"Who is that?" Alec asked, frozen in the doorway to Magnus's apartment. Usually, Alec slept there, but the Clave had called a late night meeting that he had been forced to attend. It had just been easier to spend the night at the Institute instead of barging into the apartment at 2 in the morning and taking the subway. Now, he came back to find a girl sleeping on the couch.

The girl looked around 16 or possibly 17 at the most. She was absolutely tiny -probably even smaller than Clary. The girl's curly blonde hair was in a messy bun with parts slipping out as she tossed and turned in her sleep. She was partially covered in a lavender, fuzzy blanket. The girl was also wearing a t-shirt so huge and sparkly that it just had to be Magnus's.

Magnus himself was sitting on a stool in the kitchen, a cup of coffee sitting in front of him. Alec frowned. Typically, Magnus drank his coffee standing up -leaning against the counter- unless he was either watching T.V. or working on something in his office. He was wearing a light blue semi-spread dress shirt, which was exceedingly formal considering that he didn't typically dress up even for his special appointments. He was only wearing a single sapphire ring on his left hand.

Alec stepped inside the apartment and walked straight over to Magnus -not even bothering to shut the door behind him. Magnus simply waved his hand absently and the door shut behind him. Alec sat down on the vacant stool next to Magnus and waited.

Now that he was up close, Alec would see the dark circles and bags underneath Magnus's eyes. He even noticed that as much as Magnus tried to hide it, his fingers were trembling and his coffee remained untouched.

Magnus twisted his sapphire ring and sighed, "Her name's Hestia," he said finally, "High Warlock of Washington."

"Washington...state?" I asked, unsure.

Magnus shook his head, "Washington D.C."

"Oh," I said softly, glancing back at the girl again.

"Oh is right," Magnus agreed grudgingly, "She came to find me last night."

"Why?"

Magnus tried to give me a casual shrug, but his shoulders were too tense and his eyes were too worried to pull it off, "I found her here last night after I got back from my appointment which was right around 1," Magnus explained, "Hestia wouldn't just stop in to say hello. If she's here, its cause she needs help."

"So? I've never seen you quite so shaken up before," Alec admitted, "What's the big deal? People ask for your help all the time."

"Hestia is a lot like Isabelle," Magus started, "Likes being needed and absolutely hates asking for help. And to be honest, Hestia rarely needs help," Magnus said standing up and starting to pace. He shook his hands out and accidently sent out blue sparks of electricity, proving that he was very more worried than even I could tell, "In fact, Hestia is probably the most powerful warlock that I know," Magnus said and stopped pacing, his green-gold cat eyes stuck on Hestia, "And that's what has me worried."

"Well how bad could it be?" Alec asked, "Certainly it couldn't be any worse than Sebastian."

Instead of being reassured, Magnus shook his head, "Chances are, if she's coming for help, it will just make Sebastian look like a joke," Magnus shook his head again, "If she's here for help, it will make my father look like a Chairman Meow."

When Alec's eyes widened, Magnus simply turned away, not letting Alec see his face, "And no, I'm not exaggerating one bit. Whatever it is, it's going to be bad -and this time we won't get away with one person losing their memory. Chances are we'll all end up dead."