Hey I'm back! Yay! Okay, so sorry that the story is moving so slowly, but I promise it will get better...one day. For now, though, enjoy what you have.

Disclaimer: I only own the plot. The characters that are used belong to the fabulous Cassandra Clare. :)


Alec was still thinking about Clary and Simon's little visit as he climbed the red-rugged stairs. He could hear his siblings' voices carrying through the halls.

The second story of the house was shaped like a square, if that makes sense. It was more spacious than downstairs, and had many more rooms. There was a large square cut out in the middle of the floor, surrounded by a banister. The wood floor creaked as he walked cautiously, examining his surroundings. He walked towards the banister and looked over; he could see the first level of the house, but he also noticed a door that he must've overlooked. Curiosity came over him, and he started to go back down when a hand came down on his shoulder. He jumped and turned, coming face to face with…his little sister.

"There you are," she said, taking his arm and pulling him after her. "I want to show you my room." She led him to a small room just a little way from the top of the stairs. It was empty, save n antique vanity table in the corner. Jace was snooping around it, opening drawers that squeaked loudly. His face looked very distorted in the broken and dirty mirror. From where Alec stood, he could see himself in the mirror, and the empty doorway he was standing next to. A flicker of something, almost like a shadow, passed across the doorway. Startled, he turned quickly, but saw nothing.

"So," Isabelle said, gaining his attention again. She held her arms out to her sides and twirled. "What do you think? Of course it will need furniture, and after the moving truck comes with the rest of our stuff, we will have to go to IKEA, and…" she rambled on about paint and things, but Alec had ceased paying attention.

It was about 4:30, and the moving truck should be here soon. "Hey, Jace," Alec said, accidently cutting off Isabelle. She looked at him in annoyance, but said nothing.

"This thing is so weird," Jace mumbled. "What?" He said a little louder, but not looking at Alec; he was still exploring the vanity.

"Can you go downstairs with me? I think there's a cellar and I want to check it out. Iz, can you – "

"Is little Allie afraid of going in rooms by himself?" Jace smirked at him and straightened up.

"No!" Alec said, but his voice cracked a little, and he blushed. He cleared his throat and puffed out his chest a little in a failed attempt to look manly. "Isabelle, can you go outside and wait for the furniture truck?"

She rolled her eyes and went out of the room and downstairs. Jace and Alec followed her, Jace chanting, "Allie is a scaredy-cat, he's afraid he'll find a little old rat, he might be fun to jump out at!" Alec nudged him with his elbow. "That doesn't even make any sense!"

"It doesn't have to," Jace said. "The point is clear: You are afraid to go down into a little cellar by yourself." He smirked.

"No," Alec said calmly, "I simply want you to come down with me in case we find any furniture that we want to bring up."

By then they had reached the door to the cellar. He put his hand on the knob when he noticed Jace paused. Alec glanced at him to find a disbelieving look cast towards him. "What?" he asked. Jace just rolled his eyes and nodded toward the door.

Alec twisted the knob. The door opened with a creeeeeaak. The sound made Alec shutter. They couldn't see the bottom of the stairs; everything was pitch black. "Have we got a flashlight?" he asked. Jace shook his head, but brought his cell phone out of his pocket and turned it on, illuminating the first few steps. There were no banisters or anything to hold on to, so they would just have to be careful. He glanced at Jace one more time – Jace's face mirrored Alec's: slightly terrified – before descending down the rickety stairs. With each pop and crack, he thought the stairs might give way with their weight.

Jace's phone didn't help much when they got to the bottom. Alec took it out of his hands and held it up, looking around for a cord or something indicating a light. He finally found a cord hanging from the ceiling and pulled it. Nothing happened. He tried a few times more, but there was no light. He looked over at Jace, whose face looked blue from the dim light of the phone. "Tell Izzy when she goes to IKEA to get flashlights and light bulbs." Jace nodded once and they scrambled up the steps.


Isabelle was already directing the men carrying the furniture to various places in the house. Jace and Alec sat on the porch and watched, laughing at their younger sister. She noticed and stuck her tongue out at them. Alec noticed one man leaning against the truck with his arms crossed. He was looking up at the windows of the upper floor, eyes squinted. "Hey!" He called to the boys. "Is there another person in the house?"

"Uh, no?" said Jace, walking over to him. Alec followed close behind. He looked up where the moving man was pointing, in the corner window of the house: Isabelle's room.

"What the-" said the man, "she's gone." He looked at Jace incredulously.

Jace snorted. "Did she wave? It was probably our sister." He looked toward Alec and rolled his eyes. Alec gave a short, shaky laugh.

The man's eyebrows turned down. "No, it wasn't the little bossy girl. It was…some woman. Your mom, maybe?"

Alec stepped forward. "Our mom isn't here. It's just the three of us." It was getting darker by then, and it made the property even creepier.

The man looked at Alec with an eyebrow raised. "Then who was the woman?"

Jace looked at Alec. "Do you have an explanation?" Alec shook his head.

There was silence for a moment, and then the man hurried to get back in the truck. The other men who came with him ran out of the house and got in the truck as well, and they sped down the hill. Isabelle stood in the doorway, looking confused. "What the hell was their problem?" she asked.

"Beats me," said Jace. "All I know is that I need to set up my bed in my room, and then I need a shower." He got up on the porch and went through the door, pushing past Isabelle. Alec still stood where he was, looking up at Isabelle's bedroom window.

"Something wrong?" Izzy asked, going to stand next to him.

"I don't think so," he said quietly, and together they went in the house.


It would seem as though his younger siblings picked out his room for him. Alec looked around at the small room. It also seemed that the moving men had just precariously thrown the furniture he'd moved from his old house – after, of course, everyone was out – in here.

After Robert was arrested on that night and their children taken away, Maryse sort of…lost it. She filed for custody the same time Alec did, but was found "physically unable to take care of children." But how Alec was found physically able was and possibly always will be a mystery to him, considering he's just a sophomore in college. But, nonetheless he got custody. Maryse moved to an apartment in Brooklyn, and Alec lost contact…not that he had any to begin with.

Shortly before arriving at their new house, Alec, Jace, and Isabelle stopped at their old house to find that their furniture hadn't been touched. Alec had convinced the landlord to keep things there until he could actually get to it.

Alec moved each piece of furniture to its appropriate place before preparing the bed. It was then that the temperature suddenly dropped in the house, and he thought about getting more blankets, or turning the heat up.

He came out of his room, lit only by lamplight, and turned down the dark hallway to Jace's room; the thermostat was right next to it. That must've been the reason he picked the room. Now the bastard was freezing them all to death.

When he reached the thermostat, the temperature read seventy. Huh, that's weird. He opened Jace's door slightly, and was greeted by lamplight and the most rancid smell known to man. Alec gagged. "By the Angel, Jace, did you let one?"

Jace leaped from his bed, where he was reading a book. "You smell it too? I swear, it's not me. It smells like something died. Probably another one of those damn rats." He sighed. "I hate them."

Alec rolled his eyes. "I came in here to tell you not to mess with the thermostat. And don't you think its cold?"

"No." Jace looked around the room. "I'm fine. Doesn't the thermostat say seventy? That's what I set it on before we went to bed." He shrugged. "It's probably just your imagination. Go to bed." He sat on his bed and calmly waited for Alec to leave.

"Whatever," Alec said, and went out of the room without closing the door back.

After turning the heat up to at least seventy-five, he made his way back to his room, rubbing his arms. A sudden chill came over him, and he could see his breath in front of him. He stopped in his tracks. He got this feeling that someone was behind him, and it made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. He turned his head about a quarter-inch, and then he heard it.

"You're next."

It was a faint whisper; so quiet he could swear he didn't hear it. Except he did, and he whirled around to face whoever was behind him. But there wasn't anyone there.

Alec was panting now, his heart racing. "Jace!" he called.

A blond head poked out of the doorway. "Did you say something?" Alec asked, his voice shaking. He looked down to see his hands trebling slightly as well.

"No," Jace said. "You know, maybe you are getting too paranoid about all this. Yeah, it's a creepy house, and yes, the mover guy did say he saw something. But that guy was probably on crack, and you really shouldn't take to heart everything someone says."

"But – "Alec stammered. "S-someone... Someone said something - someone said something to me. I heard it."

"What did they say?" Jace asked, but Alec could tell he didn't believe a word his older brother was saying.

"They said, 'You're next.' What does that mean, Jace?"

The blond sighed. "It means you have had a stressful day, and you need to go to sleep because it will be another stressful day tomorrow. Goodnight, Alec." And then he disappeared into his room, leaving Alec to wonder if it was really a good idea to move in the first place.


Alec slept fitfully all night. He woke up sweaty and gasping, but couldn't remember the dream that had left him that way. There was a smell similar, but not quite the same, as the one he'd smelled last night. This smell vaguely resembled…oh no, Isabelle's cooking.

Alec changed from pajama pants and an old t-shirt to jeans and a dark sweater, one that was nicer that the other ones he owned, considering this is the day they get Max from his foster home.

When he entered the kitchen, he was over taken with the odor of burnt bacon. "Jace," he scolded, taking a seat at the kitchen table, "you let Isabelle cook!"

Jace looked pained. "She got up before I did. I tried to stop her."

She waved a fork at them from the stove. "My cooking is not that bad."

"Yes it is," Jace said.

Isabelle shook her head. "Do you have to criticize everything?"

"Yes I do," Jace said, standing up from his seat across from Alec. "But it is constructive criticism."

"What am I supposed to learn from your 'constructive criticism'?" She used air quotes around those two words.

"You are supposed to learn…to never cook again!" He yelped as a piece of black bacon was thrown at him. Alec chuckled.

"Alright, cut it out. Iz, what time is it?"

"Almost ten-thirty," she said, turning off the stove. The sizzle and pop of the bacon died down instantly.

Alec jumped up. "What? You let me sleep that long?"

"You had a rough night," Jace said. "We could hear you talking in your sleep halfway down the hall. What were you dreaming about?"

"I…I don't know," Alec answered honestly. He cleared his throat and composed himself. "But that doesn't matter. Come on, we have to pick up Max."


What do you think? I have to say, the "You're next" part really scared me when I wrote it, because I was in a pitch black bedroom. I had to go into the living room with my mother because my heard was pounding. Yeah...it my not seem that scary but...I got scared. Sue me.

Review!