Chapter 5

Magnus followed Isabelle into the courtyard of the New York Institute and looked around him. He had never been anywhere other than Jakarta or Idris and he was ready to see what a new location had to offer him. Magnus followed Isabelle from the courtyard into the institute, he recognized the operations center, they were mainly the same in almost any institute one went to. Isabelle motioned for Magnus to follow her to Jace's office so the three of them could talk and get to know each other. Isabelle stopped in front of the door to his office and knocked quickly before walking in.

"Hey Jace, I just thought you would want to meet Magnus and talk to him for a bit," Isabelle stated she walked into the office.

"Hey Izzy, you know next you might want to make sure that wait for me to answer before you just walk in. I could have been a meeting and you would have just interrupted it," Jace complained standing up to greet his sister and Magnus.

"Sorry I'll make sure to wait for you to say something next time before I just walk in. Anyway, I just wanted to introduce you to Magnus and help him get settled in," Isabelle said motioning for Magnus to step closer.

"Magnus it is nice to mee you. I hope that you will settle in here. I look forward to working with you and getting to know you. I'm sure you will be a great addition to New York. You will work mainly with Isabelle and on occasion with me. I have other responsibilities as well so when neither Isabelle nor I are available then you will report to my second, Andrew Underhill," Jace explained.

"Jace it is nice to meet you. I hope that I will be able to learn from you and your sister. I have heard a lot about the changes that you have made, and I hope that I will be able to contribute to them," Magnus said as he walked forward to shake Jace's hand.

"I will leave in Isabelle's capable hands and let you get settled in. I know this is going to be a good fit for you and I think this will help to make things even better here and at other institutes across the country and around the world. I spoke with the Clave about your ideas and what you have been doing in Jakarta. I think that can be beneficial to us," Jace replied.

"Jace, I will let you get back to what you were doing. I expect to be busy with Magnus for the rest of the afternoon. Let me know if you need me for anything I shouldn't be too far away," Isabelle said preparing to leave Jace's office.

"Makes sense and I hope that you settle in nicely. Enjoy the rest of your day Magnus and I hope we will get more time to talk later," Jace said going to back to the paperwork that was on his desk.

Magnus followed Isabelle from Jace's office. She told him that she was going to show him his room and the other important locations in the institute. While most places were similar to his home institute there were other differences and that is what would take some getting used to for Magnus. He paid close attention to where Isabelle was taking him. He hoped that he would remember how to get back.

"Here is your room. I hope that I will work for you. I know you had mentioned that you wanted a room that had a decent closet. Next to my room this one has the best closet. I hope it will work for you. I'll give you a minute to look around and then show you around the rest of the institute," Isabelle explained showing Magnus his room.

"Thank you, Isabelle. I'm sure the closet space will be adequate. I'm used to having a lot of space to store my stuff, but I can adjust if there isn't enough space," Magnus said following Isabelle into the room.

"You can call me Izzy. Only my parents call me Isabelle and that is when they are unhappy with me and something that I have done. Which considering me, I'm always in some sort of trouble so my parents say my full name quite often."

"That sounds a lot like me and my best friend. My parents were always after the two of us for the trouble that we somehow managed to get ourselves into. I think you are, and I are going to be great friends. If you are as much of a troublemaker as I was when I was younger."

"Magnus judging by the amount of clothes that you had sent here and the amazing taste you have in fashion and the trouble you say you got yourself into, I think we will be great friends. I'm looking forward to getting to know you and showing you around New York."

"Izzy you seem like the type of person that I want to be friends with, and I think we can learn a lot from each other. Well show me what else the institute has to offer. I know there are differences and I hope that I will be comfortable here."

The two left Magnus' room and Izzy showed him where the essential rooms were. They went over the location of the weapons room, the training room, and the infirmary. Magnus knew that it would take him some time to get used to how things were running at the institute, but he was impressed by the way the older shadowhunters interacted with Jace and Izzy. He could see the way they respected them and knew that there weren't a lot of hard feelings from the shadowhunters who had decades more experience on the other two. They lead by example and took everyone's opinion into consideration before making a final decision. That's what Magnus saw as Izzy took him around the institute and introduced him to several of the shadowhunters working there.

He noticed as they walked through the institute that everyone had a purpose to what they were doing. They moved with an intent and didn't take their time getting from point A to point B. Jace had the institute running like a well-oiled machine and the shadowhunters responded to it. He also noticed that there was one corridor that Izzy didn't take him down. There was something about the corridor that caught his attention. It was the only place in the institute that had guards stationed outside the doors. He thought that was odd.

"Izzy, is there a reason why there are guards down this corridor?" Magnus asked as they walked past.

"What do you mean. There aren't any guards down there. This corridor hasn't been used in years. There was an incident there when I was younger, and it hasn't been used since. My parents made some changes and remodeled some other areas in the institute to make up for the space that was lost because the area was deemed unable to be used safely," Izzy replied looking where Magnus' attention was.

"Are you sure? I see two guards outside one of the rooms, it just seems strange to me that they would be there especially if you say this area has been blocked off and unused for years," Magnus stated feeling confused by Izzy's response.

"I walk pass this area on a daily basis and have never seen any guards down that way. I don't know you may just be imagining things," Izzy stated moving pass the corridor.

Magnus shook his head. He didn't understand how Izzy couldn't see the guards. They were very clear for him and it seemed strange to him that they were there. If there were any prisoners in the institute then they would be downstairs until they could be relocated to the Silent City. He followed Izzy and figured he would look into this some more and hope that it would make some more sense to him.

He watched as Simon went through the movements for the kicks. He knew Simon was unfamiliar with them and it showed. His movements weren't as smooth as his blocks and punches had been earlier. He watched Simon for a little bit longer and then noticed the guard walk further into the training room. He knew that was the signal that they were done for the day. He walked towards Simon and signaled for him to stop.

"Simon that's it for the day. Keep working on your kicks and don't forget to practice what we went over earlier as well. I am impressed with how for you have come up to this point," he said moving to put the stuff away.

"Thank you, sir. I know this is a different experience for you, but I am learning a lot and I hope that I don't disappoint you when I come back," Simon said following him to the door.

"You aren't a disappointment Simon. You are a change to my normal routine and that is always a nice change for me. Keep practicing and you may have a chance at beating me," he said moving towards his room.

"Thank you that really does mean a lot to me," Simon replied and followed the guard away from the other boys' room.

He didn't know where Simon went when they weren't in the training room. He imagined that he had access to other parts of the building that they were staying in. He noticed that Simon wasn't kept in shackles like he was, and it seemed like he had more freedom then he did. He wanted to be able to move about more freely but knew that that wasn't going to happen unless Simon beat him in the next few weeks. He had to come up with a plan to have Simon beat without it being obvious that he rigged the fight.

He entered his room and knew that dinner would be brought around shortly. He knew he had time read a little bit before dinner would arrive. He went to grab the book that he had been reading for the last few days. It was one of his favorites and one he went back to quite often. It helped him to be able to work through things and also allowed him to continue to plan for another escape in the off chance that Simon wasn't able to beat him in the next few weeks.