Ree sat in the window seat of the guest room she was currently occupying. She was watching the autumn leaves fall from the few trees that she could see, and watching as people walked by, some with kids, others with dogs. She even saw one man walking by with his cat on a leash.
A book had been sitting open on Ree's lap, the intention being she would read while sitting by the window. The words on the page had made sense for about 3 seconds before Ree had started feverishly blinking, rubbing the lids as if the world was ending. Eventually, Church hopped up onto her lap and she had straightened up, allowing the feline to curl up in her lap. Church's body kept Ree warm and his purring kept her ears company as she sat in almost complete silence, staring out of the window. As if a robot, her hand never stopped petting Church, even when she started to doze off.
Clary sat in the library with Simon and Isabelle as Jace walked around, looking at books. Though the group had been greatly separated for over 15 years, their relationship was the same: comfortable, easy, familiar. Simon had known Clary longer than anyone but Jocelyn, and the bond they had shared had not suffered even a small amount of damage. While Isabelle was sitting on an ancient armchair, her feet propped up on the matching ottoman, Simon and Clary were curled up on the couch, a large book balanced half on Simon's lap and half on Clary's. Simon was tracing the words with the pad of his finger, trying to soak up all of the knowledge he could. Clary on the other hand, had been staring at the book, but her mind was consumed with Ree. What to do with her, how to help her, how to find out why she is wanted, who is behind it, and most importantly if she was okay. She had come out to grab an apple and a cup of tea for breakfast, but hid herself back in her room, not even staying to consume the nourishment she had grabbed. Nobody has seen her come since that morning, and the only one who seemed worried was Clary.
"Clary?" Simon said for the seventh time. A small smile played on his lips as he remembered when they were younger and he would have to repeat what he was saying multiple times before she actually heard him.
"Yeah?" she looked up at him, fear and worry dancing in her eyes. Simon's smile disappeared and his eyebrows shot down, mimicking her worry.
"What's wrong?" She bit her lip, as if trying to lock up all words that might make the situation real.
"I'm just worried about Ree. She's been in her room all day, alone."
"Not necessarily," Izzy said, "I saw Church go in there a few hours ago."
"Great. She's got cat company." Clary rolled her eyes, her small hands curled together and held still in her lap.
"Clary, relax. She used to do this all the time at home." Jace pointed out.
"This is different Jace! She has an idea of what's been going on, has an idea of why she was kept in Irdis. We need to be care-"
"She's just a teenager! She's a Shadowhunter, Clary, this is how we are raised! We never know what the next step is, or who's lurking around the corner. It's how we survive." Isabelle's voice echoed through the library as Clary and Jace shared a look.
"Isabelle," Clary started in a low voice, "Ree is lethal." The words came out so quietly that the others had struggled to hear it.
"What do you mean lethal?" Simon's voice wavered slightly.
"She's got the fire in her, Iz." Jace said quietly. "Not as much as an Angel, but more than I did. She was born with it." Izzy and Simon looked at Clary, then Jace, then each other with their mouths hung open.
"How did you find out?" Simon asks.
"She set our kitchen on fire when she was 8 months old. We saw it happen, there was nothing flammable near her. She was in mid-tantrum." Clary's eyes were glued to the window, watching the multicolored leaves fall from the trees, dull against the grey sky. Jace smiled slightly as Clary's hands flexed, itching for her colored pencils to draw with.
"That means nothing…" Izzy grumbled.
"Well, after that happened, Brother Zachariah came to visit. Well, actually we called on him. Anyway, he came and saw Ree and that's how we figured out Sebastian had been involved." Simon rubbed his palms against his face, pressing the heels into his eyes. Clary stood, walking over to the window, tracing a pattern into the window pane. Protection. The rune's meaning popped up in her mind and she left the design as she walked away from the frosty pane.
"So what do we do now?"
"We need to call for a meeting, obviously. Keep Ree with someone at all times." Jace's tone was tired, evident of years of worrying and years of fighting, not necessarily together.
Suddenly, a voice rang throughout the library. "Dinner!" it called. Wearily, Isabelle turned to see Aline, a bright smile on her stunning face. "Don't worry, I ordered from Taki's." Jace's face lit up and he pulled Clary with him down to the table. Something dropped in Clary's stomach when she couldn't find Ree among the hoard of people.
"Where's Jade?" Helen asks suddenly.
"She's with Ree." Parker replies, shoving half a burger in his mouth.
"Well what are they doing?" Aline asks, slightly suspicious.
"I dunno, they were hanging out in Ree's room last I saw." Parker shrugged and turned, taking his plate with him to sit at the table with the other kids. Ethan and Adam, twin Shadowhunters that had taken home to the Institute 4 years previously, were sitting next to Parker, trading jokes and pushing each other every once in a while.
"I'm going to go get Ree." Clary announces. Jace grabs her hand.
"Love, let her be a teenager. She's with Jade, they are in the Institute, they are fine." He squeezes her hand and kisses her gently before pulling back.
"Come on, you know you love Taki's." he winks at her, walking towards the table that groaned under 10 large, stuffed brown paper bags.
"Mom! Max smacked the chair!"
"He dared me to!" Izzy rolled her eyes at Jace as Simon separated the young boys.
"Look, your cousins are leaving tomorrow. Spend some time with each other, and be nice!" Simon's voice sounds snappy, but the Clary knew he was just trying to be listened to.
"You guys are leaving tomorrow?" Alec's voice sounds from the doorway, Landon holding onto his hand and Magnus behind them, his shimmering cat eyes lined in glitter.
"Yea, we gotta get back to the station." Helen moved to touch the back of Clara's blonde hair. The girl's dark eyes flittered up to see her mother, lips turning up into a gentle smile.
"Will we come back again soon Momma?" her voice is soft and young, and makes Helen's returning smile brighter.
"Of course. We are very close, we can make a trip anytime you want." Aline bent down and kissed Clara's cheek, making the young girl squeal.
"Where are you stationed?" Jace asks, a french-fry halfway to his mouth.
"We've got the Institute in Phillie." Helen replies, smiling as she moves to eat her salad.
"Actually, Emma and Jules are coming to discuss something in the morning…we probably should leave sooner rather than later…" Aline looks at Helen and Clara, a sad expression on the 7 year olds pale face. Clary thought about when Ree was 7. Small, quiet, but full of energy and in love with her parents and grandparents. Jocelyn had once taken Ree out to the Fairchild Manor and shown her the place she had grown up. Luke had taken her to the Garroway Manor where Amatis had raised him. Both buildings were large, stark, and made of stone. The inside had been cold and the footsteps had echoed loudly, that's what Ree had kept telling Clary after she got back.
"Is everything alright?" Clary questioned.
"They called a meeting, didn't say what about. They-" Aline breaks off, a smile slowly creeping up on her face. Clary followed her gaze and watched as Ree walked in with Jade, smiles on both their faces. They were laughing, arms hooked together and footsteps in synchronization. Clary started at Ree, certain that Jade had done her hair and lined her eyes the way Isabelle used to do for her. The clothes Ree was wearing were black, like her usual, but Clary knew that while Ree was wearing her own pants, the shirt was Jade's.
"By the Angel." Jace said, his mouth dropping open.
Ree watched as first the adults, then the kids, looked up at her and stared, jaws hung open. She had been sitting in her room staring out the window when Jade busted in, ranting about something Clara and Flynn had done. Ree wasn't paying attention though, she was busy staring at the runes she had drawn on the window and walls. Protection, disguise, and clarity were drawn onto the window, the designs made inside a circle of steam from Ree's breathing. The walls had been drawn on with a soft graphite pencil, one Ree remembers her grandmother giving her on her last birthday. The walls that held runes had turned different colors. The wall in front of her was golden, the one to her side that housed the window and window seat was an emerald green, and the wall behind her was deep purple.
"Ree, are you alright?" Jade asked. She must have seen a look on my face, Ree thought.
"Look at my walls."
"You shouldn't have painted the walls, Ree. You're only here for a little while." Jade looked at Ree pointedly and then pointed to the still white wall. "At least that one is normal."
"I didn't paint them. Watch." Ree stood up and used an eraser to remove the runes from the wall. Once the runes were removed, the walls turned back to pristine white. Jade's jaw dropped and they had worked together to figure out what runes Ree had used to change the walls. After a few hours, they had figured it out and turned Ree's room gold and green, both colors sparkling like a gem.
"Whew! That was interesting." Jade flopped onto Ree's bed.
"Yea, you could say that." She giggles, throwing herself onto the bed next to Jade. Jade was catapulted off the bed and fell on the floor with a loud thump, causing both girls to fall apart into fits of giggles.
"I am so sorry!" Ree gasped out.
"I can't believe that just happened!" Jade, out of breath, struggled to stand and sit carefully on the bed. Ree pretended to jump on the bed again and watched as Jade stiffened, grabbing hold of the sheets. After they stopped laughing, Jade made a sound that Ree could only explain as a dying breath.
"Are you okay?!"
"I'M GOING TO GIVE YOU A MAKEOVER." Jade's eyes were wide and Ree was able to see that her eyes, though dark, were not pure black. Instead, they were a dark green-grey that reminded Ree of an angry sea.
"What's wrong with the way I look?" Ree asked, slightly offended. She knew she looked odd, not startlingly beautiful the way Isabelle, or Clary, or even Maddie or Jade looked. Her mismatched eyes scared people and her hair was too wild to be considered pretty, the red with odd stripes of gold. Now Ree knew the gold was because of the Angel blood, but it didn't change the way she saw herself. But she was surprised for Jade to come right out and say she needs to be changed.
"Nothing is wrong! In fact, you're gorgeous. But you need to dress for your body and use makeup to make you look stunning. You stand out Ree, you're different. It's time you look the part." Jade's small speech had Ree quiet.
"Sure, whatever." She waved her hand and Jade squealed, setting to work. She gabbed non-stop as Ree sat in a chair in Jade's room, one positioned in front of the mirror. Her skilled fingers worked expertly through Ree's hair, working with the curls to pin her hair up in some places. She moved onto her face, lining her eyes with black kohl and coating her eyelashes with mascara.
"You need to change clothes." Jade announced.
"But these are so comfy." Ree whined, able to be herself around Jade.
"I'll find you something." Jade turns her back and looks through her closet. "So why are you so different when your parents are around?"
"They worry about me, they watch me like hawks. It makes me nervous, and also if they knew all the stuff I did behind their backs…well I don't know how they would react." Ree was deep in thought when Jade threw an outfit at her.
"I am not wearing that." Ree backed away from the short skirt and tight long sleeve shirt combo.
"Why?" Jade whined, stomping her foot like a child.
"Because that skirt is way too short!" Grumbling, Jade thought for a moment.
"But you'll wear the shirt?!" she perked up.
"Yea, why not." Ree took off her holey blue sweater and slipped into the shirt. A v-neck, she realized, that had tight long sleeves and cinched at her waist. She was standing in sweatpants and Jade took off, reappeared a few minutes later.
"Here." She tossed Ree familiar black pants. Hers, Ree realized. She recognized the soft dark material with work spots at her knees, and she slipped them on gracefully despite the narrow pant legs.
"I love these pants." Ree smiled up at Jade, who was squinting, trying to figure out what else was needed. "We aren't going out, I don't need shoes."
"True. Alright, come on, they called us 25 minutes ago for dinner." Jade flashed a smile and Ree rolled her eyes, following Jade out of the room. They walked down the hall, joking together about Parker's sudden make out session the night before.
"Adam has a twin, he lives here too."
"Jeeze, how many people live here?"
"Well, Clara, my moms and I all live in Phillie and Alec, Magnus, and Landon live in Brooklyn, so it's Aunt Izzy, and Uncle Si, Onyx, Flynn, Max, Maddie, Parker, and then Adam and Ethan. Maddie and Parker were raised by Aunt Izzy and Uncle Si, but now that their older, they are more independent. They help raise Max, Flynn, and Onyx, but I think they all know they aren't really related. We still have no idea who their parents are. Even though my dad was a demon kind and my mom some random girl he just met, at least we knew who they were. Are."
"I thought your mom's were banished to some artic island or something."
"They were…but then Jia made executive decision. AKA, I needed a family and my moms were the only ones trusted with me, they were the only ones settled who had also fought Sebastian and were young enough to live my life with me. Then after 10 years Helen won trust and now they can do whatever they want." Jade shrugged.
"We have a lot of gay people here. Idris isn't like that." Ree shook her head, ashamed that Idris looked down on same sex relationships.
"What does Irdis have?" Jade asks, disgusted. Ree thought for a moment.
"Really pretty flowers." She decided finally. "And safety. But that's it. No vampires or werewolves or warlocks, no excitement or freedom, just punishment and rules."
"And very nice flowers." Jade added. At that, the two girls entered the kitchen to where the rest of the people were surrounded by Taki's take out. Jade and Ree's faces were flushed from excitement and laughter, their eyes lit up from happiness and the idea of warm, delicious food filling their stomachs.
"Mmmm…pancakes." Ree muttered, earning a laugh from just about everyone at the table. The smile she sent in response was infested with chewed up pancakes, and all the little kids started giggling uncontrollably.