Detained [2] 《SHADOWHUNTERS》

Chapter Seven

Andina despised the City of Bones.

She had hated it when she was a kid, forced to dress in white for the first time in her life and attend a funeral for what she thought was her father. Standing inside of the menacing tunnels that stretched high above, comforting her little brother whilst struggling to hide her own tears.

She had hated it when she was a teenager, finally determined to find out why she could barely remember the beginning of her life. Reaching out to the Silent Brothers for the first of many times that all ended in failure to retrieve any memories, and experiencing nearly unbearable pain. Each detail of the wide corridor where they dangled the Mortal Sword to retrieve memories was forever engraved into her mind.

She had hated it when Jace had taken Clary to have her search for her own memories, only for Simon to be kidnapped by vampires in the process–partially due to her letting Raphael go earlier that night.

And she hated it now. Sitting in a cell with her brother, in a prison made to hold criminals much worse than the two of them.

The hallways underground seemed to be made of stone, but within them laid the ashes of generations of deceased Shadowhunters. There were witchlights to brighten the area, but they were spaced far apart and glowing dimly enough to be nearly ineffective, only serving to cast long shadows onto every surface available. 

There was a cold breeze that always swept through the stone corridors, though Andy never knew where it came from. Perhaps it only existed to torture those who lay in wait for death in the prisons of the City of Bones.

Andy sat in the back corner of the cell that Victor Aldertree had locked she and her brother in. So far, she had spent much of her time analyzing every square inch she could see. She wasn't looking for an exit; escaping the City of Bones was not possible. 

The chilled floor underneath them had various cracks that her eyes tracked patterns in. She was nearly positive there was an old blood stain against the wall, but it was too dark to tell for sure.

Her brother sat in the corner parallel to her, hand around one of the vertical steel bars that held them captive. His eyes had not left his sister since they had been shoved into the cell, quite aware that she had not met his gaze once.

She was running out of things to look at, though. He watched her blue eyes jump to the ceiling to avoid him, then to the top and bottom of the bars where they met the stone. She quickly became bored of that and let her gaze fall to the wall of the hallway outside of their cell. They trailed to the left until she was looking right over his shoulders. It was like watching ice melt as he waited for her to finally look at him.

She did. He broke the silence as they made eye contact, quiet and weary. "You never told me whose side you're on."

Andy recalled their last real conversation and frowned. Just a day ago, when they were still on Valentine's boat. Valentine had asked her to talk to Jace on the ship, and her brother didn't even trust that she wasn't working for their father. He had asked her what side she was on. She hadn't had the chance to answer before their father had called her back to his side.

It was tempting to keep her mouth closed and let the silence continue to envelope the cell, but she didn't think she could handle her brother viewing her as the bad guy for much longer. "Not his," she muttered, absentmindedly picking at the scabs on her knuckles.

Jace sighed. "That's not an answer."

"What do you want me to say?" She snapped, finding interest in the cracked floor once again. "That I'm on the Clave's side? 'Cause I'm not."

"Andy, don't say that–" He went to scold her, a shocked frown on his face. They were both well aware that her statement could easily be construed as treasonous.