Kit had felt his last breath push its way from his lungs, as his body gave up its weight to the ground. He was aware of a sharp and burning pain along his arm and through his shoulder before he was caught by two sets of unwieldy hands. His last conscious moments were that of confusion, he knew he had had a lot to drink but never had it done this to him, especially not having come of age in England, where they drank from the moment they woke till the moment they passed out during the summers and holidays. No, this was different.

The darkness in his mind was slowly broken by swirling images, images that seemed to be distorted like ink dipped in water or the ripple of a reflection on the sea. He tried to focus, to pull the images together into a single picture, something he could comprehend. Slowly but surely, they did and Kit was able to make out a house bedecked in thorns, black, grizzly and set to ruin. The house itself was of ash in parts, looming over the shadows like a tortured skeleton of what once must have contained safety and warmth. A boy was stood beside it, in what could be described as perhaps victorian clothing, seeming to beckon Kit closer with his unruly yet true smirk and his deep pine green eyes.

As Kit felt himself move forward, the image in front of him changed and he was now stood in a forest watching a girl of around his age laugh along with a boy that looked almost familiar to Kit, though he could not place why. Kit suddenly felt possessed to look at his own arm as a spike of pain moved through it, but when he looked down he was met with an almost transparent paleness, and not a single rune littered his skin. He then took in the rest of his appearance and saw he was in the old Victorian clothing he had seen on the boy at the skeletal house moments ago.

Before he could even try to put himself into said boy's mind, the visions changed once more. When his eyes were able to focus again, a cloying sadness rolled though his body, for he was stood at the gates of the Los Angeles shadow market. Only it looked slightly different. His favourite witch's stall of oddities wasn't there, but in its place some kind of tincture tent and Josaiah's vamp bike store had been replaced with a tarot readers caravan. Intrigued, he walked further in, taking in the assaulting scent of sage and frankincense mixed with the tang of iron that seemed to float through the air at all times yet stop at the gates. Kit could also hear the distant melody of what was perhaps a revel or campfire echo from the back as often it did. It was familiar and yet not at all the same as it had been the last time he was there.

As Kit turned a corner past a werewolf selling Silvercide, he noticed someone or more like a few someones hanging in the shadows waiting for something seemingly. He followed their eyeline and felt his throat go dry and his heart constrict. Though he looked different, younger, Kit knew the man currently leaning over a Faerie jewellery booth was his father. His hair was darker and without the spattering of grey, his eyes a deep brown as opposed to green and his skin without the wrinkles of hard kept secrets and grifts, but he was without a doubt Johnny Rook. The shadows braced as if to move, and Kit held his breath, he wanted to run forward and stop what was about to happen but his feet were rooted to where he stood. It was not for a loss though, as just as the shadows seemed about to move, a slender young lady with blonde hair and distantly familiar, kind blue eyes swiftly swooped in and linked his arm through her own, pulling him away while leaning to whisper something to him.

Once again, before Kit could fit that piece into the puzzle, the image changed once more to that of a small but cosy lounge. The same woman from before was sat on an antique rocking chair with a small bundle of cloth in her hand- a child. This time Kit could move closer and was able to see the little bundle in her arms. At that moment, he felt the rug pulled from under him. How had he missed this? The baby had the same summer blue eyes as him and the smallest tufts of soft blond hair were poking out from the blankets. This was his mother and him as a child. His addled mind had been slow to pick it up, but of course it was his mother. Her kindly eyes and her want to save everyone that she possibly could should have given it away. She smiled down at the baby who was reaching for a sparkling pendant that hung around her neck with his little chubby fingers. The same pendant, inscribed with a heron, that he had, by way of Magnus Bane, given to Ty and Livvy.

'My sweet child' she began, and Kit would have cried if he knew how, to hear his mothers voice once more after beginning to forget its melodic rhythm 'life for us, for you, will be full of hardships for you see you are someone special. I know every parent says the same thing but you my boy are truly special and you will do great things if you are let to fulfil your promise. I wish I could shield you from all of this, and I and your father will try to let you have the normal life you will come to dream of, but, I know deep down that there isn't enough space in this or the next world to run from one's destiny and the people who wish to subvert it for themselves. For that I am sorry my dear, just know your father and I love you and always will no matter what happens.'

His heart was pounding against his chest and he felt all too hot and cold at once. None of this was news of course, but hearing his mother say it in such a raw and desperate way broke him into a thousand tiny pieces. She had wanted normality for him and they had managed it for 15 years but what would she have thought now? It didn't even bear considering.

The colours shifted once more, which thankfully Kit was becoming used to, and he saw an all too familiar scene settling around him. He was stood at the shores of lake Lynn, surrounded by spell ingredients and a broken looking, raven haired boy. The scene played out as it always had.

'I love you Ty. I love you' on a single strained breath

And then Ty began shouting, or at least he would've been if Kit could hear him. It was as if he were underwater, he could hear Ty's voice but it sounded distant and foreign and not how the scene had gone before. Kit strained, trying to draw the words closer, but to no avail.

His skin itched and he felt the world spin once again, only stopping when Kit was stood in a fallen city, red sky giving an ominous glow to the streets below. For some reason, he felt the need to hide and, this time at least, his feet were letting him move. Thankfully, Kit found an empty and, though beaten down, still mostly standing building and clambered in over a blown out window. He watched from his position with bated breath and when nothing happened he began to feel just a little stuipd. That was, until a split seemed to tear in the sky along with a crack of thunder and out of it came a lady with dark hair and deep set eyes followed by a boy of around 14 perhaps with ash white hair and a distant far off look. They drew closer, as if looking for something or someone and Kit recognised the woman as Anabelle Blackthorn, a deep anguish drove its way into his already broken heart… Livvy. The boy behind her, however, he did not recognise and he felt a little sorry for as he seemed every so thin and pale as if he hadn't eaten or bathed in far too long. Anabelle then craned her head and met his eyes, Kit's body fizzed with energy and a bolt of panic before the images scattered once more, though this time he was met with darkness.

When he opened his eyes again, he was met with a concerned set of smokey grey eyes looking at him with an emotion he couldn't quite pinpoint.

'What the hell were in those strawberry daiquiris?!' His voice croaked slightly

'Christopher' was all Ty said

If he didn't already feel like death, that surely would've killed him. Kit squashed the odd feeling that came with Ty saying his name like that, and took in the boy in front of him. Shadows graced the curves under his red ringed eyes, his lips were chapped and dry and his hands hung limply in his lap, fidgeting with a ball of pipecleaners. Starkly, Kit realised that something must have happened that wasn't simply some kind of killer hangover, and sat upright with a shock.

'This isn't just a hangover is it?' he tried tentatively

Tys voice came out raw 'you have been out cold for a day and a half. When we came back from the bar you passed out and I thought it was simply from the alcohol, but Magnus confirmed something else was at play' Ty's concentration was on the pipe cleaners 'there was something carved into your arm, a place name we think or perhaps a book? Magnus took a picture but when we took the dressing off last night the wound itself was gone.' Ty carefully leaned over and grabbed his phone from the windowsill 'It looked like this, do you know what it means?'

Kit took the image in, and there it was in hastily made slashes 'Cathair'. In spite of knowing his arm would be fine, he looked down to where it would have been but, like Ty said, nothing remained, not even a scar. The word itself was ringing around his head, it was familiar but every time he tried to grasp at a string of memory it slipped right between his fingers.

'I don't know, it feels familiar but I can't quite put my finger on it for some reason'

Ty nodded and put the phone away 'Magnus is looking into it himself as we speak'

Suddenly, the concept of one and a half days dawned on Kit 'do your family know about this?!'

Ty of course knew what he meant 'No, well except for Julian that is, but he was getting suspicious and I let Magnus tell him the truth… he already knows the basics anyway. I hope you don't mind'

'Oh no, of course not Ty, I would rather your brother know where we both are or he may come after me with a crossbow and that terrifies me way more' Kit tried to make light of the situation as he usually did, but hey, humour as a coping mechanism was a Herondale trait and it would be rude not to honour it!

Ty looked up at Kit in that moment with an intensity that Kit almost missed, before the mask slid into place 'are you feeling up to going downstairs for lunch?' he asked

Kit nodded, not trusting himself to speak.

'Okay, get dressed and we'll need to go find Magnus, the rest of the family think we took a brief trip to the Scholomance to debrief the current status of our mission. Magnus is going to portal us to the downstairs hallway' Ty's chapped lips pulled into a slight smile

He couldn't help what he said next 'Oh sherlock what have you gotten us into?' Kit let out a low chuckle

After about 15 minutes, another weird tincture from Magnus and a very quick trip downstairs, Kit and Ty were in the kitchen with the rest of the Blackthorns.

'How was your trip?' Julian asked politely

'I still think they were both just super hungover and hiding somewhere dying a little' Dru added, rolling her eyes

'Stop it Dru' Helen chastised though with little weight to her words

'It was okay, the Scholomance was quiet so we managed to get a lot done in our time there'

Kit heard Dru nudge Tavvy and whisper 'I bet' and he tried not to blush at the implications.

'Brilliant, well welcome back all of you' Julian looked to Magnus with a slight conspiratorial smile 'were having bacon and eggs for lunch and then Emma and I have to meet with the east LA vampire clan and Helen and Aline are off to Idris for an institute head meeting, but you're both free to do as you like'

'Tavvy and I are going crazy golfing this afternoon with Thais and Tomas from the academy if anyone wants to come?' Dru suggested, looking around hopefully

'Sounds like fun, I'm in' Kit replied, ever since their conversation in the gardens he had promised to never leave her out and to get to know her better and here was his opportunity.

'Alec and I would love to come too if that's okay, we don't get much alone time together anymore with the kids around' Magnus proposed

'Not that we don't love them dearly of course, but we also like not having to carry a fire extinguisher to events!' Alec butted in, as if the entire shadow world didn't already know how much they clearly adored their kids

'Okay I'm going to need to hear a lot more about that guys! But yeah you should totally come along, it'd be awesome.' Dru was practically beaming, Kit knew how she idolised Alec 'Ty, what about you?' Dru turned on her poor brother with said grin which had now turned slightly mischievous Kit thought

'Okay, it will be nice to relax after yesterday' Ty said, and kit thought once more of the bags under the other boy's eyes

'Perfect, I'll go book it now for... let's say 3?' everyone nodded politely and a glint of something seemed to appear in her eyes.

After lunch, Kit had gone back up to his room to get ready for the outing, changing into slightly nice clothing at Dru's request for "everyone to look nice for pictures" which he believed was a front for something, though he was unsure of what exactly that was yet. A knock sounded at his door, breaking up the fight he seemed to be having with his shoelace.

'Yeah' she shouted, righting himself

'It's me, you better be decent cause I'm coming in' a way too happy voice came from the other side of his door before, true to her word, Dru pushed her way in and flopped onto his bed. 'So' she started 'we need to come up with phase one of kitty nip'

'We need to do who what with what now?!' Kit replied confused and at a loss for words

'Urgh do I have to be the pretty one and the smart one round here?!' Dru replied 'also that was not a sentence!'

'Okay, but what are you talking about?'

'Kitty nip like catnip, you know that thing that cats find irresistible?'

'Okay still gonna need more, a lot more' he tried again

'Oh by the Angel, you are Kit, my brother is Ty, smash them together and you get KitTy and you are hopelessly in love with him' she made a face at that 'and so he is irresistible to you like catnip is to cats … get it now?'

'This seems very convoluted Dru' he was still trying to wrap his head around it 'also are you calling me a cat?'

'Oh let me have my fun' she rolled her eyes 'anyway, the plan is you go out with us this afternoon and you make yourself look super hot and act like you're super bad at golf and then you ask Ty to help you and bam he falls in love with you' she had a grin like the cheshire cat

'Are you sure that will even work? Firsty, I'm a Herondale and we're great at everything so nobody will believe it and b, who says Ty would even want to help me!'

'Numbers or letters Kit, pick one! Also shh it'll totally work, I'll make sure of it'

Kit rolled his eyes but relented 'okay fine, whatever I'll go along with it'

'Also you remember when I showed you my notes on Ash, you never told me what it was that you thought you found' Dru swiftly changed the subject as she often did.

'Oh yeah' Kit remembered that Helen and Aline had wandered into the gardens interrupting them 'Well the flag you drew? I'm fairly sure it's the county flag for Devon'

'Like Devon where you ran off to Devon?' Dru supplied helpfully

'Is there more than one Devon county?' he retorted

'Well maybe' Dru said, taking out her phone and rapidly typing something into it 'Hah! There's actually loads of places called Devon… see here's the on in Pennsylvania'

Kit rolled his eyes but couldn't help but laugh 'Come on let's go downstairs' he said starting to walk out of his room knowing she would follow him. Kit had never had a sister but he assumed this must be what it would be like, teasing and scheming but altogether being a great team. He hoped he would be just the same with little Mina when she was older because he loved her and missed her so much already.

Thank you so much for reading, please leave a like or comment if you enjoyed and sorry to those I broke with the Romainan… I hope you've recovered! I know I'm late but I've finally gotten around to starting chain of iron if you couldn't tell and I am loving it like I literally spend all day at work wishing I could be reading which I haven't felt in a while and its nice. I know it will break me as all Cassie books inevitably do but for now we will pretend.

Dictionary of terms

Golf and stuff- a real place in LA apparently. I tried to find a place from another book i read based in the same area but sadly it wasn't real