Eddie stood in front of the towering doors of the cathedral-like building. Even with Shadowhunter runes, the glamour was strong. It took her a few seconds of peeling back the layers of run-down, crumbling churchyard to reveal the true magnificence of the New York institute. If Eddie had seen this a few months ago, she would have starred openmouthed in awe. But that was then. Now, she felt nothing but dull ache in her feet and the desire to curl up and go to sleep.

Eddie knew all she had to do to get inside was smear a drop of her blood onto the stone, but she decide against it, preferring to ring the great brass bell and wait.

It didn't take long. The door was answered by a short, thin woman in her mid twenties with a mass of curly red hair and nervous smile on her face.

"You must be Eddie Blackwell." She smiled. He had a nice voice, soft but not weak.

Eddie bent down to pick up her nearly empty duffle bag. "That's me." She replied, a little numbly. The woman didn't introduce herself- she didn't need to. The whole of the Shadowhunting world and all of Downworld knew who Clarissa Herondale was. She and her husband were still the heroes of kid's stories, eight years after the defeat of Clarissa's brother, Sebastian. Ordinarily, Eddie would have been ecstatic to meet any of the Herondales, let alone the heads of the New York institute, but somehow she didn't feel that way now.

"I'll show you to your room." Clarissa said, her eyes drifting down to the beaten-up duffle bag under Eddie's arm. "Is that all you brought?"

Eddie shrugged. "It's all I have." She said simply. A few changes of clothes and a single seraph blade were all she had been allowed to take with her from Idris. Clarissa nodded, and Eddie was inwardly glad she didn't pursue it further. She had had enough interrogation from the Clave to last a lifetime.

"I think you'll like your room." Clarissa said as she lead the way up a flight of stars and down a maze of hallways. "Magnus and Izzy wanted to decorate it for you, but I thought you might prefer to do that yourself."

Eddie nodded mutely.

"Well… here it is." Clarissa gestured to a doorway off the hallway and smiled. "Make yourself at home. When you're ready I'll send Max to take you to the kitchen. I think Isabelle made stew- but don't worry, we ordered pizza."

Eddie didn't bother asking what pizza was. Instead she nodded, muttered a 'thanks' and watched as her new adoptive mother of sorts disappearing down the corridor. Before the accident, Eddie had been loud and outgoing and friendly. She would have done anything to travel to New York, to meet new people, see new things- but now that she was here, against her will, she found herself resenting it.

Eddie's new room was massive. A fourposter bed made up with crisp white linen sat in the centre, and there was a window overlooking the city. The only other furniture was a dark wood dresser and floor-ceiling mirror. It was plain and neat and clean, and Eddie knew as she dumped her bag on the bed that despite Clarissa's suggestion to decorate, she would never get round to doing so. It was just fine as it was.

Eddie turned to pad to the window, when she caught sight of herself in the mirror. She was a mess, long brown hair sticking up in all directions, purple bags under her eyes- even her clothes looked neglected, her jeans ripped and her sweater too big. She pulled her long hair back into a braid, the regular twisting of her fingers familiar and relaxing.

Eddie was washing her face in the small bathroom when there was a knock at the door. She stumbled across the room in her bare feet and pulled it open, coming face-to-face with a pair of bright blue eyes.

"Hello." The boy said, and grinned. He was about her age, tall and lanky with black hair, thick-rimmed glasses and a t-shirt with a picture of a mundane superhero.

"Um… Hi." Eddie mumbled in response. She stepped out of the room and closed the door behind her with a soft click.

"I'm Max." He said, still smiling.

"Eddie."

Max wrinkled his nose. "That's a weird name for a girl."

Eddie rolled her eyes. She had always been teased in Alicante about her name, but she had never cared- not really. It was her name, and no one else's. Her name was the one thing the Clave could never take from her, even if they stripped her marks.

"What are you, five?" She retorted, turning to stalk ahead down the corridor.

She heard Max's footsteps as he jogged to catch up with her. "Actually, I'm seventeen next month. Almost a year older than you."

"How do you know how old I am?" Eddie demanded.

"Clary." He replied simply. "Oh, and Eddie?"

"What?" Eddie was growing increasingly irritated with this boy. It was another thing that never used to happen, until after the accident. Eddie used to be good with people. She used to have friends, and now she could barely talk to someone without storming away in a temper.

"The kitchen is the other way."

Eddie stopped in her tracks. "Why didn't you tell me that before?" She demanded, wheeling round again.

She heard Max's soft chuckle, which only annoyed her further. "You just seemed so determined to go that way."

Eddie rolled her eyes, but she said nothing more. She was done talking.