Chapter Eight

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Though the sun had just crested the smallest buildings of the horizon, the city teemed with ambition. Horns honked down pedestrians that paid no mind to road signs as demons and vampires raced to find shadowy safe havens. Engines roared from public construction that never seemed to finish and chains echoed the rattle and clank as they were forced to their limits. The fresh asphalt laid in the night smelled like burnt eggs, mingling with the smoke from the mills along the water.

It swept through every nook and cranny it could manage, mingling above the fragile barrier provided by the Seelie's magic around Central Park as nature traded owls for mourning doves. Past the cops in tight uniforms, leaning against their car with fresh bear claws from the food truck beside them, tumbling on with their laughter across the overgrown lawn on the lot across from them and up to the hidden doors of the Institute.

A fist pounded against solid wood, cutting through the walls and into a dark bedroom. "Get up!" Andy ordered, face awash with boredom as her arm hung in the air. She waited impatiently through a few seconds of silence before resuming her assault on the door in front of her. Her hand was already on the old brass door knob as she tuned her ear for a tired groan. She huffed, turning the latch and shoving her way in.

Her mouth was already open to loudly awaken her brother, interested when she found his curtain open, a strip of light dancing across the floor. He rarely had anything other than a witchlight covering the shadows of his room. Her eyes lifted and the words caught in her throat, jaw dropping open.

She took in the sight: Jace had frozen as well, halfway through his window as he was caught sneaking back in. He blinked at her for a moment, stunned as a fawn taken from its mother, and offered a lame, "Uhh..."

Andy's mouth slammed shut, contorting into a grimace. It didn't take long for her brows to pinch together in aggravated confusion, hand sliding off of the door. She watched her brother swing his leg into his room and catch himself clumsily, asking rather rhetorically, "Where have you been?"

Jace knew he was screwed as soon as she called through his door. The anger was so ripe in her voice, she may as well have handed him an axe and told him to cut his hand off. Hamarabe's Code had always read like something Andy had written. "I don't know," he muttered dismissively under his breath as he turned his back on her, attempting to escape her sharpening glare.

He prepared to be met with her guttural scoff and was not disappointed. "Are you kidding me?" She questioned fiercely. With a sigh, Jace turned to look at her, his face hiding any hint of his anxiety at being caught. "So I have to tell you everything about where I am, but you get 'I don't know'?" 

"You can see how that's a little different, right?" Jace couldn't help but turn her aggression back unto her with a sneer. His tone implied that he knew better, only serving to harshen the blow.

It clearly hit her how he wanted it to, but she ran right over it. "You were supposed to be downstairs an hour ago," She scolded him. He gave an exaggerated roll of his eyes as he swept his hand through his hair. "We shoulda just left without you because now we have to wait till next week!" The blame was laid, leaving the blond the slim choice of holding his tongue or retaliating.

"I was already up," he offered feebly. Andy choked out a laugh, one tinged with disdain as she nodded – it was quite obvious to her that he was already awake.

"Right, well, when you feel like joining the rest of us," Andy spat, gesturing wildly. She opted to remove herself from the situation, wishing to extinguish the flames in her chest. She walked away, leaving his door wide open as she trudged back down the stairs. Jace was thankful to watch her go, even if it was just pushing off an inevitable tension.

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