Hey sorry this chapter was a little rushed, I really wanted to get it to you guys. PLEASE review, I love hearing from you people so much, all criticism is appreciated. Got an idea for the plot? Tell me that too. (:

I knew there were catacombs under Paris, but I had never thought there would be something so vast under the Institute.

After Mae ran over to help Seth, who was surprisingly uninjured, the rest of us continued down the stairs. I could feel the oppressing cloud that had hung around the group lift as this breakthrough (literal breakthrough thanks to Seth's impulses,) had both piqued our interests and gave us hope. I went in first, though was quickly shoved past as I stopped and stared. Witchlight torches lit up around the room as they sensed the motion of us intruders. The new light gave me understanding as to why the staircase was so long and deep. The ceiling down here soared, almost competing with the training room. How could we have been so oblivious?

This room was designed like an amphitheatre: rows of seats in aisles that descended to a circular space in the middle of the room, and the nerd inside me thought of the architecture Rome had left behind in France. There was a dais in the middle of the circular space, its markings indistinguishable in the flickering supernatural light. Shadows jumped and grew on the walls, which made me uneasy enough to wait for Mae before venturing further in. Everyone wandered the aisles, tripping over the odd rut in the floor. The floor was a cracked cement after all, that and the antique style of décor gave away this room hadn't been changed since it was built.

The room may not have changed, but it had been used. There was no dust despite the ancient feel of the room, and the odd possession left behind sat in a seat or the floor. There were certain chairs in the aisles that had not been pushed in properly, almost in a rushed manner. I did not have time to fully analyze much else, as there was a sudden scream that broke the silence of our investigation.

Mae, Seth, and I all turned back from where we had been making our way to the dais. We saw everyone running towards an arched opening in the wall, which was lit by more torches. After exchanging worried and confused glances, we wasted no time in hurrying up the stairs and following Jacque's bouncing curls through the aperture and down a hall. The passage seemed unused, with dust coating the torches and cement floor. I could feel why: the compact cement walls arching just a little bit above Seth's head were very constricting and unwelcoming. I caught a glimpse of a spider web on one of the ancient gothic metal torch holders, and shuddered. I hate spiders.

I ran into Daniel. I wasn't paying attention again, I guess. After muttering sorry, I peeked over his shoulder at what was before us. We were in another section of the tunnel, all crowded around Sylynn. She was laughing, which I didn't understand, but it still brought a smile to my face. Maybe she went insane, but at least she's not sad.

"Uh, what the fuck happened here…" Mae was muttering in front of me. Skylar answered smiling, an expression on her face I'd missed.

"Apparently Sylynn is a sissy and just got jump scared by Vesper. I'm not surprised." She took the chance to make a jab at the dark-haired girl.

"Hey!" Sylynn was recovering, and butted in to defend herself. Vesper, on the other hand, was still curled up in a ball dying of hysterics. "I thought it was like, a demon or a ghost or something okay? This place is creepy…" She trailed off.

"Which is why you don't go in dark cement tunnels alone," Jacques put in. We all snickered.

"Okay," Skylar started, trying to put some order back in our search. "Let's get into groups and look for something actually helpful-"

"So Scooby-Doo style?" Daniel commented, grinning. I laughed and shook my head. Maturity.

"I'm sacred!" Seth called, faking a jump into Daniel arms. He braced himself, ready for the weight of a boy a head taller than him. Seth turned around and snickered at Daniel's mortified expression: "Nah, I'm kidding I don't trust you to hold me."

"Yeah, yeah. Shaggy and Scooby can go that way," Skylar continued with a laugh. "And Jacques, you're the only one I really trust down here so you're coming with me." She started off in the direction we came with Jacques, then turned around. "Vesper, Sylynn do not go together. We don't need any more fake scares."

I tagged along behind the two of them, dragging Vesper with me. I could feel the lifted mood, and was happy the group was light hearted, but splitting up? Ever seen a horror movie?

"Oh come on! I don't want to be stuck with the couple!" Sylyyn cried after us, noticing her group was formed of Seth, Mae, Daniel, and herself.

"You have Daniel! Chill unless you want me to come along too!" I hollered back, beaming as my voice bounced off the rounded walls. I waved at Daniel to make my point, before Vesper hauled me off after Skylar and Jacques.

"So… What are we looking for?" Vesper asked, interrupting the conversation the teens in front of us were having. They turned around, both obviously annoyed. Vesper put up her hands, showing she meant no harm. "Hey! Just wondering-"

I tuned out of the conversation as we passed the goddamn spider again. I stopped, and stared at it. I'm not entirely sure why, but I think it's like watching a horror movie: you get some kind of weird adrenaline rush from the fear in the back of your mind. I'm sure that's why everyone like hunting so much. Teens plus near death experiences plus adrenaline rush? Even I'd join in, but I would get myself killed from lack of training.

The spider's legs moved slowly and with caution, as it tried to make its web. It was almost sad, it was making the best of what it was given, though it would almost definitely starve to death down here. I thought of us and our situation. We were doing the best with what we had, but the circumstances were almost entirely against us. But there was always the slightest chance we'd find something, that the spider would find something to eat.

Out of boredom, I blew on the spider, sending its web to shreds and it tumbling down. I was surprised when it caught itself, and immediately started pulling itself back up. This little guy was relentless. I blew on it again. It went forward, and I forgot about physics and how there would be an equal reaction of the spider coming back at me. It came back, hit me in the face, and I launched into a full on state of panic.

"Get off!" I squealed, running in any direction possible and shaking my head so frantically I ran into a wall. After my dance, that probably looked more like a seizure, had successfully got the wretched thing off, I blinked a few times. I was alone, in a section of the passages I didn't recognize. Scratch that: I couldn't even see.

Well, shit.

"SKYLAR! MAE!" I started. There were no torches here, so I pulled out my witchlight rune stone. I put it in between my teeth, a bad habit I've had since I got the thing as a birthday present. Pulling out my stele, I inked a vision rune on my arm, and blinked again. The fact that I could see didn't help me at all. I was in a room, circular and cement, with a low ceiling and chains hanging from walls. Worse than that, I couldn't see how I had gotten in here, or any way of getting out. The room started feeling smaller by the second, my anxiety making the situation worse by the second. I took my witchlight out from between my teeth to call out, setting it on the floor so it could give ample lighting.

"DANIEL! VESPER! SYLYNN!" I cried out, feeling my heartbeat quicken. Calm down. Think. I'd panicked so many times before, I knew how to control it. Mostly. "SETH! JACQUES! ANYONE?" Distract yourself. Don't think about it. Make yourself useful.

I took a deep breath and held it, like Mae taught me. Blowing it out, I put my stele back in my pocket, and went over to the chains. I would have to distract my mind if I wanted to not end up a ball of anxiety on the floor. I took note that they were metal, black and old like the torch holders. There was crimson on them, dried up so that it chipped off and was reduced to dust in my fingers. I moved the stuff between my fingers, watching it fall to the floor in the dark. Rust? No, there was more of it on the floor in patches. Oh. By the Angel- blood. Why was there blood down here? This was not helping with my anxiety. What was happening below the Institute that I didn't know about? Had I been sleeping while someone was tortured down here?

Whispers made their way to my ears. I had a shiver of fear go down my spine, and I could feel my eyes widen. I ignored it at first, maybe it was like the noises you heard at night in your room all alone: don't acknowledge them, and they won't acknowledge you. I tried to act calm, cover up my shaky voice with a laugh like I normally did. God, it said something about my life that I had a drill for this by now.

"Okay guys, I thought we said no more jump scares right," I called, laughing. I did not move my body one inch out of fear of what I would see. My hands clamped down hard on the metal chains I held in my hands, gripping them so that the cold metal bit at my palms and my knuckles turned white. My breath was shallow and quick, and listened for the faintest sound to tell if it really was who I wanted it to be, or what I really thought it was.

"You." I jumped, whipped my head around, my heart leaping into my throat. The sound echoed off the walls, bouncing around and above me, making me feel cornered and exposed at the same time.

"YOU! Yeah you are…" I started in a joking manner, trying to distract myself by coming up with an insult. I was acting as if my friends were doing this, though deep down I knew they weren't. I was trying to convince myself they were here, that this was fake. That I was safe.

"Are you here to hurt me too?"

My eyes darted around the room, as I quickly backed up to a wall to cover my back. I felt more protected that way, it was one place I had scars reminding me to never go back out in the field, in memory of my parabatai. "I'm a Shadowhunter, with the blood of Raziel in my veins, so I could if I wanted to. Lucky for you, I'm feeling nice today." I finished off with another shaky laugh, still in denial. Oh great, fake confidence. That's your last straw, we all know that. You're not convincing anyone by the way. We can all tell you're close to pissing yourself for God's sake.

"I'm a Shadowhunter too, and it was our people who hurt me. Can you tell me why they hurt me?" The voice was high and girlish, the kind daddy's girl's used to get what they wanted. I still couldn't see where the voice was coming from, and worse was that I still couldn't see an exit. Our people who hurt me. That was the worst crime a Shadowhunter could commit. I hadn't heard of anyone killing each other since Sebastian Morgenstern was around.

"I'm sorry but I'm about as clueless as you are." Another fake laugh. "Why don't you help me out of here and I won't hurt you? Oh, quivering voice. Nice touch. Let's just say your voice isn't breaking out f-f-fear.

"They wouldn't let me out. I didn't even do anything. Why should I let you out?"

Oh god, why, why, why, why, why….

"Maybe I could help you? Do you want anything, need anythi-"

"I WANT THEM PUNISHED."

My hands flew to my ears, almost deafened by the voice. I could feel my pulse racing everywhere, feel my chest tightening with anxiety. I squeezed my eyes shut and shrunk down the wall, coming to rest in a ball of tension and fear. Exactly what I said I wouldn't do. I willed myself to shrink until I disappeared, but knew that wouldn't happen, and kept blabbering on in denial of the danger I was in. "I can do that! You have to help me though! Tell me who, t-t-tell me where a-and I've got a bunch of friends upstairs who are trained to kill who can help and-"

"I don't want them killed. I want them to suffer, like I did. Tell me they'll suffer, tell me…"

"They'll suffer! We'll do anything you want-"

"They said they would have a party. A party on the day of the solstice. You can find them there, doing what they did to me again… Those thilthy bastards using me for a TRIAL! IT WASN'T EVEN SUCCESSFUL! I DIED FOR NOTHING! NOTHING!"

I didn't realize that I started screaming. I didn't realize that I was screaming just to block out that wretched voice that had my heart leaping out of my chest. I felt a cold sensation on my hands, like fingers of ice gingerly prying them away from my ears.

"Why are you screaming? I won't hurt you." I kept my eyes shut, still paralyzed and thinking as stupid as a child this thing would leave me alone if I didn't move. This worked on the monsters when I hid under the blankets, so why not now? Oh god, please work now, I though desperately. "If you help me, I won't hurt you," she taunted.

I chanced opening my eyes. The girl in front of me was pale- literally translucent. A ghost. She had wide eyes, with damaged hair pasted to her head, and torn clothes. It was obvious her last days had not been pleasant. She had bright innocent eyes, and was around my age. She had open wounds on her neck and wrists, and I put together the pieces faster than I'd like. The wounds matched the shapes of the chains on the wall, and it was obvious she had been trapped down here, in this very room, against her will. "Come on, I'll show you out. I know how unpleasant this room can be after a while."

She started walking, no, gliding towards an opening in the wall, one that could only be seen from a certain angle. How cruel- the chains were placed in a place where the prisoner would think there was no way out, no way in. They'd go insane with claustrophobia and imagining the possibilities of how they got here. I was more than happy when I was lead down the hall back the light area. I was still very wary of this spirit with such a temper. "Now, they said they'd be at 87 Desjardins Boulevard on the solstice. I would never forget those words. I want you to make them pay, so I can be at rest. Got it?"

"Of course," I assured her, clinging to that address in my mind. I would keep this promise, but I still was itching to run away.

"Come back and tell me when it's done, okay? You know where to find me." She said, drifting back around the corner. I went to look around it, and there was no trace of her. I was grateful she let me go, but there was no way I was going back in there looking for her. I never wanted to see her again after that heart attack.

It took me a very short time to get out of there, once I had found the torch with the remainders of the spider web. I heard my name being called anyway, and followed that. I embraced the open amphitheatre space, glad to be free.

"Tara! Where the fuck have you been?" Mae asked, her eyes landing on me. Everyone paused what seemed to be a search and started over to us. I hugged her, so happy to see her unharmed by the demons of the tunnels.

"I think I actually found something helpful."