Chapter 1
"Stop it Miles! She will hear you!" screamed Talia. 9-year-old Hannah stood in the threshold of their chipped wood door quietly listening to their parents in fear. Talia slammed a book down in front of her husband and gave a look that could bury a man 6 feet under and hissed, "You will not ruin this family or take away my daughter. I don't know why you need the book so badly! Just take it!" Miles looked so shocked and then a flicker of emotion that was almost unreadable passed across his face. His eyes turned a dull green, as if rubbed out by a cloth, and his face ashen white. He grabbed for the book and stopped still. His eyes softened as he saw his little girl in their white doorway. Hannah had her brown hair in loose pig- tails and a lone tear running down her round cheek. She was holding a stuffed rabbit her father got her. She sniffled as she rubbed her big brown eyes. Her father reached out his hand and Talia, in a cold swift motion, cut off his hand. Her eyes blackened as she droned out the words, "Huṁ divasa anē rātrē andhakāra prakāśa para śapatha lēvā, anicchanīya nī sarahada pasāra karaśē jēmanē tē tē'ō ēka vakhata icchatā na hatā māṅgō rahēśē anē rahēśē rōma ā viśvamāṁ sadāsarvadā māṭē. And blackness surrounded.
The blinding light seared through my light purple drapes as they fluttered around my window attempting to keep my room dark and incontrovertibly failing. Oh god! The heat here in the summers of Brooklyn, New York were so unbearably hot it made the air feel as if it were clawing at my throat with burning metal. Okay, a little bit of an exaggeration but you get the point. I sat up and quickly regretted it. A rush of heat slammed me in the face, and I was groping for air for a moment. I stood up and looked around my room, my eyes glazed over from lack of sleep. I picked up my brush from my little vintage night -stand and started brushing through my dark hair. My mom and I's apartment is on the 4th floor so my window overlooks a glorious parking lot. I quickly put my hair up in a ponytail and shimmied into my scraped-up jeans that said I-am-so-cool-and-badass-I-don't-need-to-sew-my-jeans-and-I-can-get-away-with-anything. I pulled on my favorite t-shirt, which was Skrillex world tour -aka my favorite band, and ran downstairs to meet Cam at the Mix. As I was riding by bike down to the rag-tag coffee shop, I noticed a girl running. Not in the usual way though. This girl was speeding down the street her firey hair flaming behind her as if trying to keep up. She was headed straight twords me. I gasped as she rammed into me body first. She didn't even hesitate before dashing ahead, not so much as a glance behind. This made me curious. I pulled out my iphone and sent a quick text to Cam telling him to hang on. I turned around and followed this mysterious little bike-wrecker.
I gave up after 20 minutes and went to the Mix heavy headed. I sat down at our table and ordered our usual. The door jingled and Cam walked through. He was wearing these gray shorts that were sliding dangerously low on his hips from sweat. He had on a red t-shirt from his photography club that so cleverly stated: All things are seen when caught on a camera. He brushed his longish blonde hair out of his eyes and plucked his coffee off the table and took a swig. We talked for hours on end and me not once mentioning little red. As I was riding home I saw her. The girl who ran into me was right there. She wasn't alone. A gorgeous blonde boy was walking with her and she looked anxious. I followed them until they got to this big Church and I waited around the corner. I had enough. I ran up to her and gawked, "Are you even going to apologize?!" She snapped around and more surprise on her face then anger. She slowly relaxed. "Ohmygosh I'm so sorry. I was having a long morning and you wouldn't understand…." She droned on and on and the blonde realized I was looking at him. "Can you see me?" he asked, his words sounded like little bells in the distance. "Duh" I replied he whispered something to the red-head and she reached out her hand and said, "Hey. I'm Clary." I barely got Hannah out when the blonde's fist collided with my face.
