"A mundane?" Jace repeats, "Brother that...that's not possible..."

"It is true" the Brother echoes, "I will await you in the City of Bones. But remember...we do not like to be kept waiting."

The Brother turned around, disappearing through the entry way, completely obscured in darkness.

"What is he saying?" Clary demands, "Cami's a Shadowhunter, like me! You put that rune on her and she didn't die! What is going on?!"

"The rune didn't work right" Alec spoke up. He was still holding me but almost at arm's length now, like I had some kind of mundane disease he didn't want to catch.

"Put me down" I growl and Alec looks at me, confused, "Put me down, Alec. I'm fine."

Alec complies and I instantly step away from him and closer to Izzy who, despite recent information, doesn't flinch away from me.

"What do you mean the rune didn't work right?" Jace inquires. He, Simon and Clary had now made their way over to the three of us, confusion laced through their features

"When you guys went into the training room...her demon wound started bleeding again, and she was faint, she practically felt into my arms. I thought maybe it was exhaustion but...her wound was bleeding again as if it had never healed"

"But then it disappeared" Izzy mentions, her face bone white, "We got her to my bedroom and she cleaned herself up but the wound had disappeared. And...her rune was faded"

"What?' I exclaim, pulling my shirt down to reveal the spot my rune was. It was still there, but she was right. Instead of a dark, visible black it had become a pale grey and was only just visible on my skin, "What the hell?"

"The training room has rune energy, too" Jace announces, "Not strong enough to kill a mundane, but it's there, it helps enhance our focus when we're training...but she didn't even go into the City of Bones, she was practically 10 feet away"

"The Brother said he didn't have answers for that, though" Simon pipes up, "So even they don't know what's happening. Aren't runes drawn onto mundanes supposed to kill them? Or turn them into forsaken somethings? That's what Izzy told me."

"Normally, yes" Izzy nods, "But she's fine. Well, kind of...she did almost die a second ago. But if she's not a Shadowhunter, and she can't be a mundane, what is she?"

"What about the, uh, the Downworlders? Am I saying that, right?" Clary suggests

"Yeah, that could be a possibility but Downworlders can't have runes drawn on them either for the same reasons as mundanes...so what is she?"

"I'm something!" I shout and everyone turns to me, shocked, as if they'd forgotten I was even here, "I'm something and we don't know what it is yet but right now, Clary, you need to go and see the Silent Brothers. What I am might be solved if you get some answers. You heard him, they don't like to be kept waiting."

"Are you sure?" Clary questions and I nod, "Okay...are you okay?"

"I'm fine" I promise her, "Now, go"

Clary sighs, nodding her head and giving me a quick hug before following Jace through the entrance, taking one last look at me before disappearing into the dark.

I felt the anxiety churn in my stomach and I wanted nothing more to follow her...but I couldn't.

What the hell was I?

It was terrifying. Coming into this life thinking I was a Shadowhunter, only for the tables to turn on me and instead, in a world of craziness and legends and vampires, werewolves and demons, I was a freak in their world.

What a comforting feeling.

"For fuck sake, stop staring at me!" I snap at the remaining three and they all recoil slightly, apologetic looks on their faces. Turning to Alec, I point at him, "And you! Stop inching away from me like I have some short of mundane disease!"

"Cami, it's not like tha-"

"Yes, it is and I get it...I'm a freak in this world full of impossibilities and creepy legends, I get that but I don't know what's happening either, okay? My mother is gone, Dot's dead, my little sister is about to get her memories carved out with a sword and I just spent the last 5 minutes spurting blood from my mouth and, quite literally, dying. So it would be fucking fabulous if you'd stop looking at me like I'm diseased!"

In my anger, I turn on my heel and storm away, listening to Simon's weak cry of my name. I wasn't turning back. I wasn't coming back. I clearly don't belong in this world, everything in it wants to kill me. Demons, rogue Shadowhunters and now even the runes themselves.

Trudging along through the dark, I attempt to process everything that's happened in the last 24 hours, coming to a sudden stop in a clearing by the bridge, a small miniature dam-sized hole filled with rain water nestled in the middle of the muddy ground. Sitting on a nearby rock, I start throwing bits of gravel into the water, letting the soft splashing sounds ease my mind.

I just want to go home.

"Hey" his voice reaches me and I instantly know who it is

"What?' I snap, turning to Alec, "Oh, careful, better not get to close to me, you don't wanna catch an illness now, do you?"

"Camille, it's not like that" Alec sighs, "I'm just confused, we all are."

"Yeah, well, how do you think I feel?" I bark, "In the space of 24 hours I've been pulled like a tug of war rope into so many different types of worlds and fantasies my head has yet to stop spinning and now I find out that everything in this world I don't even belong to, is trying to kill me"

"I'm not trying to kill you" Alec points out, a soft and genuine smile on his face. If I wasn't so pissed it would be nice, seeing him smile like that.

"Yet" I seethe and his face falls

"Camille, don't, okay?" Alec pleads, sitting beside me on the rock, before producing a water bottle and some tissues, "Simon gave me these for the...uh, for the blood"

"Thanks" I huff, opening the water bottle and taking a swig, swishing it around in my mouth, gargling and then spitting into the mini dam.

Attractive.

The water turns a blackish red right in the centre and my stomach churns. I look away from it, rubbing my throat absentmindedly.

"Here" Alec took the bottle and tissues from my hand, wetting some of them and pulling the sleeve of my borrowed shirt down, starting to wipe off the mess of blood from my shoulder

"You don't have to do that"

"I know"

"I'm a freak" I whisper, a small tear dripping from my eyes

"You're not a freak" Alec comforts me

"Oh, really?" I scoff, "You don't know what I am in this world, of all places...Yeah, I'm a freak. I wish I could just be normal. Even if it was just your normal. Shadowhunter normal. I don't want to be some creepy anomaly."

"You are not a freak" Alec repeats

I stay silent, taking swings from the bottle every now and then and spitting the bloody water from my mouth, the metallic taste leaving an unpleasant feeling in my mouth. Eventually, Alec finishes with my bloody shoulder and his hand moves to my mouth, swiping the pink tinged tissue along my lips and around my mouth, the tissue coming back a darker pink each time.

I habitually look into his eyes as he does this and gradually, his hand moves slower across my lips and slower and slower until he drops it to the floor completely as he leans closer and...

"Clary might be back by now" I whisper, his face inches from mine, his warm breath fanning my face as he breathes, "We should go back"

"Camille..."

"We should go back" I repeat, pulling myself away from him and standing from the rock, separating myself from temptation.

This isn't what I needed right now.

What I want?

Maybe.

What I need?

No.

I need to find my mother, I need to make sure Clary is okay.

I need to find out what the fuck it is I am.

I make my way towards the entrance, keeping a fair enough distance from the entry way with no desire to repeat the whole dying experience. Simon and Isabelle were nowhere to be seen, but I didn't have time to worry about that before Jace and Clary emerged from the entry.

Jace looked confused, worried, and Clary...looked distraught.

"Clary?" I murmur, attempting to get towards her before a hand stops me, yanking me back to their side

"Don't cross the border" Alec deadpans, his voice emotionless and his eyes empty, angry and slightly hurt, "We wouldn't want you to die or anything"

I glare at him. If he was going to take rejection like a child, then fine.

Clary spots me instantly, running to me quickly and sobbing into my shoulder, "Oh, Cami. Oh, God..."

"What? Clary what is it? What did you find out?"

"Valentine is Clary's father..." Jace reveals, "He's both of their father's"

"What?" I choke, swallowing hard

"Wait a minute" Alec voices, panic and anger flashing across his face, "You're telling me these girls show up out of nowhere and their Valentine's daughters? Did it occur to you they might be spies? That this might be part of their plan?!"

"Do you think we planned for our mother to be kidnapped? For Dot to be taken? This isn't some diabolic plan, you fucking asshole!" I shout, the combination of fear and shock and rage and hurt taking over me, "Really?!"

"Maybe!" Alec yells, "We don't even know what you are, let alone who!"

"That's enough, Alec" Jace stops him and I glower at Alec, my jaw set tight as Clary continues to cry into my shoulder

"Where's Simon?" Clary sniffles, looking up from my shoulder and around the area, trying to spot him, "Where's Simon?!"

Izzy suddenly appears out of nowhere, standing by her brother, an anxious and worried look on her face.

"I told him to stay in the van" Izzy explains, "I've searched everywhere."

"He's gone?" Clary gasps, near tears again

"I can't find him" Izzy sighs

"Jesus Christ!" I scream, "You fucking Shadowhunters are useless at your jobs! You just leave Simon in a van near a freaking City of Bones, in a world where demons and Circle members and God knows what else are after us and anyone we've ever cared about?!"

"Hey, back off" Alec snarls

"Oh, I'd love to" I hiss, "As soon as I find my friend! This world has already taken too much from me."

"Simon!" Clary panics, running towards the van and stopping at the open van door, "Simon? No! Simon!"

"Is that the mundane's name?" A cocky voice says from above us. I look up to see someone pale with long fingernails holding Simon upside down, standing upon one of the supports holding the bridge above us up, "I'm afraid Simon is coming with me."

"Like fucking hell he is!" I spit

"No!" Clary shrieks, "No, he's not a part of this!"

"And it'll be my pleasure to kill you unless you return him" Jace speaks, bravado and cockiness seeping through his voice

"Shut up" I hiss at him, "Threatening him is not going to work!"

"Careful" Alec cautions Jace, "We'd be violating the accords"

"I'm afraid your sidekick's quite right" the man teases, "The Night Children have broken no laws. We're negotiating. The mundane, unharmed, in exchange for the Mortal Cup. And the clock is ticking."

Night Children?

Vampires.

"Tick-tock, people."

And with that, he disappears with Simon in the blink of an eye.

"You!" I whirl on Jace, Alec and Izzy, "You fucking people brought us into this! You brought us to your stupid Institute, you brought Simon into this world, you put runes on me, you made me into some sort of freak that bleeds every time I go near a rune!"

"Cami" Clary pleads, teary eyed, "It's not their fault. We were born like this, it was just a matter of time..."

"No! No, it wasn't! I'm a mundane...apparently!" I shout, "I really have no part in this!"

"Cami..."Jace begins

"Shut your fucking mouth"

"Cami..."

"I said stop!" I roar, slamming my fist into the metal of the car, the adrenaline soaring through my veins as I punch it again.

The metal of the car dents, but at this point, no one is shocked or surprised by my insane abilities and no one questions it, they just watch as I fall apart.

"I...hate...this" I scream into the night air, punching the same spot each time I speak a word, the tears brimming over my eyes as I begin to sob.

I feel a pair of hands pulling me back from the van and I whirl to face them, seeing Alec's face. The sight of him only makes me angrier, sadder, and I punch his chest feebly

"Let go of me!" I sob, slapping and punching at him as I slowly sink to the floor, "Let go of me..."

The sounds of my sobs echo through the empty block, rustling through the night air and moving the leaves on the trees.

Simon was gone.

Kidnapped.

And there was nothing we could do about it.