As Theo descended the steps of the Institute the next morning, he felt like everyone was unusually chatty, and then remembered why they would be. Suddenly he wasn't very hungry.
"…was lovely," Zachary was saying, "Mission Beach was absolutely gorgeous."
"Wow, I would love to go to San Diego," Erelah replied. Theo wandered into the kitchen, behind the counter and grabbed an orange, and began peeling it beside the small garbage can on the side of the counter. Zachary looked gorgeous as always, which made Theo want to throw a knife at his eye, but somehow he refrained. His hair was messy like it always was when he woke up, sticking up all over the place. The way he was sitting seemed to shove off his biceps, and Theo was pretty sure he was flexing.
"Theo!" Erelah said, "This is—"
"I know," Theo said a little too early. Erelah stopped and looked at him with wide eyes, Theo was never this cold. And he hadn't meant to be.
Zachary laughed, "Yeah, we uh met in Idris during the Dark War."
Erelah looked back and forth from Zachary to Theo, "Is this who you were with when the Endarkened attacked?!"
"Yeah. Sorry about stealing him away from you," Zachary chuckled, taking a bite of an apple, "I was a little…" preoccupied, Theo thought, "scared. Well, terrified actually. Hy- Theo was very nice about it." That was very far from the truth, the reality was that Theo had been the terrified one, and Zachary had been the one to comfort him, but the entire story Zachary was telling was a big lie anyway so it didn't matter. They weren't even in the Accords Hall when the Endarkened attacked. Not like they were supposed to be.
Erelah took a bite of her oatmeal, "Well it's nice to finally meet you, Zachary."
Zachary extended his hand to her, "Likewise Erelah." Zachary glanced at Theo and smiled. Rather than gutting Zachary with a fork, he left for the training room.
"Erelah, hurry up so we can train. Zachary has to report to my dad. And it'll be a very long report I'm sure." Theo said, trying to emphasize that Zachary was not invited to train with them. Though Theo had a feeling Zachary would probably come along anyway.
To his surprise, Zachary agreed, "Right. I should go check in with Mr. Beaugrove. We do have some things to go over,"
"Well, if you finish early, the training room is on the first floor, near the armory." Erelah offered. Zachary nodded politely and excused himself.
Theo waited, impatiently tapping his fingers on his arms as Erelah scarfed down the rest of her oatmeal and went to change.
Victoria finished her morning shower and changed into some training clothes, she and the others always trained after breakfast, before leaving her room. Though, she hadn't expected to see a stranger, a very hot stranger in the hallway.
"Uh, hello." She said. He was tall, taller than Theo and Thomas, and more muscular too. His black hair was sticking up all over the place, and he'd clearly slept in the clothes he was wearing.
The guy smiled, and it almost blinded Victoria, "Hi, you must be Victoria. I've heard a lot about you."
Victoria blushed, "All good things I hope."
The boy nodded once, "Of course. It's nice to meet you. I'm Zachary. Zachary Silverguard."
Victoria tried to put on her best smile, "If you'd like, I could show you around the Institute, and I know this great place to get coffee if you're up for it."
He smiled again, but shook his head, "I'm sorry, I don't think my bo- uh, girlfriend would like that very much."
Victoria nodded, "Of course." Of course, he's got a girlfriend, what was I thinking? She thought, "Well, my offer to show you around still stands. That doesn't have to be a date. Just a friendly gesture."
"Yeah, maybe. I've got to finish unpacking my things—I'll be around for a while—but uh, I'll see you later."
"Right, yeah. Good luck," Victoria nodded and started backing down the hall, "See you around."
Zachary gave her a half-hearted wave and continued down the hall into the bedroom beside Theo's. Victoria made her way into the kitchen, Erelah and Theo were gone. Probably already training. Victoria made herself a bowl of cereal and stood at the counter while she ate. While she did, she stretched her limbs a little, they were still a bit stiff. The entire time she was thinking about Zachary, and her thoughts were only interrupted when Thomas popped into the kitchen.
"Hello Victoria," He said. He was already dressed in one of his suits, "How'd you sleep?"
"Fine." Victoria lied.
"Well, we're still waiting on word from Maryse Lightwood about the demon situation," He told her, "but I'm sure we'll get something soon."
"Did you know there's a really hot guy wandering around the Institute?" She asked, "Says his name is Zachary."
"Oh right," Thomas nodded, "I meant to bring him up last night, but I was distracted. He's very well mannered. Just finished his travel year in fact."
"Then what's he doing here?"
"He says he's here to help," Thomas replied, "and honestly we could use it."
The training room was a wide-open space, the ground wasn't padded in any way, just long sturdy floorboards that despite all the use the training room got, hadn't broken. Racks of various training weapons lined the walls, as well as weights, and other training equipment. There weren't any windows in the training room, which Theo always hated. The light in the room felt unnatural and he swore it threw off his ability to fight.
Theo and Erelah were both holding long sticks with crossbars that were holding the place of swords.
They both swung and locked together, "So, what's your deal with Zachary?" Erelah asked him.
"Everyone has their secrets, Rae," He used her nickname, hoping she'd drop the subject. She reeled back, rolled, and swung at his side. He blocked it, but just barely.
"Not parabatai." She countered. Of course, she'd use the parabatai card.
Theo used his sword to maneuver hers, but she caught him mid-motion and closed more distance between them, turning their swords upwards. Swiftly, she moved her foot behind his ankle and kicked. Theo caught himself, but not before Erelah could swing the training sword into his ribs.
He sighed, and took a couple steps back, "Just trust me, Zachary is bad news." He told her, "Now focus."
She laughed, "Last I checked, I'm winning." She told him. They raised their training swords and circled each other until Theo thrust his sword forwards, and Erelah reacted, quickly disarming him. She leveled her sword with his chest, "Come on, what happened?"
He spun and roundhouse kicked her blade, knocking it sideways. He moved forwards, and disarmed her, catching her sword before it hit the ground and whacked her on the head with it, "I win." He said triumphantly.
"That doesn't get you out of answering my question." She said, retrieving his sword from where it'd fallen. They tossed each other's weapons back to one another and started circling again, "Now tell me what happened with—"
"Room for one more?"
It was Victoria. Finally, Theo thought, we can change the stupid subject.
"Yeah, come join us." He told her eagerly, "I was just winning."
Victoria smirked as she plucked one of the training swords off the wall, "We all know I'll win." She jogged across the room to meet them and twirled the training sword with grace, "Ready?"
Erelah and Theo nodded and integrated her into their circle.
"So have you guys met Zachary?" Victoria asked.
God damn it.
Erelah smiled at Theo, "Yeah, he was at breakfast. Theo doesn't seem to like him much."
Victoria chuckled, "Jealous?"
"Why would be jealous of him?"
"Because he is mega-hot and you're mega-not."
Erelah laughed, and took the first strike, swinging at Theo. Theo blocked it and quickly ducked under Victoria's sword. Erelah took the chance and swung at Victoria's side. She dove sideways and caught Theo in the ankle with her sword.
"He is really not that good-looking." Theo protested, "I mean you've all seen Jace Wayland—" He stopped, "uh, Morgenstern…or is it Lightwood now?"
"Actually, I'm pretty sure it's Herondale."
"Whatever his last name is." Theo shook his head, "He would run circles around Zachary," Of course, Theo didn't believe that in any sense. Jace Herondale was gorgeous of course, but Zachary had a special sort of charm to him that Theo had always loved.
Victoria giggled, "I didn't know you thought Jace was so hot. Maybe we should write him a letter." She swung at Erelah, who parried the strike and swung back. At the same time, Theo stepped forward and swung at Victoria's back, but she threw herself sideways and rolled out of the way of both of their swords.
"And risk pissing off Clary Fairchild?" Theo asked, "You know she can literally create runes right? She could vaporize me."
Erelah sighed, "I wish she'd hurry up and just make a 'vaporizes all demons everywhere forever' rune."
"I don't think that's how it works," Victoria said.
"Let me dream Victoria," Erelah responded. Theo moved in on Erelah, who blocked and moved out of his range before he could attack again.
Victoria charged Theo, and he barely stepped out of the way in time. She spun on her feet, mid-charge, and brought her sword with her. It smacked into Theo's side as Erelah swung on Victoria. Victoria didn't have time to block it and got caught in the shoulder. They all stopped.
"Well, in any case," Victoria said, "Spill the tea on you and Zachary."
Erelah and Theo both looked at her confused, "Spill the tea?"
"Give us the juicy details," She rephrased, "Tell us why you hate Zachary."
"It seems like you used to be friends," Erelah added, "Friends enough to be with him instead of me when the Endarkened attacked." Victoria gasped.
Theo sighed, "It wasn't like that," he said, going with the story that Zachary had fabricated earlier, "we were all rushed to the Accords Hall and he happened to be freaking out as my dad was rushing me up there. So I comforted him. I looked for you two but I couldn't find you!"
"Am I interrupting?" Zachary poked his head into the training room.
"Not at all," Victoria smiled. Theo didn't turn to see his face, instead looked at the ground.
"Your dad says Ms. Lightwood has responded, and he's called a meeting."
"Great," Erelah said, already heading to put her sword away, "We'll be up there in a sec."
"Actually, he forgot to mention where the meeting was going to take place," Zachary said, "I was hoping I could tag along with the three of you."
Theo didn't even voice his opinion.
Erelah stuck by Theo's side, but Victoria had fallen in step with Zachary, "And through there is the infirmary," She told him, pointing down the hallway.
Zachary nodded, "Cool,"
"Victoria you're gonna overload him," Erelah said, "And Thomas is waiting for us, we don't have time for a tour."
Theo spoke next, "Yeah, let's just get to the meeting, I want to know what is going on with the demons."
"Is there a problem?" Zachary asked, looking over his shoulder at Theo. Victoria didn't really understand, Theo clearly hated Zachary, but Zachary seemed quite fond of Theo. He spoke towards him a lot.
"Hopefully not," Theo replied. They crossed the main area of the Institute and headed for the staircase.
Victoria continued to make small talk with Zachary, even if he had a girlfriend, she still wanted to know other Shadowhunters, "So where do you come from?"
"Idris." He said, "I lived there my entire life until I headed out on my travel year."
"Oh, what was that like?"
"He was telling me about San Diego at breakfast," Erelah chimed in, "it sounded lovely."
Zachary stuck his hands in his pockets, "I was in San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland—all over the West Coast."
"Did you get to see Los Angeles?" Erelah asked. They were headed through the kitchen now, towards Thomas' office.
"Uh, no." He replied, "I sent word to Arthur Blackthorn but didn't get a response, so I moved on."
"Oh, that's too bad."
Zachary shrugged, "Oh well, I mean I'm sure there'll be other opportunities."
"Yeah, maybe you'll get to go live there," Theo said.
Zachary looked back at him, "Wouldn't that be nice?" There was ice in both of their voices. Victoria felt like she was watching something she shouldn't be. An awkward silence followed.
Erelah broke it right as they were about to walk into Thomas's office, "Well, in any case, we're glad to have you with us."
Thomas's office was one of the smaller rooms in the Institute, the walls were decorated with framed pictures of Thomas's family. Theo's baby pictures were included in the wall's decorations, which Victoria used to tease him a lot about. Other than that, there was a desk and a sofa. Erelah and Victoria sat on the couch, leaving room for one more person.
"Have a seat," Zachary told Theo. Theo looked annoyed as he sat down between the girls. Zachary moved to stand behind the couch—behind Theo.
"I see you've all met Zachary," Thomas said.
"Yeah, thanks for the heads up." Theo said, his voice thick with sarcasm, "I love walking to my bedroom and seeing a stranger."
Zachary chuckled, "We both know I'm not a stranger Theo,"
Thomas arched his eyebrow
"They're old friends," Victoria explained calmly. She didn't mention the bit about the Accords Hall though.
"Might as well be a stranger," Theo replied, his tone was bitter, "Anyways, dad please what did Maryse Lightwood say?"
"About that," Thomas readjusted his tie, "Maryse says that no one else has reported an overactivity of demons,"
"So then we do have a problem?" Zachary asked.
"Is someone summoning them?" Erelah asked, "Like a warlock?"
"Or a mundane cult?" Victoria suggested. She really hoped that Fane wasn't the one summoning demons. She didn't want to think what would happen if they arrested Fane and he started blabbering about Victoria's visits over the last two years.
"Maybe the wards are weaker here?" Zachary asked, "We can ask the Shadowhunters at Wrangel Island to check."
"Good idea Zachary," Thomas said, "I'll send them a message, as for what we should do," he continued, "I want you four to investigate. Hit up the local Downworlders, find out what you can."
"Maybe Zachary should stay here," Theo said, "Keep you company."
"No," Thomas replied, "Zachary will be heading with you, he's an adult so he'll oversee this investigation."
"I'll do my best Mr. Beaugrove."
"Erelah sighed, "I guess I'll go get changed."
"Let's meet downstairs in say… half an hour?" Zachary suggested.
Victoria looked up at him, "Perfect."
"Keep me updated," Thomas said, "Send a fire message if you find anything."
Theo, Erelah, Victoria, and Zachary all nodded. And then they split up.