Veronica
The moment Jace and Alec left her room, Veronica hopped off her bed and unzipped her duffel bag. She began tossing through her already unorganized clothing, leggings and pajama pants landing on the ground beside her bed.
Finally, she found her phone beside her makeup bag sitting at the very bottom. She turned it on, scrolling through irrelevant instagram and TikTok notifications until she came across a text from her roommate, Maya.
Where in Raziel are you? And did you take my Titos?! :(
Veronica sighed, unsure how to even respond. While she didn't exactly fall in love with her time at the academy, she knew it would disappoint and confuse her roommate to find out she was practically dropping out already.
In addition, this entire leaving the academy seemed very sketchy as it was. She knew people already loved to create rumors about her, all across the Shadow World.
The gossip started after the death of her father, the former Inquisitor Robert Lightwood. It was heartbreaking to many and as a result she got a lot of unwanted attention. She wanted to be left alone to mourn- it was the same way she liked to be after her brother Max's death. When Veronica grew snappy at the overwhelming amount of condolences she was receiving, the older generation marked her for having a bad attitude. As another result of her father's passing, and just being from a popular shadowhunter family in general, a lot of the boys in her generation supposedly began noticing how attractive she was. A lot of the girls in result began seeing her as some kind of threat.
Veronica realized that the timing of her leaving the Academy, which not so coincidentally occurred soon after her fight with Ruby, would only further labelize her as a problem child. Regardless, she regretted nothing. She knew people would forgive her actions anyway, since she was family with the Consul.
She tossed her phone back on her bed, directing her attention back to the clothes spewing out of her suitcase. She spotted her cheetah tie-around crop top, which had a ring in the center to hold together the fabric. She then moved to her closet, finding her black leather shorts. She put on the outfit, pairing it with knee-high black boots.
Veronica stood in front of the mirror, admiring her reflection while smoothing out her hair. She picked out tiny gold hoops to tie together her outfit.
She covered it all with an oversized Cape Cod sweatshirt, just in case she ran into anybody, and walked toe-heal to the hallway, shutting her bedroom door behind her.
"Hey," she heard an unfamiliar deep voice say from behind her.
While Veronica's first mental instinct was to shriek, all of the training she had endured ingrained into her to fight instead. She swooped down, and in one graceful motion grabbed a slick gold knife from her boot, using one hand to put the person in a chokehold, and the other to aim the tip of her knife at their chest.
"Okay, okay! You must already have a boyfriend, I get it," the boy said to her with a wink. "He won't have to know I said hi to you. I'll run away and change my name if I have to."
This must be the Herondale boy, she thought, taking a moment to analyze him in her hold. He sure did look like a Herondale. All of his features and colors were similar to Jace. His golden skin tone, loose curls, golden hair, golden eyelashes… all the same except he didn't have his cousin's golden eyes. This boy's eyes were a sky blue, but not a plain sky. A blue like on a day where there wasn't a cloud in sight, and the sky could practically blend in with the ocean. Besides from his eyes, there was something peculiar about his features. Like a Herondale sprinkled with a little something extra… and also, a little something familiar...
The boy cleared his throat, and she realized how long she had been holding him. She reluctantly let him go, watching him smirk at her as he stepped away from the wall.
"You have some nerve sneaking up on me like that. I could have hurt you!" Veronica reprimanded him.
"Hey! I'm not defenseless, you know. I saw it coming, I just chose not to defend myself."
Veronica raised an eyebrow, noticing the smug look on the blonde boy's face. She took her right foot, sidestepping him so his face was behind her left shoulder, then grabbed his wrist and flipped him over her. Not too hard though, not wanting to actually hurt the guy.
"Ow, ow, ow," the boy said, rubbing his right wrist. He laid on the ground, staring up at her upside down. "Now, was that really necessary? You couldn't have defended yourself verbally- in a way that protected my ego? For example, a simple 'oops, I thought you were a demon, not the hot new Herondale next door!' Could have sufficed!"
Veronica reluctantly helped the guy up, knowing that Jace would give her shit if his cousin complained about her. "Next door, huh?" was all she asked.
"Yeah," he responded, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. "I didn't realize I chose the room right by yours, otherwise I would have chosen a different one. Especially now that I know of your… well… violent tendencies."
Veronica contemplated the consequences of flipping him once more. He must have been able to tell the conflicting glint in her eyes because he quickly began to defend himself.
"I'm just saying!" he said, sticking his hands up. "I don't want to be traumatized every time I have to pass your bedroom. If that's inconvenient for you- totally understandable! I don't feel like packing up all of my stuff right now, however, I can find different routes to the kitchen! Instead of taking the stairs, I can put my shadowhunter training into practice and start using my window to…"
"Zip it, Herondale."
The boy made a gesture with his fingers over his mouth, like he was zipping it shut. Veronica resisted the urge to roll her eyes, and instead kept walking toward the stairs. She realized he was walking behind her, and stopped to look at him.
He stuck his hands up, in the same defensive manner as before. "Don't mind me, just making my way to the kitchen."
She raised her eyebrows at him.
"You know… where the food is?"
She tilted her head, experimenting with how many more smart remarks he would make before continuing walking.
"Ladies first," he said instead, gesturing toward the stairs.
She kept walking, without a word. He walked only two stairsteps behind her the entire time, humming with each step. It sounded like a tune she had heard on TikTok.
They had finally arrived at the kitchen doors, but Veronica continued walking toward the elevator.
"Hey, where are you going?" Kit nosily asked.
Veronica took a deep breath, praying to the angel for patience. "I'm just… going out for some fresh air. A quick walk around the block."
Kit shrugged, reopening the kitchen doors. She heard him hum that TikTok tune once more as the doors swung behind him.
Veronica suddenly paused, suddenly standing still in awe. There's no way. There's no way! "Hey! Hey! I think I know you!" she exclaimed anyway, bouncing on her toes.
Kit quickly reopened one of the doors, only peeking his head through it. She now realized why his features were so recognizable and familiar. Beyond just a Jace sense of familiarity.
"Are you IttyBittyKittyCommittee on TikTok!?"
Kit's blue eyes widened, and he swung the kitchen door back shut.
Isabelle Lightwood
"Are you sure this isn't just some dumb prank?" Issy asked from their usual booth at Takis. She was sitting across from her brothers, Alec shifting through a pile of photos for her display on the empty table between them.
"Even if it was, it's better safe than sorry. I'd rather Ronnie just continue her training at the institute than have a red target on her back at the Academy," Alec explained, taking a sip of water from his straw.
Isabelle picked up one of the pictures. They all appeared to be from a polaroid, terribly unprofessional for a proper threat. She was almost certain that whoever took these must have been a teenager.
The specific photo she was looking at showed Ronnie talking to another girl her age in the institute's library. All of Ronnie's actions appeared to be normal, but whoever took the photograph was clearly not involved in the conversation. The picture was taken from outside the window, from a very close up distance. It's shocking that Veronica and the other girl didn't notice the photographer.
Although, what was really concerning about the picture was Ronnie's face X'ed out in black sharpie.
"Who was that girl that Ronnie picked the fight with? The Parker girl, right?" Isabelle asked, picking up a few more photos from the bottom of the stack.
"I'm glad she did honestly, that Yola is a bitch," Jace said, fixing his hair using the reflection of the dark window.
Alec smacked him on the arm.
Jace dramatically flinched. "What? You know it's true!"
"It doesn't matter. She's a Clave Member, and a very respected one at that. I'm disliked enough as it is, it doesn't help that I have the Parker family against me now too."
"Alec, how many times do I have to tell you? You're doing great as the new Consul, and everyone loves you. You're growing on everybody, even the uptight traditionals!" Isabelle protested, intervening at her brother's pity party. Alec blushed.
She continued to shift through a few more of the photos between her fingers, widening her eyes at one.
"Damn, if I knew the Academy was like this, I would have gone myself!"
"Let me see!" Jace said curiously, snatching the photo Issy was looking at out of her hands. "Is that… Veronica?! Alec, did you see this?"
Alec had his head in his hands, looking down at the table. "Believe me, I did. Yet another reason I decided to bring her back to the Institute."
"She's fifteen! She's way too young to be doing stuff like this!" Jace protested some more, in shock at the picture he was holding of his adoptive little sister. She was clearly at a party, surrounded by a crowd of teenagers holding red solo cups. She had a handle of Fireball in her left hand and a blunt in her right hand. Behind her was a tall muscular looking boy with his arm wrapped around her as he had his Juul in her mouth.
"Damn, you go girl," Isabelle said, impressed by the actions of her younger sister.
"Isabelle!" Both Alec and Jace protested.
"Oh come on! Don't act like you two were so innocent at fifteen. I know you guys snuck into a couple of clubs when mom and dad were out of town," said Issy.
"Actually, it was more like Jace idiotically marched into some clubs and I had to chaperone him to make sure he wouldn't get himself killed!" Alec protested.
"Oh, come on. It wasn't as bad as you're making it sound," Jace said. "You got the attention of quite a few mundanes, but you were too busy pretending to not enjoy yourself to even notice!"
"That's not the point!" Alec said, looking annoyed. "Veronica shouldn't be drinking! She especially shouldn't be vaping."
"Maybe we should bag check her," Jace joined in.
Issy couldn't help but laugh.
"What? What's so funny?" Alec asked. Her brothers looked at her like she was crazy.
"Ronnie has some mysterious person taking the time to document her every move, and you guys are more concerned about her vaping?" Issy asked, looking at her brothers incredulously. "And bag check her, Jace, really? What are you, airport security?"
"This is serious, Issy!" Jace protested, and Issy somehow managed to stop laughing. "Alec, we'll talk to her tomorrow. Christopher too. I'll work on a presentation or something for them tomorrow after training."
Alec nodded in agreement with his parabatai. Isabelle rolled her eyes at her brothers' antics, surprised by how serious they were taking the matter.
The waitress finally arrived at the table- a pretty yet peculiar looking woman with a tight brown perm. She had two eyes, yet four irises, but the rest of her features were relatively normal. "Are you three ready to order?" she asked, in an oddly heavy Southern accent, pulling paper and pen out of her red Takis apron.