Angelic

Ev ~ 11

It was the light that woke me. Ignoring it, I flipped over, burying my head in the pillows. But the brightness didn't go away. It stated in the corner of my vision, too far to see it clearly but close enough to be annoying. Sighing, I opened my eyes--and had to blink a few times to understand what I was seeing. The sun was rising over the city.

I had slept through the night.

A smile casualty made its way onto my lips as I crawled out of bed, throwing on a maroon sweater and black leggings. Too lazy to do anything with my hair, I decided to put it up into a bun. Besides, if I didn't like my outfit, or I actually did something today, I could change after breakfast. But I needed eggs about five minutes ago, and now my stomach was grumbling in complaint.

Halfway to the kitchen, I nearly ran into a lady in a grey dress. Her eyes widened when she saw me and we both tried to stop ourselves, but ran into each other anyways.

"I'm sorry." I told her immediately.

She raised an eyebrow at me. "You're accent..."

"It's German." I answered.

"What are you doing in New York, Shadowhunter?" She questioned.

"Uh, I'm sorry. Who are you?" I actually wasn't really sorry.

She looked offended. "I am Inquisitor Herondale and you will not speak to me like that! Now who are you?"

Inquisitor. Was she here because of me? I hadn't done anything wrong in the past three days. Excitement ran through me. Was she here to take me home? "I'm Eveline Carstairs, ma'am."

Her eyes widened slightly. She opened her mouth, about to say something, but thought better of it and closed her mouth. Finally, she said, "Do you know where Jonathan Morgenstern is?"

My hope fell. So she wasn't here for me. But who was Jonathan Morgenstern? I remembered Jace's last name was Morgenstern... "Do you mean Jace?"

"He--uh... yes, Jace Morgenstern." She stuttered. She didn't seem like the kind of lady who stuttered.

"I haven't seen him this morning, I'm sorry." I told her. "The last time I saw him he was in the training room. Wait--is Jace in trouble?"

She opened her mouth, only to hesitate again. "It doesn't matter." After a pause, she said, "You're the Elite, aren't you?"

"Not yet, Inquisitor Herondale--"

"Please, call me Imogen." She offered with a smile.

I was confused but decided it was better not to say anything. She had clearly decided she liked me, and I needed to do everything to keep it that way. If she likes me enough, she might even convince the Consul to let me go home sooner. "Right, Imogen." The name sounded foreign on my lips. "As I was saying, I'm not an Elite yet. I'm the girl you and the Consul decided to send to New York to learn responsibility." I cringed right as I said it. It sounded harsh. "Once I go back to Germany, I'll be able to finish my Trials in Alicante."

She nodded, looking--surprisingly--interested. "I did not realize you were the girl, Eveline. You seem responsible enough."

I smiled at her, silently seeming to agree with her. Please say that to the Consul. Please bring me home.

"Inquisitor Herondale!"

We both turned to look behind Imogen to find Maryse Lightwood walking towards us. She looked startled to see me.

"Ev!" Maryse exclaimed. "What are you doing up? It's only four am!"

I didn't realize the sun rose so early here. "Oh, I guess I'm still on Berlin time."

"Well, make yourself at home. Go get breakfast." She told me with a smile. "The others shouldn't be up for a while, though, so if you want a workout partner--"

"I'm sure I'll manage." I assured her, giving one last glance at Imogen before I walked in the direction of the kitchen. I couldn't help but wonder if the Inquisitor only wanted me to know her first name so I would know the name of the person who punished me.

...

Later that day, I went to the training room to find it empty. Strange. I had never found it empty the entire time I had been here. Having just come from the kitchen for an afternoon snack, I knew that was empty, too--another anomaly. I felt weird doing it, but I knocked on Alec's door. He didn't answer. I knocked again. Nothing. I opened the door slowly, hoping he wasn't standing behind the door and pointing a weapon at me, but I only found the room empty. I checked Jace's and Isabelle's room, too. They weren't there. Where did they go? Would they have gone hunting without me? I scolded myself the moment I thought it. Of course they would. I'm not a part of Alec's family, or Jace's, or Isabelle's. They were probably counting down the days until I left for Germany.

Not really knowing why I did it, or why I even cared so much, I headed over to Magnus's. But when I knocked on his front door, there was no reply. I didn't want to try my chances and go into his home. So they were avoiding me. Awesome.

I began heading back in the direction of the institute, but the longer I walked, the harder it was to ignore the feeling that I was being followed. I turned around finally, a block away from the institute, but there was no one there. I turned back in the direction of the institute, only to see someone standing in front of me. Before I could even be surprised, I was falling to the ground, and pain in my head was the last thing I felt before I was surrounded in darkness.