Magnus POV

"Not much longer now, sweet pea."

"You said that a while ago. How much longer is not much longer?"

"I...." Damn she got me there. I had no idea how much longer we had to walk before we found someplace to rest nor did I know where we were even headed. For all I knew we could've been heading to the edge of a cliff and tumble right off to our deaths.

"Magnus? There's a house up ahead," Madzie pointed out. "Let's stop in there. I'm tired."

"There's no cabin up ahead-oh. Yes there is. You have the eyes of a hawk, button. Come on. We'll see if anyone's home."

Turns out there was nobody home but the place did look like it was recently used. There was still a small fire going in the fireplace but not enough to completely warm up the room. There were also clothes hung up near the fire. As I neared them, I saw right away that they belonged to Alec and Kit.

"Madzie!" I sang out. "Your brother and Alec have been here!"

Madzie's little shoes could be heard running around upstairs but she was soon by my side looking st her brother's dried clothes. "That's Kit's coat! They were here!" She looked around the room with sad eyes. "But where are they now?"

That was a good question. They couldn't have been gone long; the fire was still slightly warm and there was a pot with some beans next to it. I tasted one just to see who cooked it.

Ew. Definitely Kit.

"Alright. Here's what we're going to do." I knelt down so that I was eye level with Madzie. "We are going to have a quick look around and see what the boys were up to while we were away. Maybe even take a few things if they're useful."

She cocked her head. "That's stealing. It's not nice to steal."

"No but I don't think anyone lives here anymore so really it's okay to take what we want. It's like borrowing items that we're going to use for a very long time."

It didn't take much to convince her. Once she heard the word "borrowing" she immediately nodded and went to search for things we could....borrow for a very long time. She was only five. Stuff like this went right over her head.

"Alright then. If I were a tall and gorgeous apocalyptic survivor by the name of Alexander Gideon Lightwood, where would I go? What's the next course of action for me?" I held Alec's shirt close to me and sniffed it (I know it's weird but his scent was completely washed away by being in the river. Plus now it just smelled like wood stove).

There wasn't much left to scavenge from the cabin. Alec and Kit must've cleaned it out really good when they were here but I did find evidence that Alec had shaved in the upstairs bathroom. I love seeing clean shaven; his face was as smooth as a baby's ass when he didn't have a beard. But I also loved his beard. It felt nice on my body when he moved it along my skin in bed-

"Wow! Look at how big this bed is!"

I peeked through the bathroom into the master bedroom to see Madzie slapping the mattress with tiny hands. She grunted with exertion as she crawled up onto the bed, finally sighing once she was fully atop of the massive king size bed.

"Did a big person sleep here once?" She asked through a bounce on the bed.

"Not really. Maybe someone just liked having lots of room while they slept." I sat on the bed beside her. She wasn't kidding. The bed was humongous. "I imagine this bed belonged to a princess once upon a time. This was probably her castle in the woods."

Madzie's big brown eyes widened. "A princess? What do you think she was like?"

I looked up at the ceiling in thought. "I don't know. Maybe she liked to read? Or draw? Who knows what she's like. All I know is there's a new princess in town and that princess is you."

Madzie turned red in the face. "Me? I'm not a princess though."

"Oh but to me you are. You're the prettiest princess of them all. Kit must be your knight because he protects you like one."

"Magnus!" Madzie giggled into her hand. "I'm not a princess. I'm just Madzie."

I poked the dimple in her cheek. "Alright then, Just Madzie. Let's go see what the boys left behind for us to take along with us on our journey, shall we?"

We didn't find much to take. Madzie found a shirt with a gorilla on it which she fell in love with even though it was four times her size. I let her keep it regardless. Along with the shirt we found some bandages, some more clothes, an umbrella and cigarettes (they were for me. Not for the kid).

"There's fur in the sink upstairs," Madzie announced when she stomped back downstairs to the living room. "I think an animal died there."

"Fur? That's not-" I choked back a laugh when I realized that Madzie thought that Alec's beard hairs were fur. "You're right. An animal has died in the sink. An astute observation made by the detective princess."

She cocked her head at the word "astute". "What does astute mean?"

In simplest terms, I told her, "It means to make a good guess at something."

She nodded. "Okay. But I don't know what kind of animal it was though. It was a black animal anyway."

I sniggered as she went into the kitchen to explore. Alec was going to be devastated when he finds out that Madzie thought his beard hair belonged to a dead animal.

The cabin was really quiet. It was almost eerie to the point where my mind started playing tricks on me and created sounds that weren't really there. Madzie didn't seem to be having that problem. She was happily sitting down on the floor and drawing on the white walls with her crayons. I wasn't going to stop her, naturally. This wasn't my house to begin with.

"So did you find anything you liked in here?" I asked her when I took a spot beside her on the floor.

"Just the shirt. I don't think this place had any kids so that's why there's no kid stuff around. But I love the shirt though!"

I smiled at her enthusiasm as she continued to draw on the wall. "That's nice. I found a little dog coat for Blue but I don't think she'd be too pleased to have it on."

Over on the couch, Blue Bell grumbled in her sleep but never woke up at the sound of her name.

"Dogs don't wear coats, silly," said Madzie. "Coats are for people. If Blue Bell wore a coat, other dogs would just make fun of her."

Huh. I never thought of it that way. Maybe when we used to dress up our dogs, the other neighbourhood dogs made fun? Who knew. "Okay then. No coat for Blue. Maybe it'll fit you instead?"

She giggled when my fingers tickled her around the armpits and stomach. "No! It won't fit. It's too small."

"Darn. I thought you'd look really cute in it."

The rain only came down harder as the day went on. Madzie found some board games in one of the upstairs bedroom so I set up a game of snakes and ladders for us to play while we waited out the wet weather.

"I don't think Alec and Kit are coming back," she grumbled when it was her turn to move.

"I don't think so either. You didn't see a note or anything like that around did you?"

A lightbulb went on over her head of curly hair. "Wait! I saw one on the counter in the kitchen!"

She raced away for a moment and returned with a small piece of paper in her hand. How I managed to overlook this is beyond me. All that time we spent here instead of going out to look for them....wasted.

"Is it from Alec and Kit?" Madzie crawled up onto my lap to look at the note. "I can't read it. I don't know how."

"That's okay. I'll read it for you. It's in Alec's writing so he'll give us exact directions as to where he's headed next." I cleared my throat and began to read the note.

"Magnus

If you find this then I hope you, Madzie and Blue are okay. Kit and I are fine. A little banged up but nothing we can't handle. It's going to take a lot more than a river to take me out.

This cabin is gorgeous but we can't stay long. You won't believe who showed up here. Kit and I going with them, headed in a northwest direction. They say their camp isn't far from here so come find us when you get this note.

Again you won't believe who I saw again. It's going to blow your mind. So stay safe and I'll see you again real soon.

I love you
Alec"

"Aw. Alec said I love you," Madzie cooed once I finished reading the letter.

"I know. Isn't he cute?" I reread the letter again just to make sure I got it all. "He said he's headed northwest. If we the rain would go away we could probably catch up to them."

As if on cue, a loud rumble of thunder clapped overhead. Blue woke up and whined, her entire body shivering with fright. She never did like thunderstorms. Normally she'd crawl under the covers at night as cuddle in between me and Alec. Alec would stroke her head and whisper gently to her until she calmed down enough to go back to sleep.

Goddamn I missed him. Missing him was giving me an ache in my heart that was never there before until I met Alec. We spent so much time together over the last year and a half that I can't even imagine life without him anymore. So being apart like this was agonizing.

"I hope they're okay out there. That thunder doesn't sound too safe...."

Madzie's tiny voice broke me out of my thoughts. I held her close to my chest and kissed her temple. "I'm sure they're fine. Alec won't let anything happen to your brother. I know he won't."

"Alec's good like that."

I smiled. "He's the best like that."

It was quiet again after that but this time it wasn't eerie. The sound of the rain pelting down on the roof and the thunder rumbling overhead reminded me of the days when I couldn't get to sleep so I'd play my playlist of relaxing sounds to help me settle in. Seems that Madzie was the same way except this wasn't a playlist and I couldn't hit pause or next.

Blue Bell was spread out on the couch across from the one I was on. She seemed to be in a deep sleep; her back leg twitched every now and then accompanied by a low growl and a nose wiggle.

"Blue Bell," I whispered, only because I didn't want to wake up Madzie. "Hey girl. It's just a dream."

Blue finally gave a snort which seemed to completely wake her up. Ears flopping as she shook, she stretched, a loud yawn spilling from her open mouth. She settled down again after circling the couch a few times into a ball and fell asleep instantly.

"Wish I could fall asleep too," I mumbled under my breath. "I feel like I haven't slept in ages. Can't really sleep when half of your heart is missing."

No one was really listening but that didn't stop me from continuing on. "I'm trying to keep it together. Granted, we've only been separated from Alec and Kit for a few hours but it feels like so much longer. This sounds cheesy but I can't breathe without him."

Of course that sounded cheesy. Who says that anymore? Fuck, love has me ruined. Next thing I know I'll be quoting Shakespeare and spewing romantic verses every night before we went to bed. Alec would get such a kick out of that.

Madzie I suddenly jumped in her sleep, yelling "Kit!" as she woke herself up.

I rubbed her back with a hand. "Shhh. It's okay. You just had a bad dream."

She was breathing as heavily as her little body allowed her to. "I saw my brother. The water ate him and he drowned."

Her sad expression triggered my inner protective dad. I held her closer to my side to reassure her that everything was and would be okay. "It's only a dream, sweet pea. We got a note from Kit. Remember? He's just fine. We're going to go look for him after when the rain dies down a little bit."

This seemed to calm her down. Once settled back down into a comfortable position beside me, she said, "I hope it stops raining soon. The longer it rains, the further away Kit gets."

"Don't you worry about the distance." I almost snorted at my own irony, considering the distance between Alec and I was damn near killing me. "What matters is that we know they're both alive and we're going to find them. Right now we both need some well deserved sleep."

Blue Bell let out a loud snore to confirm that sleep was what we all needed.

Madzie laughed. "Blue is pooped!"

"So am I. So let's close our eyes and see who can fall asleep the fastest."

The last thing I remember was Madzie putting on her "bring it on" face. We had both closed our eyes at the same time so who the winner was exactly I had no idea.

All I knew was that this was the first time in over a year that Alec wasn't beside me as I slept.