Chapter 7.

It's not a dream. It can't be, because I don't wake up. Maybe I'm in a coma. Maybe I'm dead. Maybe... maybe it doesn't matter. It's been a week since I last talked to Gabriel, he's been calling and texting, but I have barely glanced at my phone. For the last week, I've been refusing to get out of bed. I've just been laying here, trying to process what he said. Me, Nephilim? No, it can't be. Or maybe it can. Maybe I should stop hiding here and go talk to him. Because I don't actually think that he's crazy. But it all scares me. I can't go somewhere where demons exist, it sounds like a world way more violent than the one I know. Gabriel seems to think that I could handle it, but I wouldn't be able to. Maybe I should at least call him. I should, I will. I pick up the phone and dial his number before I can change my mind. He picks up straight away.

"Ira?"

"Yeah, it's me."

"I've been trying to reach you."

"I know, I just... I needed some time for myself."

"And now?"

"I'm ready."

"Meet me at my place in an hour."

"Okay." I hang up and head towards the shower.

Later...

Once I'm there, I just stand outside his door for a while, doubting. Maybe this is a terrible idea. I still ring the bell though. Gabriel opens, as hot as ever and that's when it hits me. The only reason he seemed interested in me, the only reason he talked to me, was because of this. Because he was supposed to. I'm some sort of job to him.

"Ira-"

"No, don't say anything. I'll go with you, but first you need to tell me something. Did I ever mean anything to you?" I ask, tears stinging my eyes.

"Ira, of course." he says, taken aback by my question. "Maybe not at first, but I really like you, Ira, I do." he says and tries to hug me. I take a step back though.

"Don't. I don't know what to think right now."

"But you'll go with me? And give me a chance to explain later?" he asks, hopeful. I doubt, this is why I came here, but do I really want to do this? What about my mom, my friends, will I ever see them again?

"Will I come back here?"

"Yes. For one, I doubt that we'll find all the answers we need in my dimension, we'll need to investigate more here later as well. Also, once we've figured it all out, you should be where you want to be." he says.

"Then yes, I'll go." I say.

We head inside, and he opens the door that leads to the training room. I haven't been in here since that first day, but it looks the same. We head towards another door, one that I didn't notice last time I was in here. Inside there is something, a blue thingy that's moving, swirling.

"What is that?" I ask, suspicious.

"That is our way back to my dimension." he says, grabbing my hand. "Don't let go of me!" he yells, before hurling us through the blue thing. I scream. It feels like I'm in the middle of a hurricane, wind tearing at me, my clothes, somehow I manage to hold on to Gabriel.

Once we're through, we're standing in a dark room. There's a man there, a man with the eyes of a cat. I think he's a warlock.

"Took you a while. This is the girl?" he says, staring at me.

"Hello to you too, Magnus." Gabriel says. "Magnus, this is Ira, Ira, Magnus."

"She doesn't look like a Shadowhunter."

"I'm not." I say. "I can't be."

"How much did you tell her?" Magnus asks, looking at Gabriel.

"As much as I thought she would understand." he answers.

"I think most people wouldn't understand any of this so that doesn't tell me much." Magnus says.

"That doesn't matter. It's more complicated than we thought, Magnus. She's been having dreams. About Clary."

"Clary?" Magnus asks, clearly surprised to hear that name.

"Yes, Clary, you know, small with red hair. Doesn't know much more than this one does." Gabriel says, clearly annoyed.

"If that's the case you must have told her something."

"Could someone please tell me what's going on?" I yell.

"Or not." Magnus says with a grin. It makes me want to punch him.

"What was that that we went through?"

"A Portal." they say at the same time.

"Okay, fine. Now, where are we exactly?" I continue.

"My house, my cellar more exactly." Gabriel answers. "Magnus, maybe you should head home. She needs rest, we can't do anything today anyway."

"Sure, I'll be back tomorrow though." he says, winking at me.

"Now what?" I ask Gabriel.

"Now, I show you my house. Let's do the heavy stuff tomorrow." he says, smiling at me.

"Fine. Tell me what we're going to do tomorrow though." I answer, desperate to find out something, anything.

"Magnus is going to be back, he's going to look into your memories." he says, with a worried look on his face.

"My memories?"

"Yes. It won't hurt you, Magnus is very talented." he continues. "Then we're going to head to the Institute, to find out if you are a Shadowhunter or not."

"Okay, fine. Show me you're house then." I say. He smiles at me and we head up the stairs. It's a grand house, huge and full of expensive, ancient things. His uncle is in the living room and I'm surprised to see that he's in a wheel chair.

"Hello Gabriel." he says with a small smile. "And you must be the girl."

"I'm Ira." I say to the fragile looking old man, but I know that even though he looks fragile, it doesn't matter that he's in a wheel chair. All Shadowhunters are strong, even the damaged ones.

"How much did you tell her?" he asks, looking at Gabriel.

"Not much, as little as possible so that I wouldn't confuse her." he says.

"So that wasn't supposed to be confusing? I don't wanna know what you think is confusing." I say with a snort. Gabriel laughs and so does his uncle.

"I think I'll like you." his uncle says, and I think I might like him too, he seems nice.

"I'll show you to your room, Ira." Gabriel says, beckoning towards the stairs, leading upwards.

"Okay. I'll see you later." I say to his uncle. Then I remember that I didn't get his name, but by then we're already heading up the stairs. Oh well, I guess I'll ask him later.

"Gabriel, what's my mom going to think?" I ask, suddenly worried she'll think I've run away. I guess I have, kind of. I just don't want her to worry. Gabriel hesitates, obviously he hasn't thought about this before.

"I guess she'll probably think you ran away." he says, sighing. "Since there aren't any warlocks in your dimension there's no way to make her forget it. Magnus isn't going to want to go through."

"Oh." I feel disappointed, mom's going to be pissed when I get home. Maybe she'll even have the police involved.

"I'm sorry Ira, we'll figure something out." he says. We reach my room and he says good night. I look out the window and see how dark it is, I hadn't even realised until now that it was late.

"Good night Gabriel." I say and give him a hug. I'm still slightly mad at him, but he's being really nice so I guess maybe it wasn't all a scheme to get me to go with him. I fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow and for once I have a dreamless night.

I think that me not dreaming has something to do with being here. Maybe my dreams have been telling me that this is where I belong. Is this where I belong? Did I come from here. Those are my thoughts when I wake up. The sun is shining through the window and at least that looks the same as at home. I guess that's a small comfort. This is like that time when I went with my class to DC, except a thousand times worse. Right now, it feels as though my mom and my friends don't even exist, because here, they don't. I know that getting here was pretty easy, so getting back should be the same. However, I think that I will have to stay here for quite some time. I shouldn't be thinking about them though. Today, I'm going to find out more about who I am. Today, I'm going to figure out what's up with my dreams and at least I'll know whether or not I'm one of them. Whether or not I'm Nephilim.

Author's note: I'm going away next week, so I won't update for the entire week. Hopefully I'll get another chapter out today, otherwise it'll be done next weekend.