New World

22 | Riders Return pt.2

Lila waited impatiently outside the infirmary as Kit changed. He'd complained his head was pounding, but she'd dropped gear onto his bed once she'd gotten it from the cupboard and then left while he changed.

The door opened beside her and Kit walked out. It appeared he'd just pulled the gear on over his pyjamas and messily laced the boots.

Lila was devastated to discover that despite the gear boots, she hadn't gotten any taller in comparison to Kit, the top of her head remaining at his shoulder height.

"Let's go," Lila said. She took off in a run down the corridor, ponytail flying out behind her. Kit hastily ran after her.

They reached the front doors just as Mark swung them open. They emptied onto the front steps of the Institute, and Emma looked grateful they were there. The Riders didn't look too happy.

Lila was thankful, as the fighting broke out, that she'd pulled a sword from a hold on the wall as she and Kit ran down the corridors. It was very similar to her own sword in length, though it was bigger and heavier, and surprisingly she felt weighed down by it. But it was the only weapon she had, so she had to use it.

While Livvy and Ty were fighting one Rider, Lila and Kit were fighting another, though it wasn't a winning battle. Kit went down first, despite their strong attempts to win the fight. Lila went down soon after, twisting her left wrist at an odd angle when she fell back and put her hands out to cushion the fall. Kit could see the pain written all over her face. In a last desperate attempt, she pushed her sword up but found that was also smashed out of the way by the faerie.

The Rider lifted his sword into the air, and Kit scrambled to move back. In her fear, Lila was stuck in the same place.

"Who are you, boy?" The Rider asked. His blade was stilled in the air, he was staring at Kit intently as if trying to figure out a mystery.

"Christopher Herondale," Kit spat arrogantly.

Lila pushed backward with her heels as the Rider brought down his sword again.

And then she felt herself get knocked straight to the ground, almost hitting her head off the ground. She heard a clash of blades and saw a flash of blonde hair—Emma had saved them. Lila went dizzy as she tried to stand beside Kit, feeling nauseous the second she looked at her wrist, grabbing Kit's sleeve as she almost stumbled. Her hand had gone numb and the side of it had bruised already, swollen. She knew it was broken.

"Slay me if you think you can," the faerie said. "Look around; you have already lost."

Kit raised his blade to the faerie's neck. "You look," he said steadily. "I'll stab."

Lila turned and looked around. Her eyes caught on her triplets first, stuck in the fight. They weren't getting anywhere. Cristina had fallen to her knees, and a sword was pointing to Mark's back.

"Give us the Black Volume," the faerie said. "And we will let you go."

"Do not listen!" Kieran called. "The Riders are wild magic. They can lie."

"We don't have the book," Julian replied. "We've never had it. You are asking for something we don't have. But maybe we can make a deal. We can swear to you that we can bring you the book when we have it—"

"Your oath means nothing," snarled another faerie. Lila had no clue who any of them were besides Karn. "Let us kill them and send a message to the Queen, that her tricks will not be countenanced."

"Wise words, sister. Ready your blades." Karn did just that.

The gates of the courtyard burst open then. It was foggy beyond the gate, despite it being a sunny day. A woman stepped through the gates, slight and medium height with long dark hair. She was a Shadowhunter, shown by the runes she wore.

"I am Annabel Blackthorn," She said. "And the Black Volume belongs to me."

—

"There is an undead person in our library," Said Livvy. She sat on the bed in the infirmary, bandaging Lila's broken wrist tightly but as gently as she could as it healed slowly from the iratze. Ty was leaning back against the headboard of the bed.

"It's not our library," Said Ty. "It's Evelyn's."

"Still strange," she said. She finished bandaging Lila's wrist and let go. Lila budged up closer to Ty so Livvy could move up. Kit sat down and pulled his shirt up so Livvy could start an iratze on his back. Lila curled up with her head at the foot of the bed, her broken wrist resting next to her head, and she closed her eyes. Kit glanced down at her and realised she was trying to sleep, so he didn't say anything to her.

"She isn't undead," Julian said, "not exactly. She's not a ghost."

One of the glasses of water on a nightstand fell off the edge, smashing onto the ground.

"Jessamine didn't appreciate that," Kit said.

"Where was Jessamine earlier?" Julian asked. "Isn't she supposed to protect the Institute?"

Another glass skidded off the edge of a table, smashing to the ground.

"She says she can't leave the Institute. She can only protect the inside of it. I don't know if I should repeat the rest of what she said." Kit smiled then. "Thanks, Jessamine."

"What did she say?" Livvy asked. She picked up her stele.

"That I'm a true Herondale." Kit frowned then. "What did that metal guy mean when he said something to me? Was it faerie language?"

"Latin, actually," said Julian. "An insult. Something Mark Anthony said to Julius Caesar—"you, boy, who owe everything to a name"—He was saying Julius would've never amounted to anything had he not been a Caesar."

"I've been a Herondale for like three weeks, and I'm not sure what I've gotten out of it."

"Don't pay too much attention to the pronouncements of faeries," said Kieran. "They will get under your skin in any way they can."

"Does that include you?" Said Cristina.

"Obviously," Kieran replied with a smile.

"We're off topic. Annabel Blackthorn is in our library, does nobody find that weird?" Interjected Livvy.

"Why is it weirded than vampires or werewolves?" Ty asked.

"Well, of course you wouldn't think it's weird. You're the one who told her to come," said Kit.

"Yes, about that," Julian began. "Is there a reason you didn't tell any of us—"

Ty was saved by the infirmary doors bursting open. It was Magnus.

"Julian, could come with me?" He said.

"What for?" Emma asked.

"I've been trying to talk to Annabel. I thought she would be willing to talk to somebody who isn't a Shadowhunter, but she's stubborn. She's polite, but she says she won't talk to anyone but Julian."

"Does she not remember you?" Julian asked, standing up.

"She remembers me as a friend of Malcolm's," Said Magnus. "And she's not his biggest fan these days."

"Why does she want to talk to Ty?" Livvy asked. "He sent her the message."

Magnus shrugged his shoulders.

"I'll be back soon. We're leaving for Idris as soon as possible, so everyone grab anything you might need to take with you," Julian informed.

"The council meeting is this afternoon," Said Magnus. "I'll have the strength to make a portal some time in a few hours. We'll be staying in Alicante tonight."

Before Magnus and Julian left, Emma ran after them, shouting for Julian.

"Can I sleep now?" Lila asked, though it was more a proclamation of I'm going to sleep.

"No," Said Livvy. "We need to pack." Lila didn't move from her space, still with her eyes closed. "I'm not packing for you, Lila."