Chapter Two
Aiden:
I awoke to a comfortable bed and sheets rustling, and not the grimy dance floor of the club. My eyelids refused to open and I was extremely thirsty. Where even am I?
With a little more effort, my eyelashes unstitched themselves and my lids finally slid opened to reveal my dry eyeballs to the atmosphere.
"You're awake." I jumped at the voice and searched for it's source. She sat at the foot of the bed smiling. It was the girl with the whip.
"Who-who are y-you?" Goodness! These dry eyes and throat symptoms are going to eliminate me.
She got up from her spot on the bed and headed for a small table across the room. She lifted a glass pitcher with clear liquid in it and poured some into an empty glass. Not a word left her lips until she retook her position on the bed and nudged the drink to my chapped lips.
"I'm Isabelle. I've never seen my brother so interested in a mundane's case." She tilted her head and watch as I drank what I now dubbed as water. The relief it brought made me groan and she giggled.
"Your friend Clary, is awake now and throwing a tantrum about her not being able to see you"
I finished my water, sat up completely and gave her a suspicious look. "What do you mean 'is awake now'? Did something happen to her?"
Isabelle's mouth formed a tight line before she nodded. "So.. what happened?" I asked her when I realized she wouldn't be telling me the details on her own.
The room door burst open and familiar faces walked in. First came the one I labeled as 'the other guy', then "...Jace, is it?". He nodded his head and sat opposite Isabelle.
"H-how do you know his name?" The other guy asked in confusion, "Have you guys met before?"
I shook my head and smiled. "I think you're the reason for me knowing his name." He looked shocked and disbelieving, "y'know... when you shouted for him before running into Pandemonium."
Realization covered his face and he looked away. I tried to catch his gaze once more but he was reluctant. "I don't know why you're beating yourself up over that. You didn't know I could see or hear you... I assume?" He nodded his head jerkily and mumbled something under his breath.
"Speaking of seeing us..." I shifted my gaze towards Jace, "You have the sight." I rose my eyebrows.
"...The sight?" He nodded again. "Please do me the honors of explaining what 'the sight' is" I said sarcastically.
He sighed. "Do you want what the textbook says or do you want me to dumb it down?"
I looked around and laughed at the bags under their eyes and their tired faces. "Did Clary do this to you?" Isabelle chuckled and smiled. "Cause something tells me you don't—" my pity party is cut short by what feels like a pin piercing through the center of my brain. I held my head and groaned. Isabelle rushes to my side and helps me lay down again.
The headache quickly branches off to eye pain and ringing ears. So much pain was already inhibiting my body, that I didn't know I was a whopping 183 degrees.
The more I wrestled the pain, the more it hurt, so I stilled my flailing limbs and took deep breaths.
Slowly.. oh so slowly did the pain ease. It felt like hours were going by, but I knew it was just a matter of seconds. Once my body felt normal again, I slowly peeled my lids open and slammed them back shut.
What. The. Fuck. Was. That?
I mentally counted to ten before peeping through my lashes.
Swirls of gold, blue and white surrounded me. What in the angelic plain—.... Could this actually be the angelic plain? I've heard so many bible stories and folklore, but because of what happened at Pandemonium, I've started questioning everything. Sanity included.
I followed each individual color with my eyes and saw a pattern. The iridescent white covered the entire room, like a cloak. The lightning blue seemed as if it was caressing people and surrounding them with... an aura? And gold.... the gold was the most intriguing. It looked like it was flowing through their veins.
I tried pushing myself into a sitting position but a hand landed between my breasts and kept me in place. I looked at the hand.. then the arm and gasped. The 'runes' sported a deeper blue than the aura. Was it that the 'runes' can turn on? Or something like that?
I jumped off that train of thought and continued eyeballing the arm holding me down. It was Isabelle's... her mouth was moving, but she wasn't looking at me though. I blinked a few times to snap out of whichever euphoria I entered but it stuck to me like glue. I took a deep breath and focused on my hearing.
"I told you, you shouldn't have put an iratze on a munda—"
"She's not a mundane Alec! The sword lit up when she—"
"SHE JUST HAD A DAMN EPISODE OF NEUROCARDIOGENIC SYNCOPE, JACE!"
The room went dead silent. I glanced at the two figures fighting behind Isabelle then at her. She still had her hand on my chest and I could still see the wisps of colors around the room.
She still wasn't looking at me, she was watching the guys argue.
"I-I had w-what?" My voice was just above a whisper but everyone heard me because all three heads snapped my way.
Minutes ticked by without a word uttered. Weren't they going to answer me? I looked Isabelle dead in her eyes and tried sitting up again. She caught the warning and helped me up this time.
I narrowed my eyes and stared at 'the other guy'. I really needed to stop calling him that...
"What's your name?" My voice came out eerily calmer and quieter than my state of mind.
He deadpanned. "You just went into shock... and you're asking for my name?" Man I wish I still had that sword.
I schooled my features and stared at him. He wouldn't answer me, and I wouldn't look away. Stubborn fucker.
"His name is Alec," he glared at his sister and held his arms behind his back. "W-what color do you think your eyes are?" I turned to her and furrowed my brows. What an odd way to ask me my eye color.
"I know my eyes are a pale blue. I see them every time I look in a mirror. Why would you ask me that?" Her face paled.
"Because when you woke up earlier, before your... episode, your eyes were a pale blue..." she looked away from me.
"So what are they now?" No answer. "Isabelle!" She flinched but still didn't look at me. "I'm tired of this cat and mouse game" I hissed as I swung out of bed and speed walked to the door. Shoes scuffed along the polished floor as they tried to catch up to me.
I swung the door open and bumped into an impatient Clary. "Where's the exit Clary?" I hissed through clenched teeth. She, just like every damn person in here, had golden veins and a blue aura.
She furrowed her brows and motioned behind her. I was just about to push past her when I heard a phone ringing. My phone.
I looked down at her front Jeans pocket and rose an eyebrow. I swiftly took my phone and tapped the green button before she had a chance to take it without my permission.. again.
"Hello?" I watch Clary's face scrunch up in guilt and I wonder what the hell is going on.
The static from the receiver pulled me out of my thoughts. "Aiden! Ugh finally. Why haven't you been answering my calls and why haven't you been coming in for work?" I moved the phone and looked at it like i could see the person through the screen. Something's off.
I replaced the phone and spoke "Shit hit the fan Jenny, and I'm not in the mood right now. I'll call you back." I was about to end the call but she said something that froze me in place.
"W-Wait! Do you know anything about a-a mortal cup?" She sounded desperate.
"What the fuck is a mortal cup?" I could practically feel the air tense and thicken. I looked over at Alec and he motioned for me to put the phone on speaker, so I did just that while Clary stepped in and soundlessly shut the door.
"I-I don't know but remember that guy from five days ago?" I looked up at Isabelle incredulously. I've been knocked-the-fuck-out... for five days?!
"Y-yeah, what about him?" I brushed a fallen strand from my forehead and sat on the edge of the bed.
"He came in yesterday and threatened my life." I stood up again. "He said that his mortal cup is missing and.. and that you know where it is. Aiden if you have it please! Please give it back to him!" What the fuck?
"Jenny, slow down. I don't have a 'mortal cup' and I've never seen that guy before. I can't steal something off a person I've never seen before!" I started pacing the room. "Did you call the police?"
Alec pulled on my elbow and shook his head. I furrowed my eyebrows and looked back at the phone, waiting for her response.
"N-no. Not yet.... oh God!" I could hear her heavy breathing over the line. She whispered, "Aiden... he just came in." She sounded so distressed. I can't have him killing her!
I put my hand on the back of my neck and looked around the room. Not an ounce of hysteria or humor was on their faces, just pure determination and seriousness.
Quick thinking time.
I've seen these people fight. They can take care of themselves. I know I can take care of me... but I don't know my opponent. They might though. They have the same runes, minus the circular one on his neck.
I absentmindedly nodded my head. "If he comes up to you, tell him to meet me under the Taylor Creek Park bridge at..." I looked at the the clock. 7:18 p.m. "at midnight." She gasped.
"What? No! I won't te—" I cut her off.
"Don't tell him and you die. Tell him. To meet me. Under the damn bridge, Jenny!" I cut off the call and pulled at my hair.
"What's your plan?" Jace crossed his arms and looked at Alec. "We've got one of Valentine's men threatening a mundane for the cup." Clary tensed.
Who's Valentine?
Alec thought for a moment then turned toward me. "How does this man look?" I crossed my arms and racked my brain.
"Blonde buzz cut, your height, same runes except he has a circle on his neck." I tilted my head as I remembered the details. "A jagged scar from his cheekbone to his chin."
I look back up at the others and catch them sharing looks with one another. "Aiden.. how do you know what runes are?" Clary touched her neck and glared at me skeptically. "Have you known about shadowhunters this whole time?"
Shadowhunters? The fuck are those?
"Your... people...." that same voice again. I ignored it. Maybe it will get bored and go away...
I shook my head in a 'wtf' gesture. "What the hell is a shadowhunter, Clary?" My face paled as I remembered her first question and looked down. "And as for runes... I heard it"
"Heard it where?" Alec questioned harshly. How crazy would I sound if I told them the truth? Is there a white padded room for the paranormal?
I took a deep breath and looked at Clary, "That rune you painted on Simon's van without realizing... spoke to me.." She gasped and motioned to Jace.
"They can do that?" He shook his head incredulously and turned to me.
"They shouldn't be able to.." Everyone seemed so shocked and confused. "How did it speak to you? What did it say? Did anything else happen?"
I took a deep breath. "It whispered to me, said it was a rune. Um ah-al" I snapped my fingers, trying to recalled its exact words. "Angelic rune!" I purposefully ignored the last question though, because if hearing the runes were already an oddity... my only guess is, seeing their veins glow gold and their auras blue, was an oddity as well.
Everyone was deep in thought for a whole fifteen minutes before Alec spoke up. "You told your friend to let this guy meet you under the bridge?" I nodded my head, "Then we'll go with you."
I crossed my arms and smirked. "I was kinda hoping that was the plan already."
He huffed and with a smirk of his own, he said, "I'm not following to be your knight in shining armor, Princess. I'm following because the Silent Brothers are practically three steps away from there. We'll be knocking down three birds with one stone." And without another word, he walked straight out of the room with that smirk still in tact and my ego, chipped.
Jace snorted and Isabelle laughed at our exchange. "I'll go get you some clothes" she pointed to the door behind her, "The bathroom is right there. After we get you cleaned up, we can go get some food into your system"
At the mention of food, my stomach growled loudly, embarrassing the shit out of me. Clary's eyes went wide at the sound and I gave her a dopey grin before walking to the bathroom.
Laughter erupted behind me and I slammed the door.
I've been asleep for five days? Huh... gonna ask about that later.