Avery has had a rough life. Parents are dead, ex-boyfriend is MIA, and dealing with the perils that come with being a shadowhunter only further upset her world. The only constant she has in her life is Alec. He's always there for her, even when she...
(I wanna preface this with there is some language in this chapter, so please be mature about it 😊) Avery pressed the button on the elevator, and anxiously awaited for the door to open on its designated floor. She looked at the reflective gold doors of the elevator, and gasped at her observations. Avery brushed her long curly hair to one side of her neck so she could get a better look at the purply blue hand shaped bruise around her neck. She gently touched the bruise on her neck. "Ow..." She mumbled, pulling away sharply at the pain. She quickly pulled her hair back over her shoulders and around her neck when she felt the elevator begin to slow and stop. The doors opened and Avery stepped out. She looked down the hall to make sure no one was walking toward her, and she started for her bedroom. Avery paused slightly when she felt her side start to throb. She lifted her shirt slightly to see a dark bruise on her ribs. She touched it, and groaned slightly because it was so tender. "Note to self, don't touch bruises." She muttered as she opened her bedroom door, entered, and leaned against it once she closed it. Avery walked into her bathroom and grabbed a makeup wipe, and quickly removed her makeup, as it had been smeared and smudged when she was attacked. Avery pulled her hair up into a ponytail and took off her coat. She kicked off her shoes and padded over to her closet, where she pulled out a maroon oversized sweater, black leggings, and tan Ugg boots. She walked over to her bed and tossed the clothes on her bed. Avery began to undress, pulling off her shirt and walked over to the dirty clothes bin by her door. She tossed it in, and went to walk back to her bed when the door opened behind her. "Avery! I didn't know you were- oh sorry!" Isabelle had walked into Avery's room. She quickly shut door behind her and turned around to see a very stunned Avery standing before her. Isabelle chuckled slightly. "You look like you've seen a ghost. What's up wit- oh my God Avery!" Isabelle shrieked, finally taking notice to the now dark purple bruise on Avery's neck, and the large dark purple bruise on her side that covered most of her left side. Avery looked at Isabelle for a second before she quickly pulled her hair down and went to put on the clothes she had pulled out.
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"Avery why is there a giant hand shaped bruise around your neck?The bruise on your side is huge! What the hell happened while you were out?" Isabelle asked, quickly stalking over to Avery who had just finished pulling on her boots. "Nothing, Isabelle." Avery muttered as she quickly braided her hair into pigtail French braids. (literally how I wear my hair every day) As she secured her second braid, Isabelle grabbed Avery's hand and pulled her towards herself, pulling down Avery's neckline slightly to see the bruise again. "Avery please. What happened?" Isabelle asked, her eyes pleading. Avery looked at Isabelle, and sighed. "If there's something to be worried about, I'll let you know. Otherwise, all you need to know is that I got in a fight. No one else needs to know about this." Avery dismissed Isabelle with a wave of her hand as she walked to her bedroom door and opened it, waiting for Isabelle to walk out. Isabelle looked at Avery with a hurt expression on her face. Avery felt a twang of guilt for not telling her best friend what had happened to her, but she knew that Isabelle would be safer not knowing what had happened. Avery watched as Isabelle stalked past her, and out of the room. Avery sighed as she shut the door and walked back into her room. Avery reached her closet, and pushed her clothes out of the way to reach a large plastic tote bin. She slid it out from the closet, and pulled off the lid. Inside was a stockpile of weaopnry, everything from seraph blades to daggers. There was even a bow and a set of arrows. Avery reached in and pulled out a small dagger, and slid it into her boot; she would not be without a weapon again. Avery secured the lid on the tote and slid it back into the closet. She walked over and grabbed her stele from her bed and slid it in the waistband of her leggings. Avery opened her bedroom door and turned the corner, walking towards her and Alec's office. Ever since Avery had arrived at the Institute she had almost become Alec's right hand man; Avery would always assist Alec with the tedious task of running the institute. She actually liked having that responsibility that made her feel needed and wanted. Avery entered her office, taking in what she hadn't seen in a long time. There were two identical desks on either side of the room, but with subtle touches that identified them as either Avery's or Alec's. On Avery's desk she had gold accents, like a golden stapler, scissors, and pens on top of her desk. She also had pictures of her and her family at the institute, as well as a photo of her, her mom, and her dad. At the moment though, the picture was flipped down as she didn't like looking at the picture that brought back painful memories. On Alec's desk, it looked the same as Avery's but with silver accents. He had two pictures on his desk, one of him, Avery, Jace, and Isabelle. The other was of him, Izzy, their little brother Max, and their parents. Avery sat down at her desk and began to pull up files on her Mac computer. They were different types of paper work that needed to be filled out like incident reports, mission statements, and just regular paperwork that analyzed the institute and how it was run. Avery pulled out various clipboards and attached the paperwork to them. When she was done printing and clipping, she had 15 clipboards with at least 10 pages of paperwork on each clipboard. "This is ridiculous.." Avery muttered to herself as she pulled out two black pens and clipped one to a random clipboard, and the other one she stuck behind her ear. As Avery was rubbing her eyes, she heard the door open. Avery looked up, and saw Jace standing in front of her desk with an stern look on his face. "Hey Jace. Thanks for getting rid of the Jeep, I have no idea how you did it, but-" Avery started before she was interrupted. "What happened while you were out?" He asked, his tone of voice serious. Avery raised an eyebrow at him, standing up and slowly walking toward the door, hoping to avoid talking to him. "What do you mean what- ahh!" Avery cried out in pain when Jace grabbed her bruised side, causing her to collapse onto the ground. She lay on her side, clutching her bruised ribs, all while holding back tears. "That's what I mean. Now, are you going to tell me what happened?" Jace asked, holding out his hand to help Avery up. She glared at Jace, and used the chair behind her to stand up. She leaned against the chair to hold herself up. "I got in a fight." Avery gritted through her teeth as she looked at Jace. "Damn it Avery! You always do this!" Jace yelled as he stepped closer to Avery, who flinched in response. "I'm not of any concern right now! I'm not the one who might not wake up because he's in a fucking coma!" Avery yelled back, feeling herself become emotional over Alec, but was suppressing tears. Jace laughed dryly, clearly void from any humor. "You think I don't understand that?" Jace asked, his voice low and dangerous as he stepped closer to Avery. "My parabatai is in there, Avery. If he dies, part of me dies too!" Jace exclaimed, his voice strained and angry. Just as Avery was about to reply, the door to her office opened. "What is all the yelling for?" Lucy asked, stepping into the room with Izzy trailing behind her, avoiding Avery's eyes. "You." Avery growled, walking over to Izzy. "I told you not to tell anyone!" Avery growled, balling her fists as she stepped towards Izzy. Before she got too close though, Jace had wrapped his arms around Avery's waist, and was pulling her away from Izzy. Avery yelped when he touched her bruise, and was gritting her teeth as Jace forced Avery into the rolley chair at her desk. Avery jerked away from Jace when he placed his hand on her shoulder to see if she was okay. If a gaze could kill, Izzy would be dead by the way Avery was looking at her. "Ariana darling, if something happened to you we need to know." Lucy told her calmly, looking at her desperately. "You guys don't get it do you? If there was something to worry about I would tell you." Avery insisted, now growing tired and defeated with the argument she was in. "Avery yes we do. We all care and the bruise on your side could have been a fall, but the hand around your neck isn't. Just tell us what happened." Jace pleaded, looking at Avery with an expression she hadn't seen before; desperation. Avery looked between her friends, and sighed. "It started at the club..." Avery started with how she was drugged, and how the demon had wanted to kill her that night in the mall. She then told them about seeing her father. She excluded Lucy; She still didn't know how she felt about that situation. After that, Avery told them about the man that had jumped her, and how she had some sort of 'special' powers that his boss wanted. Avery didn't included that Johnny had saved her. Avery wanted to keep that to herself. She made up some story that she had somehow snapped his neck and got rid of his body. After she had been attacked, Avery said she had walked home. She waited for a response from everyone as they processed the information they just received. "So someone is out for your hide?" Lucy asked. The phrase made Avery chuckle dryly. "I suppose so." She replied, sighing as she saw everyone's concern for her start to arise. "What did he mean 'special power'? Wouldn't you know if you had something like that?" Jace asked, leaning against the desk beside Avery. She shrugged. "I wish I knew what he was talking about. The man had said something about my parents 'not educating me about my past' or something crazy like that. Sure, I wasn't raised a shadowhunter, but what does that mean?" Avery asked. Isabelle spoke for the first time since entering the room. "Why weren't you raised a shadowhunter, though?" She asked. Avery rolled her eyes at Isabelle's question. "I don't know Izzy, let me go dig up my dead parents and ask them." She snapped back, receiving a pointed glare from Jace. "It's a valid question, Ari. You know I grew up one. My parents were shadowhunters, and so were yours. Our parents were best friends, parabatai even. Our mums and dads were parabatai at our age. " Lucy explained, giving the other two more information on the situation. "What if your parents were still hunting while you grew up?" Jace asked, and one again Avery scoffed at the idea. "There's no way. My parents were always around. I remember when I was 8 we all spent a month camping in the Rocky Mountains, and when I was 9 Lucy's family and mine went on a Caribbean cruise. They wouldn't have had time to do anything like that. " Avery crossed her arms as she awaited a response from the group. "Ari, we never went on a cruise. Your mum was terrified of the ocean, and your dad hated America." Lucy countered, which put a puzzled look on her face. "Yes we did. On the cruise you and I ate so much fondue we threw up while singing karaoke." Avery told her, and was met with a confused expression. "Avery, none of that happened. Those memories aren't real." Lucy told her. Avery sat back in her chair, disbelief etched into her face. "What if a warlock replaced your memories?" Jace asked. Isabelle nodded. "It's possible. If these memories are made up, then her real memories must have been taken from her." Isabelle explained. Avery looked at her, a now sad expression on her face. "So it's possible that I do have this 'special power' and my parents were active shadowhunters while I was growing up?" She asked sorrowfully. Lucy nodded softly. Avery looked up at her friends, now fraught with uncertainty. "What else of my life is a lie?"
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OMG FINALLY AN UPDATE WOO!!! Guys I am so sorry that this took so long to get out. I really didn't think that school would be as stressful as it is. I'm taking 3 AP classes, and I'm dying. The only reason I was able to get this chapter out is because I'm on a bus headed back from a field trip and the ride is 3 hours long. Updates, unfortunately, will be less frequent until I can find a balance between school and free time. In other news, last time I checked this story was at 700 views!?!?! Guys this is crazy I'm so thankful I never thought this would get so big. In short, thank you guys!
Please let me know if you like these authors notes or not. Do you want them longer or shorter or nonexistent or once every few chapters? Also, please leave feedback on the story! I'm very open to suggestions and ideas.
