The Iron Crown |Shadowhunters|

7 - A warm welcome

"Why, what's the matter,
That you have such a February face,
So full of frost, of storm and cloudiness?"
-William Shakespeare

After dinner they gathered in the garden, the two new shadowhunters could arrive any time. Maxim sat on a wooden bench with, his nose in a comic again. Lotte leaned against a pillar with a statue of an angel on it, looking nervous. She was never nervous. Lisa, Anna and Jonathan were looking around, waiting for the Portal to open, where the two newbies would come out. Marianne and Richard were talking to each other. Lisa was too far away to be able to hear the conversation. The sun was setting and the light painted Institute yellow and red.

They had already been waiting for fifteen minutes and in the meantime, it had started to snow. Lisa was freezing in her dress, even though she had a coat on. She looked up, white snowflakes swirled in her face and turned into water droplets. She closed her eyes. Lisa loved snow and rain, only not when she was freezing. Again, she looked at the place where the Portal would appear. She hoped the two new shadowhunters weren't coming. Lisa was happy with Jonathan and Anna, and she didn't like new people.

She just wanted to ask if they could wait inside, when the Portal appeared. A Portal, a doorway to any place, was usually made by a warlock, although now they could also be made with runes. The Institute had a fixed Portal in the garden. On the other side of the Portal, Lisa caught a glimpse of a large old building, which was probably the Academy.

Two people stepped through, Lisa couldn't see them properly, they were blurry. When they were fully through, the Portal immediately closed. Now Lisa could see them more clearly, there was a boy and a girl, like Marianne had already said before. The girl had black hair, which fell half over her blue-green eyes. She was clearly unprepared for the Antwerp weather; she wore a black top and a blouse, there was always nice weather in Idris. The girl reminded her of a crow.
The boy was small, even smaller than Lisa, and had brown curly hair. His face was very pale, he seemed nauseous and pressed his hand on his belly. They both had a backpack. Lisa felt pity for the boy, going through a Portal was like being stuck in a hurricane.

Together they walked to the two shadowhunters. Marianne and Richard greeted and welcomed them. Jonathan and Anna also greeted them, Lisa heard them saying their names: Olivia Shadowhunter and Arthur Branwell. She tried to remember the names as well as possible, but she was not so good with names. Lisa greeted the girl.

"Welcome, I'm Lisa Cartwright, you are Olivia, right?"

"Yes, you can call me Liv." She didn't pay much attention to Lisa, more focused on the Institute.

"Do you like it?" Olivia didn't respond, she shrugged and walked past Lisa. Now Arthur came to her.

"You shouldn't pay much attention to her, she's rather sensitive," he said behind his hand. Lisa nodded slowly.

"Are you showing Olivia and Arthur their rooms?" Richard gave a pat on Jonathans back and went inside together with Marianne, Maxim and Lotte. Lisa, Anna and Jonathan stayed behind.

"Let's go inside," Lisa said. They led Olivia and Arthur to the Institute.
"We will show you around tomorrow." Olivia and Arthur were warming up by the fireplace in the hallway, Arthur curiously looked around.

"Are you following?" Anna looked over her shoulder. Together they walked through the Institute, there was no central heating, so in most rooms, there was a fireplace.
"This is Lisa's room," Anna pointed to her bedroom door, "This is mine and across the hallway is Jonathan's room." Arthur looked as if Anna had just told him a big secret, Olivia looking Anna straight in the eyes. Lisa saw that Anna felt uncomfortable, so Lisa walked through the corridor and pointed to two opposite doors.

"These are your rooms."

"Great." Olivia tightened the grip on her backpack, walked past Lisa again and closed the door of the left bedroom behind her. She was stunned, just like Anna and Jonathan, Arthur pulled a face.

"I think she needs a bit of privacy, we had no separate rooms in the Academy." They all nodded, but Lisa was not convinced. Arthur looked at the door through which Olivia disappeared, taking a step closer to them.
"And, uhm, I think she's still trying to get over what happened there," he whispered. They looked at him in confusion.

"I don't know her myself too well," he continued, "she always hung out with another boy, her boyfriend I guess. He disappeared, on the day of the ascension. Like many other aspirants-shadowhunters, he was afraid of dying while drinking from the Mortal Cup. '

Lisa looked awkwardly at Anna, seeing Jonathan press his lips together from the corner of her eye. None of them knew what to say. Arthur's yawn broke the silence.

"Maybe it's better that I'm going to sleep too, I'm exhausted."

"Okay Arthur, sleep tight," Jonathan also sounded tired. Arthur raised his hand and gave them a crooked smile, he disappeared through the other door.

"Well, it wasn't that bad." Lisa leaned against the wall and looked at the ground.
"I think they already like us." Anna raised an eyebrow and Jonathan smiled.

"I'm going to do some work," Jonathan said, and he walked to his room.

"Work?" Anna frowned, her eyebrows furrowing, but he had already closed the door behind him. Lisa shrugged and walked to her room. She gestured for Anna to follow her, who did after a moment, her with her gaze still focused on Jonathan's door.

Lisa plopped in the beanbag in her room, Anna followed a few moments later and let herself fall on Lisa's bed.

"By the Angel, your room is a mess," she noticed. She was lying on her stomach with her head against Lisa's pillow. Lisa looked around, she thought her room was tidy. Maybe to some people, it seemed like a mess, but Lisa knew exactly where everything was. You could say it's a structured mess.

"What do you think of the new shadowhunters?" Anna shrugged.

"I think Arthur is still nice, but Olivia... Hopefully she'll be better tomorrow."
Lisa thought about the first time she came to the Institute. She hadn't felt lonely, she knew everyone. She had visited it so many times and she hadn't left someone important behind. Lisa sighed.

"Hopefully."

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