"Yeah, this place isn't creepy at all" Simon mutters as we emerge from his van

"Don't tell me you're afraid" Izzy chuckles

"Are you kidding me? I was born afraid" Simon scoffs before realising the error in his words, "That sounded a lot better in my head."

"Let's check it out" Alec demands and we begin to follow him through the leafy ground, the brittle, brown leaves crunching under our shoes melodically.

"Wait here a minute" Jace murmurs, stopping Clary, thus inhibiting Simon and I from moving further as well, "I wanna see if it's safe"

Clary rolls her eyes, annoyed but complies. Izzy follows her brothers and Simon turns to us, a look I knew all too well plastered to his face.

"Oh, God, please don't try to convince us to leave" I groan

"What? Come on, Cami, we don't even know these people!" Simon exclaims, "Why are we doing this? This could be a drug den for all we know!"

"Simon, this isn't a drug den" Clary sighs, before looking around again, "Although I see where you can draw inspiration for that idea. I just wish Mom had trusted us enough to tell us about all this"

"How are you both not freaked out by this?" Simon questions, genuinely interested

"It feels normal - to me, anyway" I speak, figuring the words out as I say them, "It almost feels natural to me, despite how unnatural all this is...I don't, I can't really explain it. It just feels normal"

"There was always some kind of void I could never explain" Clary chimes in, "Now...everything seems to be starting to make sense. But none of it is gonna matter if we can't find Mom."

"Then let's do that" Simon nods

"Together" I smile, taking each of their hands and smiling at them, "Three Musketeers, right?"

"Right" Clary smiles, squeezing my hand, "I'm so glad you're my sister"

"I know, right?" I joke, "I'm pretty fucking amazing"

"Guys" Jace calls out to us, extending an arm out, "Come on, it's all clear"

Clary strides forward, disconnecting her hand from mine in favour of Jace's as Simon and I trail behind. Pulling my remaining hand from Simon's, I stick them both into the pockets of my leather jacket, attempting to keep warm as I watch Simon glare daggers into Jace's back.

Poor Simon.

***

"You have to understand, the Silent Brothers aren't like us" Jace informs us as we crunch our way through the heavy leaves

"Ah, so they lack your charm and superior people skills?" I smirk and Jace smiles back at me

"Yeah, most people do"

"Oh, okay, Buffy" I raise my hands in mock surrender.

It made no sense but it felt like I'd known him my whole life...guess it was the superior people skills.

"I'm not even gonna start with that one" Jace rolls his eyes before returning to business, "Brothers communicate without using words, using just their thoughts"

"That doesn't sound so bad" Clary utters, opting for optimism

"Don't let their silence fool you" Jace warns, "They'll hold the soul sword to your heads, and with it's blade carve the truth from your mind. If you're not strong enough, you will die and the pain...it will be excruciating"

"I'm going first" I say immediately, "No way am I letting you do that. If we get enough information from me, we won't need your memories"

"Cami, I'm strong enough to fight this soul sword" Clary snaps, stopping in her tracks and facing me, tugging Jace to a stop, too, their hands still linked.

"I have no doubt, baby sis" I assure her, "But, if I can avoid it, I don't want to put you in any danger, alright? Alright?"

"Okay" Clary agrees, reluctantly, "Fine, you go first"

I smile encouragingly at her and as she trails off with Jace again, I drop back to hang with Simon. Drawing nearer to the City, I feel a ball of anxiety growing in the pit of my stomach, uncomfortable and cold.

"I can do this" I whisper to myself

"Of course you can" Simon says, grabbing my hand, "You're Camille fucking Fray, you can do anything".

"Thanks, Simon" I smile, squeezing his hand tightly. I let go almost as quickly as I held on, spotting an angry-looking Alec just to the right of me. His face was turned away from Simon and I, his jaw was tight and set.

By the time we arrive at our destination, an incredibly charming little cave with bones all over it, Jace, once again, steps in front of Simon, stopping him in his tracks, "All right, hold up"

"Surprise, surprise. No mundanes allowed, right, just like in the training room? Wrong!" Simon rambles, "I've seen every horror movie ever made and the funny best friend who gets left behind...dead man!"

"You're not that funny" Jace deadpans, "But by all means, go ahead..."

Simon nods, turning to walk inside, his head held high and triumphant.

"...Of course, the minute you enter, you'll die"

"Problem is, now I don't trust you" Simon snarks

"He's not lying" Alec clarifies, moving forward and standing beside me

"Now" Izzy offers, "He was before."

"The rune energy in the City of Bones will kill any mundane who dares enter, so please..." Alec gestures to the door jokingly...at least, I hope he was joking.

"It's okay, Simon" I smile, walking closer to the entrance, "I can do th-AH!"

Just steps before the door, I gasp, a sudden and intense pain crashing into me like a wave. My legs give out immediately, forcing me to drop to my knees and I cradle my head in my hands in an attempt to relieve some of the agony.

I howl in pain as the feeling of someone smashing a boulder into my head repeatedly mingles with the feeling of a fire burning me all over my body - it was like I had just stepped into a blazing fire without having seen it ignite. Blood begins to slowly trickle from my nose, and the same wound from the demon splits open again...but this time the blood was flowing faster, soaking through the thin fabric of my shirt as if it were fresh.

"Cami!" Clary screams, dashing to my side, falling with a muted thud on the floor beside me, "What is it?'

"Cami!" Simon yells, he was on his knees, too, in front of me...though how he had gotten to me, I didn't know because my vision had started fading, massive black spots distorting my vision.

"Cami!" I hear Alec call, before sensing his presence beside me. His voice is the first to get through to me and I look up from the ground and into his eyes. There was no mask, no stony faced anger, but true, genuine worry.

He looked terrified.

"It-" I tried to speak but blood spurted from my mouth, thick, dark spurts of it that cut my words of with a choking, gurgling sound

"Oh my God!" Clary cries, "What's happening to her!?"

"She's dying"

Through the haze of pain, I look up, searching wildly for the source of the voice who'd spoken, deep and rumbling, within the confines of my own brain but instead see one of the most chilling things I'd seen in my life.

The man was tall, robed and his face was...featureless. His eyes and mouth were sewn shut with stitches and he wasn't speaking through his mouth...the words he spoke sounded through my mind, adding to the already excruciating pain that had come from nowhere.

"Dying?" Jace questions, now kneeling beside Clary, "Brother, why is she dying?"

"She is too close" the voice echoes through my mind again, the pain intensifying ever more, "Usually our rune energy does not penetrate beyond the entrance, and for this I have no answers. She is too close and will die soon, if not removed"

Alec springs into action, hauling me into his arms as I continue to shriek in anguish. It now felt like someone was stabbing me in the abdomen repeatedly as well as smashing a boulder in to my head and burning me.

I could honestly say I wished to die then bare another minute of this pain.

Alec carries me backwards, moving to where Izzy stood, frozen in place, a horrified expression on her face. As soon as we reached Izzy's side, the pain ceased immediately and the blood stopped flowing from my mouth and shoulder as if a tap had been turned off.

Though weak, with the whisper of a headache...

I felt fine.

"Are you okay?" Alec pants, looking down into my eyes

"Yeah" I frown, "I'm...perfectly fine. What the hell was that?"

"Brother...why did that happen?" Jace reiterates my question, hand in hand with a terrified Clary who was staring at the pool of my blood on the leaves where I had fallen

"She was too close" The silent brother repeated, "Our rune energy should not have affected her from such a distance and for this I have no answers. She was too close."

"Why don't you ela-" Clary begins, her tone nasty and demanding but Jace quickly holds a hand out, offering her a warning look.

"You need to speak respectfully to the brothers or they won't help us" Jace warns her and so she shuts her mouth, allowing Jace to do the talking

"Brother, she's a Shadowhunter. The rune energy shouldn't have affected her. So...why did this happen?"

"She is not a Shadowhunter" the brother replies, his voice echoing through my mind like a deadly gong,

"She is a mundane."

*****************

OHHHHHH SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!!

Did you expect that?

Do you have any idea what the hell Cami is?

No, you don't because I've been working super hard on this and I BET you'll not be able to guess what exactly she is.

Answers will be given before the end of Book/Season 1, I promise. I don't wanna kill you like that.

Are you enjoying this?

I hope so because I've been working hella hard on this.

Anyways,

Please vote, comment and SHARE, i'd love for people to see this.

Happy Reading! xxx