And now...The long awaited chapter! This is sort of just a filler chapter, but it is still pretty important to my plot. I hope you enjoy!

Tia was lying on her stomach on the couch, reading a book. Cole sat down on the floor cross-legged and faced her. He'd been here for the past two months, and slowly he was getting used to being in this city, with all its lights and sounds. He now had his own room in Magnus and Alec's apartment, but it wasn't like the one he had in Idris. This one he could do anything with, make it his own. The room that he slept in when he lived with Richard and Clara, however, wasn't his. He wasn't allowed to paint it or anything. It was just a room, with white walls and everything. It was rather depressing.

There was a room across from his that he didn't like to think about. It belonged to his adopted sister, Sydney. He didn't like her very much; she was nothing like the sister he had dreamed about. She didn't like Cole either; he'd always thought that she was jealous, because he was older – but only a few days older – and she was so used to being an only child and having her parent's undivided attention. She didn't like it that on Cole's 12th birthday he got to Ascend and get his runes before she did, because she turned 12 five days after he did.

Cole looked at his real sister as he thought about Sydney. On the day she turned 12, they – he, Richard, and Clara – all gathered around her in the living room, and watched as the Silent Brothers came in and started to draw the runes on her. Cole was actually forced to watch, he didn't want to. He'd wanted to stay in his room, away from the creepy Silent Brothers. He wished he'd stayed in his room as he witnessed what happened to her.

When the Brothers touched the stele to Sydney's hand, she started to scream. Her hand started to burn. Cole watched horrified as Sydney died because she could not handle the runes, even though she was born a Shadowhunter, and Cole wasn't.

Bet she's really jealous now, Cole thought as he looked at Tia's arm. It was scarred, all the way up to the crook of her arm. He wondered if she screamed like Sydney did when that Morgenstern dude tried to Mark her. He shook that thought away. He couldn't stand the thought of Tia in any kind of pain.

He'd had nightmares for weeks after what happened to Sydney. Richard and Clara turned bitter after she died, only showing compassion to Cole when they were around other people. After the nightmares finally ceased, Cole rarely often thought about her. But when he did, he would wonder why Sydney didn't really look like her parents. She had red hair, and was pretty small in height, with pretty blue eyes. But neither Richard nor Clara had red hair, and they were both tall people.

He heard Tia give a little sigh. "What is it?" He asked.

Tia looked up, startled. "What is what?"

"What's going on in your book?"

"Oh." She looked down at her book. "Nothing. She didn't want to go enter the Selection but then her boyfriend said she should, so now she's not so sure that she doesn't want to. But I'm only on the third chapter. I'll keep you updated. Of course, I think she does decide to because she has to go and fall in love with the dreamy Prince Maxon and then get married and have like eighty lovely children."

Cole laughed. "Two questions," he said. "One: I thought she already had a boyfriend? And two: Have you read this before?"

Tia smiled. "And my answers are: Dump Aspen's sorry ass, and no I haven't. My friend Miranda had read them a few years ago, and I'm just now getting around to it because I'm bored."

"Is training to be a Shadowhunter not enough for you?"

"Jace thinks it should be," she said. Rolling her eyes, she went back to her book.

Cole liked talking to his sister, because he could never talk to Sydney. It was nice having a sister that was actually related to you by blood. Although blood doesn't necessarily mean love, in the two months that he had known Tia, he was starting to love her. He had been told that even after a few hours with Tia, you couldn't help but to love her. He wondered where she got that, from their mother or their father.

Tia never liked to talk about her real parents, because to her they were both dead. When she found out she was adopted two years ago, she figured that her parents didn't care enough about her. Even with the note, she still had mixed feelings about all this. Cole was glad that she had confided her thoughts with him about this, but he knew he could never make her understand that what their mother did was for the best.

Cole laid back on the soft carpet in front of the couch and closed his eyes. His mind wandered toward the girl Tia had been talking about, Miranda. She had been one of Tia's best friends before she came to live in New York. How hard it must have been for this girl to accept her best friend was dead. (Cole had been informed that everyone had to think Tia died in the fire along with her "family".)

"Hey, T?"

"Yeah?"

"What did Miranda look like?"

Tia looked thoughtful when she answered. "Well, she had brown-ish hair, and bangs that were swept over one eye. She'd always said she was going to dye her hair orange, because that was her favorite color, and because her whole family had red hair, and she was the odd one out. Her eyes are brown, with little specks of green here and there. She...had a way of keeping the rest of us in line; I guess it was just her demeanor... Does that answer your question?"

He nodded. It must have been nice to have friends. He didn't really have any at the Academy. Sure, there had been acquaintances, but never a long-term friend, or even a parabatai.

Tia sighed again. Cole did too.

Isabelle shuffled through some old papers Maryse had laying on the desk, trying to decide what to do next while she organized her new office. It had been a slow day for everyone. Simon just wouldn't leave her alone, not that she didn't love talking to him. In fact, she was on the phone with him right now.

"...so anyway, we were thinking about Sea Turtle Concupiscent," Simon was saying to her.

"Mm-hmm," she hummed, only half paying attention. "So you're friends have a lust for sea turtles?"

Simon paused on the other end. Isabelle stacked another pile of insignificant papers, holding the phone between her chin and her shoulder. She found another folder with more paper to look through. Each folder she looked at was marked with things like Recent Ascensions – she had found Tia's and Cole's papers in there – and Dangerous Herbs and Potions. That folder must've been Hodge's. It contained lists of different potions that had been tried by different warlocks; Isabelle thought it was funny that Magnus's name was very regularly used.

The folder she'd found, however, didn't have a label. Curious, she opened it up. There was a stack of papers about an inch thick. The first paper had a name and a picture of a man on it. She'd recognized the man from Idris; and she remembered that he died in the Mortal War. Isabelle carefully flipped to the next page, revealing yet another face that died in the war. Not wanting to mess up the order of the documents, she carefully turned a few of the pages, taking in the names of the brave people that lost their lives fighting against a psychopath. As she flipped the pages, one name caught her attention. She looked closely at it, and at the picture that was associated with it. The name was Annamarie Highsmith.

Isabelle fought to remember where she'd heard that name. She thought back to when Jace was gone, and she went with Jocelyn to the Iron Sisters. She'd wanted to know who it was her father cheated on her mother with. Now, looking at this woman's name, she remembered Jocelyn finally caving and telling her that Annamarie Highsmith was the one Robert was going to leave Maryse for.

She knew that this woman had died in the Mortal War. She was secretly glad that she didn't know who this woman was, because she thought that knowing her would've made things worse. She looked closer at the file. It didn't say that she'd had an affair. Of course, why would it? That was the kind of thing you kept a secret from people. Isabelle looked under the family column, just to see if she had any.

"By the Angel," she whispered.

"What is it?" Simon asked. Isabelle almost forgot she was on the phone with him.

"Um..." she stammered. "Listen, I'll see you later. Love you!" She hung up quickly and got up from her chair, taking the file with her.

Isabelle slammed the paper down in front of Alec. "Look at this."

"Well, hello to you, Isabelle," Jace muttered from the other side of the table. He and Alec had just gotten done in the training room, and were sitting down for a snack in the kitchen while waiting for Tia and Cole to arrive.

Isabelle ignored him. She looked at Alec lividly, her finger on the paper she'd put in front of him. "Look at this," she repeated, this time with more heat.

Alec gently moved her hand off the document and picked it up to examine it. He shook his head, finding nothing wrong. "What's the matter with it?"

Isabelle rolled her eyes as if his question was the stupidest one on earth. "That's the woman Dad cheated on Mom with."

Alec felt the blood run out of his face. "Oh."

Jace sunk down in his chair, clearly not wanting to be a part of the conversation. Alec took a closer look at the document. Before now, he hadn't known the name of the woman. Isabelle refused to talk about it, and he knew he couldn't ask his parents. Isabelle had only told him that Jocelyn had told her, but he didn't really feel comfortable going to Jocelyn for anything that related to his own family. Even if she is the only one who would give him answers.

"Dada! Dada!" Charlotte's shrieks could be heard from down the hall.

Jace got up. "If you'll excuse me, my daughter wants to speak to me." He went out the door. No one tried to stop him. Isabelle fought the urge to tell him that Lottie could only say a few words and not carry on a full conversation.

"I don't understand, Izzy," Alec said at last. "Why are you showing me this?"

She pointed her finger under the column entitled Family. "She had a daughter," she said.

Alec looked closer. "It doesn't say the girl's name, I don't get it." Isabelle moved her finger to the right and pointed to the girl's age. Seven. "When was this file made?"

"Just after the Mortal War. That would mean she was how old Tia would've been when Annamarie died. And she was never married, but this girl wasn't adopted." She paused, hoping her message would sink in.

"What are you suggesting, Isabelle?" Alec asked, somewhat annoyed. "That this girl is..."

"She might be, Alec." She looked slightly distressed. "She might be...our half-sister."

"No." He shoved the paper away and stood up. "That's crazy. Just drop it, okay?" He walked out of the room, passing Cole, who was coming in. "Don't stay too long. Meet me in the training room." With that he walked down the hall. Cole looked at Isabelle confused. Tia poked her head in the door. From Isabelle's point of view, it looked like Cole had two heads.

"What's wrong with him?" Tia asked. Isabelle rolled her eyes and shoved past them out the door. Tia looked at her brother. "What did I say?"

Cole laughed and walked back out the door, leaving Tia standing there more confused than she'd been before. Church the cat jumped up on the kitchen table and regarded her with cool interest. "Where did everyone go?" she asked him. He started licking his paw. Tia rolled her eyes. "Never mind, cats are unhelpful." She sighed and made her way down the hall to the training room.

So what did you think? Did you like it? I know I should update more often, but I've been busy, and I've had writers block too, and that's never a good combination. I'm very sorry, but I'll get started on the next chapter very, very soon. Hope you guys are having a great summer so far!

Please review. I need them. BAD.

-T