Chapter One

Hard; unyielding; strong; hidden; isolated; protected; there were many words to describe the Adamant Citadel, home of the Iron Sisters. Those words were also apt to describe the small, fairy-like girls who had been raised there.

Orphans, as far as they knew, the twins had never known life beyond the Citadel. Identical in all ways but the pigments of their iris', the twins knew that their mother had died during childbirth and that, as a Shadowhunter, she had requested that the girls be raised by the Sisters. In losing one mother, the girls had grown up with more than two dozen. Hard, unyielding, genius women, who kept their childhood hidden, isolated and fiercely protected. To every Iron Sister, the girls were their babies, and though they had been given names by their biological mother- Magna, and Alina, the Iron Sisters were their family, and so had bestowed on them a family name. Magna Ironside and Alina Ironside.

Apart from the Sisters and a couple of the highest authorities in Alicante, nobody knew of the twins. For sixteen years they had studied, played, worked in the Citadel. They were trained in the arts of weaponry and combat, each with their own distinctive style. Their Shadowhunter blood ensured that they could wield the blades, which they had forged themselves, with grace and precision.

Then, one day, Jia Penhallow, the Consul of Idris and all Shadowhunters visited the Iron Sisters, and then everything changed.

"We are a dying breed," the girls had overheard, as she and they hid beneath the stone steps of the grand hall. There was a grate, used mainly to drain any blood from the room after the Iron Sisters tested the blades they forged. Alina had discovered that it was a spectacular place to witness the testing of the angel blades when she was only six years old. You could almost see the duels, and you could certainly hear the groans of the Seraph blades as they moved through the air. The only issue, the twins had realised, was that if blood was spilled you had to move out of the way,- and fast- otherwise it ended in a royal mess.
"The Shadow World needs them," Consul Penhallow had explained, "they need to receive their marks and be trained, it is essential."

Any questions the girls had didn't have time to be answered, as they were told by Sister Andrea, the woman who had nursed them as a child, that they were to be sent to the New York Institute that very same afternoon.

Magna had always been fiercely protective of Alina, and through their childhood had gripped Alina's had to support her whenever they had been in an unknown or scary situation.
Though they were both wary of the unknown, each girl of course, had a different definition of what was in fact scary. These definitions had changed as the girls had grown older, and their experiences with using the weapons they forged grew broader and more advanced. The hand-holding had comforted Alina in her youth, but had slowly grown to be a tether. She was not always scared when Magna was, and around age twelve she found that the grip of her twin irked her. It was an attachment that she didn't always want, it was a reminder that fear existed, but despite the annoyance she never shook Magna off. She never let go of her sister's hand because though it had started as an act meant to reassure her, she slowly came to understand that it was more for Magna's benefit than hers.
Magna told herself that it was to help Alina, but Alina knew the truth behind the gesture.

When Magna took her hand before they entered the portal to the New York Institute, Alina gave her twin a reassuring squeeze and closed her eyes.
The feeling of sickness overwhelmed the pair, and it wasn't until a few moments after their feet had landed at the door of the infamous Institute that they were even able to take in their surroundings.
"The air smells funny," Magna commented, wrinkling her small nose up as she turned to notice the busy New York street behind them.
Alina's attention however, was focused on the beauty of the building in front of them, having always been able to see through glamor runes for reasons unbeknown to the pair of them, Alina knew that the strangers on the street wouldn't give the place a second look- but she could not take her eyes away.
It towered above her, even more impressive than the Citadel, if that were even possible.

The door swung open to reveal a beautiful red-headed girl, who beamed down at the twins with a warmth and curiosity the girls had never felt before, but knew was to be expected. Until very recently their existence had been a closely guarded secret.
"Welcome to New York," she smiled, and extended her hand, first to Alina who was only able to tear her eyes away from the building to shoot a quick smile, and then to Magna who stepped toward and gripped her hand tightly.
"You must be Clarissa Fairchild," Magna greeted with a small nod, before she let their hands drop.
"That's right, but please call me Clary, everyone does" Clarissa replied, "please.. come on in, your things arrived a little while ago."
The twins took careful steps together at first, before Alina lengthened her stride as they entered the Institute and a gentle smile spread across her face.
"This place is…" she faltered, but Clarissa grinned in understanding.
"It's overwhelming at first I know," she said, also casting her eyes around the entrance hall as though she were seeing it for the first time, not like she walked through it multiple times a day.
"It's beautiful," Alina smiled.
"I thought the same when I visited your home," Clary assured her, and Magna wondered briefly when Clarissa Fairchild had been permitted to visit the Citadel, and why she had never gotten word of it. Spying on guests was her favourite pastime.

Giving the twins a tour took a short while, and Magna walked half a step behind Clary, trying to memorise every detail. She ignored the vast number of people there were that stopped their work to stare as they passed. If she could, she thought, she'd get her hands on a map of the place. She wanted to know every room, every entrance and every exit of their new home.
Alina didn't need a map, her mind was tracing and recalling the floor-plans as they walked, though her pace was a little slower than the other two. While Magna listened intently to Clary's observations about the building, Alina was making her own. She noted where the library was and was sure that she'd be able to find it again with her eyes closed. How nice it would be to study the literature of their kind, Shadowhunter legends and history that she'd only heard as heavily edited bed-time stories from the Sisters.

Magna's interest in Clary's words faltered as they entered the training room, where two young Shadowhunters were sparring. Magna had always taken more of an interest in weaponry than her sister, and was a natural warrior, she studied the pair duelling with a silent criticism, but slapped a smile on her face when they stopped and walked over to greet them.
"Emma, Jules, these are the twins," Clary stated with an apologetic nod of her head towards the girls, "sorry, I still don't know which is which- you are so identical."
Emma grinned at the pair, before they gripped arms in a more traditional greeting, while Alina introduced herself to Julian. They were parabatai, Alina noticed quickly, and she snuck a glance at their runes. Julian allowed her to stare with a gentle smile, and Alina decided she liked him almost immediately.
Magna wasn't so sure, and nodded polite courtesies and she rocked on her toes.

Once introduced, Clary showed them to their bedroom. While the Institute had many dormitories, the girls were happy that they were sharing a chamber.
"There are so many people who are dying to meet you both," Clary said from the doorway, "but I know how tough it can be moving to a new home and meeting so many new people that they all blur into one…"
She insisted that they take some time to settle, to feel free to walk around the building before she would come and find them for dinner. That was where they would meet the other key Shadowhunters, and after that- they were to meet with the Silent Brothers for their Voyance rune ceremony.
"Not that you seem to need any help with the sight," Clary commented casually, before laughing lightly.
Alina and Magna smiled politely, standing awkwardly in the center of their large room.
"See you in an hour or so," Clary grinned with a small wave of her hand, and left the room- leaving the door open.

The first thing Magna did was stride over and close it with a small thud. She turned to her sister, resting her back to the door and closing her eyes.
She was tired, Alina could tell, she was too- but she busied herself by striding around the room towards the small bookshelf attached to the wall. It was empty, meant for her to fill with the texts she needed for her Shadowhunter education. Spotting her luggage in the corner, she opened it quickly and reached for the two small books she had packed to bring with her. The first was a book of poetry she had been given by a Sister when she was only ten or so years old, and the second was a hand-drawn book of runes that she had 'borrowed' from the Citadel library. She had had it in her possession for as long as she could remember, and never officially checked the book out, as was the regulation at the Citadel. The pages were worn where she had thumbed the pages and traced the lines with her fingers.
Magna chuckled, stepping close to her and taking the second book out of her hands.
"Do you remember when you drew these all over me?" she grinned, and received an identical grin in response. Standing like she was facing a mirror, Magna reached up to give Alina's shoulder a small squeeze. "With marker," she laughed lightly, before padding over to the bookshelf and setting it on at eyeline height.
"Now we get them for real," Alina nodded, joining Magna by the shelf and placing the poetry book alongside it.

The girls busied themselves, hauling their cases onto their respective beds and unpacking their things into their respective wardrobes. Magna then explored their bathroom, smaller than their one at the Citadel but not by any means uncomfortable. Alina meanwhile threw open their window and took in the streets of New York for the first time, an entire city to explore, and she couldn't help but whisper.
"Do you think we'll be free here?"
Magna, who finished checking the bath for grime with her index finger (she had found none), padded back through and lay down on her bed. She sighed at her sister's words. Ever since she could recall Alina had been obsessed with fairy-tales- both Shadowhunter and Mundane- and fancied herself a Princess, locked away in a tower (the Citadel) waiting for a Prince (Shadowhunter, Warlock or Vampire, depending on her mood) to come and free her.
As they'd grown older, and Magna's fierce feminist influences had rubbed off on Alina, and the Prince figure of her fantasies disappeared. They'd trained together with the weapons that they made, and Magna had convinced Alina that she didn't need a man to rescue her, that one day she would be able to free herself.
"I think we're in a different sort of prison here," Magna stated dramatically, raising her arms to plump up her pillows, "but if you mean will we be allowed to leave the building and go shopping…" she paused with a wicked grin, which Alina reciprocated, "yes."

Despite having a bed of her own, Alina pulled her eyes away from the city view and, kicking off her shoes, padded over to where her sister lay. She settled down beside Magna, and sighed softly to herself, letting her eyelids flutter closed lazily.
"Do you think we'll find him?" Magna murmured, eyes closing too as the toll of the day fell over the twins. As they drifted into a short nap, Magna heard the pillow rustle and she knew Alina was nodding.
"Absolutely," came the muffled reply, and Alina reached across to link the fingers she knew as well as her own with hers.