Please review. I'm lonely. Comment something. Anything. Suggestions. Faces. Quotes from the books. Anything!

Day 2 in coma…

It was the second day since they had gone demon hunting and Jem had been knocked out. The ex-Brother still had yet to wake up. No one had been able to get ahold of Tessa either. The young shadow hunters were sitting in the library, waiting for any news. Last they heard, nothing had changed. But that was right after dinner the night before, which no one had really been too interested in. It had been more of a "there's food in front of me so I'm gonna eat it" dinner.

Alec was sitting on the couch, staring at the table, lost in thought. Jace was stretched out over the couch, his head on Alec's lap, sleeping. Clary and Isabelle were sitting in chairs, and Simon was laying on the floor between them, absentmindedly throwing a tennis ball in the air and catching it. The girls were both looking for some way to find out what was wrong with Jem.

Finally, Magnus came in the room. Before he said anything, his eyes wandered to Jace and Alec, and he pointed with an eye brow raised. Alec looked up.

"Food poisoning from the Chinese last night." He explained. "He was up all night puking his guts out."

"Ah." Magnus nodded. Everyone else looked up, expecting an update. "Anyway, there's been no change since last night. James is still unresponsive. We've tried everything at this point."

"Aroma therapy?" Isabelle asked.

"Yep. Nothing." Magnus shook his head.

"What if I tried to make a rune to wake him up?" Clary suggested.

"That might do more damage."

"But you have a theory." Alec said it as a statement, not a question. He had started running his fingers through Jace's hair, just as something to keep his hands busy.

"I do have a theory, but I'm not even sure it's possible." Magnus sighed.

"Explain?" Alec coaxed.

"I think he might be watching his life flash before his eyes. I'm not going to explain more than that, because I don't think he'd want me to. But if you're really curious, look up the Shanghai Institute in the 1800s. 1860s would be the most useful to you, and every year after that. Then try the London Institute in the 1870s." Magnus explained. "That way, whatever you find out is from a book and not me."

Jem's POV

Much of what happened next was a blur, a mix of strange sounds and voices and excruciating pain. He could hear his mother's voice and his father's voice calling out for him. Then it seemed like there was just his mother's voice, and eventually no voices at all but the rough, unpleasant voices of demons taunting him from behind the darkness. Hallucinations mixed with reality. By the time he could make sense of things again, he was lying in a soft bed, a warm blanket over him and comfortable pillows under his head. Where was he? He looked around. He was in a plain room and it wasn't in Shanghai. That was all he could tell. He pushed himself into a sitting position, and looked around, confused. Where were his parents? How did he get here? Where even was here?

Just before he could push himself to his feet, a woman walked in, marks dancing over arms and neck. So he was with other Shadow Hunters. That was good, right?

"Don't try to get up. You need to rest a little longer." She said, in a very soothing voice.

"Where am I? What happened?" it hurt to talk, and his voice was hoarse, as if he hadn't used it in a while. The slight Mandarin accent seeped through, barely noticeable.

"You're in the hospital, in Idris. You're safe." She said, sitting on the edge of his bed and carefully pushing him back down so he was laying down. "Do you remember anything?"

James shook his head. "Where's my mom?" He asked. "And my dad?"

When he saw the frown on her face, he felt a wave of dread go over him.

"We didn't get there in time to save them. You were the only one still alive, and just barely." She said sadly. She explained how the enclave had found him and his parents tied to chair, and how both his parents had already been dead. He had nearly been dead, his eyes white and blood at the corners of his mouth and splatted on his pants and shirt. She told him that he would be given the choice to stay in Idris, or go to another institute, but it was not suggested he return to China any time soon. When he asked if there was any other family he could go to, he was told the remaining Carstairs had gone off to hunt Yanluo for revenge. He asked for more time to think about it.

The next few days were spent in physical and mental therapy. They explained to him about the drug, yin fen, and how he would die slowly if he took, but die within a day if he stopped taking, and either way it would probably be painful and harsh. He had thought about it, and decided to keep taking the drug so he could have the chance to hear them say Yanluo was dead, and in the hope they would eventually find a cure for it. He had to regain some stamina, as it had become a struggle to even walk down the hallway. He couldn't hold heavy objects. Mentally, he was haunted by screams and voices, and would have panic attacks. The smallest things seemed to trigger some memory of whatever had happened in the Shanghai institute, and he would start to shake and his breath would come in gasps as he re-lived the torture he had gone through. He was afraid of the dark now, too, as if he expected Yanluo to jump out at him from any shadow.

When they finally deemed him fit enough, they asked him where he wanted to go. An institute or stay in the city? He told them the London Institute. His father was from London. He had no idea how big of an impact the London Institute would later make on him.

They sent him off with the silent brothers, making sure he had enough yin fen to get through a few days and had sent a letter ahead of him to Charlotte Barnwell to tell her about the condition of her newest shadow hunter.

The ride to London took a few hours, and Jem was not liking traveling by carriage very much. He used to walk to places in Shanghai. Now, he honestly felt a little nauseous. He couldn't see from the windows, because they had the curtains closed and they told him to keep them that way. The rocking of the carriage and occasional bump left him nauseous and dizzy. He swayed a little as he stepped out, and was briefly self-conscious of how he must look; an underweight, pale skilled, half Chinese boy with hair that was streaked with silver.

Standing at the door to the massive Church building was a small woman, with messy hair and kind eyes. Jem took a step toward her, and heard the carriage pull away behind him. He would be staying here in London for a while now. He had been quickly told before he left that there was another shadow hunter boy around his age here who he might be able to befriend. After a tour of the massive institute by the woman, whose name he learned was Charlotte, he was brought to the training room to meet the other shadowhunter. His name was William Herondale, and he was apparently very hard to get along with, according to Charlotte.

(. I can't find the part of when Will and Jem first meet online anywhere! I packed my books away because I'm in the process of moving, but why didn't I make a note of that part beforehand!? Ugh, you all know how it went, so *insert Cassandra Clares words of what happened when Jem and Will first met and Will agreed to train with Jem*)

Jem stayed in the weapons room with Will for a while longer, already trying to show him how to properly throw a knife. So far, there was very little change. Will was horrible at it, and not very patient with his failing. There were now several more holes in the walls and Jem had decided the safest place to stand was behind Will on his non-throwing arm side.

"Maybe you should just take a break for a while. I don't think a broken window will do anyone any good." Jem said carefully, seeing Will red-faced and dripping with sweat as he glared at the target. If looks could set things on fire, that target would've been a pile of ashes by now.

"No. One more try." Will argued, pulling his arm back like he was going to throw a football.

Jem sighed. "You said that four tries ago." He walked over to Will's other side and grabbed his wrist before he could throw it again. "And if you're going to try one last time, then try to do it right. It doesn't matter how strong your arm is, if you can't throw it right, you're not going to get anywhere. First off, it's all the wrist, not the shoulder."

Jem guided Will's arm lower, so it was by his side again instead of behind him. "Second, you should be standing sideways, like I said twelve times already." He put his hands on Will's shoulder and moved him so he was standing sideways to the target, instead of facing it. "Now pull your arm in front of you and.." Jem tossed a knife with a quick jerk of his wrist, much like how someone would throw a Frisbee today. The knife hit the target in the dead center, as it normally did.

"Try it now." He instructed. Will bit his lip in concentration and eyed the target, before copying Jem's earlier movement. The knife cut through the air and landed in the circle around the bull's-eye. The closest he had gotten so far. Will grinned.

"Much better." Jem nodded. "Maybe there's hope for you after all."

"How did you learn to hit the center every time?" Will asked him, turning those startlingly blue eyes towards Jem.

"I can't hit it every time. I just hit it most of the time." Jem corrected. "My mother taught me."

"A girl taught you how to throw a knife?" Will rose an eye brow.

"Is there a problem with that?" Jem copied his facial expression.

"No, none at all." Will turned his gaze away, looking a little smug still. "I'm hungry. Did Charlotte show you the kitchen?"

"Yes, she did." Jem nodded.

"Well, I'm sure it'll be more interesting when I'm there. Come on, I'll show you how to sneak in and steal fruit."

"Why steal? Couldn't you just ask for it?" Jem asked, tilting his head a little as he hurried to catch up to Will, who was already walking away.

"I could, but where's the adventure in that?" Will snorted and lead the way, Jem following closely behind him.