Thanks to my first three reviewers! If it hadn't been for you guys...Well, let's just say I wouldn't have noticed the fact that I forgot to edit everything before uploading. :) I appreciate it! Thank you so much!

3 Echo

Oh, and BTW...I might update a new chapter right after this one because i love you guys. :)


I ended up falling on my butt near the foot of the stairs by my cabin. I clomped up them, rounding the corner and exiting onto the expansive upper decks. Covered in polished oak, it was at least three hundred feet long and five hundred feet wide. A huge mast, cracked and splintered in many places, rose up out of the middle, holding twenty full sized sails. Right now, they were stilled, barely flapping in the wind.

Leo and Jason were up by the bow "décor" of the ship, better known as Festus, the head of the bronze dragon Leo had rebuilt a year and a half ago. I jogged closer, beginning to hear a heated argument between the two.

"I'm TELLING you, we should head east to avoid the oncoming storm! I can feel the energy in the air towards the west!" Jason yelled. He was throwing off sparks, eyes glowing with electricity.

"If we head east, it'll take us at least another day to get back on track. We don't have that kind of time to waste avoiding a stupid storm!" Leo snapped. His nose caught on fire, which usually happened when he was either annoyed, jealous, or embarrassed.

I stepped up between them, placing one hand on either of their chests, shoving them apart.
"ENOUGH!" I growled, green sparks rolling off my arms, my eyes glowing with light. Jason and Leo stumbled back, far enough away to avoid me. Whenever I got mad, the small portion of Hecate's magic I had in my blood acted up. After all, she was my great-grandmother.

"I'm the daughter of the sea, I'LL choose where we go." I looked at both of them. Leo's eyes narrowed, but he nodded consent. Jason leaned on the rail heavily, ignoring me. I closed my eyes, holding out my hands, palms up. I tried to relax, to use my mind's eye to get the coordinates we needed, but my thoughts were focused more on Calypso and what had happened to her.

I shook my head, trying to clear my brain and focus. The sea spray blew over the bow, touching my skin gently, leaving small droplets of water in my hair and on my skin. I exhaled, letting the coordinates come to my mind. I opened my eyes, and turned to Leo.

"We go due northeast, avoiding all land until we see a single mountain in the distance." I informed him, stepping closer. I guided his eye to a small blur on the horizon.

"Aim for that, basically." I said. I turned to walk away, but he caught my arm, pulling me back. He reached behind me, and pulled my hair out of its tight braid, fluffing it gently. The condensation from the sea spray made it slightly frizzy, but he didn't seem to care. He traced his finger down my cheek, bringing it to rest on my chin. It led a trail of water to drip off my face. He kissed my forehead gently, and brushed past me to punch the coordinates into the control board. I watched him go, then walked down the deck.

"Oh, and I'm going to have my friends from the Institute come and help us out." I yelled over my shoulder to Leo and Jason. Leo nodded, fingers flying over the controls.

"We need it." He agreed.

"What do we need?" Piper asked, walking out onto the deck with Hazel and Nico, whom I didn't expect to come out of the stables quite yet.

"I'm going to bring some help out here. My friends from the Institute wanted to come, and besides, one shadowhunter on board this ship wasn't enough." I told them.

"One is all I need!" Leo shouted over the sound of the engines starting.

"Love you too!" I yelled back. I held out my hands, one up high like I would if I was raising a hand in class, the other down low near my hips. The really cool thing about being a descendant of Hecate was that I could learn magic from Magnus, who was supposedly quite knowledgeable in the subject. Recently, I learned how to create a portal. I couldn't transport things from really far away yet, but I could summon enough energy to get Isabelle and Alec on board. That's what I was attempting to do right now, anyway.

There was a loud crack, like thunder, which was the sound of dimensions breaking, and green mist began to swirl from my hands to the break I had created. It rotated quicker and quicker, and then I felt the void empty, right on top of me.

I fell backward, getting the wind knocked out of me by something heavy. I opened my green eyes to see Alec's pale blue one's staring at me.

"Umph. You're crushing me." I grunted. He stood up, pulling me to my feet.

"Sorry." He smiled. I shook my head.

"You're going to make Magnus jealous." I whispered to him. His smile faded.

"He left, remember?" He murmured back, walking towards Isabelle, who was picking up all the knives she had dropped. Piper had bent over, helping her to collect them all.

"Some of those might be mine, Izzy." I said, checking my sheaths. "When Alec fell on me, I think some went flying." Leo made a noise, and I looked over my shoulder to see him patting out the fire on his nose. I hid my smile with my hand, turning away.

"Hazel, can you separate the throwing knives for us?" I asked, throwing the ones I picked up towards the others.

"Sure!" She said, holding out a hand. The knives levitated slowly, and her forehead furrowed in concentration as they separated into different piles. Once she was done, they all clanged down back onto the deck.

"I didn't know you could do that." Nico muttered to Hazel. She shrugged.

"They're made of something a little more than just metal, so I can move them." She replied, walking towards the railing of the ship. Piper followed, putting her hand over Jason's, who decided to stay there skulking all day.

Alec finished sheathing all of his knives, and held one out to me.

"I forgot the sheath for this. You use them more than I do, why don't you keep it?" He said. I took it out of his hand, running a finger down the blade.

"It could be sharper, but I can always use another. Thanks. " I said. "Hey, feel free to set up something in my bedroom to sleep in. I've a porch that has a glass roof that can slide over it, so we can fit you guys in there." I pointed down the stairs. "Go down and to your left."

Isabelle nodded, her black hair snapping in the wind. "Thanks for letting us tag along."

"I was feeling a bit alone anyway. I'm used to living in the Institute. Really, y'all are doing me a favor by coming here." I responded, raking a hand through my wet, frizzy hair. Alec sighed, and took Isabelle by the arm.

"See you at dinner." He mumbled, dragging his sister behind him into the stairwell.

"Who are they, exactly?" Piper asked.

"I'll do a formal introduction during dinner, when everyone's here." I said.

"No, I meant what do they DO. Like, we do quests for the gods and things like that." She retorted.

Well, they're shadow hunters like me, usually half angel and half human. In my case, I'm half angel, half god." I informed her.

"You guys hunt demons, right?" Jason's eyebrows wrinkled.

"Yes, but we do it to keep the mundane, better known as mortals, safe." I said. "As of now, I've got two more shadowhunters, Jace Herondale and Clary Fairchild, coming along with our former mundane friend, now a vampire, Simon. Simon drank shadowhunter blood, so he can stay in the sunlight unlike most vampires, and warlock Magnus Bane is leading them."

"Good. It'll be nice having the extra help around here." Hazel stated. "Speaking of, I need help cooking dinner tonight."

"I'll go with you." Piper took Jason's arm, and dragged him after Hazel's retreating figure. "Come on Nico." She pushed the son of Hades through the door leading down to the stairs. He protested, but Piper didn't take no for an answer. I laughed silently to myself, turning towards the bow of the warship.

"I guess it's just you and me now." I walked towards Leo, who was still furiously flipping switches and pushing buttons on his control board. He avoided eye contact, but a little touch of jealousy was never a bad thing in my book.

Nevertheless, I wrapped my arms around his waist, leaning into him. He paused, placing his hands over mine. I felt muscles shift under his thin shirt as he turned around towards me, kissing my mouth gently. His lips were salty from the ocean spray, but the familiar smell of machine oil lingered on his skin.

He hugged me closer as I pushed him against the control panel. He made surprised noise, but quieted as I slid my hands behind his neck, kissing him again. He sunk down slowly, leaning against the wooden panels, pulling me onto his lap.

His warm breath stirred my hair from my face, sending a chill down to my toes. I broke away, sliding off of him, deciding to rest my head against his shoulder instead. I closed my eyes, and he wrapped his arm around my waist, holding me tightly.

"Well, well, well. This IS unexpected." A voice broke the silence.

"Magnus!" I choked in surprise, hitting my head on the control panel, startled. I sunk back down, glaring at the warlock. He was lounging against the railing, examining his seemingly flawless nails. I stood up, lightly smacking him on the shoulder. His eyes, slit like a cat's, flicked up, glowing yellow. All warlocks had a mark, whether it was unnaturally colored hair or skin, deformities such as claws for hands or feet, or unusual eyes like Magnus had.

"I did say I would come back when we were done in Idris." He murmured; letting magic blue sparks dance from fingertip to fingertip, highlighting his face, which was distinctly Asian, dark with high cheekbones. I sighed.

"Glad to see you're not dead yet, though." I muttered, leaning against the railing next to him.

"I've survived? Brilliant. I love it when I do that." A smile curled across his mouth. I shifted away from him, still annoyed about my throbbing head.

"You could have given me a warning or SOMETHING before scaring me half to death." I accused, folding my arms. Leo stood up next to me, touching my shoulder gently. Magnus studied him, yellow eyes narrowed.

"I'll be down in the dining area if you need me." Leo said before jogging across the deck, down the stairs to the mess hall. Magnus shook his head.

"Goodness, he does look quite a bit like Raphael, doesn't he? Same age, too." He commented. I stared at him, throwing up my hands in the air.

"Must everything go back to Raphael? Just because he, a mere vampire fledgling, kicked your ex girlfriend out of her position as head vampire of the New York clan, doesn't mean that everything revolves around him!" I rubbed my temples with my fingers. "Why are you here so early anyway? And where's Clary and Jace and Simon?" I asked.

"Jace had to pay a visit to family first before coming here." Magnus turned towards me, hands folded behind his back. "They'll be along soon, but for now, why don't you introduce me to your demigod friends?" He said, waving a ringed finger towards the door to below decks.

"You might scare a few of the older ones half to death, especially Hazel, whose moth-" Magnus cut me off before I could finish.

"Whose mother dabbled in witch craft. I knew her, actually. She was one of the few mundanes who actually understood warlock magic for what it was." He finished for me.

"Still, PLEASE be as normal as you can be." I pleaded. He shrugged, sending a shower of glitter from his black trench coat to the floor. He liked things to be sparkly, but I wasn't one to argue with his odd sense of fashion. If I had been alive as long as he had...well, he'd always been trendy anyway, from what his other warlock friends told me.

"Echo, you should know by now that I am anything but normal." He touched my arm briefly, before walking towards the door that led to many possibilities: If Hazel or Leo had cooked, the meal would be excellent. If Isabelle had helped in any possible way, our kitchen was probably either burnt down or full of smoke and ruined food.

"I take it that we're done here, and you want dinner." I guessed, following him. He turned to me, eyebrows wrinkled in dismay.

"Isabelle isn't cooking, right?" He asked.

"By the angel, I hope not." I responded, a faint smile gracing my lips.

He waited for me to catch up, then we both descended into a situation that, provided Isabelle was let near any of the food or kitchen tools, could be drastic.

Once we reached the well lit mess hall, there was steaming foods of all kinds set out on the table. The polished mahogany table held fruit salad, barbequed meats, tacos, beef and vegetable stew, a cheesy mess of mashed potatoes, gumbo, salad, burgers, pizza, an assortment of Chinese and Thai takeout, and every kind of drink to ever hit mankind.

"Wow." Magnus actually seemed surprised, for once in his life. I was just glad to see pizza and Chinese on the same table. Those were literally the best foods ever to be invented.

Hazel came out of the kitchen with more dishes balanced in her hands. Isabelle came out with utensils, and Alec followed with napkins.

"You didn't let Isabelle near any of the food, did you Hazel? I don't want to die...I'm too young, and as Magnus would put it, fabulous for the grave." I said, a small laugh escaping, making me clap a hand over my mouth. She shot a friendly glare my direction.

"Hey, I'm not that bad!" She protested. Alec groaned, rubbing his forehead in mock frustration.

"I've lived with you for my entire, miserable life. I know you can't cook. If the world's existence depended on it, we'd all die of starvation before eating your strange, burnt concoctions." He shot in her direction. She gasped, smacking him with the dish towel she was holding. Alec stumbled back, laughing, rubbing his arm where she hit him.

Hazel looked over her shoulder at me. "Alec warned me before Isabelle could help me and Leo cook. You won't die tonight, I guarantee."

Before I could say anything, I heard a loud crash outside the door. Alec and Isabelle already had seraph blades drawn. I quietly slid three throwing knives out of my belt, walking slowly towards the door. I placed the palm of my hand on the wood, gently pushing it open. I saw a huge, shadowy figure bent over shards of glass, picking through them. I crept up behind the creature, but before I could slide my knife under its throat, it stood up and turned around. Once it saw me, crouched down in front of it, it yelled, and all the glass pieces crashed to the floor. The lights flicked on, and I saw the terrified face of Frank Zhang.

"Oh good, Frank's alive, y'all!" I stood up and shoved Frank through the door into the mess hall. He immediately froze upon seeing Alec, Isabelle, and Magnus in the room.

"Wh-who are they?" He asked.

"Friends. I'll introduce everyone in a moment, after we get that mess out there cleaned up. Magnus, can you possible fix that vase?" I asked, kicking the pieces into the room. Magnus gave the mess a sideways glance, and absentmindedly flicked his fingers towards the glass shards. They glowed slightly with blue light, and then flew together, seared back into one solid glass vase.

"Thanks." I picked up the new vase, setting it back into the case from whence it came.

"That was so COOL!" Leo exclaimed from his post near the kitchen door. Isabelle looked at him with annoyance on her face.

"He's a warlock, what did you expect?" She asked.

"Well, I thought warlocks did like tarot cards and stuff." Leo said. Magnus made an indignant noise.

"Tarot cards are for mundane idiots who think they understand what real magic is. I, myself, am a fabulous, trained professional." Magnus glared at Leo, cat's eyes narrowed.

"Who's drunk nearly half the time..." Alec muttered.

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that." Magnus said.

"Is this really worth squabbling over?" Piper asked, looking over Leo's shoulder. "Why don't we all just sit down?" I could feel her charmspeak wash over me. Luckily, I wasn't so easily persuaded by her magic.

"Before we do, let me at least tell Frank who Alec and Isabelle and Magnus are!" I told Piper.

"Fine, go ahead." She walked back into the kitchen. I turned around, but Frank was gone. I looked for Hazel, who was setting dishes down on the table top.

"Hazel," I called. "Do you think you could go find Frank and explain what's going on here? He's gone." I asked. She looked up, and nodded, placing the remaining dishes in their spots.

"Go ahead and eat without me." She said before exiting. I nodded.

"Alright, everyone, let's eat!" I announced, pulling my chair out and collapsing down into it. Piper came out of the kitchen with Jason, sitting down next to Magnus, who was rubbing his temple.

"How did I even get myself wrapped up with you people?" He asked himself. I answered for him.

"Alec was dying, remember?" I said. He looked across the table at me. "That was a pretty good reason to help you Nephilim, wasn't it?"

"Nephilim? What's that mean?" Jason asked, sitting next to Piper.

"It's a nickname for shadowhunter." Alec responded, sitting down next to me, Isabelle next to him and on the other side of Magnus.

"It's a mouthful, is what it is." Piper reached for the vegetable stew.

"Who cares what we are? We're all here, we're all friends." Isabelle sounded exasperated.

"All I care about right now is eating food. I'm starving." I reached for the Chinese food, grabbing a few pieces of veggie pizza on the way.

"Agreed." Leo sat down on my other side, gently touching my wrist before reaching for the tacos and beef stew.

Magnus stared woefully at his feet. "I wish Chairman Meow was here."

I snorted.

"You can go a week or two without seeing your cat, I'm sure." I assured him between mouthfuls of noodles.

"He's only two!" He protested. I spread my hands.

"What does age have to do with anything?" He looked at me darkly for a moment.

"A hundred years can go by in a blink of an eye to someone like me, doomed to be immortal." He responded.

"But one day can be a thousand years worth of love." I shot back.

"She's right." Alec agreed, black hair flopping into his eyes as he nodded. I stared in shock.

"Since when do you ever say that I'm right? Are you sick? Have you been possessed?" I tried to sound genuinely concerned for his welfare. Didn't work.

"Jace is rubbing his sarcasm off on you." Isabelle said through a mouthful of burger.

"That's great." I rolled my green eyes, slumping back into my chair.

"So where are we going to anyway?" Jason asked.

"Some mountain Echo told me to head for." Leo answered.

"'Some mountain' doesn't sound good." Piper said.

"It's fine." I muttered, taking another bite out of my pot sticker. "Why don't we just finish eating, then we can go upstairs and talk about life then? Jace and Clary and Simon should be here by then, right Magnus?" I looked over at the apparent "nineteen" year old. He simply nodded.

"Then let's eat." Leo said, taking a second to last bite of taco.

I finished the contents of my Chinese takeout box, and chucked it towards the trash. Most everyone was done, but Jason was still eating.

"I think we missed the food. Darn." An amused voice broke the silence.