes left to go, Alec showed up and stood outside the open door of the classroom. I waved at him and held up 3 fingers to tell him how long I had left. Magnus looked in the direction I was holding my fingers up to.

“Who is that?” He asked.

“My bro-friend, Alec.” I responded, catching myself before I said brother.

“You know Izzy I’m having a party this weekend you and Alec should come.” Magnus said.

“Ok, sure as long as I can invite my friends Clary and Jace.” I replied.

“Alright.” Magnus said. He said he would text me the details. Club meeting ended and we parted ways.

“Who’s that guy you were talking to?” Alec asked as we walked out to the car.

“Magnus, he actually invited us all to a party.” I replied.

“You agreed to that?” He asked.

“Yes Alec, we need to have more fun.” I responded. Alec spent the rest of the car ride looking annoyed.

As we walked into the apartment Clary was stirring a pot on the stove and Jace was watching tv. “What's for dinner?” I asked Clary.

“Macaroni and cheese.” She responded.

“That looks disgusting.” Alec said as he looked over Clarys shoulder.

“It probably will be.” Clary replied.

“Great.” I said and I walked over to the couch.

“What are you watching?” I asked Jace as I sat down.

“A true crime documentary.” He replied.

“Oh ok, that's nice.” I said. We had just gotten a Netflix account where we each had our own profile. About 40 minutes later Clary served dinner. We were all hesitant to eat it. Honestly it was not terrible, not necessarily good either, but it would do.

“You know what Izzy did today that was really stupid?” Alec asked. I just shook my head.

“What?” Clary and Jace replied.

“She said yes to a party this weekend and wants us to come.” Alec said.

“Really, ugh.” Clary said.

“Guys, it’s not bad you know.” Jace said, I had never agreed with him more.

“Exactly, thank you Jace.” I said. We argued about it for a while finally convincing Alec and Clary to at least come for a bit.
After dinner Clary suggested that we all start a show on netflix together. Jace picked out a show called Brooklyn Nine-Nine. We watched the first 3 episodes and we all laughed. Even Alec. That was probably the best evening we had, just watching tv and laughing together.

Chapter Text

Alec POV

Izzy had somehow convinced me to come. I stood in a dark corner with a drink wondering if I should have even come at all. And why would Magnus even invite us? We don’t even know each other and he only became friends with Izzy a few days ago. I was pulled out of my thoughts when I saw a very glittery person walking towards me. I couldn’t recognize the person’s features due to the dark lighting but he had a tall frame and a head of wild hair.

“Enjoying the party?” He asked.

“No, not really. I usually like staying home over these kind of things.” I replied.

He chuckled. “Well I’m sorry for making you come then.”

“W-wait...you’re Magnus Bane?” I stuttered.

“In the flesh.” He replied back cheekily. He started to turn around, probably to walk away, and I grabbed his arm without thinking.

“Wait, why’d you invite me? We don’t know each other.” I said.

“Well Alexander, that’s for me to know and you to find out.” He replied with a wink as he started to mix back into the crowd. I spend a few seconds staring at the spot he was just in until I snapped out of it.

“It’s Alec.” I whispered, but he was too far to hear me.

‘No time to get distracted Alec.’ I scolded myself. I looked around and I saw that Izzy and Jace were at the center of the crowd while Clary had managed to find her small group of friends. I decided that I had done enough mopping and went to look for the kitchen to get another drink. On the way there I bumped into someone.

“Hey! Watch it!” She hissed. Her eyes were flashing neon before settling back to a hazelnut colour. It was gone as soon as I blinked so I passed it off as the lights reflecting off her eyes. I hadn’t seen her around school either. Maybe she was in another grade. There seemed to be something strange about her that I couldn’t quite shake off.

“Sorry.” I mumbled and went back to looking for the kitchen. I was probably just out of it.

“Hello, guys! Thanks for coming today. I would just like to say that this party is in honor of my cat, Chairman Meow. He’s turning 2 today! I hope you all have fun today!” Magnus announced to the crowd. Some cheers could be heard but was soon drowned out by the music.

When I got to the kitchen I grabbed a ladle and started to refill my drink. It tasted suspiciously like alcohol but I was a legal adult so it wasn’t a problem. I looked at my watch and saw that it was getting too late. I texted Izzy, Jace and Clary to ask them if they wanted to go home. Jace and Izzy decided to come home later but Clary agreed to go home with me.
When I reached her, she was saying goodbye to her friends.

“Ready to go?” I asked her.

“Yeah, just give me a sec.” She said, waving to her friends.

We were walking back to the car when I heard a screech coming from the back of the building. We decided to go and check it out. When we got there, I saw the girl I’d bumped into less than an hour ago talking to some demons. No wonder I was wary of her when I first saw her. She seemed to be some kind of eidolon demon. She looked around as if she knew someone was watching her. I looked at Clary and signaled her to follow me. We ducked behind a panel of metal right before they turned to our direction. I could hear them slowly coming towards us.

“Get your weapons ready, we’ll attack on three.” I whispered when I figured out that we had no other choice. She nodded and went to get her sword out.

We jumped out of our hiding spot and started to attack. They seemed to multiply after the first few and waves of them came out. They seemed to have been hiding.

“You okay?” I grunted out to Clary.

“Yeah.” She said, sounding out of breathe.

There were only a few left when the girl I had seen before make a break for it.

“We can’t let her get away!” I yelled at Clary. I stabbed the last few and chased after her. Clary was already right behind her. I decided to cut them off from the front and went through the shortcut. When I arrived Clary had her backed up and with my arrival she had nowhere left to go.

“You can’t go anywhere! Tell us what you know and what you are planning.” I yelled.

“Never.” She hissed.

“Have it your way then.” I said and stabbed a sword through her chest. “Let’s go.”

Clary walked faster to catch up to me.

“Was that really necessary? She asked when she caught up to me.

“Would you rather her tell her boss about us?” There was a silent lull as we walked back to the car.

“We have to tell Jace and Izzy about this.” She said quietly after a while.

“Tomorrow” I replied. The rest of the drive was uneventful and when we got home I went straight to bed. I fell asleep to the muted noise of cars, worrying about the future.

Chapter Text

Izzy POV

School was below average. Jace got kicked out of 3 different classes today–I think that’s a record. All the classes were terribly boring so Jace was kind of lucky. Alec almost fell down the stairs so that was a highlight of the day. When we got home, I watched some Netflix with Jace while Alec and Clary were in their rooms.

“Don’t we have a Halloween party to attend to tomorrow?” Jace asked.

“Oh shoot that's tomorrow?” I replied realizing Jace was right.

“Isn’t it a costume party since I heard that’s it’s a halloween thing to wear costumes and stuff?” Jace asked.

“It is, ugh why did we forget! Now we have to go costume shopping.” I replied.

“Do we need to though? Can’t we just draw a smiley face on a t-shirt?”

“No Jace, you can’t just draw a smiley face on a t-shirt.” I responded shaking my head.

After a ridiculous yelling match with Alec we finally got into the car to go and find a costume. Clary spent the car ride warning us about how uncomfortable the costumes usually are.

“Alright let’s pick these costumes as fast and possible and leave.” Alec said when we got out of the car.

We walked into the store and the workers were all smiley and way too happy about their jobs. Alec looked like he was about to murder himself.

“Basically you just pick one from the wall and they bring it to you.” Clary explained.

“Here’s the adult section.” I said.

Jace dragged Alec over to the mens costumes even though he was adamant and wasn’t going to purchase one no matter what we said. Clary and I looked at the womens costumes, most of them were ugly.

“How about this?” I said pointing to a almost tolerable witch costume.

“Not bad.” Clary replied. Jace picked his costume and picked one for Alec to try on. Clary couldn’t choose one and I asked the worker to get me the witch one so I could try it on. Alec took one look at the costume Jace had got him and almost threw up. It was made out of latex, I don't blame him. Clary decided just to come up with something at home and she told Alec to just bring his bow to the party and say that he was an archer.

Jace picked a vampire costume which Alec just shook his head at. But Alec shook his head at basically every costume at the store so we took his opinion with a grain of salt.

“Izzy, you are not wearing that.” Alec said after I tried on the witch costume.

“You probably shouldn’t.” Jace added. I just shook my head at them and changed back into my clothes. I ended up buying it even though Alec didn’t want me to. After that we decided to pick up some McDonalds on the way back. Actually Jace decided to get McDonalds. Alec and Clary didn’t want any and I just ate a couple of Jace’s fries. Clary, Alec and I ate leftover macaroni from the previous night. After that Clary started searching up some costume ideas.

She ended up deciding on a black cat. All she needed was one of those headbands with cat ears on them. So Clary and I ended up stopping by at Target to see if they sell them there.

“There they are.” I said pointing to the headbands with cat ears on them.

“Ok, great.” She replied. We ended up getting a few other things we needed since we were already there.

“What did you guys buy?” Jace asked when we got back home.

“Oh, a few groceries and the cat thingy Clary wanted.” I replied putting the groceries away. Alec helped put the stuff away.

“Isn’t that just a bit lame?” Alec teased Clary as he took out the headband she got.

“Yeah I know, I had no other ideas.” Clary said. Alec spent the rest of the evening complaining about having to attend the halloween party since we had just went to a party like a week ago. Jace was pretty interested in going while Clary was close to complaining about it like Alec. Lately I’ve been realizing how similar Alec and Clary are. Especially when parties and other social events are involved. Alec would kill me if I ever said that he and Clary were similar though since he likes to pretend that he hates her.

After we talked about the party for a bit we watched some netflix. We forgot that we had school the next day and ended up not going to bed until like 1 am in the morning. I knew that the mission was going to become more important soon so I tried to enjoy the evenings where we could just watch netflix and talk.

Chapter Text

Clary POV

Today was Halloween, which meant going to the stupid party. I love how our mission had turned into just parting. Alec was as grumpy as ever about the event while Izzy and Jace were pretty excited for it. Alec was already wearing his ‘costume’ when I went into the living room. I honestly thought he was just using the costume party as an excuse to wear his mission gear.

“Is everyone ready?” I asked.

“Yeah, I was just waiting for you. Izzy and Jace are waiting in the car.” He replied.

With that we went out and Alec got into the driver's seat.

“Why do you always get to drive?” Jace whined.

“Because I’m the oldest, the most responsible, least likely to drive while drunk–should I continue?” Alec sassed back.

Jace didn’t say anything else but a pout was seen on his face for the rest of the ride. The party was being hosted by one of Jace’s friends from football so he went to give him a high five. He seemed to be dragged into the crowd after that and I couldn’t seem to find him. I turned to find Izzy but soon realized that she was gone too.

“I guess it’s just the two of us now.” I told Alec with a weak chuckle.

He smirked and relied, “Speak for yourself, short stack” as he proceeded to walk to a corner near the food table. I watched him as he seemed to disappear into the walls–almost as if he was using a rune to hide himself. Except this time all it took was a healthy dose of anti-social behaviour and a demeanor that screamed ‘don’t bother me’.

I decided that I should go find a group of people to hang out with to not seem so lonely. I was walking around the room and quickly spotted some of my friends from art club.

“Hey, guys!” I yelled over the music.

“Who ar-oh, it’s you! I’m so glad you could make it Clary!” Ella yelled. She was surrounded by Dan, Derek and a few other friends of hers. “Did you hear about the costume contest? Apparently the best costume gets a free pizza.”

“That’s cool. I don’t really think I can win though, I didn’t put much effort into this.” I replied. We forgot about the topic and started to discuss the upcoming art project we had to make out of tin cans. We were supposed to make it sea creature themed and I was considering making a 3D goldfish model.

A voice interrupted our conversation, “Hello, ladies and gentlemen! I hope you’re all having fun tonight.” He paused for the cheers to die down before he continued, “We have surveyed the crowd and have decided on the winners! Drum rolls please! The winner for the girls is….Isabelle Lopez! And for the boys it’s…….Simon Lewis! Give them a round of applause!”

I clapped my hands along with the crowd. I was pretty impressed with Simon’s costume–a elf from lord of the rings. It looked pretty spot on. Pretty soon the party came back to life and people started dancing again.

I went to get some punch–the non-spiked kind–since I was feeling pretty thirsty and saw that Alec was still in his corner. Except this time there was some else talking to him. It only took me a few seconds to realize that it was Magnus Bane. I decided to observe for a few more seconds–and oh my god! Was Alec Lightwood blushing!? I pinched my hand to make sure I was still ok. Maybe I had accidentally drank the alcoholic punch by accidentally? For the sake of my sanity I decided to believe that it was just a trick of the light because I couldn’t process what had just happened.

I went back to my group and started to chat with them again. It was getting pretty late and we planned to leave before 12 considering it was a school night. With that thought in mind I walked over to collect Izzy and Jace since Alec had already left the room–probably already in the car.

“Come on guy, let’s go.” I said.

“Just a sec, let me grab the pizza.” Izzy responded.

By the time we got to the car, it was already well past 12 and Jace was starting to fall asleep. Alec was his usual gloomy self except for a few yawn that he was too tired to stop. When we got home, we quietly ate some pizza and went to bed. We were too tired to talk and fell asleep as soon as we touched our pillows.

Chapter Text

Izzy POV
I was so happy that the weekend was finally here. The last few days were beyond boring. I was finally starting to see what Clary meant when she talked about how much high school sucked. Alec and Clary decided to go shopping for groceries while Jace and I stayed home to clean up the apartment.

Which meant that I cleaned the apartment while Jace watched Star Wars.

“Hey did you just hear that?” Jace asked me coming into the living room.

“Hear what?” I asked as I shut off the tv.

“It just kind of sounded like some kind of commotion is happening downstairs.” He responded.

“Maybe, we should check it out.” I said getting up from my spot on the couch.

“Yeah.” Jace responded putting his shoes on. I grabbed a light jacket in case we had to go outside. We got in the elevator and I started to hear what Jace was talking about. When I realized what it was, I went to push the open button on the elevator to go back to the apartment.

“Iz...what are you doing?” Jace asked.

“Jace...its demons and I forgot my whip.” I responded walking faster. Jace started to walk alongside me. We went inside and I got my whip while Jace grabbed his stele since he’d forgotten it in his hurry. After that we quickly headed back to the elevator.

“The sound is probably from the parking garage.” Jace said as he pressed the button to go to the garage. I just nodded and began waiting impatiently for the elevator to get there. Once it opened we quickly ran out and then Jace remembered he had forgotten the key that opened the garage door. “Should I kick down the door or go get the key?” Jace asked even though he and I both knew he was going to kick down the door. I just nodded and he did just that. I made a mental note to create an excuse about that later to tell the manager when he saw the security footage.

“You take that side and I’ll take this one, yell if you need me.” Jace said. I nodded in response. Last time there was a demon attack only Clary and Alec had been there, meaning that I hadn’t fought any demons since early September. I quickly fought off the demons near me as I ran through the parking garage. After defeating 6 or 7 of them it didn’t seem like there were any others in the area.

“Hello? You’re standing in my parking spot.” A woman called out from her car window.

“Oh sorry.” I responded quickly as I walked away. I went through the door that Jace had kicked down and looked around for him on the other side. 4 elderly people came out of the elevator and just stared at me and the door.

“Goodness sake, what happened here?” A man asked me.

“Oh um I don’t know. It was like this when I showed up.” I responded looking at the ground.

“Kids these days.” Someone said under their breath while walking past me. The woman who I was in the parking spot of earlier looked at me then the door then me again and just shook her head and headed to the elevator.

“IZZY!” I heard Jace scream from about 20 feet away. I quickly rushed to him and helped him fight off this one particularly difficult demon. After defeating all of them we were so tired that we just leaned against the wall without saying anything to each other. After about 10 minutes we saw Alec and Clary in the car heading home.

“Great.” Jace responded under his breath. Alec saw us and told us to get in.

“Demons?” Clary asked turning around in the passenger seat. Jace and I just nodded. After Alec parked the car we helped them carry the groceries.

“Don’t say anything about the door.” Jace whispered to me. It was useless though because as soon as Alec and Clary saw the door they knew what had gone down immediately.

“Jace...” Alec said through gritted teeth. Clary, Jace and I just burst out laughing. “Can’t deal with you guys sometimes.” Alec murmured shaking his head. Once we got into the apartment Alec started his 30 minute lecture for Jace and why kicking down doors was a bad idea. During lunch we got a knock on the door. Jace stood up to go answer it.

“Yeah no. I’ll answer. I don’t want you to kick that one down.” Alec said as he got up to answer it.

“I’m never going to hear the end of that am I?” Jace asked.

“Nope.” Clary and I responded in unison.

“Izzy, Jace.” Alec called out from the hallway. We stood up to go see what he wanted and saw the manager at the front door. The guy–his name was John–lead us to his office where we had a long chat about the door. Jace and I tried our best to defuse the situation. Luckily the guy was just surprised and not angry like we had initially thought but we still had to pay the repair fees. Alec refused to help us pay and it resulted in Jace and I becoming broke.

We were watching tv in the living room when Alec got a call from the institute. “Alright so me and either Jace or Izzy have to go to a meeting with the clave to talk about the demons.” Alec said after getting off of the 45 minute call. After talking about it for a bit we decided on Jace. Around 5pm Alec and Jace headed to the institute leaving Clary and I at home.

Chapter Text

Alec POV

Jace was my brother and all but god he was stupid sometimes. Like kicking down the door in the apartment like an idiot. We were supposed to not draw attention to ourselves. I was impressed that this didn't happen earlier in the mission though. The car ride was silent on the way to the institute.

“Can you try not to show that you are mad at me during the meeting?” Jace asked as we walked into the institute.

“I’ll try Jace, the mission is about the demons not the door.” I responded. We were about 15 minutes early for the meeting so Jace and I just sat in our seats in comfortable silence. We greeted all of the clave representatives as they walked into the room.

“I swear if you yawn during this meeting..” I whispered threateningly to Jace. He quickly nodded and sat down. The entire meeting was spent talking about how the mission was going. We talked about how there was an increase in demonic activity. The clave representatives were worried when we started talking about what happened today. They said that if it happened again we would have to move to a new building.

Another thing they discussed was adding a 5th shadowhunter since there seemed to be more demons than we originally thought. They decided on Lydia Branwell, who Jace and I remembered from childhood training back in Idris. The Clave representatives said that she would live on the floor below us in the apartment building. She would also be going to school with us. Jace and I agreed to drive her over to the apartment so she could move in after the meeting. The meeting went considerably well–ignoring the rude comments directed at me and Jace.

The meeting only lasted about 20 more minutes. We shook hands and thanked everyone. They called Lydia to the meeting room so she could come with us. She arrived with a few suitcases a couple minutes later. She talked with the clave for a little bit before we headed out to the car. I helped her put the suitcases in the trunk then we got in.

“So how have you guys been?” She asked as she buckled herself into the car. We talked about our recent lives and she discussed hers as well. At the building she went and got her key from the superintendent. Then Jace and Lydia headed to her apartment to unpack her stuff. I went upstairs to get Izzy and Clary so they could also help.

“Oh yeah, Lydia! I remember her.” Izzy said when I told her and Clary. We filled Clary in on how we knew Lydia on the way to her apartment. We spent the rest of the evening helping Lydia organize her new apartment. We had a late dinner, which consisted of pizza that we had ordered from dominos. In the end it was a fairly fun evening, which was surprising since the day had started off pretty bad.

We headed back to our apartment at about 10:30pm. Izzy got invited to join a few classmates on a trip to the mall the next day and Jace got invited to a friends house as well. “You guys sure are popular,” Clary teased. I was not exactly happy about them wasting time doing typical high school things but I guess they deserved it after fighting off those demons. I got to spend even more time with the redhead because I don’t spend enough time with her already. We watched a bit of tv like we usually did and we started heading to bed around midnight. Today was crazy but it felt like it kind of had to happen. I was finally starting to get used to our new lives.

Chapter Text

Lydia POV

I went upstairs to see if the others were ready to head to school. Alec had offered me a ride so I didn’t have to walk.

“Are you guys ready to leave?” I asked as I walked into their apartment since they had left their door open. I could see Clary was looking for her shoes while Alec was tapping his foot. Izzy and Jace were gulping down food–I assumed they had woke up late.

“Huh...oh, it’s you.” Alec said. “We’ll be down in a bit, can you wait in the garage?” He asked.

“Sure.” I replied and made my way downstairs. Five minutes had passed before they all showed up. Jace had a muffin stuffed in his mouth while Izzy was trying to fix her hair.

“Sorry, my alarm didn’t go off and I usually wake Jace up since he sleeps like the dead.” Izzy said as she walked towards the back seat of the car.

“No worries. We still have plenty of time to get to school.” I said. Contrary to my blank face, I was actually quite nervous about going to school. I hadn’t ever done anything like this and since I had been informed about the mission on such short notice I hadn’t had a lot of time to research.

“We’re here.” Alec informed us as he parked the car. After everyone had vacated the car he turned to me and said, “if you have any trouble just give me a call.”

“Okay, thanks.” I replied and walked out. I had to go to the front office to pick up my schedule and get my locker number.

“Hello, my name is Lydia. I was wondering if you had my schedule and locker number.”

The secretary turned her attention to me. “Oh, are you the new student?” I nodded. “Hi, my name is Veronica, but you can call me Mrs.Jameson.” She dug around her desk until she found a piece of paper. “Here you go honey. Tell me if you need anything or if anyone’s bothering you. We have a very strict bullying policy and we don’t tolerate such behaviour.” She said with a very fake, very bright smile plastered on her face.

I grabbed the paper and murmured a quick thank you. Something about her gave me the creeps. Her tone was mocking, as if she was talking to a baby. I decided to stay as far away from that office as possible.

I walked towards room 12C. As soon as I walked in, I was met with chaos and in the center of it was a kid with eccentric blue hair. He seemed to be at the top of the social chain here. I think he noticed that I was staring at him because he looked up and made eye contact with me. From what I could see, he seemed to be of Asian descent. But his eyes were strangely captivating. It almost looked golden in a certain light.

He suddenly got up and made his way over to me. I looked at him with wide eyes as he stuck his hand out towards me. The rest of the class was watching with thinly veiled curiosity.

“Hi, I’m Magnus.” He said with a easy smile. “And who might you be?”

“I’m Lydia. The new transfer student.” I grabbed his hand and awkwardly shook it. He seemed to find it amusing because he chuckled.

“We seem to be getting a lot of those the past month.” He said. He had an intelligent glint in his eyes which made me instantly wary of him. He seemed to know more than he let on.

Before I could do anything to deny what he was saying, the bell rang.

“Good morning class. It’s seems you have met our new student Lydia. She will be staying with us for the rest of the school year. Please make her feel welcome.” The teacher said as soon as she walked in. “You can sit up here Lydia. The third seat from the left.”

I took my seat and waited for homeroom to end. The next few classes were typical–I introduced myself to the teacher, they gave me a seat, and then proceeded to drone on about their chosen subject.

By the time lunch rolled around, I had observed my class and couldn’t find anything suspicious about them. But my initial meeting with Magnus was stuck in my head. I decided to ask the other what they thought about it.

“Hey Lydia! Over here.” Izzy motioned me to their table when she noticed me exiting the lunch line. I carried my lunch tray over and sat down.

“How’s it going? Do you have any questions?” Clary asked.

“No, it was a pretty normal day. Except this kid from my class, I think his name was Magnus, was weirdly suspicious about our arrival.” As soon as I had finished my sentence, Alec, who was drinking water, started coughing. “Are you ok?” I asked, concerned.

“Yea, no I’m fine.” He said, blushing. “Nothing to worry about.”

Izzy rolled her eyes, which made me think something was going on, but I decided to ignore it for now. “Don’t pay attention to my idiot brother. I’m sure it’s nothing. He can’t possibly know why we are here.” She said.

“I hope you’re right.” I said. The rest of the lunch was spent talking about classes and homework. When the bell rang, signalling lunch as over, we said our goodbyes and went to our respective classes.

Nothing noteworthy happened the last two classes and I got into Alec’s car to get home. I put my bag on my bedroom floor when I got into my apartment and went into the bathroom for a nice quick shower. I had never had such a immersive mission and I looked forward to see it completed. I slipped into my pyjamas and waited for sleep to take me.

Chapter Text

Alec POV

Scribbling on a paper gets boring real quick. That is what I had been doing all Math class. Which is thankfully my last class on Wednesday.

“For homework please do questions 3-15 on page 134.” said the beyond annoying teacher. I heard Clary silently groan–we got homework basically every math class. The only good part about Wednesday is archery club.

“Okay, see you after our clubs Alec.” Clary said as we headed to our lockers.

“Yeah, I’ll come get you.” I said and then quickly put my stuff into my locker. I walked into archery and went to my archery locker. I got my bow and arrow and waited until everyone else trickled in. The instructor did his usual boring introduction to the class–where he drones on for at least 5 unnecessary minutes. Nobody ever listens to him so he should just stop. After he finally finished we headed to the stations. I was third in line at my station.

A blonde kid was first–I didn’t really know anyone’s names. Blondie didn’t even know how to hold his bow. I always have to keep trying not to laugh every time I have the pleasure of seeing him trying to shoot arrows.The guy after blondie kept complaining under his breath about blondie, not like he was much better though.

After blondie finally finished the next guy went. He sucked just a bit less than blondie. After him it was finally my turn. I quickly got 5 bullseyes and moved onto another station where I was 6th person in line. It was torture waiting for all of the idiots to finish shooting.

When it was finally my turn, I easily shot my 5 arrows and went to another station. By that point the club meeting was basically over. Before I started this club I thought Izzy and Jace were bad at archery, but no, they are pros compared to these people. Even the one time I let redhead shoot an arrow at the institute was far better than the people here were.

“Alex can you come over here for a second.” The instructor said pointing to me. The damn guy can’t even remember my name.

“Yes Sir.” I responded because I am polite.

“Hey, so bud, listen, I think you would do really good in a competition for archery. There is actually one coming up soon.”
The first thought that went through my mind was why was this guy, who is basically my age, calling me bud but I was intrigued about this competition. He gave me a form and explained a few more things.

After the club meeting I was packing up. “Oh, Hey are you going to the comp?” Blondie asked when he noticed the form in my hands.

“Uh..I’m not sure.” I said, quickly walking away. The less socializing I have to do the better. I headed to go get Clary from the art room.

As Clary was saying goodbye to her friends I started reading the form. “Hey, what's that?” Clary asked as she walked up to me.

“Oh, nothing.” I said as I hastily folded it and stuffed it in my pocket. She looked at me weirdly for a second then went on to discuss her art club. I mostly tuned her out as I didn’t particularly care and I was also thinking about whether or not I was going to do the competition.

“So how was Archery?” Clary asked as we got into the car.

“Eh, it was alright.” I replied as I put my seatbelt on.

“What did you guys do today?” She asked.

“Archery.” I replied not really in the mood to talk to her. Talking to Clary takes a lot out of me. She didn’t say anything else and we rode the rest of the way in silence. At home Izzy and Jace were laughing at the tv and eating chips.

Lydia came over for dinner shortly after Clary and I returned home. Jace attempted to make grilled cheese sandwiches. I say attempted because they were burnt and disgusting and we ended up having to order pizza. Still not as disgusting as Izzy’s cooking through, which we don’t let her do anymore after the great spaghetti disaster.

We talked about school during dinner. Well the others did and I contributed a bit. I don’t like talking about boring things. The only interesting part was that Jace has lunchtime detention tomorrow. I toyed with the idea of telling them about the competition. But in the end I decided against because I knew that they would freak, especially Izzy.

Lydia left around eleven. The rest of us cleaned up a little bit after that. Izzy complained about a stain on the couch that Jace most likely caused. We ended up going to bed at around 12. I didn’t fall asleep until about 2 am because I kept on thinking about the day. What was I going to do about the archery competition?

Chapter Text

Jace POV

Alec had informed me that it was my turn to go out during class and patrol the grounds. He said that it would get too suspicious if he missed every class so he had told me to do it for today. I had just gotten out of class and was heading to the first floor to start.

I looked around the cafeteria and had to dodge a few of the hall monitors on the way. After I had visited almost every place on the first floor I decided to go to the library. The likelihood of something being there was not very high but I might as well go there to be through.

As I had thought, there wasn’t anything there in the library except of a few students from 12C. They were apparently there to pick out a book for class. I saw Lydia with the group so I decided to ask her if she had seen anything today.

“No, everything has been pretty normal so far.” Lydia replied. “I have been keeping a close eye on Magnus but he hasn’t done anything overly suspicious since the first day I came here.”

“Ok, well text me if you see anything.” I went upstairs since everything seemed to be okay on the first floor. I looked through all the rooms and even went into the old boiler room to see if anything was there but I came up empty handed every time.

It seemed that today was going to be a waste of time. Nothing much had happened since the meeting with the clave and I was getting antsy to kill some demons. It had been some time since I had used my blade.

The lunch bell rang so I decided to head down and complain to Alec how useless it was to have me patrol the grounds. Maybe if I annoyed him enough he might let me get a mission.

“Hey guys, how was class?” I asked them.

“It was fun! We did a group activity where we–”

I cut Izzy off before she could finish, “Yeah that sounds great. So Alec...do you think you can get me a mission from the clave?”

“How many times have I told you that we have to focus on the one we have right now. One wrong move and the entire mission could blow up in our faces.” Alec lectured.

“Okay, fine. It’s just that walking around school on the off chance there might be demons around just seems like such a waste of time.” I whined.

“I don’t care how bored you are. You are going to give a hundred percent to this mission. If we mess this up, who knows what will happen.”

“Yes sir.” I replied, mockingly. Before he could reply I was out of the lunch room and rushing to the library. I wanted some peace and quiet to cool down.

Just as I was about to open the door, I heard shuffling and a loud thud come from the room. I opened the door just enough for me to be able to peek my head through the crack and see what was going on.

I bit my lips to stop a gasp from coming out. 6 or 7 demons were carrying a large container through a portal. The most out of place thing was that a mundane was directing them. I had never heard of demons willingly take orders from a mundane.

I tried to get a closer look and realized that she looked familiar. I think I had seen her in the front office before. She glanced at her watch and her face scrunched up. She tapped her foot impatiently and decided to leave from the back door. It seemed like she was late for something.

I decided to go get the others before I rushed in. Alec had told me to be more rational in my judgement and I didn’t want to blow the mission just because I decided to be impulsive.

When I went to close the door, it let out a loud creaking noise. Great. I glanced at the demons to see them all staring at me. Oh crap. I did the only thing that I could think of and took out my blade. “I guess I’ll just have to fight them by myself.” I mumbled to myself.

I easily slashed through the first couple of them and they were getting more desperate to get a hit on me. Now there were around 4 more of them left. I dragged my blade through two of them and just as I was about to finish the third one off, one of them came up behind me and slashed my back. I could feel the sensation of something burning through my skin and into my bloodstream. Their blades seemed to have been laced with poison.

I dropped my blade and fell to my knees. This could not be the end. The last thing I heard was hurried footsteps and a flash of electric blue hair before I lost consciousness.

Chapter Text

Magnus POV

I was going to get my lunch bag since I had forgotten it, when I heard a heavy thud coming from the library. I rushed to the room just in time to see one of the transfer students–I think his name was Jace–fall on the ground. A demon was the cause of it. I immediately cast a spell and the demon disintegrated.

I walked over to the crumpled form of Jace and got a closer look at his wound. It wasn’t too large in size and I would be surprised that it caused him to fall if I didn’t notice the telltale sign of poison. The veins around the wound were turning dark purple–almost black– due to it.

I wasn’t too shocked to find out that the new transfer students were shadowhunters. It would explain their sudden appearance. Along with the rumours of increased demon activity I had heard from the pandemonium.

For now I decided to stop the poison from spreading and took out his phone from his pocket. I scrolled down his contacts and called the one labeled ‘boss man.’ I could only hope that it was one of his associates.

“What is it now Jace.” Was the first thing I heard when they picked up. It seemed I was right because the voice sounded a lot like Alexander.

“Hi, it’s Magnus.” I introduced myself. “You might want to come to the library real quick.”

The call was abruptly ended and I assumed that he was coming. Sure enough, not even a minute latter, blue eyes walked through the door along with a few of his friends. Before I could say anything or explained he charged at me.

“What have you done to my brother!” He yelled.

“Calm down.” I commanded. “I haven’t done anything. There seemed to have been a demon attack and your brother got poisoned. I have stopped it from spreading but if we don’t do anything soon he might die.” He seemed to have finally calmed down and seemed to be thinking.

“Okay, well thank you for your help. We’ll take it from here.” He said. “Clary, can you go down to the office and tell them that we are leaving? If they ask, tell them we got food poisoning. Izzy, activate your stealth rune. We have to make sure no one sees us leave since it would be a bit suspicious, with us carrying a unconscious body and everything.”

At this point they seemed to be ignoring me. I cleared my throat to get there attention. “And how do you expect to cure him?” I asked. That seemed to make them quiet for a second until Alexander decided to respond.

“I don’t see how that is any of your business warlock.”

“What if I told you I could help? Not that I feel very inclined to, considering how you have been treating me.” I replied, miffed by his tone.

His face seemed to morph into a look of guilt. “I’m sorry, I’m just worried. If there is anything you can do to help we would appreciate it.”

“Tell me your address. I’ll meet you there since I have to get my tools from home. I will do everything in my power to save your friend.” I said with a soft tone.

I left the room with a piece of paper that had their address written on it. When I reached my flat I quickly gave chairman meow–my cat–some food and went to my office to get my tools. After I gathered everything, I headed to their flat to get started.

When I walked in I was met with a solemn silence. It seemed that Jace’s condition was getting worse. I went into his room and started to set up.

“You guys have to leave. I can’t work if you’re in the room.” I told them.

“Do you expect us to leave you alone with Jace?! We barely even know you!” Clary said. She seemed hysterical and her face was blotchy from crying. Blue eyes put a hand on her shoulder and directed her to the door. Izzy was standing there and seemed to have been crying as well. Alexander didn’t look too far from bawling his eyes out either. Izzy took Clary and went into the living room.

“Make sure you fix our brother.” Alexander said, before he too left the room. I decided to get to work since there was no time to waste. Many hours later I walked into the living room to inform them that their brother was okay. They jumped up in joy and Izzy ran to hug me.

“Can we talk to him?” Clary asked.

I nodded. “But don’t tire him out. He’s barely awake.” That was all they needed to hear because they dashed to his room. I decided to follow them to make sure they didn’t put too much stress on Jace.

I didn’t want to interrupt so I stood by the doorway.

“Ha...you didn’t think I would die so pathetically did you?” Jace said weakly.

“I’m so glad your ok.” Clary said as she hugged Jace tightly.

“That reminds me. You know the woman in the front office? Well I saw her in the room and the demons seemed to be following her orders.” He said, becoming more alert as he continued. “I think her name was Veronica.”

I went back to the living room so they didn’t catch me watching them. I was planning to go in but when Jace started to talk about Veronica I didn’t want them to think I was eavesdropping on them. Alexander came into the room soon after.

“What can we do to thank you? Do you want payment?” He asked.

“Don’t worry, for you my services are free.” I said with a wink. I exited the apartment, leaving Alexander blushing in the living room.

I walked back to my flat, too tired to portal there. I took a nice long bath and went to my desk. I had a letter to write.

Chapter Text

Clary POV

School was such a drag, it’s almost as bad as when I actually went to high school. Honestly I don’t think anything could be worse than my actual high school experience but doing it again sucked. The English teacher was especially boring.

“Alright, well we have about 5 minutes remaining in class. Everyone remember to read chapter 4 for homework. Oh and Alec, I heard you got into the upcoming archery competition, good job!” said the English teacher. I looked over at Alec and he was shaking his head. I’d have to ask him about that when we go to our lockers.

“What was that about in English?” I asked.

“Oh nothing important.” Alec responded.

“Nothing important? Really Alec? It’s an archery competition.” I said.

“Fine, I have an archery competition that I don’t even think I’m going to.” Alec said.

“Come on Alec you have to go, our lives are about to be really hectic. Have fun while you can.” I said. After that we headed to lunch where Alec made me promise not to tell Izzy and Jace.

During science I was doodling while the boring substitute, Mrs.Scidmt, was babbling on about cells. I swear we had been discussing the same topic since we started school. I kept thinking back to Alec getting into the competition. I was actually pretty proud of him, he deserved something like this.

After school Alec went out on a walk. That was the perfect opportunity to mention it to Izzy and Jace.

“So guys I found out something exciting today! Alec got accepted into an archery competition.” I said.

“Really? Alec is going an archery competition? I can’t see him doing that.” Jace mentioned.

“Jace, Alec is really good in archery.” Izzy said.

“I didn’t say he was bad I’m just saying Alec isn’t the competition type.” Jace responded.

“Well Alec said he may not end up going.” I said.

“No, he has to go.” Izzy said. Jace and I agreed.We made a plan that I would try to convince Alec to go and then Izzy, Jace and I would go to watch it.

“He’s going to hate it if we come.” Izzy said, laughing. We had dinner at we Lydia’s apartment after that. When that was over, I decided it would be time to convince Alec.

“So Alec do you think you’re going to the archery competition?” I said coming into his room.

“Redhead, you're supposed to knock, and I don’t know.” Alec replied.

“Sorry, you have to go though Alec. It’s a big opportunity.” I said.

“I don’t know Clary, it’s just...what if something happens?” Alec asked.

“Something with the mission?” I asked. Alec nodded.

“Well Jace, Izzy, Lydia and I are fully capable of taking care of something if it comes up. Plus the mission isn’t progressing much right now.” I said. Alec and I talked for a bit longer and I finally convinced him that he had to go.

“So when is it anyway?” I asked.

“Tomorrow after school.” Alec replied.

“Good to know, um well I’m going to go read chapter 4 for English class now.” I said.

“Okay...” Alec said. I went to Izzy’s room remembering to knock on the door this time.

“Yeah, come in.” She said.

“Come with me, I need to tell you something.” I said.

“What’s up?” She said opening the door. I gestured for her to come with me. She looked at me confused but followed me anyway. We got to Jaces bedroom and knocked on the door. Then I just opened it before he could say anything.

“Hey.” He said when we went in. I shut the door as Izzy and Jace looked at each other and then me weirdly.

“So guys..Alec is gonna go.” I said.

“You convinced him!?” Izzy said kind of loudly. I shushed her and nodded.

“Go Clary.” Jace whispered.

“Thanks. So it’s tomorrow after school. Alec said that he is going to take a bus right after school.” I said.

“So we just follow with the car?” Jace asked.

“I guess, should Lydia come too?” I asked.

“Umm, I don’t know, I mean she’s Alec’s friend but maybe she should stay just in case something with the mission happens.” Izzy said. We agreed that this was the best idea and that we would just fill her in later.

“I almost wanna invite Magnus.” Izzy said. Jace and I just laughed knowing that Alec and Magnus have a something going on.

“Do it!” I said and Jace agreed with me.

Izzy typed a quick message to Magnus.

“What did you say?” Jace asked. We were both eager to know.

“Just a general text explaining what’s going on and if he wants to come….he’s typing!” Izzy said and getting really excited.

“He said he would love to!” Izzy said very loudly. We were pretty pleased with that response and knew that the surprise was going to be even better.

We talked for a while longer then just watched some YouTube on Jace's computer. We then realized we had homework to do so we spent some time doing that. The English reading was extremely boring. I headed to bed excited to surprise Alec the next day.

Chapter Text

Alec POV

I chewed on my lips, nervously waiting for the bus to get here. I looked down at my phone to check the time, it was 3:58. The bus was running late. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. I knew I shouldn’t have let the redhead talk me into this. I should have stuck with my instincts and–

A screeching sound stopped my train of thought. I looked up to see that the bus was finally here. Our school had decided to provide us with a bus so all the students in archery could go see the competition.

All the other students got in a line to get on the bus, I lagged behind at the end. I could hear the group of people before me chatting about how excited they were to be going on the trip. I rolled my eyes. I didn’t see anything exciting about seeing a bunch of people shoot arrows. And more than half these people weren’t participating anyways.

I got on the bus and picked a seat towards the front since most of the people were going to the back. I pulled my hoodie up and put my earphones in. It wasn’t actually connected to my phone, I just didn’t want anyone to come and try to talk to me.

I closed my eyes and cleared my mind. It would do me no good to get distracted. I don’t even know why I was so worried. It’s not like the competition was going to be hard if they were anything like my archery team. I guess I was just worried about the mission and leaving Izzy, Clary and Jace alone.

I was almost asleep when the bus came to a stop. I rubbed my eyes and took my earphones off, putting them in my pocket. I still had a few minutes before the competition started and so I decided to wander around. After a few minutes I saw a very familiar car pulling up in the parking lot of the field.

They are so dead. Irritation took control of me and I marched up to the car. I forcefully opened the front door of the car–which was unlocked because they were about to get out–and was greeted with familiar faces.

“What are you guys doing here!?” I yelled. “I told you guys not to come. What if something goes wrong with the mission?”

“Don’t worry–”

I cut Izzy off before she could continue,“Don’t worry!? Do you have any idea of what could happen if you guys just decide to leave? What if there’s a emergency? What if–”

“I’m sorry, am I interrupting? I feel like I should leave you guys alone for a bit.”

I looked at the backseat and realized that they had brought Magnus. I started to blush because of my outburst and ran away. As I ran as far away from the car as possible, I could hear Clary say, “Well, that went well.”

I didn’t need to worry about embarrassing myself in front of Magnus right now. And definitely not about my slight crush on him. I took a deep breath and cleared my mind. I walked to the field since the competition was about to start in 10 minutes. I could see Clary’s red hair along with Magnus’s blue hair in the crowd but I decided to ignore it for now. It would do me no good to get distracted before my turn.

The juniors were finishing up and the seniors were next. Since I was pretending to be 18, I was shooting with the seniors. As soon as the first round of whistles started, signaling us to get ready, I took my bow from the rack and went to the shooting line. Then a single whistle followed and we all started shooting.

After all my arrows were gone from my quiver, I took a good look at my target. My last 6 arrows were no less than a 9. Most of them were bullseyes, with a few on the 9s. Overall I felt pretty confident in my score after I had shot all my 72 arrows. I glanced at the person next to me, who was just firing his last arrow, and looked at his target. It wasn’t as bad as I had expected it to be.

The whistle blew again, this time signaling us to stop. The judges added our points together and I waited for them to announce the winners.

“Sorry for the wait! And now for us to announce the winners! Coming in third, with 652 points is Samuel Gilberto. In second place is last year’s champion, Mason Wilson, with a score of 694!” The announcer yelled into the crowd.

I watched as the person standing next to me walked onto the second place podium with a small frown on his face.

“And the first place award goes to….Alexander Lightwood! With a score of 713 out of 720! That’s a new record for this competition!”

I couldn’t stop the smile that spread across my face. I looked up to the crowd and smiled at Izzy, Jace and Clary, forgetting that I was supposed to be mad at them. I walked up to the podium and accepted my award. I shook my competitors hands and walked up to my friends.

“I knew you were going to be awesome!” Izzy yelled, before she latched onto me for a hug. I hugged back after I regained my breath. Izzy can be forgetful of her strength sometimes. Jace punched me on the shoulder affectionately while Clary stood there giving me a smile. She looked nervous and I realized that she probably felt guilty for making me mad. I shared a look with Izzy, and Jace who walked away soon after, realizing that I wanted to talk to Clary alone.

“So….I wanted to thank you for coming and bringing them here.” I said before Clary could try to say anything. She looked shocked but I continued. “I realized that there is no one else I would like to spend my victory other than you guys.”

Clary jumped into my arms and wrapped her arms around me. I patted her back and leaned into the hug.

“We should probably get a move on. I’m sure the others are getting antsy from waiting.” I said.

“Yeah.” She said and broke the hug. We walked back to the group and I saw that Magnus had joined them. I had almost forgotten that he was here today. Before I could become a nervous mess or embarrass myself Jace started talking.

“I think this calls for a celebration. I heard that there’s a pizza place not too far from here.” Jace proposed.

“I’m down.” Magnus said with a easy smile. Everyone agreed and soon after we were piled into the car, on our way to the pizzeria.

We ordered two large pizzas and went to a table to wait. The rest was a blur of laughter and eating. At one point Magnus had moved next to me and our hand had somehow been situated on top of each other. It felt comfortable and neither of us moved our hands away. None of them noticed since it was under the table and we continued our conversation as if nothing had changed.

When we had to leave my hand felt empty and cold. Magnus said that he would portal home so we got in our car and headed straight to home. I got into the bathroom to have a quick shower. Today had been a hectic day and I couldn’t wait to see what tomorrow held for us. But first, I had to go to sleep.

Chapter Text

Izzy POV
The school day was beyond boring. Jace ended up getting lunch detention which isn’t surprising since he ends up getting it like twice a week. Other than that the whole day was just one long waste of time. If I didn’t have jewelry club after school I would have left early.

The walk to the jewelry club felt longer than usual. Probably because that whole day has felt longer than usual. Jewelry had become one of the few things I actually enjoyed about school. Don’t know why I was so excited before we started. Clary had warned me it sucked but of course I still let myself be excited.

“Hey, you’re actually on time.” I said to Magnus as I entered the room.

“I know, I’m so proud of myself.” Magnus responded. I just laughed and nodded my head at him. The jewelry club instructor who I’m really starting to hate started doing her daily complaining.

“This is like the 4th time she has complained about her boyfriend, like has she heard of breaking up before?” Magnus asked. I burst out laughing at that very true statement.

“Something funny Miss.Lopez?” The instructor asked turning to look at me.

“No ma’am.” I responded.

“That’s what I thought.” She said. After that she actually let us get the supplies so we could continue our project from the previous week. We had been working on a piece of jewelry of our choice that had to be fairly complicated.

Magnus had begun to work on a keychain type thing, not sure if that qualifies as a piece of jewelry but he was doing it anyway. I started to work on a long necklace with lots of beads the last class. We pulled out our work and begun.

“So Izzy….” Magnus said.

“Yeah..” I said.

“How has Alec been?” Magnus asked timidly.

“He’s been fine.” I responded. Magnus nodded and smiled than we just started talking about our classes.

“Hey Izzy!” Camille said way too enthusiastically.

“It’s Isabelle.” I whispered. Only my friends could call me Izzy.

“Hey.” I said in my normal voice.

“So who’s that guy who comes to get you after every club meeting?” Camille said while blinking her eyes quickly. Magnus looked like he wanted to strangle Camille after she said that. Alec had started coming to get me every time since Jace ended up leaving his club early almost every time. But we all knew that it was mainly to see Magnus.

“Oh uh my friend…..Alec.” I responded.

“Oh so your boyfriend?” She asked. I just about threw up in my mouth, I had never felt more sick in my life.

“No, nope definitely not.” I said.

“Oh so you wouldn’t mind if I asked him out?” Camille asked. By this point Magnus was beyond furious.

“Actually Alec isn’t single.” I replied, slightly winking at Magnus.

“Who’s he dating?” Camille asked. I didn’t really know what to say since Alec and Magnus weren’t exactly dating and I didn’t know if they would appreciate me saying that.

“Me, he’s dating me.” Magnus said proudly. I smiled at him, guess he said it for me. Camille looked at Magnus then looked at me and just walked back to her desk.

“Thank the heavens that she’s gone.” Magnus said. I nodded furiously.

“I just really don’t like her, never have I don’t really know why I didn’t before today.” I said.

“I’ve known her for a while, she has a weird vibe if you get what I mean.” Magnus responded.

I nodded which I did a lot during jewelry club and just in life in general. We actually started working on our projects since we wasted about 20 minutes of the club already.

“Yours actually looks good.” I said about 15 minutes later.

“Yours is great too Izzy.” Magnus said as she saw me looking at mine weirdly.

“I don’t like it though.” I said. Magnus just shook his head and went back to what he was doing.

“Camille keeps eyeing me weird.” I said about halfway into jewelry club. Magnus and I had been focusing on working and not talking a whole lot.

“She’s probably just mad that I said I’m dating Alec.” Magnus responded.

“Oh yeah that I can’t believe we haven’t discussed that.” I said.

“What do you mean?” Magnus asked.

“I mean you saying that Alec and you are dating...I mean are you?” I replied.

“Oh well..I don’t know. Don’t tell Alec this but when we went out for pizza the other night Alec and I held hands under the table…” Magnus said, the last part more quietly. I was shocked..I mean Alec held hands with someone underneath a table in a public place...wow.

“I didn’t expect that..” Izzy said.

“Are you mad?” Magnus asked.

“No of course not, I’m just surprised.” I replied.

“Surprised...why?” Magnus asked.

“I’m not sure if you have noticed but my brother is pretty uptight. Definitely not the holding hands in public type.” I said.

“Oh i've noticed.” Magnus said. Both of ur burst into laughter after that and the instructor looked like she wanted to kill us. Alec came to get me at the end of the meeting like usual. Magnus and I walked out together.

“Hey..Magnus.” Alec says while he looked at the ground.

“Alec hand me the keys and I’ll wait for you in the car.” I said. Alec quickly handed me the keys which he never trusts me with. Since he apparently thinks I will kill someone if I even touch the keys.

This time though he wanted to talk to Magnus. I sat in the car and went on my phone for about 30 minutes.

“Hey.” Alec said as he finally got into the car.

“Nice chat with Magnus I take it.” I stated.

“Sure..” Alec said as he looked at me weirdly.

We ended up driving home and just having dinner with Clary and Jace. Jace had left his meeting early because the instructor kicked him out, usually it’s an injury of some kind. That day ended better than I thought I guess. Even though school is an utter pain, I feel at home.

Chapter Text

Jace POV

The school day had been pretty bad for me. I got lunch detention for like the 10th time. This time it was from the math teacher. At least after school I had football to look forward to.

Jordan and Simon from me and Izzy’s class are in football club. As well as this guy Raphael from 12C that Izzy has talked to before. I didn’t really know any of the other guys that much. Well I mean I could probably get to know them but I just choose not to, no time for that.

I walked with Jordan and Simon down to the gym for football.

“So Jace, think your gonna hurt yourself today like every time we have football practice?” Jordan asked.

“Probably, it’s just part of my personality at this point.” I replied while I laughed. The only time during the week I speak to Jordan or Simon is football club. And even then we only speak for like 2 minutes. Honestly they probably don’t like me.

We got changed into our football uniforms then went into the gym to start. The instructor wasn’t there at first.

“Where is he?” Simon said to Jordan who were both sitting near me.

“Eh he’s probably doing those sport instructor things that they do.” I responded. Jordan and Simon nodded. Raphael showed up at this point, being a couple minutes late like usual.

“Hello kids, I’m Instructor Green. I’m going to be your substitute football instructor.” Instructor Green says.

“Great...do we really have to call him instructor Green though?” Simon asked.

“Ugh, hopefully not.” I replied. Instructor Green explained the football rules that we all knew–even that one dark haired kid in the corner that can’t pass a ball for the life of him. I begun to scratch the ground at that point since I was so bored.

After what felt like half of our lives we finally got up. We begun with some passing drills that we did weeks ago. I partnered up with this blonde kid that I forgot (or just never knew) the name of.

“Jonathan, do not throw the ball that hard.” Instructor Green said as he passed me.

“It’s Jace and I apologize.” I replied.

“Don’t you dare use that language with me.”
Instructor Green said. Even though I had said the most basic human statement ever. I mean I said my preferred name and apologized. Apologies aren’t a Jace thing, he’s lucky he got one.

“You know what just go sit down on the bench until we’re done passing.” Instructor Green said. I felt like arguing but I didn’t, just went to the bench like a compliant player. About 5 minutes later give or take Instructor Green called me back over.

“Jonathan, do you think you can behave properly?” Instructor Green asked.

“Yes sir.” I said just like Alec had taught me. I had to make sure I told him that. He’d be proud. I decided against correcting Instructor Green on my name, I guess I’d be Jonathan that day. Next we did some sprints. Which we had done about a million times.

“Jordan keep your shins up, Simon let’s go. Alright Jonathan come here.” Instructor Green said. Great what had I done this time.

“Jonathan, I saw you had shoved Grayson.” Instructor Green said. I looked around to try and see who Grayson was but I of course didn’t remember or probably never even knew to begin with.

“I’m sorry.” I said even though there were many other words I wanted to say at that moment.

“Well go apologize to Grayson and this is your second warning. One more warning and your gone.” Instructor Green said.

I walked over to Simon to ask who Grayson was.

“Jonathan that is not Grayson.” Instructor Green said. I just nodded at him, not bothering to explain I didn’t know who Grayson was and went to whom Simon had just pointed out as Grayson.

“Hey, Grayson right?” I asked.

“Uh no I’m Lucas, Grayson is over there.” Lucas said pointing to who had to be Grayson.

“Hey Grayson, sorry about shoving you.” I said the apology part very loud since the Instructor was really eyeing me at that point.

“You shoved me?” Grayson asked, clearly confused.

“Yes he did Grayson.” Instructor Green stated. Grayson and I just looked at each other then at the Instructor.

“Alright boys lets get back to work. Instructor Green said while patting us on the backs.

We begun to actually play football. I accidentally bumped into that one kid who can’t play. I knew what was coming before it even happened.

“JONATHAN!” I heard from Instructor Green loud and clear.

Let’s just say I was kicked out immediately. Simon and Jordan looked at me in sympathy. I went into the locker room to get changed back into my clothes. I didn’t really mind, I knew it would happen right after the first warning.

I ended up walking past the jewelry room and saw Izzy hard at work. I went outside and called Alec, bracing myself for what he was about to say.

“Jace how stupid could you be to get kicked out of football.” Alec said over the phone.

“I’ll explain later, so I’m just going to take the car home. You’ll need to leave to get Izzy some clubs are almost over.” I replied. Alec agreed and I hung up. I mean I could have just waited in the car for Izzy but Alec likes to go to talk to Magnus anyway. I just told myself that I’m playing matchmaker.

I got home and Clary just laughed, guess Alec told her what happened. I told her the full story and we watched some TV together. Izzy and Alec returned home about 45 minutes later. We had a quick dinner of a salad that Clary made. It was almost good actually. Izzy told me later that night that it was a good thing I left early since Alec got to talk to Magnus.

I was in my room at about eleven actually doing homework. I heard a knock on the door and just yelled for whomever to come in. It was Alec, which I didn’t suspect.

“Hey Jace...oh wow your doing homework.” Alec said as he opened the door.

“Yeah.” I replied looking up.

“I just wanted to apologize for getting so mad today. It wasn’t your fault.” Alec said. I was surprised I mean Alec never apologizes, to me especially. We talked for a couple minutes then he left to go to bed. I quickly finished up my homework realizing that it’s actually fairly easy if I tried.

I went to bed thinking of how the past few months had been annoying but also I got to bond with Izzy, Clary and even Alec. It was all good. Life was starting to work out.

Chapter Text

Clary POV

Life was going great for the past few days. So of course something bad had to happen. The day started with the screeching of my alarm clock, somehow sounding extra loud to my tired ears. I got up, brushed my teeth and got dressed for school. Just like any normal day.

I walked to the living room to have a quick breakfast before I got into the car. While I was eating Alec asked if he could talk to me. I nodded my head and took another bite.

“I was wondering if you could do a shift at monitoring the school. I’ll cover for you in the classes so you don’t have to worry about that. I don’t want the teacher getting too suspicious on why I’m basically never in class.”

“Sure. It’s not like we were going to do anything important today anyways. Unless of course you consider listening to Mrs.Tilly’s constant yammering on how lonely she is or how cute her cats are.”

We shared a smile. We had bonded over our shared loathing of anything Mrs.Tilly did. We were shocked that the school still kept her employed, consider that only 1 percent of her time was actually dedicated to teaching.

“Ok, thanks. See you in the car.” He said right before he left to go to the garage.

A few minutes later,after I had finished gobbling down my food and putting on my shoes, I left for the garage too. When I got there Izzy was already occupying the front seat–headphones in her ears, blasting the music loud enough that I could make out the song– so I got into the back with Jace.

I was surprised with Jace being so compliant over not getting shotgun. He usually fought with Izzy over it. When I asked him about it he just smirked and continued to play a game on his phone.

I soon found out why. Alec had gone back upstairs to get his bag because he had forgotten it. When he came back down he looked at Izzy confused.

“Didn’t I tell you and Jace that no one's going to get the shotgun anymore?” And that’s how Alec’s five minute lecture for Izzy began. At the end of it Izzy was so annoyed she got out of the car and got into the backseat. The rest of the ride consisted of Izzy sulking and Jace gloating. With me being stuck in between them. Great.

When we got to school, I couldn’t get out of the car fast enough. I did not want to be stuck in between a pair of feuding siblings.

I waved bye to Alec and went to monitor the third floor. I liked to work my way down. These shifts were usually a waste of time in my opinion because the times were we actually found something was almost nonexistent. Sure there was the occasional demon fight but nothing really helped with our case.

Alec would kill me if he found out what I was thinking. Every clue could help our case according to him. And I could agree, as long as I wasn’t the one stuck with the most boring job on the mission.

The first floor came up empty and so did the second. It was almost time for lunch so I decided to go to the cafeteria and wait for the other guys to get out of class. I was pretty much the first person in the cafeteria and the lunch ladies were giving me weird looks. I wasn’t worried though because they didn’t get paid enough to care about students skipping class.

The lunch bell soon rang and a hoard of teenagers came rushing in. I could make out Alec in the crowd, while Izzy and Jace were probably just late because they got held up talking to their classmates.

I stood up to wave my hand so Alec could see me and right at that moment someone tripped and plopped their lunch tray onto my shirt. For a few seconds I just stood there with pasta sauce rolling down my shirt before my face slowly turned red from embarrassment. I ignored the guy trying to apologize and rushed to the bathroom to go get cleaned up.

When I was leaving the bathroom, after getting all I could off of my shirt, I heard the the most interesting sentence that day.

“Tell Leonard that the demons have recently been getting killed off….No I haven’t seen any shadowhunter yet you nimwit! I would have told you if I had.” Said the lady. I decided to hide behind the bathroom door and continue listening.

I peaked my head out a bit to see who it was and I was shocked to find out! It was the lady in the front office! She seemed like the most ordinary person in this building. I think her name was Veronica or something.

“No I don’t think we should get more demons you idiot! What do you not understand about them getting killed off?...You know what? Just tell Leonard and he’ll deal with it. I don’t have time to talk to idiots like you. I have to do that at school anyways.” She said and abruptly ended the call.

I realized that she was directly in front of the bathroom door now, so I decided to make a hastily exit. I got out of the bathroom and bumped into her on purpose.

“Oh! I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you there.” I said in mock surprise.

“It’s ok, sweetheart. Maybe pay more attention next time.” She said in her sickeningly sweet voice of hers.

After the exchange I rushed to the cafeteria to tell the guys what I had just found out.

“So your telling me that Veronica has something to do with this?” Jace asked after I had fined telling my story. I nodded my head.

“No wonder. She always gave me the creeps since my first day here.” Lydia commented.

Alec was silent the entire time, looking like he was in deep thought. Before I had the chance to ask him if he was ok, the lunch bell rang. I decided to go back to patrolling, not wanting to go back to class anyways. It ended up being uneventful but my heart was still beating heavily from the adrenaline I got from today’s discoveries.

I would never look down of the monitoring shift again.

The rest of the day was spend without anything significant happening. We got home, did some homework, ate lunch and went to sleep. But the foreboding feeling followed me for the rest of day. I knew something big was going to happen and I couldn’t stop myself from worrying about it.

Chapter Text

Jace POV

“Jace can you for once pay attention in class.” Lectured the science teacher.

“Sorry.” I said, trying to listen to what she was saying. It was extremely difficult though. I mean nobody wants to hear about how cells divide for 8 weeks straight.

“Thankfully school is over. It was extra boring today.” I told Izzy at the lockers. She just laughed.

We met up with Clary and Alec, and Izzy walked with Clary to the dance club. Alec began discussing a noise that he heard during class.

“That’s great Alec but I have to get to fencing.” I said and then walked away. I got into the gym and then went into the locker room. This one brunette kid was drunk I think, he was slurring his words to his friend and tripping everywhere.

We sat down on the ground while the fencing instructor, who is better than the football one, talked about today's agenda. We were going to do a group activity. Some basic training probably. We usually started the club meetings with that.

“Alright I’ll be picking groups today.” The Instructor said. That statement was followed by groans by almost everyone. I was just getting used to being with one of the blonde twins. They were the ones who usually wanted to be with me.

“Ok so James with Kara, Grant with Lucas, Jace with Maia…” said the instructor. I stopped listening after I was put with Maia. Who was the dark haired girl. There were only two girls in fencing after all. Kara who was blonde and the other one was Maia. And I think I was partnered with her once.

“So, ready to start?” Maia asked. I nodded and we started to fence.

“Your friends with Simon right?” I asked finally recognizing her from lunch time.

“Yeah...your in Simons class aren’t you?” She asked. I nodded. She was so much better than the average mundane.

We moved on to some falling drills. Which I always found boring, since we wasted so much time waiting for everyone to go. I asked if I could use the washroom since I didn’t feel like falling anymore. The instructor nodded and I went to the locker room.

I quickly took off my fencing gear and went outside the gym. I ended up walking past the dance room. I stopped for a second and saw Izzy dancing in front of the class, that’s my sister alright. She was always very confident and not afraid of anything.

Clary made eye contact with me for a second and smiled. I smiled back at her and then completed my walk to the washroom.

I played on my phone in the bathroom to waste some time. Luckily, when I got back to the gym they had moved on to some more fencing. I joined one of the blonde twins and we fenced for a while.

“Jace, your very good at fencing.” The instructor said when everyone was going to the locker room.

“Oh thanks.” I said.

“Have you ever considered joining the competitive league, you could really make a name for yourself.” He said. We talked for a few minutes about joining a league. While I was taking off my gear I thought about it. Maybe if I wasn’t a shadowhunter I could have become a professional fencer. I kind of laughed off the idea since I feel like that would be too boring for me. But I couldn’t help but think what my life would be like if I was a normal human like my classmates.

I walked over to the room where Izzy and Clary were doing dance. Lydia was also in the dance club but she wasn’t feeling very well so she hadn’t come to school today. They were just finishing up so I waited outside the door.

“Hey Jace, how was fencing?” Izzy asked.

“Eh it was okay, did a lot of drills.” I said to Izzy, I was still thinking about the league thing. Clary started complaining about how bad she was at dance.

“I’m sure you were fine.” I said as we got into the car. Izzy and I argued about who would drive home. I usually did because Izzy wasn’t exactly the best driver, she ran a stoplight here and there. By accident she would say. Clary was actually a better driver then Izzy but she doesn’t like arguing with us. Since the mission Clary had maybe driven the car once.

“Why don’t you drive?” I said throwing the keys to Clary.

“Really? Ok.” Clary said dumbfounded. I just nodded and even let Izzy take shotgun. I wanted some time to think anyways. I loved being a shadowhunter and fighting demons. But I did sometimes wonder what life would be like if I wasn’t one. That day I really thought about it. I don’t think I wanted to be a normal person though I mean I grew up one and That’s who I’ve always been.

“You okay Jace?” Izzy asks in the elevator.

“What...oh I’m fine.” I said. Clary and Izzy looked at me weird but didn’t say anything else.

“Hey guys, how were your clubs?” Alec asked when we got home. Alec rarely ever cared about what we did, I think he had been trying to be more kind to us.

Izzy talked about how the teacher thought she was pretty good at dance. I remembered the conversation I had with the fencing instructor about the competitive league. I went to my room to get some homework done.

I heard a knock on the door.

“Come in.” I said. I thought it was Alec, he was the one who had been coming to talk to me lately. So I was a bit surprised when I saw that it was Izzy.

“Hey Iz...what’s up?” I said.

“That’s what I was going to ask you.” She said sitting down on my bed.

“What do you mean?” I asked facing back to the slideshow I was doing.

“You have been kind of off since we finished our clubs today.” Izzy responded.

“Oh I don’t know, I’m just kinda tired. Didn’t sleep well last night.” I said.

“Jace I know it’s not just that. I mean you let me take shotgun, you let Clary drive. And you went straight to your room when we got here.” Izzy said looking at me. I met her gaze and just looked around. I didn’t know what to tell her, the truth or to make something up.

“It’s just...have you ever thought about being a normal human?” I asked.

“You mean not being a shadowhunter? Sure I have. Especially with going to school recently. But I thought you loved being a shadowhunter…?” she replied.

“I do love it. But it’s all I’ve ever been. I guess I just want to have the opportunity we never got and probably will never get. I mean even though I hate going to high school it’s nice to have the experience.” I told her. Izzy nodded agreeing with me. She squeezed my shoulder and walked out of my room. I felt better after talking to Izzy.

I finished up my homework then watched another one of those typical high school movies. Those usually put off me actually wanting to be a normal person. It pretty much worked. We ate some dinner and watched some tv.

A little part of me still wanted to do what my high school classmates got to do. But I went to bed being thankful for who I got to be.

Chapter Text

Clary POV

School wasn’t terrible today. Alec and I met up with Izzy and Jace. Izzy and I headed to dance while Jace went to fencing club. Dance wasn’t very fun for me since I was so bad at it.

“It’s going to be fine Clary.” Izzy said to me as we walked into the room.

“It’ll be fine for you, for me though…” I responded. Izzy just shook her head as we went to take a seat on the floor. The dance teacher said we were going to begin with our warm up like we usually did. We ended up running. Let’s just say running isn’t my favourite thing.

I am definitely not fast, I’m probably the slowest person in this room. Which was a bad thing since I’m a shadowhunter.

After some running we did some basic stretching, which was about the only thing I could do. Then we split into groups to do a quick re-run of our end of year showcase. We already had the dances memorized but we practiced them every class. Lydia, who was added into our group last minute, wasn’t at school. She was sick. I wished I was her at this point.

Since only Emily, Izzy and I were there we couldn’t do a whole lot. We only went over them for about 20 minutes then we worked on a basic full group routine. We had done this kind of thing before. It was not what I’d call fun.

The moves were what the teacher referred to as easy. Which basically means it’s easy for everyone but me. I spent a good amount of time struggling. And the teacher just glared at me. But that happened every time we had dance so I payed it no mind.

“Uh Clary...why don’t you just sit out for a bit.” The teacher said. I immediately went and sat down. I only joined the club because Izzy wanted me to and I wanted to spend time with her. I don’t get to do that a whole lot because of our lives.

I looked around the room for a little while. Izzy looked like she was having a really good time. Emily also looked like she was having fun. Why was I the only one that can’t dance? Even Lydia who said she couldn’t dance can dance. But at least Lydia wasn’t there that day so I wouldn’t have 3 people to be jealous of.

Finally the practicing group routine was over. Now we were moving on to practicing some basic acrobatics for the first time.

“Clary, you can come try this.” The teacher said. I wanted to kill myself to say the least. We began with cartwheels which, again, the teacher said was easy. Nothing that involves moving that isn’t for a good reason was hard for me.

“Emily why don’t you begin?” The teacher asked. Emily went and did an actually perfect cartwheel. A couple other people went. Most of them did pretty good. One girls was a bit sloppy but still way better then what I would do.

“Alright Izzy you’re up next.” The teacher said. Izzy looked super nervous and went for it. It was a bit off but it was still pretty good.

“Clary your turn.” The teacher said. The moment I was so scared for had come. Izzy smiled at me and I smiled back weakly. I breathed and just went for it. It was probably the ugliest cartwheel on planet earth.

I didn’t want to look up. When I finally did the teacher looked like she had been hit by a bus. Well no, because she would be dead. So she looked like she was about to get hit by a bus. I wanted to die, probably for the 4th time that day.

I went to stand next to Izzy and she tried not to laugh at me. Emily smiled at me in support though. I asked the teacher if I could use the washroom and she said yes right away. I almost cried but just splashed some water on my face and went back to the dance room.

When I went back in Izzy was doing a solo dance. I guess I ruined acrobatics for everyone. About a minute later Jace walked by the room and I smiled at him weakly. I assume he was going to use the bathroom.

Luckily we didn't have a whole lot of time left once Izzy was done. We wrapped up with another practice of the group routine. The teacher motioned for me to just sit out right away. I traced shapes on the floor with my foot. The hell that was this class finally ended.

Jace came to get us and he actually let me drive home. Which basically never happens. Jace seemed kind of off. At home Izzy talked to Alec about how dance went for her. After a little bit she went to Jaces room.

“So how was dance for you?” Alec asked. I didn’t know what to say. I mean it went terribly but Alec and I weren’t close so I had no idea whether to tell him or not. So I just looked up and pretended not to hear him.

“Clary...you hear me?” Alec said.

“Uh yeah...dance was ok.” I replied, not wanting to say much else. I mean it was Alec.

“So what happened?” Alec asked. Wow Alec was interested in my life, this never happened.

“Oh you know...I just tanked it.” I responded.

“What did you do?” Alec said while kind of laughing.

“Ummm…” I said trying not to cry. Alec looked at me in a concerned way.

“Well I wasn’t allowed to participate in the group thing and, um well, I did a really bad cartwheel and Izzy laughed at me.” I said. Alec was about to talk when I started crying. I had no idea why I was crying, I mean it was a dance class with people a few years younger than me.

“Oh I’m sorry…” Alec said. He awkwardly squeezed my shoulder.

“Yeah, sorry, I shouldn’t be crying.” I said while tears were coming down my face. Alec gave me an extremely awkward hug, he was patting me on the back like 6 times. But I still appreciated it.

“It’s fine, you can cry if you feel the need to.” Alec said as he pulled away. I nodded gratefully.

“And I’m sure you weren’t that bad.” He said.

“Oh no I was.” I replied.

“It’s fine Clary, you don’t have to be good at dancing.” Alec said.

“Well I’m not good at anything that involves any sort of moving or exercise.” I said.

“Your great at art.” Alec said.

“I sit down for that. I have no idea why I’m even a shadowhunter.” I said.

“Clary stop. I wouldn’t say this even a couple weeks ago. But you’re a damn good shadowhunter.” Alec said to me. I was shocked, I mean it’s Alec. The Alec who called me half a shadowhunter less than a year ago.

“Thanks…” I said then hugged Alec again. He only patted my back 5 times during that hug. The rest of the night was spent eating and watching tv.

I went to bed a lot happier than I had been. Sure dance class was horrible most of the time. But I would still do it to spend time with Izzy. And Alec, like the Alec who hates me, called me a good shadowhunter. And not just that, a damn good shadowhunter.

Chapter Text

Jace POV

I had finally convinced Alec to give me a demon hunting mission. After countless hours of begging and badgering he had finally caved.

“You need to get rid of your energy anyways.” He had said as a way to reason with himself.

And so here I was, at the institute, to get any mission that involved killing a bunch of demons.

I walked in and was soon greeted with the annoying kid who was running the institute in place of Alec. Well, he really wasn’t a kid, he was actually 10 years older than me. But he was like a puppy, ready to please and kind of spineless. People like that annoyed me a lot.

“Hi Jace! Alec told me you were coming! I have some missions I think you might like, just have your pick and it’s yours.

Though I am very sorry to say that all the missions are group ones. I just gave the last solo mission to Jamie.” He said
apologetically.

Well that put a damper on my mood. I usually didn’t like working with other people I didn’t know because they slowed me down. I guess I’ll just have to deal with it.

I chose the one where there were demons using an abandoned warehouse as a hideout. It would be quick and simple but also effective in stopping me from wanting to destroy something constantly.

The other options were about a suspected demon disguised as a granny and the other one was about some mundane dying unnaturally. I chose the one with the mostly likely chance of me getting to beat some people up.

Once I had chosen, I went over to meet my team mates. I already knew some of these people because you don’t really get a lot of new people in the institute. The group was formed by Evan, Tyler, Alyssa, and Corey. There was a new guy joining the group. I assume the clave had sent them over since we were running short on people.

“So who’s the new guy?” I asked, getting straight to it.

“Good to see you too, Jace.” Alyssa said.

“I’m offended you don’t remember me Jace. I’m Joseph. Remember? The kid who used to beat you at every fight?” He said, like the little snot he was.

I did remember him I realized then. The years hasn’t treated him kindly. His nose was crooked, as if it had been broken and never healed–which was weird since every shadowhunter (or atleast any competent one) had a healing rune. His eyes were too small for his face and his chin a bit too high.

“Oh, I do remember you. Still a braggart I see. Not much has changed. Well other than your….” I motioned at his face, “...that.”

I could see him trying to hold back his anger as the rest of the group stifled their laughter. Evan, always the mediator in the group, came in between before a fight could break out.

“I think that’s enough for now. We should debrief and distribute jobs before we head out on field.” He said and walked to the table.

We all followed him and sat down. In the end I was unfortunately partnered with Joseph and we had to do most of the dirty work. Corey and Evan were gathering intel while Alyssa and Tyler were scouting the area and were backups if we needed more help.

I ignored the fact that I had to work with Joseph and put my gear on. After everyone was ready, we started walking towards the area. Corey and Evan stayed in the car and hacked into the security system to see what was going on.

“How many can you see.” I asked into my headpiece. The mundane couldn’t see us so I didn’t try to be inconspicuous.

“14 and counting.” Evan replied. “Be careful down there and call for backup as soon as you need it.”

I nodded at Joseph and we started killing them off one by one. Somewhere in the middle we started to complete by trying to kill the most off.

I was currently at 8 when a demon came up behind Joseph. I knew that he couldn’t reach it in time so I jumped towards him and killed it for him. No matter how annoying he was, I wasn’t willing to let him die on my watch. Besides, maybe he’d be grateful to me now instead of gloating to my face.

He looked shocked by what I did but snapped out of it when he realized that we were still surrounded. We continue to kill them off until Evan signaled that there were none left. I let out a huge sign and relaxed.

“Thanks.”

At first I couldn’t believe my ears. The great Joseph was actually thanking someone? Before he could think that I didn’t hear him I replied–

“You’re welcome.”

We went back to the institute in comfortable silence. We didn’t magically become friends all of a sudden just because I saved his life but we weren’t at each other’s throats anymore.

After they had filled out the paperwork I could finally go home. I was no longer antsy with the constant need to put my blade through something. The mission had refreshed my energy.

“So how did it go?” Izzy asked when I got home.

“Pretty good. You remember Joseph? Well he was there too” I said.

“Is he still rude?”

“Not as much as before. He’s getting better.” I replied.

I went to my room to have a cold bath. It relaxed my muscles and I went to sleep comfortably.

Chapter Text

Alec POV

It had been a while since I had to attend class. Izzy has patrolling duties today so I was free to do whatever. I had decided to show up to class because I didn’t want to be too suspicious.

The first two periods sucked and we had gym next. When we walked into the room I was met with the smell of sweat and something that weirdly reminded me of meatloaf. Everyone was chatting with their friends when the teacher walked in.

“Quiet down class.” Mr. Hollis yelled. “We are playing dodgeball today!”

“What’s dodgeball?” I whispered into Clary’s ears.

“You don’t know what dodgeball is?!” Clary yelled out in surprise.

“Shhhh!” I yelled. But it was too late. By now everyone was staring at us.

“As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted,” Mr.Hollis said, aiming a glare at Alec and Clary, “if your name starts with the letter A-M then you are on team one. Go grab a red pinny and head to the left side of the gym. The rest of you go grab a green pinny and go to the right side. And for those of you who don’t know the rules, it’s simple. If you’re hit then you are out. If someone catches the ball, the person who threw it is out and if you hit someone in the head then you are out.”

Clary and I grabbed a red pinny and moved to the left side of the gym. We waited for the balls to be laid in the middle.

“Start!” Mr. Hollis yelled when all the balls were set on the floor.

What followed was a wave of balls being thrown everywhere. I moved in front of Clary to protect her. Who knew mundanes played such a dangerous sport.

“What are you doing?” Clary asked with a incleorous look on her face.

“Nothing.” I grunted.

For some reason nobody went near me or threw the ball even a foot near me. It might have been because out the scary face I was making–according to Clary– and people were too afraid to come near me.

“What are you doing kid!” The coach yelled at me.

“Nothing.” I replied.

“What do you mean nothing! Why are all the kids scared to go near you?” The coach asked.

“I don’t know.” I said.

“Ugh. Whatever.” The coach gave up on asking me. “I don’t even know why I try anymore with kids these days….”

Me and Clary ended up being the last ones standing. Clary threw the last to get the last person out because I refused to touch those disgusting balls dripping with high school slobber.

We were just getting ready to go to lunch when Mr. Hollis yelled–

“Mr. Lightwood and Ms. Fairchild, please stay behind.”

“This is going to be fun.” I whispered to myself. Clary gave me a amused look because she was close enough to hear.

“Ok, Mr. Hollis.” Clary said to not seem rude. By now everyone one had already left for lunch. I didn’t want to be here any longer than I had to so I followed Clary as she walked into his office.

“I don’t know what you guys did but considering what happened in this class I think it’s fair to say that you two will not be on the same team from now on.”

“Was that all?” I said rolling my eyes. As if I would go to his gym class regularly. I didn’t wait for a reply–he should’ve realized that it was a rhetorical question by now–and left the room.

Mr. Hollis stood there in shock and I could hear Clary offering an apology for my behaviour. Clary came out of the room a few minutes later and ran to catch up to me.

“What was that! I thought we were trying to mix in.” She said.

“Look, I’m sorry. He was just annoying me and I’m kind of stressed out from the mission. We already found out about Veronica but that’s not enough. We can’t even confront her about it because she might refuse to tell us and then our cover will be blown.”

Clary gave me a awkward side hug which was probably meant to be comforting. It wasn’t comfortable but I smiled in content. We don’t usually get along but we’ve recently been getting closer and she’s become like family to me.

“Let’s go to lunch now. We don’t want to miss it.”

When we arrived at lunch Izzy gave me the usual report about finding no demon activity. Most days there weren’t any but we still did the patrols to be sure.

The rest of the day was spend with me sitting in my seat thinking to myself and when it came time to leave, I couldn’t wait to get out. School was too boring and there was nothing new to learn.

When we got home, we had a movie night. Clary had found a copy of Grease and we watched it until we all fell asleep in the living room.

Chapter Text

Clary POV

“You know what I’m just so sick and tired of this class. Just read for the last ten minutes.” The English teacher said. He was super annoying. Alec had actually come to class which was surprising since he only attended like a forth of the classes.

“Ughhh” Alec groaned.

“It’s better than writing an essay.” I whispered. Alec got out the same book he has been reading since the beginning of school. And by reading I mean skimming the same 4 pages.

“Oh Alec, are you re-reading the book?” The English teacher came over to ask. I couldn’t help but laugh sine Alec would never do such a thing.

“Something funny Clarissa?” This English teacher loved using full names whenever he was slightly angry.

“No, sorry.” I responded going back to reading. Alec made up something about reading similar books so he wouldn’t have to say he never actually read in class. The painful class finally concluded and we went to our lockers.

I waited for this one kid named Nelson to be done since he was above me.

“He always takes so long.” I whispered to Alec who was waiting for someone to move from in front of his locker. We laughed a bit at that comment.

Alec headed to the gym for archery while I went to the art room.

“Hey guys.” I said sitting down at my normal table with Ella, Dan and Derek.

“Hey Clary.” They responded. The teacher came in and we started a new project. The instructions were pretty loose, just to paint a highly detailed scene. I decided to paint part of a garden.

Ella was painting the inside of a grocery store which I thought was so creative.

“That’s a really cool idea, probably like half the class is painting a garden of some kind.” I said gesturing to my painting.

“Thanks and I’m sure your garden will be one of the best. I mean most of the people in this club aren’t that great.” Ella said, she whispered the last part. She wasn’t being rude, I mean they really weren’t good. But it’s fine, art just isn’t for everybody I guess.

We laughed a lot while painting but normally we were pretty quiet. It’s just that Derek had a very funny story about his classes.

“Okay that’s enough, Clary and Dan move to that back table.” The art teacher said pointing to the table no one ever sat at. Dan and I quickly moved not wanting to cause any more trouble.

“That probably wasn’t very smart of us.” Dan said.

“Yeah hopefully we will get to sit with Derek and Ella again next class.” I replied. Dan nodded and we got to work more quietly. Dan was painting a classroom with students. It was also a much cooler idea than mine.

Oh wow, how did I mess up a blade of grass.” I said as I pointed to a now wavy blade of grass.

“Ha, it’s fine though, no one will notice it in the end. Unlike this desk I now realize is crooked.” Dan said pointing to his own painting. We laughed about that and continued painting.

“Hey guys, do you want to go for coffee after art club.” Ella came to our table to ask. I was hesitant, I mean what would Alec say about me going. He barely liked us attending the clubs, we only did it to seem kind of normal.

“Yeah sure,” I said since I did want to hang out with them for a bit. I walked out of art club talking and laughing with my friends. Alec was standing against the wall on his phone like usual.

“I’ll be right back.” I said to them walking toward Alec.

“Hey Alec…” I said.

“Oh great you’re done, let’s go.” Alec said.

“Hold on..” I said.

“What did you do Red?” Alec asked.

“Nothing, I just want to go out for coffee with my friends.” I replied.

“Uhhhh is that such a good idea?” Alec asked. He didn’t yell so I took that as a good sign.

“Nothing's going on with the mission right now and I’ll be home in like an hour or two,” I responded.

“Ok I guess, just text me if you need to get picked up.” Alec said as he walked away. I was extremely impressed he didn’t fight me on it. I went to join my friends. We went in Ella’s car. She was a pretty good driver, I sat in the back with Dan.

We got to Starbucks and I ordered a frappuccino. I’ve only been there a handful of times so it was a treat. We drank our drinks at a small table in the corner and just chatted.

It was really nice but not like talking to the others back home. I guess it’s just because these new friends didn’t know outside of art club Clary. Jace, Izzy, Alec and even Lydia knew me as shadowhunter Clary. Well Alec knew me as annoying shadowhunter Clary.

I looked down at my phone and it was nearly seven.

“I think I should probably get going.” I said.

“What time is it?” Ella asked.

“Six fifty-five,” I answered. The others agreed to get into the car to head home. We went back to school so that Derek and Dan could get their cars. Ella drove me home.

“Okay here we are, we should hang out again.” Ella said.

“Definitely,” I replied. We said bye to each other and I got out of the car. I opened the apartment building door and headed for the elevator.

“Hey guys.” I said as I got inside the apartment.

“Hey Clary, you have fun?” Lydia asked. She seemed to have came to visit us.

“Yeah.” I replied. I told Jace, Izzy and Lydia what we did. Alec was apparently doing school work which never happened. Jace called him for dinner shortly after. We were having some pasta.

“Oh, you’re back.” Alec said to me as he sat down. I nodded and we got to eating. I wondered why Alec was being kind of weird about the whole situation. I decided I’d talk to him about it after dinner. Thirty-five minutes later I was sitting in Alec’s room.

“So what’s up with you?” I asked.

“Nothing's up.” Alec responded.

“I mean you have been a little off over this whole, me hanging out with friends thing.” I said.

“Oh, well I don’t know. I was just kind of confused on why you wanted to hang out with them. I mean even very social Izzy and Jace barely spend time with other friends.” Alec replied.

“Oh, well they invited me so I thought why not.” I said.

“Are they more exciting then we are?” Alec asked, sounding genuinely curious.

“No of course not. I mean they are fun but I was getting kind of bored at the end if I’m being honest. Hanging out with you guys is very different.” I responded. We talked a bit more about what the last couple months had been like together before I decided to call it a night. I left Alec’s room feeling content. Sure I could hang out with other friends but nothing beats spending time with the friends who are like family to me.

Chapter Text

Jace POV

“Math class, how wonderful.” I said to Izzy as we walked to class.

“It’s not that bad Jace, at least it’s not English.” She said.

“True, English sucks a lot.” I responded. We walked into the math classroom and depression washed over me. I mean, the teacher was so slow at teaching. Whenever Clary saw our math homework she would say she did that stuff back in kindergarten.

I took my seat which was next to this girl named Sarah. I only knew that because we had to do many partner assignments. Izzy sat in the row in front of me.

“Alright let us begin with a group assignment.” The math teacher said. Needless to say that statement was followed with many groans.

“Groups are as follows..Conner, Sarah, Emily and Josh. Jace, Lucas, Isabelle and Kara….” The math teacher continued. At least I was in a group with Izzy so it wasn’t just the annoying classmates.

“Okay well we have to create a short presentation on how to use this formula.” Kara said pointing to the paper. We decided on doing a poster. We got out a large sheet of paper. Then the very annoying phone began to ring.

“Ummm Okay. Kara your parents are here to get you. Just get your group to go over what they did on Monday.” The teacher said.

“Okay!” Kara replied.

“Alright, well see you guys.” Kara said getting her stuff. Great, now we were stuck with just Lucas.

“Ugh, come on let’s just start.” I said after Lucas and I had been arguing.

“Yes, lets please do that.” Izzy said.

“Jace..can you come up here please.” The math teacher said calling me over to her desk.

“Yeah..” I responded when I got there.

“Yes, well I just wanted to discuss your grades since we are starting to do report cards.” The teacher said. That began the 10 minute discussion on how I should work harder and what not. When that was finally over and I walked back over to my group.

“Can you just stop being such a bitch about this!” I heard Lucas say to Izzy.

“I’m really not, I’m just explaining the formula to you.” Izzy said back. That’s my sister. I sat down to hear the rest of this conversation.

“Okay, but you don’t need to be so rude. Like I get the formula.” He said.

“You don’t though, you said it involved addition when it clearly doesn’t.” Izzy said. Even I knew how to do the formula and I barely tried at math.

“That’s addition!” Lucas started pointing to the formula.

“It’s a square root sign!” Izzy said. My god, this guy wasn’t very smart.

“NO IT ISN’T! STOP BEING STUPID!” Lucas yelled while getting too close to Izzy.

“OK! That’s enough buddy.” I said pushing Lucas away a bit.

“THAT’S ENOUGH, ALL THREE OF YOU TO THE MAIN OFFICE. NOW!” The math teacher yelled. We quickly got up and out of the room and went downstairs. Right before we left I heard her call the office on the classroom phone. The walk downstairs was awkward, Lucas was as far away from us as possible.

“Hey, you okay?” I asked Izzy.

“Yeah...you know Alec is gonna kill us.” Izzy responded. I nodded, just realizing that fact.

“Do you think this is worse than the door thing?” I asked.

“Definitely, I mean this affects our academic track record at the school. The door just annoyed the super attendant.” Izzy replied. We chuckled lightly.

“You must be Jonathan Herondale, Isabelle Lopez and Lucas Jefferson.” The person sitting at the office desk said. We all nodded and she motioned for us to take a seat. We waited for what felt like an eternity. I looked at the time and realized that our class would be going to French. Which meant there was an hour until school got out. That also meant that we had an hour to figure out how to break the news to Alec.

The principals assistant, Veronica, was standing at the filing cabinet. I kept looking over at her. She was acting fairly normal that day.

“Why the heck are 12th graders getting into stupid arguments in math class!” The principal stated when he finally came to talk to us.

“I was not involved at all.” Lucas said. Izzy and I death glared at him.

“Lucas began the argument.” I said.

“Okay, please describe exactly what happened.” The principal said.

“Well I was just explaining the formula to Lucas and he started arguing about it.” Izzy said.

“Because she was being very rude to me and degrading my math abilities.” Lucas stated. I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Is that really appropriate Jonathan?” The principal asked. I shook my head and apologized. Lucas and Isabelle argued about who said what for a bit.

“Enough! So Johnathan what did you say?” The principal asked.

“Oh well I just defended my sister...sisterly friend when the fight got to be a bit too much.” Close call there. The principal pretty much just told us to never do another thing like that again. And she said we needed to wait until the end of the day when a guardian would come to pick us up. Lucas’ mom came to get him shortly after.

Izzy and I had to wait until the end of school so Alec could come get us. That was a painful 30 minutes. Once the bell rang I texted Alec to come to the office.

“What did you do?” Alec asked as he came in.

“Oh is this your guardian?” The desk person asked.

“Uh yeah he is our cousin.” I responded. Alec talked to the office for a bit about our behaviour.

“I’m going to kill you both.” Alec growled under his breath. We ended up not attending our clubs today and just heading straight home. The drive was so awkward and Clary kept asking what was up.

“No, seriously though, what happened?” Clary asked once we got in the elevator.

“Oh you know my stupid siblings got into a fight in math class.” Alec finally responded.

“Oh really…” Clary said trying not to laugh.

“Yup, not a big deal let’s move on.” I said. We got inside the apartment and Alec went to his room right away. He said he didn’t want to deal with us anymore. Lydia came over and we told her and Clary what went down.

We knew we would laugh at this in a couple weeks. We had a very quiet dinner of some salad. Alec was really mad at us. Later that night Izzy and went to his room.

“Alec, just yell at us to get this over with.” Izzy said after we had sat in silence for almost fifteen minutes.

“I don’t want to yell at you.” Alec said.

“You sure about that?” I asked.

“I do, but I don’t feel like I should. I mean you guys do stupid stuff all the time to the point where I shouldn’t have to tell you that you’re being stupid. I mean when we first came here I thought I’d have to worry about Clary’s actions but no, you guys are the ones who constantly mess up.” Alec said.

“We’re sorry okay...its just Lucas was getting on my nerves. A simple argument just got a little out of hand.” Izzy said.

“I forgive you. But I swear to god if something like this happens again…” Alec said. We nodded and promised to never do something like that again.

I went to bed that night knowing that I would probably mess up again soon, since that was just my personality.

Chapter Text

Clary POV

Today started off as a really good day. I got ready on time. Jace and Izzy barely fought and Alec was...well Alec. We got to school and went to our classes.

Alec had recently been coming to the classes more often and had let us monitor the grounds. Today was Izzy’s turn again. We went to our first period.

The teacher told us that we were going to play a card game since she said that we finished our chapter early. I thought she was just being lazy but who was I to judge.

Me, Alec and two other students formed a group. We played a few games of go fish and I was happy when I won the last game. Class was over and we moved on to our next period.

I spent it staring out the window since they had particularly nothing important to teach.

After that we had lunch. I was walking to the cafeteria when someone tripped me over their leg. I would have been perfectly fine if there wasn’t a ledge right in front of me. I fell, my stomach landed right on top of the ledge, the force knocking the wind out of my body. I yelled out in pain.

Alec, who was a few steps behind me, ran up to see what happened. There was a crowd forming around me so he had to push some people to get to me. He kneeled down next to me.

“Are you okay?” He asked in a concerned voice.

I tried to say I was fine but all that came out was a jumble of groan.

“I’ll take that as a no.”

The next thing I know, my body was being lifted up and Alec was carrying me.

“I’ll take you to the nurse. We can’t use our healing runes because too many people saw the fall and we wouldn’t want them to be suspicious of you healing so quickly.”

I nodded, since I knew that if I opened my mouth to speak, I would sound like an animal.

When we reached the nurses office, she told Alec to put me down on the bed that was covered by curtains. I was laying there for about 2 minutes before the nurse came in. She told Alec to go outside and wait while she checked me over.

“Oh, that’s going to leave a nasty bruise.” She said, once she looked at the wound on my stomach. It was already turning purple-

“There isn’t really much to do about it. Do you want something to help with the pain? There doesn’t seem to be any internal wounds. If you want I can write you a note so you can go home.” She said once she was done her checkup.

“Yes, please.” I said weakly.

She left to get me a painkiller and write me a note. After a while Alec came back in.

“Hey, she told me that you want to go home. I’ll drive you okay?” I talked to the office for permission and they said that it was ok.” He said.

I nodded. The nurse came back with a pill and a glass of water. I swallowed it and drank the entire glass of water.

“When she gets home get her to eat some food that’s light on her body. She might not feel hungry but she still has to eat.” She said to Alec. He nodded and helped me sit up.

“Can you walk on your own?” He asked. I nodded because I didn’t want to be a bother to him and make him carry me again. Beside, I was pretty sure I could do it.

I put my feet on the ground and pushed my body up. And then I crumpled to the floor.

“Easy, easy!” Alec said as he helped me up. I felt my checks flush from embarrassment.

“It’s okay.” I said. “Let me try again.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll carry you, it’s only a two minute walk to the car.” He picked me up and carried me all the way to the car and buckled me in my seat. Fortunately we didn’t see too many people on the way. The ride home was quiet and I didn’t do anything to rectify that.

When we got out of the car he helped me up to our apartment and laid me down on the bed.

“Rest while I go make some soup.” He said and left for the kitchen. After a while Alec came back with a warm bowl of chicken soup. I sat up on my bed to make it easier to eat.

“Tell me if you need anything.” He said, as he left the room.

I looked at my clock and saw that school was already over. Jace and Izzy should be coming back home soon. True to my thoughts, Jace burst through the door a few minutes later.

“Are you okay? I would have come sooner but I stayed in school just incase Izzy needed help.” He said, clearly flustered.

“I’m fine. I’ll be okay by tomorrow probably.” I said to calm him down. He came over to me and took my hand.

“I don’t know what I would do if you weren’t ok.” He said as he kissed my forehead. My heart melted a little. We hadn’t had much time to be a couple since the mission started. He sat on the chair next to my bed as he drew designs onto my hand with his fingers. We stayed like that for a while before he had to leave. He gave me one last kiss for goodnight and left to go to sleep.

I spent the night thinking about random little things until I too fell asleep.

Chapter Text

Alec POV

It was four in the morning and I had woken up way before my alarm. I was supposed to wake up at six to head to idris for a clave meeting. And unfortunately I had to bring Izzy, Clary and Jace. This wasn’t going to go well, at all.

First of all, Clary was barely healed from her stomach thing on Thursday. Izzy and Jace seemed to ruin almost everything they do. Such as the door and that math fight. Oh, and Lydia had to go too I just remembered. She had actually just returned home from another mission.

Since I couldn’t fall back asleep, I decided to do a bit of cleaning. Since my room had gotten kind of unorganized. I started with my closet. And I put all my black stuff on the side I could reach better. Since it was quickly turning into winter. Shades of medium through dark grey were only worn in the spring and summer months.

While organizing what was on my dresser a porcelain cat my aunt got for me ages ago fell. It made a way too loud sound when it fell. I only had it on the dresser behind other things because Izzy told me I should decorate. I picked up the pieces and prayed that the others didn’t wake up. I really didn’t need them complaining at 4:25 in the morning.

“What was that?” Clary said groggily walking into my bedroom.

“This thing.” I said pointing to the broken cat.

She yawned and went to get a broom.

“You really don’t have to help, go back to bed.” I said.

“No it’s fine. I can’t go back to bed after I wake up anyway.” She replied. I apologized for waking her up and she helped me tidy up the rest of my bedroom.

By about five we had finished and we decided to get an early morning snack. We ate some kale chips that Izzy had bought.
“Wow these suck….” Clary said. I nodded and threw them out. I made a mental note to apologize to Izzy. At about five forty-five Izzy woke up and we all started getting ready.

Jace woke up like five minutes before we had to leave. Lydia joined us. We were ten minutes early.

“So are we ready for the meeting?” Lydia asked. I just walked away. She took the hint that we weren’t.

“Sorry, he just doesn’t like when the rest of us attend these meetings.” I heard Jace say. We finally got into the meeting room and we all took our seats. I told everyone before going in to not speak unless they were spoken to.

The council asked me how the mission had been going. I talked for a bit about what had been going on. Then they asked the others. I silently prayed that they would be smart about it.

Clary said a few words about the patrolling we had been doing and the demon attacks. Jace mentioned the principals
assistant and what we thought of her. Izzy added to what Jace had said. And Lydia was asked about the related missions she had been on.

The clave discussed some more things with us. And talked about around when the next meeting would happen. The meeting ended without a hitch.

We headed back home and decided to grab some lunch since it was about 11:30 by this point. We went to some restaurant. I got a grilled cheese, it was average. Plus we all shared some salad. Lydia talked more about the mission she had just been on, it was pretty interesting.

“These are actually really good fries.” Jace said. We nodded since they were. After lunch we headed back to the apartment. Lydia came over. Izzy started working on a slideshow for her social studies class.

Jace, Lydia and I played some card games while Clary helped Izzy. I surprisingly won most of the games. We were just having a pretty chilled out day.

At around four Lydia went back to her apartment and the rest of us went to run some errands. We had to go to the post office because Izzy had ordered something and needed to pick it up. I just stared at the many types of envelopes they had for sale.

After that we went to the grocery store. Usually only two of us would go but it was a lot quicker with all of us. Izzy decided to buy like a million hair ties. Clary told me that they broke a lot.

We decided to buy some healthy dinner options since we ate way too much pizza. Jace complained about the crackers that I picked out. Izzy made a big deal over a sale on god knows what and the whole aisle stared at us. And that’s why I usually didn’t go with the three of them.

We were finally done thank god and went to pay. I decided to go look at some magazines since I didn’t want to argue with Jace any longer.

“Hey, are you okay?” Clary asked.

“Yeah, it’s just that it’s already been more than two months and barely anything has happened with the mission. I really don’t want to graduate from my senior year of highschool and at this rate I probably will have to.” I said. Clary nodded and said that the mission would probably get more intense soon. By then Izzy and Jace had paid and we got the groceries to the car.

The drive home was quiet and went by fairly quick. We put away all the groceries and had some leftover salad for dinner. I decided to work on an English essay since I didn’t have much else to do. Jace was laughing about some documentary on like pigeons or something. He watched way too many of them.

I headed to bed not knowing what to think about my current life.

Chapter Text

Izzy POV
It was my turn again to monitor the school grounds. It was usually so boring but since we had found out about the secretary, we had started to follow her around. She hadn’t done anything too suspicious so we hadn’t learned any new information. But it was still the only lead we had so we kept on following her.

I walked into the school and went to the bathroom and hid in a stall to wait for the first period bell to ring. I didn’t want to get caught by the pesky teachers walking around the hallway. Skipping wasn’t too uncommon in school, proven by the fact that there was a group of girls that were also in the bathroom. They were just talking and looking at themselves in the mirror so I assumed they were in no hurry to leave.

“Omg. Did you hear about Britney? Like, she was so rude! She doesn’t deserve Jason.” The brunette to the right said.

“I know, right! Like he’s too good for her.” The blonde agreed. They continued their pointless conversation. I rolled my eyes and looked at my phone to see how much longer I had to stay there.

A few minutes later the bell rung and I got out of the stall. I went to the sink to wash my hands when the short girl started to speak.

“Where you here the entire time?” I nodded. “Well you better not tell Britney.” She continued.

“Why would I? I don’t even know Britney.” I said, drying my hand with a paper towel. I left before they could say anything else.

And now to find Veronica, I thought to myself. It shouldn’t be very hard since she usually hung out around the front office.
As I had thought, she was sitting in her chair, typing away at her computer. I stood out of her sight for a while until she started to get out of her seat and head for the doors. I scrambled behind nearest wall to hide myself.

She stopped near the doorway when she stepped on a piece of gum.

“Ugghhh. Filthy high schoolers. When I’m done with my job I won’t have to work a day in my life.” She said, scraping the gum on the ledge of the door.

That was insightful. Now we knew that she probably worked for them for money. This could be helpful in the future since she was only loyal because of money.

I was brought back from my thought when I heard the sound of heels clicking away on the floor. I got away from my hiding spot and started to follow her. She seemed to be heading towards the 2nd floor.

I slowly walked towards the stairs after I saw her climb them. Too bad she was standing on top of the floor and saw me.
“What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be in class?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh, um. I was just heading to the bathroom! The one in the second floor is currently out of order so I went to the first floor one.” I said, thinking on the spot.

She gave me a suspicious look but let me pass by. That was a close call. I would have to be more careful. I went back towards where my class was supposed to be to make my story more believable but I didn’t go in. Once I saw that she had left, I started to follow her again.

This time I was at least 10 feet away from her at all times. She walked into the teachers lounge and I waited for her to come out again. She had already been in there for more than an hour and at this rate it would be lunchtime. I looked at my phone and saw that there was only 30 minutes left before lunch. I checked to see if she had come out but it was pointless. I waited for another 20 minute before I left for the cafeteria.

I sat in a table near the front exit if the room and waited for them to arrive. Soon enough, Alec and Clary had come and Jace a few minutes later.

“So did you find anything.” Jace asked when he sat down.

“Why so impatient dear brother? Is this any way to greet your sister?” I said in a sickeningly sweet voice. Jace rolled his eyes.

“Cut the crap Izzy. Did you find anything or not.” Alec joined in.

“Ugh. Fine, yes. You guys need to chill. So apparently Veronica is a hire. Meaning she can be bribed with the right amount of money.” I said.

“That’s really good! We’re really getting somewhere here.” Clary said. I nodded my head at her.

The rest of the lunch we spent eating. Simon and Magnus had decided to join us halfway through and we all parted with promises to hang out sometime. I went back to my stalking when lunch was over.

The rest of the day was super boring. She didn’t do anything suspicious so I had just wasted a bunch of time. When we got home we ordered some Chinese takeout and binge watched some tv show.

I took a quick shower and went to bed to do some of the assignments we had due for Wednesday. It was already 11 so I decided it was time I should go to bed. I turned off the lights and let the chirps of grasshoppers lull me to sleep.

Chapter Text

Lydia POV

As I was eating breakfast, I got a text from Alec asking if I could go up to their apartment. I grabbed a cardigan from the closet since their apartment seemed to always be colder than mine. There was about 5 other people in the elevator, it was pretty cramped for 8:30 in the morning.

I knocked on the door and waited until Jace opened it.

“Good Morning.” I said.

“Morning.” He grumbled back, guess Jace isn’t a morning person. He quickly went and laid himself on the couch. Alec and Clary were in the kitchen arguing over god knows what. And Izzy was still eating breakfast.

“Hey guys.” I said. Alec and Clary momentarily stopped arguing to say hi to me. And Izzy waved her arm from the table.

“Why did you text me to come up here this early Alec?” I asked. Alec quickly finished up his fight with Clary to turn to me.

“Oh yes, well the clave called me up today. And they told me that some demons were spotted near the local church so that’s where we are going today.” Alec said.

“So are we going to investigate tonight or something?” Izzy asked since she had just finished up her breakfast.

“Oh no, we are going to the church service this morning at 10.” Alec said.

“Ugh.” Jace groaned from the couch.

“What’s wrong with church?” Izzy asked.

“Nothing really but it’s early.” Jace said.

“Well we are going.” Alec replied. I wasn’t too excited to go to the church. I didn’t know what it was like since I’d never been.

“Clary did you ever attend church when you were younger?” I asked.

“No, but I had friends who did.” Clary responded. She continued to explain what she knew about church services. We hung out a bit while Jace decided to take a quick nap. Around 9:40 we got up to leave.

Alec got into the front like usual and Jace actually let Izzy sit in the front since he was apparently too tired to argue. I sat next to Clary in the back. On the way there we got into some traffic.

“It’s 9:57 we’re gonna be late.” Alec groaned.

“Does it really matter if we’re a bit late, it’s not like they take roll call.” Izzy replied. We finally arrived around 10:05. It wasn’t that late but the service had already started. We tried walking in as quietly and quickly as possible. Jace accidentally tripped over one of the music stands in the back of the room.

Alec silently cringed and only the people in the back few rows seemed to notice. Luckily the pastor was talking about some church events that we were not going to attend so we didn’t miss much. Shortly after we sat down we were all told to stand up for the signing of some hymns.

Some music stands, like the one Jace tripped over, were put in front of where we were sitting. We didn’t know the words so we just tried mouthing the lyrics. In between hymns an elder came over to us welcoming us to the church.

 After the hymns we listened to some scriptures from the pastor. A few other people went up to speak as well. It honestly wasn’t bad and I wouldn’t mind going again if I had to. Jace almost fell asleep like five times and Izzy had to keep nudging him. Alec ended up leaving for about 20 minutes to look around the church for anything suspicious.

He came back saying that everything was fine. After the service everyone went to get some refreshments. Since we were there we grabbed some coffee and food. Alec got Jace and Izzy to do a bit of patrolling around the room the service had just been held in since no one was there anymore.

Clary, Alec and I walked around while eating and everything seemed typical. All of the people seemed normal too. Maybe the demonic behaviour had been a one time thing at the church.

“You know there’s this like fountain looking thing of water here.” Jace said when him and Izzy returned.

“Yeah it’s holy water.” Clary responded. The pastor came over to us and asked us about why we chose to attend the church service. Alec made up some stuff about wanting to have more faith since his parents didn’t take him to church as a child. Izzy and Clary contributed a bit and Jace and I just nodded.

We walked past the room with the holy water on the way out of the church. Jace walked over to it.

“Jace.” Alec hissed waving him back over to where we were. Jace ignored Alec and just peered at the water.

“Looks just like regular water.” Jace said far too loudly. Izzy just shook her head trying not to laugh. Alec was pretty annoyed. The pastor ended up hearing Jace and he came to educate Jace about the holy water.

“Really Jace, let's just make a sceptical of ourselves.” Alec said after Jace concluded his conversation with the pastor. Afterward we quickly went around the church again just to make sure there was nothing suspicious.

“You know what let’s just come back quickly tonight.” Alec said.

“Why didn’t we just go in the evening originally like did we really have to attend the church service?” Izzy asked.

“Well the other demon attack happened during another church service. So the clave just thought it would be better it we went in the morning I guess.” Alec said. I ended up spending the rest of the day over at their place.

I helped Clary and Alec with science slideshows since apparently I have a knack for it. Izzy checked over my social studies paper since I hadn’t been doing the best with them. We had a quick dinner of some pasta Alec had made.

Around eight we left to patrol the church again, no traffic this time. It was underwhelming and nothing seemed out of place. At home I completed some math homework that was due the next day. After that I went to bed quickly after what turned out to be a fairly interesting day.

Chapter Text

Izzy POV

I was so done with school at this point. Everything was exceptionally boring and Alec expected us to be on guard every time we went to school. It was once again my turn to monitor the school and I had decided to go to the roof since I hadn’t been there before.

The gate of the roof was closed by a flimsy lock that seemed to be falling apart. There was also a piece of wood laying across the door. It was probably used to blockade the door but years of wear seemed to have made it fall off. I looked behind me to see if anyone was there but everyone seemed to be in class.

I picked up the piece of wood and hit it against the lock. It broke off right away. I took off the broken lock and opened the door. It let out a loud creaking noise. As I walked through the door, I could see spiderwebs littering the top of the door. I quickened my pace since I didn’t want anything to land on top of me.

The roof was pretty empty expect for a few broken chairs and random pieces of wood. I circled the place and found a small shed. Surprisingly it seemed that the door was still in good condition and the handle was clean, indicating recent use. I opened the door and took a peak in.

Wow! The room looked so much bigger on the inside. It had multiple tables with papers scattered all over it. I took a picture of few of the papers. There was symbols scribbled all over them and they looked strangely familiar. I looked at them for a few more seconds before it clicked in my mind. They were the same symbols as the ones in the place Jace had found. We didn’t get any leads from that but maybe now that we had more information, we could decipher it.

I looked around and took more pictures of the place. I’d have to bring the guys up here at lunch. The demons were probably using this as a hide out since we had already found there last one. I looked at my phone and checked the time. Only half an hour till lunch. I went around the shed a few more times before I decided to leave for the cafeteria.

When I got back to downstairs, everyone seemed to already be at lunch. I looked for a table and saw Clary waving at me. I walked towards her and took a seat.

“Find anything?” She asked.

“As a matter of fact, yes.” I replied. “I found this spot that’s a lot like the one Jace found before. I think it’s their new hideout.”

“Good job! Let’s finish eating quickly so we can go check it out.” Jace said. Alec nodded his head and we all started eating.
A few minutes later we were on our way to the roof. When we got up there, I guided them to the shed.

“Wow. It’s so much bigger on the inside.” Clary commented.

“Exactly what I thought when I first came here.”

I was just about to show them the papers I had found when a loud chasing noise came from the door.

“What was that?” I whispered.

“I don’t know. You guys stay here. I’ll go check it out. Take your weapons out just in case.” Alec said before he quietly walked up towards the door.

In the next few seconds we heard a yell and the sound of metal scraping the floor. We took that as a signal and charged toward the door. There seemed to be multiple demons lining the place.

We each took on about 5-6 of them on our own and just when we thought we were done, 7 more popped up. Two of them flanked Clary and she effortlessly killed them both. But she didn’t see the coming from behind her. I ran up towards her and put my blade through it.

“Thanks.” She said in a breathless tone.

“Don’t mention it.” I replied and went back to killing a few more of them.

Once we had killed all of them we were exhausted. We healed ourselves with the stele and went back to class since we didn’t want anyone to suspect anything.

We decided to deal with the symbols later since we were all too tired to decipher anything. Clary, Jace and I skipped our club meetings since we didn’t feel like dancing and fencing. We could barely walk without falling asleep.

Alec drove us home after we finished our classes and we proceeded to have a quick dinner before heading to bed.
I saved all the photos in a folder and shared them with the rest. We had to find out what the symbols meant, and fast. Maybe Clary would have better luck since she knew a lot about runes.

That was enough worrying for one day. It was time to sleep. I would deal with the problems tomorrow.

Chapter Text

Clary POV

Math class was dragging on like it did most days. I looked up at the clock seeing we still had 30 minutes left. I groaned internally and looked down at my notes. I had been doodling on the side of my paper since I was bored. I looked over at Alec who had recently been moved to the front of the class. He was tapping his pencil on the desk.

I began thinking about the symbols in the shed yesterday. I’d been thinking about it all day but especially in math since we were just listening to the teacher drone on about almost nothing. I started thinking a lot about the demons and how bad the situation probably was.

I started rubbing my head since it had started hurting really bad. It began with a dull ache in the morning but it hurt so bad by this point. The teacher had told us to begin working on the textbook questions so I went to grab the book. I put my hand on the counter since I started feeling kind of dizzy.

“You okay?” Alec asked lightly putting his hand on my arm.

I just shook my head and put down the book.

“My head hurts really bad.” I replied quietly. Alec looked sympathetic. I went up to the teacher.

“Hey Ms.White, I have a really bad headache and I feel kind of dizzy.” I said.

“Okay..well do you think you can get through this class, you have lunch next.” Ms.White replied. I shook my head.

“Alright, well just go to the nurse. Take your stuff.” Ms.White said. She scribbled a quick note that I could give to the nurse. I whispered to Alec that I was going to the nurse since he was near my desk to ‘pick up a pencil’. After packing up my stuff I quickly walked out. I decided to stop by my locker to drop off my binder so I wouldn’t have to lug it to the nurse. After struggling with my combination and almost falling in the process I got my stuff in.

“Hey. What’s up?” The nurse asked.

“I have a really bad headache and I feel sort of dizzy.” I responded.

“Ok have a seat.” She said kindly. She took note of my name and class. After that she gave me a quick examination and then got me a glass of water.

“Any other symptoms?” I shook my head.

“Alright...have you been stressed lately? That can sometimes make you sick.” She said.

“Yeah, kind of.” I said. She nodded and told me to lay down for a bit. A few minutes later two younger girls came in. While the nurse tended to them I looked up at the clean white ceiling. I rubbed my head and suddenly I got a vision of a rune. Maybe it had to do with the demons from earlier.

Right before the lunch bell the nurse asked me if I wanted to go to lunch or go home. I decided to just go to lunch. The headache was starting to subside. Once the bell went I quickly headed upstairs.

“Hey.” I said meeting up with Alec at the lockers.

“Oh hey, what happened with the nurse?” Alec asked.

“The headache is better but..something did happen.” I said the second part quieter.

“What?” Alec asked looking mildly concerned. I told him I would tell him with Izzy and Jace at lunch. He quickly texted them to meet up like usual.

“How were your classes?” Izzy asked sitting down.

“Average, Clary does have something interesting to say apparently.” Alec replied. I told them to wait for Jace. And a few minutes later he showed up. He had been busy patrolling.

“So I got this bad headache in math class…” I said.

“Are you okay?” Izzy asked.

“Yeah, the interesting thing was what happened there.” I replied. I had now slightly peaked their interests.

“I got a vision of a rune, like that other time, and I’m pretty sure it has to do with the demons from yesterday.” I said. Everyone agreed and we decided to finish eating and sneak up to the roof to try.

“Jace! We’re trying not to be heard.” Alec whisper yelled after Jace accidentally tripped and hit a locker. Izzy laughed quietly and Alec death glared at her. Once we got to the roof we decided I should try the rune in the shed. I did and nothing really happened. We were confused so we went outside. Nothing seemed to be different.

“Maybe you did it wrong.” Alec said. I thought that idea over and realized that I couldn’t have since I had pretty much etched it into my brain. I shook my head so we decided to just go back downstairs.

Later that night we decided to head to the school to patrol.

“Wear the most black you have.” Alec said. Izzy just laughed.

“What?” Alec asked.

“That won’t be a problem for you.” Izzy said while laughing. I started laughing too.

“So annoying.” Alec said as he walked away. We walked around the school not seeing much of anything. When we were about to leave we saw some demons. We quickly got out our weapons. There were three of them and they were going closer to the school.

“What just happened?” Jace asked. The demons had gone right up to the school and then just sort of bounced off. They kept trying and bouncing off. We were confused for a bit.

“I think the rune Clary tried earlier created some kind of invisible dome that keeps out demons.” Alec suddenly mentioned. We nodded and got to killing them. On the way home we discussed the rune wondering how long the dome thing would last.

“At least we have a temporary solution.” Jace said. We agreed. We ended up going over to Lydia’s for a late dinner and we told her about the rune. She hasn’t been in school because she had been working on a side mission. At home we finished up some homework and projects. I took a shower and headed to bed hoping the solution would last a decent amount of time.

Chapter Text

Alec POV

Today was the last day of school before the break. We had winter break and I couldn’t wait for school to end so we didn’t have to waste time going here. I walked to my class and waited for the bell to ring.

We had decided to go to class like normal since Clary had made the shield. We thought it would last for about 2 or 3 months from what we saw.

We probably weren’t going to do any work today since half the people weren’t even in school today. People seemed to have gone on holiday and I wished that I could do the same. But nope. Here I was, on a mission, stuck in school. I sighed and went to my first class when the bell rang.

“Good morning class! Are you guys excited!” The teacher paused as she got some unenthusiastic yeah’s and hums. “Today we’re going to play a game since it’s the last day of school. Everyone will be divided into groups of 6 and whoever solves the puzzle first will get a bag of m&ms!”

That seem to make the teenage kids somewhat excited as they started to move around to form groups. I ended up being with Clary and 4 other students. I recognized one of them from my science group. I mostly stayed out of it and it seemed that I was paired with the other unenthusiastic kids since only Clary and another kid were trying.

One of the other groups ended up winning but the teacher gave everyone small bags of m&ms as consolation prize. I gave mine to Clary since I didn’t like them. Clary seemed shocked because she said that everyone liked m&ms but she didn’t argue for long since she wanted them.

We went to our next class. This teacher said that she would put on a movie and if we didn’t make any noise we could go on our phone. The hour went by pretty quickly and I packed my stuff up to go to my last class before lunch.

This was the only teacher who actually made us do work. Apparently the winter break was a great time to do some homework and he assigned us a 2 page essay to do during the break. I shoved the papers into my bag and left for lunch.

“Hey guy!” Izzy said, waving us over to their seat. Simon had decided to join us for lunch today.

When we were all sitting down Izzy asked Simon what he was planning to do over the break.

“I was planning to go skiing with my family. It’s a 3 day trip.” He replied. “What about you guys?”

“Oh, you know. We’re just going to chill at home.” Izzy said.

“Speak for yourself. I’ve got at least 3 parties lined up for the break.” Jace butted in.

After that we ate in mostly silence expect for a few side conversations Izzy and Simon had. The lunch bell rang and I got up. I dragged my tray over to the trash can and dumped everything in there. I put the tray on top of the can and left for the library since I had a free period next.

Clary had decided to go to the art studio to work on her project so I said bye to her in the hallway. When I got to the library I picked a good book and sat down in a cozy spot to read. Time seemed to fly by because a few moments later the bell rang. We had a half hour class today for last period so we were going to be dismissed early. We would probably end up doing nothing anyways so I decided to stay in the library to finish up my book.

When the final bell rang I put the book away and went to the parking lot to get in the car.

“Where were you?” Clary asked when she got to the car.

“Oh, I was in the library. I didn’t think we’d do anything in the last period. Was I wrong?” I asked.

“No, but still. Doesn't mean that you can’t just skip class.” She said with a huff.

Our conversation was interrupted when Jace and Izzy came back.

“I’m glad we can finally get out of this hell-hole.” Jace said, getting into the front seat. Izzy and him had worked out a system where they rotated who got to sit up front. I didn’t care what they did as long as I didn’t have to break any fights over something as trivial as who got shotgun.

When we got home I informed everyone that we were free to do anything we wanted for break because we couldn’t go to the school. We spend the rest of the time watching a tv show until way past midnight. Clary had made a load of popcorn which led to a huge mess on the floor. I decided that I would deal with it tomorrow as I said goodnight and left for bed.

Chapter Text

Jace POV

“Just get some stuff Jace, come on!” Izzy said to me as we walked through the store.

“Well you didn’t tell me we had to buy Christmas gifts for everyone until yesterday.”

“Are you stupid? It’s Christmas, what did you think we were doing when we were buying gifts this past week.” She replied rolling her eyes at me. I guess I totally forgot about the fact that you buy presents on Christmas. We didn’t grow up celebrating it so this was really the first time.

“Do I need to get cards?”

“You don’t have to but you probably should Jace. Unless you want to make your own.” Izzy looked through some of the cards picking out a couple for me to possibly buy.

“Okay so I have things for almost everyone. Except Magnus, Lydia and well you since you have been with me.”

“Well I have to get a couple other things anyway, so we can just meet up later.” Izzy said and then proceeded to walk away. After getting the gifts I texted Izzy and we met up shortly after.

“So, we have some wrapping paper at home that you can wrap them in since you didn’t get any bags.” Izzy said while we got into the car. I nodded and hoped it wouldn’t be too much work.

At home we had a ‘wrapping party’ as Izzy put it. All four of us wrapped what we needed to and would turn away when someone was wrapping ours. So I now know what everyone is getting for Christmas.

“This is so difficult.” I said while trying to shake tape of my finger.

“It really isn’t.” Alec replied while setting down the 5th gift he had wrapped in like two minutes.

“I guess this is your new talent.” Clary said to Alec, he laughed. I continued to struggle for almost an hour, while the others were done in less than 20 minutes. Alec sped through it and was done in like 7.

“Jace, you should get bags next time if your struggling so much.” Izzy teased. I glared at her and continued wrapping. It was a long afternoon to say the least.

“How long is the party tonight?” Alec asked.

“Oh, we are staying the night into tomorrow.” Izzy replied.

“Really? Why is that necessary?” Alec said clearly bothered.

“Because...it’s Christmas I don’t know.” She replied walking away.

“Clary, do people sleep over on the 23rd typically?” Alec asked.

“No, well at least it’s not a typical tradition.”

“I’m sure it will be fine Alec. It’s with Magnus after all.” I said. I swear I saw Alec blush before he turned away. Izzy, Clary and I tried so hard not to laugh. At around 6pm Lydia came upstairs since she was coming with us to the party at Magnus’s place.

“Hey guys.” She said while putting her presents next to ours by the door. There were quite a few so it would be a tight squeeze getting them into the car for sure. About 30 minutes we got all the presents and headed down to the garage.

“God, why did we get so many presents.” Alec said as we were trying to stuff them into the tiny trunk of the car along with our sleeping bags.

“Finally,” Lydia said when we finally got the trunk closed. It was Izzy’s turn to sit in the front so I sat in between Lydia and Clary in the back.

“You’re going the wrong way.” Izzy said to Alec who was turning onto a random street.

“Well, the GPS isn’t working.” He replied.

“Are we even using it?” Lydia asked.

“We weren’t, Alec just wanted something to blame for his stupidity today. We have gone to the house before.” Izzy said. Alec seemed on edge so I told him to stop the car.

“You know what, I’ll drive, come on Alec.” He fought me on it for a couple minutes before finally agreeing and taking my seat.

“Is it because we are sleeping over at Magnus’ tonight?” I heard Clary whisper.

“No, that’s ridiculous. I’m just tired.” We got there around 7 o’clock.

“Hey guys, Merry Christmas!” Magnus said when he opened the door. We all said hello and threw our coats over the bannister on the staircase. Magnus went to hang them up in the coat closet. Then he led us into the living room.

“You guys, can just lay all the presents there and we can open them up tomorrow.” Magnus said. We decided that would we open all of each other’s presents on Christmas Eve instead of actual Christmas, since Magnus was going home for actual Christmas. And the rest of us would just sit at home and watch Christmas movies.

We ended up having some dinner, it was a nice roast. After that we tried eggnog for the first time, well Clary has had it before. Then Magnus got out candy land, which was a board game. Normally Alec would object to these kinds of games but since Magnus wanted to play he said nothing and just sat down.

Clary ended up winning the first round and somehow I won the second. After that we watched Elf. Honestly the movie concerned me and it was kind of weird but the others seemed to enjoy it. Then Magnus brought out some chocolate because apparently we hadn’t eaten enough.

Alec isn’t a big chocolate person and he usually refuses to buy any. But he ate a good six pieces.

“Wait, does Alec have a crush on Magnus or something?” Lydia whispered to me. I tried hard not laugh while nodding my head.

“Oh...makes sense.” She responded. Around 11 Magnus suggested it would be a good time to go to bed and we all agreed. Clary, Alec and I went outside to grab the sleeping bags.

“You may as well just tell Magnus, Alec. It’s painful to watch you avoiding it.” Clary said as Alec opened up the trunk.

“Tell him what?” Alec asked, actually sounding curious.

“Really?” I asked. Clary and I looked at each other in disbelief. Alec continued pretending to not know what we were talking about. I just shook my head. Back inside we were laying down the sleeping bags. Magnus decided to sleep in the living room with us.

“Alec, why don’t you set yours down next to Magnus’ sleeping bag.” Izzy suggested. Lydia, Clary and I tried so hard not to laugh. Alec turned away but I saw him blush. Magnus seemed happy with this idea so that is what happened. I laid mine down next to Clary’s and smiled at her. Izzy laid here down diagonally from Alec’s. And Lydia put hers to the side near the couch.

I fell asleep pretty quickly and was excited for what the next day would bring.

Chapter Text

Alec POV

I woke up to light streaming through the living room. I slowly got out of my sleeping bag and walked into the kitchen. It was 7am according to Magnus’ stove. Everyone else was sound asleep so I decided to go outside for some fresh air. I grabbed my coat and slowly pushed the door open, trying to not let it slam behind me.

The air outside was crisp since it was late December. But not as cold as I expected. I walked around Magnus yard for a bit. I really couldn’t believe he could afford a house like this. The clave is paying for our rent but just buying groceries and things is difficult without having real jobs.

“Hey,” Magnus said while closing the door. I kind of jumped not expecting him to have woken up. I walked up to where he was.

“I was the only one awake so I wanted to get some fresh air.” I said, as an explanation. Magnus nodded and looked around his yard.

“Well it’s kind of cold so why don’t we go back inside and have some coffee.” Magnus said suddenly. I nodded and followed him back inside.

“This is good,” I said taking a sip of the cup of coffee Magnus made for me.

“Shoot,” Magnus said as the coffee machine started spewing out the coffee way too quickly.

“Oh god,” I said a little bit too loudly. We laughed and then I quickly grabbed paper towels to try to clean it up. Magnus kept pressing the stop button but it wouldn’t work.

“I think it’s jammed,” Magnus said. He went to remove the filter and it started dripping instead of fully running. Eventually it stopped completely. We looked at each other and just laughed.

“Hi…” Clary said walking into the kitchen.

“Sorry, did we wake you?” I asked. She shook her head.

“I’d offer you some coffee but…” Magnus said. Both of us burst out into laughter again. Clary looked at both of us and smiled conspiringly at me. I quickly glared at her before looking at Magnus again. All of them thought something was up between Magnus and I apparently.

Everyone else was awake by about 8am. Well everyone but Jace so I had to drag him out of bed. We had waffles for breakfast.

“This is very different and better than the cereal we usually have.” Izzy said after having a couple bites. We all agreed. Magnus seemed flattered by that. I smiled at Magnus and Jace stared at me but I didn’t make eye contact with him. We heard a knock at the door.

“Oh yeah that’s Simon,” Magnus said getting up from the table. I looked at Izzy and she was turned away.

“Did you know he was coming?” Jace asked Izzy and she nodded.

“Hey everyone,” Simon said awkwardly as he joined us at the table. He sat next to my sister and I glared at him. He didn’t seem to notice though. This would be an interesting day. After finishing up breakfast we sat in the living room.

“Let’s play some candy land.” Magnus said. We had played the night before and I really didn’t enjoy it much but I played it because Magnus and the other wanted to play it. Simon won the first time and Clary won the second time. Apparently the redhead was actually decent at the game, even though the game doesn’t involve skill. After that we decided to just get the present opening done with.

Izzy and Simon exchanged presents. He got Izzy some chocolate, a card and a book. Izzy said she really wanted to read the book which was a flat out lie. Because I have never seen my sister pick up a book that wasn’t for school. She got him some stuff I didn’t really pay attention to.

I got some candy from Lydia, two new shirts from Izzy, a phone case from Clary since mine apparently annoyed her and Jace got me a box to keep my arrows in. And some other stuff that wasn’t really noteable. I definitely remembered what Magnus got me though. He got me some arrows with my name engraved into them. I would definitely display them in my bedroom at the institute.

We began thanking each other and all talking. I stood up to get a glass of water, definitely not any coffee.

“So, do you enjoy all of your gifts?” Clary asked as she walked up to me, I nodded. I saw that Simon and Izzy were laughing and Clary noticed me looking.

“Believe me, he’s harmless,” Clary told me, I just nodded again. Clary turned to walk away.

“Hold on. What do you and the others think is going on with me and Magnus?”

“I honestly don’t know how you don’t know. It’s pretty obvious you have a crush on him.” She whispered back to me. I almost spit out my water and Clary clapped me on the back before walking away. I didn’t know how they thought that. But when I looked at Magnus I realized that maybe, possibly, they were right.

We continued talking for a bit and had lunch. After that we watched another Christmas movie that I don’t remember the name of. It was a fairly average movie I guess. Simon left around 4pm and I was pretty happy about it since my sister really doesn’t need yet another boyfriend.

We had more eggnog before dinner which I really started to like. Dinner was some chicken with vegetables. It was definitely better than what I would make. We left his house at about 8pm after being there for just over 24 hours.

We said bye and thanked Magnus. I drove all of us home. Lydia headed back to her place and we went to ours. We watched a bit of tv and Jace ate some chips. Then we put away all of our presents as well. I headed to bed around 10:30 since I was pretty tired.

Before sleeping I thought about how the Christmas party was pretty great. And it was fun to spend the holiday with people that I really cared about.

Chapter Text

Clary POV

I woke up with a smile on my face. It was my favourite holiday. Christmas. While we weren’t doing presents since we already exchanged them, I couldn’t wait to spend time as a family. I walked to the kitchen and decided to make one of the only things I could cook. Chocolate chip pancakes. The others were still asleep since it was only 7, so I thought it would be a nice surprise.

After I finished making the pancakes, I put them on a plate and drizzled them with a generous amount of chocolate and maple syrup. I made sure to make dark chocolate ones with fruit toppings for Alec, because he didn’t like anything overly sweet.

I heard groaning as Jace came into the kitchen. He was rubbing his eyes and didn’t seem to notice me at first. I looked at him, amused, and when he finally noticed me, he seemed to do a double take.

“Well someone’s up early.” He said, his voice laced with sleep.

“I could say the same thing.” I said, chuckling. In one sweeping motion, Jace came behind and hugged me, his chin resting on my shoulder.

“What are you making?” He whispered into my ear.

“Well, since it’s Christmas I decided to make some pancakes. I thought we could all spend some time together as a family.”

“That a great idea.” He said, softly kissing me on the cheek. I giggled and then asked him if he could help wake Alec and Izzy up. We decided that he’d take Alec and I’d do Izzy.

I knocked once on the door and when I confirmed that she was still asleep, I slowly opened the door.

“Izzy~” I said softly. “I made pancakes. Your favourite! I even made sure to put extra chocolate on yours.” I heard Izzy groan from under the bed sheets.

“Ugh...what’s this I’m hearing about pancakes?” She said, peeking from under her blanket.

“I made breakfast. Now before you start worrying, I actually learned how to make them from my mom so they’re good.”

“Hmmm...I can smell them from here...they smell so good!” She said, jumping out of bed and running for the door. I was about to follow her when I heard a huge crash come from the other side of the apartment. Alec’s room. Izzy looked back at me and gave me a worried look.

“I hope Jace hasn’t done anything too stupid.” I said, and then I started to walk to his room as Izzy followed. I was too scared to look inside the room but Izzy walked passed me and opened the door. Inside laid a mess of blankets and Alec looked like he was drenched with water. And he was. Jace had dumped a bucket of water on Alec. I should’ve never asked him to wake Alec up.

Alec looked furious, with his face red and hair in disarray. Jace was trying hard not to laugh but also looked a bit afraid.

“What did you do Jace! I told you to wake him up, not make him mad!’ I yelled.

“I thought it was a harmless jo–”

“Get out.” Alec said in a quiet voice which did nothing to hide his anger.

We all rushed out of the room and went to the kitchen.

“Well...where are those pancakes you were talking about?” Izzy asked to ease the tension.

“Oh, in the kitchen. Let me get some for you.” I said, rushing to the kitchen. When I had come back, Alec had joined them at the table. He seemed to have dried himself off and was reading a book. Jace and Izzy were sitting away from him, probably afraid that he would snap at them.

“Hey Alec. I’m sorry about Jace. Would you like some pancakes?” I purposely didn’t mention that I made them since he was distrustful of my cooking.

“Sure.” He said and went back to reading his book.

I placed Izzy’s and Jace’s plate on the table and went to get Alec’s and mine from the kitchen. I took them empty seat next to Alec and started to dig in.

“Oh my god. These are actually really good Clary! You have to teach me how to make some.” Izzy exclaimed. I nodded but I didn’t want Izzy coming near the kitchen. Last time she’d cooked a meal we had to put out a fire.

“Yeah, these are delicious Clary.”

“Thanks, Jace. What do key think Alec?”

“It’s the best thing that you’ve made.”

While it wasn’t really a compliment, I’d take what I could get. I smiled and went back to eating my pancakes.

After we finished eating I put all the plates in the sink. Jace had decided to help me wash the dishes.

“So do you have anything planned for today?” Jace asked.

“Well I was thinking that we could make a pillow fort and then just binge watch some movies. We’d have snacks and just spend time being lazy.” I said.

“Sounds like a great plan.”

“Really? Okay, then can you bring some pillows from your room so we can set them up on the sofa?” I asked.

“Sure thing.” He said, already turning around to get everything. I finished wiping the last plate and put it in the cupboard before joining him in the living room.

“How are we going to make it?” He asked.

“Let’s call Alec and Izzy over and we can all make them together. And there doesn’t need to be a plan. Just make it however you want.” I said. After Alec and Izzy joined us with their own pillows, we started to build the fort. At one point it collapsed on Izzy and we all started laughing.

After we had gotten everything set up, I grabbed a bag of chips and popcorn and set them up in front of our fort. We had decided to watch the Polar Express since none of them had watched it. After a while we had stopped paying attention and started playing a game to see how many popcorns we could land inside the basket on the table. Jace was in the lead with 13 but Izzy wasn’t far behind with 11. Alec had decided to just watch and I could only get 7 in before all the popcorn was gone. A few minutes later the movie was also over so I decided to put another DVD on and grab another bag of popcorn from the kitchen.

We kept on watching movie after movie, only taking breaks to order dinner since the snacks had filled us up enough for lunch. It was 10pm when we finally decided to stop and go to sleep.

“This was really fun! We should do this again sometime.” Izzy said.

“Yeah. We should. I had a lot of fun. You guys are like a second family to me.” I said.

“Awww.” Izzy coo-ed.

“Bye.” I didn’t want to embarrass myself further and dashed to my room, bringing my pillows with me.

I ended up falling asleep with a smile on my face, content.

Chapter Text

Izzy POV

I woke up on yet another winter break morning. I looked out the window to see a bit of snow coating the ground. I picked up my phone and checked the weather seeing that it was going to be chilly, yet again.

Walking out of my bedroom I saw that Alec was wiping the counter.

“Good morning!” I said a bit too loudly

“Why are you so enthusiastic. It’s another cold day in New York.”

“Alec, at least we don’t have school today.” I replied.

“I almost want to go back. You guys have been annoying me so much this break.” He said.

“Ha, like you actually attended the classes. And you love us.” I said while patting him on the shoulder. He shook my hand off before shaking his head and returning to cleaning. I got a granola bar out of the cabinet and took it to my room to watch some Netflix.

Around 10am Jace opened the door and walked into my bedroom.

“You’re supposed to knock,” I stated.

“Sorry,” he replied before sitting on my bed.

“What do you want Jace?”

“I need some advice from my sister.”

“About what?” I asked.

“Clary and I haven’t gotten to spend much time together these past couple months. I want to do something special with her.”

“Where did my selfish not caring brother go?” I said with a chuckle.

“I’ve evolved, help me please.” He said.

“Maybe you should take her to a coffee shop or something and have a relaxing afternoon.” I said.

“That seems like a nice idea, thanks sis.” He responded and gave me a quick kiss on the check before leaving my room. Jace really has grown.

Around noon while I was setting the table for lunch I got a text. It was from one of my classmates inviting me to go out with her and some friends. I didn’t know whether or not to go. I didn’t think I’d do anything at the apartment. Since Jace and Clary were going out for the afternoon and Alec doesn’t enjoy doing many things with me.

“Hey guys,” Lydia said letting herself in. She had come over for lunch. We ate some pasta that Clary made with my help. And by help I mean that I poured some juice for everyone. And spilled some on the ground in the process.

“So anyone have any plans for today?” Lydia asked after we sat down to eat.

“I may hang out with some classmates,” I responded.

“What classmates?” Alec questioned.

“Sarah and her friends,” I replied.

“You sure that’s a good idea?” He asked.

“Alec, it will only be for a few hours,” I stated. We argued over it for another five minutes before he finally let up. Not like he controls what I can and cannot do, he’s just overprotective. I was impressed Jace didn’t also argue with me about going.

After lunch Lydia helped us clean before she got a call about another mission. It was sort of weird that she could go on other missions but we couldn’t.

I hung out in my room for a bit. I heard a knock and my door.

“Come in.”

“Hey Iz.” Clary said as she closed my door.

“What’s up.” I reached down to shut off my iPad.

“Well Jace asked me to go on like a date with him,” she said.

“To a coffee shop right,” she nodded.

“How’d you know?” She asked.

“He asked for my advice.” I said.

“Ah, well thanks for helping him. It sounds like a lot of fun. I assumed he had some help I mean it’s not like Jace to think of these types of ideas.”

“So what did you come to talk to me about?”

“Well I was just wondering what to wear. Like is this a date-date or like a casual date. It’s a stupid question I know.” She said.

“It’s not that stupid. And probably something casual, I think this date is important for Jace though. I mean he has never liked a girl as much as he likes you.” I told her with a smile realizing how much my brother had grown as a person since he met Clary. She smiled back at me blushing lightly. We talked for a bit longer before she left my room. Her and Jace left to the coffee shop about half an hour later.

I got dressed to go out with my classmates at about four. Clary and Jace were still out and probably would be for a while.

“Bye, Alec,” I said.

“Bye, have fun I guess. Not too much fun though and don’t be out for that long.” He responded.

“Thanks dad.” I joked before turning around to leave.

“I just want you to be safe. Text me if anything happens.” He said before I closed the door. I shook my head but I knew it was just Alec’s personality.

Sarah ended up picking me up and these two guys were already in the car with her. I quickly said hi to everyone. And Sarah introduced us. The one named Kyle kept staring at me throughout the car ride. She picked up another of her friends a nice girl from my class named Evie.

The other guy named Mason decided that we should go to the movies. So we looked up the times and the closet good sounding movie was at 5:30 and it was about 4:30. We decided to go to target since it was near there. We just walked around and Sarah got a couple things she happened to need.

We left target at about 5 and headed back to the movie theatre. By the time we bought tickets and got popcorn it was 5:20. In the theatre I sat on the edge of one of the middle rows next to Kyle. I checked my phone quickly since the ads were still playing. I had a text from Clary saying she and Jace got home and that they had a good time. I sent her a thumbs up and told her I was at the movies.

The movie finally started and it was pretty boring but I didn’t say anything. I drank my seven up slowly. I looked over at Kyle and he was smiling a me. I shifted in my chair feeling a bit uncomfortable.

Evie who was next to Kyle handed me some m and ms. Which I took gratefully since I hadn’t gotten to have much popcorn since the boys were eating most of it. Around forty minutes into the movie I headed to the washroom. While I was washing my hands Evie came in.

“Hey Izzy,” She said while putting some water on her shirt explaining that Mason accidentally spilled some coke on her. We chatted for a bit as she tried to get out the stain.

We walked back to the theatre together and quietly took our seats. I looked up and saw that the boring characters hadn’t done much since I left. A little later Kyle leaned towards me and I pushed myself further away. He was making me more uncomfortable but he thankfully didn’t do anything else before the movie ended.

After the movie we stood up and walked out. Kyle kept bumping into me ‘accidentally’ throughout the short walk. We got into Sarah’s car and I sat in the back next to Evie and Kyle moved to sit on my other side. He was too close for comfort throughout the ride.

“Please move a bit,” I whispered. He laughed slightly but didn’t move.

“Can I have your number?” He dared to ask. I shook my head. Thankfully Sarah got to the apartment right after that so I just got out and said goodbye to everyone and thanked Sarah.

“Hey Izzy, you have fun?” Clary asked as I walked in. She was heating up dinner since it was nearing 8:00.

“Oh it was fine. This one guy was kinda creepy though.”

“Really, What happened?” She asked. I discussed it with her for a few minutes.

“Hey Iz, how was the movie?” Jace asked as he walked into the kitchen. I guess Clary told him.

“Oh it was pretty boring,” I replied.

“Izzy did say there was this guy Kyle bothering her,” Clary said. I groaned.

“What happened Izzy?” Jace asked.

“What happened when?” Alec asked as he joined us in the kitchen.

“Nothing.” I said to them.

“Apparently some Kyle dude was bothering her.” Jace told Alec. Of course this was becoming a big issue.

“Izzy, what did he do?” Alec asked. I decided I may as well tell them since they would continue to ask until I did.

“Oh he was just sitting and standing a little too close to me for my liking and staring at me. It’s nothing honestly, I was just a bit uncomfortable.” I said.

“Are you okay?” Alec asked I was surprised he didn’t ask where he lived to go ‘have a chat with him’. I nodded.

“Would you like me to speak to him when we go back to school?” Jace asked, I shook my head quickly and he surprisingly didn’t argue with me. I knew that they both weren’t happy about it but since I wasn’t in any real danger, they wouldn’t do anything about it.

We had a calm dinner and Clary talked what a good time her and Jace had. After that I hung out in the living room with Clary and we watched some tv.

I took a shower and headed into my warm comfortable bed. I guess I should be more careful with who I spend time with. Since I much prefer hanging out with Jace, Alec, Clary and Lydia then my teenage classmates.

Chapter Text

Alec POV

I was getting kind of bored with this whole concept of winter break. It was pretty useless and I always had nothing to do. Izzy, Clary and Jace went to hang out with their friends some of the time but I didn’t think it was necessary to make any so I stayed at home.

Clary making breakfast was only a one time deal, and we were back to our store bought cereal. I took out a bowl and poured milk into it. I opened the kitchen cabinet and looked at my options. There was coco-puffs, lucky charms and plain corn flakes. I don’t know how the others could stand having that much sugar, I couldn’t stand it. I choose the corn flakes and poured some of it into the bowl. Then I took a spoon out from the drawer and started to eat.

“Good morning Alec!” Izzy yelled behind me. I hadn’t heard her walk in so I jumped up in surprise and ended up spilling some of the milk onto my pants.

“Izzy!”

“I’m sorry! I didn’t know you were going to do that.”

“What did you think I was going to do? Start clapping!?” I huffed and went back to my room to change my pants. When I walked out Magnus was standing on our doorway with a bottle of wine.

“How’d you get in?” I asked.

“Izzy opened the door.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.” He said, trying to fill in the awkward silence. We just stood there for a few minutes, staring at each other until I finally realized that he was standing outside our place.

“Come in! I’m so sorry, forgot my manners.” I said, flustered.

“Ha, thanks. It was getting kinda awkward just standing there.”

I laughed awkwardly, while wanting to kill myself on the inside. Izzy finally decided to make an appearance.

“Where did you go? One moment you’re opening the door the next moment your gone.” Magnus asked.

“I forgot my phone in my room so I ran to get it. Sorry, it was a bit rude.” She replied.

“It’s fine, I was just wondering.”

“So what have you got there Magnus?” Izzy asked, even though she knew exactly what it was.

“Oh, you mean this? Just a little something I thought I should bring along. It’s winter break after all. There’s nothing better to do.”

“Well then I’m glad you're here. Clary and Jace decided to ditch us and went to go somewhere else. I’ll go get some glasses. Be right back.” She said, sprinting to the kitchen to get a couple of glasses.

“So what have you been up to? I asked, trying to make small talk.

“Oh, nothing much. Portaled around a couple places. Tried a few new dishes. Nothing much.”

Izzy came back and handed us each a glass.

“Are you sure you want to drink it now? It’s not even 11am yet.” Magnus asked.

“Ha definitely. I have nothing better to do so I might as well get drunk with my friends.”

“Okay.” He said, opening the bottle and pouring us a glass.

“Cheers.” Magnus said, clicking his glass against ours.

“Cheers.” We echoed and we all took a sip. We had a few more, and Izzy looked like she was about to fall asleep.

“Okay, I think you’ve had enough Izzy.” I said gently nudging her as I took away her drink.

“Noooo….I need moreeee.” She whined, making grabby hands at the drink.

“What you need is to sleep. And to drink some water.” I said.

I poured her a glass of water and directed her to her room. After she drank her water, I tucked her in and went back to the living room.

“Sooooo….how's Izzy? Magnus asked.

“She’s fine. She’ll be back to her energetic self when she wakes up.”

“Oh, okay. So what are we going to now?” He asked after a few minutes of silence.

“I don’t know. Do you have anything in mind?”

“Have you ever been to the Canary Islands? It’s a beautiful place this time of the year.”

“You mean we should go now?”

“Why not? I mean we might as well.”

“Okay.”

Magnus started to make portal and soon we were off to see the Canary Islands.

When we landed there’s I was breathless. It looked so beautiful.

“Wow….it’s breathtaking.” I said, staring at the ocean.

“Yeah, it is.” Magnus said, looking at me. I turned around just in time to catch him looking at me. I instantly blush. We spent the rest of our time there playing in the sand and water. We decided it was time to go since it was starting to become darker outside. He portaled us back.

“Bye, I had a great time.” I said, as he made the portal to go back to his place.

“Me too.” He smiled as he disappeared through his portal.

Clary and Jace we’re back by then and they asked me what had happened when they were gone. And so, with a smile on my face, I started to tell them.

Chapter Text

Alec POV

I woke up to my blaring alarm. I was ready to go back to school since the winter break had dragged on so much. But I didn’t really want to wake up early to the alarm. I practically forced myself out of bed to get ready.

I heard someone enter the washroom so I had to wait. Clary came out not seeming too excited about the upcoming school day. I had to force Jace out of bed after I got ready, since he wasted so much time over the break sleeping. He looked like he wanted to kill me but at least he started getting ready.

We were a whole fifteen minutes later because Jace took so long to get ready and then there was an accident. Clary and I said bye to Izzy and Jace and we headed to our lockers. Of course the redhead couldn’t get hers open so I had to try. I couldn’t get it either so she had to ask one of the teachers who happened to be walking through the hall to help her.

I ended up going to class twenty minutes late without her.

“Alexander, you are late.” The math teacher stated, stopping her teaching to look at me.

“I’m aware,” I responded curtly, it had been a long morning I didn’t feel like being polite.

“Take your seat,” The teacher practically screamed. I obeyed and quickly sat down. Clary entered about ten minutes later.
“Why are you almost thirty minutes late to class?” The teacher asked her.

“Locker was jammed,” Clary said before taking her seat at the front of the room. After math, we had to go to gym class. We played basketball, it was pretty bad. I was put on the worst team ever. Clary nearly broke her finger. I quickly regretted ever wanting to be back here. Staying at home doing nothing was great in comparison to this.

At lunchtime Clary couldn’t get her locker open yet again. Someone came to help her and the home room teacher told her to just leave it open for now. That's why we ended up late to lunch and the monitor looked at us funny. Clary went to sit with her art friends and Izzy and Jace were sitting with their classmates.

I sat at a table that had barely anyone at it in the front of the cafeteria. I ate my lunch quickly, it tasted average. Being so deep in thought I didn’t realize anyone was coming towards me until their tray was put on the table right next to mine. I looked up to see a familiar blue haired guy, Magnus. I hadn’t seen him since our impromptu trip to the Canary Islands three days prior.

“Hey…” he said, bringing me completely out of my thoughts.

“Oh, Hi.”

“So back to school we are.” Magnus said not seeing too happy about it.

“Yeah, at least I don’t have to stay home doing nothing.” I replied trying to make small talk. God I didn’t know how to talk to anyone let alone Magnus.

“So Alec...there’s something I wanted to ask you.” Magnus said to me suddenly.

“Go ahead,” I said with a smile.

“Want to go on a proper date this Saturday?” He asked sounding just slightly nervous. I had no idea what to say. Sure we had spent time together before and went all the way to the Canary Islands but we still had not been on a date. What even are we? Just friends or something more? He seemed to be getting kind of upset since I hadn’t responded.

“It’s okay if you don’t want to, no pressure.” He said.

“No...I do. I’ll go on a date with you this Saturday.” I said sounding pretty confident but my heart was beating like crazy. He seemed very happy with me answer. We planned out the details and then the lunch bell rang.

Right after lunch we had science class. In science, I sat near Clary. She took her seat and looked at me.

“So how was lunch?” She asked.

“Oh you know...average.” I responded trying to hide my happiness.

“You seem awfully happy.” Gosh, she noticed.

“Just glad to be back, you know.” I replied turning to face my binder. She tapped me on the shoulder and I reluctantly turned around to face her again.

“I don’t buy it.” She replied pushing me to answer her.

“Okay fine, I talked to Magnus.” I said.

“Oh, well that’s great Alec. What about?” Clary was very nosy that day I noticed.

“Just you know stuff. Oh look, class is started we unfortunately cannot discuss it any further.” I replied pointing to the front of the class. Luckily the teacher talked for most of the class so Clary didn’t have time to ask me anything.

After science I practically ran out of the room but Clary caught up with me.

“Come on Alec, I’m curious. What did you guys talk about that made you so happy?” She pestered again.

“Fine…” I said gritting my teeth, she perked up. I stopped walking and so did she.

“He asked me out...on a date.” I whispered to her quickly, a huge smile formed on her face. I started to walk away and she patted me on the back.

“Wow Alec, congrats!” She said, luckily remembering not to be too loud. We continued our walk to social studies and took our seats. Though the redhead could be so annoying, I was happy that she was happy about Magnus and I going out. Maybe I really valued her opinion, at least somewhat. Social Studies was as much of a bore as it usually was.

School was finally over for the day and it had been so painfully normal. At the lockers Clary turned to me.

“You should tell Izzy and Jace when we get home.” She said. I nodded slightly thinking I may as well since I already told Clary. Jace had fencing after school and the girls had dance. I took the car home, planning to pick them up afterward.

I got into the car to go get them after some time. Surprisingly, Jace had made it all the way through without being stupid or breaking something. Lydia ended up coming home with us since she had taken the public transit late to school that day.

“Hello,” I said.

“Hey Alec.” They all said getting into the car. Izzy in the passenger seat and the others in the back.

“You have something to say Alec?” Clary asked, I was hoping she wouldn’t. Izzy next to me seemed intrigued. I thought for a second about whether or not to tell Lydia but I decided I may as well.

“Magnus asked me on a date this Saturday.” I said bracing myself for their responses. Lydia congratulated me, Jace seemed happy and almost proud and Izzy shrieked. At home Lydia stayed at ours for dinner and Izzy made me tell them how Magnus asked me in detail. It was sort of embarrassing but I was so lucky and very happy that they were supportive.

Lydia left after dinner and the rest of us did some cleaning and watched tv. Izzy talked about dance and Jace discussed fencing. I read some of a book for English and did some math problems that we had for homework. Though the actual school part of the day was even worse than I had originally thought it would be, I was excited for Saturday.

Chapter Text

Alec POV

Today was the day of the date and I was freaking out. Half the clothes in my closet was laying on the floor, with a array of colours ranging from black to gray. For the first time I was regretting my choice to not buy anything colourful. I sighed and decided to give in.

“Izzy!” I yelled from across my room. She came rushing into my room only a few seconds later.

“What? Is everything o–my god Alec! What is this mess!”

“I have my date with Magnus today and I can find anything I like. Would you help me pick?” I pleaded.

“I thought this day would never come. Of course I’d help you pick! It’d be my pleasure.”

For some reason, I got chills. I decided to ignore it for now and watch Izzy go through my clothes.

Half an hour later I was regretting my choice. We had gone through 5 outfits and she was still going through my clothes.
“Can you just pick something? I don’t care at this point because I’m going to be late.”

“Patience Alexander. Don’t rush magic.” She replied while holding 2 grey shirts and comparing them. In the end she decided on a black dress shirt with a silver rose on the right breast pocket. The rose had vines coming out of it and a few dead leaves fanning around it. For pant, she gave me my usual black skinny jeans.

I came out of my bathroom after putting the clothes on. “Well, how do I look?” I asked.

“Fantastic! Magnus will love it.”

I blushed at the comment and grabbed my winter jacket. It was pretty cold outside and I didn’t want to get sick. Magnus said that he would come pick me up so I played a game on my phone to forget my nerves.

I heard a knock on the door and almost dropped my phone is surprise. I brushed my shirt off and checked if I looked okay before I opened the door.

“Hi, Magnus.”

“Wow...you look amazing!” Magus said, gapping. I blushed in response.

“You look great too.” I said, and it was true. He was wearing a dark blue shirt and a black suit with a silver outline. It matched his–newly dyed–silver hair. I realized that I had been staring for a while so I looked away.

“So, you ready to go?” He asked.

“Yup.” I realized that I had never asked where we were going so I decided to do that now. “You never told me where we were going.”

“All in good time Alexander.” He responded mysteriously.

Magnus had decided to bring his car this time because he wanted us to have a normal mundane date. Which meant no portals.

I got into his car and he started to drive. It was a long ride, filled with awkward silence except for the old 90s music that neither of us were listening to.

When we finally reached our destination, I had no idea where we were. I got out of the car and saw a huge building in front of us.

“Come on, Alexander!” Magnus said with a smile. He grabbed my hand and guided me inside the building. It was beautiful, a large chandelier hung from the ceiling and the room was decorated to look elegant yet modern. I looked in awe and immediately felt underdressed.

“Who is the reservation under?” One of the attendants at the front desk asked.

“Magnus Bane.”

“Follow me sir.” He said, building us to the elevator and taking us to the 14th floor.

Once we got out, I was in awe once again. The wall parallel to the elevator was entirely made out of glass so I could see the entire city. Everything looked small and the lights from the building under us along with the passing cars made the scene look stunning.

But what caught my attention the most was the table in front of me. The room was lit by candles to give it a homey feel. I looked back at Magnus and noticed that the attendant had already left.

“Well, don’t just stand there. Have a seat.” Magnus teased, as he walked across the room and pulled a chair back for me to sit in. I blushed–I seemed to be doing a lot of that today–and took the seat. He walked around the table and sat across from me. I looked down at the menu and soon after, a waiter came to our table.

“What would you be having today?”

I looked down at the menu. Half of the dishes were in another language. Magnus saved me from trying to find a dish by choosing for me.

“I hope you don’t mind Alexander, but we would like the Coq au Vin along with some red Burgundy wine. It’s my favourite when I come here.” He said, directing the last part at me.

I nodded my head to show that it was fine and the waiter left soon after.

Since it was probably going to take some time before our food was cooked, we decided to spend the time getting to know each other.

“Have you ever been on a date before.” Magnus asked, curious.

“No, this is my first. Why? Is it that obvious?” I asked, nervously biting my lip.

“Ha, no not at all. I was just curious.”

“What about you? How many different people have you dated?” I asked, turning the tables on him.

“Oh, let’s not get into that.” He said, trying to change the topic.

“20?” I guessed.

He looked at me with a blank face.

“40?”

“Well you see Alexander, I’ve lived quite a long life.”

“60?!” I asked, my eyes bulging. I mean, even if he was a few hundred years old, 60 was a large amount.

“Oh, would you look at that! Our food has arrived. “ Magnus exclaimed, momentarily making me forget our topic. They put the food on our table and poured us a glass of wine. It looked delicious. I cut into the chicken to have a bite and almost moaned. It was just as delicious as it looked!

Magnus chuckled. “I see your enjoying the food.” Before I could responded, the sound of glass shattering pulled my attention away. I looked on in disbelief. There was a horde of demons coming into the room from the elevator.

Somehow they had managed to knock over a huge display of glassware. I stood on guard, feeling bare without any of my weapons to defend myself with. Hand to hand combat wasn’t my specialty but I could still hold my own.

Everyone was at a standstill, until finally, one of the demons hissed at the rest and they started to come towards us.

Magnus seemed to snap into action and started to fire spell after spell, holding most of them off. Whenever they managed to get too close, I used a table knife to fight them off. Somehow we were able to to hold them all off. I looked at the mess we had made. Glass was everywhere and blood was staining the majority of the floor.

Magnus waved his hands and everything when back to the way it was before we had arrived.

“At least this is a date you won’t soon forget.” Magnus joked.

I laughed, but then winched. One of the demons had managed to graze me in the ribs.

“Are you okay?” He asked with a frown.

“I’m fine.” I replied, hoping he would drop it. But it was all for nothing since he found out about the cut as proceeded to heal me.

“I think I should take you home now. You look really tired.”

I tried to hide my disappointment as I nodded. It seemed that our date was ruined and it probably wasn’t likely that I would get another chance with a great guy like Magnus.

The ride home was somehow more awkward than the ride there.

When we reached my building he walked me up to our apartment. “So, I guess this is it.” I said, trying to stretch our time together as long as possible.

“Yeah, I guess it is.”

We stood there staring at the other, not moving. It seemed as neither of us wanted to leave.

“Alexander, I would like to take you on another date. I know this one didn’t go as planned but I would love to continue seeing you, if your okay with that.” He said nervously.

I was shocked. Did he actually still want to go on another date with me after our disaster of a date? I smiled wide and replied with a yes.

“Great!” He said, smiling like he had just won the lottery.

“Great.” I echoed back. We stood there again, not saying anything. I didn’t want to go inside, and Magnus didn’t seem to want to leave either.

He took a step towards me and I finally noticed how close we were. He was less than a few inches away from me. Our eyes locked and then his wandered down to look at my lips. My heart started to race. He slowly leaned in closer and closer until our lips met. It felt like I was struck by lightning. It was a soft and fleeting kiss. A peck, really. I had never felt like that before. It was like there was a million butterflies in my stomach at once, wrecking havoc. But it was also as if the sun had come out early, just for us. We stood a little while longer before he turned around and gave me a wave.

“See you later.” He said with a soft smile before he left.

“Bye.” I replied. I stood by the door, processing what had just happened before I opened the door and saw Izzy standing by the doorway.

“Welllll, how’d it go?” She asked, with a mischievous smile on her face. I started to tell her exactly what I had been through today. From the dinner to the demon attack and to our possible second date. And if I accidentally forgot to tell her about our kiss? Well that was fine, it wasn’t liked she needed to know every detail anyways

Chapter Text

Jace POV

School is just not for me. We were sitting in our second period class, English, with our English teacher who was also our homeroom teacher. We were supposed to be silent reading but this guy named Mark was showing me ‘memes’ or something of the sort on his phone. I had laughed pretty loudly at a particular one, alerting the teacher.

“Jace, it’s silent reading,” he warned. I nodded and went back to my book. But, of course, needy Mark wanted me to see more memes. And I laughed even louder. The teacher came over and practically plucked the phone from Marks hand and sent him outside.

“Come to my desk,” he told me. I knew exactly what was going to happen. I’d get detention or be sent to the office. Maybe I’d even have to call my ‘guardian’.

“Since, you seem to really enjoy talking I think you would be great at public speaking.” Okay, maybe I didn’t know exactly what was going to happen.

“Um, thanks.” I replied awkwardly.

“Well, we have an assembly today and the principal asked me to choose a twelfth grader to read this to the student body.” He said holding up a long looking script. What in the world did I get myself into.

“I’m sure there are many great candidates.” I said.

“But Mr.Herondale, I think you would do great. The assembly is after lunch, you can go outside the room to practice.” The teacher said basically pushing me out of the classroom. Izzy eyed me weirdly as I walked out.

I stood up against the wall to read through the script. It was an anti-drug script for an anti-drug assembly. I really didn’t want to do this.

“What’s that?” Mark asked.

“Oh, well the teacher wants me to read it at today’s assembly.” I said showing Mark the paper. The teacher came out at that point to usher Mark back into the room, leaving me alone with the script.

After class I went back into retrieve my stuff and I tried reading the script on the way to science. Izzy ran to catch up with me.

“What is that?” She asked, I tilted the paper towards her.

“Mr.Stevens is making me read this at the assembly because I was talking in class. Which apparently makes me a good public speaking candidate.” Izzy burst out in laughter.

“This tops everything you have ever gotten yourself into Jace, wow.” She responded trying not to laugh again. I just shook my head and entered science. I didn’t pay any mind to the teacher and just tried to study the script.

I didn’t know why I cared. Because I really didn’t, I mean I was forced to do it. But maybe if I did well the teachers wouldn’t complain as much about me. Getting in trouble less would be a plus.

At lunch, I sat with Izzy, Alec, Clary, Lydia, Magnus and Simon.

“Jace, why don’t you tell everyone what you have to do?” Izzy asked, I glared at her.

“Oh god Jace, what is it this time?” Alec asked, very annoyed with me.

“Have to read an anti-drug speech,” I said quietly.

“What was that?” Magnus asked.

“Wait, did you say anti-drug speech?” Lydia asked, putting herself in the conversation. I nodded sadly.

“At the assembly today.”

“You have really outdone yourself Jace, I mean what’s next?” Alec replied.

“Maybe this is a good thing,” Clary suggested.

“Why would it be?” Alec turned to ask her.

“Well Jace could be a great anti-drug rep,” she joked.

“And I thought you were on my side,” I said shoving her shoulder playfully. She smiled sweetly in response. After lunch everyone wished me luck on the speech. Even Alec, reluctantly.

Halfway through our class after lunch, everyone in the assembly got called down. I stood up since I was reading the speech.

“Jace, why are you standing up?” The math teacher asked, very confused that me of all people would be a part of an anti-drug assembly. I showed her the script and she nodded. I walked out of the class and to the gym.

“Okay, Jace how about you stand right here?” The principal said, I obeyed. My speech would be the 4th presentation. Veronica, the principals assistant eyed me weirdly from where she was standing.

Everyone else got called into the gym for the assembly. My classmates looked at me weird, since they didn’t expect me to speak in something like this. Izzy gave me a, what I’m sure she thought was encouraging, thumbs up.

Lydia and Magnus smiled at me and Magnus mouthed ‘good luck’. Alec and Clary’s class came in a little later and Alec didn’t exactly looked pleased. Clary jabbed him with her elbow and he forced a smile at me.

The assembly started after all the classes were in the gym. First was a painfully boring slideshow. And then a 10th grader talked about a girl who overdosed on drugs at school. That performance was followed by a 9th reading an anti-drug poem. Those apparently exist.

“Next up, Jonathan Herondale performing an anti-drug speech.” I didn’t know why I was so nervous. I didn’t even know I was doing this until a few hours before.

“Hi, I’m Jace and I’m against drugs,” I cringed just saying that. The first part of the script was so awkward and I felt bad for the whole audience.

“The most common drug happens to be…” I was stopped short by a scream coming from behind me. Me and everyone else focused their gaze to a girl on the ground seizing.

“And that’s what happens when you take drugs,” I remarked. After a second I realized the entire gym heard me when I heard loud laughter coming from behind me. Oh god, I was in so much trouble. The principal practically dragged me out of the gym and into his office.

I got yelled at for a good twenty minutes and was told I was suspended until the following Wednesday, so five days. I was sent back to class to finish up last period before my suspension.

I walked into class and the teacher stopped talking and everyone looked at me weird.

“Jace, take your seat,” The teacher stated. I did what I was told quickly. After school, at the lockers, Izzy tapped me on the shoulder.

“Hey, what’s the verdict?”

“Five day suspension,” I replied.

“You shouldn’t have said that….”

“I know, I thought I was saying it in my head, guess I was still in speech mode.” I told her.

“I thought you couldn’t top talking yourself into the speech but you proved me wrong.” Alec said clearly mad at me.

“I swear I didn’t mean to say what I did,” I reassured him.

“See Alec, I told you.” Clary said, at least someone was on my side. At home Alec lectured me further and I apologized a bunch of times.

“Honestly Jace...I’m mad at you because it was disrespectful. But also because we have the mission. What if something happens at the school and you aren’t there.”

“I know Alec and I’m sorry. You can always call me of something happens and I’ll just go home right after.” I replied, he didn’t push me any further. I was mad at myself, I could have made the teachers respect me more. But instead, I didn’t use my brain and ruined things further for myself. I was also feeling horrible for disappointing Alec, yet again. And that is why school is just not for me. All I do there is make myself look bad.

Chapter Text

Izzy POV

School was such a bore. I hadn’t gone on a date since the mission started and I wasn’t making any progress here. From all the movies I watched, people got asked out plenty of times. I guess that wasn’t true for this school though.

I looked towards the front of the class and sighed. Simon was sitting there, paying attention to the teacher. I honestly thought he was interested in me but I guess not. He had barely talked to me the past few days and when he did, he usually asked me something about school or to borrow an eraser. I decided to move on from him since it would be stupid to be hung over a guy who obviously wasn’t interested.

The lunch bell rang soon afterwards, and I decided to sit with Jace and his football friends today. Clary was sitting with some of her friends from art and Alec decided to not show up for lunch today. I hope he eats soon though since I don’t want him to starve himself.

I knew some of the girls who were sitting at my table since most of them were cheerleaders and some of the cheerleaders took dance class. At least that stereotype was true; jocks sitting with the cheerleaders. I was brought back from my thoughts when one of the guys called my name.

“I’m sorry, what? I didn’t hear you.” I said.

“We were just asking how you know Jace.” Said a kid with dirty blonde hair and chestnut eyes.

“Oh,” we had rehearsed the answer long enough so that I replied without having to think about it, “He went to my old school and we were friends. Which makes sense considering we’re cousins.”

“Ha, no offence but you guys look nothing alike.” He replied.

“We know.” Me and Jace replied in unison. Considering that he was our adopted brother, we had heard that statement more times than you would think. Jace had gotten over feeling left out because he understood that even though we might not have the same blood running through our veins, we were still family.

After that they all went back to talking about who was going to win the game next Friday and they mostly left me alone. I was fine with that since I wasn’t really interested in talking with them.

Across from me sat a quiet boy. I had seen him playing football with Jace before so I knew he was here because he was a football player. But he just seemed so out of place there. He was quiet, looked like he could hold a conversation without mentioning sports and seemed like he was in his own world. I decided to ask for his name.

“Hi, I’m Izzy. What’s your name?” I asked.

“Raphael. And I know. My friend has been obsessed with your brother for quite a while.” He said, cracking a smile. Oh, so he was Magnus’s friend. I laughed, knowing the same was true for my brother.

“So, tell me about yourself, Raphael. You seem too quiet to want to be here.”

“I don’t.” He said with a straight face. “I’m only here because Magnus decided to go to lunch with Alec. That’s why they’re both not here. I usually have lunch with him in the library but I decided to join these guys today because I don’t want any teacher to come sit with me because ‘I looked lonely’.”

I laughed at that. I definitely knew the feeling because whenever Alec was gone, Clary sat with her art friends and Jace sat with his football friends. Which meant I was left to find a place to sit on my own.

We talked like that for the entirety of lunch and when it was time to leave he asked for my phone number. I gave it to him and left for the next class.

My thoughts kept on coming back to him, Simon long forgotten. I barely paid attention to the class normally but today I didn’t even bother pretending. I stared down at my phone, hoping for him to text. It was kind of stupid of me since he was in class but I still hoped.

It seemed my wish came true though where he texted me asking if this was my number. I quickly responded by saying yes and then saved him in my contact list.

“Izzy! Is that a phone? Give it to me right now! You can have it back at the need of the day.” I groaned. Of course the teacher would notice. I handed my phone to her. Class was soon over and I headed to my next class.

I was anxious the entire time I was there. What if he had texted me and when he saw that I didn’t respond, he thought I didn’t like him? Other random illogical thoughts swirled around in my head until class was finally over. I rushed to get my phone back and saw that I had another text from him saying, ‘meet me after school by the back doors.’ It was only 20 minutes ago so hopefully he didn’t think I wasn’t coming. I quickly texted Jace to wait up for me and then I rushed to the back door. I was out of breath when I got there but relieved when I saw him standing by the door.

“Hi.” I said, slightly panting.

“Hi.” He replied back, looking amused.

“So….” I said, trying to fill the silence and ask him why he invited me here.

He stood there silently for a few more seconds before he took a deep breath and started to speak. “So, I think you’re really cool and I like talking to you. I was wonder is you would maybe consider going on a date with me?” He ended his sentence, sounding unsure of himself.

I stood there in shock. What. Had. I. Just. Heard! Before I could make him regret asking I said, “Yes!” I blushed when I realized that it sounded a bit too excited but I don’t think he cared because he smiled.

“Okay, great. See you on Friday!” He said, leaving me by the doors. I took a few deep breaths to calm myself down and then I went over to the car. I couldn’t wait to tell Clary all about this!

Chapter Text

Jace POV

“Hey,” Izzy said clapping me on the back.

“Hey.” I replied, wondering where she had been.

“What happened?” I decided to push my luck by asking.

“Oh, nothing.” She replied staring at the floor. As we neared the jewelry classroom I stopped her.

“Just tell me what it is.”

“Fine, Raphael asked me on a date.” She said quickly before stepping into the room and leaving me in the hallway, shocked. I slowly walked to the gym not really knowing what to think.

I sat close to Jordan and Simon on the floor to wait for the club meeting to start. I noticed Raphael walking into the change room. I knew what I had to do. When he came out, he took a seat near the back of the group. I got up and sat myself back down next to him. Before I could say anything I was interrupted by the coach.

“Alright, time for warm up.” He stated and everyone began running. I made sure to run alongside Raphael.

“What do you want Jace?” He asked as we ran.

“I just want to talk.”

“About what?”

“I think you know what.” I replied, he looked very confused. Again before I could say anything I was rudely interrupted by the coach. This seemed to be a common occurrence for me.

“Let’s do some quick drills,” coach stated. Everyone had to get into partners. To his excitement, I partnered myself with Raphael and I led him far away from everyone else. As we passed the football back and forth I decided it was a good a time as any.

“Izzy told me that you asked her out.”

“Ohhhhhh, that’s what you wanted to talk about.” He replied.

“Yes, I felt like we needed to talk about that,” I said.

“Isn’t she your cousin our something?” He asked.

“She is but we grew up close. Izzy is practically my sister.” I replied.

“Oh okay,” he responded and he looked a bit worried. As he should be with me and Alec around.

“I just want to make sure you will treat her right.” It felt weird to say that. Izzy has had many ‘flings’ and I’ve never spoken to them. Probably because I was having many of my own. But now I felt like I needed to make sure she would be okay. Alec would be proud.

“Oh of course, I think of myself to be a pretty decent guy.” He replied.

“Alright well, that doesn’t really matter. It just matters how you treat her. Because believe me, if you do anything to hurt her, you won’t just have me to face.” I said, trying to sound intimidating.

“I promise I won’t hurt her or anything.” He said, sounding a little bit scared. I nodded slowly. And for his own sake I hope he lived up to his promise. Football practice went on without a hitch and I even got to stay the whole time.

“Hey, Jace…” Izzy said as she walked out of jewelry club. We waved bye to Magnus before heading out of the school. We got into the car and I started driving to the apartment silently.

“So...how was football?” She asked.

“Fine, jewelry?” I asked since I definitely didn’t want to share my conversation during football since Izzy would probably kill me.

“It was good, I think Magnus missed Alec after class.” She answered, I chuckled in response. We got home and walked into the apartment to see Alec and Clary watching tv.

“Alec is watching tv with Clary, what is this?” Izzy exclaimed.

“Ha, yes.” I responded. We joined them to watch some tv. Izzy looked down at her phone and hopped off the couch.

“Where’s she going?” Alec casually asked me, garnering Clary’s interest.

“Oh, I’m not sure.” I said looking at the floor.

“I’ll go see,” Clary said getting up off the couch. I was pretty sure that Izzy would tell Clary, whatever it was. She was alway more open to Clary about her problems. Around 7pm Izzy exited her room and hastily dressed to go out.

“Out with friends?” Alec asked barely looking up from the tv.

“Not really….eh I may as well tell you. I’m going on a date.” She said.

“With who?” Alex asked completely sitting up on the couch.

“A guy…” she responded and walked into the kitchen.

“Which guy?” Alec asked and Izzy didn’t answer.

“This is going well,” Clary said quietly.

“Which guy is it Clary?” Alec asked, Clary was very close to answering.

“Let’s not Clary,” Izzy said from the kitchen. I tried not to look Alec in the eye since his attention was on me now.

“Wait, even you know. Who is it Jace?” Alec asked sternly.

“I may as well tell him Izzy, it’s not even like he knows who it is.” I said, Izzy relectually nodded.

“So who is it?”

“It’s a friend of Magnus’, Raphael.” I said to him.

“Oh, I think I’ve heard of him.” He responded.

“Wow, he’s here gotta go.” Izzy said suddenly, getting herself out of the situation.

“Wait Iz…” Alec said getting up off the couch.

“What?” She asked.

“Just be careful, okay.”

“Yeah, Alec.” She said before leaving. I was impressed he wasn’t that mad.

“Jace, what do you know about this guy?”

“I mean he is in football with me.” I told him. Clary decided it was time for her to leave.

“Sit down.” He told her and she immediately sat back down.

“Just so you know Alec. I barely know him and just found out about this like 40 minutes ago.” She said and he nodded at her and turned back to look at me.

“So you saw him in football today?” He asked.

“Yeah and I actually spoke to him. And told him he had to treat her right.” I said, remembering what I did. Clary smiled at me.

“Look at you, Jace. Actually being smart.” Alec said clapping me on the back. We had dinner and Alec still seemed a bit on edge about the whole date thing when Clary asked him about it.

“Well she is my little sister and she hasn’t had the best experience with guys. I feel like I have to protect her.” He said, Clary squeezed Alec’s hand slightly.

“But I think we all know that Izzy can take care of herself. I mean I’m convinced she could easily kill me.” I said and Clary nodded immediately.

“Of course, but it doesn’t stop me from wanting to take care of her. Eldest sibling chivalry.” Alec said, I smiled at him sadly. I knew he struggled with being the oldest and always felt like he had to look after us. After dinner we just watched a movie to pass the time until Izzy came home.

Chapter Text

Izzy POV

I walked out of the apartment, kind of shocked. I was impressed Alec hadn’t yelled at me though I knew he was still uneasy about it. I walked out to see Raphael standing outside his car. He opened the passenger side door for me, what a gentleman.
“You look beautiful,” he said with a smile.

“Thanks.” I replied with a smile of my own. On the drive to the restaurant, we had a casual conversation. At the restaurant, the waiter led us to our table. Raphael being a gentleman yet again, held out my chair for me to sit in.

When the waiter came to take our orders, Raphael got some fish and I got grilled chicken. The food came in about thirty minutes. It was very good.

“So your cousin Jace spoke to me during football today.” Raphael said.

“Great...what did he say?” I asked, internally groaning.

“He just reminded me to treat you right. Not like I wasn’t going to.”

“Of course you would. I’m so sorry, he’s just like that.” I replied, making a mental note to have a chat with Jace.

“It’s really fine, it’s good that you have people like that in your life.” Raphael responded, earning a smile from me.

Raphael and I had some other good conversations. It was one of the better dates I’ve ever been on.

On the drive home we listened to some music and sat in comfortable silence. When we got to my apartment building, I thanked him and he got up to open my door. I got out and he leaned towards me. I thought he was going to kiss me but suddenly his phone started ringing.

He kind of blushed and turned away to answer it. I waited while he talked on the phone for a couple minutes.

“I had fun,” he told me when he turned around to look at me again.

“Yeah me too,” I replied. We kind of stood around for a few minutes before I decided to just go inside.

“Bye Izzy. I’ll see you at school?”

“Yeah,” I responded with a smile. I walked into the building and got into the elevator. Alec, Clary and Jace were watching tv when I walked in the apartment.

“Hi,” Clary said as she looked up at me from the tv.

“Hey guys,” I replied before heading into my room to change. I joined them in the living room after I was in more comfortable clothes. I sat down next to Clary.

“How was the date?” Jace asked from the opposite side of Clary.

“Pretty good,” I replied.

“That’s nice,” Clary said.

“You okay Alec?” I asked since he hadn’t said anything since I came home.

“Yeah,” he said before getting up off the couch and heading to his room.

“Guess I really made him mad.” I said to Jace and Clary.

“He was just worried about you,” Jace said.

“Yeah. Oh and Jace, Raphael told me about what you said to him during football.”

“About that..well I’m sorry Izzy but I just felt like I had to do it.” He said.

“Well, I guess I appreciate it somewhat. But you really don’t have to Jace, I can handle myself.”

“I know that but your still my sister,” he responded, I flashed him a quick smile. The three of watched some tv. And after a little while I decided to get up to go talk to Alec. I knocked on his bedroom door.

“Come in,” he said. I opened the door and he looked up from his computer.

“Hey..” I said, taking a seat on Alec’s bed.

“Hi,” he said followed by shutting off his computer.

“I just wanted to talk about this whole thing,” I said. “Are you mad?”

“I’m not mad,” he responded.

“Disappointed?” I asked.

“No, I was just worried I guess. You haven’t been on any dates in a while and this all seemed really sudden.” Alec said.

“I know, I guess that’s sort of why I went. I haven’t been on any dates in a while and I’m the only single one and I guess I was sort of tired of it.” I said.

“Izzy, you can do whatever you want without explaining yourself. Your a grown adult after all. But your still my little sister that I feel like I need to protect.”

“You really don’t have to protect me. Though I know that you won’t stop wanting to.” I replied.

“I know I don’t have to, we all know you could and would beat up whoever you wanted. But knowing that won’t stop me from looking out for you.” Alec said.

“And I guess I appreciate it, sometimes. But just know that Raphael is a good guy. I’ll be fine.” I told him.

“So he was perfectly respectable. Like would I enjoy him?”

“He was perfectly respectable. But Alec, I highly doubt you will ever really like any guy I date.” I said while laughing.

“Ha, yeah. Well I’m glad your date went well.” He said. I gave him a quick hug before leaving his room. I guess the day ended up being pretty decent. After having a good date and a heart to heart with my brother.

Chapter Text

Clary POV

It was once again another school day. I woke up, brushed my teeth, ate breakfast and went to school. The routine had become like a well worn piece of cloth. After each day I would rinse and repeat. And like every piece of clothing you wear, sometimes wearing the same thing everyday can become maddening.

I went to first period. It went like it usually does. I took some notes and listened to the teacher talk. It might have been more interesting if I hadn’t just gone though this a few years ago during my teens.

The bell rang and I moved on the to next class. I don’t think I had ever been that sleepy in my life. Not even when I had to pull a 36 hour shift as a guard was I this sleepy. It wasn’t like I was tired, it was just that there wasn’t anything to stay awake for. It was a constant struggle to keep my eyes open and the teacher wasn’t helping. She talked about her lesson in such a monotonous voice that it was hard to pay attention, least of all, stay awake. She should start a YouTube channel where she just talked to help people fall asleep. I’m sure she would be really popular. I chuckled at my thoughts until I was interrupted by the teacher.

“Is this somehow funny to you?” How could she sound so boring even when she was trying to be threatening? Like how was that possible? I quickly shook my head and she went back to teaching god knows what.

It had been a while since anything happened with the mission and while I was glad everyone was safe, I was also really bored. It was once again Alec’s shift to guard today and that made sense since he took most of the shifts for himself. I swear, he’s going to work himself to death one day. I was interrupted from my thought by a shrill sound that echoed through our classroom. Oh, no.

I looked towards the door and saw that Alec was standing there. I shared a glance with him and quickly got out of my seat. The protective shield I had made was broken. Which meant that a hoard of demons should be having a blast by now. I rushed out of my classroom without saying anything to the teacher, who was staring at me as if I had two heads. They probably couldn’t hear the sound and thought I was crazy. Great. Either way, I had bigger things to worry about.

I whipped my stele out of my bag and rushed to where the sound had come from. I had started bringing my stele to school since I never knew when the shield would break. The noise seemed to be coming from the roof.

When I got to the roof, Alec, Izzy and Jace were already there. And they were surrounded. It looked like there were around 40 to 50 demons. Hopefully breaking the barrier had tired them out so it was easier to defeat them. I didn’t have much time to think after that and had to start fight ping them soon after.

It seemed that I was right. They were weaker from the constant strain of trying to break the barrier down. I took my twin blades out and started to cut through them. The first few were easy to kill but after I got to my 4th, I could barely keep up with them. I was saved from a close call when Jace slashed a demon that had somehow gotten near my back.

I shared a glance with him. Thanking him without having to say anything. We went back to fighting soon after.

After every single of of them was killed, we feel on the ground, tired.

“Whew, that was something.” Jace said, in a winded voice.

“Yeah.” Izzy agreed.

After a long pause of silence, Alec decided to speak. “We should go back to class now. I’ll go with you. Jace, can you guard for the last class?”

“Yeah, sure.” Jace said, getting on his feet. We followed the action and were soon on our way to class. We went to social studies.

“You feel alright, Alec?” I asked. I was surprised when he let Jace take over his shift.

“Yeah.” He grunted. He didn’t seem like he wanted me to question it further so I left him alone.

At the end of class the teacher asked us all to stop talking because she had an announcement to make.

“Quiet down class. I have a great surprise for you guys! We will be having a field trip on Wednesday January 23rd. We’ll go horseback riding near the fields. Have your forms signed by January 21th at the latest. There are only 150 spots and they filled up pretty quick last year.” She said, passing the forms out. I grabbed mine and stuffed it into my backpack.

I thought that it was pretty cool. I actually wanted to go. I looked at Alec and he seemed to be barely paying attention. I frowned. Something seemed to be wrong. I looked down at his chest and realized that there was a dark spot on his black shirt. As if someone had spilled water on it. Except I had a sneaking suspicion that it wasn’t water, but blood. Before I could ask him about it, the bell rang and he was off to the car. Hopefully it wasn’t a deep cut. I would ask him about it when we got home.
The car ride was uneventful and expect for moving around quite a lot, Alec showed no signs of pain.

When we got home, I decided to just ask him.

“Alec, I know your not okay. Please treat your injury. I can see it through your shirt.”

He looked surprised that I had noticed and lifted his shirt up to see his wound. It wasn’t too deep but it was deep enough to cause him trouble. I graded my stele and activated his healing rune.

“Thank you.” He said, quietly.

“No problem.” Today had been a busy day for sure.

Chapter Text

Izzy POV

I paced around my bedroom, thinking about how to break the news to Alec. Of course Raphael invited me to his off-the-grid farm for the weekend. Alec definitely wouldn’t let me go. Not that he can force me to do anything.

“Clary, can you come here?” I asked as I walked into the living room. She stood up to follow me and Jace barely looked up from the tv. Alec was in his room or something.

“So you know how I told you about the date I’m probably going on for the weekend?” I asked her, I told her about it after I got back from jewelry.

“Yeah…”

“How in the world do I break the news to Alec?”

“That will be problematic,” she replied.

“Which is why I’m asking you.” I said, rolling my eyes slightly.

“Sorry, honestly I have no idea what you can do. I mean he isn’t going to be happy about it, no matter how you say it.” She said and I knew that she was right.

“I just want the best possible outcome,” I told her.

“Just be gentle about it,” she responded.

“Oh I know, why don’t you tell him.” I said, mostly joking.

“Me? Really? He dislikes me more than anybody.” She replied.

“Oh come on, he gets mad at Jace and I for being stupid at least once a week. Your basically his favourite right now.” I said.

“Sure...still not telling him.” She said.

“I know, I was joking, at least mostly.” I replied. We talked for a bit longer before I decided that I may as well go and tell Alec. It was pointless to deny the inevitable. I knocked on the door of his bedroom.

“Come in,” he said. I walked in and sat at his desk.

“Hey Izzy, what’s up?” He asked.

“Please don’t be mad,” I said quietly.

“What did you do?” He asked sternly.

“Nothing,” I said.

“So what would I be mad at?” Alec asked. I took a breath before answering.

“I got asked on a date by Raphael,” I responded.

“Okay…...I mean you already went on one with him so I can’t really be mad.” He said.

“For the whole weekend,” I said. There was a period of silence.

“Really Izzy?” He asked, I nodded in response. He didn’t say much else for a few minutes.

“Are you going to say anything?” I asked.

“I don’t know what to say. Your an adult so I really can’t say much. I’m not exactly happy about it, especially since you will be sleeping over I assume.” He replied.

“Yeah…”

“Just be careful Iz. And I’ll probably call you a lot.” He said.

“Well you see Alec, it’s a farm in the middle of nowhere. With no wifi or cell service.” I said.

“Oh come on Izzy. What if something happens with the mission?”

“Alec, I’m sure the four of you will be able to deal with whatever.” I answered knowing that wasn’t what he cared most about.

“Okay, this is a lot Izzy. I know that I won’t be able to change your mind but it doesn’t mean I’ll have an easy weekend with you gone,” Alec said.

“I know…” I replied.

“Just be responsible and careful Iz, okay?” He asked.

“Yeah,” I said nodding my head. I stood up and gave him a quick hug. He patted my back in response. After that I went into the kitchen to attempt to cook dinner. Though Clary told me to stop since me cooking never goes well.

We were having pasta for dinner, it was very good. Clary’s cooking has improved over time.

“So how to feel about it all Alec?” Clary aksed, Alec seemed confused for a second before realizing what she was asking.
“Oh you know, I’m kind of iffy about it.” He told her.

“About what?” Jace asked.

“Oh she hasn’t told you,” Alec said.

“Told me about what, Izzy?” Jace asked.

“I’m going on a date with Raphael,” I said.

“Oh, okay.” Jace said.

“That’s not it, it’s for the whole weekend. At a farm in the middle of nowhere with no wifi or anything.” Alec said.

“You are letting her go with some guy she barely knows for the whole weekend to some farm!” Jace said, very loudly. I couldn’t believe it, Jace wasn’t usually like this. Alec didn’t raise his voice at all when I told him.

“Well I’m not exactly happy about it but she’s a grown adult,” Alec said.

“Right but it’s for the whole entire weekend, Alec!” Jace exclaimed.

“Yeah…” Alec said, also clearly shocked by Jace’s reaction.

“Sorry, it’s just a lot to process.” Jace said.

“Yeah I know what you mean,” Alec replied.

“I can see that you are struggling with this Jace but she can do what she wants.” Clary said, I was impressed she said anything since she usually didn't involve herself in these kinds of conversations.

“Exactly what Clary said,” I added.

“I know...your still my little sister though.” Jace replied.

“And both of you will never stop being protective, this whole building knows.” I said gesturing my fork at both Alec and Jace. We all laughed a bit, except Clary. Clary laughed so much she spit out the water that she had just drank.

“It wasn’t even that funny...drink your water like a normal person.” Alec said to her sternly.

“You know, Izzy is fully capable of taking care of herself. She’s tough.” Clary said after she had calmed down.
“We know,” Alec and Jace replied simultaneously.

“I’m tough too,” Clary said quietly. Alec burst into laughter and spit out some of his own water. I threw my napkin at him, which even in his fit of laughter he still caught.

“Drink your water normally, Alec,” Clary said with a sarcastic tone of voice. Jace and I couldn’t stop laughing for a good three minutes.

“Sorry, you are tough…..ish” Alec said, joking on the last part.

“Thanks,” Clary replied with a smile. After finally finishing dinner, we cleaned up quickly. By then I had to get ready for Raphael to pick me up. After I got dressed, I sat on the couch to wait for him.

“You know I should go outside and have a chat with him,” Alec said. Jace pointing his bag of chips at him in agreement.

“Oh come on guys. How long did we discuss this?”

“We just worry, you know,” Jace said.

“Clary please keep them in line this weekend,” I told her.

“Will do,” came her response.

“Oh I forgot I’m stuck with just her and Jace all weekend long,” Alec complained. Raphael texted me that I was there so I got up.

“Let’s have a proper goodbye, this will be the longest I’ve been without you guys in a really long time.” I said, gesturing for them to stand up. I gave Clary a quick hug and then turned to my brothers.

“Enjoy yourself, but not that much.” Jace told me, I gave him a quick hug.

“Be careful,” Alec said before giving me a hug.

“Have fun for me please, it’s not going to be a fun weekend for me.” Clary said gesturing at the guys. I gave her a sympathetic look before leaving. Raphael was standing by his car when I got outside.

“Hey,” I said as I approached him.

“Hi Izzy, you look great.” He said before opening the door for me. It was about an hour drive to the farm and it was already 9pm. I knew I was in for a long night. Raphael and I complained about school for a bit and discussed an upcoming presentation.

About halfway through the drive Raphael decided that we may as well stop for some food. He was hungry and he knew that the busy highway was coming up. We just stopped at a diner close by. We took a booth in the very back.

I got a milkshake and Raphael got a grilled cheese sandwich.

“This place seems nice, very small-town like.” I said.

“Yeah, I came here a lot growing up.” Raphael replied. We had some casual conversation. It was nearly ten by the time we got back on the road. With the traffic we didn’t reach the farm until just after 11pm.

“Here we are,” Raphael said while parking the car.

“It’s crazy how many people are going out right now,” I said before getting out of the car. We walked to the house which though it was dark it still looked really nice and homely. Raphael unlocked the door and we walked in.

“Here’s where we spent lots of time growing up,” Raphael said before giving me a quick tour. He showed me the guest bedroom that I was going to sleep in. We decided to make some hot chocolate.

“Ah sorry,” I said after I spilled some of the hot chocolate mix.

“No problem,” Raphael said while he went to get a paper towel.

“I’m not exactly good in the kitchen,” I said with a laugh.

“You are even more beautiful when you smile,” Raphael said with a smile of his own.

“Thanks,” I said, blushing. We stood there looking at each other for a second. I leaned in and kissed him, he kissed back right away. It was quick but pretty great if I had to say so myself.

After that we finished up the hot chocolate and sat on the couch. Raphael put in a DVD since there isn’t cable in the house. We drank our hot chocolate. It was getting kind of late so we decided to stop the movie.

We walked to my room and Raphael leaned in for another kiss. It was a bit longer than the last but just as great. After the kiss he smiled at me before heading to his bedroom. I got out my toothbrush and brushed my teeth before changing and climbing into the warm bed. The weekend looked like it was going to be a really fun experience.

Chapter Text

Alec POV

I had decided to go to the field trip with Clary. I only agreed because Izzy wanted to stay behind with her boyfriend. Something about him not liking to be out in the sun for too long.

We had to get to school an hour early to get on the bus to go to the fields. It was a long ride considering we were in the city and didn’t have enough space to have a field. Jace was still going so he was awake too.

Clary was currently hogging the bathroom and Jace was in the other one so I decided to eat breakfast instead. When she finally got out I rushed in and took a quick shower, brushing my teeth simultaneously. When I got out, I still had 10 mins to spare so I left Izzy a note to remind her about patrolling school. I knew she probably remembered but just in case.

When Clary and Jace were done eating breakfast, we went downstairs and got into the car. I gave Jace the keys because he had been begging to drive for a long time. He looked shocked.

“Well? What are you staring at? Do you want to drive or not?” I asked. That seemed to break him from the spell. He put a wide grin on his face, one that made me regret my decision to give him the key, and grabbed them from my hand. I sat shotgun to make sure nothing went too badly.

When we arrived at school, I was more or less intact. The same couldn’t be said for Clary, considering her hair was in disarray and she looked like she had recently been in a fight for a limited edition Christmas toy during a Black Friday sale. I pitied her for her long hair because I wouldn’t know what I would do if I had that much. I shuddered at the thought.

Jace said a quick goodbye to us and left to go catch up with his friends. We went to home room and sat down in our seats. They would call us when the bus arrived since there was a delay. I idly played on my phone as Clary sketched in her notebook. She had brought it in the hopes of being able to draw some live horses. She could never give up a opportunity like that, I thought fondly.

The bus finally came, 20 minutes late. I loaded onto the bus and sat next to Clary. They were quite small so only our class and half of 12b could fit into it. Jace was unfortunately on the other bus. Or maybe that was fortunate. He could be very annoying on long road trips, with his constant inquiries of, ‘when will we be there,’ or the more common, ‘are we there yet.’

I decided to read the book that I downloaded on my phone while I waited for us to get there. I was actually a bit excited, contrary to my calm exterior. It had been years since I had gone horseback riding and it was second only to archery for me. I used to love riding with my mom.

A bitter smile played on my lips. That was, of course, before Rob had started cheating on Maryse. She had tried to keep her act up but after awhile she just couldn’t anymore. That’s how she had become the hard and unyielding woman she was today. Barely a shell of the person she used to be. Back then, she used to smile over the littlest things but now they were way too rare. Like something that had to be earned and not at all representing how she used to be. Free with her love and words.

Rob had truly broken her. And he had left sharp, jagged pieces behind. But Maryse was nothing if not strong willed. She pieced herself back together and although it looked like a misshapen vase, she still stood tall and proud.

Before I could dive deeper into my thoughts, the bus stopped with a screech. I looked out the window and realized that we were already there. Clary got out of the seat and I soon followed her. It would do me no good to get lost in the past.

When we got to the fields, the instructor gave us safety instructions for almost half an hour. It took quite a while and was really boring considering I already knew how to ride. The last this they told us was not to go too far off.

I found a horse that was a mix of black with white spots. I took off shortly after I mounted the horse. Most people had a instructor helping them but considering that I already knew how to ride, they left me alone. Something about riding made me feel completely free. It was exciting to be able to control where you go, feel the wind on your face and momentary forget about all your other problems. I couldn’t get enough of it but I knew it would soon end.

After three hours, we were leaving. Clary seemed to have enjoyed herself as she had a smile on her face. So did I, it was the most fun I had in a long time. I boarded the bus with Clary and started out the window on our way, thinking about random small things. When we got to school, there was only 30 minutes left. The teachers let us do whatever we wanted as long as it was safe and not harming anyone. When school was finally over, I picked Izzy and Jace up from their class.

“So how did you like riding?” Clary asked Jace on our way to the car.

“Oh, it was fun. We used to do it often back when we were teenagers.” He replied. It made me remember my thoughts from earlier today.

I got into the car and started the engine. It was time to go home. I frowned. When had I started to consider it my home? But I realized that it really was more of a home than the institute ever could be.

Chapter Text

Izzy POV

When I woke up to my alarm clock, I thought it was just another normal day. I got up, went to the bathroom, brushed my teeth and took a shower. It was weirdly quiet but I wasn’t going to complain about that. I only realized that the rest of them were off to their field trip when I went to the kitchen. Alec had left me a note that said I had to patrol the school today. Fun.

Raphael had agreed to pick me up so I quickly got ready and went to wait downstairs. He arrived soon after and I greeted him with a kiss on the check.

“Thanks for staying in school with me. It would be pretty boring without you since Magnus decided not to come to school at all today. Something about horseback riding being too hard and how we’re going to waste time in school watching old 90’s movies.”

For some reason, I felt like Magnus was probably right.

When I got to school, almost all the 12th graders had left on the trip. They decided to combine them into 2 different classes. 12b with 12c and 12a with 12d. As luck would have it, that meant Raphael was in my class.

Magnus turned out to be right. We started watching finding nemo and half way through I asked if Raphael wanted to skip. He agreed right away. This way I could patrol and spend time with Raphael at the same time.

“Let’s go to the roof.” I suggested after we both asked the teacher if we could go to the bathroom. I’m pretty sure they knew we weren’t really going there and that we wouldn’t be back anytime soon, but they didn’t really care.

When we got to the roof Raphael mostly stayed in the shadows. I decided to ask him why.

“Oh, well. I burn really easily.” He replied, put off by the question.

I decided not to question him further but it stayed in my mind. Right when we were about to leave the roof I realized
something. Wait. It couldn’t be, but it would explain why he was friends with Magnus. And his aversion to sunlight.

“Hey, I know this might sound weird but… are you a vampire?” I asked cautiously.

He seemed to freeze when he heard the question and that was all the answer I needed.

“That’s….how’d you know?” He asked.
“Well I mean you are friends with Magnus and you hate sunlight so it wasn’t that hard to piece together.” I replied.

“That’s not a problem, is it?” He asked nervously.

“Oh, no. Of course not! I have nothing against downworlders. My brother’s dating one and I like Magnus. Well, of course not in the same way I like you but...great, now I’m just saying random stuff now.” I stuttered. “To answer your question, no.”

“That’s great! So that means we can still be together right?”

“Of course! Oh and you probably already know I’m a shadow hunter but just in case you didn’t, I’ll say it now. I’m a shadow hunter.”

“Yeah, Magnus already told me the moment he started dating Alec. He couldn’t stop talking about him and he told me pretty much everything about him.”

We spend the rest of the time walking around the school. Since I didn’t have to hide that I was monitoring the building when I was with Raphael anymore, the work got done a lot quicker.

By the time lunch rolled around I was so bored that I was contemplating going home.

“Do you want to go outside? I could drive you to a coffee shop I really like. It could be like a date.” Raphael said, when he noticed how bored I was.

“Yes! That’s a great idea. You’re the best!” I said, already skipping off towards his car. The drive was only 5 minutes and the coffee shop was amazing. It was in a quiet part of town and barely anyone was there. The coffee was also amazing and their coffee cake was my new favourite dessert. Overall it was perfect.

It ended way too soon and neither of us wanted to leave. We went to our joined class when we got back to school.

Apparently we had a free period since the DVD player had stopped working. Me and Raphael talked for a while and I played on my phone until Jace came to our class with 3 minutes left of school. I asked him if he had fun and he said that he did.

Alec and Clary came to pick us up from our class when school ended. Alec seemed really quiet in the car but I chalked it up to his usual personality. When we got home I went to my room and freshened up. Then I went to the kitchen to make myself some ramen. I know it was bad for you but it was about the only thing I could make without completely destroying the kitchen. I watched Netflix until it was 12 and then I decided to go to bed.

Chapter Text

Jace POV

I was staring at the wall during science, minding my own business. The cracked ceiling tile was great to look at. I was so focused at the ceiling that I didn’t realize we had to stand up until Izzy reached forward and patted me on the back. Once I realized I immediately stood up. Everyone had been looking at me, of course.

“Jace, if you can't hear it would be best for your parents to make an appointment to check that out.” The teacher stated, the class burst out into laughter. Except Izzy, what a great sister.

“I’ll be sure to tell them that,” I replied.

“You can tell them that when I call them.” She said gesturing at the phone.

“Well...my mom isn’t home.” I said quickly.

“Your father then,”

“I don’t know his number,” I replied.

“Well then I’m sure your mom can answer her work cell for this. I’ll just find the number.” She said walking over to the computer.

“She’s in...Italy. Weird time zone and I don’t know her international number.” I said, out of nowhere. I heard Izzy sigh from behind me.

“Just go to the office then Jace,” The teacher said, scribbling a quick note. I happily complied, much better than them having to call Maryse. I slowly walked myself down to the office. I walked in and handed the note to the secretary. She just rolled her eyes since I was in the office almost once a week.

“Jace, the principal’s assistant would like to speak with you.” The secretary said gesturing to the office within the office. I quickly realized that I could be helping with the mission as well as getting in trouble. Killing two birds with one stone. To my surprise, all she did was complain about my behaviour for a good fifteen minutes.

“So how long have you been working here?” I asked while she was checking the computer.

“I think you have had enough of a…” she started, before she got interrupted by the phone ringing. She held up a finger to tell me to wait. She answered the phone. I tried to listen in on the call but I could barely hear it.

“Mmm hmm, yeah okay Leonard. I understand.” She said before hanging up. Leonard, I needed to remember that.
“Okay well don’t do something like this again Jace.” She said before motioning for me to leave.

I stood up and closed the door. The secretary rolled her eyes at me again before I left, how annoying.

Science had just about ended. So I quickly ducked in to grab my stuff, earning a glare from the teacher. I was a bit late to social studies, so I quickly took my seat next to Alex.

“Why are you late Jace?” The teacher asked without even turning around from writing on the board.

“Office,” I stated. He didn’t say anything else. He talked about something from the text book for a good thirty minutes and then gave us a couple questions to do. Once the lunch bell went we all rushed out of class. Izzy waited until after we were done with our lockers to talk to me.

“What did they say in the office?” She asked.

“The principal assistant talked about my increasing bad behaviour for a while,” I responded.

“Oh, you saw her today,” Izzy stated.

“Yeah, and I learned something interesting.” Before Izzy could ask about what I learned we were joined by Alec, Lydia and Clary.

“Okay so I have something to say.” I said when we sat down. Everyone nodded in response while beginning to eat.

“So I got in trouble…” I said, getting cut off by Alec.

“Really, again?” He groaned followed by Lydia and Clary laughing. I glared at everyone before continuing.

“That’s not the important part. So in the office, the principal assistant was on the phone talking to a ‘Leonard’.” I said.

“Oh, that could be her employer.” Alec said quietly, since a lunch monitor was walking by.

“That’s what I thought,” I said.

“It’s good information, but how can we learn more?” Lydia asked.

“Get in trouble?” I joked.

“No Jace. We will have to find out more but I’m not sure how. We can discuss it later…” Alec said.

“Discussing the mission later? What’s up with you Alec? Sick?” Izzy questioned.

“No..well I invited Magnus over for dinner tonight,” Alec replied.

“Look at you! Putting effort into this relationship, I’m so proud.” Izzy stated.

“So you guys need to be entertaining, wanna come Lydia?”

“Sure, Alec.” Lydia answered. Lunch was over shortly after that and we returned to class. Somehow I made it through two hours of class without getting yelled at once.

“I did great this afternoon,” I told Izzy.

“Hmm?”

“I didn’t get in trouble!” I exclaimed.

“Oh, yeah great.” She said while clapping for me. We got our backpacks and headed downstairs to meet up with Alec and Clary. We got into the car and I even let Izzy have the front seat with minimal arguing, what a great person I had become.

“I got a 98% on a math test I thought I’d fail since I had forgotten all the stuff” Clary said.

“Good job! I haven’t gotten above a 95 all year.” Izzy said while clapping for Clary.

“Better yet, Alec got 96%. Basically the first time I’ve beat him all year.” Clary said. Izzy and I laughed.

“It’s only because my answer on one of questions was slightly erased so she couldn’t quite read it. Though I could read it when she gave it back and I swear that it wasn’t erased when I wrote it. Don’t get cocky, Carrot.” Alec responded.

At home we retreated to our separate rooms to wait for dinner time. I decided to get a start on my reading, why not be productive? It had been a partially useful school day for once. So I decided that I should be useful too.

Chapter Text

Alec POV

I looked through my arsenal of grey and black shirts. Why did I never know what to wear? I was going to ask Isabelle but she would just complain about how I need colour in my wardrobe. And Jace wouldn’t care at all. So I just had to choose Clary. I knocked on her door.

“Come in,” she called. I walked in and she quickly shut off her iPad.

“I need help,” I stated.

“Help from me?”

“Yes, from you. Come on.” I said walking out of her room and to mine. She quickly got up to follow me. After she walked in, I shut the door.

“So what do you need help with?” She asked.

“This,” I said gesturing at the open closet and clothes strung across the bed. “I need you to help me pick an outfit for tonight.”

“Doesn’t Izzy usually help?” Clary asked.

“Yes, but I don’t want her help today. So do you want to help or not?”

“No, I want to help. I’m flattered that you asked me actually.” She said.

“Don’t be, I was definitely not going to ask for fashion advice from Jace.” I told her.

“Ha, yeah that wouldn’t be a good idea.” She said.

“Enough talking, help please,” was my next statement. She looked through my clothes for a bit before decided on my most adventurous shade of grey, an almost white grey. It was a long sleeve button up along with some black jeans.

“I don’t think you have worn these in a while,” she told me while I she handed me the clothing.

“It’s too out of my shade zone.” I said, gesturing to the shirt. I ‘kicked’ her out of my room so I could get dressed. After getting dressed I went on my phone for a bit before heading to the living room.

“Wow Alec, what a nice outfit!” Izzy exclaimed.

“So bold,” Jace stated.

“Shut it, both of you.” I said, mostly joking before walking into the kitchen. Thankfully, Clary didn’t mention that she had helped me choose my outfit because I would never hear the end of it from Jace and Izzy. I texted Lydia to come upstairs since Magnus was due to arrive in about twenty minutes.

We got a knock on the door about five minutes later. I opened it to see who I expected, Lydia.

“New shirt?”

“Ugh...not you too.” I groaned as she laughed before joining the others. The four of us quickly set the table to be ready for Magnus’ arrival. 7:02pm on the dot, a knock came from the door. I quickly dashed into the bathroom.

“Hey Magnus, great to see you.” I heard Jace say from the living room followed by the others saying hello. I quickly checked myself in the mirror before heading back to the living room. God, I could be such a teenage girl sometimes.

“Hey,” I said.

“Hi Alec, very good to see you.” Magnus said, emphasizing on ‘you’. Just at that statement I was blushing. Izzy luckily escorted everyone in the table. Not walking through the kitchen and instead taking the long way through the living room since she can’t even step into the kitchen without messing something up.

I breathed in and out a few times before joining everyone. I took the head of the table. Izzy and Magnus were on either side of me with Clary next to Magnus and Jace next to Izzy. Lydia pulled in a chair by Clary.

Clary stood up and grabbed the pasta that I had made. Looking at the food, I hoped it was at a good enough standard for Magnus Bane. Everyone grabbed their helping and began eating.

“What lovely pasta Alec,” Jace said. Because I wanted to hear his opinion on the pasta that he had eaten at least twenty-five times.

“Oh you made this. It just got a 100 times better.” Magnus said with a smile. I swear Izzy ‘awed’ under her breath. I looked down at my plate so everyone wouldn’t notice me blushing so hard. God I couldn’t control my emotions.

After everyone had enough pasta and salad, Jace went to grab some brownies that he made.

“Just so you know these may suck since Jace made it.” Izzy said while physically shuddering. Lydia, Clary and I started laughing, at the irony. Jace joined us quickly and Magnus just looked at us.

“Isabelle here is a horrible cook and baker. And well, she is so bad at anything that involves the kitchen. We won’t even let her walk into the kitchen.” I informed Magnus while putting my hand on his arm.

“Really, Alec! I’m trying not to get the whole world to know!” Izzy exclaimed followed by softly punching my shoulder.

“It’s okay Izzy, there are things we are all bad at.” Magnus said.

“No one is as bad at anything like Izzy is at cooking.” Jace said.

“Now that’s a bit rude,” Magnus said.

“You know that’s what I used to say all the time. But they are always like this.” Lydia said.

“Yeah me too, they love each other don’t worry.” Clary added.

“Yup we just love Izzy,” Jace said while wrapping his arm around her. Which she escaped after patting him awkwardly. I gave Izzy a high five.

“What a loving family,” Magnus exclaimed. Before I could say anything to him, a phone rang.

“Clary.” Izzy, Jace, Lydia and I said almost immediately. Clary got up to go answer her phone.

“How do you know it’s hers?” Magnus asked all of us.

“It’s just a thing,” Izzy replied.

“You know the brownies really weren’t bad. Good going Jace.” Magnus said after we had all finished the brownies. Magnus helped us clean up, though I told him not to help since he was the guest. He insisted on doing so anyway. We all took a seat on the couch not knowing what to do.

“Ooo, let’s play monopoly.” Izzy said while she went to grab the game.

“Let’s not!” Jace yelled, I was also on the fence about playing.

“It seems like fun.” Magnus said, no more fence for me. Clary and Lydia agreed so we sat down on the floor. Izzy brought the game and Jace caved in since he didn’t want to watch us play.

“Okay, everyone rolls to see who goes first.” Lydia said picking up the dice. Magnus ended up getting highest followed by Izzy, Jace, Me, Clary and Lydia. We began playing.

“I’ll buy this,” Magnus said getting out his money. We decided that Lydia would be banker. After he paid it was Izzy’s turn. Somehow she immediately landed on Magnus’ property.

“And there’s Isabelle Lightwood for everyone.” Jace said while clapping her on the back. Though right after during Jace’s turn, he also landed on Magnus’ property.

“What are the chances?” I asked jokingly. I picked up the dice and rolled, landing just before Magnus’ property.

“I wanted you to have to pay rent,” Magnus said quietly so only really I could hear. I blushed yet again. To distract myself, I handed the dice for Clary to role. She bought the property that she had landed on. And somehow, Lydia also landed on Magnus’ property.

Ten minutes later, Magnus was the richest followed by Clary and I. Jace was basically in debt and Lydia and Izzy didn’t have much.

“Who’s is this?” I asked while I landed on a property that had been bought.

“Mine,” Clary replied happily. It was the first time I had landed on one of hers all game.

“Ughhh,” I groaned. After she got the money she was so happy.

“Please land on mine,” I pleaded to no one in particular about Clary. She didn’t of course, that darn redhead. Izzy ended up throwing the dice too hard that it hitting Lydia in the face.

“Oh my god I’m so sorry!” Izzy exclaimed. Izzy got some ice for Lydia, though Lydia kept saying she was fine. There was a small red mark by her eye. After that fiasco we returned to the game.

The game went on so long that we just called it as Magnus won, I got second and Clary third.

“Wow I didn’t get last!” Clary exclaimed.

“Good on you,” I said. She held up her hand and I gave a weak high five. Lydia gave her a big one to make up for mine. Magnus stood up and walked into the kitchen to help himself to a glass of water. I tried helping them clean up but Izzy looked at me and leaned her head towards Magnus.

“Hey,” I said walking up to him.

“Hi,” he replied.

“I’m so sorry for them as usually.” I told him quietly.

“No, it’s okay. They are always great.” He said.

“Seriously?” I asked.

“Yeah, it’s been amazing to get to know them these past few months. And you of course.” Magnus said with a smile.

“Well I’m glad you like them,” I stated.

“And you,” he added.

“And me,” I said slowly. By then the others were done cleaning up so we joined them back on the couch. The six of us talked for a bit before Magnus decided it was about time for him to go. I decided to walk him down.

“This was really nice,” Magnus said as we walked out.

“It was, but believe me if you don’t want to spend much time with them you really don’t have to. I want to strangle them on a daily basis… especially Clary.”

“Alec as I said earlier, they are my friends now too. All of them.” He replied, I smiled realizing how great he truly is.

“Thanks for that, honestly.”

“Always. And I can really tell that you care for them all so much. Even if you want to ‘strangle’ them. You have a soft spot for Clary especially though you always talk about how annoying she is.” Magnus told me as we walked out of the elevator.

“I really don’t,” I responded. Physically shuddering at just the thought.

“But you do. And I like that about you. When you care about someone, you really care.” Magnus said. I don’t know what came over me but I leaned in for a kiss. He kissed me back and deepened it. It was probably only about eight seconds but it felt like a lot longer to me.

Magnus smiled and just stared at me.

“What?” I asked with a shallow laugh.

“Just admiring that you were able to do that.” He replied with another one of his great smiles. He gave me another quick peck before turning to leave. Right before he got into the car he turned and waved at me. I waved back and watched him drive away.

The elevator ride after watching him go felt a lot longer than usual. Back upstairs everyone was just standing around.

“Well this was really fun, see you guys tomorrow.” Lydia said before clapping me on the shoulder and leaving.

“You have a good time?” Izzy asked after Jace and Clary had retreated to their rooms.

“It was great minus you guys being embarrassing.” I told her.

“Aww, we always will be.” She said sweetly.

“Izzy..”

“Yeah.” She replied.

“I kissed Magnus for the first time. Magnus has kissed me but I haven’t kissed him before today. Is that a good thing?” I asked her.

“That’s great Alec! I can really tell that you like him.” Izzy told me with a genuine smile.

“I guess I finally found who I am,” I said.

“I swear I’ve always known.” She said.

“Really?”

“Yeah all those ‘girlfriends’ that you had...” she told me.

“Oh yes...I was in denial I guess.” I said.

“You know Alec, I’m so proud of you.” Izzy said.

“For what?” I asked her.

“I’ve always looked up to you Alec in every way. And it sucked when I knew that you weren’t genuine with who you were in the romantic department. I’m so proud that you are good with who you are.” Izzy said giving me a hug. I hugged her back, though we fight it was still amazing to hear my little sister tell me that. We talked for a bit longer before she headed back to her room.

“Hey Alec,” Jace said as we walked into my bedroom. I had left the door open since I was just reading a book for English.

“Hey Jace, what’s up?” I asked sitting up.

“Izzy told me to come tell you about how I’m proud of you.” Jace said.

“Do not feel obligated to, Izzy is like that sometimes.” I said while rolling my eyes.

“But I guess I want to. Really good on you for being who you are Alec. You have always deserved to be happy for all you do for everyone else.” Jace said while clapping me on the back.

“Thank you Jace,” I told him. We talked for a bit about school the next day before he went back to his room. After talking with Jace and Izzy, something in me wanted to talk to Clary as well.

“Come in,” she said after I had knocked on her door. She turned around to see that it was me. I closed her door and sat on the bed.

“So, I wanted to tell you something.”

“What?” She asked.

“Magnus said that he noticed that I have a soft spot for you.” I told her.

“What soft spot?” She asked, jokingly.

“I know right!” I joked back. “But in all seriousness. I think I really realized how far we have come today”. I said gesturing at both of us.

“We have come really far,” she stated.

“Yeah, and though it pains me to say this I enjoy having you in my life.”

“Wow Alec! Should I get my phone to record this?” She asked.

“Don’t make me take it back.”

“Ha, thank you. And I also, though it pains me to say this, enjoy having you in my life too.” She told me.

“Well that’s all I wanted to say,” I said getting up.

“One more thing, it was really great to see you so happy with Magnus. You deserve it all.” Clary said while she stood up to grab something off the floor. The next thing I did truly shocked me. I hugged her, very quickly. But it was a hug and she was shocked too.

“Thanks,” I told her before leaving the room. After a quick shower and some homework I practically fell into my bed. I truly realized how thankful I am for my friends and my family. Even if I don’t show them that.

Chapter Text

Alec POV

It was Valentine’s Day. A day I dreaded from the moment I was old enough to know what it was for. All the PDA I had seen on this day had left me unwilling to partake in it.

Another reason I disliked today was because Izzy had made me wake up 3 hours before school to make some chocolate for Raphael. I didn’t understand why she even wanted to go to the kitchen after her last disaster but since she was adamant about it, I decided to go with her to make sure the kitchen stayed intact.

I turned off my alarm and went to wake Izzy up. I knew she had set an alarm as well but she rarely got up on time. True to my words, when I knocked on her room she didn’t answer. I slowly opened the door and saw her sprawled across her bed, deep in sleep. Her phone was beep from under her blanket so I took it out and turned off the alarm.

“Come on Izzy. It’s time to wake up. Don’t you want to make some chocolates form Raphael?” I said while I shook her lightly on the shoulder.

“Hmm…” Izzy said in a sleepy voice before she registered what I said and shot straight up in bed. “What time is it! I’m not too late right?” She said, hurriedly looking for her phone to check the time.

“Calm down. We still have 3 hours. Plenty of time left.” I replied.

“Phew. Well I’ll meet you in the kitchen in 5. Can you please get the ingredients ready?” She asked with a tilt of her head. I nodded and left for the kitchen.

I took out the necessary ingredients out from the kitchen and started to arrange them in a organized way when Izzy showed up.

“Everything all set?” She asked.

I nodded. She came and stood next to me.

“So what do we do first?” She asked.

“Well according to the instructions online, you’re supposed to melt vegetable shortening on a pan and then add stuff like sugar and cocoa powder into it. I’ll read the directions as we go but first turn the on the stove and get a saucepan.” I instructed.

Izzy did as I told her and I breathed a sigh of relief over the fact that nothing terrible had happened yet. Everything was going very smoothly until Izzy decided to leave everything on the stove for too long and when we tried it out, it tasted burnt.

“We could make it again since we still have 2 hours left.” I said after I threw the other batch out. I knew this would happen so I had taken enough ingredients out for a second set.

This time it was me who did all the work in the saucepan and it turned out tasting like normal milk chocolate. Izzy took out some heart and star shaped moulds and poured the chocolate into it. I put it in the freezer and waited for it to freeze.

Since we still had around an hour left, I decided to go take a short nap to not be cranky later on. When I woke up again, it was time to get ready for school. I decided to check on the moulds to see if they were frozen or not. I sighed in relief when I saw that they were.

When Izzy woke up, she took the chocolate out and put them into a plastic bag for Raphael. There were a few leftover so Izzy suggested that I give some to Magnus. After a bit of reluctance, I decided that it wasn’t that bad of an idea. I put the ones left into another plastic bag.

We got into the car and arrived in school only a few minutes later. I decided to visit my locker first. When I opened it, I was surprised to see a few boxes of chocolate in it. What concerned me most was the fact that someone had opened my locker. I decided to take my chocolate out and give them to Clary. I wasn’t surprised to find out that Izzy and Jace had also received some.

School went by slowly and I was nervous for lunch. Hopefully Magnus liked the chocolates.

When lunch finally arrived, I took the bag of chocolates out of my locker and went to give it to Magnus. I went to his locker and before I could second guess myself, I outstretched my hand with the chocolates in it. He seemed shocked at first but his expression soon melted into a smile.

“Thanks babe.” He then reached into his locker to get a present of his own. A small pendant with my initials engraved on them.

“Oh, Magnus. You shouldn’t have!” I said, shocked that he would give me something like that.

“I wanted to. Would you like to put it on?” He asked.

“Yes!” I exclaimed but blushed when I realized I sounded overeager. Magnus just chuckled and put it on me.

“It’s beautiful.” I whispered softly.

“So you like it?” He asked, sounding relieved.

“I love it.” I replied and before I could stop myself, I leaned in and planted a kiss on his lips. He seemed shocked at first but soon melted into it.

“Maybe I should get you presents more often.” He said, teasingly.

I blushed and we headed to the cafeteria together. When we arrived, everyone was already in their usual seats. Raphael seemed to be happier that usual so I assumed Izzy gift had been well received. Izzy was also sporting a new teddy bear and it was probably what Raphael had given in return.

When everyone was deep in their own conversations, I turned to Izzy and asked her how her day went.

“It was great! Raphael got me a teddy bear and he seemed really happy about the chocolates I gave him.” She said with an excited smile on her face.

“That's good.” I replied. I was glad that Izzy had found someone who she could be happy with.

“And is that that a new pendant I see?” She asked, with a smirk on her face.

“Yeah.” I replied shyly. “Magnus got it for me.” After that we resumed our normal conversation and ate our lunch. Once lunch was over, I went to my next class after saying a quick goodbye.

The rest of the day was mostly uneventful. When we got home, Clary and Jack decided they wanted to got out on a date. I thought it was was a good idea since they had barely been spending time together. After they left, I spent most of the day lazing around and wasting time. But my mind made sure to go back to the pendant that laid on my chest from time to time.

Chapter Text

Clary POV

After school, Jace and I had decided to go out on a date. While we could have picked a better day–considering that a lot of people picked Valentine’s Day as a date–I couldn’t complain. Any time I could spend with Jace was appreciated.

After we got home and freshened up, we grabbed the car keys and went out. We had opted out of going to places like cafes and restaurants considering that they were probably going to be all filled up today. Instead, we had decided to go to a park nearby and have a small picnic.

To do that, we first went to the store. Jace picked some fruits while I went to go see what type of sandwiches they had. After we finished out shopping and had gotten all the things we needed, we decided to go to the cashier.

Of course our line had at least 4 people and there were only 3 cashiers open in the entire store for some reason. I thought that was a bad idea considering the amount of people who forgot to get presents for their significant other. The person in front of us seemed to be one of those people because he was holding a bouquet of flowers along with a heart shaped box of chocolates.

When we finally got to the front of the line, the cashier was quick to ring up our items. She also didn't try to talk to us. Maybe it was because she was tired from all the work or she was just normally a quiet person, but I thanked the angels that she wasn't chatty. I didn't mind talking to the cashier, but when they started asking about my life as if they actually knew me, it became a bit annoying.

After I finished paying, we made our way to the park. We picked a shaded area where it wasn't too cold to set our blanket down. Jace started to unpack all our things onto the blanket and got everything set up. I had also brought my sketch pad, which was hardly surprising since I barely left home without it.

When we finished getting everything out, we sat down to have our dinner. Jace had decided to get grapes on our trip to the store. After we finished eating, he decided to try and show off by catching grapes in his mouth.

For some reason, he kept failing and every time he tried again, I was finding it hard not to laugh. After a while I gave up and let out a full blown laugh. Jace seemed to keep on failing and I had a feeling that it had less to do with the fact that he couldn’t do it and more to do with him wanting to make me laugh.

When he finally caught it, I gave him a round of applause. He turned to me with a smile and then asked me if I would like to play a round of catch. We got out the ball we had brought on our trip and started to play. It went on like this for almost an hour and when we finally stopped, it was only because it was getting dark.

“Look!” I said, pointing at the sky. “Let’s watch the sunset together.”

We laid on the ground, my head on his chest, his hand on my head. I looked up towards him and he had the warmest smile on his face. I got up and faced him.

“Can I draw you?” I asked. I had never seen Jace this happy in a while and I wanted something to remember this day by.

He nodded with a grin. I got my sketch pad setup and started to draw. I wasted no time in drawing out the details. I wanted to capture the joy in his eyes, the dip of his nose, the curve of his smile. I couldn’t miss anything.

When I finished the drawing, I told Jace we should probably leave. It was getting really dark outside and we wanted to be home before it was 10.

“Okay, but just one more thing. Close your eyes.”

I complied since I didn’t want to waste any time. I felt him grab my hand and slip something against my wrist. When I opened my eyes, I saw a bracelet. It felt cold on my skin due to the frame being made from metal. It was littered with small gems, making it shine. I looked so simple yet it was a prominent reminder of our love. I kissed him suddenly, shocking both of us.

“Thank you so much.” I said to him after we broke apart.

“You deserve it.” He replied with a grin. After that, we made our way to the car.

I put the sketchbook in the back of the car and stepped into the driver's seat. It wasn’t too long of a drive and we were home before 10. I went to my room and ripped the page I drew today from my note pad. I hung it on the wall across from my bed so I could always see it. Today was a truly beautiful day and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

When I went to bed that night, I didn’t stay awake for long. Today’s activities has left me tired and the bracelet in my arm served as a reminder, smoothing me into sleep.

Chapter Text

Izzy POV

I slept in until 11:30 am since I didn’t have to go to school. I had some cereal for breakfast and watched tv with Alec and Clary. Jace finally rolled out of bed at 12:45 and had lunch with us. He, unfortunately, didn’t get breakfast since he woke up too late.

I was so bored after lunch that I decided to organize my bedroom. Clary was also bored so she helped me out a bit. While organizing, Alec called us to the living room.

“Lydia was on a walk and she said that she sensed something weird, probably demons. So we have to go help,” Alec told us. Jace, Clary and I went to get ready quickly and we made sure to grab our weapons. When we met up with her she was trying to fight off a demon in an alleyway, Alec went up and killed it since she seemed to be struggling.

More kept coming and thirty minutes later we were still fighting them. Eventually it was left to just a couple and it didn’t seem like there would be any more. We were all exhausted and not doing as well as usual. Alec was fighting off the last one when he was flung into the wall.

I rushed over to him while the others killed the demon. I shook my brother slightly but he was unconscious. We were just about to leave when we heard heels click behind us. I whipped around to see the principals assistant, Veronica. If she didn’t know about who we were before, she definitely did now.

She laughed sickenly and it all went black. I woke up, who knows how much time later, to my head throbbing. I sat up and looked to see Jace Lydia and Clary hovering over me. I tried standing up but once I did I felt nauseous so I sat back down and leaned against the wall that Alec was still slumped against.

“Are you okay?” Jace asked. I rubbed my head and shrugged my shoulders.

“What happened?” I asked.

“Veronica knocked you out and we had to fight her off,” Lydia said.

“We hurt her a little and then I guess she decided that killing us wasn’t part of the plan so she left,” Clary told me. We waited for a little to see if Alec would wake up.

“I guess we will have to carry him to the car,” Jace said. Jace got him into the car with minimal effort. Lydia and Clary somehow squished in next to unconscious Alec. Though without seatbelts so I hoped we wouldn’t see any cops.

Jace drove, I would’ve but I was just too tired. I almost threw up twice during the ride back home. Jace got Alec to his bed and then decided that he deserved a nap. Lydia and Clary decided to go watch some tv. I had some water and then tried to go to sleep but I just couldn’t. I read a book but it gave me a headache, so all I could do was stare at the wall.

After about 45 minutes I suddenly felt a lot better. I stood up and stretched before going to check on Alec. He was still fast asleep. I was really starting to get worried. It was almost 7pm by that point and he has been down at least two hours.
“Hey…” Clary said, leaning against Alec’s door frame.

“Hi,” I said.

“How are you?” She asked.

“I’m alright,” I replied. Then Clary leaned down to feel Alec’s forehead.

“He feels kind of warm. But we don’t have a thermometer so we won’t know if he has a fever.” She said.

“Shadowhunters don’t usually get fevers,” I stated.

“Shadowhunters don’t usually stay unconscious for two hours with no explanation.” I nodded and we decided to go out to the store to get one if Alec continued the way he was. Clary woke up Jace up from his nap and we had some cereal for dinner since no one wanted to make any good food.

“This whole thing is pretty problematic.” Jace stated and we all nodded in agreement. By 8:30 Alec was still out cold. I kept checking his pulse, worried that he wouldn’t have one.

“Maybe we should call Magnus, he could help.” Clary said as we were checking on Alec for the hundredth time.

“Let’s not,” he groaned.

“Alec! Are you okay?” I asked.

“I feel horrible,” he said before trying to sit up.

“Careful,” Clary told him and he laid back down.

“How long was I out for?” He asked me.

“Almost four hours.” I responded.

“What happened?” He asked. We gave him a quick explanation and called in Jace and Lydia so they could add to the conversation.

“Are you guys okay after everything you did?” he asked. It was just like Alec to worry about everyone but himself. We all said we were fine and he seemed content with that. I grabbed some water for Alec and he drank it slowly.

“Where does it hurt?” I asked when he handed the empty glass to me.

“Everywhere,” he replied. Jace and I decided to go get some pain medication for Alec and Lydia went back to her apartment. Clary decided to keep Alec company. The pain meds seemed to actually help Alec once they kicked in.

“I guess you’re staying home on Monday if this continues.” I told Alec.

“I don’t even want you guys to go with what Veronica is capable of.” He said.

“But we’re going to have to find out more about her. This is the most we have learned about her since we started.”

“Yeah, it’s something at least,” Alec said. I finally headed to bed around 12. It had definitely been a very long and painful day.

Chapter Text

Clary POV

As we had thought, Alec was too sick to go to school. It was kind of weird to go to school without him. Even though he spends most of his time at school hunting for demons, he still made sure to be there for us.

I got out of the car and made my way towards the school. Izzy had driven us today since Jace wasn’t the best driver and I was busy finishing my English essay in the back. Jace was monitoring the school today so I went to my home room class to wait for first period. When the bell rang, I got up to go to class.

When the teacher did attendance, she didn’t stop to question the fact that Alec wasn’t here. It was almost a daily occurrence and after the first few times she just stopped asking.

Class was boring like always. I had decided to take my sketch pad out to doodle so I could waste time. The bell rang and just as I was about to leave class, one of the girls near the door extended her foot and tripped me. My books and bag scattered onto the ground as I fell on the floor.

“Oh, sorry! Didn’t see you there, dear. How absent minded of me.” She giggled into her hand. “Your kind of hard to miss with that hair of yours. Although, your face is very...plain to say the least. I honestly don’t get what Jace sees in you.” She finished with a wicked smirk on her face. Her friends laughed as they sashayed out of the room, not sparing a glance at the mess they left behind them.

I picked up my books and hurried to my next class. I don’t know why they would pick now to start all this. Cindi had been civil in our past encounters and I had done nothing to gain her wrath. We mostly stayed out of each other’s ways and the only time I had seen her was when I hung out with Jace since she was one of the cheerleaders.

The next class didn’t go any better. Between exchanging–and by exchanging I mean one sided on their part–snide remarks and ‘accidentally’ bumping into me, I was on the verge of breaking down. At the end of the day I was ready to crawl into my blanket and not come out. I had acquired quite the set of bruises from all the shoving and tripping.

The ride home was quiet. Jace and Izzy could tell something was wrong, if their constant staring was a sign, but they didn’t ask about it. They could tell that I didn’t want to be confronted right now and I was grateful for that. But at the same time I wanted to cry and let it all out.

When we got home, I went straight to my room. After face planting into my bed and screaming into my pillow, I was calm enough to exit my room. I decided to go visit Alec and see how he was doing.

When I entered his room, I was met with the sight of tissues everywhere. The once impeccably clean room was now a swarm of disease. I flicked a stray tissue on the chair near his bed and sat down.

“How are you feeling?” I asked.

“Better,” he replied with a nasally voice that came with a stuffy nose. “How was school?”

“Okay,” I replied, not wanting to get too into it.

“You know I can tell you’re lying right? Just tell me what’s wrong. I’m bored out of my mind and I promise not to make fun of you.”

“Well, it’s nothing really. Just this girl in school. She is being kind of mean and it’s nothing, really.” I replied, trying to make it seem like it wasn’t a big deal. I didn’t want Alec to worry since he was already sick.

“I can tell it’s not nothing. It’s seriously bothering you, I can tell. I can’t help if you don’t tell me what the problem is. I want to help Clary.”

I don’t know why, but I just broke down after that. I spilled everything, from the rude remarks to the constant pushes and shoves in between my tears. After I finished speaking, I was a mess. Alec had to tell me to take deep breaths and when I had finally calmed down, my face was blotchy and my eyes red.

“You know what I think? I think she’s jealous. And who wouldn’t be? You’re an amazing person and you’re talented. You’re one of the nicest, most caring person I know and if she can’t appreciate that, she can rot for all I care.”

I had never seen Alec react this strongly to anything. It warmed my heart to know that he would always have my back. I let out a reluctant smile.

“But what should I do?” I asked in a small voice.

“Well you can’t just let her get away with it. I know that everyone says to take the high road and all that but you shouldn’t let people stomp all over you. You need to stand up for yourself.

I nodded my head. He was right. I had to do something.

It was almost time for dinner so I got up and made my way to leave his room. But just as I was about to exit, I bumped into the dresser and winces way too much to be passed off as a normal reaction.

“Clary!” Alec said as he sat up straight on his bed. I turned towards him. “What happened?”

I clutched my upper arm closer to my body, not wanting him to find out.

“Clary, let me see.” Alec pleaded. After a few moments, I gave in. I folded my sleeve upwards to reveal a bluish bruise. Alec sucked in a breath.

“She did that?” He asked. I nodded.

“She’s going to have hell to pay when I get to her! I’m going to–”

“No! Alec, I have to deal with this. I can’t expect you to always be there to fix my problems and no matter how much I appreciate the fact that you care enough to protect me, I’m going to have to learn how to do it myself.”

Alec shimmered down after that and reluctantly nodded.

I decided to spend a little more time with him and then made my way toward my room.

“Hey! You look a lot happier now.” Izzy commented as I walked towards my way to my room. She was watching a tv show in the living room while doing her homework. “I’m glad you’re feeling better.” She said with a smile.

I smiled back. “Thanks. Alec really helped. He’s a great listener.”

I walked to my room and smiled to myself. Yes, I wouldn’t let Cindi get away with it. A little revenge would do me some good.

Chapter Text

Alec POV

I was almost thankful to finally be able to go back to school. Being sick at home was no fun. Even though Izzy recommend that I stayed home today too since I was still kind of dizzy. But I was not having that.

However I did let Izzy drive, just in case. Jace offered to patrol the school so I could just have a chill day in class. I decided not to argue about it since there was probably a bunch of work for me to do.

At school I walked upstairs to the lockers with Clary. The whole class seemed to not want to be around Clary. They all immediately started hurrying up when they saw her.

“What’s that about?” I whispered.

“Oh...nothing.” She replied. I didn’t push her on it and we continued getting our stuff. In homeroom however it got a bit more concerning. Everyone just completely avoided Clary, not like they would usually stand next to her but they made it obvious that they didn’t want to be near her.

“What happened?” I asked her on the way to math class.

“Nothing Alec,” she replied and quickened her pace a little bit. We happened to have a new seating arrangement in math but I sat next to Clary anyway since the teacher didn’t feel like separating us anymore. Next to Clary was this guy named Paul who didn’t seem too happy to be there.

“Oh Alec, your back today. I’ll give you what you missed at the end of the class.” The teacher said when she noticed my presence. The lesson was boring like usual. And Clary was doodling on her note paper. Paul kept stealing glances at Clary and taking these weird breaths every time she moved.

After a little bit the teachers made us do these three stations of questions. During the second station this kid, Nathan I think, came up to Clary.

“Guess Cindi still isn’t here…” he said. Clary just looked at him and he walked away quickly. Instantly memories came flooding back of when I was high on painkillers and told Clary she should defend herself against Cindi.

“What did you do?” I asked her.

“What do you mean?” She asked like she was genuinely confused.

“You know what I mean,” I hissed.

“Honestly nothing important Alec,” she told me before trying to return to her work.

“Fray….just tell me.” I said, trying to coax a confession out of her.

“Next class,” she said quietly. After math class we had social studies where we could talk as much as we wanted. Clary made sure we sat in the very back of the social studies classroom. After the teacher gave us a worksheet she told me.

“Do you remember when I told you about Cindi being mean?” She asked.

“Yeah when I was high on pain meds.”

“And you told me to defend myself?”

“Yeah…” I responded.

“Well yesterday we were at the lockers in the morning and Cindi made a jab at me. So I basically pushed her up against the locker and I threatened her….”

“With what?” I asked, very shocked with what she had been telling.

“Isaididchokeher,” she mumbled.

“What was that?” I asked.

“I said I’d choke her…” she said quietly.

“Oh. My. God.” I said in utter disbelief. I expect these kinds of things from Jace and even Izzy but not Clary.

“As I said not that big of a deal,” she whispered.

“Not that big of a deal!” I whispered-yelled back.

“Well she just left school early and didn’t come today. I didn’t get in any trouble. But the whole class knows,” she said.
“I thought you were the nice, sweet one.” I said.

“Guess not,” she replied with a chuckle. Because in her mind it was appropriate to chuckle.

“And I thought I’d only have to deal with this kind of stuff from Jace and Izzy,” I told her.

“Well I’m not perfect,” she said.

“I know...wait do Jace and Izzy know?”

“Of course not,” she replied.

“Well they are finding out at lunch,” I said. She didn’t argue about it since she knew I’d tell them anyway. When lunch finally came around we met up with them and I pulled the three of them aside.

“Clary has something to say,” I told Izzy and Jace.

“What’s up?” Izzy asked her.

“I threatened to choke someone, it’s fine.” She told them quickly and then rushed out of the cafeteria.

“What?” Jace asked, he was clearly just as shocked as I was.

“This girl, Cindi has been bullying her. And my drugged up self told her to protect herself.” I told them.

“She’s probably in the bathroom, I’ll go check on her.” Izzy said before walking out of the cafeteria. I gave Jace some more details as we began eating. Izzy returned with Clary a couple mins later. We just ate in silence.

The classes after lunch were average, Clary and I didn’t talk much. It was weird but she was usually very chatty, too chatty. I didn’t I’d ever miss the chatter. After school she had art and I had archery.

I went to pick her up like usual. At home we went to our separate rooms and the apartment was very quiet for a while. Around 7pm, I heard a knock on the door.

“Come in,” I called. Clary slowly opened the door and came to sit on my bed.

“Hi,” she said quietly.

“Hey..”

“I just wanted to apologize, sorry for being stupid yesterday.” She told me. I thought about what to say for a second.

“It’s okay...I know that’s not you. You just didn’t know what else to do. And I told you to defend yourself. So I guess it’s my fault too.” I said.

“I’m a grown adult, my decisions aren’t your fault.” She said.

“I did influence your decision though.”

“Still,” she stated.

“You know I always forget you aren’t that much younger than me,” I said.

“Ha,” she joked.

“You okay? It would have to have been really bad for you to do that.”

“I’m fine,” she replied.

“You sure?” I asked.

“Yeah..” she said. I squeezed her shoulder lightly to comfort her. She left my room after a little while and we had our regular dinner with Izzy and Jace. Guess I have to worry about all three of them now.

Chapter Text

Alec POV

It was Monday, which meant we had school today. I had decided not to go. In my delusional haze during my fever I had realized that we were getting nowhere. All the evidence we had gathered was going to waste and we were no closer to solving the case than we were a month ago. It was time to tie up loose ends and I couldn’t put it off further.

“Hey, guys. I have something to say.” I said at the table in the morning.

“What?” Izzy asked.

“I’ve decided not to go to school today. We haven’t been doing much digging and I’ve decided to gather everything we’ve found out and make sense of them. I expect you guys to be on your best behaviour in school because I do not want to be interrupted. Also, Jace is going to be doing the patrolling today.” I finished.

“Okay, do you want me to stay? I can help if you need some?” Clary asked.

“No, it’s fine. You guys should go in case Jace needs back up.” They all nodded and soon they were off to school.

I brewed myself a cup of coffee. I usually didn’t drink it but I felt like I would need it to get through the day. I brought it into my room and sat down on the chair next to my desk. I got out a piece of paper to write everything down.

So we knew that the school secretary was planted by some guy named Leonard. She was probably being paid or offered something equally or more valuable in return. She was there to monitor the demon activity or maybe to organize them and make sure everything went as planned.

That was all I could learn about her. Leonard was probably a higher demon. Maybe one of the princes. I shuddered to think of the hell, literally, that could be raised if it was a prince.

I decided to take a break. It was now 10 o'clock so I got a snack from the kitchen. After dilly dallying for around 30 minutes I decided to go back to work. I still had to figure out what the symbols in both the hidden room and the roof shed meant.

I sighed and went back to my desk. I looked up the pictures we had taken and printed them out. It would be more helpful if I could mark it up and see them side by side rather than have to scroll through my phone.

After printing them out and looking at the for another 30 minutes, I realized that I could only read less than a tenth of the runes. The runes they were using seemed to be ones that were rarely in use today. I needed to go to the institute to get one of the old rune books.

I decided that I would eat a quick lunch which consisted of a chicken salad. After I was finished eating, I cleaned everything up and got ready to go to the institute.

When I arrived, everyone stopped to look. The person I had left in charge came up to great me.

“Hi, Alec! We weren’t expecting you today. Is everything okay?” He asked nervously, shifting his eyes left and right, trying not to meet my eyes. I just chalked this behaviour up to his nervous personality.

“Everything’s fine. I just wanted to pick something up from the library. You won’t even notice I’m here. Good job keeping the institute intact though,” I said, giving him a pat on the back as I made my way towards the library.

I greeted a few people on my way, but the library was empty except for one or two people. I quickly made my way to the back, where all the ancient and dangerous books were kept. I had to use my pass since only people who had clearance could get in.

Once I was there I took out my phone and scrolled to the picture of the runes to act as a reference for what I was looking for. After a while I just got frustrated and took every language book I could fit into my bag and then some. As I made my way out of the door, everyone started at me. Or maybe they were starting at the stack of books in my hand. I paid them no mind and made my way to the car.

I placed the books carefully onto the backseats and went to the driver's seat to start the car.

When I got home I decided to take a shower. After I finished showering I saw that it was already 3 and the guys would be home soon. I decided that I would wait until they came home to start looking for the right book. It would be much quicker with 3 extra set of hands anyways.

Soon enough, the gang was back home.

“Hey, Alec. Did you end up finding anything?” Clary asked once she saw me sitting at the kitchen table.

“Well, about that. I was hoping that you guys would help me search for what language those runes were in. I already went to the Clave and got some books so that should help.”

“Of course we'll help you. Right guys?” Izzy asked as she came up behind Clary. Jace and Clary nodded their head.

“Then it’s settled. Meet me in my room in 30 minutes. Some of you need to take a shower.” I said, pointing a glare at Jace.

“Hey! I don’t smell that bad!” Jace yelled.

“Sure.” I said in an unconvinced tone and left them to go to my room.

Chapter Text

Alec POV

Once everyone was all washed up and feed, they came to my room. Izzy and Jace sat on my bed as Clary took the space on the floor near Jace. I sat on my chair and I searched through yet another book. Books and stray pieces of paper were scattered all across the room in our hunt for the right book.

“Ughhh. I give up! We are getting nowhere.” Jace yelled from across the room. I rolled my eyes at him. This was his 5th outburst he had since we started. It hadn’t even been that long, only an hour.

“Shut up Jace. Get back to work.” I replied.

Jace huffed but picked up the book and went back to searching. Half an hour later, Izzy yelled, “Yes!”, from across the room. We all turned our attention to her.

“Did you find anything?!” I asked, walking toward the bed.

“Yes! This book has runes and translations that match the ones in the pictures.”

“Finally! I thought we were never going to be done.” Jace exclaimed, shutting his book closed. We all ignored him as we gathered around Izzy and the book.

“See,” Izzy said, pointing to the rune in the book and then a similar looking one in the picture, “they’re the same.”

I looked underneath the rune to see the definition. “Suction?” I read out loud, confused. “What does that have to do with anything?” I asked.

“Well I guess we’ll have to find out.” Clary said.

“Okay, I’m going to photocopy the translations so everyone has a copy. You’ll each take a picture of the runes and try to translate it.” Everyone nodded in response.

I went to the printer and photocopied 3 sets. I handed one to Clary, Jace and kept one for me. Izzy was using the book. We got to work and after 2 strenuous and long hours we were done. All that was left was piecing out parts together.

“You guys take a break, I’ll finish the rest. You deserve a break after all that work.” I told the rest.

“Finally.” Jace sighed and then left. Soon followed by Izzy and Clary. I sat at my desk and started to put all our parts together. In 30 minutes everything was becoming clear. Why there were demons in our school. Why we saw the word suction. I yelled across the room to call them over.

“What?” Jace said as he came running into the room.

“It’s done.”

“Oh, so what did you find?” Clary asked, peeking from behind Jace.

“I think you’ll need to sit down for this.” I replied, motioning to the bed. They all came in and had a seat.

As I started to explain, each of their faces contorted into those of horror and fear.

“So what you’re saying is that Leonard is probably Levithan, a prince of hell? And that he’s trying to suck all the energy out of the leyline under the school so that he can raise his fish army?” Jace summarized.

“Pretty much.” I replied.

“Huh.” He said, staring blankly in shock. There hadn’t been any prince of hell uprising in the past hundred years and the last one had ended in a blood bath. Hundreds of thousands mundanes were murdered before the shadowhunters could put a stop to it. And we had lost many valuable shadowhunters to the fight. We had built a memorial in remembrance to all the fallen soldiers and to serve us a reminder of the past.

To end the war, shadowhunters and the Princes and decided to make a treaty so no life were further harmed. Almost everyone was there at the meeting, except for the infamous Levithan. At first everyone was wary but after a while, when they saw that Levithan had made no move to harm anyone, people soon forgot all about him.

They should have tried to find him, I thought. Forced him to sign the treaty. It could have prevented all this. But it was too late to cry over spilled milk. We didn’t have time to do that.

“I think that enough shock for us today. I said, since no one was talking. “We should order takeout and go to sleep.”

They nodded but still didn’t speak. They probably needed some time to digest the information. I got my phone and ordered some Chinese. It was their favourite and I thought they might like it. 30 minutes later the delivery guy came to our doorstep and I went to collect our food. Once I put the paper bags on the table, I went to each of their rooms to call them over for dinner.

As they sat down, I served them each a plate of Chow Mein and some spring rolls. We ate quietly until Clary finally decided to break her silence.

“Who’s going to tell the Clave?” She asked.

After a moment of thought I replied, “I’ll go tomorrow. They need to know what’s happening. And if it’s anything like the last time it happened, they need all the time they can get to prepare.”

Clary nodded, satisfied with the answer, and went back to eating.

After everyone was done, I put the dishes in the sink and left them there. I could deal with them tomorrow. After the day I just had, I’m sure it could wait. I didn’t want to do anything since I knew that tomorrow was going to be a busy day.

I went to my room and got into my bed. No matter how much I wanted to, I couldn’t fall asleep. In the end I stared blankly up at the ceiling and thought about the tragedy that was to come.

Chapter Text

Jace POV

I woke up and got ready for school like I usually did. It had been over a week since we pieced together what we knew about the mission together. Alec had gone to the Clave and they said to not do anything rash and be smart about it. So far all we had done is patrolled extra and Izzy and Clary would do it too. Nothing too suspicious had happened yet but we knew that it would, eventually.

Alec drove us to school and Lydia came in the car with us. At school Alec and Izzy decided to patrol while the rest of us just went to class. During math we were just doing a worksheet when my phone vibrated in my pocket. I looked up at the teacher who was on her computer so I slowly got my phone out of my pocket. I made sure to angle it underneath my desk so she couldn’t see and I turned it on.

It was a message from Izzy reading ‘Guys, you need to come outside.’ Since she had also sent it to Clary and Lydia. I sent back a quick ‘okay’ and headed to the teachers desk.

“Yes,” she said not even looking up from the computer.

“Um...I really don’t feel well,” I said.

“Okay, go get a drink of water or something,” She told me.

“I feel like I’m about to throw up though,” I said.

“You know what Jace, I’m not in the mood today. Just go put your head down at your desk.”

“I just really need to go to the nurse or something,” I stated.

“Okay fine, just go. Take your stuff.” She said, clearly done with me. I quickly closed my binder and headed into the hallway. I dropped my binder off at my locker and grabbed my coat with my stele and my seraph blade. I met Clary and Lydia near the end of the hallway and we snuck outside together. We walked around to the back of the school and there Izzy and Alec were. They were fighting a good twenty or so demons.

Lydia, Clary and I quickly ran up to join them. It didn’t take that much effort to kill most of them. There were just a couple that were very stubborn. After finally killing one I looked around to see if there was another and I saw a mundane girl running towards us.

“Uh, you shouldn’t be here!” I yelled at her.

“I need to ask Clary something,” she said.

“How did you even know that she’s out here?” I asked.

“I asked her teacher,” the girl responded.

“Okay well, I’ll tell Clary to go see you at lunch or something. Just go back inside.” I said.

“I just really need to tell her,” she said. She was a mundane so she couldn’t see the demons. But she could see us fighting them. And the others didn’t see her so they didn’t put up a glamour.

“Go back to class,” I said while gently nudging her.

“No,” she said before running up to Clary. What was wrong with this girl? I ran up to Clary as well.

“Um Emily, what are you doing here,” she grunted through trying to defeat her demon.

“We need to talk about dance,” Emily said.

“Okay...can we just do it later?” Clary asked. But before Emily could respond the demon that Clary was fighting suddenly picked up Emily and carried her off. Clary and I chased it but it was too fast for us. Emily let out a scream before the demon killed her. It was so fast that we couldn’t do anything. While the demon was distracted, I killed it.

Clary sat down on the floor next to Emily. Izzy, Alec and Lydia rushed over to join us after they finished off the demons.

“Oh god, Emily…” Lydia said.

“What happened?” Izzy asked since she didn’t really see it go down.

“A demon killed her,” I whispered.

“Oh,” Izzy said as she sat down next to Clary. Lydia and even Alec sat down on the grass.

“We were in a dance group together, she was really nice.” Lydia stated.

“Oh….that Emily,” Alec said. Clary hadn’t said much of anything so I reached over to squeeze her hand.

“We’re gonna have to move her before everyone goes outside for lunch.” Izzy stated.

“We need to contact her family,” Alec added. We all nodded. Alec reached over to pick Emily up and we decided to take her to the hospital or something for an examination. It’s not like they could really detect demons and we wouldn’t mention anything.

At the hospital the tests came back that she died of natural causes, so we didn’t have to be suspects in a murder or anything. The doctor found her parents and called them. He told us to wait until they showed up.

“I feel really bad,” Lydia said.

“Yeah, she didn’t have to die like that,” Izzy said.

“She shouldn’t have died like that,” Alec corrected.

“This sucks,” Clary said quietly. Izzy and Lydia nodded since they had known Emily pretty well too. Clary was so close to tears that Alec wrapped his arm around her for a bit. After that I held her hand until Emily’s parents came.

“We are really sorry,” Clary said after we explained everything to Emily’s parents.

“She was really amazing and will always be missed,” Lydia said with a small smile.

“Thank you for saying that,” her dad said through tears.

“Oh my baby…” her mom said before walking into Emily’s room. Her dad thanked us again before following his wife. We solemnly headed back to school to get our stuff. Alec and Clary decided not to go to their clubs so we all headed home together. We ordered some pizza and ate quietly, Lydia joined us.

Lydia stayed for a while and we watched a movie. The rest of the day was hard, we didn’t really talk. All of us felt guilty though it wasn’t even our fault, especially Clary. I didn’t know Emily but it still sucked that she died, she was only seventeen. Izzy actually told me her birthday was in about a week. It made it even worse.

I took a really long shower that night and slowly got into bed. I had no idea how the school would react the next day. It took forever for me to fall asleep since I was thinking about today’s tragedy and that, after all of this, we were still not that much closer to an end for the mission. I just hope that not too much more blood would be shed.

Chapter Text

Clary POV

It was three days after she was killed and her parents had decided to have a memorial for her. We had all decided to go since we felt guilty for her death. Especially me. She had come to talk to me. If only I had talked to her before. Told her to leave quicker, faster. If only.

I quickly got ready. It was at 11 in the morning and I didn’t want to be late.

“You ready?” Alec asked.

I nodded my head. We left to the garage to go to the car. It was a 20 minute drive before we reached the memorial hall. Emily’s parents had rented one so that any friends of hers could come.

When we got there, the room was reasonably full. A lot of our classmates had come and I was reminded that Emily had been loved by almost everyone in our grade. How could they not? She was one of the friendliest and nicest person in our school. The guilt was eating me up. I couldn’t believe she was gone. And it was our fault.

The guys had taken it hard, but I had taken it the hardest. I couldn’t bear the thought of being the cause of someone’s death. The others were used to it, being raised into this world.

The memorial started 30 minutes later. Almost all of our grade 12 classmates seemed to be there and some of our teachers too. It started with Emily’s mother giving a speech.

“Thank you so much for coming. It means a lot to us that so many of you care about our daughter. She was...” she took a pause, obviously uncomfortable by saying was instead of is, “a constant source of joy for me. Whenever she was in the room, she tried her hardest to make everyone happy. She wanted to be a nurse when she grew up. A pediatric nurse. She loved children. She wanted to have some of her own. Emily always talked about having a big family and now...now…” she broke down, tears streaming down her face. With a choked sob, she turned and ran towards her husband who was standing behind her. He guided her back to her seat and after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, one of Emily’s friends went up on stage.

As the speeches went on, I took some time to reflect on my time with Emily. We had been in the dance class but I honestly had not know her very well. It was a shame she had died so young. She didn’t deserve any of this.

It was finally my turn to give my speech and I got up to the podium. I hadn’t prepared anything and I hoped I didn’t freeze up.

“Hi, I’m Clary. I won’t claim to have known Emily very well. We were dance partners. But I didn’t know anything about her hopes and dreams, her aspirations. And I regret that. I regret not taking the time to ask her about her favourite movie. What type of candy she liked. Small, pointless thing that don’t really matter. Until, of course, they are gone and you can’t do any of it anymore. I am so sorry for everyone here. I know that we all miss her and she deserved way better than this, but I think that the best we can do for her now, is to remember her. To keep her in our hearts. Although she is gone from this world, it doesn’t mean that she has to be gone from our memories. Even in the short time I knew her, she was a vibrant girl who always saw the best in people. And for that, I will always remember Emily with a smile on her face.”

I wiped a stray tear and went back to my seat. Jace gave me a comforting smile and squeezed my shoulder in support. He knew that I felt responsible and although he and the rest of them had told me I had no way of knowing she was going to die, I still felt guilty. It was our jobs as shadowhunters to protect those who can’t protect themselves, and on that day, I had failed.

A few more students and teachers went up after me and after a while, the memorial had ended. This time, Emily’s father went up to the podium to give one final message.

“Thank you so much for being here. I hope Emily is in a better place now. I always thought that she was too good for this world. I hope everyone goes back to their loved ones and lets them know how important they are in their lives. Because one day, they might not be there when you come back home.” He said with a teary smile.

People made their way to the door and Emily’s parents greeted them on their way out. We were one of the last peoples to leave.

“Thank you for coming. And for what you said about Emily,” her mom said on our way out.

I nodded my head a gave a rueful smile. I could see that they were tired and the bags underneath their eyes seemed to be amplified up close. They seemed to have been having a hard time the past few days and I could understand why. I was shocked to see them as composed as they were, considering that it had happened barely a few days ago. I gave them my condolences and we left to go to the car.

“You okay?” Izzy asked when we got home.

I nodded wordlessly, not in the mood to talk. It was strange how someone you barely knew could have this large of an impact on your life. I resolved to stop this once and for all. It had gone on for too long and the demons needed to be killed. I didn’t care if it was a Prince of Hell, I would find a way to destroy him. The part that I regretted most of all was that it had taken someone to die for me to get serious.

I went to sleep that night dreaming about vengeance. Revenge could be a very powerful motivator.

Chapter Text

Izzy POV

I woke up and got ready like I always did. Going to school had become harder, regarding Emily’s death. They had the typical memorial by her locker and we had a public one over the weekend. But I still felt like no one felt like we did about her death.

Clary, especially, had such a hard time with Emily’s passing. And it broke my heart that she felt responsible. Though I kind of did too, I mean I didn’t even notice Emily’s presence until after she had already died, since I had been busy with a demon of my own. Maybe things would have been different if I had noticed her earlier, maybe I could’ve prevented what happened.

Alec drove us to school like usual. Since Emily passed away we haven’t been as argumentative or as talkative. Probably because we realized how quickly life could end. And that arguing was pointless and that we didn’t need to talk to know that each other were there. Though we had started comforting each other more than usual. And Alec hasn’t made fun of Clary at all since that day.

Shortly into our first period class we were called to the gym. Our class sat behind Alec and Clary so Jace and I could talk to them fairly easily. Magnus and Lydia’s class were right behind us. Though none of us really talked. The presentation was about Emily’s death as well as changes to the school.

The principal talked about being stricter with attendance and making us stay inside at lunch time. And that all outside clubs would be moved inside. To enforce safety. I tapped Alec on the shoulder while they were discussing this and he just shrugged his shoulder. After the whole safety section, some of the staff came up to talk about Emily and to recognize her death.

Many of the 12th graders had gone to the weekend memorial but the younger kids didn’t know, Emily deserves as much recognition as possible.

“....I’m not even sure how she died. But as the administration here we feel responsible…” someone from the office said. Clary seemed upset with that statement so Alec squeezed her hand. Jace reached over and squeezed her shoulder. After the very long assembly, we were sent back to our classrooms.

“We’re gonna have to talk to Alec about what’s going to happen with the new safety protocols,” Jace whispered.

“Yeah, at lunch.” I replied as I got out my book for English class.

“Izzy, Jace.” The English teacher called. I assumed it was about us talking during ‘silent’ reading, Jace did too.

“You guys have to go down to the office,” the teacher added. Now that was a shock to me. Jace and I quickly put away our books and headed out of the classroom.

“Hey guys, did you get called to the office too?” Lydia said as she was also getting out of her classroom next door. I nodded and the three of us made our way downstairs. Clary and Alec were already in the office when we showed up. The principal sat us down and I looked around for the assistant, Veronica. But she was nowhere to be seen.

“Do you know why you were called down to the office?” He asked.

“No,” Jace replied. I had a vague idea but I knew the principal would tell us anyway.

“Well I’m here to talk about your attendance. Particularly Alec’s.” The principal said.

“I’m very sorry about that sir,” Alec said. Since he wanted this conversation to end.

“That’s going to need to change. You will all need to be in class like all the other students. Also more than one staff member has reported you guys just wandering the halls. Which is not what you should be doing during class time.” The principal lectured. We nodded in agreement. He talked for a bit more before telling us that if we skipped more than five days, or a part of 5 days, for the rest of the year we could get in serious trouble.

“Alec, what will we do about patrolling?” I asked as we walked out of the office.

“We will just stop doing it. Since getting kicked out of school is probably worse.” He said.

“Is that really wise?” Lydia asked him.

“It was more useful when we didn’t know anything. But we know some stuff now so it really just isn’t as useful. And I’m sure we could patrol somewhat as lunch if we really need to.” Alec responded. We all agreed and headed back to our respective classrooms. The rest of English went by without a hitch and it was time for lunch.

Magnus and Raphael sat with us and we all talked. It was nice to have a more normal time at school. Since that hadn’t really been happening. Clary still seemed quiet and upset. But I knew that she would be for a while.

Our afternoon classes went by normally, we had to present for history and Jace forgot that he hadn’t completed his slideshow. Which was kind of concerning. But the teacher was lenient and gave him an extension.

“Guys, we should watch a movie together.” Alec suggested on the drive home. I was pretty surprised, since Alec wasn’t usually like that. Jace would suggest a movie or Clary or even me. But not Alec.

“That would be fun,” Jace replied. Clary and I agreed and after having a snack we did just that. Alec chose some romantic comedy, another shocker. It was actually pretty funny and the end was sweet.

After that Alec suggested that we play monopoly. I honestly think he was doing all this to lighten the mood. We played twice since the first game ended pretty quickly. Alec won the first game and Clary won the second. Which made her crack a smile. I don’t think I’d seen her smile for almost a week. Alec seemed satisfied with himself because of that and Jace smiled really big.

We had some dinner and I went to my room to read. Then I did some math homework. Clary came into my room to show me a funny video on YouTube. I was glad that she was being more like herself.

I headed to bed and reflected on my day like I usually did. Emily’s death invaded my thoughts like it had the past couple of days. The one thing I hoped for is that no other teenager had to be killed like Emily. And with that thought, I drifted to sleep.

Chapter Text

Lydia POV

I went to Izzy’s apartment in the morning. Alec had called me down, saying it was important. When I got there, I was greeted by Jace.

“Hey, what’re you doing here?” Jace asked when he opened the door.

“Oh, Alec called me down. Said he had something important to say.” He nodded and then let me in.

On my way to his room, I saw Clary at the table so I decided to stop and say hi.

“What’s up?” she responded, shoving another spoonful of cereal into her mouth.

“Nothing much, just came here to meet Alec,” I replied.

“Oh, him? He’s currently in the showers so you’ll have to wait for about 5 minutes.”

“Okay,” I said, taking a seat at the table. Clary offered me some food but I refused, saying that I had already had some. I didn’t have to wait long, Alec showed up 3 minutes later with a towel around his neck and water dripping from his hair.

“Oh, I thought you’d come a bit later.” he said, sheepishly, rubbing the towel against his head to dry it.

“It’s not a problem, I was only waiting for a few minutes.” I replied.

He nodded his head once and then motioned for me to follow him into his room.

“So, what did you want to talk about?” I said, getting straight to the point.

“You know how we haven’t told the Clave anything about what we’ve discovered?” he paused as I nodded my head. “Well I wanted you to go tell them. This folder,” he handed me a folder, “has everything we found out so all you need to do is give this to them and maybe stay to answer any questions they have. I can’t go since the script written on the walls said that something might happen in the next few days. All you have to do is give it to the institute and they’ll deliver it to the Clave.”

“Okay,” I answered and before I left the room, I turned back and said, “Be careful.”

He nodded his head and I soon left to building with the folder. It wasn’t long before I had reached the institute.

“What brings you here today?” The substitute head of institute asked. I wasn’t surprised by his tone of superiority. In front of the Lightwoods he was a complete bootlicker but with anyone else he oozed haughtiness. Spineless in front of power, arrogant in front of others. People like that disgusted me.

“I wanted to talk to you. Alec sent me.” I said with a fake smile. He tensed up at Alec’s name. Probably because it was a reminded of the fact that his position here was nothing but temporary. He could enjoy the power but soon enough he’d be back to being a normal shadowhunter.

“Oh, well come right this way then.” He said, guiding me to his office. I went with him and sat across from his desk.

“He wanted me to deliver this to you so you could give it to the Clave,” I said, handing the folder over to him. “Look inside and ask if you have any questions on it.”

I saw him flip through the pages and saw his eyes go wide. I had felt the same when I had learned about it. The Princes of hell were part of childhood stories to keep children at bay and the possibility of one appearing in the near future was more than just scary. It made me freeze in terror at just the thought. The destruction that could occur...I shuddered.

“So...you’re saying...there’s a Prince on the loose?” He said, fear creeping into his voice. The arrogance gone from his tone.
I nodded. “Any questions?” I asked.

He shook his head, probably too shocked to respond. I got up and left, my work here was done.

I went back to my car to get home. The total journey took me almost 2 hours and when I got back, I collapsed on the couch. The day had barely begun and I was already tired.

I cooked myself a quick meal, consisting of some microwaveable noodles and a can of orange soda. When I finished eating, I decided to take a nap. I had finished everything we had to do for school and there was nothing good on tv so I might as well, I reasoned with myself. So I got a blanket and cuddled up into the sofa because I didn’t want to un-make my bed.

When I woke up again, it was already 5 in the afternoon. I looked outside and saw that it was lightly raining. Then I remembered that I had left the windows open in my room. I dashed towards my room and slammed the windows shut. Luckily I had prevented anything from getting too wet. The only place that there was water was the windowsill.

I went back to the living room and turned on the tv to see if there was anything interesting on. I ended up watch a cooking show were they made pastries. It was entertaining for a while but I turned it off to make some diner for myself.

I don’t know why, but I was inspired to try and make an actual home cooked meal. I blamed the show.

When I was finally done cooking, I had a plate of mashed potatoes, grilled chicken and some vegetable fries. It tasted pretty good, and I made myself a promise to make more meals for myself.

After the meal, I did the dishes and got ready for bed. It had been a pretty boring day and I couldn’t wait to get it over with.

Chapter Text

Clary POV

After Lydia left I went to Alec’s room to ask him what the meeting was about. When I got to his room, he was sprawled across his bed, scrolling through his phone.

“Hey, Alec.”

He got up from his bed and turned to face me. “Yes? How can I help you?”

“Oh, I just wanted to know what you were talking about with Lydia.”

“I was just asking her if she could deliver all the information to the institute so they could relay it to the Clave. We can’t go because the scripts that we deciphered said something might happen soon so we have to be here.”

“Oh, okay. Are we going to swing by to the school to see if there’s anything happening today? We might as well since we have nothing better to do.”

“Sure. Now get out of my room please if that was everything.” Alec said, going back to scrolling on his phone. Honestly, I never saw him without it.

I huffed and left the room to go see what the others were doing.

“Hey Izzy, what’s up!”

“Nothing much. Was just playing a game because I’m bored.”

“Oh, well we could always go back to bingeing that show? Until we have to go to school to do a round of patrol of course, to make sure everything is alright.”

“Sure, sounds like a plan. You go set everything up in the living room and I’ll meet you there in a few minutes.”

I went out of her room and opened Netflix on the tv. After I got everything set up, I grabbed a bag of popcorn and put it in the microwave. Right when it was almost done heating up, Izzy walks into the room.

“You’re right on time.” I said, grabbing a bowl and pouring the popcorn out. I brought it to the sofa and had a set next to Izzy.

“Great, let’s get this started then.” she said, going for the remote and turning the show on.

It was almost 8 when the tv marathon was over. We hadn’t stopped watching except for bathroom breaks and eating lunch.

“Are you guys ready? We’re leaving in 30 minutes.” Alec said coming into the living room. Jace was already ready because Alec had told him to be ready an hour ago. We always told him to be ready way before necessary just in case he would be late since he often was.

Izzy and I went to our respective rooms and got dressed. We were all wearing grey or black clothing so it was harder for people to notice us.

Soon we were on our way to school. We parked in the convenience stores in front the school so we could disable all the security cameras in it. We didn’t have to worry about them finding out because we’d just loop a clip of a normal hallway or class so no one would think someone broke in.

After we had finished doing that, we took our car and parked it in front of the school building.

One by one, we all went into the school.

“Clary, you take the first floor, Izzy take the second and Jace, you take the third. I’ll go to the room to see if anything is there. When your done checking your floor, go upstairs and meet with the others and keep going until you reach the roof. If there are any problems on your floor, call or yell. I’m sure we’ll hear you.”

“Okay great.” Izzy replied, going to the stairs. The others followed her as I stayed where I was.

‘Well, time to get started.’ I said to myself.

I started from the office and made my way through the cafeteria and then the classrooms. It was around an hour before I was done. I was starting to get hungry since we hadn’t had dinner yet.

Since I was done, I went upstairs to go see if Izzy was done or not. When I saw her, she said that she was finishing up her last two classrooms so I decided to help her.

“Okay, let's go see if Jace is done or not.” I said, once we had finished.

We made our way to the third floor. Jace was nowhere to be found so we assumed he was already in the roof. We climbed another set of stair only to be met with Jace’s smug smile.

“Took you guys long enough.” He said.

“Hush.” I reprimanded.

“If you guys are done arguing, could you tell me if you found anything or not?” Alec asked impatiently. I guess he was hungry too then.

“All clear.” All three of us chirped together and then we burst out laughing. Alec, begrudgingly, cracked a smile.

On the return trip to our apartment, we took a detour and went to get takeout since none of us were in the mood to make food. When we got home, we piled into the living room and dig into the food.

“Oh my god, I think I’m going to go into a food coma!” Jace said, patting his belly. I chuckled by his side.

“Me too.” I said.

“After a while we said good night to each other and headed to our beds.

I hated night time for one sole reason. Because it was quite. And when it’s quiet, the mind tends to think and the only thing on my mind was getting revenge for Emily. I wouldn’t let him hurt anyone else, I promised myself.

Chapter Text

Jace POV

I woke up to knocking at my bedroom door. I groaned before slowly getting out of my bed. I opened the door to see Alec standing there.

“Good morning,” he said.

“Morning...what are you doing so early?” I asked him.

“It’s almost 9am Jace, get ready.” He told me before walking away. I didn’t get a chance to ask him where we had to go but I got dressed anyway. I walked into the kitchen to see Alec, Izzy and Clary eating cereal. I grabbed a bowl for myself and joined them.

“So where are we going, Alec?” Izzy asked, I guess she didn’t know either.

“Yeah…” Clary added.

“I thought it would be a good idea to go to the local library,” Alec responded.

“The library? Why?” I asked.

“To research the town,” Alec replied.

“And that’s necessary because?”

“Izzy, it could help us with the mission,” He told her. After we finished breakfast, we got into the car. I just let Izzy take shotgun since I had practically just woken up and I was still too tired to argue. Lydia couldn’t come with us so it was just us four. The library was only about ten minutes away.

“Okay, let’s head to the non-fiction section.” Alec said as we entered the library. Alec assigned us each a shelf and I began looking through mine. I quickly realized Alec had no clue where you find information about the town since all the books were about political figures and science.

“Should I ask the librarian to pull some books about the town?” I heard Clary ask Alec.

“Yeah, that’s probably a better idea,” I added. Alec just nodded and she went to find the librarian.

“Alec, did you actually think we would find stuff in this section?” Izzy asked.

“I highly doubt it,” I responded.

“Oh shut it guys, I’m new to all this,” he said. Clary came back with a librarian.

“So what is it exactly that you want?” The woman asked.

“We’re new here and we would like to find out more about this town,” Alec replied.

“Okay...I can pull some old newspapers and a book or two,” She told us.

“Thank you so much!” Alec exclaimed, a little too peppy for Alec. The woman came back with three books and a box of old newspapers and articles. We took everything over to a table and Alec handed us each a couple newspapers. Mine was from 1950 about some initiative the current mayor had begun.

“I wrote you guys some websites that may be helpful, here’s a login.” The librarian said handing us a list.

“Thank you, this is really helpful,” Alec stated. We all thanked her as well and she went back to her work. Alec got up and asked for some paper and pens so we could take notes. This research session had quickly become like school. Especially history class since we had researched stuff like this so many times. I pushed away the annoying thoughts about school and returned to my article.

“Okay, this website is actually good,” Clary said.

“What does it have on it?” Alec asked.

“It has like a whole timeline of the town. Probably since it’s the town’s website,” she answered.

“Oh, perfect,” he said as he stood up to join her. Alec read out stuff from the website while Clary took notes. Izzy and I took notes from the articles and books. At lunch time we had gotten a lot of notes so Alec decided that we could have a break. There was a cafe attached to the library where we got coffee and sandwiches.

“We should probably do some more research after we eat,” Alec said. Izzy and I groaned and Clary didn’t look too happy.

“We have pages of notes,” Izzy told him.

“But we could always have more,” Alec said. After lunch we grudgingly followed Alec back to the table with the newspaper and took even more notes. Alec and Clary visited some of the other websites while Izzy and I read more of the articles. This town definitely seemed much more interesting than we originally thought. But still not interesting enough to curb my boredom.

We were so bored that Izzy and I tied our pens together with a hair tie. And then did some weird tricks with them. Clary and Alec seemed focused on the websites still. I accidentally threw the pens all the way across the room and almost hit someone. At least Alec didn’t notice, though most of the library did.

“We should probably stop,” Izzy said.

“Yeah,” I said. We did like two more notes but got bored again. So Izzy pulled out her phone and got the wifi password so we could watch some YouTube under the table.

“I think Clary and I got as much information as we could,” Alec said walking over. Izzy quickly put her phone away and Alec shook his head. He definitely knew what we were doing. We picked up all of our notes and headed back to the apartment. We had a snack and Izzy, Clary and I wanted to watch tv. Alec told us that we had an hour before he wanted to go over all the notes.

“Alec could’ve been a historian in another life,” Izzy joked after he told us that.

“He totally could!” Clary exclaimed.

“He would be so insufferable though, more than he is now,” I added. Izzy and Clary laughed slightly at my statement.

“Did you guys throw the pens across the room?” Clary asked.

“Yeah, you saw that?” Izzy asked

“Yup, I don’t think Alec did though,” she replied.

“He probably didn’t, he would’ve killed us if he had seen it,” I said and they nodded in agreement. After our tv show I knew it was time to talk about the information. I wasn’t exactly excited to do so.

Chapter Text

Izzy POV

We all took a seat at the dining table with our notes. It was discussion time.

“The main things that I wanted us to find out was anything that has to do with the supernatural. But any other information about the town could also be helpful,” Alec said

“Well I read this one article where in the 60s a bunch of people thought they saw some witchcraft ritual,” Jace said.

“And I read one about people believing that there were vampires in 1975, a cult of vampires to be specific,” I said.

“Okay, those may or may not be true. Since it could be explained by about a hundred other things. The fact that those people were supernatural is slightly unlikely.” Alec said. We nodded in reply.

“There was a time where they actually created a team to research the supernatural but it never went anywhere. That was back in 1987 though,” Clary added. That was mostly it for the supernatural things we figured out. Except we found out about a bunker where they used to keep people they thought were supernatural. We also found out where the town council meets and when. As well as things about the current mayor.

“Another thing is that I found a contact on one of the websites of this guy. It says that you can call him for anymore information about the town,” Alec said.

“We could call him just in case he knows anything else,” Jace said.

“Yeah, I thought that would be a good idea,”

Alec said. We compared some more notes before Alec went to call the guy. He actually set up a meeting with him for 6pm, it was about 4:45 by then. So we decided to have another snack since we were hungry again. Well mostly Jace was hungry but we ate too. We headed out around 5:40.

“Here’s the guy’s house,” Alec said as we pulled up to a small beige home.

“We’re a bit early,” Izzy stated.

“Early is better than late,” Alec said as he undid his seatbelt. We all followed suit and headed to the front door of the house. Alec knocked and this guy who was probably about thirty answered. He said his name was Connor and we all introduced ourselves as he took our jackets.

“Just take a seat on the couch,” he said. He went to the kitchen and came back with a binder. He opened it out on the table and we all looked at it.

“Is some of this stuff not on the website?” Alec asked.

“Some of it is a bit weird and not necessary so that’s what I’ll show you since you're interested,” Connor replied.

“What do you know about the supernatural?” Alec asked, trying to sound natural.

“Well that used to a very popular topic in this town,” Connor told us.

“What did people used to say about the supernatural?” Clary asked him.

“They used to think if you were a certain way then you were supernatural. Typically people would think others were vampires, witches or werewolves.” He responded.

“Interesting, what would they do about these thoughts?” I asked.

“Some of the council members wrote lists of ‘supernatural characteristics’ and would look for people with their characteristics,” Connor answered.

“Did those people get locked in a bunker?” Alec asked.

“Yeah, I mentioned that on my website. But I didn’t go into detail. Usually they would be interrogated and if they didn’t comply, tortured.” Connor responded.

“That’s intense…” I said.

“Yup, it’s interesting because there aren’t any reports that say that the people were actually supernatural. Most of them got released after a couple days and were deemed to be normal,” Connor said.

“You seem to know a lot about this stuff,” Jace mentioned.

“It just interests me, how about you guys?” Connor asked.

“It’s for a school project about the town,” Alec replied. Connor didn’t seem to be concerned with that. We talked for a bit more about other things regarding the town. We left his house around 7:30. We had some leftover pizza for dinner at home.

“Today was useful actually,” I said as we began eating.

“Exactly, now we are more educated on the town,” Alec said.

“That stuff with the bunker was pretty intense,” Clary added.

“Yeah, but it isn’t hard to believe that mundanes would do that,” Jace told her.

“It scares them I guess...the unknown,” I said. The others agreed and we ate the rest of dinner mostly in silence. Comfortable silence. After we finished eating I went to my room to work on my report. I was in a school work mood but that of course got interrupted by none other than Alec.

Since he just had to ask me about the notes that I had taken.

“What are these even from Izzy?” He asked.

“Uh, this article about the new Mayor at the time,” I responded.

“What year was it from?” Alec asked.

“I don’t know….” I said.

“You should, you read it,” He said.

“I read more than 30 articles, I’m sorry if I don’t remember the dates for all of them,” I told him. Alec was clearly getting frustrated.

“Sorry...it’s just that this is a lot. And I’m wondering if we have enough or if we have wrong information,” He said.

“We have plenty from multiple sources. I think we're gonna be fine,” I told him. He nodded and I gave his shoulder a quick squeeze. I finished up my homework and helped Jace with his. I told Jace he should stop saving it all for Sunday but that’s what he always did. I read some of my book for English and headed to bed. I fell asleep to feeling more calm, since we were more educated than we were at the beginning of the day.

Chapter Text

Lydia POV

I never would’ve thought that I would enjoy going to school. But after everything I had found out, it was a welcome distraction. There weren’t many times I had hated doing a mission, but this one was at the top of the list. If I had known what I was signing up for, I would’ve recommended a person of higher qualifications to do it.

But here I was, in high school, dealing with one of the most powerful demons known to earth. Great.

So it was understandable when one of my classmates asked if I was doing okay, I simply replied no and then proceeded to walk away. Because I wasn’t, and none of us would be ‘doing okay’ if we were overtaken by a greater demon. There wouldn’t even be much of ‘doing’ happening since we’d all be dead.

My next class was math. I couldn’t wait to learn more about parabolas. I was sure it’d be more riveting the second time around.

When I got there, Magnus and Raphael were at the very back. They nodded at me and I nodded back. We had a silent acknowledgment with each other, being the only ones in class who knew what was coming.

I walked towards them and took a seat in the row in front of them. I took my notebook out as the teacher walked into the classroom.

“I hope everyone’s doing well. Today we’re continuing our unit on parabola.”

I sighed and started taking notes, although it wasn’t like I’d ever look at them again. I looked back halfway through the class and saw that Magnus was blatantly sleeping, his head resting on top of his notebook. I glanced at the teacher and she continued the lesson as if none of her students were sleeping on her. There was no way she couldn’t see this! I guess she didn’t care.

I looked down at my notebook and closed it. If she didn’t care if her students payed attention or not, then neither did I.

When class was over, I got up and went to my next class. Which was worse than math. History. The most mind numbing class in the history of classes.

Somehow, Magnus and Raphael has managed to get there before me even though Magnus was asleep last time I’d seen him. Magic, I assume, probably had something to do with it.

We had to do an activity where we had to pick a side of history and argue why we agreed or disagreed with it. It wasn’t the most boring thing we’d done in the class and I even enjoyed it a bit. Once that class was over, it was time for English.

In English, all we had to do was type our essay on who influenced us in life. I decided to go with the most boring route; my mom. Half the things I was writing wasn’t even true. My mom definitely did bake me pies when I was sad and read me stories to sleep when I was young. Not that it made much of a difference, I seriously doubt the teacher would go out of her way to check if the information is true or not.

Next was my favourite class of the day, lunch. Not that I particularly enjoyed the oily smell of the cafeteria filled with sweaty kids. No, I spent most of my lunch hours in the library. The librarians were quiet and didn’t bother me when I ate my lunch there. It was almost like a secret haven from all the annoyances in my life. Barely anyone came there and most people who did were kindred spirits. None of them were there to disturb the peace.

After I finished my lunch, I took out my phone to play a game. Recently I had become obsessed with sudoku puzzles.

Once I heard the bell ring, signaling the end of lunch, I grabbed my things and headed to my next class; gym.

One of the main reasons I hated gym was not because of my inability to do well, my shadowhunter training had made sure I was good at most physical activities, but the fact that I had to be stuck wearing pinnies that stank of old socks and pickles.

We were playing a game of dodgeball and were split into groups of 6. Somehow, Magnus had managed to get out of doing it and got to sit in the sidelines. It was a shame, I was sure he would’ve loved to hit some of these people in the face. ‘Accidentally’ of course. He would never harm them on purpose.

Once the smelly class was over, I took off the pinny as fast as I could and went to my last class of the day. Science.

Science was an okay class that I neither hated or liked. It was borderline boring but we had enough fun activities to balance it out.

Today we were planning to do a worksheet on the organ system. It was easy enough to do and when I was done, I still had 15 minutes left of class. Overall, it was probably the best class of the day.

Once I got out, I went over to my locker to gather my things and head to the parking lot. Izzy, Clary, Alec and Jace were waiting for me.

“Hey guys. Are we all ready to leave?” I said when I got there. I had decided to tag along with them for the ride home.

“Yeah, get in. We were waiting for you,” Jace replied.

Once we all got into the car, Alec started driving and Clary turned the radio on. I was tired from school and couldn’t wait to get home.

When I got back to the apartment, I went straight to my bed and face planted into it. After rolling around for a bit, I made myself dinner. I put on some random tv show and watched while I ate. Once I was done that, I decided to get my English work finished.

Overall, it was a painfully average day, but also one that I was glad to have. After all, it was better than what was to come in the next few weeks.

Chapter Text

Alec POV

I woke up and slowly got myself ready for the day. School had become such a chore especially since we couldn’t really do anything useful there. We had some cereal for breakfast and then I drove us to school. Our first class was science. We, unfortunately, were put into groups to do a slideshow.

I was with Ella, James and Tyson. Ella and I did basically all of the work. The class was going by smoothly when James and I got into a petty argument about what the order of the slides should be. We ended up raising our voices a bit so the teacher warned us to be quiet. But James decided he didn’t want to be quiet.

“Alec! James! Enough! Office, right now!” the teacher exclaimed. I was far from happy about that. Clary looked at me sympathetically as I headed to the office. I said that we had gotten into an argument and the desk lady gave a quick lecture. I was looking around and not really paying attention to the lecture when I saw Veronica.

I could see her from her portion of the office typing into her computer. I slyly moved a bit so I could read her computer a little better. I saw that she was emailing ‘Leonard Waves’. I made a mental note to tell the others.

“You know what, just return to class. I expect you guys to able to work without arguing in the future,” the lady told James and I. We just nodded in agreement and left the office. We walked on opposite sides of the staircase back to science. They were just packing up so we did too and headed to our next class.

“Did you guys get in any trouble?” Clary asked as we made our way to English.

“No, the office person just gave us a seven-minute lecture. Not that I really paid attention,” I told her.

“Well that’s good, she responded. Suddenly I remembered the email.

“Oh, and you know the principal assistant Veronica?” I asked she nodded since she obviously knew who she was. “She was emailing Leonard Waves,”

“Her superior, right?” Clary asked.

“Yeah, I didn’t get to see what she was writing though. It just reminded me that we don’t know a whole lot about this guy,” I told her.

“Maybe we could look him up,” she suggested.

“Exactly what I was thinking,” I replied. We pulled out our books to start class. I had been reading the same ten pages of the same book the whole year. It was pretty bad, I should probably get a new one. We actually have a whole shelf in the apartment that the others take from. Mainly Clary and Izzy. Though Jace has read a whole three books. We worked on our essays for the rest of the class and our homework was to revise and submit them.

We had one more class and then it was time for lunch. Clary and I went to our lockers and Lydia ended up meeting up with us there. I got us, along with Izzy and Jace to sit together in the library.

“Why are we eating here today?” Izzy asked.

“Well, I realized we never really researched the guy we think is in charge of everything,” I said.

“Oh….Leonard right?” Jace asked as he took a bite of his sandwich.

“Yeah, we completely disregarding researching him,” I told them. We got to work right away. Izzy took notes while we read out what we could find online. Which really wasn’t much. Just that Leonard Waves used to be very into volunteering and was going to become a lawyer.

“Is this even the right Leonard Waves?” Izzy asked after a while.

“It’s the only Leonard Waves online,” Clary responded. We just hoped the information we had was valid. After lunch, we had gym, where we playing floor hockey. It wasn’t my idea of fun. I was decent at it but my team was horrible. Clary did pretty well and the teacher even congratulated her on how she played.

“You’re becoming athletic,” I told her.

“Sure…” she responded. Our last class was math. We did some textbook questions to prepare for an upcoming test.

“We should go over what we know about Leonard at home,” I told Clary as we worked.

“Yeah,” she said.

“I think we are getting close to the end of this,” I stated.

“It’s been like 5 months, so I hope we’re getting close,” she replied. I nodded in response and we went back to working quietly. Our teacher handed out a worksheet for homework and we packed up to leave. Jace had football and Izzy had Jewelry so Clary and I headed home. We worked on homework so we could have time to discuss the mission when they came back.

I went to pick up Izzy and Jace. The only reason I did was so that I could see Magnus, even if it was for only a couple minutes. I quickly learned that being in a committed relationship is hard.

“How was jewelry?” I asked Izzy and Magnus.

“Good, made this,” Izzy told me as she held up a ring.

“Nice,” I replied. She left to go get Jace from the gym.

“Let’s walk,” I said. Magnus smiled and we walked towards the door to go outside.

“Izzy said the mission will probably be over soon?”

“Yeah, we’ve learned a lot lately,” I told him.

“And that means you guys will be gone,” he said. I thought for a second before I realized what he meant.

“We can still be together when I leave….right?” I asked.

“Of course, I just didn’t know if you wanted that,” he said.

“I definitely want that,” I said as I pulled him against the building. We shared a passionate kiss. He smiled as our lips parted. I gave him a quick squeeze on the shoulder before heading to the car where Izzy and Jace were standing.

“Wow, Alec!” Jace exclaimed as he clapped. I gave him a look that instantly made him stop. Izzy gave me a warm smile which I returned. Lydia joined us at the apartment since she had debate.

“So this Leonard guy was pretty normal. Then he just kind of disappeared last year,” Clary stated as we looked over what we had found out.

“Seems like he had a tough childhood but grew up to be a good person despite that,” Izzy said.

“Well except for his assault charges in 2011,” Jace said.

“He was let off the hook though,” Lydia added.

“The only thing that seems important is that he was interested in the supernatural. And was part of those weird clubs we found out about when we researched the town,” I added.

“Yeah and at one point he owned that bunker,” Jace said.

“Yup, though that’s owned by some guy named Jeffery now,” Izzy stated. We talked for a bit longer and had some dinner before Lydia headed home. It felt like we learned nothing but also a decent amount at the same time. All we needed to know now is where’s he been this past year. He was obviously still alive since he employed Veronica. I headed to bed with those thoughts rushing through my brain.

Chapter Text

Jace POV

We were woken up this morning 30 minutes before usual since Alec apparently had something important to say.

“So what’s so important that we couldn’t have waited 30 more minutes?” I asked, while Izzy and Clary nodded. Alec looked more serious than usual, and that was worrying.

“The Clave...wants us to come. They found the information Lydia gave them worrying and they want to hear everything from us. We have to go today. More specifically, in an hour and thirty minutes,” he finished.

“What!” Izzy and Clary exclaimed together.

“And you waited this long to tell us?!” I yelled.

“Calm down. I only found out 15 minutes ago!” He yelled back. We all fell silent after than. Alec rarely yelled which must mean he was really stressed right now. “Sorry...I didn’t mean to. I’m just...not feeling very calm right now,” Alec explained.

We all knew about the Clave’s problem with Alec. “Okay, we'll be ready in 30 minutes.”

They were surprised to see me being so mature but I knew how serious this was. I went to my room and got my gear out. I knew that I didn’t need it to go the the Clave but it was always better to be prepared for any outcome.

We meet back at the living room in 30 minutes, all of us decked out in our mission gear. I guess we all had the same idea of ‘be prepared for the worst.’

Lydia came into our apartment five minutes later and we were all ready to go. We went downstairs to the parking lot and got into the car. Alec got into the driver's seat and we were on our way.

All of us were unnaturally tense, dreading for what was to come. None of us had pleasant experiences with the Clave and I seriously doubted that this would be anything but another unpleasant encounter.

When we arrived to the Clave, all the institute leaders were already there. Even Alec’s substitute. I frowned at that. He normally wouldn’t have the clearance to be here. I wasn’t surprised though, since he always wanted to wessal into a higher position.

We walked into the meeting room and sat into our assigned seats.

“We are here today to talk about some concerning matter going on over at the New York Institute. It has been brought to our attention that there has been an increased amount of demon activity there and what they have reported had been alarming to say the least. We will hand this over to mission leader Alec to explain the rest.”

Alec spend the next few minutes explaining our finding. After each sentence, everyone's eyes got wider. It didn’t get any less scary everytime I heard it but it did get less shocking.

Once he was done briefing everyone on the case, it was pin drop silent. After a while, one of them finally decided to speak up.

“And do you have a plan in place to stop that from happening?”

“We’re trying the best we can but currently we don’t have any solid plan in place,” I piped in.

“So what? Do you just expect us to wait and hope for the best? You New York Institute members are worthless!”

“Excuse you! Do you think that you can just say that about us? Don’t forget, we’re dealing with a Prince, not a normal demon! And if you think you know so much, why don’t you tell us what you’d do?” I said, huffing to catch a breath after my outburst. Everyone fell silent after that. Alec decided to chime in.

“We shouldn’t be fighting right now. At this time we should be united more than ever. We need to figure out a plan to stop this from happening because this won’t just affect America, but the entire world.”

Everybody seemed to be in agreement of that. Maybe this meeting would be better in the sense that not everyone would be trying to scold us like we were incapable of our jobs.

One of the other leaders decided to add their thoughts. “I think that Alec and his team have done a great job in dealing with this so far and now that we know, we should be trying actively to think of plans to stop Leviathan. It is in our best interests to work together. In behave of the Institute of France, I thank you. Hopefully we are successful in stopping this rebellion.”

We discussed a bit more into it and at the end of the meeting, they had agreed that we would stay at our stop trying to stop Leviathan at his roots while the rest tried to formulate a plan to stop him if things were to escalate. They had also offered backup in case things got too large for us to handle.

After the three hour long meeting was finally over, I was ready to get out of there. While they were nicer than usual, sitting down in meetings was never my scene. I was antsy and couldn’t wait to get out of the stuffy room filled with ancient beings.

We all filled into Alec’s car and he drove us home. It was a relief to be done with the meeting.

“At least I’m glad we didn’t have to go to school,” I said, trying to lighten the mood.

“Honestly, I would’ve rather gone to school than the meeting.” Izzy replied.

“Huh, you’re right,” I realized.

“Ha, tell me when I’m not,” she said cheekily. I through a pillow at her and that was a beginning of a pillow fight. Clary somehow got dragged into it, while Alec was safely reading a book in his room.

I guess we really couldn’t keep a serious mood for too long.

Chapter Text

Clary POV

I pulled myself out of bed for yet another day of school. I got dressed and brushed my teeth. Izzy was reciting part of a debate for English at the table and Jace was judging it. Alec was finishing math homework that I had just reminded him about.

We got into the car and Alec drove us to school like he usually did.

“I’m just beyond excited for today,” Jace complained on the way there. We got out of the car and into school. The first bad experience of the day was that I just couldn’t get my locker open.

“What’s your combination?” Alec asked.

“Thirty, Sixteen, Nine,” I told him. Alec tried a couple of times but he couldn’t get it to work either. I definitely wasn't happy about the whole situation.

“I’ll ask Mr.Norbert,” he said as he got up. Mr.Norbert came out and tried it but he couldn’t get it either.

“All your stuff is in there right?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I replied. I was mentally kicking myself for deciding not to take my binder home the past day.

“Alec go to class, first period is about to start,” Mr.Norbert told him. I nodded in Alex’s direction and he left. Mr.Norbert asked another teacher to cover his current class while he tried helping me. He ended up asking a teacher down the hall to try but she couldn’t get it either.

“You know what, the teachers can accommodate you for the time being. I’m sure you could borrow paper and stuff from Alec. I’ll ask the office to get the custodian to come to fix your locker,” he told me. I agreed and headed to math class. I quickly explained what was up to the teacher.

“Can I have a paper and a pencil?” I asked Alec.

“Locker still broken?” he asked. I nodded in response. He handed me the paper and pencil and I went back to my seat.

“Alright class, time for a homework check,” The teacher stated. I had, of course, finished it the day before in class and left it in my binder. Which was residing in my locker.

“Clary, where’s your homework?”

“In the locker,” I replied.

“Then you don’t have it,” the teacher stated.

“It’s in my binder in my locker that I can’t open,” I said.

“So it’s missing,” she said as she marked that on her list. I went to say something but she just walked away. The rest of math went by like usual. On the way to social studies, Alec handed me a folder I could put some paper in and I clipped the mechanical pencil to the edge of the folder.

To say the least social studies was a whole other battle. We just had to hand in an assignment that was in my binder. The teacher gave me a zero and said I had to have it in by the end of the day.

“Just give it in at lunch,” Alec said.

“If my locker is open by then,” I told him.

“The school isn’t that stupid,” he responded. We took some notes and Davis spilled his water over my pant legs. Alec glared at him. I raised my hand to go to the washroom for some paper towel. On the way, I slipped and scraped my hand on the edge of an open locker. It just really wasn’t my day.

I dabbed my pants the best I could but they were still pretty damp. I also held a wet paper towel for my new cut. I left my backpack with my stele in the classroom so it’s not like I could’ve healed it. I returned to the classroom about ten minutes later.

Alec pushed his notes towards me so I could copy what I didn’t have down.

“What the hell happened to your hand?” he asked.

“Cut it on a locker,” I responded. He turned my hand over to look at it.

“You should be more careful,” he stated before he let go of my hand.

“That’s super helpful,” I joked. After social studies we had English. Mr.Norbert came to tell me that the custodian had come and opened my locker. I went outside and got out my binder and put my backpack inside it. We continued working on our persuasive essays. Right at the beginning of lunch, I handed in my math and social studies homework. Then Alec and I headed to the cafeteria.

Izzy was standing by the doors of the cafeteria when we got there.

“Hey…” Alec started to say.

“Hi, I don’t know where Jace is,” Izzy said.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Well he got sent to the office during first period then he never came back upstairs,” Izzy told us.

“Is he really still getting yelled at?” I asked her.

“Lydia actually checked the office and he wasn’t there. She’s checking the classrooms upstairs while I waited here for you guys,” she said.

“Did you call or text him?” Alec asked Izzy.

“Of course but he isn’t responding.”

“Well we have to go look for him,” Alec said as he walked towards the stairs while trying to call Jace. I sent him a couple of texts but there wasn’t a response. Upstairs we met up with Lydia and she said she had no luck finding him. We definitely had a problem on our hands.

Chapter Text

Jace POV

I paced back and forth in the supply closet. Her eyes darted back and forth. I was surprised she hadn't struggled much for the time we had been in there. It had probably been about two hours since I heard the lunch bell. I couldn't know for sure though since my phone was dead.

I had captured Veronica but I didn't have the guts to actually interrogate her. I hated to admit it, even to myself, but I needed Alec and the others to do something like that. I finally realized in that moment that they were probably wondering where I was.

I went behind Veronica and tightened the power cord that was holding her to the chair.

“Stay. Right. Here,” I said through gritted teeth. I opened the supply closet door and closed it so it didn’t make a sound. Luckily no teachers were in the hallway. I quickly made my way down to the cafeteria. I looked around but couldn’t see Alec, Izzy, Clary or Lydia.

I, however, did see Magnus and Raphael so I went to their table.

“Hey, do you guys know where the others are?” I asked them.

”Uh, I haven’t seen them,” Magnus replied as he cranked his neck to look around the cafeteria.

“Same here,” Raphael stated.

“Okay,” I said, sounding a little uneasy.

“Are you okay?” Magnus asked.

“Not really…” I replied

“What’s up?” Raphael asked. I leant down so I could whisper.

“I kind of, maybe captured the principals assistant. And maybe, kinda, tied her to a chair in the supply closet.” Magnus spit out his water after that statement and Raphael just stared at me.

“You did what Jace?” Magnus asked, quite loudly.

“Well I kinda maybe captured-“ I started.

“It was rhetorical Jace,” Magnus told me. I nodded and stopped talking.

“You should probably tell the others,” Raphael said.

“I will, when I find them,” I said.

“Just text them,” Magnus told me.

“I left my phone in the math classroom.”

“Just use mine,” Raphael said. He unlocked his phone then handed it to me. I went to his chat with Izzy and typed ‘hey, it’s Jace, text me back’. We stood around and waited for a bit for her response. Which came pretty soon ‘Jace! Where are you?!?!?!’ I replied with, ‘in the cafeteria’. She told me they would be coming down.

“Thanks,” I told Raphael as I handed his phone back to him. I waved a quick goodbye to him and Magnus. Then I headed to the entrance of the cafeteria. When Izzy saw me she jumped up and hugged me really tight. I hugged her back. Then she let go and slapped my shoulder.

“What was that for?” I asked.

“You worried us sick!” she exclaimed.

“Sorry, my phone’s still in math,” I told her. She nodded. I pulled Clary into a quick hug and Lydia just nodded. Alec glared but that could also just be his resting face.

“Where in the world were you?” Alec asked.

“Um, come with me.” I led them upstairs and to the hallway with the supply closet.

“Can you just tell us where we’re going?” Lydia asked.

“Hold on,” I responded.

“Jace, why are we at the supply closet?” Alec asked. I opened the door and they were all speechless when they saw Veronica. Alec pulled the door closed.

“WHAT DID YOU DO?”

“It’s fine Alec,” I said.

“No it’s not Jace! You’re holding the principal’s assistant hostage!”

“The EVIL principal’s assistant,” I corrected.

“How did you even manage that?” Izzy asked.

“You don’t want to know,” I told her. We stood around in silence for a bit.

“We may as well go in there I guess,” Lydia said. Alec looked at her for a second before nodding. Izzy pulled open the door, Lydia and Alec trailed in behind her. Clary put her hand on my arm and whispered, “I think this is a horrible idea,” before going in herself.

“Nice to see you guys,” she told them. Alec made a face that shut her up.

“We want to know what you know,” Izzy stated.

“About what?” Veronica asked, acting all innocent.

“Really?! What have I been trying to get you to talk about for three hours?” I asked. Alec got some fold up chairs and we all took a seat. Veronica didn’t want to speak to us. The lunch bell came and went. But we didn’t move.

“Tell us about Leonard,” Alec pressed.

“I don’t know anyone named Leonard,” She said.

“Wow,” Clary whispered. Lydia got a step stool to put her feet on. This was going to take forever. After about twenty minutes Alec was tired of sitting around.

“This will all be so much easier if you just tell us about Leonard,” Alec told Veronica. She didn’t respond.

“Just tell us,” Izzy said.

“Shut up,” Veronica said under her breath. Guess she decided to drop the nice act.

“Go ahead, I’m waiting,” Alec said.

“Why do you stupid shadowhunters even care?” Veronica asked.

“I care when basically the whole world including my family is in danger,” Alec stated. He looked at all of us as he said family. Even though the situation was so stressful, a part of me was happy to hear that.

“What is Leonard’s plan? Simple question.”

“To take over the world,” Veronica answered.

“Well at least it’s an answer,” I said under my breath. Alec was about to say something when there was a knock on the door. We didn’t move and a teacher walked in. Izzy and Lydia jumped in front of Veronica. Somehow this guy didn’t see her.

“BACK TO CLASS RIGHT NOW!” The teacher exclaimed. He opened the door and held it for us. Clary very slowly exited and dropped something to waste time. Alec joined her in that. Izzy un-tied Veronica and pushed the chair away. Lydia, Izzy and I rushed out the door too.

“That was the worst idea you've ever had,” Alec told me. Clary just nodded. Then they both headed to their lockers. Lydia went the other way to hers. Izzy and I walked in silence to our lockers.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what went over me,” I said.

“It’s okay Jace, maybe she fears us now?”

“No chance,” I retorted. We shared a quick laugh over that. We made up some excuse for the social studies teacher on why we were late and went to take our seats. I had no idea what we were going to do about the mission. And that is what I thought about all class.

Chapter Text

Clary POV

It was another normal day. I had breakfast and Alec drove us all to school. Saying bye to Jace and Izzy, Alec and I went on our way. After visiting our lockers and getting our thing, we went to homeroom. Everyone was in their seat. I was a bit weirded out by that but I thought that the students were being extra well behaved today.

When I went to my seat I felt all their eyes on me but when I turned to look around, everyone was just staring at their desk. Probably just my imagination, I told myself.

Homeroom was over in 5 minutes and me and Alec went to our next class, which was social studies. We were learning about the Great Depression for the 5th time in the school curriculum. It was like they couldn’t find anything new to talk about so they just kept repeating the same things.

For most of the class the teacher made us take notes and when that was done, assigned us 3 pages of homework. We all groaned at that but we couldn’t do anything about it so we begrudgingly accepted our fates. Next class was English.

I usually enjoyed the class when we didn’t have to write essay. It was easy and the teacher was pretty fun too. He would give us candy every Friday, which was also pretty great.

When I got to class, I went to sit in my assigned seat in the back. Alec was a row in front of me so we were pretty close. Today we were learning about the intricate art of story building and how to create plots. I snorted, as if I was ever going to use that in life. Class was soon over and I grabbed my stuff before heading to the door. The last period before lunch was science.

Ugh, there was nothing more boring than science. The teacher graded everything really hard and she was condescendingly nice. And her lesson plans usually always ended up not being followed.

Like I predicted, instead of us doing a science lab like we were supposed to, we ended up watching a video on sharks. Half the class was asleep and the other half were on their phones. I doodled on a piece of paper as the documentary played in class.

When science was finally over, we went to our locker to put our things back. Izzy and Jace were there since we had decided to sit together at lunch today.

I greeted Jace with a quick peck on the cheek.

“Hi Clary,” Izzy said.

“Hi, do you guys have everything you need?” I asked. When they all nodded, I said, “let’s go to the cafeteria.”

We were there fairly early and so we got to choose our seats. We took the ones near the back, towards the doors. Lydia joined us soon after. She was doing the rounds for today so she was a bit late.

“I found nothing today. You guys?” Lydia asked, as she sat down.

“Nothing much. I thought the class was acting pretty weird but it all went back to normal by next class so it was probably my imagination.” I replied. Everyone else shook their head no to Lydia’s question.

So as most days, today was an unproductive one. Hopefully the plan the clave were working on was progressing because we had nothing on our end.

We had gotten some leftover pizza from the night before for lunch. While it wasn’t bad, I had gotten tired of pizza after the 2rd time we’d had it this week. Apparently tomorrow we would get lasagna so I was looking forward to that. As long as Izzy had no hand in making it. I would rather not go through 6 hours of painful stomach aches again.

When we were doe with our lunch, we chatted for a bit and after about 5 minutes, the bell rang, signaling us to go back to class. Lucky, I had study period next so I decided to visit the art studio downstairs, which was connected to my art class, to finish one of my drawings for class. I didn’t have to even leave because we had Art next anyways and the art room was only one room away.

The piece I was working on was of a dove. It was fairly simple but I was having trouble getting the shading just right. I was going to turn it in for the realistic animal drawing assignment but I wanted to get it as close to perfect as possible before that. It was due in 2 days so I had to figure it out.

After I spent 30 minutes unsuccessful trying to finish the painting, I decided to take a break and work on my english essay due next week. Even though I had quite some time, the sooner I got it done, the better.

I lost track of time as I worked on my essay. Soon I heard people down in the halls and when I looked towards the clock I saw that it was time for class change. I quickly collected everything I had taken out and headed to the class next doors.

Barely anyone was there and I took a seat near the back to wait for Alec. He showed up only a few seconds later, probably because he was at the library and that wasn’t very far from here. I greeted him with a hello and he took the seat next to me. Slowly, everyone trickled into class and started chatting.

The teacher was probably running late because she only showed up 3 minutes after class had started. When she got here, she immediately told the class to get their sketchbooks out and start working on their projects. I did just as she asked and soon got lost in my work. Alec beside me was drawing a mediocre crane. He was barely paying attention to his canvas and was doing the bare minimum to pass the class. I guess some of us weren’t so passionate about art as me.

When the final bell rang, I packed up all my belongings and headed to my lockers with Alec right behind me. I gathered my bag and went to go outside towards the car. Izzy, Jace and Lydia usually met us there.

Sure enough, when we got there, they were waiting outside the car.

We all got in, with Alec at the driver’s seat and Jace sitting shotgun, and soon we were off to go home.

Today was a normal day and I wished there was more of that soon.

Chapter Text

Izzy POV

Science class was dragging on more than usual. Lara was presenting her project on endangered frogs. It was really boring. I had already done mine on penguins. Clary said the stuff we did in science was similar to like 3rd or 4th grade since they have the same science teacher.

“Ten more minutes,” Jace whispered. I nodded vigorously, I had been studying the clock. It was finally almost time for lunch. We had a pretty normal lunch and ate with Simon, Magnus and Raphael. Clary told a very animated story of her tripping over a basketball during gym class. Even Alec added to the story.

We just so happened to have gym after lunch. We also played basketball. Jace was actually very good at it, I was average. My team didn’t pass to me but I didn’t really care.

“What an exciting class,” Jace stated when it was over. Last class of the day was Social Studies. It was a bore like usual. The teacher spent the whole class reading from the textbook. After school Jace had fencing while us girls had dance. We had completely redone the dance after Emily passed but we planned to say a dedication to her when we performed.

We started with the typical stretching exercises.

“Owwww,” Lydia said as we were doing a straddle.

“You okay?” I asked.

“I think I pulled a muscle,” she said as she got out of the position. She told the teacher and left the room. After stretching we moved on to rehearsing the dances. Clary and I did what we could but we couldn’t do some without Lydia. At one point I went to get some water and I checked my phone in the process.

There were 6 missed calls from Jace and 4 from Lydia. Plus a few frantic texts from Alec telling me to come. I called Clary over and she checked her own phone, to see the same. We said we had a family emergency and left. I texted Alec back and he said to come to the gym.

“What happened?” I asked as we rushed in. Jace pointed to Simon who was lying unconscious on the floor.

“Demon attack,” Alec stated. Clary and I knelt down besides them.

“We fought them off pretty quick and got everyone out but Simon. He got caught in the crossfire,” Jace told us.

“I didn’t have much to do since I couldn’t return to dance. I ended up going to watch Jace so I helped him out when the demons came,” Lydia said. I nodded in response, I was kind of distracted by worrying for Simon’s well-being. Alec explained that Jace called him and he came as quickly as he could, a little bit before us.

“Maybe we should call Magnus,” Clary suggested. Alec pulled out his phone and gave him a call. About five minutes later he walked into the gym with Raphael. Jace told them what happened and Magnus did some spell to wake Simon.

“Hey, are you okay?” I asked him. He looked at me really weirdly. Then he pulled himself to standing.

“Maybe take it easy?” Jace wondered out loud. Simon seemed so out of it from the second he woke up. Everyone noticed. Even Alec. Alec doesn’t notice anything about anyone he doesn’t really care about.

“Simon, are you okay?” Clary asked.

“Yeah…” he drawled.

“I don’t think so, sit down,” I told him.

“I have to go to….work,” he said.

“Simon doesn’t have a job,” I whispered to Jace since he was the closest to me. Jace stood up and quickly knocked him on his back. Before putting a foot over his stomach.

“That was a little much,” Alec grunted.

“Who are you and where is Simon?” Jace asked. ‘Simon’ just laughed and Jace brought his foot down to threaten him. But that didn’t seem to scare him.

“You said it was a demon attack right?” Magnus asked.

“Yeah,” Alec answered.

“Greater demons?” Raphael asked, Alec nodded in response.

“He’s possessed,” Magnus stated. We all nodded, it was pretty obvious when you thought about it.

“How do we fix it?” I asked.

“Did you guys not kill the demons?” Clary asked.

“One did escape….” Jace said quietly.

“Really Jace?” Lydia asked.

“It’s kind of hard to go find a demon!” Alec exclaimed.

“I could try turning him,” Raphael said.

“Into a vampire?” I asked, Raphael nodded.

“Possibly,” Magnus said.

“Would he want that?” Clary asked.

“Well it would probably be easier than finding the demon,” Alec stated. We all sat for a second before Lydia spoke, “I think he would rather not be possessed.” We decided that Raphael should just do it though it was pretty complicated. Raphael bit his arm and let Simon drink his blood.

“I’ll just snap his neck,” Raphael said. I turned away and most of the others did too. I still had to hear the snap. Then we transported his body out to the woods behind the school to bury him. Then we had to wait about an hour for him to wake and get out of the grave. I ended up going with Raphael to a local blood bank to get some human blood.

“You okay?” He asked on our way there.

“It’s just a lot..” I replied, solemnly. He nodded in agreement. When we got back Simon had dug himself out and he was breathing heavily. I was thankful to have missed that. Raphael fed him some blood and then we all just kind of sat in silence.
“What just happened?” Simon asked.

“Well you’re kind of a vampire now,” Jace said as he clapped him on the back.

“Great….” he said as he put his head in his hands.

“How are you not shocked?” Lydia asked.

“You think I don’t hear you guys whispering sometimes, about Warlocks and all that?”

“Really?” I asked.

“No. I read a book,” Simon replied.

“Of course you did,” Alec said. We went over the day with Simon and he was handling it all really well but I could tell he was nervous.

“Call me if you need anything,” I told him before leaving.

“Okay,” he replied with a smile. I gave him a quick hug before heading back to the car.

“Maybe if you had killed the demon Jace we wouldn’t have had to do that,” Alec stated.

“Always my fault isn’t it? What about Lydia?”

“Hey, don’t bring me into this,” Lydia told Jace. I felt like it was a time that we would usually laugh it off but we didn’t. Maybe we would in a couple days. At home, Clary came to my bedroom.

“You alright?” she asked.

“I don’t know…”

“It’s okay Iz. Today was really hard,” Clary told me.

“When can we just have a good day?” I asked.

“Maybe when this is all over,” Clary replied with a forced smile. I could tell that she was tired of all of this. And in all honestly we weren’t even close to done. And just the thought, exhausted me too. As I was heading to bed that night, I just hoped for answers and a solution to all of this.

Chapter Text

Alec POV

Everything had been very stressful recently and that’s why I decided this morning to bring everyone to a trip to the movies. It would be a relaxing break from the demons and almost nothing could go wrong.

I made myself breakfast as I waited to share the news to the rest. As I was finished my cereal, Clary walked in to the living room with her hair in a disarray from sleeping.

“Good morning. You’re up early for a Saturday.” I commented.

“Good morning to you to. And I’m up early because I could barely sleep tonight.”

I decided I’d tell her later while all the others were there too because I didn’t want to share the news more than once.

Izzy woke up half an hour later and Jace woke up another hour after that. By now, it was almost 12 o’clock.

Once everyone seemed mostly awake and had had their breakfast, I motioned for them to gather around the table.

“I know that we’ve all been really stressed recently and I wanted to do something fun for once too make us forget. That’s why I’ve decided that we’ll be going to the movies today.”

After I finished speaking, I looked at them and saw that they seemed pretty happy with this.

“So what movie are we going to watch.” Izzy asked.

“I don’t know yet. Right now there’s Us, Shazam, Pet Sematary and Captain Marvel in theatres so one of those. We all decided on what we want to watch.”

“Well, I want to watch Us. I heard it’s really good.” Jace replied.

“I don’t really care what movie we watch.” Clary commented and Izzy nodded in agreement.

“So I guess it’s decided, we’re watching Us. I’ll book the tickets online. Would around 7 be a good time?” I asked. They all nodded and left to go to their rooms.

After I had booked the tickets, I went to see if Lydia was in her apartment. I knocked on her door and she answered a few seconds later.

“Hey Alec. What are u doing here?” She asked.

“I was just wondering if you’d like to go to the movies with us. We’re watching Us.”

“Sure, what time should I be ready by?”

“Well I got tickets for a 6:40 show so be ready by 6:20 at the latest.”

“Okay, I’ll see you later then.” She said, closing the door. I turned around and went back to my apartment.

I went on my phone and booked another ticket for the 6:40 showing.

Since no one was currently using the bathroom, I took a shower and wore a pair of black pants and a dark grey sweater.

It was lunchtime by now, and Clary had cooked us some pasta. It had been a while since I had something other than pizza. It wasn’t even that bad. Clary had improved in cooking a lot.

After lunch, I went to my room to read a book I’d gotten from the library. It wasn’t very intriguing but there was nothing better to do. After reading it for a while I got up and took a nap. I set an alarm for 5:50 so I wouldn’t oversleep and miss the movie.

Once I got up, I went to freshen up in the bathroom. By the time I was done, it was already 6. I went to everyone’s room to remind them we were leaving for the movies. Jace was the only one who wasn’t ready so he rushed to the bathroom to put on his clothes.

20 minutes later, everyone was ready and we left to go to the garage. Once I got to the car, I saw Lydia standing next to it. She waved at us once she saw us coming around the corner.

“Hey guys, ready to go?” She asked, once we got near her.

“Yup.” I said, getting into the driver’s seat. It was Izzy’s turn to ride shotgun so Clary, Jace and Lydia crammed into the back.

Once we got the the movie theatre, I send Clary and Izzy to get us some snacks while I stood in line to get us our tickets. Since I had already paid for them, all I had to do was collect them.

Once we all regrouped, we went toward the theatre showing Us. We all got seats towards the back. The movie hadn’t started yet and there were ads rolling.

The movie had barely even started when I heard a loud crash come from behind me. I jumped up and the other did the same. We all looked at each other.

“What was that?” Clary whispered.

“Only one way to find out.” I said, already making my way out the theatre.

I was met with a swarm of demons. I didn’t have much time to think why they were here before I had to start fighting them. The rest of them soon joined the fight. Luckily, we never left without out shadowhunter gear so we weren’t caught off guard.

Soon the crowd of demons started to disperse and there were only a few of them left. After they were gone too, we finally relaxed. Our trip had been ruined. But what worried me most was the thought of what they were doing here.

They couldn’t know we were going to be here. Could they?

I was too exhausted to think more on it and we all decided to go home since we were all tired.

I drove us all home and got something small to eat for dinner. I didn’t have much of an apatite and had to force myself to eat.

Chapter Text

Alec POV

Lydia said that she had woken up really early so she brought us some smoothies for breakfast. Jace doesn’t like smoothies so he made Izzy have his. I don’t really like them either but I drank it and Clary drank most of hers. Even Lydia said she didn’t like them but that they were easy to make. After that I drove all of them to school. I was so ready for this mission to be over, high school was horrible.

During English we went down for a band concert in the gym.

“This song is so bad,” Clary whispered to me through the banging and clanging of the band.

“All the songs are bad, this is a high school band after all.” It only got worse after that. By the time it was over, it was lunch. We sat with Raphael, Simon and Magnus like usual. Izzy and Simon were chatting up a storm. Magnus told me a story from social studies class.

We had science after lunch, with a substitute teacher. This substitute couldn’t pronounce any names and then she just put on a documentary. I saw multiple classmates sleeping during the documentary. Our last class was gym. We did some exercise stations. It was fine I guess.

“Today dragged on so long,” I said to Clary as we walked upstairs to our lockers after gym.

“I know...and it’s only Monday.”

“This all better end soon,” I told her. We all got into the car along with Lydia to go home. She came to the apartment with us. We had some chips, well Jace had chips and we each got like two.

“Guys, I totally forgot to say something,” Izzy said suddenly.

“What?” I asked.

“In social studies we were watching some video about the towns council and whatever. And there was this whole part about the leyline here and how distinct it is. So I looked it up when we had computer time. And I found out that the supernatural stuff we found out from before is connected to it,” she replied.

“Oh woah okay,” Lydia said.

“That’s not all. I found out the Center of it, the most significant part,” Izzy added.

“Where is it?” I asked.

“By this statue in the middle of town,” Izzy responded.

“Maybe it would be useful to go see it,” Jace stated.

“Definitely,” I said. We decided to go there as soon as possible. We were still dressed from school so we just got into the car and headed there. Well we did accidentally go the wrong way at first since I hate using the gps. But we got there eventually.

“Looks like a statue,” Jace stated.

“Yeah, since that’s what it is,” Izzy said.

“Oh look, there’s like a trap door sort of thing,” Lydia said pointing to the side of the statue.

“Yeah,” Jace said as he pushed it open with his foot.

“There’s what looks like a tunnel,” Clary said. I looked over her shoulder to see what she was talking about.

“May as well see what it is,” Jace said before sliding down it. The rest of us just stared down the tunnel after he went.

“He never ceases to amaze me,” Izzy stated.

“We may as well follow him,” I said.

“Why not?” Lydia asked. So we all followed him down one by one. We landed in a chamber sort of thing.

“Hey guys, I think it’s those cells they used to keep the ‘supernatural’ in,” Jace told us.

“Oh right….” Lydia said.

“Probably the main one since it’s in the significant part of the leyline,” Izzy stated.

“Yeah you’re probably right,” I told her. We walked out of the chamber and into the hallway. There were some other rooms.

“Uh...guys,” I heard Clary say from one of the rooms. I walked in and looked at what she was looking at. It looked to be a room used for torture. I put my hand on her shoulder, “let’s go,” I told her. I could tell that it upset her. There were some other holding cells as well. And a kitchen for some reason.

It seemed completely abandoned. That is until we got to the end of the hallway. I peered into the last room like all the others. And in the corner of the room we’re two guys hunched over a table. My heart began to race.

“Oh shoot,” I whispered.

“Hmmm?” Izzy asked since she was right behind me.

“People,” I stated.

“What do you mean?” She asked.

“We aren’t alone,” I responded her. A scared look came over her and she quietly started walking away and I joined her. The others were a little further down the hallway.

“This is so weird,” Jace said, pretty loudly.

“Shush..” Izzy whisper shouted at him.

“What?” Jace asked.

“Guys we aren’t alone, I saw some other guys,” I told them.

“We should go,” Clary stated, dropping a metal utensil she had been holding.

“How do we get out?” Lydia asked. We went back to where the trap door was. But the tunnel was decently long and had a drop so it would be really hard to get out that way. I told them to stay put while I quietly walked back into the hallway. I found a ladder but it was really close to the room where the guys were. We had to go quick.

I went back and explained the situation. We used a glamour and got up the ladder as quietly as possible just in case.

“Let’s not go through a random tunnel again,” Izzy told Jace. We headed back to the apartment.

“At least we know that it’s there,” Lydia stated, we nodded in response. We talked a bit before she headed back to her own apartment. We had a salad for dinner and then watched some tv. I laid my head on my pillow and just hoped for this all to come together, like I had hoped for every night for months.

Chapter Text

Magnus POV

Alec had called me last night to tell me about everything that had happened. I wanted to do anything I could to help and so I offered to go check out the place. Alec didn’t want me to go alone because it was unsafe and while I seriously doubted that anything down there could hurt me, I still let them tag along with me.

That’s how I found myself in a tunnel, with a bunch of shadowhunters, checking the leyline.

“So to clarify, you want me to find any anomalies in the leyline? And I somehow need 3 shadowhunters to follow me do this task?” I asked.

“Yup, pretty much.” Alec replied and then proceeded to go into the tunnels. I laughed and then followed him further into the tunnels.

Jace pointed towards certain parts of the tunnels and the said, “these are the parts where we saw the other people. Maybe it has a more potent magical signature and we need you to test the theory.”

“Okay, that’s simple enough. Just a bit time consuming.” I replied getting started on the job. After around half an hour I started seeing a pattern. All of the places that seemed potent with magic was near the very core of the tunnels and it was covered so we couldn’t see it.

When I told them this, Izzy said, “That’s probably why there were people here. They might have been trying to dig it out of there.”

“Yeah, probably.”

“So what should we do about it?” Clary asked Alec.

“I think we should keep it here. The people might come soon and we don’t want to catch their attention. And at least now we know exactly what it is so we can keep track of it.”

“Ok, so we’re just going to...leave?” Jace asked to clarify.

“Pretty much, yeah.”

“Okayyyy, so who’s up for a movie?” Jace asked. “Considering last time was pretty bad, maybe we can do it at home this time. And you’re invited too Magnus.”

“Sure, I’ll come. What are we watching.”

“Well since we wanted to watch Us and I don’t have the DVD, how does a pirated version of the movie sound?”

“Great! I’ll be there in 10. I just need to pop by my place to change into more comfortable clothes.”

“Okay, well go home. Meet you there!”

I popped into my house to give my cat some food and then I changed into a light blue shirt and a pair of sweatpants. I checked to see if everything was in order and then I popped to the front door of their apartment for impromptu movie night.

I knocked on the door and Clary came to answer.

“Wow, you get ready fast.” She commented.

“One of the perks of being a warlock.” I said with a wink. I walked in to see them hurdled inside a makeshift fortress with a bunch of snacks in front of them. Jace was connecting the computer to the tv so we could watch it on the big screen.

I huddled inside with them and took a spot next to alec and Izzy. Once Jace got it all set up, with some much needed help from Izzy, we finally started the movie.

It was so creepy but I couldn’t be more happy to be watching it with my friends.

Halfway though, we started making fun of the characters and someone accidentally knocked over the popcorn bowl so there was a huge mess on the floor. Jace, being gross, decided that the popcorn was still safe to eat and continued to munch on to some from the floor. I moved on to another snack, which was a bag of Doritos.

Overall, I don’t even think I’ve had this much fun in the wild parties I throw. I was glad to have meet my shadowhunter ‘family’, especially Alec.

Once the movie was over, I was invited to stay for dinner and I took them up on the offer. After I saw the pitiful meal they were having, I magically conjured 4 plate with chicken, rice and a side of vegetables for everyone. And for desert I got a piece of red velvet cake. I’m pretty sure I became their favourite person because of that. Apparently, their food situation wasn’t very good and they had pizza more than 80% percent of their days.

After dinner was over, it was finally time to leave. I pressed a kiss to Alec’s lips and left with a pop. I took my cat to my bedroom and plopped down on my bed, letting sleep take me.

Chapter Text

Clary POV

I woke up to face yet another day of school. I got dressed and finished up my homework from the previous night. We had pancakes for breakfast that Alec had made, they actually weren't half bad. Alec drove us to school like he usually did.

“Why does everyone have somewhere to go at 8am?” Izzy asked after we had been stuck in traffic for a good fifteen minutes.

“There was an accident on the highway,” Jace said as he looked it up on his phone.

“Phenomenal,” I said under my breath. We finally got to school, twenty minutes late.

“We need late slips,” I said as we got out of the car. We headed to the office to get them. The woman who sits at the desk got out a sheet and we had to write our name and why we were late. Then we got some purple slips of paper. Even though we had skipped classes before but we had never been late.

Alec seemed pretty distracted when we got the late slips so I made a mental note to check up on him when we got upstairs. We quickly went upstairs to get to class. A couple other people were at their lockers, guess the traffic didn’t just affect us.

“You okay?” I asked Alec as I opened my locker.

“Hmm?”

“You just seemed pretty distracted earlier,” I responded.

“Oh..I was just looking at Veronica in her part of the office,” he said.

“Ah, what was she doing?” Clary asked.

“Just on the computer. I just wanted to make sure she wasn’t doing anything that would concern us,” he told me. I nodded in reply. We headed to science class.

“Nice of you to finally join us,” the teacher stated as we walked in. We silently gave her the late slips and took our seats. They had been in the middle of taking notes so I asked the girl next to me if I could copy. After science we had social studies. Alec and I sat together in that class since there was no arrangement.

“I think we just need the mission to progress faster,” Alec said as we started doing a worksheet.

“Yeah, but how?”

“You know what? I’ll just ask to go speak to Veronica in the office, this teacher doesn’t care,” Alec said.

“Actually, how about I do it?” I suggested, Alec looked at me like I was insane.

“Absolutely not,” he stated.

“I’ll be fine Alec, I can handle myself,” I told him.

“I know that but Veronica is dangerous,” Alec said.

“I’ll be okay,” I reassured him.

“What’s wrong with me doing it?” he asked.

“You can be a little intense, she could find it easier to talk to me,” I told him. Alec thought for a second before saying anything.

“Fine. Be careful,” he said. I flashed him a quick smile and stood up to walk over to the teachers desk.

“Can I go speak to the principal’s assistant?” I asked.

“Uh...sure,” he replied barely looking up from his computer. I rushed downstairs and into the office.

“Hi, can I talk to the principals assistant?” I asked as I gestured to Veronica’s office. The lady at the front desk just nodded. It was so easy to do anything at this school, very different to my actual high school.

I took a deep breath before pulling open Veronica’s door, I didn’t bother to knock. She looked up from her stack of papers immediately.

”What are you doing here?” She asked through gritted teeth. I suddenly realized I had no idea what to actually say to her.
“Last time we interrogated you, you didn’t give us enough,” I told her.

“I said plenty,” she relented.

“Just tell me where Leonard Waves is, that’s all I need to know,” I stated. What followed was a sickening laugh from Veronica.

“You must be stupid if you think it’s that easy, little girl.” That comment pissed me off. I got up and within a second my hands were tightening around her neck. She was surprised by my reaction for a moment before she tried pulling me off. I just tightened my hands. I think she realized I was tougher than I looked.

When she tried to get me off her again, I knocked her onto her back and put a foot over her chest. She was taking deep breaths since I had stopped choking her. When she caught her breath I pressed my foot into her chest. Thank god the desk lady didn’t care enough to check up on us.

When I pressed my foot into her harder she gave up, “fine,” she croaked. I wasn’t completely convinced but I let up on the pressure.

“Let. Me. Stand. Up.”

“Tell me where he is first,” I told her.

“There’s a paper in my top desk drawer with an address,” she said. I still didn’t trust her so I pulled her up but kept a strong hold. I opened the drawer and much to my surprise there was a paper.

“This?” I gestured, she nodded. I unfolded the paper and there was an address.

“Can you just leave?” she asked.

“I’m going to look up the address on your computer to make sure you aren’t lying,” I stated. And I did just that. It actually was a house so I let Veronica go. I still didn’t trust her but maybe she wasn’t lying. I just walked out of her office and flashed a smile at the desk lady. Before rushing back upstairs. I pulled my phone out and saw that social studies would be just about ending.

I walked into the classroom and took my seat to begin packing up.

”Leonard’s address,” I said as I put the paper down on the desk for Alec to see.

“What? How?” He asked. I never saw Alec so surprised.

“She basically handed it to me,” I said.

“Under what grounds?” He asked.

“I may have choked her and knocked her on the floor,” I replied.

“And I’m the intense one,” Alec said.

“Well I still got it,” I told him.

“Yeah...never thought you of all people would be capable of that,” he said.

“I’ve grown since I met you.”

“That’s for sure,” he said with the hint of a smile. We decided that we would go right after school to this address. So no clubs for Izzy, Jace and Lydia. The rest of the morning went by slowly. The five of us met at our regular table at lunch time.

“Wow Clary, what a badass,” Izzy stated after we told them what happened.

“That could’ve been very bad,” Jace said. “And extremely dangerous,” he said while looking at Alec.

“Believe me I didn’t want her to go,” Alec told Jace.

“I’m fine okay, it went fairly well,” I said. They agreed to going after school. The afternoon went by extremely slowly. Math was especially boring. We were doing the same sort of stuff for weeks before moving on. After school we met up outside.

“I’ll drive myself over,” Lydia said.

“You know what, I’ll join you,” I said. The others just nodded and headed to our car.

“Why do you want to drive over with me?” Lydia asked as we got into the car.

“I could use a break from the others and we don’t get to talk one on one pretty much ever,” I told her.

“Oh...yeah we don’t,” she agreed. We sat in silence for a few seconds.

“How have you actually felt about this mission?” I asked her.

“I don’t know. It’s actually been a bit better than I expected. And it’s been nice having you guys to spend time with,” she said.

“That’s my favourite part, that we get to hang out so much. I’ve already been to high school and it sucked for me. Though this year it's a little better. Since I have you guys and I’m a much stronger person than I was,” I told her.

“Your way more powerful than I expected,” she said.

“I’ve heard that a lot.”

“It’s a good thing, Clary,” Lydia said with a smile. We continued with our small talk until we arrived to what we thought was Leonard’s house. The others were right in front of us.

“I guess this is it,” Jace stated.

“We should probably find a back door or something, Izzy suggested. We all agreed and we slowly crept behind the house.

“Let’s try this,” Jace said as he pulled open the back door. Surprisingly it was unlocked. We walked in and the house was impeccably clean. No one seemed to be home, or so we thought. Suddenly we heard some banging from downstairs.

“I’ll go check it out. Stay up here,” Alec stated. He slowly descended the stairs to the basement.

“Whatever,” Jace said as he followed Alec. We waited a minute before Lydia and Izzy began descending the stairs as well. I waited a second before I followed them. As I stepped off the final stair I looked around for a second. It seemed like a normal basement. That was until everything went black. Pitch-black.

Chapter Text

Izzy POV

“What’s happening!” I yelled into the dark. I didn’t get any response and I soon thuds from around me. I walked around, trying to figure out what was going on when something large hit me over the head. I had a huge headache and when the object came swinging at my head again, I dropped on the ground, fighting for consciousness. I lost that fight.

When I woke up again, I noticed that my hands were tied to a chair and so were my feet. I shook my hands but the rope held them down tightly. I looked around and saw that it was still dark and the others were nowhere in sight.

The door opened, flashing a blinding light towards my eyes.

“What?” I whispered confusedly. I didn’t get any time to think before I was out cold again.

The rest of the day went in this order. Waking up, then getting knocked out again. Sometimes they’d throw cold water at my face and once they gave me a stale piece of bread that they stuffed in my face. But overall, the lack of food and water had made me delirious and weak. I could barely move at this point and it had nothing to do with the restrains that we’re tying me down. I had lost a good chunk of my strength to the lack of nutrition. I’d kill for some food right now, even pizza would be great.

The worst part was that I didn’t know how much time had passed since I was knocked out the first time. There was no way to tell how many hours or maybe even days I’d had been since I spend most of my time unconscious.

The next time they woke me up, they kept me awake. After a while, they left and someone else came into the room. Immediately, the air in the room got heavier. I looked up, even though I couldn’t see much in this lighting.

“So, how are you liking your stay here, little shadowhunter?” The nameless man said.

“What do you want!” I yelled.

“From you? Nothing.”

“Why are you doing this?” I asked, trying to buy myself time to see how I could escape.

“I guess this is the time I tell you all about my villain backstory as you figure out a way to stop me. But there is no way to stop me. My plans are already in motion. So I might as well tell you since I’ve got nothing left to lose and you’ll be dead in less than a few days.”

I gulped in fear. I hoped the others were still alive and I could figure out a way to fix all of this.

“My name is Levithan and I’m one of the higher demons. Specifically, I’m one of the 7 princes of hell. You see, it all started when my ‘brothers’ signed the peace accords. Even after I had told them that the shadowhunters would keep hunting out kind they still thought that it was a good idea. Since I disagreed, I was absent that day, making me an outcast in their eyes. There were still a few demons who agreed that we shouldn’t have to follow your stupid human rule and that we should take our rightful position as ruler of mankind. So I took them to my hiding spot and we have been planning since then to take over. We finally found a strong enough leyline to power our army and it’s only a matter of time before we can harness that power. Unfortunately, you’ll be long gone before you can do anything about it.” He said with a sickening smile.

With that he left the room. This time he didn’t knock me out and I felt like that had something do with torturing me by leaving me with my thoughts. I knew that he was planning to take over mankind but having him say it to my face really hit hard and made it more real than it had been before.

I could barely think due to the lack of food but any energy I had left was used towards being frozen in fear and trying to find a way to fix this. In the back of my mind I wondered how the others were doing. But I knew that they came second to the people I swore to protect, so no matter how much it pained me to do so, I kept thinking of ways to fight Leviathan.

Right when I had come up with a halfway decent plan, three of the guards came into my room, one of them carrying a tranquilizer. I fought with my restraints, trying to get away from him, but it was to no avail. He brought it towards my arm and pressed it against my skin. I felt the needle pierce my arm and when he brought it back up again, the contents of the syringe was empty. Before I knew it, my chair was being lifted by the two other men in the room.

With the last strands of my consciousness, I noticed that the new room they had put me in had all of my teammates. I sighed a sigh of relief because they still seemed to be alive, before a dreamless sleep took me