Max's sister had been in a bad mood since she and the others had returned empty-handed from their hunting trip. They hadn't caught the vampire. According to Izzy, Lily had turned up just as they were about to give up and go home with news that the Lawbreaker had vanished, left the clan. Max knew how much his sister hated failing. He also knew that her failure would distract her, and when Izzy was distracted she would often spill secrets without thinking. Which was exactly why Max had suddenly been overcome with the urge to spend time with his big sister.

"It's like he knew we were coming somehow, but Lily said she didn't say anything to anyone. It doesn't make sense." Isabelle said for the millionth time, throwing herself down on the mountain of bright pink pillows. Isabelle's room had not changed for as long as Max could remember. The walls were hot pink and black, the carpet was pink, the bed was pink. Everything was fluffy and glittery, from the heaps of clothes on the floor to the girlish fairy lights hung across the ceiling. Max felt sorry for Simon having to sleep surrounded by so much pink.

"Maybe he just smelled you?" Max suggested, leaning back in the fluffy tub chair. The clothes he had brushed off to clear a space were heaped on the ground at his feet, smelling distinctly like lavender perfume.

Isabelle gave him a look. It was the same look his mother used to give him, before she moved to Idris to be closer to their father. "Funny." She said, though her voice told him she found it anything but.

"Eddie seems kinda cool." He said after a while, trying to sound casual, as if it was a casual remark rather than a carefully planned conversation topic.

Isabelle narrowed her eyes, and for a moment Max thought she could see right through him. "You're not getting… fond of her, are you?" She asked suspiciously, and he relaxed.

"No, why?"

"Good." Isabelle picked at a scar on her hand- a knife wound Max may have given her accidentally while training. "Because that girl is trouble."

Max raised his eyebrows. "What makes you say that?"

Izzy shrugged, still distracted by the scar. "She's been through rough stuff. The kind of stuff that messes you up. You know, in the head."

Max was leaning forward in his seat, trying not to look eager. "What kind of stuff?"

Isabelle's head snapped up, fixing him with a suspicious gaze. "Just stuff. Don't ask questions about Eddie, Max. She's…complicated."

And that was all he managed to get out of her. After five more minutes of receiving glares as answers to his questions, he gave up. If he wanted to know the truth, he would just have to get it from someone else. Only that someone hated his guts, and would probably try to slit his throat again if he approached her.

Occupational hazard, he thought to himself.


"Eddie, I know you're in there." He'd seen her retreating back to her room after dinner. Alright, he might have followed her, but it was only because he wanted to talk to her.

Silence.

Max sighed. "Fine, I'm coming in."

"Do that and I'll stab you in the throat, Lightwood. I mean it."

Max grinned. "Sure you will." He muttered, and pushed the door open.

Eddie stood at the foot of her bed, pointing her knife at the door. Her face was drained of colour, her hand shaking slightly, and there was a piece of crumpled paper in her fist.

"Max, I told you-"

"I heard." Max said calmly. He took a step forward.

"Stay there." She said, her voice wavering. She was swaying of her feet, biting on her lip to stop it trembling. Max took another step.

"I said stay there!"

"I know."

"I'll- I'll throw it. I'l throw the knife."

"I'll risk it."

"Max, please. Go away." She was backing away now around the bed, and there was definitely something wrong.

"Why?" He persisted, still walking towards her. "I need to talk to you."

"GO AWAY."

"Eddie-"

"No." She crumpled. Max darted forward, reaching her even before her knife hit the ground. She curled in on herself, hugging her knees up underneath her and shaking her head.

"Eddie?" Max tried to lay a hand on her arm, but she smacked him away. "What's wrong?"

"He's going to come back." She murmured, her eyes huge and shining with the first fear he'd seen her express. "He's going to come back for me."


The world around her was white. She closed her eyes, her entire body shaking violently. She couldn't move, couldn't speak over the deep, husky voice repeating itself over and over inside her head. I am coming.

She was vaguely aware of someone's arms around her, saying something she couldn't hear. Then she felt the burning of a stele, but it was a good burning, not the unnatural searing of the runes that weren't runes. Eddie sank backwards as the voice in her head faded, along with everything else.


"Eddie?" Eddie moaned and buried her head deeper into the pillow. Someone was prodding her in the arm, and she batted them away angrily. "Eeeeedddie, wake up. I know you can hear me."

Eddie grumbled and opened her eyes. She was lying in her bed on top of the covers, still in her clothes- though her boots had been removed. There was a person hovering over her, blue eyes deep with concern and something long and thin in their hand. A stele.

Eddie scampered backwards over the pillows like a crab, away from the runes, from the stele.

"Hey, it's me." Max said, dropping the stele onto the bed and holing up his hands. "If I was going to hurt you, don't you think I would have done it while you were sleeping?"

Eddie considered this, and, deciding he had a point, relaxed slightly. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and squinted at him suspiciously. "What are you doing here?"

Max looked confused. "Don't you remember? You just freaked out and started screaming, so I put a sleeping rune on you…"

Eddie remembered now. She remembered finding the note on the end of the bed, remembered running to the window only to find it locked from the inside. She remembered the whiteness, the blind panic consuming her. And she remembered Max.

She shook her head. "You need to leave." She whispered.

Max folded his arms across his chest. "Not until you give me some answers."

Eddie glared back at him. "I told you already-"

"Who is coming for you?" He cut in, watching her with narrowed eyes.

Eddie faltered, taken aback. "I- don't know what you're-"

"No." Max shook his head, dark hair falling into his eyes. "No, you know exactly what I'm talking about."

"No I don't." She shook her head, but she could tell by the set of Max's jaw he could see straight through her lie.

"Who is coming for you, Eddie?" He asked, so quietly she had to strain her ears to hear.

Eddie hung her head, unable to meet that piercing gaze. She couldn't tell him, couldn't handle the way he would look at her if she did. And yet she wanted to tell him. To tell someone.

She chewed on her lip. "If I tell you," She whispered, her eyes shining. "Everything you think you know about me will change."

Max had uncrossed his arms, as was watching her closely. "So what?"

"So then you'll hate me, Max. When you look at me, you won't see Eddie, you'll see someone else, and you'll hate me."

Max leaned forward suddenly, his eyes dark, and took her hand. She didn't pull away. "No, I wont. I can't tell you what I'll think, because I don't know until I've heard it. But I can promise you that it doesn't matter how bad it is, because I wont hate you. Not ever." He paused, looking suddenly uncomfortable. "I mean, I'll probably be terrified of you, but that's no different to now. Nothing to loose, right?"

Eddie shifted slightly, unable to tell him just how wrong he was.