Invisible string~ Matthew Fairchild {1}

Nine

Everyone was cramped into the carriage: Thomas, Lucie, Matthew and Cordelia, even Alastair was there.

Lucie had said that James was in danger, but would not explain why or how she knew.

Thomas took up a lot of space, so Amelia was hip to hip with both Matthew and Thomas. Matthew's face was a dark pink. From the cold or from something else, Amelia couldn't be certain.

"Thomas?" She asked her parabatai. "Can you give me an energy rune?"

Thomas nodded, pulling his stele from his pocket. He gently took her arm, putting the stele to her bare skin. As soon as he finished the rune, Amelia felt her exhaustion fade. She pulled out her dagger, resting it on her lap.

The carriage came to a stop. Matthew looked out of the window, swearing softly. "Demons," he muttered.

Everyone filed out of the carriage, rushing to help James and Grace. Lucie immediately threw her axe, which caused James to look towards the group. Alastair immediately jumped into action, weapon in hand.

Amelia and Thomas rushed into the battle. She stabbed a demon with her dagger, and Thomas quickly killed another that had reached them.

Matthew was providing cover for Lucie and Cordelia, but failed to notice a demon coming towards him. Amelia immediately threw her dagger, which hit its target. The demon collapsed next to Matthew, who frowned at the brown haired girl. "I could have got that."

"But you didn't," Amelia said. "Thomas, can I have a seraph blade?"

He grabbed an unlit blade and threw it at his parabatai.

"Josephiel," she whispered. The seraph blade crackled to life as she saw Christopher with his own blade, significantly brighter than her own.

He spoke to James, and then tried to stab a demon with his strange blade, which sputtered and failed to kill the demon. Thomas and Amelia were both there in a moment, Amelia's seraph blade impaling the demon, which disintegrated immediately. Before any of the Shadowhunters could say anything, another demon had taken its place. Thomas's bolas wrapped around the demon, but not before it tore Amelia's sleeve and left a trail of red on her dress. Her arm stung, but she couldn't worry about that now.

"Lightwood," Alastair shouted. "Behind you!"

Amelia looked behind her, not seeing a demon. But it wasn't her that Alastair had been talking to. It was Thomas, who had still failed to notice the demon behind him. Amelia let out a scream, scrambling to get to her parabatai in time. But the demon had already disintegrated, and a spear clattered to the ground. Amelia looked towards the direction the spear came from, and she saw none other than Alastair Carstairs.

"You're carrying spears?" James demanded.

"I never leave the house without my spears!" cried Alastair.

Amelia had a lot of questions, but she wasn't able to ask them before yet another demon got her attention. She cut it down with her seraph blade as Matthew jumped and slid on the wet pavement, hurling a chalikar into the mass of demons. But many more remained. Amelia plunged her blade into yet another demon, and it fell to the ground. She heard an unfamiliar voice, and her head snapped to James, who looked to be speaking with one of the demons. Then, they all disappeared.

"What just happened?" Amelia asked, moving towards James. "Are you alright?"

James let out a shaky breath, not saying anything. It was Matthew that spoke. "Demons just left." He wiped the blood from his face. "The leader seemed to think itself an old friend of James' grandfather."