Alec woke up, feeling the empty cold of the bed beside him. Magnus was away for the night, doing a favor for a group of shadowhunters.

Alec didn't have the details; apparently Magnus was sworn to secrecy, but Alec assumed it was summoning demons or some other warlocky

thing. These days Magnus was feeling more distant, always out in early in the morning, back late for supper.

Sighing, Alec rolled over, standing up and stretching. He walked into the cramped kitchen of Magnus's apartment - no wait, it was his

apartment too, now. He filled the kettle and grabbed a loaf of bread. He really needed to do some groceries if Magnus wasn't here to steal the

food magically. When Magnus replenished the fridge and pantry, Alec normally made him leave money for it in the supermarkets cash

register.

Putting the bread in the toaster, Alec went to the table and grabbed yesterdays mundane paper. The front page headline was 'Town decides

to build new playground'. Maybe he'd take Max there after it was finished. He flipped through the rest of the pages, nothing interesting

enough to actually read, until one article caught his eye: 'Strange Appearances reported downtown' Leaning over the paper, he read the small

paragraph:

There have been multiple police reports of strange beings, humanoids, in downtown Brooklyn. So-called
witnesses of these 'monsters' have been seeing them for the past couple weeks, baffling some and
annoying most. Though some people want information, the police are refusing to release any more
information on the reports, or even the number of them. No one has said anything of these strange
creatures doing anything, just existing, a story baffling all those who care to believe it.

'Demons', said Alec. 'or forsaken' He leaned back in his chair. He'd have to report this at the institute. His toast was long done, so he fished it

out of the toaster, the kettle started beeping, startling him, making him burn his finger. Not bad enough to need an iratze. After placing the

plate on the table, he poured the water into the teapot and popped in a teabag. He missed having coffee in the morning, but he actually

didn't know how to use the coffee maker, because Magnus always made it for him. Tea would work for his supply of caffeine for now. He

turned back to the table and yelped. Magnus was sitting at the table, eating his toast.