Middle School of Bones - A Mortal Instruments Story

Chapter 6

"Max?" I asked. "What are you doing here?" It was a stupid question given all my other questions, but he was the last person I expected to see. A janitor would have been more likely, or the nurse on Monday morning. And a small part of me was kind of hoping it'd be Jace who came. But why was Max here? And why did he have a key to the nurse's office?

"You're all better, right?" he asked. He glanced at my arm. "I'm supposed to show you out."

"Wait, wait, wait," I said. I could hear Simon saying something through the phone. "How did I get here? What happened?"

"You fell down the stairs and hit your head and it's time to go home," he said. "School's over."

"No," I told him. "I was at a party, and I went home and there was a creature in my mom's room-" Max barely seemed to register my words, and I gave up. Sixth graders. "Is Jace here?"

Max rolled his eyes. "Do you see Jace? He's downstairs with everyone else."

That new information didn't help. "What do you mean downstairs? The school doesn't even have a basement."

Max groaned. "Can you please just leave already. I'm not allowed to listen to the meetings until I'm in eighth grade, and Izzy's getting to hear everything interesting right now."

"But-" I stuttered. "I'm not leaving until I can talk to Jace." I crossed my arms.

Max didn't argue, surprisingly. "Fine. This way."

He turned and left, and I barely had time to catch up to him before he disappeared down the hall. He was crazy fast, especially for a sixth grader. Our school was huge, and most of the newer students had a hard time figuring out the halls so early in the year. I finally caught up to him when he came to a stop near the back of the school.

"What are we doing?" I asked. The elevator rung in response, and its doors slid open. Max stepped inside. "We can't use the elevator," I protested. "It's against the rules-" But the doors were already sliding shut, so I had no choice but to jump in.

I waited for Max to hit a button. The "2" would have been a good choice, as it was the only option, but he didn't. After a moment, the lift descended on its own. It went down for a long while before it stopped, and the doors opened again. We stepped out in a room with dark walls and tile floors. I didn't have time to ask where we were because Max had already run off again. I chased after him. I was sure I'd get lost if he got out of sight, but I realized quickly that it was the exact layout as the middle school, only a thousand times nicer. We ended up in the place where the gym should have been, and Max knocked sharply on the door. Before I could question him, he took off again, and he had disappeared completely in a second.

The door opened.

"Max, I told you-" Alec froze when he saw me but recovered quickly. He stepped into the hallway and shut the door behind him. "What are you doing here?" 

"That's what I'm trying to figure out."

"No." Alec rubbed his forehead. "I mean here. Max was supposed to send you home. You can't be down here."

"I want to know the truth," I said. "I know what I saw at the party and at my house. There was something about demons, and you had weapons and something happened to my mom." I blinked. "Wait, is this the drum circle?"

"Jace and his drum circle," he muttered. "No. There is no drum circle. I don't know if you remember what Isabelle said- My family, we're Shadowhunters. Basically it means we fight demons. You were attacked by a demon last night, so Jace brought you here." His face scrunched up. "The problem is that you're not supposed to remember any of it."

"That doesn't make any sense," I said. "Demons aren't real."

"Do you remember what you saw?" he asked gently. 

I did. I could see it clearly in my head. "It looked like a centipede-crocodile," I said. "I'd never seen anything like it."

Alec nodded. "A ravener. You should have seen a dog or a burglar if you didn't have the Sight."

I blinked. "What does that mean?"

"It means you're not a Mundane," he said. He motioned at my shirt again. "And it's possible that you're one of us."