New World

2 | Lead and Follow

Lila twirled the spaghetti around her fork before she took a bite. And she had to admit that although Julian's pizza and pancakes were better than spaghetti, the spaghetti and sauce were pretty nice.

"It's just a registery—" said a girl further away from Lila and Kit.

"Am I the only one who's read X-men and realises why this is a bad idea?" Said Kit.

Zara Dearborn—who'd previously spoken—frowned, and then brightened. "You're Kit Herondale," She said, "the Lost Herondale."

"I didn't realize I was lost," Said Kit. "At least, I never felt lost."

"It must be exciting, finding out you're a Herondale," continued the girl. "I met Jace Herondale once."

"Wow," Said Kit.

"I bet you can't wait to get to the Academy," she said. "Considering you're a Herondale, you'll certainly excel. I could put in a good word for you."

Kit stayed silent.

Diana cleared her throat. "So, What are your plans for tomorrow, Zara, Diego? Is there anything the Institute can assist you with?"

"Now that you mention it," said the girl—Zara. "It would be incredibly useful..."

Everyone seemed interested in what she had to say then.

"If, while we were gone during the day, you did our laundry. Ocean water does ruin clothes quickly, don't you find?"

-

She opened her bedroom door, entering the hallway to head to the kitchen to grab the cookies from the refrigerator.

But a mess of pale golden waves caught her eye, glinting in the light of the Institute corridors. A duffle bag was swung over Kit's shoulder, and he snuck down the corridor quickly.

So Lila followed him.

He left the building though the front door, and the second he put his first foot down on the step of the Institute, Lila hurried behind him and grabbed his elbow, pulling him backward.

He wrenched himself sideways, nearly falling down the steps, and flung his arm out harshly. He hit her and she yelped, and a second later they were both falling, Kit thudding to the porch on his back, Lila collapsing onto him. Kit felt sharp elbows dig into him and a second later there was a bright light, which Kit then realised was a witchlight.

"Kit," said a voice high above him—Lila's voice, light and annoyed. "Stop thrashing."

Kit saw Lila shake her dark hair out of her face, tuck it behind her ears. She moved and was kneeling beside him, her hand on his wrist to stop him hitting her. The proximity of her near him made it hard to breathe. She wore a pair of leggings and a hoodie, leaving only her hands and face pale visible in the dark. Her hair shone in the moonlight.

"Where are you going with a massive bag?" She asked.

"I was going for a walk," Said Kit.

"Don't lie," Lila said, looking at Kit's duffel bag. "Were you stealing? I mean, you didn't bring anything here with you to leave with."

Kit let his head fall back against the ground, and he looked up at the moonlit sky. "Why do you care what I do?"

Lila said, "I'm a Shadowhunter. We help people."

"Now you're lying," Said Kit without conviction.

Lila laughed lightly, a small smile on her face, the smile which reminded Kit of when they'd first met, when she'd found him in the institute kitchen at two o'clock in the morning unable to sleep. And he'd looked at her, and she'd reminded him of the pictures in a book he'd seen somewhere when he was younger, where there was an image of a girl all heavenly in a dress of gold and white and silver.

"I need you," Said Lila. "You might be surprised to hear that." She let go of his wrist and moved so she was sitting with her back to him, leaning slightly against him, propped on her elbows.

"I am," replied Kit. "What happened to the night patrol?" He wondered.

"They're most likely a mile away from here," informed Lila, "they're trying to keep demons away from the Institute, not keep you from getting out. Do you wanna know what I need you for or not?"

Kit propped himself up on his elbows, almost as if he couldn't help it. He looked at Lila. She was leaning against him, her back against his side, and she held a small dagger in her hands, waving it around absentmindedly as she talked.

"You're a criminal, right? Or, your dad was. So we need your help." Lila looked down at him, putting the dagger back in her weapons belt. "I guessed you wanted to be like him. And you've probably stole half the institute's things in the duffel bag, and if you've taken my daggers I'm gonna be seriously annoyed."

Kit watched as Lila leaned over him and snatched the zipper of the bag, pulled it and let the belongings inside shimmer in the light. "What's that got to do with you anyway? None of it's yours."

"Ty wants to investigate things; you know, like Sherlock Holmes, I think. He loves the Sherlock Holmes stories." Lila shrugged her shoulders. "But nobody here cares about that sort of thing."

"You literally just solved a case. Didn't you all just catch a murderer?"

"Yeah. That's the sort of thing Ty is interested in. I don't know about Livvy, now that I think about it...I want to be a healer, you know, like Catarina Loss?Anyway, Malcolm sent a note, and he admitted to it all. That's why it was easy to figure out."

"That does narrow down the list of suspects," Said Kit.

"Hm... . Anyway, I need you to be our partner, to help us solve crimes and all that." Lila looked at him expectedly. "Are you in?"

Kit took a moment to answer. Did he want to become friends with this girl? To adventure and discover and follow and lead with her?

"I don't want to solve crimes. I don't care about crimes. I don't care if they're being committed, or not committed—"

"I don't think of them as crimes, more like mysteries purposely put there for us. Besides, what are you going to do? Run away?"

"I don't care—"

"You do," Lila cut him off. "I think you do care, you just don't want to be trapped."

"How'd you know I was going to run away tonight?" Kit asked, frowning at her.

"Livvy noticed it first. You were just getting used to us, I think, and then the centurions came, and after Zara's comment about the Academy...you must feel like you don't have any choices in what you do after this. And I saw you when I was leaving my room," Lila said, shrugging her shoulders when she'd finished.

"I look at them and think, 'I can't stand being like them, and they can't stand anyone different'."

"You can never be pushed to go to the Academy. You can stay with us for as long as you want," Lila assured him.

"As long as I help you investigate," Kit said. "How often do you have things to solve? Or do you have to wait for another warlock to go crazypants?"

"There's something needing investigating right now," informed Lila.

"What is it?" Kit was genuinely interested.

"I don't think the Centurions are here for what they say they are. I think there's something else going on."