*edited*
"Lynn, what did you learn today?" Valentine asked.
I sat across from him. My broken hand was unable to grasp the fork without me grimacing. I had dropped my sword so he broke my hand. I just wanted to go home. I wanted to see Clary again. I wanted to see my mom.
"I learned not to drop my sword," I muttered.
"What was that?!" He asked. "You speak with confidence. You are a Morgenstern." I sat up straight in my chair holding my head high as my eyes watered.
"I learned to not drop my sword, Father," I explained as my eyes met Jonny's.
He couldn't look up from his plate of pasta. The red sauce speckles with the parmesan cheese. We've had this meal repeated times. Valentine always said it was our favorite like eventually we would believe him.
"Good, good, you are learning my Lynn," He nodded. He took a bite of the pasta. "You will make me proud I can feel it. Your mother may be able to keep one of you from me, but you are exceptional for only being five."
I bit the inside of my lip until the metallic taste flooded my mouth. I stared at the water in front of me. The glass was starting to sweat from the ice that had melted in it.
"Jonathan, what did you learn?" He asked. A little bit of spaghetti staining his mouth.
"To never let my weakness for family cloud my judgment," He spoke proudly his eyes focused on the wall across from him.
His right eye was bruised from where I'd kicked him. His eyes had gone black and it scared me. My fear scared him so he backed off until I hit him. I didn't want to hit Jonny. I never wanted to hurt him. Valentine told me he was my brother. He was also a child that my mother didn't want. That she left for him to pick up and deal with. That she didn't want me so she gave me back to him like a lost dog.
He would always remind me that I was lucky to have been saved by him or else I would be killed. He told me I was too fragile and sheltered to be able to withstand what the shadow world was going to put me through.
"Again!" Valentine yelled.
I pulled my sore body off the ground. We were in the yard. The grass is covered in frost. The smoke from the chimney puffed into the air behind us. My fingers were numb, I could barely form a fist.
"I'm cold," I said.
Jonathan didn't respond he came at me without hesitation. He came at me brutally shoving me back. My head smacked the hard dirt as he jumped on top of me hitting me in my ribs and face until everything was tingling slowly swelling from his strong blows.
"Enough! Enough!" Valentine yelled.
Jonathan didn't stop. I could feel him trying to choke me. My brother was trying to kill me. I looked into his black eyes seeing the reflection of my own fearful ones. We were both afraid.
"Stop," I begged. "Jonny please."
Valentine grabbed his arm throwing him back as an inhuman scream came from him. I coughed and looked down at my arms seeing the black veins move up my wrists from the injections from earlier.
"I want to go home! I want to see mom!"
"She doesn't want you anymore, Lena! She abandoned you! When are you going to get that through your little mind? She doesn't love you. She never did. She left you behind for me to find!" Valentine screamed in my face. My little body shuddered. The tears tasted salty on my lips.
"She loves me," I sobbed. He slapped me. My cheek burned as I put my cold hand on the hot skin. "She loves me. You'll see. Mom will save me." He grabbed my chin tightly making me face him.
"If she loved you then why did she leave you behind!" He screamed. His spit hit my face as I cowered away. "I'm the only one who loves you! Jonathan is the only one who loves you! We are a family, but we are not weak. No, we are Morganstern's, you will understand Lynn. you will understand one day."
He paced back and forth as I slid to the floor holding my knees to my chest. His voice muffled in the background as he continued to scream at me. I just wanted to go home. I wanted to see my mom. To see Clary. I wanted to go home.
"Lena," Isabelle said. I turned from the glass looking at her.
"I'm sorry, did you say something?" I asked. She knitted her brows together.
"Are you okay?" She placed a hand on my shoulder. I nodded.
"Yeah, sorry," I looked back in the containment cell.
The one girl who'd escaped the owl. Morgan. She had been corrupted when they were at a club last night. Jace was still missing, but I wanted to see her behavior.
"Long night."
"My mom?" She asked. I shook my head.
"No, she was in a good mood," I said. "We had a few drinks." Morgan was clawing at the walls and at the door. She was trying to escape.
"Sarah. I need to get to Sarah," She whispered.
Her nails started bleeding as she kept clawing the concrete. Alec came up beside me with his arms crossed. Morgan barred her teeth as she glanced at us.
"Whatever dark force you are, we will release you to your realm unharmed. Just tell us who helped possess this mundane." Alec said. I looked over and saw him in a blazer and a blue button-up.
"Take me to Sarah," She hissed.
"Who is the Owl, demon?" Alec asked.
Morgan came forward throwing herself at the glass. None of us flinched or jumped at the sudden motion.
"Sarah!" The demonic voice spoke through her.
"Well there's no breaking through," Alec sighed as we turned. "What've you got Iz?" We all turned together moving toward the elevator.
"Sarah is her twin sister. They share an apartment in Queens," Isabelle explained. I looked over my shoulder.
"Well that's great," I said.
"If the OWL's MO is consistent with his previous victims, Morgan is being driven to kill someone she loves," Isabelle explained. Morgan started crawling around on her hands and feet.
"It's the eleventh mundane this week who's been possessed," Alec sakd.
"The owl is busy and unique," Isabelle muttered. We all turned to face Morgan again. "In a typical possession, the body cells wouldn't be affected."
"But Morgans are?" I asked. Morgan crept around.
"Her cells are no longer mundane." Isabelle looked over at me. "They're demonic."
"There is no way we can save her?" Alec asked.
Both of them looked at one another and then at the floor. I let out a long breath as I turned on my heel and moved upstairs. I had to go hunting again. This owl was getting to too many mundanes.
"Lena." Alec caught me before I was able to leave the Institute. I went to the wall grabbing my gear. "Where are you going?"
"I'm on guard," I slid the straps over my shoulder. "Would you?"
I turned my back to him. He sighed but tightened the strap around my waist. He reached around me grabbing my swords and slipping them into their slots over my shoulders. I turned as he slid his hand into my front pocket giving me the seraph handle.
"Okay, sorry, what?"
"Lena, I don't know what to do," He admitted. He was tired. I could tell he hadn't eaten and he was worried.
"What happened?" I rested my hand on his arm as he looked at me. It was only a simple touch, but I knew it brought him comfort.
"It's Jace. I know something is wrong, but I don't know how to help him and I know something is wrong with you, but I don't know how to help you either. I'm just useless," He breathed. I smiled and cupped his cheeks.
"I may be zoning out from time to time, but I'm fine. The one we need to be worrying about is Jace," My eyes moved to the blonde as he left the institute.
"He deleted the footage of when he came into the institute the other day," Alec said. I furrowed my brows. That's not normal.
"I'll keep track of him today on watch," I kissed his cheek. "Please go eat and rest. You will have immediate updates if anything changes. I promise."
"I love you." His eyes avoided mine. He was hurt. Deeply hurt. I kissed him briefly. It only felt half-hearted, but I had to go.
"It'll be alright," I assured him.
I left the institute tracking Jace to the river. He was standing on the edge of the path holding the necklace from his family around his neck. I watched him rip it off and put it in his pocket. I feared that he was going to throw it into the river, but that wouldn't make sense.
His family didn't have anything to do with his troubles right now. A woman walked up behind him. She had slick black hair and a tight dress. Jace turned around to speak with her. I activated my hearing rune.
"You were supposed to take care of the girl? Why isn't it done?" She asked.
"Sorry, what girl? Who are you?" Jace asked. A wind blew and I watched the woman raise her hand.
"Sleep," She said. Jace's head dipped as he slowly looked up. His entire demeanor changed. She held up her finger.
"I told you to take care of the mundane held by the shadow hunters. What broke you free of my order?"
Her order? This is who the owl was working for. He wasn't acting alone. Also, the owl is Jace apparently.
"Clary," Jace muttered. "You may be strong, but my love for her is stronger."
"So she's the reason that I can only control you while you're sleeping," She moved closer to Jace. "I knew Clarissa was dear to you, why do you think I've been torturing you with dreams of you and Jonathan killing her? But I clearly underestimated the power of your love. Where is she?" I moved forward making sure to stay in the shadows. Jace's face dropped as he struggled to speak.
"On assignment," He said. His face dropped flat once again.
"Good," She stepped forward. "Your love for me will be stronger. Complete your mission. I'll take care of Clary."
Clary. Clary.
I moved forward, but something yanked back. I turned to see people. The missing mundanes. The missing possessed mundanes. The wind was knocked from my lungs as I stood up quickly. Another grabbed my arm but I kicked them back.
"You are new?" The woman smiled. She walked through the people. They moved for her like she was their queen. I reached for my blade, but it was gone.
"Lynn! You've got to block your left side," Jonny yelled. "You have to learn."
"I'm trying," I muttered.
I went after him again only to get thrown back my head smacking the hard dirt again. I couldn't feel my legs and I couldn't move my fingers. Everything was frost bit.
"Get up!"
"Lynn get up!"
"I'm trying!"
I stumbled forward. The woman grabbed my face her nails piercing my skin. She was grimacing at her hands like my skin was burning her.
"You know my boy," She breathed as she stared into my eyes.
"Fight!"
"Get up!"
"Again Lyn! Again!"
"Try harder!"
"You have to learn how to be strong! You are weak!"
"You're going through so much," She smiled. Her hand moved over my eyes as my body collapsed.
***
"Claire," I laughed. She pulled me closer to the playground.
"Come on Lena, we have to get our spot," She let go of my sleeve as I tripped on a lump of grass.
My hands went out to catch me, but I slipped and hit the ground. I didn't cry. I pushed myself up seeing a hand offered to me. I took it and saw a little boy with red hair. He had hair like mine.
"Are you alright?" He asked.
I nodded slightly embarrassed. My eyes moved to find my sister, but she wasn't there. She wasn't around anywhere. Neither was Mom.
"Mom!" I called. A man was there. His hands gripped my shoulders tightly. "I don't know you."
"Finally," He smiled. "I've found you, my dear. Where is your sister?"
"Stranger." I tried to shove him away, but the other boy wrapped his arms around me as we stayed there.
"Let me go! Help! Help!" I was pulled back and the park disappeared. His arms let go of me, but I looked around. "Help me!"
I took off running, but my arm was yanked back a horrid noise filling my ears as my arm went limp. I screamed as I tried to fight my way away from the man, but he grabbed my other arm.
"Lynn enough! You are home!" He yelled. "Jonathan! Come get your sister." I was thrown to the ground. My bad shoulder hit first.
"Sister?" I sobbed. "Who are you?! What do you want from me!" Jonathan came forward with a big smile.
"I'm your big brother," He looked at my shoulder and then frowned. "I promise I won't let him hurt you anymore, Sissy." He touched my arm yanking it forward.
"Ahhh!" I screamed as the hot tears burned my face. It was cold where we were. "I want to go home! Let me go home! I want my mom!"
"Stop yelling," Jonathan snapped. "I want to be family. We're a family Sissy. Just come with us. It's worse if you struggle." He grabbed my other arm as I moved with him.
"I want to go home. I want to go to Clary," My feet dragged over the grass as we moved toward the cabin. The smoke rising from the chimney.