Chapter 2: My Dream Awakens
We were driving home listening to the radio, which was playing "Bangerang-Skrillex". When we pulled up to our house, my mind was screaming that something was wrong. I looked over to mom and I could tell she has the same feeling. We were still in the car, just staring at the house. The house looked fine, well as fine as a house can get in New York. We slowly got out of the car, still staring at the house. The feeling is like tiny needles poking your brain. Then all of a sudden, my red amulet, my mom gave me when I was 10, started glowing and furiously vibrating. I looked at mom, who was staring at my amulet with a lot of worry. I couldn't handle the slight heat coming from it anymore, so I took it off and shoved it in my leather biker jacket pocket. My mom said, "We have to be careful, stay close to me." "Mom, what the Hell is happening?" I said a little panicked, ok, a lot panicked. "I'll explain later, but for now just follow me and be careful." She said and pulled out a dagger from the inside of her jacket. WAIT WHAT?!
We walked slowly to the front door and walked in. It seriously looked like all Hell broke loose. Vases broken on the hardwood, blinds ripped, furniture broken and scattered. The windows weren't broken, but everything else was. We checked the rest of the downstairs rooms, then went upstairs. I peeked into my room, nothing was wrong. I followed Mom into her bedroom, fine. She slid the chest out from under her bed, but didn't open it. She went to her closet and took out a black tank top, black leather pants, and a belt. She handed them to me and said, "Put these on, quickly!" I ran to my room and put everything on, then tucked in my tank top. I walked back into my mom's room and she was wearing the same thing as me, except now she had the same tattoos as the man from the mall. Has she always had those? She waved me over and took out a glowing turquoise stick. "What's that?" "A stele. This is going to hurt, so just keep still." She said. I nodded and she lowered the stele to my arms and started drawing random symbols, the first one felt like someone was holding the metal of a hot lighter onto my skin. Eventually, both my arms were covered in them. Then she drew the same symbol from the weapons box under my collarbone in the middle of my chest. She gave me the stele and I connected it to my belt. She handed me daggers, two machetes, then two glass swords called 'Seraph blades'. I connected everything except the seraph blades onto my belt. "On your leather jacket there are two straps to hold these on the back." She said. I picked up my leather jacket, slid it on, then crossed the blades on my back. "We ready?" She asked connecting her weapons onto her belt. Ready for what? I wanted to ask, but instead I just nodded.
I followed her to the backyard. I walked through the arcadian glass door after my mom, until I saw two people and I stopped mid step. "Come on." Mom said waving me over. I walked over to her and faced the two strangers. I looked at the first man and gasped, then took a step back. It's that stalker from the store! My mom saw my confused expression. "Kristina, this is Luke Garroway and his son, Manuel. Luke and I have known each other for a very long time." She answered my unasked question. I'm straight up panicking right now, and I have a really bad temper. "But he's the one who was following us earlier." I said, trying to calm down. Manuel turns to his father. "You followed them?" Manuel asked. "You were following them, too, so don't go there. But yes, I went to make sure you both were safe from Valentine's men." Luke replied. "Wait, I didn't see him following, I just saw you." I said pointing to Manuel then Luke. "It's cause I didn't want to make a first impression by looking like a stalker." Manuel said. "Ok, this isn't awkward." I said. "Look, we're shadowhunters. Valentine's men came here looking for you guys, that's why the house is ruined." Manuel said. "Ok ok ok, I gathered that, but who is Val-" I stopped talking. It sounds like the sound of water and faint screeching. "What's that noise?" I asked. "What noi-" Manuel was interrupted by screeching. I look in my backyard and see black, misshapen, oozing, creatures come out of the ground. "What the fuck?!" I yell. "Kristina, stay up here!" Mom yells. They run into the lawn, into the black mass of creatures. They disappeared in the crowd. I pulled out my machetes, twisted the ends together, and transformed them into a bo staff taller than me, with the blades on both ends. I never promised my mom to stay on the porch, I ran into the crowd.
We all had demons circled around us. After I sliced through one demon, everything felt slow motion. I sliced through demons expertly, like I've been trained my whole life. Some demons were retreating back underground, there's no more around me. I'm covered in blood, even on my face from when I slit the throat of a demon and black red blood fountained out everywhere. I turned and felt a sharp stinging in my stomach, but ignored it and ran to help Manuel who is surrounded. He's slicing through them, but one behind him looks like it's going to shove it's claw through his back. I shove my machete in it's back and yanked up, causing it to split completely in half. It fell to the grass, then disintegrated. I looked up at Manuel, who was staring wide eyed at me. He was covered in blood, too. I look around, there's no more creatures. I look back at Manuel, then walk towards my mom. While I'm walking, the sharp pain comes back. I wince and put my hands on my stomach, then look down at them. Blood, my blood. My dark red blood soaks my hands. My eyelids get heavier by the second, then I'm falling. Manuel catches me before I hit the ground, he sets me on the grass and I clench my hands on my stomach. He removes my hands and looks through the rip in my tank top at the wound. My eyes fell closed, but before darkness took me over I felt the burn of a stele. Darkness.
I woke up, but kept my eyes closed, trying to process what happened earlier. My eyes slowly fluttered open when I heard a shuffle noise. My eyes are fully open and I looked around the room. My room. I'm laying in my bed. How did I get here? I sit up slowly so I don't get headrush. I'm still wearing my bloody clothes, but my jacket and weapons are on my bedside desk. I feel someone's presence next to me. I turn my head to the left and see Manuel sitting in a chair next to my bed, looking at me curiously. "What happened?" I ask very confused. He's not covered in blood anymore, but I am. "We killed a lot of demons." He replied, which didn't really help. I guess he saw my confused look then added, "A demon sliced your stomach, then you fainted from blood loss." I put my legs over the side of my bed and lifted my ripped tank top. Just above my bellybutton, is a thick white scar about 6 inches across. I touch it and wince. "Yeah, it's going to hurt for a while." He said. "What time is it?" I asked looking at him. "1:00pm. We better hurry. Go get cleaned up and there's new clothes on the bathroom counter when you're done." He answered and got up to wait downstairs. I turned to go into the bathroom. I turned back to him and said, "Hey, how did I get up here?" He stopped at the door, I actually got to look him over. He's wearing a black leather vest with the seraph blades crossed on the back, black leather pants, and combat boots just like mine. He turned so we are face to face, I'm just a little shorter than him, but in a good way. "I carried you up here before my Dad and your Mom left. After you fainted." He said with a smirk. "Wow, just met a guy and I faint not too long after. That's embarrassing." I said turning to my bathroom. He turned to leave my bedroom and I say, "Thank you." He nodded then walked out.
I hopped into the shower and I thought to myself, why does Manuel look familiar? Then I realized...the black zip up vest, boots, seraph blades...holy schnitzel! I hurry to get ready and meet him downstairs in my 'Shadowhunter gear'. Has my mom been hiding my true life for 16 years? Is my dream coming to life?