A/N: I do not own the world of Shadowhunters that belongs to Cassandra Clare. As always, a giant thank you to my beta, T.S. Idiot. I own any OCS and the plot to this story. Please leave a review! -Maiden of the Heavens (MOTH)
Chapter 3
To Shiloh's young crystal blue eyes, the inside of the New York Institute was overwhelming. A slight young woman with hair that was kissed by fire and gentle green eyes was rushing down a flight of stairs toward them. Her eyes were filled with sadness and pity toward the little orphaned Half-Breed child as she met them in the entryway of the Institute. Magnus, with a lesser show of fanatics, closed the portal with a wave of his hand as if he was batting away a bug or a plume of smoke.
The woman Shadowhunter wore an oversized t-shirt that could have belonged to man, it bellowed past her knees, she was barefoot and her pale skin was covered in fading Runes, save for one that looked freshly burned on the flesh at the side of her neck. Her half-alert green eyes met Magnus' and Alec's.
"This is her?" she asked, indicating Shiloh, who now felt like a mannequin in a store window. Seen but silent.
Alec let out a breath that was filled with exhaustion and fury, his words came out soft like a whisper. "Yes, this is Shiloh. She needs a safe place to stay until we can find a family that will take her."
Shiloh hid her blood-stained hands in the pockets of her hoodie dress. She tried her best to stop the tears that were swelling in front of her vision, but she couldn't. She started to sob, heart-wrenching wails that shook her body. She wanted to get the sickly penny-like smell of her father's blood from her hands, it did not help that it was also stuck in her hair now. Her silver locks were fused with the color rust. She struggled to stand and to stop herself from quaking, but her knees gave out once more, and before she could try desperately to wrangle her feelings and shove them down again, when the woman with the kissed by fire hair hugged her to her chest. She did not let go and instead buried her face in the fabric of the t-shirt.
"Daddy is dead…I-I'm all alone…"
Clary only held her a little tighter. "You're not alone, Shiloh. You will never be alone, you will always have people who care and love you."
The door to main hallway opened to reveal a man with blond hair and gold eyes that burned like ember. He was wearing a faded old Mundane band t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants, he was also barefoot, but tucked in his arm was a container of mint chocolate chip ice cream and two spoons sticking out of the pocket of his sweatpants. "I didn't think you would mind a late night snack, I can't get the awful taste of Isabelle's shrimp, leek, and spinach dinner taste out of my mou-" the Golden Boy Shadowhunter of the New York Institute stopped short his eyes scanning and then resting on the little girl with silver-white hair who was covered in blood, and clinging on to Clary as the Shadowhunter stood up and rested the young half-breed on her hip, as she buried her small teary face into the fabric of Clary's nightshirt.
Her green eyes met with Jace's gold. "This is Shiloh…she needs a place to stay."
"Is she hurt? Why there so much blood on her?" Jace was now next to her, the ice cream abandoned on one of the steps.
Shiloh sniffled loudly and choked on another sob. "It's Daddy's, not mine…. the Wild Hunt decamp-" her face and nose scrunched up as she tried to remember the big word. "They chopped off his head…i-in front of me. Can I-I stay here pl-please? I'll be good, promise." Her crystal blue eyes were filled with sorrow and loss.
"You can stay with us." Jace said and looked at Alec and Magnus.
The trio left to discuss the whole situation while Clary carried Shiloh into the bathroom and helped the little girl remove her clothes, so they could scrub away the blood. As Clary let the bathtub fill up and while she waited, Shiloh sat in the tub watching it lap at the crusted and dried life liquid that had once been inside her father.
The little girl scrubbed away the blood with a washcloth and bar of soap that smelled of lavender. Clary helped her to massage the shampoo in her hair, it smelled sharply of apples. The Shadowhunter handed her a clean washcloth to put over her eyes as the Co-Head of the New York Institute unplugged the bathtub to allow the now pink water to wash away and the showerhead came to life to rinse away the soap and the remains of the blood.
Once she was done and clean, Clary wrapped her in a warm fluffy towel the color of a mint leaf. Shiloh didn't mind the warmth and noise of the hair dryer, she found it to be rather soothing and nearly nodded off at her seat on the toilet lid. Clary carried her, still bundled up in her towel like a caterpillar in a cocoon to a bedroom door that was obviously occupied, since the red-haired young woman knocked on it.
A woman who looked slightly disheveled and half-asleep opened the door. Her ink black hair was plaited back loosely, and her dark brown eyes still seemed foggy from the world of dreams. Shiloh was bundled up so tightly and cozily all the woman with Runes as dark as if written by a freshly filled quill could make out was the Half-Breed child's crystal blue eyes and single curl of her damp silver hair that had come loose from the towel.
"Are you introducing me to my new niece or nephew at three o'clock in the morning, Clary?" She asked, stifling a yawn with her hand as she opened the door to her bedroom to allow them entrance.
"No, Izzy. This is Shiloh," Clary removed the part of the towel that hooded the six-year-old's face from full view. "She's going to be staying with us for as long as she needs to."
"You are adorable, Shiloh! And a sweet girl like you deserves cute clothes." Isabelle said in a matter of fact tone, and began rummaging through her closet for a nightgown that no longer fit her.
Isabelle and Clary tucked Shiloh into bed wearing a butter yellow nightgown that was decorated with lilac teddy bears, a stuffed animal unicorn with a rainbow horn and hair, and a classic fairytale about a knight in shining silver armor who saved a princess trapped by a greedy dragon.
Isabelle eyes drifted toward the closed guest bedroom door, letting her worried thoughts about the Half-Blood be spoken aloud. "She is going to need someone to talk to about...all of this. A little girl that young should not have worry about where she is staying…"
"What do you suggest, we ask one of the Silent Brothers to become her physiatrist?" Clary asked trying not to sound sarcastic or mean. She was a little surprised at Isabelle's suggestion. "We've all been through terrible nightmarish…we've all had…"
"Very shitty stuff happened to us all, yes. But Shiloh needs someone to help her through this...and none of us have been through what she has." Isabelle retorted with determination.
"We should take it one day at a time…" Clary replied, suddenly regretting having stayed up until the wee hours of the morning to chat and cuddle with Jace, it was going to be a long day.
They ended up in the kitchen where Isabelle's mother was sitting at the table with a cup of coffee in her hands. She looked like an older version of her daughter, but instead of just wandering around in her nightdress like Isabelle, Maryse was wearing a crimson silk bathrobe. The Head of the Institute seemed weary and worn, anger was flooding her eyes.
"You and Jace have taken in a Half-blood without my permission?" Maryse's eyes met Clary's guilty ones and Isabelle's, who's flashed with the determination to make sure that Shiloh was not abandoned and alone.
The fiancée of Simon let out an irritated sigh. "Shiloh might not be pure of blood like some of us, but she still a Shadowhunter nonetheless."
Maryse's grip only tightened on the mug, causing it to shake slightly and a few droplets of the boiling hot liquid dribbled down onto her fingers. "With the Cold Peace...this very Institute could be under investigation if your father finds out that we have given this little girl sanctuary."
"Mom, you took in Jace and raised him as your own, it won't be any different with Shiloh will it?" Isabelle asked, pouring herself her own mug of coffee.
Maryse's face and eyes softened a little. "Of course not. She is welcome to stay here until we are able to find her a proper home."
The Head of the New York Institute left the kitchen and went back to her own bed. Clary and Isabelle did the same. Except Clary did help Jace finish off the last of the mint chocolate chip ice cream before she was swept into dreams.
Just as the sun broke through the darkness of night, Shiloh awoke from her own piercing scream covered in cold sweat and shaking violently with tears blurring her vision and soaking her face.
Her father...her father had been there with her in the darkness of her own nightmare. They had been in the dark and dampness of a forest that had recently been shrouded with rain. She reached out to grab her father's hand, he shattered into a million shards like glass. She tried to gather up the pieces, only for them to imbed into her fingers like thorns with welts of blood rising with the cuts.
She yelled for Kaelie, but only her own echoed voice replied. She was all alone and her father was dead because of her. What if someone else died because of her?
Now when she was awake, she was all alone once more. That realization made her sob even harder until she cried out for the red-haired Shadowhunter with the kind green eyes. In moments Clary was there, the door to the guest room where the Half-Blood girl's door was now wide open, flooding light into the darkness from the hallway that was bathed in Witchlight.
"You're safe here, Shiloh. I promise." Clary said, gathering the little girl into arms and onto her lap.
Clary stayed with Shiloh, the girl wrapped into her as if the Shadowhunter with red hair was her shield against all nightmares and loneliness until the Half Blood girl was fast asleep once more.
It was not until late in the afternoon that Shiloh awoke and found her way into the kitchen, where she dug up the ingredients to make herself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich along with a glass of chocolate milk with the help of a stool that was in the shape of a turtle. She sat at the table just finishing up licking the strawberry stickiness from her fingers when Jace entered.
He smiled softly and helped her to reach the kitchen sink so she could properly wash her hands.
"Alec has set up some lessons for you to do in the library," He began to explain, but Shiloh interrupted him with a wrinkle of suspicion crinkling up her nose.
"What kind of lessons?"
Jace took her hand and led her out of the kitchen and down the hallway. "Mostly reading and math, I think."
"I don't mind reading. Math is harder than reading." Shiloh admitted.
After finishing an addition and subtraction worksheet with Alec, she drew some of the Runes from the Grey Book with Clary's guiding hand and learned about Shadowhunter history.
It was after her lessons that Jace found Shiloh sitting on the bench by the piano poking at the keys curiously with her fingers. Jace sat down next to her and began playing the beginning of Für Elise.
"Do you want to learn?" He asked as she looked up at him with bright eyes.
Shiloh nodded, smiling. "Yes, please."
Of course if Shiloh knew she would have to practice scales until dinner, she would have rather studied more on Shadowhunter history.
That same night after a dinner of cheesy ravioli casserole made by the team effort of Clary and Jace, Isabelle was just about to finish tucking in Shiloh for a good night's sleep with cup of hops tea when Alec stepped in with a laptop in his arms, that was open the screen glowing on his chest.
"I have two people here who would like to meet you." he said and set the laptop on her blanket-covered lap.
On screen via Skype were two women. One of the women introduced herself as Helen. She was a Half-Blood as well with long blonde hair and blue-green eyes. Beside Helen was a full blood Nephilim woman, her name was Aline. She had black hair like a raven's wing and brown eyes.
Shiloh found out that they were both living on Wrangel Island. She spoke to them for nearly two hours, and Helen being the gentle-hearted person that she was even sang 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' with the young silver haired Half-Blood girl until she dozed off and Isabelle had to disconnect the call with a quick goodnight of her own with Helen and her girlfriend.
This was how Shiloh spent her days at the New York Institute for nearly a month. In the morning after breakfast, she had her basic math lessons with Alec, after a brief break to explore the rest of the compound, the kindergartener then had her Rune and Shadowhunter history lessons with Clary. After that she read a chapter of Ragweed with Isabelle and practiced writing simple sentences. Lunch was followed by piano lessons with Jace, she was finally learning how to play chopsticks. After dinner and once she was ready for bed she spent an hour talking with Aline and Helen Blackthorn.
Even though she loved the Lightwoods and how much they had become her family, she did not want to leave them in danger to Clave because of her. Magnus had told her what had happened to her mother one night over a dinner of grilled asparagus and salmon. Her mother had become sort of a nun, closed off to the rest of the world, while making weaponry for other Shadowhunters, they were known as the Iron Sisters. As for her sister, Rohan? Sent back to the Land of the Fae.
Shiloh had not met either Aline or Helen Blackthorn in person yet, Shiloh wished that the two of them were her mothers, she prayed to the Angel every night that they would be someday soon.
That someday came sooner than any one of them would have thought.
Maryse busted into the library during Shiloh's daily piano lesson as if the devil himself was snapping at her heels. Shiloh stopped mid-note and looked up at Jace with concern and worry in her crystal-blue eyes. Alec and Magnus was also in the library with their adopted son, Rafael.
"Mom, what's wrong?" Alec asked, standing up from where he had been on the floor with Rafael and the Warlock building a tower with blocks.
"Your father is on his way here. If he finds any trace of Shiloh, this very Institute will be shut down in the blink of an eye and we will all be charged with treason."
Shiloh looked at the adults and tried to stop the tears that were beginning to flood her eyes. "Where will I go? Helen and Aline did say they wanted to adopt me…"
Alec glanced at Magnus as he gathered their son into his arms. The High Warlock of New York nodded and announced to the stunned to silence room. "I will go and let Helen and Aline what is happening. While I am away please get Shiloh prepared to leave." He vanished with a snap of fingers through a portal.
Isabelle and Clary helped her to pack. She was going to be leaving the Institute with only two bags of belongings, but with plenty of loving memories. She wore one of her favorite dresses that Isabelle and Clary had picked out for her during a shopping trip. It was a cranberry colored dress that went down to her ankles warm enough for the biting chill of Autumn, just brushing the top of her dark brown leather boots. Isabelle had plaited her silver locks and then wrapped it into a bun.
Shiloh hugged all of the Lightwoods tightly, even Rafael, she had just begun to think of him as a little brother. She thanked Maryse for allowing her to stay and just as she gave Jace and Clary a final hug, Magnus came through the portal again ready to take her to Wrangel Island.
The Half-Blood little girl was met with warm and nervous smiles once she arrived, Magnus stayed long enough for her to get settled in her new smaller bedroom. Just as the Warlock was about to step through another freshly made portal, Shiloh ran up to him and hugged him tightly, pressing a kiss to his cheek.
"Thank you, Magnus. I'm going to miss you."
The High Warlock of New York smiled softly, "I'll miss you as well, little one."
As Magnus Bane left, Shiloh turned around and found Helen and Aline waiting for her, their hands held out to take her away from the shoreline and back up to the house. She took one hand in each of her own and let them lead her home.