Chapter 1
Dreams
"Are you insane?" Asked Lizzy for the tenth time.
"No. Maybe slightly," answered Thalia Rosewood..
"Thally, you got lucky. Like, really lucky, but beating a single demon doesn't mean you should go hunting them!" Lizzy shouted. They were sitting in their bedroom, although since Lizzy was rarely home it was more Thalia's.
"It's in our blood. Look, they're desperate, right? And I can't just do nothing, I feel…. I don't know Lizzy, but I can't sit around here any longer. You, you get to travel, and when you're here you manage to escape. But I've spent my whole life here, on a farm in the middle of nowhere, just going through the motions of life, and I feel like I need to do something more," Thalia whispered fast.
"But leaving this, it isn't the same as finding your place in the world. You would be leaving this world, forever. You couldn't talk to me, or mom or dad, or little Meggie," complained Lizzy.
That made Thalia hesitate. Her parents had chosen to leave the life of demon hunting for a reason, and Thalia was only 15. All her life she had lived on a small farm, taking care of her family and doing her job without much complaint, but her fantasies were never of being a princess rescued but the savior. The demon had wandered onto the farm two days earlier, killing half of their chickens. Thalia had taken one of her father's knives, which turned out to be a magical blade, and managed to stab it from behind. She had nearly been scratched, and she had been fighting it in the loft of their barn, almost falling over the edge, and sure she was more afraid than she'd ever been and she'd nearly died, but in those moments she felt more ALIVE than she ever had.
"I….I know Liz, but what am I supposed to do? Should I never be happy but be safe and secure? Is that what you would have me do?" Asked Thalia.
"Yes, Thally. Because you would learn to be happy. I have. You make decisions too fast. And you would regret this one the rest of your life," said Lizzy.
"No, just the opposite. I would regret staying," Thalia stated.
"If you want to go, I can't exactly stop you, but for all of our sakes, please-" begged Lizzy, before she was cut off abruptly by Meggie's sharp cry. They both jumped up from their beds, and ran to Meggie's room.
Thalia got there first, and picked Meggie up. Peering out the window, she saw her father and mother hard at work in the fields below, oblivious to their youngest daughter's cries. She stroked Meggie's pale blonde hair, humming softly.
"You see? You can't leave," said Lizzy, entering the room, "For Meggie. I'll be gone,, and Mom and Dad would never even know she was upset."
"I know. I know," Thalia whisper screamed, "I can never leave."
"I'm sorry," said Lizzy, a triumphant smile playing over her lips. She turned away, her long blonde braid flipping over her shoulder as she walked away. Thalia held Meggie for a few minutes more, then followed her.
Thalia's room was small, a little bigger than Meggie's, and smaller than her parents. The walls were painted blue, although they had faded to a gray. Thalia's bed was closer to the window, and it was covered in blankets covered in clothing and books. Her dresser had clothes spilling out of her dresser, and the top was covered in framed photos and little jars filled with random things. Hidden in a box filled with shoes under her bed under spare sheets was a large blue book, more worn and read than any other of Thalia's books. The Shadowhunter's Codex. Lizzy's side was much neater, all her blankets neatly tucked in or folded. Her dresser had photos on top as well, and trophies, as well as a neat stack of books.
Lizzy was laying down on her bed reading, and she glanced up slightly when Thalia came in. Unlike Thalia and her mother, Lizzy burned in the sun instead of tanning, so she looked as red as a lobster. She was shorter than Thalia by 2 and a half inches despite being 2 years older. They both had the same long and pale blonde hair and blue eyes, but Thalia's hair was wavy where Lizzy's was straight. You could never tell though, because they both wore their hair in a single braid down their back.
Tired, Thalia sat down on her bed, with the intention of getting up in a few minutes, but she soon fell asleep.
Thalia ran across a field, heading towards a small cottage, but the more she ran the farther away it got. She could hear her family calling to her in the distance, crying for help, but she couldn't see them, couldn't reach them, couldn't help them. She stumbled and fell, and when she got up she was surrounded by demons. "You are helpless and weak, silly girl," they taunted her. Thalia tried to fight, punch, kick, run anything, but she was rooted to the spot as the demons laughed and closed in on her. One lunged for her throat and-
Thalia woke up with a start, gasping for breath. A glance at her clock told her it was a little past midnight. She tried to fall back asleep, but she couldn't. Finally, she wrote a letter. All it said was "I'm sorry. I couldn' stay. -T". She grabbed a bag and stuffed as much clothing as she could fit, her favorite books, one of her father's blades, some photos, money, her art supplies, her ipod, and her codex. She pulled on her jacket, and climbed out her window. Thalia paused but a second before jumping down the last few feet.
There was a bus stop in town, which was about a mile past her school, which was 2 miles away. There was technically a bus stop closer than that, but the bus never actually stopped there. Thalia took off in a light jog. She knew it would be a while before any of her family woke up, and even longer before the next bus arrived. Still, she felt like she had to hurry to separate herself from her life or she would be tempted to just go back. It took Thalia about 25 minutes to reach town. She sat down at the bus stop and waited for a bus to come.
Thalia woke up hours later, the sun already up, and a bus had just pulled up. She ran to get on, and paid for a ticket before settling into a seat in the far back. She took out her codex and started reading as the bus started moving.
By the time the bus reached Chicago, Thalia had listened to every song on her ipod and finished her book. She climbed off, and only a second after it pulled away realized she had no idea where the institute actually was.
She didn't have to search for long. It was not the tallest building in Chicago, but it was huge, and beautiful, like a big church. She knew it wasn't a random church because tourists weren't crowding around it to take pictures, but passing it by as though they didn't even see it. Thalia took a deep breath, and started towards it.
She climbed up the stairs with confidence, but her hand fell down when she went to ring the bell. She should leave. She couldn't abandon her family like this. No, she wanted to stay. Taking another deep breath, she rang the bell.
It was answered by a boy about her age who was still in his pjs. He yawned, and then stared at her. She felt herself blushing. It was probably still early in the morning, and they probably didn't get very many girls marking on their door at this time.
"Hullo?" She asked.
"What are you doing here?" The boy asked through another yarn.
"Um…aren't you going to introduce yourself?"
"I'm Luke. Luke Crossheart. What are you doing here?" Luke asked once again.
"I want you to make me a shadowhunter," demanded Thalia.
"You….what? No!" Cried Luke in confusion.
"Why not?" Thalia was truly curious.
"You can't just become a shadowhunter. Mundanes have to go to the Academy," replied Luke haughtingly.
"Mundane? In case you didn't know, nobody likes to be called ordinary!" Cried Thalia.
"Well, you are. And you still haven't told me who you are," snapped Luke.
"Thalia. Thalia Rosewood." Thalia smiled at the way his eyes suddenly grew very wide.
"You better come in," he said, stepping aside to let her through.
Luke had been sleeping for the first time in days when the doorbell rang. He tried to ignore it, but when he heard no one else getting up, he groaned, and threw of his blanket.
Expecting something or someone important at these early hours, he threw open the door to find….a mundane girl. She was a few inches taller than he was, and he was tall. She had long blonde hair in a single braid down her back, and deeply tanned skin you didn't get in the city. She was staring at him with pale icy blue eyes flecked with silver and gold. Despite wearing a hello kitty t shirt and sweatpants tucked into uggs, she stood there totally confident, with only the slightest blush. Unlike Luke, who always turned beet red when he blushed, she only had a faint rosy glow.
"Hullo?" she said. He was talking on auto pilot, wondering how long it would be before she would go away so he could go back to sleep.
"Thalia. Thalia Rosewood," he distantly heard her say. And all of a sudden he knew he wouldn't be getting any more sleep.
He slammed the door shut behind her, "Wait here," he said, taking off in a jog. The Institute's hallways may confuse some people, but Luke had lived there all his life, so the hallways were familiar to him now, and he barely had to pay attention to the way he was turning. He skidded to a stop in front of the Institute co head, Lily Hollowgreen. He knocked loudly on her door, taking a few moments' to process what had just happened.
It was well known that the Rosewoods' abandoned the shadowhunter lifestyle before the Uprising, before Valentine failed to take over the Clave the first time. That was 22 years ago now. It was quite the scandal, Jonathan Rosewood running of with Alexandra Whitescar, who was already pregnant with their first child. Even when they had knocked on the door during the Mortal War and the Dark war, they had refused to help, wanting to stay and live a normal mundane life. But if their daughter was suddenly showing up on their doorstep….
The door swung open, revealing Lily, who was rubbing her green eyes. "What is it, Luke?"
"We have a visitor," he replied.
"Who? Is it Catarina again? I told her to-" Lily began.
"No…." Luke said.
"Then Marella? Ugh, what is it now?"
"It's not any warlock, or any Downworlder for that matter," cried out Luke.
"Then who-" Lily's eyes grew wide as she looked at something behind him. Illuminated by the faint light of the hallway, Thalia was approaching them.
"I told you to wait!" Exclaimed Luke.
"Are you all this rude? I got bored," replied Thalia lazily, "And you are?" She asked, pointing her attention towards Lily.
"The head of this Institute. But it should be you who is answering that question," said Lily sternly.
"So you are all that rude. I'm Thalia Rosewood, and I want you to make me a shadowhunter.," demanded Thalia, looking straight into Lily's eyes.
"You're….Rosewood?"
"Yes. Is something wrong with that?"
"I….let me show you to a room. Luke, go back to bed," commanded Lily, sighing deeply.
"Finally, someone talking some sense," said Thalia, and she headed off with Lily in the opposite direction of his room. Yawning, he turned and headed back to bed.
"Chicago Institute is one of the busiest Institutes, we are much more full than most other Institutes, and although technically I am the head, everyone helps out. After some….eh….instances in the past we've divided the Institute into a girl's' wing and boys' wing, and to avoid some very awkward conversations, refrain from staying over there at night," droned on the head, who still hadn't told Thalia her name. Thalia yawned loudly. It wasn't that this wasn't all very interesting, of course it was, it was all stuff about Shadowhunters, but if she wanted a history lesson she wouldn't have left home.
Thalia was so lost in thought she bumped right into a boy. "Oof. Sorry," she said, looking up right into the amber eyes of the most handsome boy she had ever seen.
"Don't worry about it. And ignore Lily. Feel free to go anywhere in the Institute. No one but her cares," said the boy, breaking into a crooked smile and flipping his tawny hair.
"Thanks for the advice. I'm Thalia," said Thalia, smiling right back.
"I'm Kye Dragonway. Nice to meet you," Kye said, offering his hand, which Thalia shook.
"Stop it, Kye! Come on, Thalia," said Lily, glaring at Kye.
"Lil, it's perfectly fine. I'll show Thalia her room. You go catch some sleep," said Kye in a voice that could have convinced Thalia that the Earth was flat.
"Fine," Lily huffed, stalking off, and Kye smiled triumphantly, offering Thalia his arm.
"So, when did you get here?" He asked.
"Um….about 20 minutes ago," replied Thalia.
"Are you a mundane?" He asked, looking curiously at her.
"Why does everyone keep asking me that? I'd say I was pretty extraordinary," replied Thalia cooly.
"It's just what we call people who aren't shadowhunter, downworlders, angels, or demons," explained Kye apologetically.
"Well then I have no idea. I mean technically, no, but I have grown up normally," answered Thalia.
"Oh. I could never…. I mean why would they….this life, it's hard, but wonderful. I love it. I think you will too, if you usually do stuff like show up in a hello kitty t-shirt on someone's doorstep ask to be trained. Here we are," said Kye, stopping suddenly. He pushed open the door to reveal a large room with a four poster bed with crisp white sheets and comforters, a vanity, dresser, small bedside table, and two doors, probably to a bathroom and closet. It was bigger than her room at home, and it didn't look like she was going to have to share it.
"No, I don't usually do stuff like this. Instead of asking, I just take it. Sadly, that wouldn't work in this case. Unless you guys have a way to steal knowledge. Which I'm pretty sure you don't. And thanks again," she said, smiling up at him.
"No problem. See you tomorrow," said Kye, turning away.
The second he left, Thalia flopped down on her bed, falling asleep almost instantly and for the first time ever she saved her family in her dreams.
