Chapter 13
Midnight continued to bond with several of the young Shadowhunters, even the youngest ones, who always looked at her with this terrified awe. She concluded that her best bets were Tiberius and Emma. But at the same time, they would be the toughest to convince.
And the toughest to betray.
She was stretching in the training room when she glimpsed Julian Blackthorn passing, a canvas in hand, paint flecks on his shirt. Unable to help herself, she followed silently after him. He continued through the Institute's maze of hallways, flashes of the ocean outside teasing Midnight's eyes. Finally, he snuck onto the roof.
Midnight watched as he set up his easel, squeezing acrylic paint out of tubes with care onto his palate. He withdrew a palette knife.
"I can see why you like it up here," Midnight commented.
She laughed, as Julian jumped, his palette knife flying out of his hand. Midnight quickly caught it.
"How are you here?" he asked, eying her carefully.
"I followed you?"
He sighed. "What do you want?"
Midnight crossed her arms over her chest. She wasn't really sure why she followed the oldest Blackthorn out. Something about the paints drew her in.
She coughed. "I saw your paints, and it reminded me of…."
Something flickered in those bright blue-green depths of his eyes. "Did you want to paint?"
Midnight nodded.
"Alright, come here."
With a grin, Midnight drew closer.
…
When Tiberius finally found Midnight, he found her sitting cross-legged in her cell, considering a canvas. A paintbrush dangled between her fingers, and paint was smeared on her fingers and forearms.
"What are you painting?"
Midnight kept her eyes on the canvas. "Wouldn't you like to know?" she said absentmindedly, gnawing on her thumbnail.
When he tried to peer over to see what she was painting, she angled it away from him.
"I'm not done yet," she scolded. "You'll see when I'm done."
Midnight frowned at the canvas before putting it away. "Was there something you needed?"
Ty was brought up short. Usually he always had a concise and clear reason to visit someone, as he much preferred his own company and rather not subject himself to other people, besides Livia of course.
"Uh…" Ty inwardly cringed. So eloquent of him.
Midnight's eyes darted to the dusty volume in his hand. "What's that?"
Thank the Angel, he thought. "It's a family tree of Shadowhunter families during the time you were young. I was thinking that maybe seeing these would help you remember."
A smile pulled at Midnight's lips. For a second, Ty saw her features waver like heat from asphalt, her eyes and hair lightening before settling back to her current face. He blinked, not sure if he was imagining things.
"Tiberius? Are you alright?" she asked.
Ty shook his head. "Yes, of course. Let's start looking."
Cristina and Emma quickly dressed into clubbing clothes. The night was approaching, and the lines at the clubs would be atrocious if they didn't leave soon.
Emma had claimed that her and Cristina were going for a "girl's night" to Julian. That wasn't necessarily a lie. They were. But they were also looking out for any unusual demon activity. It had been so long since they've gone hunting, with the all the Lady Midnight business, that she had a creeping feeling that something was going to happen. Even with the grueling training sessions with Midnight, she had spent more time with Jules. More than usual. Which meant more of those thoughts had come into her mind.
Emma needed a distraction.
So they went to one of Malcolm Fade's clubs, Loss. It felt appropriate, as Emma wanted to lose herself tonight, to anything.
So with her fingers tight around Cristina's, they squeezed their way through the crowd to the middle of the room. And began to dance.
Cameron Ashdown was fairly bored, despite being at a nightclub. The lights throbbed red and deep, almost as if they were inside a beating heart. He absently twirled a dagger.
Downworlder clubs, especially warlock clubs, seemed to be a magnet for demonic activity, despite the High Warlock's promises that he ran a respectable establishment, thank you very much. After nodding to his hunting partners, he made his way down to the dance floor. He had been told he could attract demons easily, because he had such a friendly and naïve looking face. Cameron thought it was because none of his hunting party was willing to do it so they put it up to the youngest of their group. There was a pecking order after all.
And so he began to dance as best as he could, even though he hated to, and thought he looked like an awkward robot. Nevertheless, soon enough, people began to press against him. As he surveyed the crowd, something caught his attention. Two girls dancing in the middle of the room. While one girl seemed to be watchful of their surroundings, the other, the blonde one was completely lost in the music, eyes closed. For some reason, Cameron couldn't help but watch her. She drew his attention like a moth to a flame.
The Sensor in his pocket buzzed. He sighed. Back to business.
He looked up, searching for the girls. As if by magic, they had disappeared.
Shrugging to himself, Cameron followed the urging of his Sensor.