"I do not think the forest would be so bright, nor the water so warm, nor love so sweet, if there were no danger in the lakes."
-C.S. Lewis

An urge. An instinctive pull she couldn't place. Her feet wouldn't listen to her, they went their own ways. In the meantime, she had already arrived at her bedroom window, with one swift movement she opened it. A cool gust of wind cut through her clothes, but she wasn't cold. Lisa stood on the window frame and stared down. Definitely two floors down. With her fear of heights, she would normally cling to the wall, but now she didn't. She wasn't even a bit scared, she knew what was expected of her. She leaned forward gently and closed her eyes.

"Lisa!" A shrill cry yanked her from her dream. She opened her eyes expecting to be in her bed, but she was standing on the window frame just like in her dream. Startled, she lost her balance.

She heard Jonathan run into the room behind her, the door must have been blown open by the wind. She staggered awkwardly and Jonathan pulled her back, away from the window. Disoriented, she pushed him away from her. "Have you gone insane?" he cried, though he didn't look angry, rather shocked. The fog before her eyes began to disappear and she could see more clearly.

Jonathan sat against the wall while she had fallen on her bed, his face was bright red. "What were you doing?" She felt like laughing and crying at the same time. Maybe I'm still dreaming, she thought. He got up and clasped her face with his hands, they were warm against her cold skin. "Lisa, say something." It sounded like a plea. She was suddenly aware of a pain she hadn't felt before, her shoulder was burning. Sure, it could be the dagger's poison. She felt her back get warm and wet.

"By the Angel-" Jonathan ran his hand over her back, there was blood on it. She looked into Jonathan's eyes, they looked wild. Lisa heard herself breathing heavily, her eyes rolling in their sockets. She could hear Jonathan calling for Anna when her eyes closed.

*

Lisa was awakened by loud snoring. When her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she could see Anna's silhouette sitting in the beanbag. She had probably stayed with Lisa to watch over her. She sat straight up in her bed, someone had tucked her under. She quickly glanced at her alarm clock, it was still the same day, luckily she hadn't slept a full day again. The alarm clock indicated that it was two o'clock in the morning.

Her pajamas were stiff with blood, she went to the bathroom and put on her uniform. Lisa felt as if she had slept for days and felt wide awake. When she got back to her room, she smiled at Anna again, as if she could see it. Lisa grabbed her spare bow and quiver from under her bed and crept out of the room.

She felt like she shouldn't be here in the middle of the night. But she knew she wouldn't sleep again until she researched this. She slipped into her study and flopped into the leather chair. Lisa turned on the old lamp and opened the drawer of her desk. She reached for the dagger from the drawer and took her stele from her gear pocket. Holding the dagger, she drew a search rune on her arm. The rune should lead her directly to the dagger's owner. Maybe Anna had already tried it, maybe not, at least she had to experience it for herself.

Lisa closed her eyes and let the rune do its work. She just thought nothing was going to happen until she saw a flash behind her eyelids. She saw images of a street with tramway tracks and water. She wasn't sure, but thought she recognized the street. That's where that treacherous Brownie should be right now.

She put the dagger in her weapon belt and took out her bow and quiver. She opened the window as quietly as possible and climbed through. The cold night air blew her hair in front of Lisa's face and she suddenly thought back to her dream. She shook off the thought and began to climb down. She didn't feel like bumping into Marianne, she wouldn't be allowed to leave, and the thought of the squeaky elevator only increased those chances. Lisa held on to the protruding stones and dropped two meters from the ground. She landed neatly on her feet and started walking in a random direction.

*

Now I must be almost there, right? she thought to herself. Lisa felt she had been walking for hours. She drew another tracing rune and closed her eyes. Nothing, black. Lisa cursed in a low voice. She must have lost the trace somewhere near the harbor. Now she stood there like an idiot, did she really think she could have caught those elves? Without help?

Lisa turned and started to trudge back home when she saw a ripple in the water. No fish, something much bigger. She gripped her bow tighter and nocked an arrow. As far as she knew, no sharks swam in the Scheldt. Now she felt the wound throbbing in her back. Another ripple, it came closer. A scaly skin rose above the surface of the water. It looked like a crocodile. Of course, she thought, it's a Kappa, a reptilian water demon. The Scheldt was full of them, they love to jump out of the water and drag mundanes to their deaths. She shot an arrow, but it just bounced off his armored scales. Shit. She began to step back slowly and took a seraph blade from her weapon belt. The Kappa jumped out of the water and headed toward her.

"Michael," she called. The dagger glowed white and the demon seemed to shrink for a moment thanks to the heavenly light. She considered running away, assuming the Kappa would stay near the water. He could easily catch up with her. The crocodile demon growled, as far as demons can.

Lisa tripped over a loose rock and fell flat on her sore back. The demon grabbed her leg and pulled her toward the water. She reached for her seraph blade, which she had dropped, but it was out of her reach. The Kappa pushed his razor-sharp teeth even harder into her leg and she cried out. Lisa looked for another seraphim dagger in her weapon belt, but she had none. "You should always have two seraph blades with you." Her mother's words seemed to slap her n the face. She tried to hold on to the stones, but the harder she struggled, the harder the demon bit.

They had reached the water and Lisa took another breath before they went under. The water was dirty and icy cold, and no matter how hard she struggled, the Kappa wouldn't let go. She took the Brownie's dagger from her belt, but couldn't hit the demon. He went deeper and deeper, a cloud of her own blood spreading around her.

Then she heard a splash. She saw a shadow approaching them. At first, she was afraid it was another Kappa, but when she looked more closely she saw that the shadow was wearing a black cape with metal buttons on it, that shone in the moonlight. It was a shadowhunter, for he held a seraph blade in each hand. Was she hallucinating from the lack of oxygen? They swam to the bottom of the demon at great speed and plunged the two daggers into the scaly body. The demon howled, but was not yet defeated. It had let go of her foot and now she could move. She swam down and stabbed the dagger into the demon's neck several times. Without another sound, the demon exploded and Lisa began to swim up to the surface, floundering. The shadowhunter grabbed her around her waist and pulled her up.

Together they gasped as they reached the surface of the water. Lisa dropped to the shore and looked up at the boy. It wasn't Jonathan, as she'd hoped. His brown hair was dripping wet and his dark brown eyes looked at her with concern. She coughed up some fresh water and was finally able to speak back.

"I could have handled that demon myself." She gave herself kudos for kindness towards strangers.

"That Kappa had a good grip on you, though." She noticed that he had an accent she couldn't quite place. Slowly she worked herself on her elbows. She grimaced at the pain in her shoulders and leg. "Thomas Ashdown is the name." He offered her his hand to help her up.

"Lisa Cartwright." She shook his hand and tore off a piece of her gear to bandage the wound. Lisa took her stele and drew an iratze just above the wound. She tried to stand up slowly and took a look at Thomas. He was wearing a specific outfit, causing Lisa to gasp again. "You are a Centurion." She hoped she didn't sound too stupid.

"And you just got bit by a Kappa, sit down." He pointed to a sphere for skippers to moor with, but Lisa stubbornly stood up straight.

Centurions were highly skilled shadowhunters who, after graduating from the Academy, entered the Scholomance. You could see it as an elite university for the best shadowhunters. She bit her tongue, hoping not to sound too curious. "What are you doing here, in Antwerp?"

"I was looking for the Institute," he said seriously. She frowned. Centurions usually did not live in Institutes and what was he supposed to do in the Institute of Antwerp?

"I'll show you the way." She started to walk, but as soon as she took one step, she doubled over and fell to her knees. Thomas picked up his backpack, her bow, and seraphim dagger and walked over to her. "I'm fine," she said. She didn't feel like getting help from a stranger.

"May I?" Still, she let him lift her effortlessly, he began to walk. She didn't have the strength to walk herself or go against him. Thomas had his arms bent around her legs and back, and Lisa felt quite uncomfortable. Drops of water fell from his hair onto her face. He smelled like shampoo and dirty water. She indicated the directions, Lisa suddenly felt tired, the adrenaline of the fight had left her body.

*

They arrived at the gate of the Institute. Thomas put his hand on the door and it flew open. Since every shadowhunter was welcome at the Institute, the door opened to everyone with Angel's blood.

"I've got it from here." He put her on the floor, it was dark in the hall. Thomas took his witchlight from his backpack. She limped as quietly as possible to the elevator and pressed the button. The elevator screeched down, hoping she wasn't waking anyone. But climbing up the walls was not an option now. They got into the elevator together. "What were you doing there at the harbour, all alone?" He looked at her from the corner of his eye, it made her feel anxious.

"I could ask you the same question." The elevator creaked to a stop.

"I live here," she said defensively. "Why were you looking for the Institute?" Probably a stupid question, he was looking for shelter.

"After I graduated from the Scholomance, I had to visit an Institute in another country." That happened often, eighteen-year-old shadowhunters were encouraged to go abroad for a year.

"Where did you live then?"

"I've lived in England all my life." That explained the accent. "My grandparents once ran this Institute." They were walking to the rooms, he looked around.

"Then we moved to England," he said with a shrug, "who runs it now?"

Lisa scoffed, how could he not know that? "Marianne and Richard Starkweather," she said solemnly.

"What about your parents? Do they live here too?" It felt like he had punched her in the face.

"My mother lives in Idris and my father-" She pulled a face. Thomas put a hand on her shoulder.

"Both my parents are dead too." He had seen completely through her. She looked at him sadly, though she had never known her father. She couldn't just tell him that.

"Here are the rooms." Lisa pointed to the long hallway with doors. "The first room on the right is still free." She opened the door for him and followed Thomas inside. She closed the door behind him and turned on the witchlight.

"Excellent." He dropped his backpack on the bed. "Marianne and Richard don't mind me staying here, do they?" He turned to her. She shook her head. Apparently, he hadn't announced in advance that he would be coming, otherwise Marianne would have said so. Or maybe she'd forgotten about it thanks to her sleep deprivation. "I'm going to take a shower if you don't mind." Only now did she notice that he was shaking all over, she was shaking too. A warm shower to wash off the cold Scheldt water. She wrapped her arms around her. He took off his Centurion cloak and laid it on a chair to dry. Under the cloak, he was wearing a ragged uniform, which was soaking wet as well.

"Thanks," she said quietly.

His head turned toward her, water droplets splashing all around. "For what?" He was unzipping his uniform jacket.

"To help me with that Kappa," she said a little irritated, he knew well enough what she meant. His dark brown eyes looked at her inquisitively.

"No problem," he said with a smile. She swallowed as he looked at her inquiringly. She was still panting and felt her sticking to her body. Lisa watched as he disappeared behind the bathroom door, then walked into the hallway.

As she walked into her room, a shadow terrified her. At first, she thought it was a bloodthirsty demon, but it turned out to be a sleeping Anna. If there was a difference. She was still slumped in the beanbag. Lisa decided to go to sleep after a hot shower. It was already nearly four o'clock in the morning. She felt tired and immediately fell asleep when her head hit the soft pillow.

______________
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Lisa was lucky Thomas saved her from that Kappa!
Read more in the next chapter -->
Also remember: Trust no one!