Yelp it's been a while. Had a long, crazy summer but ya know. Not too different from any else's I'm sure. As a few pointed out, there was no Eliza POV in the last chapter which is 100% correct. Realized a while after her first POV showed up in chapter 4, and ends with her in this one instead. This chapter also includes a few OCs by the names of Lyle and Zal! Happy readings!

-Laur

Lyle Adams was last in line. It wasn't on accident that he made sure the rest of the mundanes had what they needed. As it was his last year attending the academy before ascending to a shadowhunter, it was an obligation that he wanted to set as his fellow dregs before him had. On his plate was a pile of salad with the last fatty bits of pork and cold potatoes. The slice of cake wasn't an option, as many Shadowhunters grabbed seconds and weren't stopped.

The food system between the shadowhunters and mundanes was a small look into how differently the groups were treated throughout the year. Last year, every mundane was forced to squeeze onto two benches. Four 13 year olds sat on the floor, or on the edge of each end of the table. Looking back on it now, Lyle prefered the cramped tables as opposed to the empty seats. He was shocked to see that his usual group of friends, Sarah and Adrian, no longer attended Shadowhunter Academy. In fact most of his year were no longer present.

He and his new roommate, Spencer Alcott, were the only mundanes ascending this year. Lyle sat down next to some of the younger years, hiding a smile when one boy paled and stared intently at his plate.

"I just think that the less the government stays out of my life, the better. I mean, now their regulating what we're allowed to watch at a certain age." Zal, a boy with olive skin and a skinny frame was arguing.

"I think it's a good idea." a girl across from him rolled her dark eyes. "There's a difference in a movie like E.T. and whatever you watch alone on a Saturday night."

"Well that's an obvious difference, but why on earth do you have to be 13 years old? It's ridiculous and unneeded!"

"Just because it doesn't affect you doesn't mean it isn't needed. What if it has a violent or explicit scene, or swearing-"

"You seriously think that a thirteen year old hasn't heard a swear word before? Or won't because of PG-13?"

"No . . ." the girl paused to fluff up her large black afro. "I think the longer we can prevent children from seeing or hearing that kind of stuff is good. Might as well keep them innocent as long as possible. Plus, it's only applied at movie theaters, so it really isn't that seriously mandated or that big of a deal as you're making it out to be. No one is gonna care if you can watch it on tape or not."

"Whatever. It's still stupid." Zal said eventually, as he worked around a fork of potatoes.

Lyle felt his lips curling upwards at the two. He hadn't heard of the issue before, as he had been in Alicante for the summer. "What's going on?"

The girl shrugged. "America has decided to put age limits on some movies and Zal is being an ass and says it will destroy the country."

Zal rolled his eyes. "I didn't say that. I just think that the law is unneeded and stupid."

The girl looked at Adam knowingly. "He's just worried that soon the government will try to apprehend his porn tapes."

The rest of the table laughed with Adam as Zal blushed a deep shade of red. "I do not look at that stuff!"

Everyone was still laughing at him as he kept on pleading his innocence. The girl, who looked about 14, just smirked and looked quite proud of herself. Lyle glanced around at the rest of the room, suddenly glad that although his stomach was still growling, he got to sit with people who didn't have a stick up their butts. The cafeteria was filled with circular and square tables, some small enough for only two. Most of them were filled with superior shadowhunter students who ate their dinner with perfect manners and quiet voices. Lyle's eyes caught one of the Pangborn brothers, who sneered at him and shovelled more food into his mouth.

Beside him, the Morgenstern kid was muttering to the other brother, his black eyes flickering around the room quickly. Lyle felt uncomfortable suddenly. He had never really liked Valentine Morgenstern, although he'd heard the he was very popular with the ladies even though he had never showed much interest in them. Lyle had hardly ever been acknowledged by him, but he felt his skin crawl as Valentine surveyed the room. Very similar to how Lyle had been picking through the meat and the rubbery fat on his plate, Valentine was picking and choosing. But for what, Lyle had no idea.

Zal Monet was not too fond of the living quarters at the Academy. He wasn't acting prissy, which was what Rhonda accused him of being whenever he complained. He, and every other ascending mundane, all loathed the basement of the ancient school. His first 2 years had been filled with large spiders in his covers and clothing and sitting on his toothbrush or dwelling in the bowl of the cracked toilets that all boys had to share.

As crazy as it sounded, Zal would've taken the spiders over the slime any day. After the slime had infested their entire living quarters, one could see the many dead spiders trapped in the green slime that covered every floor and wall. While ridding the campus of one evil, it gave the mundanes an entirely new hell to live in for the rest of their schooling years. Zal was 100% sure that the culprits were most likely Bartimaeus Ravenscar (who the hell thought that name was a good idea anyways?) and his parabatai Harvey Featherstone.

He wasn't sure how they did it, or how it was everywhere in every crack. He wasn't even sure what it was actually. All he knew was that the stench was worse than being sprayed by a hundred skunks and that when he got to his room, the once clean sheets on his bed would be soaking up the green slime. The shower in the public bathrooms were obviously unusable as the toilets had been for a time. It was a memory that Zal preferred to never look back on in his lifetime.

As Zal and the rest of his fellow dregs travelled down the very slippery and slimy stone stairs, the once cheerful conversations that had occurred at the dinner table seemed to be absorbed by the green slime. The one new recruit this year had seen the the state of the basement in the morning and thrown up in one of the crusty toilets right afterwards. Zal really couldn't blame the girl. He was sure that if she had been informed about her living quarters, she would not be present. The group then left for the lawn outside for fresh air while they still had some daylight left.

This year, Zal was completely prepared, however, for the slime. As the small group ended in the main area that would split girls and boys, Zal stopped everyone before they returned to their rooms. "Everyone, meet back here with your bedding in half an hour for a much safer and cleaner place to sleep."

He was nearly friends with everyone there, so he knew they would come back. In fact, even if someone really hated him, they would never dare pass up on that kind of offer. He waited until everyone had left, except for his roommate of 4 years. Jaren Dilber came up to him, the ever present confused look on his round face. Zal swore, if it wasn't for Jaren's strong physique, he would never have been accepted to the Academy. He was probably the thickest person Zal had ever had the chance to meet. Luckily, in this case, he could manipulate Jaren into helping set up both tents. "What are we doing?" Jaren asked in his low voice.

Zal went to his suitcase and tote bin and lifted the two larger cases that luckily looked very similar to a duffel bag. "We're setting up tents in here. This room is mostly cleared out of a lot of the slime from everyone walking on it everyday. So we're going to set up these two tents for everyone."

"Like a sleepover?" he sounded excited.

"Yes, like a sleepover." Zal rolled his eyes and unzipped the tent bag, pulling out the poles and the tarps. As Jaren helped him pull everything out of the two bags, Zal made the mistake of trusting Jaren to handle one tent with instructions, while Zal worked on his own. The configuration ended up a tangled mess of strings and poles.

Zal instead let Jaren read the instructions out loud to him. He was able to set up the first tent pretty quickly, before a few mundanes arrived. He recognized the boys ascending this year, Lyle Adams and Spencer Alcott with their pillows and blankets with them. Lyle was smiling in appreciation at Zal's idea, and he found himself feeling extremely proud of himself for once. His creativity was actually benefiting people other than himself.

"If you could help me, guys, lifting the tent and making sure the poles don't move, that would be great." Zal called from where he stuck the last pole through the openings.

"Sure." Lyle shrugged and went to one corner as Spencer lifted another.

"Do you think there's enough room for everyone to fit in here?" Spencer asked, working with a stake.

"I think so. I have a third tent, but that fits about only four people. And these two are both 8 man tents, and with how little ascenders we have this year, I think we should be fine."

Lyle nodded. "I can't believe you got this in here. Is it even allowed?"

Zal shrugged. "I'm pretty sure the slime was against the rules, and you don't see anyone get in trouble for that."

"Well . . . that's a bit different. You know that." Lyle warned Zal.

"Yeah yeah, they were shadowhunters, so they get to do whatever they want to us." Zal rolled his eyes. "I don't think it'll be too much of a problem even if they crack down on the whole 'no girls and guys sleeping with each other' issue. One tent can be the girls, and the other for the guys."

"There's only one problem though." Lyle commented, patting the finished yellow and red tent. "There are around seven guys, while there are only about 4 girls. The girls' tent will have much more room than us guys, who are, naturally, larger than them."

"You know," Zal patted Lyle's shoulder in mock disappointment, "We all have to take one for the team. I will most sorrowfully and chastely give up my place in the Guy Tent to, regretfully, sleep in the Girl Tent."

Lyle just shook his head and laughed. "You really do punish yourself. Are you sure you don't want me to take up that spot?"

Zal grinned impishly. "I would never want you to experience that sort of misery, especially it being your last year. Please, let me take this trial; I will handle it as well as I can."

Lyle couldn't hold back his laugh any longer. "You knock yourself out, kid."

"Challenge accepted." Zal nodded once, very seriously.

Spencer Alcott frowned and looked at the two laughing boys with disapproval. "You both are idiots."

Zal rolled his eyes. "Have I claimed to be otherwise?"

Spencer shrugged his broad shoulders. "It doesn't hurt to remind you once in a while..."

Suddenly Zal was pissed. Here he was, sharing his brilliant idea with everyone, and Spencer was being his usual, judging self. "Well let me remind

that you don't have to sleep in here tonight. You can go to your slime filled bed and your slime covered pillow and sleep peacefully as your ceiling drips slime on your own disgusting slimy face."

Spencer sneered at him, but didn't say too much after that as more mundanes filed into the room. Rhonda's eyebrows were raised to her hairline as she came over to him and inspected the room. Her poofy black hair stood out amongst the rest of the crowd.

"I've got to say, Zal. This is one idea that you must've come up with while you were high because there is no

Dean Townsend is gonna let us keep this up."

"Actually, I was completely clean when I thought of this, thank you very much." Zal bumped his friend's shoulder. "Plus when was the last time you saw any member of staff come down here after the incident?"
Rhonda's black eyebrows knit together. "I can't remember the last time actually . . ."

"See? We're gonna be completely fine. Don't worry about it. I seriously doubt any shadowhunter would want to come into the basement right now." Zal turned from her and addressed the growing crowd of mundanes. "Girls, you can move your things into the green and blue tent. Boys move your bedding into the yellow and red tent. We should be protected from the slime on the ground and the ceiling from the tarps, so don't worry about your things getting soaked."

The 12 year old girl was grinning broadly, and Zal was glad to see that the day hadn't ended that badly for her. It took a bit for everyone to claim their spaces and be settled in, by that time, the gray sky darkened to black. The rain continued to pour down on the school and Zal was feeling deja vu to a simpler time of camping in the woods with his brothers, well before he knew anything about shadowhunters or downworlders or even heard about an Academy.

Zal had positioned his pillow and sleeping bag next to one of the open doors of the tent, strategically placed so that the open door would align exactly with the girl's door. It formed a sort of two rooms to where either tent could look inside the other without too much blocking their view.

Rhonda had placed her blanket and pillow nearest to the zipper as well, so aside from the obvious barrier, Zal could easily talk to her without any interruptions. Plus, the mix of guy smell and slime was actually a very powerful aroma, and the smell of Rhonda's vanilla perfume filled the girl tent and if Zal sniffed deeply enough, he could smell it wafting through the air.

"You know," Rhonda half whispered half giggled, "I think the ground is so cushioned by the slime, I don't even need a mattress."

Zal laughed silently, repositioning his pillow to see her better. "All's well that ends well."

Rhonda's smile became less silly, and more meaningful. "You did a really good thing for everyone today. The new girl, Emily, looked like she was about to burst into tears any second."

"You know how resourceful we can be. When we leave, future dregs will know that there are other ways to responding to bad situations besides violence and acting like bullies."

"That was inspirational, Monet." she said sarcastically, her dark brown eyes alive and teasing him.

"Or we can transport all the slime into Ravenscar's dorm."

"I'm sure that wouldn't be met with any sort of retaliation whatsoever." Rhonda rolled her eyes.

"Well you were the one making fun of me for doing the peaceful thing."

She grinned apologetically. "It was just so unlike you to say something actually intelligent I had to tease you."

"Ouch. I wonder what you say about me when I'm not around." Zal feigned hurt, rolling over so that his back faced her.

He could almost hear her eyes roll. "Come back here Monet. I'm not done talking to you yet."

"I've actually fallen asleep, please do not wake me from my slumber." Zal called, smiling as he imagined her annoyed glare.

He felt a heeled shoe make impact with the back of his head. "What the hell Haywood?" he sprung up from his sleeping bag with the heeled boot in hand, ready to attack her if he needed to.

Rhonda was laughing, rolling around in her blankets, tears welling up in the corner of her eyes.

"You could've given me a concussion." Zal grumbled.

"I seriously doubt it, you priss."

Zal hurled the shoe at Rhonda, not caring if it nailed her in the eye or not. She easily avoided it, snatching it out of the air lithely and smirking at him.

"You even throw like a priss, Monet."

Zal narrowed his eyes at her. "Do I need to kick you out of the tent to remind you who you are talking to?"

"Are you suddenly someone of significance?" she raised her eyebrows tauntingly at him.

Zal sunk down to again lay on his side, shaking his head. "Sometimes I wonder why I even bother being friends with you."

"The same thing crosses through my head daily hun, if that gives you any consolation."

"Sadly, no." Zal grinned, "Nor will it make up for how tired I will be in the morning for training."

Rhonda groaned loudly, moving to lay on her back. "I forgot that I actually came here to learn. Crap. Why on earth did I sign up for this?"

"Because you love me and wouldn't leave me alone to fend off the prickish shadowhunters."

"Nope, that couldn't be it." she pursed her lips and shrugged, her arms cushioning her head. She stared at the ceiling of her tent, obviously deep in thought. She turned her head and finally gave her real reason to coming back. "It's probably because I love the slime."

Zal shook his head at her and laughed. "Was the shower you took in it last year fun?"

"Oh totally." she responded without missing a beat. "I've missed cleaning myself of slime with more slime. Water has never been more disappointing."

Zal kept his laugh down for the rest of the mundies who were still sleeping. "You're ridiculous. And impressive. Whenever I look back on the shower I took with the slime coming out I nearly gag or go kill some shadowhunter."

"Well that is because you are a priss and you can't handle it." she faced the ceiling, watching as the tarp over the tent prevented the dripping slime from landing on anyone inside.

Zal yawned before he could say anything back and sighed. "I think I'm gonna turn in for the night."

"Fine by me." Rhonda rolled over to her side so that her back was facing him. "Goodnight Zal."

"Night Rhonda, don't let the green slime stick." Zal fluffed up his pillow, waiting to hear her quiet laugh. When she didn't, Zal frowned and rolled to his side as well and closed his eyes, feeling sleep take him very quickly.

Eliza approached the door, for the first time in a while, feeling hesitant. Behind the door were shouts of laughter and sounds of several girls talking at once. Madeleine had encouraged her to join them during dinner, but now that it came to it, she couldn't force herself to open the door. She wasn't friends with Jocelyn or Annamarie; her best and only friend was Madeleine. And Madeleine had made it obvious that Jocelyn was her best friend. But everyone knew that Luke and Jocelyn were closer than most siblings. Eliza felt silly then; she was no longer a five year old. She could share her friend, even if sharing meant that she had absolutely no one else in the whole school. And it didn't help that Jocelyn's eyes would narrow at her whenever they passed in the corridors.

Eliza tucked her hair behind her ear and headed back to her own room, where she had just left Carina Ashdown lightly snoring. Her door was open just a crack when the room next to hers burst open. Michael Wayland was quickly shoved out the door, and just as quickly as it had opened, slammed shut. "I didn't want to watch you screw yourselves anyways!" he yelled at the door, fixing his brown, ruffled hair.

Michael turned, reddening when he saw Eliza staring at him. "Kicked out?" Eliza observed, suddenly feeling stupid because she apparently could only state the obvious in front of him.

"Seems so." Michael nodded, rubbing the back of his neck turning to look at the closed door in front of him. "Luckily not my own room, otherwise I'd have a spontaneous sleepover with you." He smirked at her then, walking closer.

Eliza blushed and trained her eyes on the floor. He always said the strangest things. "Isn't that what Maryse is up to with whichever guy-"

"It's Rob." Michael said quickly, stopping in front of her to lean against the doorway. "They've been dating all summer."

"Oh. I thought he graduated" Eliza wasn't sure what to do with this information. Michael showed no signs of annoyance nor any sort of acceptance to the couple. "And are they . . . doing well?"

"Obviously." Michael snorted and gestured to Maryse's door. "It seems my stupid parabatai is only interested in chicks who are underage. Though he visits to see me, technically, so who am I to complain?"

"Annamarie isn't in there is she?"

"Of course not.' Michael stared at her like she was wearing a silly hat. "I was just joking, what I said before."

"Right." Eliza blushed, stumped on what to say next. She'd never been friends with a boy before and now she knew Michael after a few casual days

for him and his family. Maybe they weren't friends at all. She had been acting as the

, something granted to mundanes who had the sight. She was a Shadowhunter; so what did he actually think of her? He had been very friendly this morning on the lawn, and even helped her with cleaning and cooking when he had the time during the summer. But what did that even mean? Was he playing a practical joke on her? Maybe Robert had dared him to mess with her.

"Are you going back to your room?" he asked her, pulling her from her musings.

Eliza had completely forgotten that her door was still cracked open. She shut the door and shrugged, "I was going to stay up later tonight with a friend, but I decided to cancel and now I have no plans."

"I seem to be in a similar boat." Michael's dark eyebrow arched at her, his hands shoved into the pockets of his flannel pajama pants. "Well, other than the fact that my friend cancelled on

, not the other way around." he added casually, shrugging his shoulders like it didn't matter too much to him.

"Do you want to join me?" Eliza asked quickly, his slippers suddenly becoming very interesting to look at..

Michael smiled one of his dazzling smiles that made her flush even more and shook his head. "Normally I would take you up on that offer, but I think it's time for me to turn in."

Now Eliza was reddening from embarrassment, rather than excitement. He must have another girl he'd rather spend time with if he'd just rejected her. "Oh . . . okay, no yeah me too. I should umm . . . get to bed as well." Eliza was sure she looked like a bright tomato as she stumbled over the words and fumbled with the closed door.

Luckily enough for her, Michael's concentration was focused on the closed room of Maryse Trueblood. She managed to open the door and watched as his eyebrows knit together and his full lips draw into a frown, something that looked odd and disconcerting on the usual cheerful face of Michael Wayland.

"Goodnight Michael." she said quietly, forcing herself to smile at him despite the confusion she felt towards him.

"Sleep well Eliza." Michael nodded and began to make his way down the ornate, wooden hallway. She let herself watch him for a few seconds as he sauntered away from her. His head was bowed and his hands were shoved even deeper into his pajama pants. She shook her head and closed the door, taking a deep breath as she lied down on her bed. Her head swarmed with thoughts of his words and looks. Had he been hinting toward spending some time with her, or was that her mind overthinking things? He was just sympathizing with her, trying to make her feel better. But why would he do that? He was acting like a friend. Michael Wayland was not the sort to befriend an eccentric, poor, outcast shadowhunter like Eliza. She groaned into her pillow, forcing herself to stop thinking of how he had been kind, and then rejected her a minute later. Instead she closed her eyes to the thought of his smile, dazzling her, while he quipped something witty.

Maybe it would be best to just stay good acquaintances. A brief exchange of smiles in the hallway was better than nothing. Eliza knew perfectly well that her own roommate would as easily drop her boyfriend for Michael at any second. She was lucky enough to get to spend some time over the summer to get to know him, which was more than any other girl here probably had. Besides, she was very sure that other than being the same species, they had nothing in common. There was no use in over-thinking or pining over anything.

Eliza sighed and shifted in bed again. Tomorrow morning would be a whole new pill to swallow than the start of today. This morning she had gotten up early to pack and ride horseback to the school. She had been threatened by her Dean and yelled at by the inquisitor. But tomorrow, classes would begin.