A/N: So this is my second story on Fanfiction and I'm really excited (even though it cements the fact I have no life.) Disclaimer: Cassandra Clare is more amazing than me because she owns the rights to The Mortal Instruments and all I own is this bagel and a blue pillow. Hmmm…. maybe I'm not too bad off…

Chapter 1:

"Testing. Can you hear me, Bel?"

Her voice came in a sharp blast through my earpieces. "Loud and clear, Berry."

I winced-both because of the noise and the use of my nickname. Grinding my teeth, I turned so my back faced the steel wall. "Okay. Ready."

"Did you check the power levels?"

"Bridgefall, I'm not an idiot."

"You're a boy…"

"I take offense at that."

"Fine. We're all ready on this end, so just say the word."

I raised my hands in block formation. "Go."

Through my earbuds, I heard Anabel activate the tester, and I tapped the electrum runes on my hands with my nails, making a sharp clinking sound of metal on metal.

Yes, I did just say metal on metal.

See, I'm not exactly human. Fully, at least. Or Nephilim, or demonic- but you can be assured my alliance is angelic. My name is Tibernius Stone, and I am a warlock. My mark is my hands- a thin metal band around both wrists and silver nails. I don't want to be a warlock- shadowhunter was always my ultimate goal. Ergo, the Seraph Gauntlets- or Runesters, as Anabel aptly named them. Black cloth cuffs with a thumb catch and silver electrum wire runes- this set we were testing now had three runes per-on one, precision, block, and angelic power, the other stamina, strength, and speed. When you tapped them, they activated.

The punching bag came swinging at me, and I roared, smashing my hand into the toughened black leather. It exploded in a flurry of silver sparks. Then I realized that it wasn't just the punching bag exploding-it was the cuff, too.

"AAAAAH!" I grabbed at the cloth and tried to wrench it off, but to no avail. I pounded a fist into the screen I knew Anabel was behind- and was rewarded by a bucket of cold water falling on my head. The glove began to sizzle and sputter out. "Thanks." I said dryly. "I was hoping for, you know, a more conventional way to do it, like deactivation or something. But cold water is good too."

"Anytime, Berry." Anabel appeared behind me dressed in full gear and for some reason a wire mesh mask. I pointed at it.

"It looks like you knew something was going to happen, Bel. Something you're not telling me?"

She avoided my eyes. "No….."

A furious voice boomed over the loudspeaker. "ANABEL BRIDGEFALL, WHERE ARE YOU!"

Anabel swore. "I was supposed to be in training thirty minutes ago." She pressed the com button. "Hey Sara, I'll be up in a second." She looked back at me. "Sorry."

"It's fine."

As she was walking out the door, she muttered, "And I kind of had a feeling that set would explode."

"ANA!" I picked up one of the working ones-force- and slammed my fist into the elevator door just as it closed.

"Ow…."

I lay on my bed, staring up at the ceiling. It was around eight thirty at night- somewhere near three hours since Anabel had disappeared into the dark, unwelcoming depths that is the Shadowhunter training room. I had seen the interior only once- and that was dark and somewhat dismal too. The walls were alternating gray and black, and whatever parts of the room was not filled with either weapons shelves or strategy books were targets. The Shadowhunter practiced here from five to nine, then there was dinner and sleep. There were more randomly scheduled practices in the morning, which interrupted the testing phases that Anabel and I had set up for the Runesters.

There were nine people living in the Sault Ste. Marie Institute, and only seven of them were Shadowhunters. Anabel Bridgefall and her younger sister, Zee( that wasn't her real name- in fact, nobody actually knew Zee's real name but Anabel) who shared Anabel's brown hair but not blue eyes. Then there was Sara Lightwood, the head of the Institute, whose green eyes were almost always narrowed at some poor Nephilim who didn't know any better. Sara was only thirty, and still trained some of the kids. Another was Eric Darkwell, who almost never spoke but was well respected in the practice room. Cat Herondale was blonde, loud, obnoxious, and quick-tempered, a huge contrast to her calm older brother Orion, who had dark red hair and oddly terrifying gold eyes- they both had moved from the New York Institute a year prior to my arrival. Johnny Townsend was the oldest of all of the students at twenty-one, and was almost never at the Sault Ste. Marie Institute anymore-he was part of an elite team touring the country-as Sara put it, 'looking for trouble'. Then there was Asia Ivory, a full warlock from Ohio with purple skin, and finally there was me. Tibernius-Berry- Stone, the warlock who wanted to be a shadowhunter.

"Hey, Berry?"

There was a soft knocking at my door. "Berry… can I come in?"

"Sure. It's open."

Anabel crept in. Her hair was dark with sweat, and her gear hung to her like glue. "I'm sorry about earlier."

"Hey, it's fine." I struggled to sit up. "We can test another set tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah. I wonder what the problem was today, though. They've only blown up like that once."

"At the very beginning." I said, laughing as I remembered that. "By the Angel, Bel, it took me almost a full week to get electrum soot off of my face."

Anabel started laughing too. "That was so funny, and then you had that weird spot on your forehead for, like, weeks afterward when we tried actual seraph blade metal."

I parted the hair about half an inch above my ear. "You mean this?" She started laughing harder at the odd white star mark.

"Berry, that is awesome."

"Not really. When I got my hair cut they were looking at it weird."

Anabel laughed again, then got up. "So, we test more tomorrow?"

"That sounds good."

She began to walk to the door. "Night, Berry."

"Night, Bel."

A/N:Thank you for reading this! I know some authors put like update predictions on the following A/N but I'm new, ok, I don't know what I'm doing. Just winging it here (: