ONE

I didn't know what to think of the Institute. It was very large and very different from the one she attended in Germany with her parents. But Americans couldn't stay long at the German Institute, it was an eons ago war because an American man stole a German mans wife and she left him for the other man. So the German descendants never forgave the Americans and the Americans refused to apologize for such a petty thing.

My name is Lily Black. I wasn't an orphan until recently when a demon cam at night and killed my parents while they were sleeping- they were supposed to be keeping watch over our campsite, but they failed and it cost them their lives. It's not a pretty sight to see your parents all destroyed and maimed and half chewed up outside of your tent the next morning.

Anyway, I knocked on the door and there was no answer. I knocked again and then I realized that as long as I had Shadowhunter blood, I could open the doors. So I did. I opened the doors and then walked up the stairs. I heard a noise coming from one of the rooms, a sweet noise, like a violin. Outside of the door was a girl with gray eyes that were spilling over with tears and a boy with the most brilliant blue eyes I had ever seen.

"Jem! Please! I, I, I'm sorry! I never sopped loving him and-" the girl with the gray eyes said before the boy with the blue eyes stopped her by motioning towards me. She wiped off her face and then smiled at me. "Hello, who are you?"

"I, I'm Lily Black...Shadowhunter...my parents were killed a few days ago and was told to come here if I wanted refuge."

"Oh, yes, of course. I'll, um, go get, um, her..." the girl said. I set down my bag and stood in the hall feeling oddly modern compared to her 1700's style dress.

The boy-I probably shouldn't call him a boy, he looked about two years older than me-looked at me, at the door, and then at the girl with the gray eyes. He kicked the door, swore, then followed her down the hall. The music kept on playing. I-being as curious as I am- walked to the door and knocked.

"I refuse to talk to either of you considering you committed adultery and you are y very best friend and my fiancé!" the boy playing the violin said wrenching open his door. Once he saw me, he seemed to freeze, I froze too. He was beautiful. Gorgeous, breathtaking, amazing. His eyes were slver which matched his hair and his skin was sallow and pale in comparison to other skin tones.

"I, I, who are you?" he asked me.

"I'm Lily Black. it seems to me that asking who I am seems to be the question of the hour." I say laughing a bit.

He laughs with me, but then breaks into a coughing fit and drops to the floor, coughing blood into his hand and onto my dress.

"I, I, what do you need?" I ask bewildered.

"I, no, opium, bed, rag, I..."

I can barely tell what he's asking for, so I take him and hoist him onto his bed, get him a glass of water from the pitcher, and put a damp cloth on his forehead as the coughing subsides.

"Well, Miss Lily Black, I'm going to enjoy having you here." he says with a weak smile.

"What the hell happened?" the boy with the blue eyes says coming in the room. "Jem, let me just explain what was happening between Tessa and I-"

"No," Jem says holding up a weak hand. "Will, I'm done. She's all yours. I'm going to die soon, and I don't want her to be anything but happy. Just, tell Tessa I wish I could've made her happier."