Back again before finals! Anyone else procrastinating with homework and reading/writing instead? *Raises Hand* not even ashamed guys. So don't be either! Enjoy the read! The POVs for this chapter include: Luke, Jocelyn, Amatis and Eliza!

-Laur

Luke stared blankly at the page above his head. He was laying down in his made up bed, arms holding up some mundane book Madeleine had sent to him over the summer. The words blurred together into meaningless black and yellow. It wasn't that the book was boring (quite the contrary, Luke found Treasure Island to be quite exciting.), nor was his roommate being too loud. In fact, it was the complete, still silence that was bothering Luke so much. Malachi, Luke's new roommate, sat on the his own bed, writing in a notebook. Other than the pencil scrawls, there had been no noise in the room for the past half hour.

And it wasn't like Luke's experience with roommates in the years previous were all too stellar (Anson Pangborn was an abnormally loud sleeper), but at least Luke could enjoy a light conversation every now and then. By the time Luke had reached the east tower, Malachi was finished unpacking a heavy suitcase. Inside their shared wardrobe, it was divided neatly, with black gear folded in the drawer, and a few ceremonial robes hung on hangers, one Luke recognized as a white mourning suit.

The stone floor was spotless, other than black boots and a small box that lay underneath Malachi's bed, which was closest to the door. Luke knew then that he was in for it. Particularly because he was never the most tidiest person. "Hey." Luke had inarticulately said, waving a feeble hand to Malachi.

The older shadowhunter looked from his notebook to Luke, scrutinizing him up and down. Malachi nodded minutely and returned to his notebook.

"Were you in the front lawn just now?" Luke had asked, for he couldn't remember seeing his roommate at all.

"No."

Luke then swallowed, setting his bags on the empty bed. "Okay."

And that was the end of their conversation.

Luke glared at the print, willing it to entice him. But the words were meaningless, and for all he knew, they were as just randomly selected. The light filtering into his room was hotter and brighter than it had been in the cool morning. He inwardly sighed; the morning was not complicated as Jocelyn shook him awake excitedly, Amatis rolling her eyes at the younger girl's enthusiasm while cooking breakfast for the whole household, the panicked two minutes of "did I leave my toothbrush in the bathroom," and "I hope I brought enough daggers to scare the 13 year olds." It was all too easy and, Luke assumed, the universe wasn't content until his life was absolutely miserable.

The best day to train (according to Jocelyn) was the first day. Luke saw no point in a one day head start, but it was Jocelyn, so he'd contently agreed to meet her in the commons area after dinner. Luke was unsure if he was looking forward to it to avoid anymore awkward silence with Malachi, or was still dreading it because it was training, and therefore, excruciating physical exertion. But then again, Jocelyn was in charge of it, so it couldn't be that bad . . .

Luke's eyes widened as he thought this over, and realized his terrible mistake; he thought that Jocelyn would go easy on him. Luke saw a quick flash of a disturbing image; Jocelyn screaming, red faced and spit flying, in the training grounds as he lifted himself from a pushup or two. If she really wanted to, Jocelyn could've been the most feared trainer the school had ever seen. And it just so happened that Luke, for no other reason other than not being able to help himself, had accepted her training. Luke laughed aloud at the thought, feeling a wild hysteria when he thought about it too much.

"What's so funny?" Malachi's higher voice echoed in the silent room.

"Ugh . . . nothing." Luke shook himself, realizing he still held the book in front of his face. "The book is funny, is all."
Malachi blinked at him, sending Luke a judging look as he went back to his writing. Luke hid a smile with the cover of the book he was still pretending to read. Already he was bored, and he'd been there for barely an hour. A distraction of any kind would suffice; Malachi bending over and throwing up all over him would be fine (Malachi would've at least acknowledged him), or if the book he held in his hand burst into flame, or . . .

Jocelyn ran into his room, curly red hair flying in all directions. A large grin split his face and found that she was the best distraction to busy himself with. "Jocelyn!" he leapt up from his bed eagerly and hurried to her. "I've been waiting for you for ages." Jocelyn's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he grabbed her arm and was out the door in seconds, pulling her in tow. "Thank the Angel you came by, I thought I was going to die from boredom." Luke exclaimed and took her by the shoulders, nearly shaking her.

Jocelyn, at first shocked, now smirked. "Was he talking about politics?"
"Quite the contrary, actually." Luke said, following Jocelyn as she headed down the corridor to the staircase. "He hardly said anything to me. I think I would've prefered for him to say anything rather than nothing."

"I guess that's true." Jocelyn shrugged. lithely gliding down the spiral stairs.

"So how have you and Madeleine faired?" Luke asked, realizing he hadn't spoken to said girl yet.

"We were confronted by Maryse earlier to ask us if we wanted to join some fan club for Valentine."

"What'd you say?" Luke frowned, remembering Valentine helping the little girl with her bag. He wasn't all bad. In fact, everything he did seemed to be the right thing.

"I told her that it was revolting and a waste of time." Jocelyn grinned, her lips thinning to reveal her white, straight teeth. "If you're worried that I'm going to slack off on your training, you shouldn't."

Luke groaned. "I was hoping maybe you'd forgotten it."

"It was this morning, so no, Luke I didn't forget, and yes, I'm aiming on training you to top notch perfection."

"Is that what we're doing right now?" Luke glanced warily at Jocelyn as they hit the ground floor.

"Oh no . . . well. I don't know exactly. It's more like . . ." Jocelyn bit her lip, her light eyebrows narrowing into a thin line. "It's an investigation." she finally decided.

"What are we investigating?"

She shrugged her narrow shoulders. "I don't know the exact details . . ."

Luke rolled his eyes and sighed. "Why did I think this was a well thought out plan?"

Jocelyn grinned impishly as she opened the almost-black oak doors to outside. "I don't know why you'd ever have that inclination."

Luke jogged with Jocelyn past a large group of mundanes. They lounged on a large blanket, playing some kind of card game and laughing easily. Luke averted his eyes as the mundanes stared at the two pass. He recognized a few of the faces from years past, but knew hardly any of their names. He felt guilty not trying to befriend any of them the past 4 years, or manage to remember their faces even. Last year had been the most difficult to even exchange nods or any form of acknowledgement from the mundanes, their sullen glares stopping anyone's mouth. After someone had the idea to unleash a slimey explosion all over their living spaces, the tensions that were always present between the shadowhunter trainees and the dregs increased ten fold. Luke hadn't summoned enough courage to take a look at the basement since then.

Jocelyn jolted to a stop and Luke had just enough time to catch himself, nearly running her over. He grasped onto her shoulders, breathing heavily from the run. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing . . . I just," Jocelyn started to cautiously walk forward, staring at the tree line, 100 yards off. "I thought I saw what Madeleine was describing."

"What did she see?" Luke sent his best friend a worried look. "Tell me what's going on."

"I . . ." Jocelyn still had a far off look in her eyes and stared at the bushes, the light green leaves swaying lightly in the humid breeze. "Madeleine saw this movement in the trees twice at different times. I dared her to come with me and see what it was, but she refused. She tried to convince me that there's some Downworlder or other watching the school-"

"What?" Luke took a step backwards, his heart pounding now from fear, rather than exertion. He wasn't armed with gear or weapons or anything. Not that that would stop a werewolf from ripping his throat out. "Why didn't you tell the Dean!? If there-"

"I'm not going to tell the Dean because I don't know if it's a bunny rabbit or rogue werewolf." Jocelyn cut in, using logic for once. "It's more likely that whatever is moving the trees is some completely harmless woodland animal."

"You froze a minute ago when you saw it." Luke pointed out.

"That's because I wasn't sure if it was real or not until just now." Jocelyn objected, swiping away stray strands of hair in her eyes. "I thought Madeleine was making it up, and the fact that she didn't want to go made me think she was playing some kind practical joke on me."

"Madeleine doesn't prank." Luke rolled his eyes, deciding that he would drag her away if he had to. "You should know that. . . come on, Joss, we really shouldn't be here."

"But . . . but it could just be a deer or squirrel . . ." she protested as Luke yanked her arm backwards, away from the edge of the forest.

"Then you're right. You don't have to see it to believe it." Luke agreed reassuringly, all the while watching the forest warily.

"But I want to see it!" Jocelyn struggled against him, twisting her wrists.

"Curiosity killed the cat!" Luke reminded her, giving up on her arms and wrapping his around her waist, locking his wrists and yanking her up the small hill to the school.

"But I've got to know. I need to know what's in there!" Jocelyn turned in his arms, mercilessly slapping his chest to free her.

"You haven't got any weapons!" Luke exclaimed, dragging her one more tug up the hill. They were now parallel with the school. "We can come back later with our weapons, alright?"

Jocelyn stopped her struggling and stared up at him, her green eyes studying him cautiously. "You mean it?"

"Yeah. I'm not letting you search in the forest by yourself, and I know you'll go even if I tell you not to." her eyes narrowed. "I promise." he finally said, "We can do it tonight, yeah?"

She seemed satisfied after that and nodded. "Fine. We'll go tonight."

Luke grinned, glad that the matter was settled. "You . . . uh . . . you can let go of me now." Jocelyn awkwardly shrugged away from the odd tackle-hug they were in and stepped away from him.

"Right." Luke started towards the school then, remaining in front of her so that the full blush in his cheeks would remain hidden.

Amatis was already in the library, and classes hadn't even started yet. She'd tucked herself into a corner by a stained glass window, the blue reflection of Lake Lyn sending different shades onto Amatis's book. There were many books around her filled with information of where the right place is to stab a Shax demon, or what silver jewelry was best to protect you from a werewolf, and so on. Currently, however, Amatis was reading a mundane book called "Frankenstein." She'd found it amusing that of all the things to wish for, the human desired to be eternal. But eventually in doing so, created a monster. She'd found it hard to sympathize with Victor so far, what with the dull language and how insane some of his thoughts were.

"You're reading Frankenstein, I see?" an accented voice interrupted her.

Amatis jerked and looked up, getting over how startled she felt and stared at the boy in front of her. She didn't recognize him at all, but he looked to be about her age. The boy was very tall with spiked blonde hair and strong features. He didn't wear any gear, but mundane clothes; tight blue jeans and a sleeveless, leather studded jacket. The only trait that did not distinguish him as a mundane was the voyance rune on his left hand. Of course, Amatis narrowed her eyes, the runes could've been drawn on with marker, and they looked pretty adolescent to her. It wouldn't be the first time a mundane student tried to pass off as a Shadowhunter . . .

He grinned toothily, which made Amatis look down at the page bashfully. "It's a good book." he continued, Amatis finally realizing he was British from the odd accent.

"It's getting along alright." Amatis straightened her posture and sat up from her lounging position. She forced herself to make conversation, especially if it was about a book. She could talk her brother's ear off about her readings if he let her. "The beginning was a bit dull."

"Agreed." the boy leaned on the edge of the table across from her. "I almost gave up on it the first time."

"I was going to, but I promised a friend I would read it first and then talk about it with her later."

"The ending is good. I especially liked when the monster comes on the wedding night-"

Amatis clamped her ears with her hands. "I don't want to hear anything!"

The boy smirked and stopped talking, Amatis releasing the muffler cautiously. She glared at him, which only made the boy smile even wider. "I hate knowing the ending."

"So you're one of those readers." he raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, I am." Amatis replied resolutely. "I might as well not read a story if I know how it'll turn out."

He scoffed at her. "I find it much more interesting finding out how it happened and what got the characters there. If I know who ends up with who, or that person was really related to the other guy . . . Well . . . you don't have any curiosity to know how it all happened?"

Amatis frowned. "I don't need to explain my reasoning to a stranger."

The boy's head swayed side to side, nodding grudgingly. "Stephen."

"What?"

"My name is Stephen Herondale." he shrugged.

"Oh." Amatis remembered countless stories of famous shadowhunters with the last name of Herondale.

"And now this is the part where you tell me your name." he smirked and Amatis connected his look with Billy Idol's.

Amatis felt no desire to introduce herself. After all, he had intruded on her quiet time, questioned her opinions, almost spoiled the book and he didn't even know her. "Your name doesn't mean anything terribly important to me, but this book definitely does. So, excuse me, but I prefer to read alone in quiet places."

Amatis watched him long enough for the boy's eyebrows to shoot up and an amused grin begin to curl his lips as he watched her before returning to her book. She could feel his blue eyes on her which forced Amatis to finally look up at him from her book, which confused her since she'd basically told him to scram. "Okay." and suddenly he was leaving, winking once at her before disappearing into the library.

Blinking rapidly, Amatis tried to return her focus back on her book and away from the odd boy. She'd gotten only a paragraph or two in when she heard a merry, british voice call out, "Frankenstein dies at the end!"

"By the Angel!" Amatis clenched the corners of the book tightly in a death grip and snapped the book shut. She leapt from her armchair and inspected the aisle perpendicular to hers for Stephen, frowning to see it deserted. Amatis returned to the chair, scowling and furious, and glared at the closed book. She had made guesses to the end but now it was completely ruined. She just couldn't read it. Failing to compress her anger, Amatis hurled the book onto the floor, feeling satisfied when Frankenstein hurtled to the carpet with a loud CLUMP.

After staring at the book and the opened pages, Amatis looked out the window to distract herself, watching as a few trees shook along the edge of the forest. The swaying stopped just as soon as it had began, and Amatis's drifting attention was drawn elsewhere. Long gray clouds stretched across the blue sky and Amatis absentmindedly wondered if it would rain again that night.

It was some time that Amatis stared out the window, nothing changing other than the fewer and fewer students out on the lawn as the sky grew darker and threatened rain. Once the first streak of lightning cracked through the black, billowy clouds, rain began to spatter the stained window behind her. In minutes, the pouring rain was a dull roar and she relaxed into the chair. She'd been sitting there for a few hours, and Amatis didn't doubt that dinner would be served very soon, but she couldn't bring herself to care all that much. She wasn't hungry anyways. With each flash of lightning Amatis grew fascinated by the following boom of thunder, a telling tale that a billion bolts of electricity had struck down and hit something. Usually it was just trees, cracking them in half and frying the insides, ultimately killing the tree, but she wondered if any unfortunate someone would be hit in that storm.

Amatis frowned. The Monster in "Frankenstein" had been reanimated by lightning and wandered for weeks without clothing or shelter. As she glanced at the untouched book, still lying on the floor, more thunder rumbled outside. Shaking her head, Amatis carefully picked up the hardcover and left the library, heading for the cafeteria downstairs.

Jocelyn tapped her fork against the smooth, wooden table and waited impatiently for the teachers' introductions to end. It was particularly longer this year than usual as there were at least a dozen new additions to the staff. Other than the history teacher Andrew Lightwood and Kate Montclaire as the knife specialist, Jocelyn didn't recognize anyone else. In the front of the room, a dozen more staff replacements waited for their boring intro to be read.

Madeleine picked at her nails while Luke played around with an old paperclip from his pocket and twisted it into different formations. Jocelyn glanced over at a table nearest to them, filled with new, young shadowhunters. Most of them looked eager and listened intently to the speaker. A sickly looking girl had her head on the table, her blond hair hiding her face and her narrow shoulders. The next table over, however, couldn't have been more different, as they were all older and dozing off. Jocelyn smirked as she watched Madeleine's younger sister Aspen struggle to keep her eyes open. Calantha Freeman glared at the table top, her older gawky brother Charles sat next to her and occasionally sent a worried glance her way. The round wooden table in front of Jocelyn's was empty except for one seat, filled by a hawkish looking boy with large glasses that he kept pushing up the bridge of his nose.

" . . . Wrayburn will replace Haywood in the mundane and shadowhunter rune learning class. . ." Jocelyn blanked out once again, any interest lost again, once she heard a chair at their table scraping the floor. Eliza Rosewain tucked her short, poofy hair behind her ear and acknowledged Jocelyn with a small smile before leaning over to whisper with Madeleine. Dean Townsend droned on with introductions, which by that point, even the youngest of shadowhunters were looking idly around the room for something interesting to stare at. The chair beside Jocelyn scraped against the stone floor and she was surprised to see Amatis sit next to her. "Where've you been?"

Amatis whispered back, "I was in the library and got distracted is all. I'm fine." the older girl scanned the room, passing over the Shadowhunters quickly. "Not many dregs this year."

The back of the cafeteria was filled by one long rectangular table. It was a place reserved for the mundie trainees. Shadowhunters could sit there of course, but no one ever did. The starkest difference between the mundanes and the shadowhunters was how the trainees didn't even bother to fake attention to the Dean. Many chatted in low voices, while a few laughed and joked quite loudly.

Last year the table had been brimming with mundanes recruits, the benches squeezing more than it was made for. This year, Jocelyn was shocked to see that the table was a little over half full. "Townsend said the school limited the pool of recruits, but I didn't think it would cut it by nearly 50%."

Amatis only shrugged. "The Academy must've cut the weak ones out and kept the kids that actually have a chance of surviving the mortal cup."

"I guess." Jocelyn personally thought that frame of mind was a bit narrow, but the school must've done it for the safety of those who wouldn't have been able to handle it.

"Thank you for your avid attention." Dean Townsend narrowed his eyes at the back of the room. "You may eat!"

"About time." Madeleine grumbled, heading to the line already queuing up with female shadowhunters.

"Honestly, we don't need each teacher's entire biography told to us. I'm sure we'll get to know them soon enough since we all live here for the next nine months." Jocelyn added.

"The only one I was really impressed with was the new runes teacher."

"That's only because he's hot." Jocelyn rolled her eyes.

"True . . ." Madeleine smirked and added. "he also studied at the Mumbai Institute. How cool would that be?"

"I'd prefer to stay in Europe." Jocelyn shrugged. "Aren't the demons a bit different than here as well?"

"Isn't that a good reason to go, though? The farther you travel, the more you learn."

Jocelyn dished up mashed potatoes and tore a piece of pork onto her plate. Very carefully, she replied, "I just hope you don't go anywhere too foreign, because I'd have to come with you no matter what."

"What do you mean?"

Jocelyn sighed, wishing that she didn't have to blurt it out while they were surrounded by others. "I just mean that I won't be able to handle not being around you once we graduate and leave Academy."

Madeleine rolled her eyes. "Okay Joss, I'm sure you'll survive just fine."

They finished dishing up and sat down at their usual table. Amatis rejoined with a few friends at a different table, while Luke was already in line with the boys as they awaited the shadowhunter girls to finish serving themselves. So their table was empty as the two friends sat down. "I do want to finish our conversation later."

Madeleine's eyebrows furrowed. "About after Academy?"

"No . . . not that. I only mean about . . . well-"

"It's fine." Madeleine grinned easily at her. "I actually have something I want to tell you too."

"So tonight?"

"Tonight." Madeleine confirmed.

Next chapter we have a few OCs coming into the mix and the moving bush will be wrapping up soon. Personally I was really excited to add Eliza's POV for the first time; I really wish she was addressed more in the books! She'll have another POV coming round next chapter along with OCs Zal Monet, Lyle Adams and of course Jocelyn! Please review because they really do give me life and motivation! Shout out to Kisses on the Steps because what a babe

-Laur