River of the Dead: A Shadowhunter Fanfic

Chapter 6

Thalia had been listening patiently as Autumn filled her in on almost everything, including the demon attack, the blood that Brother Enoch had found, and even her mother leaving. Something in the back of Autumn's brain told her not to mention her dreams, and so Autumn kept it to herself.

The two discussed what had happened over the past two days for hours, until Thalia fell asleep on her bed. Autumn checked the time on the clock. 12:27. "She must really be tired," Autumn muttered to herself.

She wandered into the hallway and towards her own room. The door was open, and standing in front of her bed was Irene.

Autumn was suddenly frustrated with Irene's cold and mysterious glares. "Listen, Irene. I know something's up with you, I know you were in my dream, and I also know that you're totally aware of that!" Autumn clenched her fists. "I don't trust you at all, I bet you killed my father-"

Irene's expression was blank. "Honey, that was you," she said. Unlike her dream, her voice was soft. "You know from the dream that your father wasn't killed by a demon. It was you."

Autumn's legs felt like spaghetti and as if she would collapse at any moment. Every noise was drained out and the only thing Autumn could hear was a loud ringing. The noises in the Institute was unnoticeable to Autumn's ears, and faded until she could hear nothing but her heart pounding loudly in her chest.

Then she heard unfamiliar voices growing louder. They all seemed to be speaking at once, and Autumn was unable to make out what anyone was saying.

Autumn's eyes closed and she covered her ears with her palms. "It's too loud!" Autumn screamed as she fell to floor.

The voices grew louder and louder until it hurt her mentally, an agonizing, torturous pain that made Autumn wish she was dead.

"Kill me now! Kill me, they're too loud, it hurts!" Autumn screamed. She opened her eyes and the faces around her were not familiar. Thousands, maybe millions, of people surrounded her. She was not in her room, but she was outside. In the distance, she spotted a river. It was the same soundless river from her other dream, only this time, her father wasn't in it.

The voices dulled, they were still noisy but not loud enough to agonize her. She noticed Irene, smirking at her from afar. Then there was Will and Jem, followed by six others. Will said something to Irene, which made the smirk fall off her face and become replaced with fear. Will grinned at Irene's reaction, only to be slapped by a girl with black hair and blue eyes, just like Will. Autumn assumed they were related.

Will and Jem wandered over to Autumn, and Jem cast her a small smile. "Are you alright?" he asked. "You'll get used to the noise. It hurts at first."

Will nodded. "This is Charlotte and Henry Branwell, Sophie and Gideon Lightworm, and my sister Cecily and her husband Gabriel Lightworm."

"Lightwood, Will, it's Lightwood. By the Angel," Gabriel corrected. "But surely you are aware of that. After all you are a LightWOOD," he said, turning to Autumn, who was paralyzed. How was this possible?

"There is no difference to me," Will snapped.

"Can you two stop? It's been more than a century and a half and you two haven't changed one bit," Charlotte sighed.

"Jem, straighten them out, will you?" Cecily asked.

"No, we are fine," Gabriel said quickly.

Jem changed the subject. "Follow me," he said to Autumn, then turned to the others. "I'm going to take her to the river," Jem declared loudly, although Gabriel and Will seemed to not be listening as they argued. The others nodded and Henry waved us off.

Jem smiled a warm and genuine smile. Although everyone was kind towards her, she found Jem as her favorite. They walked towards the river in the distance, Jem's hands in his pockets. "I'm sure you have many questions," he began. "And you can feel free to ask me them whenever you want."

Autumn smiled back at him. "Well, I can't ask questions if I don't know what questions to even ask. I have no idea what's going on."

He chuckled, his eyes bright. "It will make sense, soon. Trust me."