The Double

Cleared

The grass swayed in the summer breeze, making it all rustle like a giant sleeping beast. "Come on!" Cecily cried, pulling on his wrist. The sun turned her hair golden, and her brown eyes sparkled like the Milky Way. "I'm coming!" he said, chasing her. The blue summer dressed she wore moved with the breeze, changing the polka dots into different shapes. He caught up with her, and gave her a kiss on the cheek. They sat down together, gazing into each other's eyes. Hers like the Milky Way, dark and sparkling and holding so much beauty. His like the ocean, dark blue, comforting, warm. Her eyes widened and she screamed. He looked down and saw that a knife was in his stomach, and as he heard Sebastian laugh, he started to fall through everything. He cried out for Cecily, but she couldn't hear him. He slowly sank into oblivion, and started screaming.
"Cecily!" he cried out.
"Glad to see sleeping beauty is awake," replied Sebastian. "I was wondering how long it would take for the medicine to wear off."
Jackson's whole body was slightly sore, and he was lacerated with small scars. His head was pounding, yet surprisingly, everything had healed. "How long was I out?"
"Three days. I gave you some medicine to heal everything, and I took a little blood."
"Why exactly do you need me, or my blood?" Jackson looked around the room, and saw he was in a modern-looking bedroom, and Sebastian was in a chair near the patio door. "And where am I? You shouldn't have a use for me, I'm not really 'in shape'. You said I have a sister. You know what, this probably just a hallucination. I'm just going to wake up in my room."
Sebastian scoffed. "What did the doctors tell you about your hallucinations?"
"They told me I have a cognitive disorder that lets me make associations to things people usually don't. Math is smells, and science is music. I can do most academic work with no effort. The problem is, I am prone to hallucinations, and the disorder will kill me eventually. But they don't know exactly what the disorder is, so there is no cure."
"Well, what if I told you that they're lying. No, not like that." He added as Jackson's mouth dropped. "They just don't understand what they're dealing with, because it's your body reacting to the angel blood inside you that has gone dormant." He produced from behind his back a golden cup, more like a chalice, filled with what looked like blood. "This here," he informed, gesturing to the cup, "is something called the Mortal Cup," he said, rising from his chair, "and you're going to drink from it. It will awaken the dormant angel blood, and turn you into a Shadowhunter.
"A shadow-what?"
Sebastian thrust the cup into Jackson's face. "Drink. Now!" He yanked back Jackson's hair and poured the contents down his throat. He doubled over in pain, crying out feebly as the angel blood coursed through his system. It felt like molten metal had replaced his blood. His head nearly exploded from everything that was happening. His excess fat burned off, his head cleared, and when he looked back at Sebastian, it was like the fog had cleared. He saw statistics, measurements, what it would take to bring him down, all in white outlines like some special spy-goggles had been wired into his brain. "I'm back!" He said.
"Now let's go meet your sister, and her boyfriend," said Sebastian. "But first..."
Jackson might be a genius, but he wasn't expecting to be kicked in the head.