Ty crept silently up the stairs towards his bedroom. It was 3:42am. Strangely, Julian hadn't come to the computer room that evening to make sure that he had gone to bed. Something had been bothering him these past few days, he wasn't the same. It may have gone unnoticed to everyone else but very little got past Ty. He had an eye for detail and he could tell a lot about someone by just looking at them. Hours of reading Sherlock Holmes had improved that skill. Whatever it was, he just hoped that Julian would phase out of it soon.

Ty's room was located at the east wing of the Institute… well, it wasn't exactly just a room. It was more like an entire corridor. Up until the age of twelve, he had shared a room with Livvy. Ty had expected her to be distraught when he told her that he wanted to have his own room, but surprisingly she had been thinking the exact same thing. She was growing up too, privacy was just as important to her as it was to him. But unlike Livvy, Ty had chosen a room that was pretty isolated from everyone else. Julian and Emma had rooms on the same corridor near the west wing of the Institute. Dru slept on the same corridor as Tavvy, and Livvy had gone to join them. So when Ty chose to pick a room at the other end of the Institute it didn't really go down well with Jules.

It took him weeks to convince Julian that he liked it over there. It was quiet and he was away from the ocean. The noise of the crashing waves had disturbed Ty's sleep since he was a toddler. Eventually Jules agreed to let him stay, seeing as his room was really only a five-minute walk away and they had to go that direction to get to the weapons room anyway.

Ty had made use of all his new space. Mountains of books were piled against the walls of his corridor. His room contained all his favourites. His Sherlock Holmes novels had their own shelf. Pictures of perfectly drawn insects and other animals decorated the walls of his room, each of them very accurate, down to the last detail. He loved animals. Always had, always will. His ability to draw them in such incredible detail was skill that he himself was very grateful to have. That's what he had been planning to do now… draw, that is. He had gotten new pictures of deep sea creatures off of one of the computers.

Usually, Ty didn't stay up late. Shadowhunters had to train every day, and just like mundanes they needed plenty of sleep to train as vigorously as they did. But on a night like tonight, where the storm outside was so loud it felt like the thunder could knock the Institute walls down, Ty just put on his headphones and let his pencil and paper distract him from the loud noises that were too much.

Once he reached his corridor, a thousand little things told him that something was off. It was like someone had drawn an extra line on one of his drawings. It was little, yet so obvious that it was changed. Ty whipped out his stele and quickly drew a rune that allowed him to see in the dark.

"Someone was here", he muttered. Barely loud enough to hear himself. There was a tiny speck of blood on the ground near a pile of his books. When he walked over he quickly noticed that one of the books was gone. There was a thin pile of dust over all the books that were at the top of the pile except one. Making it stick out like a sore thumb. Ty had pulled his headphones down from his ears, forcing himself to ignore the sound of the roaring thunder that made the ocean wreak havoc onto the rocks. In the almost newfound silence he could hear a new sound. A peaceful one. The sound of someone breathing.

It didn't take long for him to find the source of the sound. It was so calm in contrast to all the other noises around him. It was coming from the only door on the corridor that was closed except for his one. Ty walked slowly towards it. His footsteps cutting through the thunder. Was someone leaning against the door? In an act of curiosity, he leaned his head down and pressed his ear against the hard wood… and then the breathing stopped.

The door flung open, flinging Ty to the side with it. Before he had a chance to react, a body was on him, pinning him to the floor, with a blade pressed against the delicate skin on his throat. He gasped out in shock but was cut off halfway when the blade was pressed down harder, close to blocking off his airways. Staring down at him were an all too familiar set of pale blue eyes. Eyes that Ty knew, belonged to Kit Rook.

They were captivating. Just like a witchlight, they shone through the dark lighting up the rest of the boy's face. They were glistening with fear and anger, and for what felt like the millionth time, Ty wished that he had the blue green Blackthorn eyes.

Kit looked almost fairy like, he had sharp cheekbones that framed his face well and his blonde curls looked as though they were glistening against the light shining off his eyes. Ty couldn't believe that he didn't realise the first time, just how angelic this teenaged boy was.

'How beautiful', he thought.

Kit was he first one to speak this time around. "What are you doing here?", he hissed, the venom evident in his voice.

Ty, still in a complete daze didn't know what to say.

"I said I didn't want anyone to come near me!"

His voice rung out harshly, bouncing off the corridor walls. His breaths were coming quickly and raggedly, completely giving away how scared he was. Ty took advantage of this, sliding his pinned arm out from underneath the boys knee and flipping him over so he was on top of him, with the knife still pressed against his throat. Kit's eyes were wide with shock.

"You're not going to hurt me", Ty whispered, almost challenging him. Kit was still holding the knife firmly in place.

"You can't show fear when you're fighting a demon.", Ty said nonchalantly. "They'll feed off it and overcome you much quicker."

Kit didn't say anything. He was staring at Ty the same way he had when the knife had been pressed against his throat. His eyes were dark with longing and desire. Ty noticed this, it would have been hard not to. No one had ever looked at him like that. Not ever. It was the look that Ty used to see boys giving Dru when they went to the beach. It was the look that Julian gave Emma when she walked into the room. It was the look that Magnus gave Alec when he saw him holding Max. It wasn't love, but it was one of the things that led to it.

Suddenly very aware that there was a boy under him, Ty rolled over to the side and lay on the ground. They stayed like that for a while, listening to the sound of the thunder and lightning ravaging the sea, and for once, Ty didn't mind. He didn't rush for his headphones or his sketch pad, or bury his face into his jumper. Instead he listened.

Kit turned his face to the side to look at him, but Ty didn't notice. He had his eyes open, staring up at the ceiling, but Kit could see that he was just listening to the noise outside. A sharp pain running up his arm from his wound caused him to hiss out in pain, disturbing Ty's relaxation. Kit watched as the boys pushed himself up onto his knees and turned to look at his injured arm with concern. Quickly Kit tucked his arm away, hiding it from his grey eyes.

Ty sighed. "Let me see it", he said, his voice demanding.

Kit quickly jumped to his feet. "There's nothing to see. I'm fine, and I asked you to leave me alone so please go", he said angrily as he reached to pull the door open. As soon as he reached his arm out he felt Ty grabbing his arm. In a quick movement that barely lasted a second, Kit found himself back in the room he'd chosen with the door closed shut and Ty holding him by his t-shirt.

Ty spoke again. "I'm offering to help you. I can see you're in pain, I can heal you."

Kit pulled his shirt free from the boy's grasp. "No! I know what you want to do. You want to draw one of those runes on me. My father told me that if a rune is put on a mundane they'll go crazy! Or-or die!"

"You're not a mundane", Ty said, a hint of frustration and annoyance in his voice.

"You don't know anything about me."

"I know you fought", Ty said, causing Kit to look up at him. "Emma told me, when she went to save you. A demon was attacking you and you fought back. Mundanes can't do that, they don't have the instinct. They'd be paralysed with fear, but you, you picked up the first thing you saw and used it as a weapon to protect yourself. "

Kit didn't know what to say. Eventually he mustered up the first thing he could think of.

"So? If Emma hadn't of been there I would've died anyway. I hit it with a chair but it got back up. Emma killed it before it could kill me. It doesn't mean anything."

"Well of course you're not going to kill a demon on your very first encounter with one." Ty stated firmly. "We train for hours every single day to prepare ourselves for an encounter with them. What I'm saying is that, you'd probably never even held a sword or been in a life or death situation until that day. And you showed bravery and the ability to fight. That's a lot more than most Shadowhunters can say for their first encounter."

Kit looked down at the ground. Silent. Ty was right. He had just been so stubborn for all his life that it felt so strange accepting the truth. After a few moments of deafening silence, he finally spoke.

"I always knew I was different. Not because I could see the Shadow World around me or because I was Johnny Rook's son. I just sort of knew that I wasn't like the other mundane children. I think all of the people at the market knew too. They used to look at me and whisper, thinking that I didn't notice. I was faster than all the other kids, stronger. Maybe that's part of the reason why my dad pulled me out of school. "You're my biggest secret" he used to tell me. Now I finally understand."

Ty waited for him to finish speaking. He was truly fascinating. His whole life had been a lie, a secret. His own identity had been hidden from him.

When Kit finally settled, Ty reached into his jacket and pulled out his stele and held it out so the boy could see it.

"Runes are part of who we are. There's angel blood running through us. It's what makes us Nephilm. Let me heal you. Your first rune is important. I'm pretty sure there's supposed to be a gathering for it and all. But, you've waited long enough."

Kit didn't reply.

"Seriously. You've waited long enough, look at the floor. You've bled all over the place."

Kit looked down. He was right. There was a pile of blood on the ground beside the door from when he'd taken his hand off his wound. He allowed a smile to spread across his face.

"You're very matter of fact, you know that?", he said.

Ty shrugged. "I'm not that good at talking to people."

Kit shook his head slightly in disagreement. "No", he said softly. "I think you're great at it."

Slowly Kit pulled the sleeve of his shirt up revealing the wound underneath. It was deep. Almost down to the bone. Dark bits of dried blood had collected around it near the ripped flesh. Kit sighed. It had gotten worse. A thin stream of blood was still dripping from it causing a red river to run down the side of his arm.

Ty walked over to him warily, half expecting the boy to run at the sight of the glow of the stele.

"I won't go until you're ready", he said, trying to reassure him. "I'm not gonna lie, it will hurt for a few seconds. Especially since this is your first one."

Kit looked up at his eyes. Blue onto grey. Ty's eyes calmed him. The pure beauty of them was enough to make him forget about the throbbing pain in his arm for a second.

"It's ok. Just do it. I'm ready."

Ty looked up at him one last time, before slowly bringing the stele down onto his skin. Ty was gifted at drawing runes. Each one he drew was precise and very effective. The iratze was one he had drawn so many times now, it was like second nature.

Kit felt the sting of the stele as it burnt the rune into his skin. It hurt, but it wasn't unbearable. Just as Ty had said, after a few seconds everything seemed to go numb, the painful throbbing died down to a dull ache… and then it stopped.

Kit opened his eyes, which he didn't mean to close, and stared. The rune was striking against his skin, even in the dark. Kit wasn't a stranger to what they looked like, seeing as he'd seen them on Emma and all of the other Shadowhunters. But there was something about seeing one on himself that made him gaze in astonishment. From knowledge, Kit knew that permanent runes turned black, forever burnt into your skin. Temporary runes faded eventually until there was only a scar left, and fresh runes, like this one, burned red and glowed. It looked edgy, fierce. Kit couldn't help but like it.

"It's glowing", Kit said, stating the obvious. "Why?"

Ty smiled, as he put the stele back into his jacket. "That means it's working. It's glowing because you're a Shadowhunter. Does that finally silence your doubt?"

Kit stared at him. "I suppose I can't really deny it now."

Ty's eyes narrowed. "You suppose?"

For what felt like the first time in ages, Kit laughed. A genuine, happy giggle. Not too loud, but not at all fake.

The sound caused a smile to spread across Ty's face.

"Thank you, Tiberius."

Ty's eyes widened at hearing his full name pass the boy's lips. He quickly decided that he liked the way Kit said his full name. He liked the way it made him feel, a strange, new feeling in the pit of his stomach, but not an unwelcome one. He felt himself flushing red.

"I better go. It's getting late and I have training tomorrow", he said, stumbling over his words. He turned and walked over to the door, pausing before he opened it. "My room's on this corridor, if you ever need me." And with that he left, leaving Kit staring after him, his blue eyes glistening.

Ty flung himself onto his bed, reaching for his headphones to block out his surroundings. The storm outside had died down, but now Ty had another thing he needed a distraction for.

Kit Rook. He couldn't. He wouldn't… could he?