My Beautiful One

12. Those midnight eyes

The first thing I felt when I woke up was misery.

Sure, I went to bed feeling strategic and determined, but it's a wonder what ingrained paranoia, an unfamiliar place, and a slight hangover can do to a person.

"No excuses, Amari..." I said to myself in a cracked morning voice, sitting up in the huge black bed. My throat felt like sandpaper and my head hurt, but just taking that one step to getting out of bed felt good. "No excuses." I looked at my reflection in the mirror by the dressing table to emphasize my own words. "Because you're not technically a person."

The memory of Sebastian's words on the subject came to mind as soon as I spoke the words.

"The word 'person' is very flexible. If I, a Shadowhunter, can be classified as a person when I am only half human, then I'm sure the same can be applied to you."

I grimaced at the memory that brought my captor to mind, misery washing back into my thoughts. Waking up in this room with all its contemporary furniture and high-tech appliances is about was about as different to waking up in the Institute as it can possibly get, and I realized that I missed the place that had been my home for a few weeks. I missed the slightly faded elegance, the mahogany furniture, and that cozy four-poster bed with its red velvet hangings.

And of course, more than anything else, I missed the people in the Institute.

Jace isn't in the Institute. I thought. Jace is still in my house, Silverdown Oak.

The realization made me jump out of bed, standing, staring at the door, with my fists clenched tight. "He's in my house," I whispered, "in the middle of the Seelie Kingdom, where everyone who lives there wants to drag him to Jonathan Morgenstern."

Without thinking, I threw open the doors of the wardrobe and started to pull on the clothes inside. They were, thankfully, women's clothes, but they still didn't fit quite right. They were too small, but fortunately I was slim enough to fit into them despite the pair of full-length jeans looking more like 3 quarter length ones.

But if there are women's clothes here, then maybe there's someone else here. Maybe they can make Sebastian see reason and let me get back to Jace.

The thought was unusually optimistic, for me, but at that moment it seemed my only hope.

I'll find her. I decided.

Rrrriiiiiiip. I froze in the action of pulling on my shirt, and came to the conclusion that this was just one of the items that wouldn't fit: it was far too short and uncomfortably tight.

"I feel like I'm wearing Clary's clothes." I muttered angrily to myself as I unbuttoned the shirt up to my ribs and then re-tied it, reluctantly leaving my midriff bare. Then, with a deep breath, I left the room and padded towards the kitchen.

"I like the new look." Was the first thing Sebastian said to me as he saw me coming down the stairs. He was leaning against the counter top, regarding me lazily like a smug cat. His silver-white hair was still tousled from sleep, but everything else looking tense and ready as if he were ready to spring into a fight right there. He was even wearing gear.

"You know, most people would say good morning." I said acidly, walking towards the table and facing him with his arms crossed.

"Oh, but Amari..." Sebastian's black eyes glittered with amusement, "didn't we come to the conclusion that neither of us are people?"

My answer came in the form of glaring at him, and he grinned insufferably back. "Why are you so bad tempered? You were much nicer last night. Well, until you got blood on my walls and tried to throw a knife at my head."