The Last Hours

6: Matthew

I woke up early the next morning, I surprisingly wasn't tired after my late night talk with Lucie. I got dressed and walked down to the dining room. When I got there, only Uncle Will sat there. I almost thought it was James for a second. The resemblance between him and uncle Will was uncanny.

"Good morning, uncle Will." I said while taking a seat across from him.

"Good morning, Matthew." He replied with a smile.

We were both then silent for a moment.

"Where did you and James go yesterday evening?" He asked.

"We walked around town. We ran into Cordelia and Lucie, as well." I explained, leaving the part out of why James had left.

"I will not ask you what is wrong with James, because I know you would not want to betray him." Uncle Will started, his blue eyes glittering worry. "But if he is going to hurt himself, I trust that you will attempt to stop him?"

"Of course." I replied automatically." I could never let James hurt himself, not if I could help him."

"And can you? Help him, I mean." Uncle Will said.

I sighed. "He insists that no one can help him."

"Everyone can be helped. It just depends on if they want to be helped." He said while taking a sip of his tea.

Somehow I felt that uncle Will was talking about something else now. I was about to reply, when someone walked into the dining room.

"Good morning." Cordelia chirped, while coming and taking a seat beside me.

"Good morning, Miss Carstairs." Uncle Will said while smiling at her.

Uncle Will had a special spot for Cordelia and Alastair because they were both Carstairs. Since uncle Jem had been a Carstairs, he always was extra nice to them. Not that he wasn't very nice to everyone.

Everyone then started to slowly enter the room. James was the very last one. He looked very tired, and there were dark shadows under his eyes. He reluctantly took a seat across from Cordelia, since it was the only one left.

"Good morning, Jamie." Aunt Tessa said.

"Good morning, mother." James mumbled.

He then sat down, avoiding Cordelia's eyes. She tried to smile at him, but he wouldn't look up at her. She then turned to me and gave me a confused look, and I just shrugged my shoulders. I felt a bit bad for Cordelia, she had been trying to talk to James but he would barely even look at her. Breakfast went by quickly, and as soon as was done James tried to depart to his bedroom again. I hurried after him.

"James." I called.

He turned around to face me, with an exasperated expression.

"What?" He said.

"Let's go for a walk." I suggested.

He sighed. "Matthew I'm not--"

"C'mon Jamie, it'll be fun." I cut him off.

James sighed again, but he reluctantly walked up to me. I shot him a smile, and we began to walk to the doors of the Institute. On the way there, we ran into Cordelia. Just our luck.

"Hello Cordy." I said.

Beside me I felt James tense. By the angel, this was going to be bad.

"Hey, where are you two going?" She asked.

"On a walk. Would you like to come?" I said politely, and James shot daggers at me.

"Oh I can't. I was just going to write back to Harry. He's coming in about a week." Cordelia beamed.

"I thought you said he was coming in a month?" James suddenly asked.

"His parents found a house early, so they'll be much earlier." She said happily.

"Wonderful." James said sarcastically.

Cordelia then glared at him. "I do not know what has gotten you to be like this James, but I'm not going to put up with it any longer." She then stormed off.

"I've made a bigger mess of things now, haven't I?" James while watching Cordelia walking away.

"I'm afraid so." I said.

He then sighed, and we walked out of the doors of the Institute. We started to walk to Hyde park. Hyde park was my favourite place in London, though I knew James' favourite place was Blackfriars Bridge.

"I wonder if anything has happened with Tatiana and bringing Jesse back to life." I wondered.

"My father and mother have said nothing about it. Although, Lucie will not leave it alone. She talks about him quite often, I rather think she fancies him a bit." James said amused.

I laughed. "She talked about him to me last night. She sure is set on figuring him out."

"I'm just not sure if there is anything to figure out." James replied.

We were in a more crowded area of London, and I was having trouble navigating around people. I then bumped into someone, I turned around to say sorry but the air was instantly knocked out of me.

She was standing in front of me. Her long black hair, her soft brown eyes. The gentleness of her mouth, her pale skin. She was giving me a blank expression, but I couldn't stop staring at her. But what was she doing here?

"Alexa?" I said astonished.

"Excuse me?" The girl said confused.

"What are you doing here?" I said shocked.

The girl looked very very confused. "Excuse me sir, but what are you talking about?"

Suddenly I felt James come up beside me.

"Alexa?" He said shocked.

"Why are you calling me Alexa?!" The girl demanded.

James recovered quickly. "Matthew, Matthew snap out of it. It isn't her."

I quickly snapped out my trance. But it had to be her, she looked just like her.

"I'm sorry, miss." I apologized quickly. "I thought you were um, a friend of mine."

The girl just kept looking me with an odd expression.

"Pardon me for asking, but what is your name?" I asked.

The girl looked suspiciously at me but said. "Amelia Penhallow."

"You're a Shadowhunter?" James asked surprised.

"Yes, and you two are?" Amelia asked.

"I'm Matthew Fairchild." I said.

"And I'm James Herondale." James said.

"Your mother is the Consul." Amelia said, while looking at me.

"And you." Her eyes flicked towards James. "Your father runs the London Institute."

"That is correct." James said.

We were all then silent, it was a very awkward silence if I might add.

"Well I'm going to be on my way then." Amelia said awkwardly. "Goodbye."

I then watched her as she disappeared back into the crowds of people. I stared after her longingly.

"She looked just like her." I said a bit painfully.

"How is what I don't understand." James said.

"That doesn't matter, I need to see her again." I demanded.

"How are you going to manage that?" He asked me.

"I'll find a way." I said, and then we left.