"You've got to be kidding me."
"Nope."
"So you're honestly telling me this mysterious warlock goes to your high school?" Alec said.
"I am honestly telling you that." Jace said.
"And now we are going to her foster home?"
"Yes" Jace replied.
"This is the stupidest thing I have heard out of your mouth in a while." Alec said.
"Say what you will but pretty soon you'll see I'm right." Jace said.
Alec sighed. "And I assume you want to leave now?"
"Yes."
Alec sighed again. Simon had been watching the whole interaction while desperately trying to keep a straight face.
"Let's go." Alec said.
He got up from the couch and walked with the others out the door. They had a glamour to hide their runes on as usual but Simon was still worried they might reveal the shadow world to some poor foster girl.
It was chilly outside people had Halloween decorations out and Winter was approaching. Everything seemed so normal in New York, only Simon had changed. He had told his family he had won a scholarship to a boarding school and they continued on with their lives, now blissfully ignorant of the shadow world around them.
They marched up the creaking steps of the house and rang the doorbell. Moments later Vivian answered smiling and looked between them, smile fading.
"Well, shit." She sighed. "Guess you found out?"
"Yeah we did." Jace said.
"Frack it." She murmured and the horns flickered into appearance. "Well come inside."
She turned around leaving the door open.
The inside of the foster home matched the outside. The floorboards were cracked and uneven and the paint was peeling. A girl with short brown hair was running down the stairs.
"Hey, Vi, I was wondering-" She cut off when she saw them.
"Megan, they found out. I'm going to go talk to them make sure we have privacy." She ordered in an exhausted tone.
Megan nodded and ran back up the stairs.
"Follow me." Vivian said.
Simon follows her into a small office with chairs. She sat down in a swiviling chair beside a desk and exhaled. "So why are you here?"
"We wanted to confirm that you are the warlock known as Violet." Clary said.
"Well, you confirmed it, any other questions?" Vivian said.
"That girl out there, she was a mundane, how does she know about the shadow world?" Jace asked.
"Oh her. Her story is a sadder one. Her younger brother is a warlock. He had a tail. Her parents freaked when they discovered what he was. Her dad killed her mom. So then she and we brother were at the mercy of the system painfully aware that there was more to this world than meets the eye. We found them and took them in and now they are safe, although there are some scars that never heal." Vivian explained.
Simon felt a pang of sympathy for the girl. She had never done a single bad thing and yet she had to live a terrible life because of a demon.
"So this foster home is downworlders and mundanes who know about the shadow world?" Jace asked.
"Essentially, yes. We blend in with mundanes and despite our rather unfortunate placement, we keep out of trouble."
"'Unfortunate placement?'" Isabelle asked.
"We live less than a mile from shadow world drama headquarters. I mean seriously, why does every almost-apocalypse involve you guys?" Vivian asked.
"Maybe it's because we have very unfortunate familial ties." Jace suggested.
"No kidding. So why else are you here?" Vivian asked.
"We wanted to warn you that if you harm the other members of the school we will have to enforce the law." Alec said.
Vivian leaned forward in her seat. "I have been protecting people since your downworlders hunting parents were in diapers. I should be delivering the same warning to you."
"For the record, my parents were not part of the circle." Simon chimed in trying to ease the tension.
"It might not be us. The Clave may come after you for lesser reasons." Jace said.
"I'll be fine, trust me. Look, the bottom line is, you leave us alone I leave you alone, okay?" Vivian said.
"Fine." Alec agreed. "Now we'll go."
"You do that." She said and leaned back in her chair.
Simon turned and opened the door and three teenagers nearly fell on him, then backed away looking sheepish. Simon could see all sorts of downworlders in the crowd that was no doubt listening in on their conversation. Strangely enough in the crowd there were no fairies at all. Simon guessed they must not want to take part in the whole "downworlder-pretending-to-be-a-mundane" thing.
They walked out the door with the eyes of the foster children glued to them. It wasn't until they were around the corner that the feeling of being watched vanished.
"Well, that went well."
"I really think she likes Shadowhunters." Simon said sarcastically.
Clary laughed.