It's Not A Utopia (An OC Shadowhunter Fanfiction)

Chapter Three

Grace

Thanks for that wonderful trip into the past Riley. It's always nice to hear John saying my dad should've ditched my mother, and remembering the most awful day of my life.

So, since Riley ended on my runeing ceremony, I guess I should close that up. Voyance runes, which are the first runes you receive at age twelve, are permanent--so are parabatai runes--, but most others aren't. All runes cause pain when they are placed on me, but permanent ones are the worst. So, if you ever see shadowhunters, they're probably covered in runes, but me, I'll only have a rune on my right hand, and one on my left forearm.

Alright, the parabatai ceremony; one of the best, and worst, days of my life. The same thing that happened two years before happened again, but this time, Riley was right there, he didn't get taken away, but he looked terrified- probably because of what my dad told him two years before. And that's about it. Now, I don't ever use runes. I'd rather be put at a slight disadvantage than severe pain.

Okay, now that that's out of the way, I guess the last part of this background is Choosing Day.

The day I took the test.

Everyone who turned sixteen that year in all of the Republic was there in that huge, windowless auditorium. So there was a lot of people. Riley and I were sitting hand in hand with the kids from Shorthorn, which is where we lived at the time. 

Most people in Shorthorn have twangy accents. I don't know why, but we do. Even the people who deny it, like myself, do, but if you've been listening to this, I suppose you already know this...

Riley and I were whispering to each other- I don't even remember what about, we were just trying to get rid of our nerves- when I heard a voice, very loudly say, "Get a room!"

I whipped around and faced the voice- who was a mundane (which is what anyone in the Shadow World calls an ordinary human) girl Riley and I had run into every once in a while- and I looked her dead in the eyes. From what Riley tells me, my eyes were almost black with anger. "What the hell did you say to me?"

The mundane looked terrified. 

I felt Riley's hand on my shoulder: "Grace Raine, calm down. Let the bitch think whatever she wants to." 

I must have been mad, and the mundane must have looked more scared than I thought because Riley never curses.

"Yeah, okay," I said, turning around after I sent one last death glare to the mundane.

After about two hours of waiting, there's only about twenty kids left in the room. There was at least one person from all thirteen districts left. 

"Riley Fairchild, please report to room four." A voice overhead states. 

Room four. His test instructor was from Aquatica. 

I thought it was a sign of good luck given that Riley and I both hoped to get Aquatica as our result. Since we can't be tested by someone from our own district, other instructors are given at random, but still. 

Riley gave me a last squeeze of my hand and got up to head to room four. There's no way to prepare for the test, and people who've taken it aren't allowed to say what it is, so there's no telling what the test is.

As I await my turn, I look nervously around the room. I guy gave me a flirty wink, to which I responded by rolling my eyes and sticking out my tongue at him. 

He looked away. 

After what felt like hours- I was the last person in the room- the lady on the intercom said, "Grace Carstairs, please report to room four."