A week had gone by since Valentine's War, but I was still sore deep in my bones despite the numerous Iratzes I drew throughout the week. The edge of the bed concaved under my weight as I planted my bare feet to the floor with a groan and a stiff crack to my neck. Admittedly, some of the soreness was surely from the partying I had partaken in at the Pandemonium down the street last night—and the night before…and the night before that. Now that shadowhunters and Downworlders were on good terms, the Faeries had introduced some of their fantastic, amazing, beautiful drugs to the club.

That had been the only substance that calmed my nerves this past week.

No matter where I was, I felt eyes on me. I was unsure if that was because of the trauma of war or because there was something lurking in the shadows. Of course, the only answer that made sense was the former, the abaddon had stalked me in the Alicante battlefield before pouncing and nearly eviscerating my midsection so it made sense as to why I was on edge.

A displeased sigh left my chest as I took in the state of my bed sheets. Fine silver glitter clung to the sweat soaked fibers, taunting me with the reminder of my bad decisions and the long night plagued with nightmares.

A hot shower disposed of the dry sweat and faerie dust that clung to each strand of white hair, the glittery material traveled on streams of water that I wearily watched trickle down into the drain. I dreaded leaving the confines of the claw-footed tub, knowing that my father, Hodge, was no longer feeling charitable enough to give me more time to recover and had prepared more training and studying plans to get invested into as if Idris never happened. I also knew that he would order Isabelle to drag me out of the shower by force if I didn't get a move on.

With a resentful string of curses, I left the shower with a towel tucked under my arms and glanced at the closed door that led into my neighbor's bedroom. The door had been locked for as long as I could remember, giving me my own bathroom—which I was grateful for as I always heard Isabelle and Clary bickering over the use of the shower they shared.

I left through my own door and quickly changed into training shorts and a long sleeve knowing I had already missed breakfast—not that my stomach was going to be able to hold food down anyway with the way my head spun from a hangover.

My door closed behind me in the hallway with a click.

The air in the Institute felt…cold—colder than usual as if tension rattled the vibrations of the hallowed ground. No noise came down the hall, no music played or voices chattered from any of the rooms. A spike of fear made my blood freeze momentarily, locking me in place against my door.

There's nothing wrong, I thought to myself, everybody must be down in the library. The thought willed my legs to move finally, taking me down the dingy red run of carpet to the awaiting elevator. Screeches and groans of metal gave me reassurance while it lowered me down to the first floor as it had done a million times before.

I hesitated to look at the front doors of the Institute's entrance, but was relieved to see each giant steel lock bolted closed and secure. Still, I hugged my torso in an attempt to rid the cold. Perhaps I had gotten used to the warmth of Alicante in the week we were there and forgotten that New York could get so brisk in the night. Especially with the Institute's lack of modern indoor heating.

The library doors were closed, which was sort of unusual as Hodge liked to have them open to feel less closed in but I approached and pushed open the heavy slab of wood anyway. Goosebumps littered my skin instantaneously while I looked to Hodge's desk. He was ashen as he spoke with a cloaked figure, its broad shouldered back facing to the door where I stood. Hodge's gray eyes flicked past the stranger and paled more at the sight of me eavesdropping. The figure began to turn as well—

Suddenly, my body was pulled from the opening before I could see who had made Hodge so nervous. A manicured hand wrapped around my elbow and tugged me into a storage room, shutting the door behind us with stealth as the offender let go.

"Ow," I complained, rubbing the inside of my arm and turning to face inside the room lit by a single hanging light bulb in the center of the ceiling. The Lightwoods, Jace, and Clary huddled close together, some with looks of apprehension, others with boredom. "Why are we all in a closet?"

Jace snorted from his lazy lounging position atop a couple cardboard boxes. "Alec took so long to come out of the closet, now Isabelle forced him back into one."

"Fuck off, Jace," Alec muttered and continued to pace back and forth.

"I was wondering why Hodge didn't give a wakeup call for breakfast, and when I came to check, I saw that man talking to him. But he looked terrified," Isabelle explained, attempting to peer out of the slats in the door. "So I hid to see if I could find out anything once they left the library, and all of you would ruin that for me if you kept interrupting their meeting."

"I don't enjoy being snatched and shoved into small spaces," Jace scoffed resentfully.

"Did you not smell it? The Library reeked of Ichor," she hissed.

Jace rolled his eyes. "Female paranoia—"

"Let's just—" Alex interrupted with raised palms between his siblings, "wait here until the guy leaves. I'm sure he came to talk to Hodge just like every member of the Clave has been doing the past week, then he'll leave."

His golden haired brother gave a noise in disapproval, Isabelle sneered at him and Clary gave a resentful thump to his shoulder.

I shivered and tugged on the sleeves of my shirt. "Why is it so damn cold today?"

"That's a comedown side effect of the Faerie drugs," Jace answered while picking at his nails.

"You really shouldn't be going to Pandemonium alone, Mazikeen," Alec scolded. "Especially if you're doing Faerie drugs."

I rolled my eyes. "I have everything under control."

"We just want you to know that we're here if you wanna talk," Clary chimed in for the first time.

"I'm fine."

"Could've fooled us," Jace mumbled under his breath.

My jaw tightened. "Don't be a hypocrite, I've heard about you attending the Hunter's Moon for scotch."

"What you're doing every night is not exactly casual drinking," Isabelle commented from her position at the door.

A frustrated growl rumbled my throat. "Angel, is this an intervention?"

Alec sighed. "You don't eat, you barely sleep, we're just a little worried—"

Isabelle suddenly shushed the room. "Quiet, I hear someone." Despite my irritation with the group, my curiosity for the happenings of the library took over my resentment as we all crowded closer to the closet door, straining to look through the angled wooden slats.

"I'm going to my room," a deep male voice called through the open library door before it swung closed behind him. His hulking figure stalked up the hallway, then stopped right in front of the closet door. We all held our breath and the strange feeling that has been torturing me for a week came back full force, covering me in goosebumps.

After a painstaking moment, he continued on toward the elevator out of sight. The members of the room gave a collective exhale.

"Do you smell that?" Isabelle asked.

"Alec, come on, you couldn't have waited?" Jace asked incredulously.

"Are you wanting your ass kicked today?" Alec snapped.

"I smell Ichor," their sister hissed.

Everybody paused. "I smell it, too," I confirmed. The scent of demon blood was very distinct, like a sour acid that lingered easily and was hard to wash out of clothes.

The closet door creaked open, slowly spilling the shadowhunters into the hallway. Alec peeked into the library and came back with a note, his blue eyes scanned the text. "Hodge canceled training today. Looks like he's in the greenhouse and wants to be left alone."

On one hand, I wanted to be worried about my dad's seemingly fearful reaction to the man, but on the other, I internally celebrated about having another day off. Maybe the man was a high ranking member of the Clave and just made the mentor nervous. That must've been the case.

I clapped my hands together once. "Sounds good to me. I'm gonna go take a nap before he changes his mind."

"Fine," Alec sighed. "But we aren't done with the self abuse conversation. We'll talk about it later."

I had already begun to walk away but gave a dismissive wave behind me.