1

Meetings

"You crazy kid?" a police officer asked a small dusty brown haired girl as she whirledaroundwith a sword pulled from a sheath. When she didn't answer him he licked his lips hesitantly and then hurried toward her. She turned around, her icy blue eyes set on him with a devilish glare.

"It's fake," she said rolling her eyes as she handed it over to him. "Bend it," she instructed. At her command the police bent the sword. "See?" she said as she hastily took the sword back from the police officer. "Go on," she said shooing him away.

The police officer sighed as he walked away from the girl. "Have a nice day miss."

"Mhm," she muttered as she walked away sheathing the sword.

"God, Nichole," another girl said as she pushed herself off a tree. Her hair was almost the same color as Nichole's only her hair was curlier. "Try to make us noticed by the stupid mundies why don't you?"

"I wasn't trying," Nichole said with an over expressed sigh. "The stupid police officers could tend to more important things than girls with swords." She pushed her hair back. "How long have you been wandering around here?" she asked looking back at the other girl.

"I followed you out," she said shrugging her shoulders as they continued to walk. "Thought you'd be getting into trouble, and I thought I might be of use if you really did happen to get into trouble."

"Lovely thought though, River," said Nichole as she stopped and looked around at the trees around them. "But unfortunately, your assistance wasn't required, sweetheart." She sighed as she looked at the trees nearby. "Where's this kid you were talking about?"

"Dunno, said that he'd be here," River murmured.

"He? He?" Nichole said tossing a glare back at River. "I never agreed to meet a he," she muttered. "He'd better be pretty," she added with a mischievous smirk.

"Don't even think about it," River said with a warning tone to her voice. "I swear by the Angel that he's gay anyways."

"Aw man," Nichole said with an emphasized sigh, "Why are all the cute guys gay?" she muttered in thought as she walked toward the trees. "Ah… There you are," she muttered as she walked toward a handsome boy.

At first glance, he didn't look like much, it might have been glamour that he put on himself, but up close, he took Nichole's breath away. He was pretty as Nichole put it. His hair was raven-black, with warm chocolate brown eyes. His skin was colored with a warm tan, not orange like some of the mundane girls Nichole had seen around the park. His dark gray shirt hugged his body, and his dark blue jeans fit him almost to what Nichole would have thought to be perfect.

"Ooo well hello there," Nichole said putting a hand out to shake.

"I'm guessing you're Nichole," he said looking at her with a welcoming yet uncertain look in his chocolate brown eyes. "She warned me about you," he said as he laughed, the laugh was rich and soft, cute in Nichole's eyes.

"Me?" Nichole said making a face at River, "What have I done? I'm sweet and innocent, nothing worth warning about, my dear, River," she said, blinking her eyes innocently at her parabatai, her lip twitching as she tried to hold back a grin. "Nah, I'm worth warning against," she said looking back at him. "What's your name? Since my little River here never mentioned," she muttered as she tried to shoo River away.

"Jason," he said, "Wayland," he added after a second. He hugged River tightly while River made a face at Nichole that only she could see. "How have you been?" he inquired with a warm smile at his friend.

"Good as ever, having fun chasing death with Nichole," River said shrugging her shoulders as if it was a normal daily thing that the two did.

"God how do I not know Nichole?" Jason muttered. "She's not your sister obviously," he said. "But to not know her is like impossible the way you talk about her."

"You talk about me?" Nichole interjected as she tried to interrupt River and Jason.

"Yes, Nicky, as hard as that might seem to believe, some people do talk about you," River said with an aggravated glance at her parabatai.

"Oh, everyone talks about me," Nichole said with a grin. "It's hard not to talk about the famous Nichole Herondale!" she said proudly as she held her head up high as she tried not to giggle. "Right! Now down to business, no more play time," she said with a glance at River. "Now what are you here for?" she asked Jason looking at him curiously.

"Well, I came to stay at the institute for starters," he said, "but I also came because the Clave has gotten out of hand," he murmured, his brown eyes flickering with more uncertainty. "Well, as long as Mr. and Mrs. Herondale let me take refuge in the institute," he added after a moment of thought.

A smug smile crossed Nichole's face. "I don't think you'll have to worry about that," Nichole said.

"They're her parents…" River muttered in explanation. "So pretty much anything she says will go," River said shaking her head.

"Convenient?" he asked.

"No she's spoiled."

"No," Nichole said sharply. "Not spoiled, just overly loved," she said with a satisfying grin at her friend.

"Spoiled," River muttered under her breath. "Well, back to the institute then?" she asked looking at Jason. "You can tell Jace and Clary what happened when we get there," she added noticing the look on his face.

He dipped his head gratefully. "Lead the way."

As the trio walked into the institute a loud clash of something falling rang throughout the cathedral entrance. Then clumsily a little boy with dark messy golden hair stumbled down the aisle. With an embarrassed blush he straightened himself up and gave a feeble, charming smile. "Sorry," he murmured looking at Nichole ashamedly.

"Don't worry about it, Drew," Nichole said as she attempted to fix his hair, he ducked away out of her reach. "Where's mom?" she asked after a moment.

"She's upstairs," Drew murmured. "I think she was in the weapons room," he said shrugging his shoulders. "Who's that?" he asked curiously as he peered behind Nichole at Jason.

"That is a shadowhunter," Nichole said, she didn't even look back at Jason.

"A sexy shadowhunter," River inputted with a grin at Nichole.

Drew shook his head disapprovingly, which earned him a chuckle from Jason. "I'm Jason," the black haired boy said with a grin. "I'll be staying here with you guys for a while," he added. "I'm guessing you're Nichole's brother?" he inquired looking at him.

River smiled, not everyone found Drew easy to deal with, especially since he was so young that he asked the questions and found out about everything, but he was never allowed to do anything, but he still tried. Jason was going to be very welcomed here if he treated Drew this way.

"Yep!" Drew said with a happy, silly giggle.

"You look like her," Jason said as he looked at Nichole, who gave him an approving nod.

"Well, I'm going to talk to mom," Nichole said scratching the top of her head. "You guys can come if you want to, it would be best if at least Jason did," she murmured, "he'll need to explain why he's here to her," she added quickly with a hasty look at her parabatai.

Jason nodded as he caught her eye, "Alright," he said. He looked back at Drew. "I'll catch up with you later," he promised with a sweet smile.

"Okay," Drew murmured as he shrugged his shoulders. Nichole felt bad, most of the time Drew was left out of everything; he just wasn't old enough to be a part of the things that the elder shadowhunters were a part of.

Nichole gestured for the older two Nephilim to follow her. A twinge of guilt rose in her throat as she left Drew standing behind them in the aisle.