The hardest part about leaving home was that no one expected me to leave. All of my friends were convinced that I loved my California so much that I would never even consider leaving. When I told my friend about my plans, she thought I was crazy. After all, I didn't have a real, mundane job and I didn't know anyone who lived near the big city. For the first time in my life, I would be utterly alone and helpless.
As I walk down the stairs, my suitcase clunking behind me, Emma runs up to me. Her arms are thrown around my neck and she squeezes until I can hardly breathe. I am almost knocked backward from the force. My eyebrows raise as I blink her golden hair out of my eyes.
"Promise me that you'll call me every day," she tells me.
"You know I can't, Em." I laugh as she pulls away from me, still clutching my shoulders.
"Are you sure you don't want me to come with you? I am more than willing to—" she talks so fast that a normal person couldn't possibly understand her.
"Your life is here. I can't ask you to leave your family behind." I cut her off.
She gives a pouty face. "Fine. I just want to clarify that I am not okay with this. I mean, I could help you. We should just tell your grandma that—"
"That I am a complete disappointment?" I cut her off. "You know what will happen if anyone finds out. I have to do this— I have to protect you guys." With a sad smile, I give her one last hug.
"Stay safe, Addie." She whispers, tightening her arms around me.
"Always."
The flight from California to New York was a long one. As someone who struggles to keep herself entertained, I found that being in a confined space made the chronic boredom so much worse. I found myself rotating between all the apps on my phone. Eventually, my eyes began to hurt from the strain of staring at the screen and I decided to attempt a nap.
When I arrived at the chaotic airport, I was shocked at the aggression of the people. By the time I reached the exit, my face was red with frustration. On the bright side, my anger made it easier to yell for a taxi. I found my new home— a small apartment that is in dire need of a renovation— with some difficulty.
While I was bedridden for the past week, I had found a potential roommate. She was about my age and she had a lot in common with me. She seemed like a laid-back, easygoing person who was easy to get along with. Her previous roommate had moved out after she graduated school and she didn't like the idea of living alone. She even offered to help me get a job at the cafe she worked at, completely disregarding the fact that I have no experience.
My heart was racing as I got out of the taxi and made my way up to the apartment. The small, brick building looked nice enough— there were no signs of any demons or criminal residents, and the building was free of graffiti. Though I don't understand how a barista could live in a building like this, I wasn't complaining.
Before I even had the chance to knock on the door, it swung open to reveal a girl with dyed silver hair. She was wearing a bright smile and her deep brown eyes sparkled in a way that reminded me of an anime character. Despite her perfect appearance, she was wearing a pair of black jeans and a Black Sabbath t-shirt.
"Rae," She guesses.
"That's me!" I return her smile with my own. "You're Lyla?"
She gives an excited nod. "Come on in! I've been waiting for you all day!" She steps aside to let me in.
I almost giggle like a child at first glance. The apartment is small, but it is almost expertly decorated. The white walls are filled with artwork and pictures and the large windows allow lots of natural light. The mustard-colored couch is accented by an assortment of black and white pillows and a matching chair. The living room flows right into the kitchen, which is decorated with more artwork and a small succulent sitting on the center of the round table in the corner. It is so drastically different than anywhere I have ever lived but in the best possible way.
"This is amazing," I say excitedly, "did you decorate this yourself?"
Lyla shrugs, looking around the room with the same critical eyes I use when I am training Julian's younger siblings. "I had help from my old roommate. She took some of the artwork so I had to make some more to put up."
My eyes widen as I look over at her. "You made the art?"
She smiles proudly. "Yeah! Most of them were old projects from school."
"That's incredible." My eyes scan the art again, this time with more amazement. "I've always wanted to be an artist, but I never had the patience. One of my friends back home was an artist but he never pursued it." My heart aches as I mention Julian. The hardest part about leaving him was leaving him behind.
She laughs and takes my suitcase from me. "Wait until you see your room." She leads me down a small hallway to the right and through the second door on the left. She swings the door open to reveal a bedroom that is decorated just as stylishly as the rest of the apartment. The queen bed is dressed in simple grey sheets and a white comforter. There are yellow accent pillows paired with a grey throw blanket. There is a wooden dresser on the opposite wall and a small closet next to it. There is a small mirror with a yellow frame hanging on the back of the closet door that ties the color scheme together.
"I might have gone a little overboard with the decorating," she admits. "I guess I was excited to have a new roommate."
Still, in awe, I move to sit on the bed. "This is perfect, Lyla. Thank you."
"Of course!" She says happily. "Now, I need to head to work. If you're up to it, you can come and meet everyone. My boss is very excited to meet you."
I give her a nod. "I'll stop by when I'm finished unpacking."
"Sounds good. I'll see you in a little bit, then." She leaves the room and a couple of seconds later I hear the front door close.
It doesn't take me very long to unpack my small suitcase. My small selection of clothes fit easily in the closet and the small mementos I decided to bring are placed on top of my dresser: a framed picture of me and Tavvy, a photo strip that Emma, Julian, and me from one of our "mundane outings," and a cylinder about as wide around as a pencil with markings all around it. My fingers linger on the stele for a second before I finish unpacking the rest of my things. When I get to the bottom of the suitcase, I come across my small collection of daggers. I take the two with engravings of herons out, setting them with my stele, before zipping up my suitcase and burying it in the back of my closet. The paranoid part of me took my stele and glamoured the suitcase so that Lyla wouldn't find it— I could explain away two daggers, but I couldn't explain away a whole collection of them.
As soon as I'm done, I put the location of the cafe Lyla works in my phone and try to navigate the busy streets of New York. Turns out that the cafe was only a short walk from the apartment. When I walked into the comfortable-looking entryway, Lyla greets me instantly. She dropped the rag she was carrying onto one of the tables and walks over to me. "Hey! Did you get all settled?"
"Yeah. I didn't have much to unpack," I explain.
"Well, Ben is in back. I'll go grab him for you." She glances over my shoulder and smiles slightly. "In the meantime—" she takes my hand and drags me over to a table where two people who look about my age are: an excited redheaded girl and a nervous, brown-haired boy. The redhead looks up as we approach, smiling easily at Lyla. The boy notices the redhead's distraction and looks up at Lyla as well. Both of them glance at me in confusion before looking back at Lyla.
"Lyla!" The redhead greets her. "I didn't know you were working today."
"Well, I wasn't supposed to. I'm working a double to cover for Eric." Lyla explains, rolling her eyes. "I wanted to introduce you guys to my new roommate, Rae. She just came in from...California?" She looks at me for confirmation and I nod.
The redhead offers me a kind smile. "I'm Clary, and this is my best friend, Simon."
I look over to Simon, who greets me with a small smile and a wave of his hand.
"It's nice to meet you guys." I give each of them a kind smile.
"Oh!" Lyla straightens up as if she just remembered something. "Did you get in?"
Clary's smile fades and she glances over at Simon, who simply takes a sip of his latte. She picks a letter up off the table and slowly hands it to Lyla. After scanning over the letter, Lyla slams it back down on the table and holds back a smile.
"That's very rude of you," She jokes before pulling Clary into a hug. "I'm so proud of you!"
"Thank you," Clary says as she pulls out of the hug.
"Are you coming to celebrate with us tonight?" Simon asks Lyla.
"I wish I could, but I can't. I have to be back here at six tomorrow morning." Lyla frowns.
"What about you, Rae?" Clary turns to me. "You're more than welcome to come."
"You could even accompany us to my gig," Simon says with a sense of pride. "My friend Maureen and I are in a band."
I hesitate. As adventurous as I usually am, I don't think it'd be in my best interest to party with strangers. "I'll think about it."
Clary nods. As she tilts her head down, she catches a glimpse of my forearm. "Nice tattoo."
I immediately move to pull down the sleeve of my jacket to cover the faded deflect rune on my wrist. I am so taken off-guard that I can barely form a response. "Th-thanks." I stutter.
Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Lyla glance at Clary and then back to me. "You have a tattoo?"
"Y-yeah. It was the first of many mistakes that came with the newfound freedom of being eighteen." I begin backing away from the table. "I'll see you guys tonight."
"So, you're coming?" Clary asks at the same time Lyla says "I thought you were going to meet Ben today."
I look to Lyla first. "I just remembered that I was supposed to call my grandma when I was all settled," —I look at Clary— "and, yes. It sounds like fun." My back hits the door and I stumble out of the cafe, nearly hitting a man on his bike. When I'm outside, I unclasp my hands and stare down at the rune on my arm. The rune seems to stare up at me mockingly as if to say "you're never going to escape me." With an angry grunt, I turn and stomp towards the direction of the apartment.
I dig through my closet until I come across a red, lacy bodysuit and a pair of jeans. As much as I hated associating myself with the self-righteous pricks, I had to admit they had style. After getting dressed, I pull my hair into a tight braid, leaving a few strands to frame my face. The makeup I was wearing during the day seemed intact, so I didn't bother touching it up. As I was getting ready to leave the apartment, I catch a glimpse of my daggers sitting on the dresser. My fingers ached to pick it up, but I resisted. Quickly pulling on a pair of heeled booties and my borrowed jacket, I exit the apartment.
By the time I find the location Simon had sent me, he and Clary are sitting on the roof of an ugly yellow van along with a girl I don't recognize.
"My life couldn't be more mundane," I hear Clary say as I come within earshot. "Besides, I don't really know much about when she was young."
"Oh, just do what I do and get all the dirt from your relatives," an unfamiliar voice tells Clary.
"The black sheep always has the most dirt," I add, tilting my head up to look at them. "How did you guys get up there?"
Simon is the first to look at me. He greets me with an easy smile, his brown eyes lighting up. He doesn't seem like the nervous person I met at the safe earlier. "Rae! You made it! There's a ladder on the back."
Clary and the girl sitting with them turn to look at me as I crawl onto the roof and place myself next to Simon. The three of them scoot down to make room for me. Clary smiles at me as a greeting while the other girl gives me a curious glance.
"Hey, guys!" I greet them, returning their smiles. I look at the other girl, who is still struggling to hide her expression. "Hey! I'm Ad—Rae."
I resist the urge to smack my palm against my forehead.
The confusion fades as the girl smiles at me kindly. "I'm Maureen."
"Nice to meet you," I say kindly before turning to Clary. "Who are you trying to dig up dirt on?"
"My mom," Clary states. "And I would look to other relatives if I could, but my mom doesn't have any. And m-my dad died before I was born."
"So, you have no one?" Maureen questions her. "No uncles, no aunts, no third cousins twice removed?"
Clary shakes her head. "No. Just me and my mom."
"I get that." Clary looks at me with a curious gaze. "My dad died before I was born and my mom passed shortly after I was born. I've been bouncing back and forth between my grandma and some family friends ever since."
She gives me a sad smile and nods in understanding.
"That's why the Lewis clan has added three chairs to every seder since pre-school," Simon says and Clary hums in agreement. "One for Clary, one for Jocelyn, and one for Elijah."
My heart nearly stops. Surely it couldn't be the same Jocelyn. There was no way that he meant Valentine's wife. That would be too much of a coincidence. Jocelyn is a fairly common name. Besides, Jocelyn Fairchild never had a daughter.
But it also can't be a coincidence that Clary has the sight and her mother has the same name as a lost Shadowhunter.
"Of course," I hear Clary joke faintly. "Obviously."
"Yes. Obviously." Simon agrees. He glances over at me. "Are you alright, Rae?"
I look up at him with a small shake of my head. "Yeah. I'm fine."
"You guys don't think that's a little suspicious?" Maureen asks, gaining Simon's attention again. "You not knowing anything about your family? Your mom could be hiding some deep, dark secret."
Clary shakes her head. "Maureen, it's not possible."
"I mean," I shrug, quickly falling back into the conversation. "You never know..."
"No, seriously. My mom is incapable of concealing anything from me."
I nod my head, though I don't agree— I would hide the fact that my husband was a serial killer, too.
After Simon and Maureen's gig, we end up in front of a club filled with obnoxious and slightly intoxicated people. The brightness of the blinking sign hurts my eyes slightly and I turn my back to face away from it before I can read it. Something about it seems familiar, but I can't quite pin it down.
"Thanks for being our roadies," Maureen says to Clary and me.
"Yeah." Simon smiles at me before turning to Clary. "And thank you for being our artist in residence."
"Of course," Clary says.
Simon quickly pulls off his shirt to change, causing Clary and Maureen to look away. I resist the urge to laugh at their discomfort. As a Shadowhunter who grew up training with a multitude of shirtless guys, I've grown used to it. However, I am shocked at Simon's muscle definition— for a seemingly nerdy guy, he is pretty decently built. As soon as his new shirt is on, I watch as the girls relax.
"So," Clary states, distracting from the awkwardness. "you went on stage tonight as Champagne Enema."
Maureen chuckles. "What were we thinking, right?"
"I liked it," I say, earning a smile from Maureen.
"But now," Simon looks between Clary and me, "we're Rock Solid Panda."
"Yeah, we are." Maureen smiles widely at Simon.
"That's so much worse," I comment as Clary grabs her spray paint.
"Rock Solid Panda, coming up." She shakes the can of paint. "I'm feeling inspired."
Clary walks around to the side of the van and begins to spray paint the new band name next to the rest of the failed names. I chuckle slightly at the randomness of the names— it looks as though Simon and Maureen simply picked words from the dictionary at random to create their previous band names.
As Clary backs away from her art, my eyes widen. In the center of the surface is a diamond-shaped symbol: the rune of angelic power. I glance at Clary and then back to the rune, taking a few steps back. I'm so stuck in my own fear that I barely even register Simon and Maureen questioning her about the symbol. I am so distracted that I don't notice the tall man walking straight towards me. His shoulder bumps into mine, causing me to lose my balance and stumble. A pair of hands catch my shoulders to steady me.
"Oh!" I exclaim. "I'm so sorry!" I look up to meet a pair of confused, hazel eyes staring down at me. He is tall, like Julian, but that's where their similarities end. While Julian's features are more delicate, this man's features are harsh and more angular. They are both beautiful, but in drastically different ways. I'm so caught up that I almost don't notice the large rune on his neck.
A Shadowhunter.
He instantly releases my arms and takes a step away from me. "You're a mundane," he states simply, a confused look on his face.
My hands go behind my back instinctively. Unlike Lyla or Simon, he could see the runes that cover them. "Mundane?" I repeat, playing dumb.
It's not entirely out of the ordinary for a mundane to have the sight— I have encountered a few on my trips to the Shadow Market with Emma. Usually, it meant there was some Downworlder blood somewhere in their lineage.
He simply shakes his head, moving toward the club again. "Jace!"
I turn to see Clary talking to a blonde-haired boy, who turns to run after the boy who had run into me. Clary scoffs before she returns to the group and I move to join them.
"Can you believe that blonde dude?" She scoffs.
Simon furrows his brows. "You mean the imaginary dude you were talking to?"
"No." Clary shakes her head. "The guy right there, running into the club."
The three of us look in the direction she indicated. However, unlike Simon and Maureen, I spot the Shadowhunters running into the club.
"Clary, there's nobody there," Maureen tells her.
"The guy covered in tats, like—"
"What guy are you talking about?" Simon cuts in.
"You guys seriously don't see him?" Clary looks at me for help.
I shake my head. "I don't see anyone, Clary." I try to keep my voice even and refrain from fidgeting— I should be used to lying by now, but I'm not. Despite how good I am at deception, I will never it.
"Okay, could you stop making me feel insane?" Clary tries to joke.
"Could you stop acting that way?" Maureen responds, shrugging as I shoot her a look.
"Clary," Simon addresses her. "What was in your latte?"
Clary sighs before unzipping her jacket to reveal a black, mesh shirt. To my surprise, she looked like a Shadowhunter. She has a determination in her step as she turns and strides towards the entrance of the club.
"Clary, wait!" I try to stop her.
"Where are you going?" Simon calls after her.
Clary doesn't even slow down as I catch up to her. "To get some answers," she calls over her shoulder. She makes eye contact with me before looking back at the entrance and pushing her shoulders back.
"Remember, your fake ID sucks!" Simon calls as she approaches the bouncer.
She easily flashes her I.D. to the bouncer and slips into the club. I try to go after her, but one of the bouncers grab my shoulder. "You have some I.D. on you?" He asks me.
Without hesitation, I take his hand and twist his arm, pushing him towards the wall. His face hits the wall first, making him groan in pain. I press his hand between his shoulder blades, pressing my bodyweight against him to hold him there.
"Next time you wanna lay a hand on a woman, don't." I release him and he falls to the ground.
By the time I make it into the club, Simon and Maureen had already caught up to Clary. Just as I reach Clary's side, Simon leaves to score some drinks, and Maureen goes with him. As soon as they turn to look back, Clary has already turned to find the Shadowhunters. I stay on her tail until she grabs hold of a man's arm with a flirtatious smile, following him behind a curtain. I give an angry grunt as another bouncer tries to stop me, regretting my decision to leave my dagger at home. As the man reaches for me, I slip under his arm, kicking behind his knee. He drops and I send another kick to his head. He falls to his side and I push my way behind the curtain.
"Watch out!" Clary yells, pushing a woman in a magenta dress away from the blonde boy. The woman instantly turns on Clary, her mouth widens to reveal her true demonic self.
"Clary!" I yell and move to run towards her as the blonde boy — Jace pushes her away. An arm finds its way around my waist and I give a yelp of surprise as the other arm wraps around my neck. I throw an elbow back, hitting the jaw of the demon that took hold of me. It stumbles backward and releases me from its tight grip. I gasp, taking in greedy breaths of air as I get to my feet. I put up my hands to ready myself for a fight as the thing charges toward me—
With one swipe of a seraph blade, the demon burns up and disappears, revealing the boy with hazel eyes. He takes a few steps forward until he is standing over me.
"Are you okay?" He asks me.
"Where's Clary?" I ask instead of answering his question. I look up to see Clary running towards the exit. I scramble to my feet to follow her, but someone catches my arm. I whip around to see the blonde boy holding me in his grip. "I'm getting real sick of men laying their hands on me tonight."
His expression remains neutral "Who are you?"
I give him a deathly glare, leaning in close. "If you want to keep your arm, I suggest you let go of me."
"Well, you can definitely try to fight me. Chances are that you won't win, mundane." The boy smirks and I want to slap him.
"I doubt that," I sneer, tensing my free hand into a fist.
"Jace, let her go." The hazel-eyed boy says from behind him.
Jace looks over his shoulder at the boy. "Hodge is going to want to talk to her, Alec."
"I'm sure Hodge would love that we kidnapped a mundane." A dark-haired girl says from beside Alec. She picks up a white wig, flattening the tangled strands
"A mundane that could expose us," Jace corrects her. "We can't let her run around after what she's seen tonight."
"I'm right here." The three of them look at me. My eyes go to the hazel-eyed boy instinctively. "I'm not going to tell anyone."
Jace gives a sarcastic smile. "If only I could believe you."
"Jace," Alec warns, still holding my gaze. Jace looks at him for a second before releasing my arm.
Without hesitation, I dart towards the curtains. As I'm pushing through the crowd of people, a hand catches my shoulder. I move to swing at the stranger and I'm met with the face of Simon. My hand falls to my side again and I let out a breath.
"Rae! Are you alright? Where's Clary?" He asks me, his other hand finding my other shoulder.
"I'm fine. Clary wasn't feeling well, so she went home," I lie for her. If Simon knows we went after the invisible people, he would think we were both insane.
"Maybe I should go check on her," He suggests.
"That's a good idea," I tell him. "You should do that. I need to go." I make my way towards the exit again, looking over my shoulder to make sure no one is following me. Simon stares after me with a confused look on his face. I give him a sorry smile and finally break free of the club. As soon as the cold night air hits my face, I feel as though I could breath again. I tilt my head to the sky, closing my eyes and taking deep breaths to calm my nerves. My body isn't used to the lack of guidance from its runes, and I have developed what mundanes would call "anxiety."
Living in the mundane world is worse than Edom.
I wake up to the annoyingly obnoxious alarm on my phone. With a groan, I pull myself out of bed and go straight for the shower. I catch sight of myself in the mirror and sigh— the bruising around my neck has faded greatly in the past few days, but it still looks disgusting. I could have used my stele to heal the wound, but Simon saw the bruising and would question how I healed so fast. Another thing I hate about being mundane: suffering through injuries.
When my shower is complete, I run a comb through my dark, curly hair and brush my teeth. In my room, I find a black t-shirt and a pair of jeans, which I pair with a pair of steel-toe boots.
When I go out to the kitchen to find something to eat for breakfast, a note is sitting on the counter. I pick it up and scan over it.
I'm at work. Drop by when you're ready to meet Ben.
-Lyla
I sigh and grab my jacket, heading to the cafe.
Meeting Ben wasn't as terrible as I thought it would be. We talked for a while and he offered me the job on the spot. My guess would be that he was desperate for new employees and didn't care much about experience and my knowledge on coffee and pastries was sufficient. According to Lyla, there has also been a lot of crime in the area lately and new hires were hard to come across.
"So, we have you all set up to start next week if that's okay with you?" Ben asks me.
"That would be perfect!" I give him a smile. "Thank you so much!"
He nods and exits into the back of the cafe. As soon as he's gone, Lyla approaches me with an excited smile.
"I guess we're co-workers now!" She exclaims.
"I guess so!" I mimic her excited look, standing from my seat. Over Lyla's shoulder, I catch sight of a head of dark hair. His hazel eyes meet mine and I nearly stumble backward in shock. Somehow, the Shadowhunter has found me.
"Rae?" Lyla puts a hand on my shoulder. "Are you alright?"
My eyes meet hers. "I-I'm fine. I guess I'm still a little tired."
She nods in understanding. "Well, go home and get some rest."
"Yeah. I think I'll do that." I give her a forced smile and head towards the exit. I know that the boy is following me. He strays a couple of yards behind me as I head back towards the apartment. When I get into the empty lobby of my building, I whip around to grab him, pressing him against the wall with my arm against his throat "Why are you following me?"
"How can you see me?" He ignores my question.
"Am I not supposed to?" I play dumb again. He can't know that I'm a Shadowhunter.
"No," He says bluntly. "Who are you?"
I increase the pressure of my arm against his throat. "Why are you following me?"
He doesn't even seem phased. He could easily take me down, but he doesn't. His arms are marked with runes that could help him do so. "I'm making sure you don't get into trouble like your friend did."
"What do you mean?" I try to keep the worry out of my face.
"Your friend was stupid and nearly got herself killed. I'm making sure you don't do the same."
My heart begins to race. "What happened to her?"
"She got stung by a Ravener," He states, watching my expression. He's testing me, watching for any reaction that indicates recognition.
"What does that mean?" I try to put as much confusion into my voice as possible. "Is she okay?"
"She'll live."
I give a sigh of relief. "Where is she?"
"She's at the Institute." He doesn't seem to buy my act. "I can take you to her."
I shake my head. "I have a thing about going places with strangers. Especially tattooed strangers."
The corners of his mouth twitch, but he covers it easily. "Your friend is going to wake up soon." He pushes me off of him easily before exiting the building. He doesn't look back, but he somehow knows that I decided to follow him. "Have you always been able to see the Shadow World?"
"What's that?" I ask, without looking at him.
He glances down at me. "You can see through the glamour. You fought off a demon and you were hardly phased by being in a club full of Downworlders. You can see everything that mundanes aren't supposed to see."
"And Downworlders are...?" The longer I play into it, the more believable my act would be.
"Vampires, werewolves, warlocks, the fey," he begins to list. "You can see me. I want to know how."
"You know, my grandma always said I was special. Maybe special is just another word for crazy," I joke.
"You're not crazy," he states. Our eyes meet and he holds my gaze for a long moment.
"I see things that aren't supposed to be real. That makes me crazy." I slip my hands into my jacket pockets and finally drop my eyes from his. My fingers skim over my stele and my dagger— I made the decision to never do anywhere unarmed again. No matter how much I hate the Shadow World, it will always be there and I need something to defend myself against it.
"You're not crazy." He still looks down at me, his hazel eyes searching my face. "You're just not blind."
I shake my head, dropping my gaze. "I wish I were," I say under my breath as we turn the corner.
When we get to the New York Institute, I hesitate to follow Alec inside. If he noticed my hesitation, he didn't say anything. We walk up to the large church and Alec leads the way through the front doors. My eyes stay on the floor, attempting to hide my face. If anyone recognizes me here, it could end very badly for me.
"Jace!" Alec calls as he spots Jace sitting at one of the computers.
Jace looks up, his eyes going to Alec first before landing on me. His face hardens at the sight of me. "What is she doing here?"
Alec opens his mouth to respond but I beat him to it. "Spare me. I'm just here to make sure Clary is okay and then I'll leave."
"She's fine," Jace says bluntly before looking at Alec. "Mundanes aren't allowed in the Institute."
"So you are aware of the rules," Alec spits back at him. His arms go behind his back and I immediately recognize it as the stance of a soldier. "I wasn't sure, seeing how you have already broken so many."
"I haven't broken any rules. Clary was poisoned by a Ravener and our job is to protect mundanes. She couldn't be treated by mundane doctors, so I brought her here." Jace explains. "What I don't understand is why you brought the other mundane."
"That Ravener demon was at the little girl's house. If she's being targeted, we need to know why. This one—" Alec indicates me by tilting his head in my direction. "—may have answers we need."
I look up at him with wide eyes. "I didn't come here to testify."
"She has no reason to be here, Alec. Mundanes shouldn't be here." Jace turns walks away. Alec scoffs as he follows him and I tag along. We follow him to another room filled with beds and Shadowhunter medical equipment. On one of the beds sits Clary, the dark-haired girl from the club sitting beside her.
"I agree, mundanes shouldn't be here," Alec says as we enter the room.
"Where is 'here,' exactly?" Clary asks. She catches sight of me and her eyes widen. "Rae?"
I move to stand by her side. "Are you okay?"
She nods, but her brows furrow in confusion.
"Clary's not a mundane, Alec," Jace tells him.
"How do you know that?" He plants himself only a few feet away from me, crossing his arms.
"Because the Seraph blade lit up when she touched it." Jace boots the Shadowhunter girl off the bed and takes her place at Clary's side. The girl instead sits on the bed next to Clary's. "I'm Jace Wayland."
"I'm—" Clary starts.
"Clary Fray. We know who you are." He cuts her off. He, then, looks at me. "You, on the other hand, are not in any of the databases I searched."
"I wouldn't be," I say, earning confused looks from the Shadowhunters. "I'm new to town."
"Am I the only one who finds this unusual?" Alec cuts in.
Jace looks over at him. "You find everything unusual, Alec."
"I have to report this to the Clave," Alec says and my heart rate picks up. There is nothing I want less than the Clave coming to the town I had found refuge in. That's almost worse than Valentine finding me.
Almost.
Clary looks up at me, probably noticing that my entire body has tensed up. She places one hand over mine and gives it a reassuring squeeze. Everything will be okay, she seems to be trying to tell me.
"You know what? Dial it down a notch," Jace sasses Alec.
"My brother doesn't have a dial," The dark-haired girl finally speaks up. "I love you, Alec, but you have a switch that's always on."
Alec rolls his eyes. "I love you, too. But this—"
Jace cuts him off. "Hey! You know what? Give me a minute. Here's a word you never hear me say: please." He motions towards the door.
Alec narrows his eyes at Jace. "What is with you?" The Shadowhunter girl gives a sigh and gets up from the bed, moving towards her brother. "No, what is with him?"
She grabs Alec's arm and leads him towards the door. "Walk with me, big brother." As she leads Alec towards the door, his eyes catch mine.
"I'm going with Alec and..." I trail off, looking at the Shadowhunter girl.
"Isabelle," she introduces herself with a sly smile.
Clary nods and pats my hand before I follow the siblings out of the room.
"I'll explain it to you." Isabelle says to Alec and leads the way out of the room and into a hallway
"We don't know that girl. There's no such thing as new Shadowhunters." Alec tries to reason with Isabelle.
"There is now."
"And apparently now mundanes can see the Shadow World?"
Isabelle simply shrugs.
"You don't find that strange?" Alec questions her.
"What I find strange—" Isabelle stops Alec, turning him around to face her "—is that you're so upset. Maybe you're upset by the way Jace is looking at her. You know, you should be happy that Jace is interested in someone other than himself."
"Maybe I'm pissed that she's ruined the mission. We never found out who's buying the blood. That was our one job," He says and turns to walk away.
"Wait," I cut in, causing Alec to turn around. "Someone is buying blood? Did you ever consider vampires?" I don't know why I'm trying to help them, but the case of the blood buyer interested me.
"They were on top of our suspect list, but we ruled them out," Isabelle explains, unfazed by my knowledge. Surely mundanes knew about vampires, even if they believe that they are mythical.
"We shouldn't be talking about an ongoing investigation with a mundane," Alec snaps at Isabelle.
"Who am I going to tell?" I snap back at him. Even though I don't know Isabelle, I feel bad that she's subject to Alec's attitude— I feel bad for anyone who is subject to dealing with Alec in general. "As I said, I'm new here. I don't know anyone. Besides, there can't be that many uses for blood for anyone other than vampires and—" I cut myself off.
Stop talking before you expose yourself.
Isabelle looks first at Alec and then back at me. "Other than vampires and what?"
I shake my head. "That's it. Other than vampires."
"There's something off about you, mundane." Alec drops his voice to sound threatening. It would have worked for anyone who didn't already know the tricks. "And I intend to find out what that is."
I give an angry grunt and turn to enter the infirmary again. As I turn the corner, I nearly run into Clary She is now dressed in a revealing outfit that was the epitome of the Shadowhunter style: a leather top with a revealing neckline and a matching leather skirt, paired with some tall boots.
"Simon's here," she tells me with a startled expression.
I scoff. "You've got to be kidding me."