Prologue

"I told you to stab its jaw while it was on top of you! What were you waiting for? Didn't you hear me yelling?" Aria's disgruntled voice echoed around the Institute's grand foyer as she stomped her way up the curvy stairs. "If it were Jace, he would have stabbed the monster right then and there in a heartbeat."

Beside her, Jason rolled his eyes. "Can't you stop comparing me to Jace? You have never even met the guy," he stopped for a moment to catch his breath and Aria strode past him without stopping, her brown hair bobbed in rhythm with her sure steps. He grumbled under his breath and quickened his pace up the stairs to precede Aria. "The demon's dead already. Get over it, will you?"

Aria stopped abruptly and threw a sharp glance toward Jason, making him stumbled. She was one step above him, but she was still shorter than him. Her eyes were the same brown color as the strands of hair that escaped her ponytail, which was now pasted on the sides of her oval face. They were both exhausted from their previous fight against the Forsaken, but she looked even more so than him because of the pink shades on her cheek. "Get over it?" She snapped at him, her voice high, "Really? I bought this jacket just yesterday and now it's full of blood and ichor because you just have to stab the demon while it was on top of me. And now you expect me to get over it?"

Jason stayed quiet, as if expecting Aria to say something more. He scratched his hair and narrowed his left eye when she did not say anything. "I'll buy you a new one?"

Aria sighed heavily and continued her way up the stairs. Her small lip curved down to a pout, but the corner of his right lip slightly curved upwards. The dim witchlights around the beige hallway quivered as if they were laughing silently at the silly arguments that were presented in front of them. Sometimes it was funny to see Jason's confused face, and sometimes it was also cruel for her to pretend that she was still mad at him when all she really wanted to do was to laugh at his face and told him how ridiculously comical he looked. But they have been through this kind of fight a thousand times already that it was almost a habit for Aria to prolong her pretend-angriness just to make him kept scratching his head.

"Aria," Jason groaned, his gaze followed Aria's back. "Look. I'm sorry! I was nervous, I… didn't except it to lick me like that."

Aria stopped again and whirled around to stare at Jason. She gave him a quizzical look. "What?"

"It's just that it looks like a dog, you know. With… big eyes and… ragged skin and… bloody ears." Jason shrugged, taking two steps at a time to level Aria. He continued in a tone of disbelief when she did not change her expression, "Didn't you even see it licking me?"

Aria folded her hands, trying to gauge Jason's countenance. His face was always like that, she thought. Like a page that was taken from an open book, as if he had nothing to hide from her. He stared at her with his wide blue eyes that glimmered from the witchlight. The blue in his eyes was different from Ben's, his fraternal twin brother. While Ben's eyes were of darker aquamarine blue, Jason's were more startling - an azure blue. His dampened blond hair was darkened by the dimness of the room, a trickle of sweat dripping from his sideburns to the edge of his jaw. That was when Aria saw the tip of a reddened scratch on his collarbone, which body was blanketed by his black shirt. "You're hurt," she said in a lower tone.

"No, it didn't do me any harm. It just kind of licked me."

"No. Jason. I mean you are hurt. There, on your upper chest," she pointed at the subtle scratch that stained his otherwise tan skin and sighed. "Have you iratzed?"

Jason followed Aria's gaze and cringed. He slowly pulled down the collar of his shirt and nodded thoughtfully. "Hmm. That's weird. So maybe it did not lick me after all, though I'm pretty sure it did. Maybe its tongue was thorny?"

Aria put one hand on her temple and shook her head lightly. "Not funny, Jason. You should consider spending more of your time on sword training rather than dating with Dickens."

"What's wrong with Dickens?" Jason put an offended look, "The guy's a genius!"

"By the Angel, can't you be a little more Ben-like?" Aria couldn't help but mentioned Jason's brother. Ever since she arrived at the Institute, she had always wondered why the two of them was so different and so distant, as if they came from two different universes and just so happened to be placed in the same womb. "How can one twin be a knight in shining armor while the other is a… a bibliophile?"

"Bibliophile?" Jason raised his eyebrows, "That's actually a great term to describe me. Although, I wouldn't exactly call Ben a knight in shining armor. He tends to wear blue, you know. Or black. Not the shining types of clothes. That's not his taste."

Aria gritted her teeth and was about to retort to Jason's flippant response when the large wooden door on top of the stairs creaked. An oblong face with blue eyes that were a shade darker than Jason's appeared on the edge of the door. Ben. Aria whispered his name automatically before her mind could even begin to prevent the words from slipping out of her tongue.

Ben wore a casual blue long-sleeved T-shirt paired with a dark blue jeans. His hair was as black as starless night, outlined by the dimming foyer witchlight. Unlike Jason's lean figure, Ben was well-built, with carved muscles that showed their rough traces on the surface of his arms. His chin was also more prominent with a strong and defined jawline that looked as if it could chisel granite. The only other thing aside from the color of their eyes that could signify their twin status was their aqualine noses that looked slightly curved on the tip. Aria stared at the contrasting shadows that were dancing on Ben's face for a tad too long that she didn't realize his change of expression upon seizing the sight of Aria's clothes. "What happened? Are you okay?" Ben said with his husky voice.

Aria waltzed lightly up the steps, almost unconsciously, as if Ben was pulling her closer to him by some unseen force. Her voice was suddenly calm and honeyed. "It's nothing. They're not my blood. Jason and I met a Forsaken on our way here, but we already killed it. Now I just need to wash my jacket."

Ben raised one eyebrow, "One Forsaken? It looks like you had just fought dozens of them."

Aria tipped her chin toward Jason as she struggled to mantle the smirk on her face upon smelling Ben's scent of oakwood and soap. "Ask your brother. He was the one who killed it."

It took a few seconds for Ben to process Aria's words before he stretched a smile of enlightenment. "I see. That makes sense."

Jason, still standing on the middle of the staircase, held both of his hands up and shrugged, "What? It's not that bad. Why are you looking at me like that?"

Ben chortled, his figure quivered slightly. Aria broke free of her defenses and let out her previously held smirk; the kind of smirk a child would let out upon seeing a house made of candies. Realizing how stupid she must have looked, Aria blushed automatically and silently cursed herself for being such a drama queen. She quickly recovered and decided to change the subject, ignoring Jason's remark. "By the way, Ben, were you just looking for us?"

Ben regained his composure and turned his head to face Aria. He had the same height as Jason's, but his broad shoulders lent him a more mature aura. He moistened his lip briskly and made a gesture for Aria to follow him inside. "As a matter of fact, yes, I was. Mom and Dad summoned us. They said that Aunt Elodie had just sent an important message regarding Valentine and the Clave. I suspect it has something to do with the countless meetings that are held in Idris. I don't see why they need to contact the Seattle Institute, though."

"Isn't your cousin Sebastian in Idris too right now?" Aria followed Ben as he walked his way into the heart of the Institute. Her voice slowly faded away from the foyer, her worries over her stained jacket gone.

Jason watched Aria's shadow withering on the bottom edge of the wall. Something was pressing at his chest as he watched her shadow shrinking like it was suctioned by the opened door. He remained motionless until it was completely gone, leaving a subtle echo of velvety voice on its departure. Then he bowed his head down and smiled bitterly, as if proclaiming defeat. "And she's gone," his croaked voice was barely a whisper. "Just like always. Lucky Ben."