what's up y'all. let me tell you i am so excited to start this story. i have a big, big plan for it, and i'm ready for y'all to read it and enjoy it as much as i am. i'm gonna try and do this, while still writing my other story. sigh. here we go.

I stood in front of her mirror, staring. Today marked 8 years that my parents had died in the fire. It was also my 17th birthday. Yeah, kind of a shitty birthday. I took a moment to look at myself. I had small circles under my eyes from finals, but other than that I looked the same as always. Bright green eyes stood out from dark, long lashes. My curly black hair reached almost to the middle of my back and swished around when I moved my head. I had my father's tan skin but had inherited my mother's little freckles that popped up everywhere. With the thought of my parents in my head, I straightened up. It was my last day of finals, and I just had to take my English and Spanish 4 tests. Granted, I only knew how to say puedo ir al baño por favor, but that was no one's business. Pulling on a large sweater over my t-shirt, I put on my boots before heading into the kitchen.

"Hey, Jenna," I said as she reached for her backpack.

"Good morning sweetie," a young woman with light brown hair and dark blue eyes sang from the kitchen. Jenna was my mother's sister and had been taking care of me since my parents had passed away. She was adorable, and I loved her dearly.

"You get out early today, right?"

"Yeah, I'll be home by two at the latest."

"Alright," Jenna turned around with two cups of coffee in her hands and held one out to me.

"Remember, you get to choose dinner tonight! As long as- "

"You don't have to cook," I finished for her with a small smile. Jenna grinned back.

"You know me so well. Now get out of here, before you're late!"

"Alright, alright," I said as I was shooed out of the kitchen. I grabbed my phone and keys from my room and hurried to my car.

The drive to school was warm, and I dreaded leaving my car. Just as I was about to snuggle up into my comfy sweater and stay there for the rest of the day, my phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Where the fuck are you?" a familiar voice rang through the line.

"Oh, good morning to you too, Emma."

Emma was my best friend since kindergarten, and we knew everything about each other. Emma knew that I would need some alone time later to mourn her parents, but she also knew how to bring me out of my depressions and crazy mood swings.

"Yeah, yeah whatever. Where are you?"

"In my car, delightfully warm. Where are you?"

"Standing outside, waiting for you. Get your ass out here, it's freezing."

I groaned.

"Do I have to? You seem like you're doing great on your own."

"Adalaide Barnes. Get your ass out here, or so help me god, I will call Jenna and say that you've built up an addiction to heroin."

"I-what?"

"You heard me."

I sighed. It was better just to get it over with.

"Alright, I'm coming," I grumped. Sadly, I turned off her car and slowly got out. I began walking towards the school, locking my car as I went.

"Where did you say you were again?" I asked.

"In the courtyard."

"Okay, see you soon. Bye."

Emma said something garbled, but I didn't really care because I had forgotten my scarf at home and I couldn't feel my face. I hung up and shoved my phone in my backpack side-pocket. I shuffled over to the courtyard, muttering about how it was too cold for this shit and how I should just give up now and become a stripper, when a loud shout made me look up.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADA!"

People jumped out from everywhere with streamers and balloons and confetti that looked suspiciously like dirty leaves. I broke into a smile and stated laughing.

"Happy birthday Ads, I love you!" Emma said, engulfing me in a big hug. I laughed and hugged her back.

"I love you too Emma. Thank you."

Emma smiled her freckly smile, with her blonde hair blowing around her gently in the wind, and I knew was so lucky to have her in my life. I opened her mouth to say so, but I was interrupted by someone attacking me from behind. I turned around to see my other best friend, Mackenzie, pop up behind me.

"Happy birthday baby girl! I got you a present!"

Mackenzie happily pulled some fuzzy socks from behind her back and presented them with a glowing smile.

"Aww, Mack you didn't have to do that," I said, but took the socks. They were indeed very fuzzy.

Mackenzie rolled her eyes.

"Of course I did. I have to score some brownie points against Em."

Emma stuck out her tongue playfully.

I went around to thank everyone for everything, when the bell rang, signaling that it was time to go to their classrooms. I gave some last hugs before hurrying over to my friends.

"Let's go ladies," I said, lacing arms with each of them.

Arm in arm, the three of us went to our Spanish class to take our test.

When it was finally over, we split ways and went to the next class. I was walking into the class when my phone buzzed. I slid into a seat and pulled it out.

Text from: Jenna

Hey girlie. How r finals going?

I smiled. Trust Jenna to care.

Text to: Jenna

They're going pretty well, actually. I'm about to take my English one.

Text from: Jenna

Ah yes. Well have fun with that. I have a surprise for you when you get home :)

Text to: Jenna

Yay! I can't wait.

"Hey Ada," a voice called out.

My head snapped up to see the eyes of another one of my best friends, Ethan.

"Hey dude," I said, smiling.

"Happy birthday, by the way. I couldn't make it to the big reveal, but I hope it was as great as Mack made it sound."

Mackenzie and Ethan had been dating for almost two years now, and they were widely known as the cutest couple at school. I grinned up at him.

"It was wonderful. Thank you for helping her think of it."

"Of course," he smiled and slid into the desk next to me.

"Alright everyone, take your seats," the teacher said in a loud, booming voice, and then I began my test.

After it was all over, Ethan and I walked to the courtyard together, where we met up with Emma and Mackenzie.

"Hey," Mackenzie said, giving Ethan a quick kiss.

"How were your finals?" Emma filled in for her.

"Fine. I'm glad they're over though."

"I hear that," she responded with a huff. "I'm still not completely sure that I didn't fail my physics test."

"Damn! There goes your dream of being a brilliant physicist, out the window," I said in a serious voice.

"I know. Oh, how I wished I could invent a new compound."

"That's not even physics, honey," Mackenzie interrupted them.

"How do you girls feel about lunch? We can go to Panera!" Ethan offered.

"Ooooh can we? I fucking love Panera and I've been craving mac n' cheese for days," I supplied quickly.

"Plus," I added, "birthday rights."

That got eyerolls from everyone, but they all agreed to go.

"Great! Meet you guys there!"

I hurried back to where my car was and pulled out my phone.

Text from: Jenna

Please come straight home today; it's important.

I frowned. That didn't sound like Jenna at all.

Text to: Jenna

Hey, I didn't get ur message in time. I'm already at Panera, but I'll finish up and get home asap

I wasn't at Panera yet, but she didn't have to know that.

Test from: Jenna

That's fine, but please hurry.

Huh. Well I guess I would be making up traffic excuses. With that in mind, I quickly drove to Panera, where Ethan and Mack were sitting, saving us a spot.

"Is Emma here yet?" I asked, looking around.

"Yeah, she's ordering."

I nodded and went to go order as well.

After I had gotten my mac n' cheese, we all sat down. We talked about who was with who, and who Emma and I had hooked up with recently, and who we were crushing on. For a solid half an hour, everything was good.

Then, my phone buzzed.

Text from: Jenna

Where are you?

Emma must have seen me frowning because she put a hand on my arm.

"Is everything alright?" she asked rather worriedly.

"Yeah, but I think I have to go. Jenna is freaking out."

"Really? Why? She's usually so chill," Ethan asked.

My brows furrowed as I tried to remember if I did anything wrong.

"I'm not sure. But she doesn't usually freak out so I'm gonna head home. I'll see you guys later,"

As I was leaving the table, Ethan's hand caught my wrist.

"You sure you're okay?" he asked. I looked at down at him and tensed up when I saw his eyes. They were much darker than before, and they had almost a hungry look in them. They looked almost-

No. what was I thinking? This was Ethan. We'd been friends for years. I smiled at him, my shoulders slowly loosening.

"Yeah, I'm gonna be fine. I'll call you later."

I walked out the door of the restaurant, feeling his eyes on me as the door swung shut. As I got into my car, I shook off the feeling of impending doom that seemed to be settling over me all of a sudden.

"Alright, Ada. Calm your tits. Relax."

Then I turned up the music and drove.

When I got home, it was almost four. I parked in front of my house like I always did, and walked up to the front door. As soon as I put my key in the lock, I knew something was wrong.

"Jenna?" I called out, closing the door behind me.

No answer.

"Hello? Jenna?"

Suddenly I heard footsteps running down the stairs. I turned to see Jenna coming down them with an urgent look on her face.

"Oh, Ada. You're home. Okay, come with me."

She motioned for me to follow her, so I did. We went into the living room, where she pulled out something from an old vanity table that we had lying around.

"Jenna, what is going on?"

"Ada, neither of us have much time, so you need to be quiet and listen to me. Understand?"

I nodded, to unnerved to speak. Jenna took a deep breath and glanced at the stairs before looking back down at me.

"This is something your parents wanted to give you when you were 18, but everything is happening much faster than it should. This is called a stele-"

"A what?" I interrupted.

"Hush. It's a very important family heirloom. You are a Shadowhunter, Ada. It's very important you know this. It is in your veins."

"Jenna what is going on. What the hell is a Shadowhunter?" I wanted to ask more questions, but there was a loud thump from upstairs.

"Is there someone else here?" I asked, dumbfounded. Jenna never brought anyone home, no matter how often I told her I was okay with it.

"Yes," she whispered, "there's someone else here." She looked at me with a look in her eyes that I had never seen before. "Stay here," she said, before pulling out a… glowing sword? And rushing up the stairs.

I was torn. People in horror movies always seemed to die when they did not stay in the place they were supposed to. But I was also really curious as to what the fuck Jenna was talking about.

My internal battle was made up when I heard a scream from upstairs.

"Jenna!" I shouted, fully aware that shouting her name would do absolutely nothing to help her.

"Jenna, where are you- oh my god!" I stopped suddenly when I saw Jenna lying on the floor, blood surrounding her head. Then I realized that someone was leaning over her. And I knew that someone.

"Ethan?" I breathed out. He turned around and smiled.

"Hello Ada."

"What are you doing here?" he looked away from me and back down to Jenna. He didn't speak, just placed his hand over where her heart was. This caused me to rush forward and drop the candlestick that I didn't realize I had been holding.

"Oh my god is she breathing? We need to call 911," I scrambled around for my phone, before I realized I left it downstairs.

"Okay I'll be right back," I told Ethan, who didn't respond. Shaking it off, I flew down the stairs and grabbed my phone, dialing 911 as I went back up the stairs.

"911 what's your emergency?"

"Hi, yes someone came into my house and my aunt is bleeding from her head really badly."

"Alright, does she appear to be breathing?"

I took a long, shaky breath.

"I don't know."

"Okay ma'am what's your address."

"106 Highbyrne St."

"There is an ambulance coming to your house now. In the meantime, if you would stay on the phone, I can assist you in trying to lessen the wound."

"Yes, thank you that would be great…" my sentence faded away into a sharp gasp when I saw what had happened. Ethan was sitting over Jenna still, but he now had large, leathery wings, and seemed to be holding something in his hand that was dripping.

"…Ethan?" I whispered.

He turned his head and what met me were not his familiar brown orbs, but glowing red ones. I backed up slowly, before tripping on something and falling to the ground. I was too terrified to scream, or really do anything. I looked down to see what I had tripped on, and it was Jenna's glowing sword. Slowly, I picked it up.

It lit up in my hands, and for a moment, I was completely transfixed by its beauty. That is, until 'Ethan' came charging at me.

I didn't even know what I was doing. It felt like my body was acting from some old instincts, that had been pushed deep, deep down. All of a sudden, I felt the lightsaber thing go through something. I looked down to see Ethan standing there.

"Ada?" he asked in a broken voice, before his eyes flickered red again.

The creature roared, and then began folding in on itself, and eventually exploding into a shower of sparks and dust.

I stood there for a while, just staring. Then I ran over to Jenna, and dropped to my knees. What I saw made me turn to the side and throw up. Where Jenna's eyes had been were two black marks, as if they had been burned. There was a large cavity in her chest, with blood everywhere. I backed up quickly, bumping into stuff as I went. I saw my phone, still on 911. I reached to pick it up, when I realized that I had blood on my hands. Jenna's blood. I ran to the bathroom and began to scrub violently. I knew I was crying, but I was still so in shock that I couldn't stop myself.

Once my hands were completely clean, I went back to the phone and picked it up.

"Hello? Hello?"

"I'm sorry, something," I paused and swallowed hard, "happened."

"Is everything alright?"

"No," I let out a shuddering breath.

"No, it's not."

"Alright sweetie, and ambulance is two minutes away. Can you handle the situation until then or do you want me to stay on the phone?"

I stayed silent for a moment, considering my options. Obviously, it was gonna look like I did it. so what was I supposed to do? Well, in every show I watched, lying to the police always made things more complicated. I suppose that meant that I should tell the police everything and leave it to them to believe me.

"I'll be fine," I said finally, before hanging up.

I put my phone down on the small table we had in the hallway, and looked down at the ground in exhaustion. I was just about to close my eyes, when the light caught on something. I leaned forward. It seemed like a necklace of some sort, with a small gold chain and something that resembled an eye in the front. I picked it up and turned it over. On the back was a small quote inscribed in a language that I didn't know.

Samyye sil'nyye iz vsekh voinov - eto dva - Vremya i Terpeniye.

"Huh," I muttered, running my finger over it. suddenly, I felt and heard a click. I turned the necklace back over to see a bright green gem shining up at me. I was about to try and close it, when I felt a jerking sensation in my stomach. My vision started bleeding together, and then bit by bit, it started getting darker, and darker, and darker, until I couldn't see anything at all.

whooooooooo here we go again! pls follow, favorite, and comment. they all make me want to continue writing!

i promise we'll get more into the shadow world in the next chapter. i just had to get all my ideas out and set the story in motion before i went to bed. plus, i really didn't want to study. ok thanks for reading! leave a comment with any questions or concerns :)