The Aftermath Chronicles: A TMI FanFic

Part 9

Sienna sat in the dining room, picking apart her omelet. 

She wasn't very hungry after James had explained what had happened yesterday with the Raum demon.

"Miss Sienna," James said, reentering the room. "Might I ask where you're going today?"

"I don't have rehearsal," Sienna said. "I was thinking about going to get some groceries--"

"I'll do it," James said, pleasantly. 

"Okay," Sienna said slowly. "Then I guess I'll just train a little. Check on our guests."

Were they guests really? She was the real guest now.

She took a bite of omelet, purely out of politeness for James' cooking skills.

The butler left the room and Sienna left her plate, wandering up to the training room. 

She had an audition for the California Dance Academy scheduled in a week. If she got in, she could leave the Institute and focus on her dance. 

Sienna put her dance playlist on shuffle and improvised through a few songs just to warm up. When her two-minute audition piece began playing, she ran through her routine, perfecting every choreographed step and turn and leap and pointed foot but mentally ripping her performance to shreds.

The next song began playing. It started off nice and slow and the tempo quickly began to increase until it reached the climax of the song and Sienna was spinning in perfect circles so fast that the world was a complete blur. Then it stopped. Sienna stopped, landing on two feet. A boy stood in the doorway watching her. 

A jazz song began playing.

"Hi," the boy said. His hair was a chocolate-colored mess. Sienna could see the Marks on his arms underneath a thin grey t-shirt. 

If it hadn't been for the runes, she would have panicked.

"Hello," Sienna said, slowly.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I'll go."

"You don't have to go," Sienna said. "The training room is open to anyone."

"I'm not really in the mood for training," he said.

"I'm Sienna," she said.

"Uh, Charlie," he said.

"You're from the LA Institute," Sienna realized. "I met you a couple of years ago. You probably don't remember. I was only in town for a day."

The boy began nodding. And smiling.

"I remember."

"You got big," Sienna said.

"Well, I'm pretty sure you haven't seen me in about ten years so yeah," Charlie laughed, "I grew a little."

..........

Jace woke up before Clary. He moved as silently and swiftly as he could out of the her room. He opened the door to his room and changed into a fresh set of clothes. 

He wanted to check on Alec but he knew Magnus had probably locked and charmed the door shut. There would be no way to enter.

He wasn't hungry either. He definitely didn't want to see Isabelle at the dining table or whoever the guy was that she brought home.

He wandered up to the training room. He pushed open the door to the room. 

Sienna and Charlie were sitting cross-legged across from each other talking and laughing.