The Tears of Idris

Part 4

There is a photograph taped to the back of the fallen picture.

I pull it off and stare at it.

There's a girl with fiery red hair hugging a boy with platinum hair, neither of them look older than 5, the girl looks a little younger maybe 2 and the boy maybe 4, behind them are two people holding hands, one I recognize to be my mother, she's a little younger but it's her and the man beside her- I have no clue about.

He's looking at my mom with love in his eyes, they look happy together. The man has similar hair to the boy in the picture maybe a little less platinum and more blond.

He looks handsome. Behind them is a large house, and lush trees. I stare at it for a while trying to remember it, but am not able to before my head starts to pound.

I go back into my room after putting the painting up, I put the family photo into my notebook, explaining how I found it and my thoughts on it now, if I see it again in the future I might have different thoughts.

I carefully tuck the notebook away. Maybe he's my father, I find myself comparing him to the painting of the man above our fireplace but see no resemblance, they aren't the same man.

I shake my head, "I don't know. It's not my place."

I leave the apartment quietly and walk a few blocks before managing to catch a cab.

"Can you drive me to Central Park?"

He looks at me for a few seconds, "You seem a little familiar kid."

I shrug it off, "Small world. Maybe we've met before."

He stares at me for even longer, "No, we've met. I know it. It was a long time ago. Hmm. Oh! Midtown, I picked you up from Midtown a few years ago, you were shaking like a dog."

It really is a small world, I smile slightly, "It really is a small world. I'm Max."

He starts driving, "Samuel."

He makes a few attempts at small talk, but they all end up with awkward silence, which doesn't bother me but seems to bother him.

He drops me off and I see Central Park, I smile, "How much do I owe you Samuel?"

He looks at the meter, "65 dollars. I hope you brought enough money this time."

I grin and hand him 70.

"Yes, I learned from my mistakes. Thank you Samuel, you know, maybe we'll meet a 3rd time." He laughs and drives away.

I take out the map just to check and walk away from the park.

I see the Institute before I get there, I put away the map and find myself sitting a distance away from the building.

Just being near it gives me comfort, I don't truly remember it, but at the same time, I do. I small smile spreads on my face, I look down at the ground and get a little closer.

Once I'm nearly in front of it, I sit down on a rusting bench facing it. I sit there for a long time, a few hours at least.

I occasionally look in the direction, but look away at other things.

Eventually I see woman stepping down the stairs she has dark hair tied in a high pony tail, and I recognize her from the picture I drew.

A smile spreads across my lips. She's doing well, her face seems stricter.

I watch her run down the street weapon in her hand, I notice the Stele hidden by her Jacket.

I wait and wait and wait. Then I hear a voice, "Who are you? Why are you waiting outside the Institute?"

I smile and turn my head, "Maryse Lightwood. It has been some time, you look good."

She gives me a look of confusion. "Have we- met?"

I nod my head, "Yes. Although it was nearly 6 years ago, so you probably don't remember me. You saved me and brought me into the Institute, I was freezing in the rain. You made your son give me warm clothes, you shared your knowledge with me. I came to thank you, whether you remember me or not-"

She mumbles to me, "You ran off. I was worried but I couldn't find you." I smile. "So you do remember me. Look I still have-" I take out the map, "-the map that you gave me."

She looks down at the crumbled map and sits down elegantly. "Did you find out what you are?"

I shake my head while putting the map into my pocket, "No. I might just be a mundane with the Sight. I actually came to find you for a few reasons. One thing is of course to thank you for what you did, another is to ask for a book, something to further my knowledge on the Shadow World. If that isn't possible then there is no need to bother." She thinks, "I have a few I can lend you. Come with me."

She takes my hand into hers and walks me inside.

I nearly gasp at the inside, it's beautiful.

I follow her into the elevator, it rattles as we go up.

When we get to the top she leads me somewhere I hadn't been, its a room full of weapons, a lot of them I had read about in the book.

She grabs a blade at random, a seraph blade, she hands it to me, I take it from her hand and the light dims at first then brightens back. I stare at it. She has a satisfied look on her face, "I knew it. You are one of us."

I am a Shadowhunter.

I give her the seraph blade back and we go to leave, she turns around and I notice a wall of Stele's. Each on different, and specially made, "Those.. are steles?"

She stops and turns to look at where I'm pointing, "Hm? Yes. Why? Do you want one?" I look at her, "Is that a trick question?" She shakes her head, "Not at all. Come over here." She tells me to take one.

"My job as the head of the New York Institute means many things, one of them being that I have to help Shadowhunter's in need. So yes take one but be careful with it."

I reach out and grab one that draws my eye, its much thinner than Maryse's and there are runes and what looks like vines engraved on it.

She smiles at the one I choose, "That one suits you well."

That's all she says until we reach a large library, she hands me 3 books, "This is both basic information and advanced, learn it carefully, every word is important." She hands me a fourth, "This is for physical combat, as you probably live with mundanes, you can use a stick instead of a blade. Don't go off fighting demons-" I reply before she can finish, "I'll be responsible." Then she asks how old I am. "11."

She nods her head without much information.

"I-" I'm interrupted, "Do you want me to give you a Voyance rune?" I answer quickly, "Yes."

My speed at saying it stuns even me. She pulls out her Stele, "This is going to hurt, a lot. Do you want to sit down?" I shake my head, "No, I'll be fine."

She was right, it hurt like hell. I bit my tongue and watched her burn the rune into my skin, it was red for a while then blackened.

I realized my mistake.

How in the world was I going to hide this. Ill have to buy some makeup to cover it up. I rub my hand afterwards, it burns. I chatted with her for a while before I left and went back home. I wrote the encounter in my notebook.

I managed to hide it from my mom somehow, I wasn't sure how exactly I did it considering it was blatantly on my hand.

After that day I spent a lot of my time practicing using the book on combat. I applied runes on my skin in places mom wouldn't see.

They were sloppy at first, but then they were neater, I improved.

Contrary to my thoughts it wasn't hard to recover my skills after Mom sent us to Magnus's, after a while they were embedded in my bones, like an instinct. Id lose my memory, remind myself, and although some parts of my life were missing, they weren't important.

Time flies between school, training, and relearning everything.

*It's kind of boring right now but it'll catch up. Don't worry my Angels.