After

24: Alexa

I woke up at eleven o'clock the next morning. I stirred in my bed, and got up and went to the bathroom. It was when I was standing in the mirror of my bathroom, that I realized what today was. We were going to get the Institute back. There was a good chance I could die today.

I quickly brushed my teeth and hair, and walked downstairs to the lichen. My family was already sitting there, and I took a seat beside Max.

"Good morning." I announced.

"Good morning." My father smiled.

I started eating my pancakes and sausages. My father made the best pancakes. My mother flat out, could not cook anything. My parents started to speak to one another, and I leaned over to Max.

"What time are we going?" I whispered.

"In an hour." He whispered back.

I kept eating until I was finished. When I was done, Max and I looked at our parents for moment. I think we both knew that this could easily be the last time we would ever see them. I felt my eyes well up with tears, but I quickly pushed them back.

"I love you. Both of you." I said to them.

"Me too." Max said.

"We love both of you, too." My mother said. "Is everything okay?"

"Everything's great." I forced a smile.

After another fifteen minutes, my parents went to the council room to speak with my grandpa, my mother's father. As soon as they left, Max and I quickly changed into gear and grabbed our weapons. We walked out of the our house, and started to walk to the park where we had been yesterday. Everyone was already there.

"Hey." I breathed.

"Hey, you ready?" Scarlett asked.

"I think so."

Scarlett and I put marks on each other, and everyone else did too. Austin then started to draw the portal, and it shimmered a light blue colour. We all stood in front of it for a moment, and just stared. Were we really going to do this? I knew we had to, though. Logan was the first one to step through the portal, and then I volunteered to go next. It felt like falling through water. All of the sudden, I was standing on the sidewalk a block away from the Institute. Everyone else portaled through, and then Austin closed it. We were all going to start walking again, when we heard a voice.

"There you all are. We were starting to think you'd never show." A slow arrogant voice said.

We all turned around, to see Will, Cecily, Gabriel, Charlotte, Matthew, and James standing there all dressed in fear, with weapons. Cecily smiled at me, and I smiled back. I looked at Will for a moment. He really was good looking. His bright blue eyes were studying all of us, and his black hair was falling into his eyes. Aunt Tessa was so lucky, I thought to myself.

"What is the plan?" James asked.

We all the stared at one another, dumbly. We hadn't actually though of a plan yet.

"We hadn't thought of one yet." Scarlett muttered.

"Well, then I'll just think of one because I'm so brilliant." Will smirked. "I say, each of us should pair up with one of you."

"But there's too many of us, and not enough of you." Blake said.

"That's why we brought more people." Matthew piped up.

Just then two figures appeared. One girl with short red hair, and brown eyes. The other had brown hair and pale blue eyes. They both were wearing gear, and I recognized them to be Cordelia and Lucie.

"Hello." They said, and we all smiled.

Everyone then started to pair up. Cecily was instantly at my side, and I smiled. Gabriel went with Max. Will went with Logan. James went with Austin. Charlotte went with Scarlett. Matthew went with Will. Cordelia went with Charlotte, and Lucie went with Blake. We all walked to the Institute until we were outside its gates. They were wide open.

"They must have known we were coming." Max said.

I gulped, and we all walked towards the door. Will Herondale pushed it open, and we all stepped inside. It was disgusting. Blood stained the floor, and arms and legs were scattered here and there, not attached to a body. I gagged, and Scarlett shot me a worried look.

"Well this is delightful." Will Herondale said dryly.

"Isn't it?" A voice said from the darkness.

Benjamin was suddenly in front of us, smirking confidently. He was wearing all red, and there was dried blood on his cheek, and on his mouth. I shivered, they had been feeding.

"Who are you?" Gabriel asked.

"I am the leader of the hybrids of New York." He said. "What are you doing in my lair?"

"Your lair?" Logan said, baffled. "This is our Institute, you stole it."

"And now you are trying to get it back, I presume." Benjamin laughed. "Good luck."

Will Herondale smirked devilishly. "You don't need luck when you have the blood of angels in you."

He then suddenly threw out a knife, and it hit Benjamin square in the chest. He cried out and a bunch of Hybrids lunged at us from the darkness. I shot out my whip and slashed at one. I saw another whip fly through the air, and whirled around. Charlotte Fairchild was using a whip, slashing at them. I smiled, whip's were really the best.

Cecily and I fought side by side. She hit them with her seraph blade, and threw knives at them. All of the sudden, one of the hybrids grabbed me from behind. I shouted, and Charlotte's whip shot out and killed it. She then winked at me, and then went back to fighting. Once they were all dead, we all stood in our in a circle.

"We should all go to separate rooms, and see if there are any more. Go in pairs." Gabriel said.

We all split off and Cecily I walked down one of the halls, towards my bedroom.

"I swear, if they wrecked my clothes." I growled.

I pushed the door opened to my room, and stared. My carpet was torn up, the walls were smeared with blood, my bed sheets were ripped, and there in the centre of the room, were my clothes. In pieces.

"Ugh! I'm going to kill whoever did this!" I shouted.

I bent down, and picked up one of my ripped thigh high high heels. I was already wearing a pair, but it still hurt to see my beloved shoes like that.

"I don't know how you fight in those." Cecily chuckled.

"It's a talent." I muttered, as I dug through my torn up clothes.

I stood up and sighed. "C'mon I need to kill whoever did this. No one messes with my shoes or clothes."