𝐂 𝐎 𝐒 𝐌 𝐈 𝐂   𝐋 𝐎 𝐕 𝐄   !

𝙲 𝙷 𝙰 𝙿 𝚃 𝙴 𝚁   𝙴 𝙸 𝙶 𝙷 𝚃   !

( 𝔰𝔥𝔞𝔡𝔬𝔴𝔥𝔲𝔫𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔰𝔥𝔢𝔫𝔞𝔫𝔦𝔤𝔞𝔫𝔰 ! )

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯ ⬩❖⬩ ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

          "𝐌𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐅𝐔𝐂𝐊𝐄𝐑!"

Ana ducked as a pot came flying from the Institute's kitchen, nearly knocking out a passing shadowhunter. The blonde stood to her full height, her eyes widening when a wooden spoon smacked her in the forehead. She grimaced and rubbed the spot between her brows, picking up the spoon and pot in confusion. What the hell was happening in the kitchen?

It had been three days since Ana had returned, her friends immediately welcoming her home with a dinner of Chinese takeout and The Goonies, which she had appreciated. After two weeks of living like a Fae, it was nice to act human once more. Though what she'd said to Rhys still stood⎯she missed him and the rest of the Inner Circle with a burning passion. It was a little weird waking up to Izzy's burnt toast and Simon's bickering with Alec instead of training sessions on the roof of the House of Wind. But she enjoyed being back either way.

That is, until a baking sheet hit her right in the shins. 

"Okay, what the fuck is happening here?" Ana picked up the final thing and marched into the kitchen, her jaw dropping at the sight before her. 

Mazikeen, one of the newer shadowhunters, stood on top of the kitchen island with a ton of kitchen items piled beside her. She was using them as projectile weapons, aiming for the rightmost corner of the kitchen, which was sadly where the doorway was. Most of her "weapons" were hitting other shadowhunters though, instead of whatever target she was aiming for.

Ana stepped further into the room, her brows furrowed as she tried to find the source of the girl's obvious distaste. She was nearly hit by a rubber serving spoon and a meat pounder when she finally spotted the cause of the chaos. 

A shrill scream left her lips as she jumped up on the kitchen counter, picking up her own set of kitchen tools and lugging them at the creature. It scurried around the general area of the doorway, avoiding each pot and pan thrown in its direction with a squeal of annoyance. 

Ana threw a meat cleaver right as Jace came running in, the blade imbedding in the wall right by his head. The Herondale blinked in surprise, following the direction of the knife to find Ana and Mazikeen shaking on the island counter. 

"What is going on in here? Why are you throwing sharp objects?" All the girls did was point. Jace looked down at his feet and stood silent for a moment. Then, the girliest scream filled the air as he joined the duo on the counter, his seraph blade out and ready to kill. "What is that?"

Mazikeen looked ready to cry. "I don't know! When I came in here it was just sitting there, menacingly!"

The creature suddenly bolted across the room and the trio screamed. "Magnus!"

The warlock was there in seconds, along with Izzy, Alec, and Clary. They all looked ready for battle, their weapons out and magic flaring. However, when they didn't spot the cursed creature, they looked to the trio in confusion.

"What's wrong?" Magnus asked, blue sparks still coming from his fingers. Jace just pointed a shaky hand toward the left corner of the kitchen, their eyes following it and widening. "Is that a two-headed goose?"

It was. An abnormally sized, two-headed goose was standing in the kitchen, its beady eyes glaring at the three on the counter. None of their kitchen utensils had hit it while it scampered around, leaving it unharmed and very pissed off. 

When the group of four had entered the kitchen, it began ruffling its feathers, as though it would take off. Then, it's wings snapped opened and it shot off the ground, heading straight for Jace. The Herondale jumped into Ana's arms with a terrified shout, the blonde nearly dropping him as she jumped from the counter with Mazikeen and high-tailed it behind the others. 

Magnus rolled his eyes and flicked his wrist, the abnormal goose disappearing in a flurry of glittery wind. With the danger gone, Ana dropped Jace onto the floor and tackled the warlock in a hug. "Oh, my God! That was terrifying! Thank you!"

"We almost died," Mazikeen said, her hand on her chest. "We almost died!"

Clary looked between the three with incredulous eyes. "Are you kidding me? You three fought in two wars with demons and other downworlder creatures, and a goose is what scared you?"

"It had two heads!" Jace exclaimed, standing up from the floor. "Two, Clary!"

The redhead sighed. "I'm going back to bed."

Jace trailed after her, trying his best to explain why the situation was so bad while also attempting to save whatever was left of his masculinity. This left Izzy, Alec, Magnus, Mazikeen, and Ana in the ruined kitchen. 

Alec looked at the cleaver in the wall. "Ana?"

"Yes."

"Why is there a meat cleaver in the wall?"

"I threw it."

Alec sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Of course. You two better clean this up." Mazikeen and Ana nodded. "I'm going back to training. Izzy, you coming with?"

The younger Lightwood nodded. "Yeah." 

She then shot a wink toward Ana that made the blonde sigh. Izzy was not going to let her live this down. But then again, she wasn't the one facing off with a two-headed goose at eight in the fucking morning!

When the siblings left, Mazikeen turned to Magnus. "Thanks again for the save. I was standing on that counter for ten minutes before Ana and Jace showed up."

"It's no problem." Magnus then clapped and the kitchen returned to normal. The markings on the walls were gone, and the pots and pans were back in their original spots, no longer beaten up from being thrown. "There."

Ana gave him a look. "This is gonna cost me another training session with her Royal Bitchiness, isn't it?" Magnus nodded. "Ugh, you suck!"

"Yes I do!" Magnus disappeared into glittery smoke. 

The two girls coughed as they exited the kitchen, waving their hands in front of their faces to clear the smoke. Leave it to Magnus to make a dramatic exit that threatened the lungs of anyone within a twelve mile radius. The last time he did that, Ana had been coughing up glitter for weeks. 

Dusting herself off, Mazikeen faced Ana. "Thanks for stepping in and trying to help. Seriously, I didn't know what to do when it flew at me. All I wanted was breakfast."

"It was no problem. Weirdly, this isn't the first time something like that has happened." And it wasn't. She remembered the time they'd found a huge New York rat in the sink, and the giant flying cockroach in the cookie jar. Ana had no clue where these weird creatures kept coming from, but they always managed to find the kitchen. "You have a pretty strong throwing arm, I'll admit. Knocked me right in the head with a spoon, and sent a pan at my shins like a Frisbee."

Ana had only ever seen Mazikeen's strength twice before. The first time was when the two had a sparring match in preparation for the first war, where Mazikeen had pinned her to the ground in less than five seconds. The other time had been during the war, when the shadowhunter had picked up a huge chunk of concrete and thrown it at a group of demons, squishing them flat. 

It made sense, though. Mazikeen came from a long line of shadowhunters known for their extraordinary strength in battle. She was part of the Mizrahi family, which was one of the few first generations of shadowhunters that remained. And she looked like one, too. Long dark hair, fox-like eyes, caramel skin, and the build of a lifter. She was beauty and grace, but she would not hesitate to punch someone in the face.

"I'm sorry," Mazikeen said, wincing. "That explains the red spot on your forehead."

Ana shrugged. "It's cool. I've taken worse hits to the face before." She then checked her phone, noting that it was half-past eight. Still enough time for breakfast. "You still want breakfast?"

⎯⎯⎯⎯ ⬩❖⬩ ⎯⎯⎯⎯

For the second time that day, Ana was ducking to avoid getting hit in the face. This time, however, it was during a game of Pictionary, and the one throwing shit was Clary. Ironic that she'd made fun of Jace the last time they'd played and was now the one having a fit. The redhead had nearly sent the marker right through the wall of Ana's bedroom after Jace failed to figure out her drawing of Bye-Bye Birdie. 

Izzy caught the marker right as it flew over Ana's head, setting it on the easel that held the big pad of paper. "You know, I think we should stop with Pictionary. Every time, someone nearly puts a hole in the walls with a marker. Or tries to suffocate someone with the pad of paper."

Jace waved his hand passively. "Nah, we're good."

"Says the one who throws a fit every time he loses," Magnus muttered under his breath. Ana clapped a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing loudly, but Jace had heard him. The blond shot the warlock a look. "You can't be mad at me! I'm telling the truth!"

This caused Jace to pick up the closest thing to him⎯a pillow⎯and lob it at Magnus. The warlock ducked and the pillow hit Alec square in the face, knocking the unsuspecting man to the floor. Izzy barked out a laugh as her brother stood, hair messed up and pillow in hand. 

He pointed at Jace. "It's on."

Ana barely had time to pull herself and Izzy behind the nearest couch as Alec threw the pillow back at Jace. The Herondale had quickly dodged, Clary ending up on the floor with a pillow resting on her face. Ana and Izzy shared a look⎯they were about to have another pillow war over Pictionary. 

"Are you kidding me?" The redhead stood and began pummeling Jace with the pillow. "Didn't even think of pulling me aside with you! Selfish man! Selfish, stupid man!"

Ana just watched the chaos unfold from the safety of her couch barrier. While Clary had been beating Jace senseless with her own pillow, Izzy had plucked one from the couch she was behind and chucked it at Alec like a Frisbee. The tasseled corners whacked him in the stomach, knocking him back into Magnus. The warlock hadn't been expecting the blow and ended up tripping over his feet, taking Alec with him as he fell over the back of a chair. 

That sent the room into absolute madness. Alec and Magnus ganged up against Clary and Izzy, leaving Jace to fend for himself as Ana remained hidden. Pillows and other fluffy objects were thrown around, the couches and chairs and beanbags being used as shields. Magic was used to create more projectiles, Jace going as far as throwing balls of paper from the Pictionary pad when he'd ran out of stuffed animals and cushions. 

The loud squeals and shouts covered the set of footsteps heading toward their room. Ana barely had enough time to acknowledge someone crouching beside her before they spoke. "Pictionary?"

She hummed at Simon's question. "Yep."

"Jace?"

"Uh-huh."

"You gonna join?"

Ana smirked, her eyes flickering gold. "Hell yeah. Wanna join?"

The Lewis grinned. "Of course."

Together, the vampire and halfling dove into the fight with their own weapons⎯a stuffed bear and a body pillow that Ana had summoned from her room. 

"No retreat!" she shouted.

"No surrender!"

⎯⎯⎯⎯ ⬩❖⬩ ⎯⎯⎯⎯

Ana found herself in one of the many training rooms the next morning, needing to blow off steam. A lot of thoughts were running rampant in her mind, and training usually helped her sort them out. So when Alec had asked her if she wanted to join him in an early-morning training session, she'd happily agreed. Anything to clear her mind and also hit him.

To anyone who knew Ana, it would be quite obvious that something was bothering her. The problem was that Ana couldn't pinpoint the start of it all⎯her mind was filled with too many thoughts, one after the other pelting her in a constant rhythm of annoyance. She had to fight the urge to reach into her mind and rip her brain out just to get a moment of silence. 

"Catch!" Ana's hand wrapped around the bo staff without her needing to look, her fingers tingling at the feeling of the familiar grip. Sure, she and Alec could fight with swords and arrows, but there was always something so satisfying about working with a staff rather than metal and steel. 

Twirling the staff in her hands, Ana lined herself up with Alec's position on the other side of the mat, the two beginning to size each other up like opponents. Ana could feel all her years of shadowhunter training come alive⎯her muscles tensed in preparation, blood pumping and breaths evening to prepare her for battle. Every sense she had was on high alert as she anticipated every possible move Alec could make against her.

She kept a tight leash on her fae abilities, however. She didn't want to rely solely on them⎯even though they were just as much a part of her as her shadowhunter abilities⎯and always tried to tamper them just a bit when doing combat with other hunters. Ana didn't want to have an unfair advantage over anyone unless she was on the battlefield and readying to take down an enemy. Alec was her friend⎯it would be a fair fight.

The Lightwood struck first⎯sharp, fast, and precise. Ana blocked it quickly, feeling the excitement that came with training spike within her body. It had been a bit since she'd last trained with Alec and she was beyond excited for it.

They traded blows⎯fast, slow, harsh, soft, precise, and so on. They tested each other's limits, the only sounds being their heavy breathing and the crack of their staffs connecting as they blocked and parried. 

As Ana fought, she felt her mind finally clear⎯all previous thoughts left, their places being taken by years of training and the predicted moves of her opponent. The only time she'd ever been free of thoughts was during battle. When her life was on the line, she had no time to wonder about her past or her future. Just her present. 

The blonde grunted as Alec managed to get her side with the point of his staff. The skin would surely bruise, but the pain was fleeting. However, landing a blow like that meant their spar was over⎯Ana had "died."

With sweat coating her skin and her hair a mess atop her head, Ana allowed herself to lean on her staff and relax. Her chest heaved with deep breath, her lungs burning and her stomach aching. Despite the pain that came with working out, Ana was happy.

Finally, after minutes of silence, Alec spoke up. "Wanna tell me what's been going on in that head of yours."

As if to emphasize his question, he poked her forehead with two fingers, nearly knocking her backwards. Ana rolled her eyes and swatted his hands away. Despite the joking tone, Ana knew that he was serious about his question⎯he'd noticed, and he was worried. He had every right to be, especially since he was the only one who knew of her nightmares. 

Sighing, Ana moved to sit on one of the benches lining the training room. Alec followed her, the two setting their staffs aside as they relaxed into the bench, turning to face each other as they spoke.

Ana wondered momentarily if she should tell him⎯she wasn't even sure herself of what was bothering her. But maybe talking about it all would help her? Alec was always good with getting to the bottom of things . . .

"Honestly? I'm not a hundred percent sure." She bit the inside of her cheek, thinking hard. "There's a lot going on up there, and I don't even know where to start."

Alec was silent for a moment. "Your nightmares . . . have you had any more?"

The blonde's heart clenched painfully. " . . . yes."

Since returning from Velaris, they'd gotten worse. The darkness was stronger and thicker, the monster faster and more ferocious than it had been before entering the City of Starlight. And those claws . . . everything felt ten times realer as she went from Prythian to the Institute. She'd looked through all the books Magnus had lent her on magic, but none of them could tell her why. Why was she dreaming so vividly? Why was she being hunted each night, taunted by threatening words she couldn't put a face to?

It was driving her up a wall⎯the answer was so close and yet she couldn't grab it. 

"Are they the same?" Alec's blue eyes were filled with oceans of worry for her, and Ana felt guilty for placing this upon his already burdened shoulders. Maybe she should've confided in Magnus or Izzy or . . . no, she couldn't put this on Rhysand or the Inner Circle. They didn't deserve it. No one did. 

Ana rubbed her face, well aware of the dark circles lining the underside of her eyes. She'd done her best to cover them up, but no matter how much concealer she used, her friends could still see them. "They are . . . but they also aren't. I mean . . . everything is ten times more realistic and terrifying since returning and I don't know why."

She ran her fingers through her sweaty hair, tugging at the roots. A hand grabbed her wrist, tugging her hands away to keep herself from pulling her hair out. "Ana, I really think you should talk to Rhysand about all of this. He's older than all of us⎯aside from maybe Magnus. And maybe these dreams have something to do with your fae blood, which means only he could help you solve them."

"I know, I know, I just . . ." Her throat tightened with worry, the words sticking to the walls and clogging her mouth. "He's already been through so much⎯they all have. I don't want to add another worry to their plate."

There was a shift, a shadow appearing before her. Alec crouched before her and took her hands, looking directly into her eyes. "Anastasia Petrova Fallon, you listen to me. That male cares for you so much that he'd be more worried if you didn't tell him. I'm sure he already knows something's up with you, so you may as well tell him and fix it before things spiral out of your control." He searched her eyes. "But that's not the only thing, is it?"

Ana shook her head. She slipped her hands from Alec's and stood, the Lightwood doing the same. "There's something . . . off . . . about the Seelie Court." Her voice was a low whisper as she talked, eyes peeled for anyone eavesdropping. "When Magnus and I went there two weeks ago, the air was different. It seemed hostile in a way, almost warning us. Something isn't right there, and it has me worried."

The two moved toward one of the far corners of the room, wanting as much privacy as possible. Alec's brows were pulled together, furrowing in thought. "Magnus mentioned something similar after you returned. He made it seem like the court was telling you to leave⎯warning you of something bad coming. I tried looking into the court's history, but I couldn't find much more than the general knowledge." He scratched his forehead, soothing the wrinkles. "But I agree that something isn't right. That's why Jace and I are heading to Idris next week to meet with some scholars there. See if they have any more information."

A weight lifted from her shoulders. That was one thing she could put on the backburner for the moment. "Okay. If I'm in Prythian when you return, write me. I want to help as much as I can."

Alec nodded. "Of course." He checked the time. "Want to spar some more, or do you still need to get some things off your chest?"

Ana tilted her head jokingly, as if trying to decide. "Spar. I still need to beat the shit out of you for Pictionary."

"That wasn't even my fault!"

"Sure . . ."

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯ ⬩❖⬩ ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

𝐀 𝐔 𝐓 𝐇 𝐎 𝐑 𝐒   𝐍 𝐎 𝐓 𝐄   !

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯ ⬩❖⬩ ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

This is a bit of a lighthearted chapter with some serious stuff at the end. I just want some happiness before the shit hits the fan for everyone. Expect the Inner Circle to be joining the Shadowhunters in three or four chapters . . . I'm not entirely sure when they'll join, but it'll be soon, I promise!

Writing this original stuff is a bit harder than I'd anticipated, but I'm doing it all for you! Also, fun little peek into my life! I'm currently about to start my third week of college and I'm actually having so much fun! AND I've gotten my placements for student observation in classrooms at a high school, so I'm super excited for that! I finally get to do the teacher part of my classes!

Anyways, Alec and Ana are such brother-sister goals and no one can tell me anything different. You can expect a lot more heavy topics between them since Ana trusts Alec with her thoughts and Alec does the same with her. I'm thinking of writing a little IMAGINES book that gives a look at Ana's life BEFORE this book and AFTER this book finishes. Let me know if you want that, 'cause I'll get started on it if you would like to see it!

Please comment and vote!

I love you all so much and wish you the best!

~ a.h.