A/N: Yes, there is a time jump. Please let me know what you think of this story so far in a review! I only own the OCs and the plot for this story!-Maiden of the Heavens (MOTH)
Chapter 5
Bits and slivers of ice went flying as she continued to attack the massive cube, desperate to finish her sculpture for her mothers. It was going to be Aline and Helen's gift for Mother's Day, and she had been working on it for a month. It had to be perfect after all.
The muscles in Shiloh's arms burned and ached as she let the hilt of the Katzbalger drop from her hand, she was still having issues getting Helen's ears just right, and it was making her frustrated. The Half-Blood adopted daughter of Helen and Aline Blackthorn, peeled the safety goggles away from her eyes and picked up her weapon of choice, she covered the statue with a white cloth and oiled the blade before she put it back in its rightful place along her Shadowhunter mothers' other weapons, and debated on whether or not to head inside and help her Half-Blood mother Helen with her report on the wards or to explore more of her home. Not that there was much to explore living on a frozen wasteland in the middle of the arctic ocean. And she had gotten far too old to continue to make snowmen and snow angels, and now she understood why her pure Nephilim mother, Aline was so terribly frustrated and bored all of time, even though she struggled to keep her and her adopted daughter's sanity intact with unusual hobbies.
Shiloh stomped the snow from the bottom of her boots on the rug in the foyer before she sat on the bench and peeled them off, along with her wool socks, her eskimo-like coat, and heavy-duty gloves. She then pulled on a pair of slipper socks and made her way into the kitchen. She craved hot chocolate and peanut butter blossom cookies, but first she had make what she wanted to eat, since Helen had herself stoyed away in her office and Aline had decided to try her hand at ice fishing.
For four years the Half-Blood Fae child had lived on Wrangel Island with her mothers' and now that she was ten and had learned how to use many different types of weaponry under their care, it was time for her to earn her Mark. But first she wanted to make herself her snack and focus on that. Truth be told, Shiloh was nervous about getting her first Rune as a Shadowhunter, she did not feel as if she deserved it, all she had was her biological mother's Nephilim blood coursing through her, was that really enough? Shiloh tucked a loose strand of her nickel colored hair behind her pointed ear, and began to mold the dough in the shape that she needed. She placed them in the oven and turned when she heard the crinkling of a Hershey's kiss wrapper being undone.
Helen grinned at her adopted daughter and popped the sweet treat in her mouth. She then sat down at the kitchen island after getting herself some cranberry juice, and watched as Shiloh easily crafted her favorite type of cookie, even though it was in middle of February and the holidays were long over.
"You shouldn't be nervous, honey. Getting your first Rune is such a special occasion, Aline and I are very proud of you." Helen said trying to quell her daughter's nerves.
"I know, but it's not like I'm going to be able to actually go out and help anybody...if I leave the island the Clave could find me...or the Hunt...or the Unseelie King's soldiers...if I leave, it's practically putting a target on my back. I don't want to put you and Mater in danger, Mama." Shiloh said, her light crystal blue eyes were glimmering with fear.
"You might not be able to help anyone right now, but you will someday. You will get stronger and your abilities as a Shadowhunter will grow. Aline and l love you, we believe you. You need to believe yourself too." Helen held her daughter close to her, not caring in the least that she getting covered in flour.
"I try, I really do." the Half-Blood responded and went back to making her cookies. She stopped unwrapping a chocolate kiss have way through, and glanced back at Helen, who sitting on one of the stools in front of the breakfast bar. Just as she about to speak, her other adopted mother, whom she referred to affectionately as Mater, Aline stood in the doorway dressed up like an eskimo with bits of water frozen against her skin. In her gloved hand the Shadowhunter held a massive cod.
"Dinner is served!" she announced with a ear-to-ear smile on her face, the fish was still gasping for air in hand, wriggling like mad.
Helen's face grimaced in disgust and pity for the poor aquatic creature. "I will cook it, but I am not helping you de-scale it or de-bone. You caught it, you prepare it."
"Yes, yes." Aline said and kissed her wife lovingly on the mouth before Helen disappeared into her study to continue her monthly report on the wards.
Shiloh watched her mother spread out old newspapers on to the counter of the breakfast bar and killed the fish swiftly and pain free with a single slice of one of her filleting knives and began to descale it and then gently removed the bones, every single one. It took the skilled Nephilim woman a mere ten minutes to do so.
They ate the cod grilled with lemon juice and sliced radishes with spicy lettuce, known as frisee. After Shiloh helped with scrubbing the dishes clean and putting them away once they were dry. As usual before bed she practiced drawing Runes in her sketchbook from the Grey Book. She had her nickel colored hair plaited back, so it would not get smudged in coal pencil, instead it was only her hands and fingers. Her pajamas were a set, button-up kind with a slate grey base and a rainbow of kittens playing with white yarn decorating it.
The sound of a Skype phone call being made from her laptop, alerted her away from her work on the Eidetic Memory Rune. Shiloh scrambled out of bed and quickly clicked on the green phone. Rohan popped up on screen, the High Warlock of Brooklyn and his Shadowhunter soul mate, Alec behind her. Rohan's raven wing black hair was loose and the clothes she wore were torn and dirty, a once beautiful jungle green dress now ruined. Her face was paler than usual and her flame colored eyes were filled with worry and panic.
"You need to get off of Wrangel Island now!" Rohan said in a hissed panic.
"What? Why?" Shiloh asked, she was already feel her own fear beginning to consume her.
Her fourteen-year-old Half-Blood sister of the Unseelie Court was visibly shaking. "I-I don't know how but Father has found out where you are. His soldiers are coming to retrieve you. Shiloh, if he catches you, you will surely be dead." There were tears streaming from her sister's glowing flame colored eyes now.
Shiloh bit her lip to try to stop it from quivering, tears were starting to blur her vision now too. "Y-You wouldn't betray me to him would you, Ro'?" the moment the question left her mouth, the Half-Blood felt ashamed. How could she not trust her own blood, her one and only sibling?
"No, I would never! Now please, go wake up Aline and Helen. Magnus will be there in a moment to get you."
Shiloh nodded and ended the call, she could not stop herself from shaking. She made her way out of her room and down the hall to where her adopted mothers were in the living room watching Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. "Mama...Mater…" she said, the words soaked with her fear and tears.
Helen and Aline untangled themselves from the blanket they had been cuddling under and ran to hold Shiloh as she sobbed out what was going to happen, what Rohan had warned her about. Aline ran back to Shiloh's room to pack her bags, while Helen and Shiloh were on the couch, Helen holding her, while she prayed that her little half-brother Julian Blackthorn would answer the phone at four in the afternoon on Saturday, while for them it was ten o'clock at night on a Sunday.
But the phone line just continued to ring endlessly until it reached Jules already full voicemail box. Helen grumbled several choice swear words before she gave up on using Mundane technology and took out a piece of paper from the desk in her study. She scribbled a quick note that said:
Julian,
Aline and I are sending Shiloh to stay with you for an indefinite period of time via portal with Magnus Bane. Please take care of her and help her to grow as a Shadowhunter.
Helen
She then took out her stele from where it rested in the pocket of her flannel pajama bottoms and wrote the rune for fire on the top corner. The letter quickly began to burn and crumble into ash, hopefully finding its way into the hands of Helen's half-brother. The Half-Blood Shadowhunter returned from the study to find her adopted daughter clutching a picture frame to her chest, as she sat cross-legged on her bed wearing jeans and a worn navy blue Star Wars t-shirt. The picture was of the day that they had celebrated her seventh birthday, her first birthday with her mothers, and now three years later, Helen and Aline's baby was old enough for her first Rune and would now have to adjust to new place all over again at the Los Angeles Institute with her aunts and uncles.
The stele was still warm in her hand and Helen looked down at the tool sadly, they were losing their only daughter, Shiloh might not have been theirs biologically but that did not matter to the couple in the least, they loved the Half-Blood as if she was their own and no one else's. And no one was going to take away the moment of Shiloh's first Rune Mark from them either. With her stele still in her hand, she marched out of her study with purpose and grabbed Aline by the hand taking the surprised woman with her into Shiloh's bedroom where the little Half-Blood, who had only been ten for barely three days sat on her bed trying to keep her emotions in check, but was failing miserably.
"Shiloh take off your shirt, please." Helen said gently, Shiloh gave her a suspicious look but obeyed anyways, the look of determination in Helen Blackthorn's eyes was frightening and awe-inspiring. "Mater and I are going to give you your Mark."
"You are?" Shiloh said, surprise clear in her voice, just as Aline said with the same surprise. "We are?"
"Yes." Helen replied with a soft smile. "Not even the Unseelie King is going to take this special moment away from us."
Shiloh's mothers had her roll on to her side, so her right side and rib cage were facing them. They decided to place the Mark on their daughter's rib cage so it would be close to her heart. Helen started the Rune with her stele while Aline finished it with hers.
Shiloh quickly shifted back into her shirt and packed up her sketchbook, copy of the Grey Book and other art supplies into her backpack just as a portal opened up in the living room and Magnus Bane stepped through, a grim smile on his face.
Shiloh stepped toward him and hugged the Warlock, he gently embraced her back. Then Helen dragged her daughter back toward her and Shiloh was squished into a hug sandwich between Helen and Aline Blackthorn.
"Take this with you." Aline pressed her own stele into Shiloh's hand.
"Mater...are you sure?" tears were beginning to slip down the young Half-Blood's cheeks once more.
"I'm positive."
" Never forget that we love you." Helen pressed a kiss to Shiloh's forehead.
"I won't." she hastily wiped her tears away on her sleeve and took Magnus' hand, just as the pair entered the portal and it closed, several of the Unseelie King's dispatched four soldiers broke through the front door of Helen and Aline's home. The wards had done some damage to the Fae, their armor was falling apart and they had burns and open wounds on the exposed parts of their skin.
Helen unsheathed her Seraph blades, her blue-green eyes flashing dangerously, with Aline and her blades by her side, there was no way in hell they were going to allow the Unseelie King and his lackeys anywhere near Shiloh or go down without a fight.