The Mortal Instruments: The Other Daughter. The Other Sister

Chapter Five

Angelica woke up to warm sunlight, her eyes blinking slowly to adjust to the light. She sat up and rubbed at her eyes, trying to wipe the sleep from them. It was six 'o clock in the morning. Her usual wake up time. She was about to get out of bed when she noticed something. She wasn't wearing her jacket and someone had covered her with the blanket. She smiled a little to herself. She grabbed some clothes and headed to the bathroom. She showered quickly and pulled on some jeans and a green button up shirt. She decided to go barefoot. No point in putting on shoes if she didn't have to a place to be. She headed back to her room. She was pretty sure Magnus and Alec were still asleep. She slipped the knife out from under her pillow and admired it for a moment. She slipped it into the back of her jeans. She covered it with her t-shirt, satisfied that it was hidden. She then went and began to sharpen and polish each of her knives and daggers carefully. Then she did the same for her katana. Satisfied, she put them all back in their proper place. All this, in total, took about half an hour. The adults should be awake by now. She took a deep breath, opened the door and slipped into the hallway.

She could hear Magnus and Alec talking quietly as she made her way into the kitchen. As she padded softly into the room, they both stopped talking immediately and looked at her. To her relief, they both smiled at her and she smiled back with a small "good morning". She reached up for a box of cereal but Alec grabbed her by the wrist and propelled her into the booth that served as their kitchen table. "There is no way I am going to let you eat a cold breakfast on your first day here. I am fully prepared to cook whatever you want"....He had an apron on that said "Sometimes Shadowhunters date warlocks. Get over it." He was armed with a spatula and a whisk. "So...what do you want?"

"Ummm..."

She was at a lost for words...she hadn't had a home cooked meal for months...

Magnus, noticing her lack of response, chimed in with "How about you just prepare some pancakes along with some bacon and eggs, Alec? Me and Angelica are going to get to know each other a little better..." For the first time she noticed he was wearing a bright yellow robe decorated with what looked like ....ducks with teeth. Strange. Magnus slid off the kitchen counter and headed for the living room. Angelica followed, leaving a pancake happy Alec, humming to himself as he began to cook.

Angelica found Magnus seated on a couch facing a large window that gave a view of the New York skyline. She joined him and, almost too quietly to be heard, said "Thank you"

Magnus looked at her quizzicaly. "For what?"

The tips of her ears turned red. She was never good at this. Being cool and confident was always Jonathan's strong point.

"T-thank you for last n-night. That was ext-tremly kind of y-you." Her ears turned even redder as her stutter became extremely obvious.

"Oh..well, you're welcome" Magnus said. "So, would you mind if I could take a look at the knife under your shirt?"

Her eyes widened. How..how did he see it?...

"Sweetheart, I may have been born at night, but it wasn't lastnight" Magnus held out his hand expectantly,a small smile playing on his lips. She reluctantly handed it to him. It felt strange not having the knife. It was like a part of her. It almost felt like there was an invisible string attached to her and the knife and even though it was a mere three feet away from her, it was like the string was about to break. Her hands became clamny and shaky. Her breath was coming in short breaths as he examined it, running his hand along the blade and weighing it. Upon reading the inscription, a look of what seemed to be sadness crossed his face. After what felt like a short lifetime, he handed it back to her. Relief spread through her as she tucked it back into her jeans. The familiar feel of cool metal up against her back calmed her. Magnus cleared his throat. "You're going to have to be extremely careful about how you go about this. There are a lot of people who would love for a chance to kill you. I know you weren't responsible for any of your father's or brother's crimes but a lot of people will not be as understanding as me. So you need to be on your best behavior. Understand?"

She nodded. "Don't worry, I'll be there to help you" Magnus took her hand in his. "I haven't known you for too long but I have a feeling that you're going be very important to this family" Family. Could she ever have one of those again? Magnus smiled at her kindly. A feeling of warmth spread through her. Maybe. Just maybe. "Breakfast is ready!!" Alec called from the kitchen. "And that's our cue. Come on. They headed into the kitchen where Alec was doling out pancakes and setting the plates on the table. "Hey Angelica, could you get the orange juice out from the fridge? She did as she was asked. She got cups from the cabinet and set a glass down by each place. They were all about to dig in when suddenly Magnus jumped up from the table. "WAIT!!" He ran from the room and came back with an old school camera.

"We can't start breakfast before taking a picture of the first ever Bane-Lightwood-Morgenstern family breakfast." He began to fiddle with a tripod.

Tears sprung into her eye and almost began to roll down her cheeks before she had a chance to swallow them back. The smile forming on her face was so big, her cheeks hurt. Family. He called us a family...People she had just met had already taken her in as family....I guess there still are some good people in the world.

"GOT IT!!" Magnus snapped his fingers and his bathrobe transformed into a simple white button up shirt tucked into a pair of not so simple black leather pants. He vaguely resembled a pirate. Alec rolled his eyes and chuckled. He was wearing faded jeans and a green shirt. Magnus levitated the camera till it was at the right angle and slid into the booth between Alec and Angelica. He looked an arm around either one of them, pulling them close. Angelica found her head resting on Magnus's shoulder.

"SMILE!!"

She heard a small click and a picture slide out from the camera. Magnus plucked it off from where it fell on the table and smiled as it developed. They really did look like a family.

"That one's for the album!!" exclaimed Magnus.

They finished breakfast, relaxed chatter filling the kitchen. As they were cleaning up, the door bell rang.

"I'll get it" Angelica said. She rinsed the soapy suds off her hands and made her way to the door.

"Remember" Alec called after her "don't let in any of Magnus's ex anythings"

"Got it" she called back.

She unhooked the chain, along with the three other locks before being able to open the door.

"Hello, is there something I can help you with?"

She looked up to find herself staring into the faces of Tessa Grey and Jem Carstairs.