Music expresses that which cannot be put into words
and that which cannot remain silent!"
-Victor Hugo 

Jonathan was standing in the middle of Olivia's empty room and he felt a small burning sting in his chest. He hoped she hadn't run away to seek her brother. He heard a distant noise, it seemed to come from outside.

Jonathan opened the window and saw Olivia sitting on the balcony. He crawled through the window and sat next to her, she didn't look up, her music was playing so loud he could hear it through the earbuds. It was raining and her black hair was soaked, Jonathan was wearing short sleeves and shivered. Olivia took her earbuds out and squinted her eyes.

"Don't you want to come in?" She nodded and got up, Jonathan followed her silently.
"We're going to give you a tour, if you want to join us?"

"Yes," was the only thing she said.

"Unless you want to stay here, or want to talk?" he tried.

"I don't want to talk." She frowned her eyebrows and walked out of her room. She marched with a firm pass to the kitchen and Jonathan walked quietly next to her. Arthur and Lisa were still there and seemed to be involved in a discussion. When he walked in, he cleared his throat and they both looked up. Lisa seemed relieved that he had found Olivia.

"Great, now we can start." Olivia rolled her eyes and Arthur looked around like he was lost.

"Where is Anna actually?" This came from Olivia, who looked around. Lisa glanced at Jonathan.

"She is..."

"Not here now," Jonathan continued, while Lisa raised her eyes to heaven.

"She'll come," Lisa said, "we'll start already."

*

Arthur had never been in the St. Paul's Church before. Even though he had lived only a few miles away and had often passed past the imposing building. At that time he hadn't known it was an Institute yet. Or even what an Institute was. And now he was walking with "the Children of the Angel" through the corridors, with killing demons as purpose. It was almost as if he ended up in one of his computer games, in a bad version of Fable.

They had all thought he was crazy. His friends, his parents, his teachers, everyone. There is no such thing as werewolves, Arthur. It's all in your imagination. He had heard that so often. Because he had "the Sight", he sometimes saw things other people couldn't see. Like the werewolves who were fighting on a field. Or the gnomes in the park, who Arthur thought to be so scary. As a child, he never wanted to set foot in a park, because he had once been attacked by such a gnome. His mother had only seen him being attacked by... air. They had thought he was crazy. He had thought so too.

Until one day a young man covered in tattoos, which later appeared to be runes, came to him. He had said that all he saw was real. Arthur had not believed him. Hadn't wanted to believe it. The man, a shadowhunter, had offered him to become one of them. A warrior. He had leave everyone behind, he wouldn't be able to speak to his parents ever again.
And now he was standing here, not knowing what he was actually doing here. He was not a great fighter and it was a miracle that drinking from the Mortal Cup hadn't killed him.

They had come into a big corridor and Jonathan was pointing all sorts of rooms.

"At our left is my father's office." He pointed to two large wooden doors.
"And the elevator is further in the corridor," he continued. The walls were covered with portraits of probably important shadowhunters. A slender man with grey hair, who looked very old but wise. Under the portrait hung a golden nameplate with ALOYSIUS STARKWEATHER on it, perhaps an ancestor of Anna and Jonathan. And other portraits, one with a young man with black hair and dark blue eyes. WILLIAM HERONDALE was written underneath. He also recognized one with the same surname as Lisa: CLIVE CARTWRIGHT. He didn't look too kind. In the meantime, they had already turned in a sidewalk. He heard a gentle sound that he recognized as a piano. Jonathan opened a door and the sound filled his ears.

Together they walked into the room and he saw Anna concentrated playing the piano. He had never played an instrument himself and wasn't even into music at all. However, he liked to look at people playing an instrument. How their fingers blindly moved over the keys, like his fingers over the keys of a keyboard.

Okay, that was weird, he thought to himself. Maybe his lack of a computer and WiFi for two years really made him mad. Anna had stopped playing and was staring at them. He didn't know them well yet – and didn't have a good knowledge of people – but he could see that Anna and Lisa were good friends.

Back at the Academy, he had thought that all shadowhunters were handsome, with a six-pack and rather conceited. He couldn't yet deny that they were all handsome, but he had to admit that not all of them were stuck-up.

"Won't you come guiding with us?" Lisa asked.

"I think you two are doing great," Anna said with a smile on her face. Jonathan shrugged and walked out, Olivia and Arthur followed him and Lisa gave Anna a short hug and said something he couldn't understand.

Jonathan was already explaining again, when Lisa joined him.

"The Institute is more than four hundred years old and is mostly built in late Gothic style."

"Have you really learned that by heart? Lisa asked crisply, without looking at him. Jonathan glared at her, but Lisa didn't seem to notice. They had turned into another corridor again, and Arthur already began to get scared of getting lost in the Institute. It reminded him of his first days in high school. Jonathan just wanted to go on with his explanation, when Lisa interrupted him again.

"Here is the living room." She opened a white painted door. It was a rather modern space for an Institute, with a white leather couch, a glass table and to his great surprise even a TV.

"Wow," Olivia sat down on the couch, "I didn't know you were allowed to have a TV from the Clave?" Lisa impatiently shifted her weight.

"It's not explicitly stated in the Law..."

"But after weeks of pressing our parents, we finally got one," Jonathan continued.

"Although we barely use it," Lisa pondered. Arthur wondered why having a laptop was such a drama, while they also had a flatscreen. He decided not to say anything.

"You can use the TV whenever you like," Lisa said.

"This is also your house now," Jonathan started walking again, with Olivia and Lisa at his heels. Arthur wondered if they knew that they were finishing each other's sentences.

Again they walked to another, larger room. When Lisa oped the double doors, Arthur broke out in cold sweat. He had bad memories of this kind of room and wanted to turn around and run away.

______________
Did you like the chapter? Feel free to let me know in the comments!

Has Arthur ended up in a torture chamber?
Read one! --->
And remember: Trust no one.