The Dark Side of the World (TDA)

*Chapter 7*

Amy has been pacing silently for five minutes now. Yes, five. I counted.

If I was expecting James to do anything at all, that was a mistake, because he seems content to just stand there and stare at her.  Or maybe content is the wrong word. The nervous energy radiating off him could be felt from the other side of the world.

I'm thinking of something to say, anything to interrupt this deadly silence. Half boredom and half because I never did let James heal me head and I'm starting to regret it, when Amy finally stops her pacing, turning her penetrating gaze to James.

"By the angel, James. Why?" she asks him weakly.

"Look, it's not what you think it is I promise" he tells her, and for the ten thousandth time today, I'm very confused. What does it look like? Didn't he just save me from some sort of monster? What in the world could be wrong with that.

"Oh ya? So you didn't just pick up some mundie off the street and took her here?"

Mundie? 

James looks furious, so I wonder if it's some sort of insult. I make a mental note to ask him later.

"No! That's no what happened! Do you really think I'm that stupid?" James spits

"Well then what happened. Because I don't see any runes and-"

"SHE'S NOT A MUNDIE!" he yells, taking Amy by surprise. She shakes her head, taking a step backwards, but James grabs her arm, keeping her there "No listen. Please."

She raises her eyebrows, but keeps quiet to let him speak.

"Ok, well there was this woman holding onto the wrists of a scared looking girl, and so I basically told her to beat it. Then things got more...heated. "

"Heated?" Amy narrows her eyes suspiciously

"Um.. well I might have held a knife to her throat" James whispers

"James! What were you thinking!" Amy exclaims

"The woman was a shadowhunter, ok. And anyway, what was I supposed to do? Just leave the girl there." 

Amy sighs "I guess not"

"So then, unfortunately, the woman got away, and the she," he indicated me with his hand "Well after that, I wasn't really going let her out of my sight, so I figured I'd take her back here or something. I mean, she was obviously in pretty deep trouble. Then she said that her mom left her some.." 

He turned to me, "What did you call them? Emergency contacts?" I nod silently, and he returns to the story.

"Anyway, I figured maybe there was something there, so I asked her if I could come inside and look at them-"

"Because that's not creepy at all" Amy mutters. James ignores her.

"- and she said I could. So we did, but right at that time, a demon payed us a little visit. So we escaped out the window and came here."

James waits patiently for an answer, and I find myself getting nervous for her answer. Despite not even knowing why I was even really here in the first place, I'm reluctant to leave. I'd thought that no matter what happened, surely James, James who had protected me from everything that had gone wrong today, would do that very thing again. But who was to say that was even in his power? Who said he was in charge?

This girl standing in front of me is definitely older, and had, up until that point, seemed to radiate superiority. Is there someone above her? Someone who might take pity on me? Because even though I've never wanted to admit weakness all my life, even to myself, I'm was starting to realize how completely unprotected I am right now. I have no idea what was going on, and no way to find out.