CHAPTER 6 – Mandate from Heaven

Joanna had retired to her room after dinner, exhausted. Apparently, learning that there was a whole other world that existed alongside your own and that you were a part of it took a lot out of a person.

She looked around the room again, the lamp casting a soft yellow glow. She opened the top dresser drawer and found it was filled with clothes: plain grey sweatpants, drawstring pants, and jeans on one side, and a variety of different coloured sweaters and t-shirts on the other.

The next drawer had tough, leather-like gear with buckles and pockets and loops that looked like they were made to hold weapons. She closed that one quickly.

The third, fourth, and fifth drawers were empty, so she filled one with the contents of her backpack: her books, binders, textbooks and pencil case. She glanced at her chemistry textbook. She'd missed the lab today. Her heart contracted. Alex and Kirsten were her partners… and she knew how she felt had nothing to do with the stupid lab.

A knock on her door jolted her out of her thoughts. She scrubbed her eyes vigorously as she got up and answered the door. It was Asher. He stood there, wearing the same black leather gear she'd seen in the drawer. She could smell the faint scent of burning and saw new tattoos on his arms. He opened his mouth to say something, but paused when he saw her wet cheeks.

"Yes?" she said, making her voice strong and wiping away the last of her tears.

"I know you don't believe a word we say," he began.

"I–"

"It's okay. I just want a chance to prove to you that it's real." She nodded mutely. How did he plan on proving anything? But she stopped thinking about the implications; he was going to give her straight, concrete answers. So she followed.

"This is the armoury," he said, pushing through a door. "Also known as–" he flicked the light switch "–the weapons room." She could see how it had gotten its name. The walls, shelves, and tables were lined with sharpened items made to kill. Asher pulled a strange knife off the wall. The blade looked like it was made of glass. He hefted it comfortably in his hand, like he was born to hold it.

"This is a seraph blade," he said, holding it up. "It needs an angel name to be activated and kill demons." She stared. "Gabriel." Light flared, making Joanna blink. Her eyes widened when she saw that the blade itself was glowing. He put it down and the light slowly faded. Once it had gone dark, he shoved it through his belt, along with a few others.

"This," he continued, plucking another instrument off the wall, "is a Sensor. It detects the presence of demons or demonic activity." It looked like a cell phone, except there was no screen and the buttons had strange symbols on them.

"And this," he said, opening a drawer and pulling out a long, thin object, "is a stele." It was exactly like the one he had used to draw the tattoo – no, it was a rune, she knew that now – onto her skin. She glanced down at her arm and then back at him. He was holding the stele out to her.

"All Shadowhunters have one," he said.

She hesitated. There was something in the way he said it. She knew if she took it, it meant that she trusted him, that she was accepting what he was saying. Her fingers closed around the stele. It was slightly warm and glowed faintly. She put it in her pocket and looked back up at him again.

"Follow me," he said.

He led her down the halls of the Institute and back into the portion that was a church. Their footsteps echoed across the flagstone floor and Joanna shivered. The candles lit in the corners cast a flickering glow, but no warmth.

Asher pushed open the front doors, and they walked out, down the stone steps and onto a gravel driveway. The stones crunched under Joanna's feet as they walked down the single lane. It disappeared into the darkness of the tall, thick forest. It was dusk, the light fading fast. Jo could see the moon rising over the water, the stars coming out one by one.

"C'mon," Asher called quietly, and Joanna realized with a start that she had stopped and was staring at the sky. She hurried to catch up to him, and saw that he had the Sensor in his hand. They walked for ten minutes, half of which Jo spent trying to figure out how his steps made no sound on the loose gravel while hers were so loud.

"Here," he said, and stopped abruptly. He veered off the path and Joanna was grateful for her boots, the ones Kirsten made fun of her for wearing all the time. If only Kirsten could see her now, traipsing through the forest with a boy at night. She would approve, Joanna thought with a watery smile.

Shafts of moonlight shone through the trees, making Asher's spiky hair look like tarnished silver. There was a rustle in the brush, and Asher silently threw out his hand for her to stop. She froze, her heart suddenly pounding. Something wasn't right. She could feel it.

Shadows moved, and Asher suddenly plunged his hand into his pocket and pulled out a stone. As soon as his fingers closed around it, the stone flared with a blinding white light, illuminating the forest around them. There was a burst of inhuman hissing and the sound of scrabbling claws in the leaves. Joanna squeezed her eyes shut and blinked, the light blinding her for a moment. Once her eyes adjusted, she saw what was making the noise.

It looked like a wild dog, but something was wrong with the way it moved. It had six legs, she realized, and its spine was bent awkwardly. Lips curled back from an elongated jaw revealed fangs like a Siberian tiger, dripping with saliva. It hissed again and the sound turned into a deep growl as it raised its hackles. Its skin was hairless and slick as oil, black as midnight. The reflection of its eyes in the light was crimson red.

"Caulker demon," Asher said, sounding remarkably calm as he spoke above the growling. "They usually travel in packs, but I've killed off most of them on the island." Joanna felt herself choking, the scream building in her throat cutting off her air supply. No. It isn't possible. Thingslike that didn't exist. This is some kind of joke. It has to be.

Asher was watching her face, and she could barely force out a hoarse, wordless cry of warning as the thing launched itself at him. He whirled, dropping the bright stone as he reached for his belt.

"Samael!" Asher shouted, and the blade burst to life. He raised it just in time to block the thing from sinking its teeth into his throat. The force knocked him back and he hit the ground with a grunt, grappling against the teeth and claws of the demon.

And that's what it was. A demon. She couldn't pretend it wasn't real. It all existed, everything Remington had said was true.

And boy did Asher prove it.