GENESIS: A RIGHT TO STAND (Book One) • SHADOWHUNTERS

MUNDANE

Back in her room, Spencer switched on her speaker. She plugged in her iPod and Bon Jovi's Bed of Roses began playing, full-volume.

    Looking around, she saw her bags still where she'd dumped on the floor the day before. The doors to her armoire were wide open from when she'd gotten dressed this morning and she'd accidentally left the bathroom fan on. She switched it off.

    Her head was spinning from Clary's words, so Spencer decided that the best way to calm down was to clean—and unpack her bags while she did so. Until Hodge kicked her out, she was staying, no matter what Clary said.

    She started by remaking her bed. She found another set of sheets in the bottom of the chest of drawers and put them on, chucking the used sheets into the corner of the room—she'd have to see about buying a laundry basket from somewhere. She arranged her pillows, then turned to the wardrobe.

    The song switched to Sweet Child O' Mine by Guns  n' Roses and Spencer hummed along. She pulled out all of Izzy's clothes and sorted them by item, then placed them neatly back in the cupboard.

    Once her room was clean, Spencer flopped onto the bed. She'd unpack later. For now, she would peruse the Codex. Or she meant to, except she quickly dozed off, the book page-down on her chest.

    Her dreams were nonsensical, merely swirls of colour against her eyelids. Flashes of gold, a bit of blue mixed with black, and red. Lots and lots of red.

    A humanoid figure began to form in front of her. It was blurry, except for the hands: one bore a black sword etched with silver and the other reached out to her. Something about the figure frightened her, and she turned and ran, almost straight into a door. It was plain, made of oak with a brass handle and knocker in the shape of angel wings. Spencer knocked, then twisted the door handle...

    The loud beats of We Will Rock You jerked her awake.

    Spencer sat up and looked wildly around the room. No scary figure. No strange door. Just her room, with just her in it.

    Freddy Mercury eased her out of her stupor. Spencer felt around for her phone, then realised it was on her dresser, next to her speaker. Groaning, she slid out of bed and padded over to check the time. It was late.

    Spencer groaned again. She wouldn't be able to rest now, not now that she'd slept for so long. She began unpacking her bag, laying out her clothes. She didn't have much, but it was enough. Spencer had left her school uniforms in her wardrobe at St. Michael's—it wasn't like she'd need them.

    There were spare hangers in the armoire so Spencer slipped a few jackets onto them and put them back in the hanging space.

    Freddie Mercury's voice faded into AC/DC's It's A Long Way To The Top, Bon Scott's gravelly vocals filling the room.

    There was a knock at the door, which opened at Spencer's, "Come in!" She turned to see Simon, standing in the doorway. "Hey, Simon. Sorry, I wasn't expecting you."

    "It's no problem," he said. "I was just coming to see who had the awesome taste in music."

    Spencer grinned. "Me, of course. You really think Jace listens to this?"

    Simon chuckled. "No, I guess not." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "I'm sorry, I don't actually know your name."

    "I'm Spencer." They shook hands, and she went back to hanging up her clothes. "Take a seat," she said.

    He did, settling onto the edge of her bed. "So, uh, Spencer, where're you from?"

    "Queens. I used to go to a boarding school there, then I moved in here," she said. "So far, I'm missing school more than I thought I would. At least it was all-girls."