hey so i went hiatus again :( but now i will probably be more active :) tag and support <3

25 days left

Laressa kicked off her quilt. “Damn it Ares, you could have left the job to Chantelle instead of me.” She said, as if Ares could hear her.

Laressa strongly suspected the reason Ares approached her instead of Chantelle was so he could impress her. She sighed. His inability to understand a girl could be so annoying sometimes. She reached for her knife, as a lair wasn’t a place she liked very much.

Paying no attention to the echoes of her footsteps, she headed to the lair. The first time she approached, she did with caution, but now she was too tired to care about concealing her movements.

The voyance rune in the center was gone, and some of the dust was cleared. She crouched down, and sure enough there was a little old box in the corner. “If this plan fails you’re doomed.” She said to the exact spot where the portal had been, as if the message could be carried to Ares. Sometimes she wondered what exactly he was doing there.

She carried the box upstairs.

***

A day ago

Laressa opened the door to see Ares standing outside.

“Laressa, I need your help.”

She was almost shocked to see Ares asking for help, considering he’d normally ask Chantelle for help instead. He had to be up to something.

Attempting a small smile, she nodded. “Come on. Let’s talk at the dining tables.”

She braided her hair at the side, fingers moving quickly to form an intricate, neat braid. “What kind of help do you need? If the legendary Ares Herondale is asking for help, there’s trouble.” She said, harsher then she intended, till it almost formed a whole-new meaning.

Ares reached for a jar of condiments, playing with the lid, spinning it around a little with his finger.

“Well, you know I only show up at night right? And Shadow Trials usually happened in the day?” He asked, and Laressa nodded in confirmation. He took a deep breath. “What if my Shadow Trials took place tomorrow in the night?”

Laressa did a double-take. “Is that even possible?”

“Well, it isn’t in the rules.” Ares held up a photocopy of something written. “I got a photocopy of an ancient rule sheet, and it isn’t mentioned.”

Laressa folded her arms. “Oh dear. No ‘no-having-Shadow-Trials-in-the-night-even-if-you’re-a-ghost-from-Hell’? Surely a Shadowhunter turning into a ghost would be predictable.” She joked, a smile creeping onto her face.

“Nah. And geez, I’m not a ghost.” He grinned back.

“Did you steal that from my sister?”

“Well, kind of. But hard not to steal when you’re a ghost, eh?” Ares said, mimicking a Viking accent.

Laressa uncrossed her arms. “Fine, I’ll try to convince the Clave when they come in the morning. But why not ask Channy?”

“Don’t want to keep her up thinking. Channy already has plenty to handle, with her own Shadow Trials coming up shortly. Plus, she will chip in once she knows where you’re getting at. Just get the ball rolling.” Ares set down the lid. “By the way, where’s Zach? He was supposed to be the one to do this for me.”

“Probably drunk somewhere.” Laressa shrugged, but inside she was kind of worried for him.

“Yeah. Poor dude deserves a break.” Ares said quietly, and the quick silence seemed to cause emotion to settle in. A lot has kept them busy, but at moments like this when they stopped, it was when sadness appeared, and it made them truly feel the loss of Andre, dead or undead. He blinked, snapping out of his reverie, however short.

“Do me another favour, bring a box I put in the lair to Zach’s room tomorrow, you’ll be able to find it easily, trust me.”

Laressa nodded, ending the braid and pushing it over her shoulder.

“Anytime.”

***

Chantelle let out a grunt of frustration as her arrow landed in the black zone of the bullseye. She decided for a knife instead—and it landed on the bullseye but not quite in the middle.

It should have been me. Ares should have become a real Shadowhunter today. This is all my fault...

A sound came from the doorway and Chantelle peeked out to see Laressa entering. She looked at the weapons stuck to the bullseye, and shook her head sadly. Anyone could guess what was on Chantelle’s mind.

Trying to start a new subject before more words of chiding came, Chantelle sighed. “Where’s Zachary? This is his training hour.”

Laressa shrugged. “To be honest, I have no idea.”

“Wait… so you’re saying he’s not back?”

“Yeah.”

“Urm… shouldn’t we be worried?”

Laressa leaned against a target board. “Give it a while more. Sure to see that bastard limping back.”

Chantelle pulled out her arrow and slid it into the quiver, crouching. “Now should have been the time for Ares’ Trials.” She said.

Laressa grinned, looking up. “Then now it shall be.”

At her words, the doorbell rung and Chantelle looked at her friend quizzically. “You’re up to something along with Ares, aren’t you?”

Laressa only smiled back. “Let’s go welcome the Clave first, shall we?”

Surprisingly, it was the Consul himself who dropped by. And Laressa smiled upon the fact that Ares was right.

The boy had guessed a day ago that although the Consul knew Ares was in no condition suitable for him to take the Shadow Trials, but considering all the (what he would consider) ‘small acts of rebellion’ from this Institute, the Consul surely would send the Clave to the Institute, so that he could have the last laugh when Ares didn’t show up for his Trials, whoch of course, he couldn’t.

Scribe in hand, the Consul entered, donned in black robes that didn’t suit him at all. “We will commence Ares Herondale’s Shadow Trials shortly.” He boomed, corner of his mouth quirking up. Marissa appeared with her lips pursed, hiding the worried state that she should be in. She was back in black gear, and something in her actions told Laressa that her sister did not expect the Clave’s appearance at all, and was rather displeased by it.

“Consul Whitelaw, your visit was rather unexpected.” Marissa said.

The Consul smirked. “I’m sure it was. Now Marissa, where is the boy?” He looked around a little, as if searching for Ares mockingly, although he knew that Ares would not show up.

“Ares Herondale is not here.” Marissa replied matter-of-factly, face devoid of emotion.

“Is that so? Then it appears that Ares Herondale will not rise to be a Shadowhunter. I am… disappointed.” He mocked, turning around to leave. Laressa took a deep breath. It was now or never, now or never to save her friend. She moved forward, almost challengingly.

“There is a way that Ares can become a Shadowhunter. Wouldn’t you like to hear it, Consul Whitelaw?” She said, and the Consul was surprised. His expression gave away his shock momentarily before he re-masked his feelings.

“And what is that, Laressa Lightwood?”

His companions have slowed down as well, all looking at Laressa, waiting for her reply. The girl took a deep breath.

“Commence the Shadow Trials at night.”

At first, Chantelle was stunned by this. Then she knew where Laressa was getting at. She has never heard of a rule that they couldn’t commence at night, although all the Trials to date happened in the afternoon, the time when the Clave would drop by.

Consul Whitelaw’s mask of emotion failed him. “What?”

One of his companions spoke up. “It isn’t in the rules, Consul Whitelaw.” Laressa was grateful towards that person, at least not the entire Clave were the Consul’s lapdogs.

“But… but that has never happened…”

“So why not?” Chantelle chipped in, moving to stand beside Laressa, backing her up. “There wasn’t any verdict that Ares was to be removed of his post as a Shadowhunter, so he deserves to take the Trials like any other Shadowhunter.”

Another one of the Consul’s companions nodded. “You can’t argue with that.” Perhaps a Consul had the most power in the Clave, but rules were rules. Probably most of the Shadowhunters would side with old rules than a new Consul. The Consul seemed to understand that fact, and weigh his options.

Finally, his exhaled, but not in happiness. “Fine. Ares Herondale better be here at night when we come for the Trials.” He said, before storming out, and the two girls almost laughed.

When the door closed behind the visitors, Chantelle grinned, raising her hand for a high-five. “Nice one.”

Laressa smiled in return. “Have to thank the real mastermind for saving his own ass at that.”

***

Marissa set down her mug on the coffee table. “Should we send out a search party for him?” She suggested to Pablo, worried that Zachary was not yet back. “What if… what if he was captured by those vampires again?”

Pablo checked the clock. It was a full day now—time to get worried. “Like the last time, I doubt the Clave will be of any help, and if he shows up this will annoy the Clave. We should search first, get the girls…”

He was interrupted by a beeping from Marissa’s scribe. She scooped it up. “It could be from Zach.” She set the scribe to ‘speaker’, so Pablo could listen in too. “Hello?”

There was silence at first.

“Hello? Who’s there?” Marissa said again, exchanging cautious looks with Pablo.

Silence.

The silence left chills down Marissa’s spine for some reason, as if she could sense there was something wrong. Pablo seemed to feel that way too.

“Hello? Speak up or we’ll hang up.” Pablo spoke.

And then there was a bloodcurdling scream of pain.

The person on the other end hung up.

And Marissa’d recognize that scream anywhere.

The scream came from Zachary.

***

Zachary panted, struggling with all his might. “What… what do you want?” He spat.

“It’s easy, to get your lil’ family here, Turn them, then leave you for last.” Andre leaned back on his chair.

“Well, that ‘lil’ family’ was once your family too.”

Andre shook his head sadly. “No, you don’t understand. I never had family, and I will never have family. This was the life I always wanted, brother. This.” He gestured to the surroundings, the huge curtains that were draped at the sides, the darkness if it weren’t for a couple of dim lights, and the eerie quiet, as the others were probably asleep, or awake, due to Zachary’s scream just now.

Zachary grimaced. “It was all an act, huh?”

Andre took a sip of something in a mug, something dark, and rich in a terrifying way. The liquid left stains around his mouth, and it was red.

“You have no idea what they did to me.”

“Who?”

But Andre didn’t reply, and he left, the blood still on his mouth and coating his fangs.

***

“Well shit. We get trouble 24/7. Paradise.” Laressa grunted, after hearing what happened from Marissa and Pablo.

Chantelle pinched the bridge of her nose, letting the information sink in.

“What now? We can’t all look for him, some need to stay for Ares’ Trials. Especially Chantelle.” Marissa said.

“And the night will be dangerous. They may capture more of us, if our guesses that the vampires are the ones that kidnapped Zachary are right.” Pablo added.

“Yeah. This isn’t some random picking, they must have some kind of vendetta, and they want all of us for sure.” Analysed Chantelle. “We definitely need more people than this, way more.”

“It’s sunset already, today won’t be a good day to get the Clave.” Marissa noted.

Chantelle stared out of the window, swirling her mug gently so the dark liquid of the cup formed a slight tornado. This took a lot of precision to do, and she handled it effortlessly without thinking of it. It collected at the bottom, but she was merely drinking coffee. “Make a report to the Clave, tomorrow, I’ll rally some Shadowhunters to help. Meanwhile, inform those who have connections to all of you. Aunts, uncles, whoever you trust. If the vampires keep picking on us, this is big. We need a lot of manpower, though the cowardly Consul would not want to further provoke them. Best to make this quite unofficial.”

The other three nodded. Marissa stared down. “But I simply can’t sleep well at night with stuff like this going on.”

Chantelle set her cup down. “I know. But we need to rest if we want to track Zachary down.”

“I can track the caller, along with some friends.” Pablo said, thinking of some mundane friends he could ask for help from on the sly. “It should be done by tomorrow, and this can serve as proof for when Chantelle gets Shadowhunters to help.”

Chantelle nodded. “So everyone, get in touch with trustworthy and willing people. As many as possible, but the emphasis is on trustworthy. And don’t tell Ares about this before the Trials. Last thing we need is him worried.”

Marissa sighed. “There used to be so many more. Five Younghunters, and including us, we would form this big family. Now when we’re down to two, it feels so empty.”

Pablo put a hand on her shoulder, and no one knew the right words to say. There was so much trouble, and more brewing, so much drama and happenings. At this point of time, words of comfort would be a bag of lies. There would be losses and pain, yet all they could hope was that everything could be right again.

But you couldn’t put Band-Aids on these occurrences of false hope, so the four sat in the quiet.

***

“Man, I thought Zach would come to watch my Trials.” Ares groaned. Chantelle pretended to smile, but hidden in her eyes was worry. Ares seemed to pick it up. “Something wrong? Afraid I’ll fail?”

For Ares’ sake, Chantelle put on a smile. “Well duh. What else can I worry about?” To be honest, there was everything to be worried about.

Sure enough, the Consul failed to show up this time. One of Marissa’s relatives, a Shadowhunter named Christopher, was the main person sent to simulate Ares’ Trials.

Ares nudged Laressa a little. “Seriously, I can’t believe that old hag is letting us off so easily.” He said, referring to Consul Whitelaw, eyes on Christopher chatting with Marissa. If the Consul sent Christopher here, instead of someone completely on his side to give Ares a hard time, he threw in the towel.

Laressa was snapped out of her reverie a little at the nudge, but Chantelle already replied for her. “Unless he’s plotting something.”

“Behold the Eternal Optimist.” Ares laughed, gesturing.

Christopher clapped his hands, signalling time to head to the simulations.

“No carriage?” Joked Ares, and it earned a pat on the back from Christopher. The two didn’t really talk before, but Ares had the ability to socialize easily if he wanted.

“You can go by foot if you wish to.” Christopher said, but he didn’t mean it harshly. As they turned to leave, along with some other Shadowhunters, Chantelle and Laressa stood at the step, lagging behind. Usually, only those who passed the Trials were allowed to go, but Christopher spun around. “Chantelle, you can come. Sorry Laressa, but I think you should stay.”

A flicker of disappointment flashed on Laressa’s face, but the others didn’t seem to notice, or care. Chantelle nodded, and turned to Laressa, who wiped off her feelings. Laressa despised the fact how Chantelle seemed as if she wasn’t worried about Zachary at all, because inside all her thoughts somehow landed on him, and truth be told, she was more worried for him than she was for Ares.

Chantelle joined the others, leaving Laressa behind, as she entered the Institute alone.

She curled up with her duvet, and for the first time, a tear rebelliously slid down her cheek.

***

Ares’ simulations were a blur. It was unlike anything Chantelle ever imagined, very high-tech, and she sat in the front row, watching it all. But she suspect Ares’ Trials were set harder, for if it was this hard for the others, very little would have been able to make it. Sometimes she would hear him swear through the connection, and occasionally she advised him here and there.

‘Watch it.’

‘On your left.’

‘Behind you!’

And it was done.

But as Ares headed for the grandstands, beaming. Someone grabbed him from behind. Chantelle immediately swung up and was heading right for Ares, when she saw who was the one who grabbed him—Christopher.

Christopher was pretty strong himself, one of the best, maybe even the best before Ares came. Marissa was suddenly at Chantelle’s side, and nodded. This was all planned.

Some people apparently didn’t know that this would be part of the programme—a classic showdown. Thanks to some electrical portable lights (old-fashioned torches were considered harmful to the environment), Chantelle witnessed confused expressions ran through the massive crowd like a wave. Marissa had told her that the audience wasn’t usually so huge, and the event usually wasn’t as large scale as Ares’ Trials. Many probably came from Idris, even other countries, to witness Ares’ Shadow Trials.

“Never seen such a huge crowd before.” Pablo had commented as well.

Marissa grinned. “Expect that many for your Shadow Trials as well.” She said to Chantelle, beaming with pride. “You guys are our hope—expect many to show up.”

Turning her attention back to the crowd, she could see that classic circles were drawn out. No weapons were allowed.

***

Ares was a little shocked at first, so he got his stance all wrong. That provided Christopher enough opening to throw a punch at him. The force was great, and he staggered back a step. Christopher was back at him for a kick, but Ares spun over at the last moment, so the kick missed him by an inch. Ares threw a punch just as Christopher was turning, and a cheer roared through the crowd. He could see the damage done—it was pretty bad.

Though Ares didn’t know Christopher well, he was Marissa’s relative, therefore someone he should look out for. He didn’t want Christopher to be hurt badly, so he decided to give the audience a short show before finishing with a big red bow, with as little harm as possible. But with too little, Christopher would not let him off.

Christopher charged for Ares, and it was quite a smart move. Ares could see he didn’t use all his force into that charge—a mistake people often made. So when Ares sidestepped, Christopher reacted immediately. But Ares didn’t expect it to be so immediate. Christopher hit him down onto the ground, with so much force he could be picking gravel out of his back for months. Another roar. There was an ache in his right arm, which wasn’t good as it was his main punching arm. But luckily, Chantelle was smart enough to consider that.

“You’re doing it all wrong.” She had said one of her first few days in the Institute as she wandered into the training room. “You keep punching with your right arm, but what if your right arm was hurt one day?” She had moved towards him at the punching back. “Learn to punch with just as much force using your left. That way you’d survive better.”

Ares almost smiled at the thought.

Come on Ares, get up. Chantelle told him through the bond. She wasn’t cheering him on, nor was she tearing her eyes away. She was watching.

Don’t stop for a minute. Give them a fast show. At those words, he got up and immediately charged for Christopher. He sidestepped, but Ares already guessed that move and moved accordingly, throwing a punch at Christopher’s lower jaw. Christopher recovered fast though, elbowing Ares’ own jaw. Ares kneed him, and they were towards the end of the circle—a dangerous position.

Christopher hit Ares down, and Ares was on the ground. He looked up a little to just see the red line. Way too dangerous. Ares tried to get up, but he was pinned down.

Come on! Ares looked to the stands and exchanged a look with Chantelle. That’s when Chantelle let her guard down and Ares realised that hidden in a part of her… was the fact that Zachary was kidnapped. He could hear her voicing it out in her mind without even noticing. He looked back at Christopher. Imagine, imagine, imagine.

And he lashed out. Even with the strong pin, he could kick Christopher up, so strong he back-flipped and landed flat on the ground. A roar, this one louder than ever. That kind of thing was never done before.

Christopher got up as soon as possible, but too quick. He staggered, dizzy. Now finish him off.

He looked to the stands, and Chantelle was smiling now. “Don’t have to tell me twice.” He said out loud, and positioned himself near the end of the line. Just as Christopher came, he kicked his legs, and knocked him off his feet. He landed outside the line with a thump, and a resounding roar came. Chantelle stood up, cheering along. Christopher got up, and he clapped Ares on the back. He raised Ares’ hand.

“I officially declare Ares a Shadowhunter.” He boomed, and everyone cheered. They were saying his name over and over again, but Ares headed straight for Chantelle.

***

Chantelle could hear the screams of his name over and over. But if she didn’t save him from Death, what was the point of Ares’ promotion. She had to get him out.

She looked at the grinning boy who was heading for her. And that was when she knew she wouldn’t be able to take a single day with Ares in Hell. Not a single day.

***

“I did it!” He said, and he embraced her, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. He sounded like a boy winning a T-ball game, or getting a ‘turkey’ in bowling.

Chantelle nodded. “You did it. You did it.”

The stars never shined so bright that day.