Chapter 6

Magnus continued to think about the corridor he had seen. It just didn't make sense to him that in all the institute it was the one place that had guards aside from the cells in the basement. He had talked to several other shadowhunters over the last few days and none of them had seen the guards in the corridor either. He was starting to think there was something going on that he didn't understand. He left his room to meet up with Isabelle. She was going to introduce him to a few more people and also help get him on the rotation to get started with patrols in the city. He knew that for the first few patrols he went out on would be with Izzy and then he would go out with other shadowhunters.

Magnus knew he would have to think about the strange corridor later, but he knew it was something that he would figure out. If there was something he liked as much as getting into trouble with Ragnor, it was solving a good mystery, and this seemed like a good one. He headed towards the weapons room which is usually where Izzy could be found if she was not in the morgue.

"Good morning Magnus. How are you adjusting to being here?" Izzy asked as he walked into the weapons room.

"I'm doing well. The pace is a lot quicker here than it is back home. We still get things done, but you seem to have a better system for making sure all the work gets done in a timely manner," replied Magnus moving to where Izzy was inspecting some of the swords in the room.

"Well it was how my parents ran the institute when they were her and Jace runs in like that as well. There have been changes made of course but the sense of purpose still remains. Well for today we are going to talk about the downworld council for New York and the main members that you will see coming and going from the institute. When we go on patrol tonight it will be with some of the downworlders as well," Izzy explained looking up at Magnus.

"Ok, I think I'm ready for this. I feel like I have met more people in the last few days than I have in my entire life. I guess it makes sense because we didn't always get a lot of new people coming to the institute. I know it will take some time to get to know everyone, but I think I will get there."

"That's good to hear. I know there has been a lot thrown at you, but you have done a good job of keeping up with it all. You are the first new shadowhunter we have had here since Clary showed up a couple years ago. Though her story is a bit different than yours and one that she will have to tell you when you meet her."

"That sounds good. I'm looking forward to learning more about the downworld council and how that works. I didn't realize you guys went on patrols with the downworlders here in New York. That is something different and unexpected."

"It is, but it is part of what Jace changed in order to improve our relationship with the downworlders. The main reason we go on patrols with them is that a lot of the issues we run into on patrol are related to the downworld and having a vampire, werewolf, or warlock with us can help diffuse the situation quicker than if we were patrolling on our own. They also help a lot when we are dealing with demons as well. The seelies don't always patrol with us, when they do it is very rare for them to stay for the entire patrol shift. They answer more to the seelie queen than anything else and for Jace it is enough that they participate on the council."

"Wow that is interesting. I know when we would go on patrol in Jakarta it was hard to get the assistance of the downworlders. A lot of them still have hard feelings about things that happened many years ago. Change is coming a lot slower there than it seems to be here."

"Change has taken awhile to happen here. When Jace first introduce the idea of a downworld council in New York, the Clave was hesitant to allow it to move forward, but also the downworlders didn't trust him to be transparent during the meetings and share all the information that he knew. It was very slow going at first, but it has made a real difference in the last six months that is for sure. It has helped seeing that Jace practices what he tells the various leaders in the meetings. He isn't just a talking head to them, but he is actually still getting out of the institute and doing what he can to make a difference for everyone."

"I've noticed that over the last few days. He is a lead by example type of leader not a do as I say even though I'm not going to do it. The both of you have a lot to be proud of."

"Thank you. Well we have a lot to go over and not a lot of time. I have a meeting with Catarina about an open case that we have been working on together. I will try to go over what I can and then I will actually leave you in the very capable hands of Clary. You would be with Jace or Underhill, but they will both be in meetings until early evening. Clary will meet you in the training room after we are done here."

"Sounds like a plan. I'm ready to learn what you have to teach me."

Isabelle instructed Magnus to follow her to the back of the weapons room. She had set up a small area for her desk and a small table for Magnus to work on when they were going over paperwork and other things. Her plan had been to go over the various leaders and their seconds so that Magnus was familiar with all the important people in the New York downworld. Magnus had a notebook that he kept track of what Isabelle went over in their trainings. He wanted to make sure that he didn't miss anything and also could write down any questions that he came across while he was going through books in the library.

Isabelle started with the vampires. She explained the leader of the New York vampire clan was Raphael Santiago. He had taken over the clan after Camille disappeared, she still hadn't been located. Raphael was a fair leader and would always do what was best for his people before anything else. His second was Lily Chen, she was Raphael's most trusted member. If he wasn't available to talk to you then it was best to go to Lily second. She had his authority to do make decisions if he was not there. The two worked seamlessly together and did a great job at making sure the vampires under them were taken care of.

Isabelle then went on to talk about Lucian Garroway. He took over leadership of the New York werewolf pack about two years ago, right around the time of Valentine's return. Isabelle explained that he was a former shadowhunter who had been turned into a werewolf many years ago. He had been exiled from the Clave, because of his being a werewolf, but he understood Clave law and worked to enforce as best he could. His beta was Maia Roberts, she also worked at the Hunter's Moon as a bartender. She had been promoted to beta after the death of Luke's previous beta during the conflict with Valentine. She was strong and did her best to take care of the wolves. She worked effortlessly to help improve relations between the wolves and the shadowhunters and knew that there were still improvements to be made.

Catarina Loss was currently the High Warlock of Brooklyn. Catarina had been the High Warlock for the last 30 years and took her job seriously. She worked tirelessly to make sure that the warlocks under her protection were taken care of. She kept the wards of the institute up and running. She also came to check on the wards every six months just to make sure everything was still good. Her assistant was Tessa Gray. Tessa was unusual in the warlock world, because she was also a shadowhunter. She worked as a warlock more than a shadowhunter because that is what felt more comfortable to her. She would be around when Catarina was unavailable to help out.

Last of all was the Seelie Queen. The queen rarely made an appearance at council meetings. She would send her representative, Meliorn more often than not. Meliorn was one of the queen's guards and took his job seriously. As Magnus knew, dealing with the seelies was often difficult because while they could not like they did have a creative way of telling the truth. One had to be careful when they were talking to a seelie. The seelies, although a member of the council, still held themselves apart from the rest of the downworld. They would help only if it would benefit them and then only as a last resort.

Magnus looked down at his notes and wanted to make sure that he had gotten everything written down correctly. He knew that there would be more people that he would meet throughout his time in New York, but these were some of the important ones. Once Isabelle was done going over the members of the council, she excused Magnus to go meet up with Clary.

The last few days had moved quickly for him. The slight change in his routine made things less predictable and therefore it was easier for him to know that different days had passed. He was headed again to the training room. He was looking forward to working with Simon again. The brunette boy had improved quite a bit over the last few days, and he was anxious to see how he was faring now. The guards came to escort him from his room to the training room. He knew the routine by now because it had been the same for several years.

He entered the training room followed by the guard. He immediately spotted Simon in the center of the room warming up. He watched as Simon went through his warmup routine and practiced what he had been taught so far. Simon was moving more fluidly through the different movements with his arms and legs. He knew that soon he would be ready to start sparring against him and that is when the real fun would begin.

"Simon that looks good. You look like you have more control over your movements and where everything connects together. I want you to keep working on that and then we will go into combinations," he said walking to the center of the room.

"Thank you, sir. I've been trying to practice when I'm not here, but I always feel like I am still messing up what you have taught me," Simon replied turning to face him.

"Simon the one thing that you need to remember always, is to have confidence in what you are able to do. I have been training for as long as I can remember so a lot of this is second nature to me and I can do it without even thinking. You have only been doing this for the last few days so it will take for it to feel completely natural. If you keep doing this and keep practicing, then you it will start to feel better. Part of training every day is to help your body remember what you learned the day before or even days prior. Muscle memory takes time to build up, but you are getting there," he explained moving to show Simon what he meant.

He went through several different combinations of punches, kicks, and blocks. After he got done with that he then went through the movements with Simon. Simon slowly caught on to what he was being shown and on how the movements went together. He explained to Simon that while it was good to know the combinations, it didn't always work out that way in a fight. The combination may be interrupted by whatever kick or punch his opponent threw at him. He encouraged Simon not to feel frustrated but to keep practicing and informed him that at their next training session they would start sparring together.

The remainder of the session went quickly and before the two boys knew it the guard was stepping forward to escort Simon out, and to take him back to his room. He would get more time later in the day to work on his archery, but for now it was time for his next meal. As he was escorted back to his room, he looked down the corridor like he had done many times before and noticed something different. In the past when he had looked down the corridor, he wouldn't see anybody moving about. He would only see the guards. This time though he noticed a boy around his age with dark hair. He was unable to notice much else about him, but it made him think. There was something about this boy that made him want to try to see him again. He took this as another sign that maybe things were changing, but he was unaware of how much they would be changing for him soon.