Upon waking up, Nico felt a few things. The first being a potent headache, the second was annoyance at being kidnapped, and finally, a foreboding feeling about not telling Will after he snuck out. Normally, it was Percy's thing to get kidnapped, not his, but apparently, Percy had enough of his awful luck to spread around. Now, Nico was lying on the floor of a strange room, surrounded by some sort of barrier in an undisclosed location, captured by mystery people.

Nico decided to do the logical thing, and observe the room without shifting his body around since he didn't want to irritate his headache. The floor was hard stone, maybe marble or granite, and the whole room gave off a church feeling, the walls pale in color and wooden beams high above, a dark sky visible from sunroofs and a strange chandelier with glowing stones instead of lightbulbs or candles. The only thing Nico could tell was that someone was kind enough to give him a blanket to sleep on.

Nico slowly lifted himself and noticed another thing, his jacket was missing, and all of the things he kept in it, daggers, ambrosia, and his phone. From his stuff alone, you wouldn't be able to identify him since he didn't technically have an ID, being from the 1930s and all. But he didn't like people taking his stuff. They hadn't taken away his ring though, and it remained on its rightful place on his finger.

Nico did another look around the room and identified some new details. There were markings on the walls where some sorts of racks used to stand, scuffs on the floor, nicks in some of the wooden beams, a stray rope tied to one of the beams about 10 feet from the ground that served as lattices in the ceiling. This was some type of training room? Nico also spotted a table across the room, where his jacket was neatly laid out along with each of the things he stored in the pockets. Great, now the only thing they didn't have was his sword.

Nico shivered slightly, the cool air of the room raising goosebumps on his skin. Since he had wings, Nico had to... modify a few of his shirts, slicing horizontal slices across the shoulder to allow his wings to slip through without utterly destroying a portion of his wardrobe every time he used them. It exposed the air to his shoulders, but it normally didn't bother him since he wore his new jacket most of the time, the aviator he used to wear had been destroyed by his trans-Atlantic trip. He'd like a new one... but his main problem was the fact that he was trapped inside some sort of magical barrier.

He pushed his hand against it, finding it was warm to the touch, but then it rapidly heated after he left his hand there for a moment, burning him. Nico recoiled, trading his hand into his chest.

"It's hot, ya know." A voice called out to him.

Nico's head snapped toward the entrance, a familiar face standing there. The Golden Boy... well Nico guess that physically he was an adult, but whatever. In the light of the training room and now that he was standing still, Nico could finally get a good look at his attacker and kidnapper. He had golden hair, skin, and eyes, each a slightly different shade from the others. He had lost the jacket, revealing toned muscles marked with strange black markings Nico had never seen before. He wore tight pants, skinny jeans similar to the ones Nico himself wore and fitted boots. Nico could also make out pale scars against the other's skin, usually in similar shapes to the markings that decorated his body. Nico also had to suppress a blush at his attacker's appearance.

"So I've learned," Nico grumbled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jace was voted to go check on their current "guest of honor" who was currently trapped in an empty training room. When he entered the room, he didn't immediately notice him, so Jace didn't immediately make his presence known. He watched as the boy, which Jace realized he was... not really the highest level threat he had ever faced before, but yet again Jace thought he was pretty badass as a teenager. He knew better than to underestimate some 14-year-old boy.

Jace watched as the boy examined his surroundings, carefully, looking for any details that could possibly help him get out of his current situation. Jace knew personally, that getting out of this situation was hard. He watched as the boy put his hand on the barrier, leaving it there for a moment before pulling his hand back, lightly burned from the energy trapping him. Jace was impressed he was able to keep his hand there for so long before pulling it back.

"It's hot, ya know," Jace decided to say.

The boy looked over at him, and Jace's breath almost hitched. He had dark eyes, almost black, setting off mental images of Valentine and... almost worse... Sebastian. Jace immediately didn't like the connections his mind had jumped into, linking the powerful dark magic to demon blood. To distract himself, (or perhaps he was looking for more proof), Jace inspected the boy's things again. He had a small assortment of daggers, three to be exact.

One was a simple silver dagger, the second was made out of a material he couldn't identify, but it gave off a slight golden glow, almost like a few shadowhunter swords he had seen before, Cortana being one of them. The last, Jace avoided touching per Magnus's advice and instinct. It was made of solid black material, just like the sword he'd had, but this one clearly designed to be thrown with greater ease. It both seemed to give off a purple aura and absorb the light around it, creating a cold space in the immediate area surrounding the dagger in a one-foot sphere. Jace had never seen anything like it.

He also had a small ziplock of something similar to lemon squares and a vial of something. Both were golden in color and no one had offered to taste them. The kid had no wallet, only a cell phone Jace couldn't manage to get into, even with help from Simon.

Jace picked up the golden... or perhaps it was bronze?... dagger and allowed the boy to see what he had grabbed.

"Nice dagger," Jace commented, setting the blade back down amongst the other things.

"Thanks," the boy responded flatly. His tone was careful, but not panicked. Jace was surprised yet again by how level he was. Sadly, it only fueled his suspicions. Whoever he was, Jace sincerely hoped he wasn't in any way related to the events from several years ago.

"Do you have a name?" Jace asked, trying to start a conversation.

"Do you? Usually, people know who they're kidnapping. " he retorted.

Jace had to admit, he had a point.

"Well, I would think of this less as a 'kidnapping', closer to 'apprehending a suspicious person'" Jace offered.

The boy just gave him a flat look, black eyes boring in Jace, making him almost uncomfortable if he wasn't one to thrive under the eyes of others.

"Do you know where you are?" Jace asked.

"Not really." the boy responded, his eyes shifting across the room and Jace.

"Seriously?" Jace responded. Normally when they caught someone, they were fully aware of what they were doing, especially when it involved powerful, dark, and very illegal spells.

The boy met his eyes again, "seriously," he echoed.

"Well," Jace decided to entertain him, he was very entertaining, "You're in the New York Institute, and you-"

"Institue of what?" The boy interjected.

"Huh?" Jace responded, not understanding the question and its existence catching him off guard.

"Institute of what? Empty rooms to interrogate teens in? What is this the Institue of?" he continued.

"New York?" Jace answered hesitantly, still confused.

Luckily, not that Jace would say so, the others arrived. Others, being Maryse, Alec, and Magnus. With her, Maryse had a stack of papers on a clipboard, a pen in her fingers. The person Jace had always seen as a mother figure wore a hard expression directed at the boy in the energy field.

"Who and what are you?" she demanded.

The boy gave her a bored look, "As I told Golden Boy, usually, people know who they're kidnapping."

Golden Boy? Jace was almost offended and put a hand on his chest to act as if he was. Alec gave him a bored look too.

"You seem to misunderstand your situation. You've been arrested for use of illegal magic and suspicious activity." Maryse said and only received a raised eyebrow as a reaction.

"Illegal magic? You're going to have to elaborate." He shrugged.

"Necromancy." She explained.

The boy hummed as if thinking, "Hmm, sorry, doesn't ring a bell."

Magnus chose this moment to speak up since Maryse was getting nowhere. Jace could tell that the boy was sizing Magnus up just as he had him. But a frown appeared on his face.

"What did you do to the ghosts? Where'd you even learn how to do something like that?" Magnus seemed a bit more flustered. Jace wondered if Magnus had any experience with necromancy, trying to bring back a dead pet, maybe?

"I didn't do anything to them, I just sent them home." Jace was a bit more confused by this answer.

"Is that what you did with the other spirits and ghosts that have been vanishing for the past few days?" Alec asked.

"Yes." Yet again, Jace was surprised by the definite answer, "Now, I don't know who you people are, or where I am." The boy was beginning to get irritated, Jace would be too if he slept unwillingly on the floor of the training room.

"You've been detained by the Clave for illegal magic, which part of that was unclear?" Maryse huffed.

"Yeah, what's a Clave? Never heard of it." The boy responded.

"What do you know of the Shadow World?" Alec decided to ask, though Jace thought that it was a stupid question. He had to-

"Shadow World?" He looked genuinely looked confused.

By the Angel, he actually didn't know anything. Apparently, Jace wasn't the only one who managed to piece this together. Which somehow made even less sense.

"I don't believe you. You had to have learned Necromancy and magic like that somewhere." Maryse pushed.

"Maybe I'm just naturally talented," he shrugged.

Jace was impressed the boy knew exactly how to press Mayse's buttons, a talent only Isabelle seemed to have perfected with her mother.

"Necromancy is a powerful, deadly, and dangerous class of magic. You're doing things you can't even begin to understand by even attempting the spells." Magnus chided, which somehow seemed to tick the boy off even further.

"I know that, and I know exactly what I'm doing. This is none of your business. Let me out so I can leave." He growled, a dark glare shooting towards Maryse. Jace watched her flinch, and was yet again, surprised and impressed.

"Or what?" Jace decided to jump in.

The boy's dark eyes turned to him, glare remaining. Well, if looks could kill, "What are you going to do?" Jace decided to accept the challenge and attempt to match the teen's glare.

"Leave on my own."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nico was starting to get seriously irritated. He didn't know where he was or who these people were, or even their motives for trapping him. They claimed he'd done some 'illegal magic' but he'd only been doing his job. they had no right to lecture him about the rules of life and death, he knew them better than these people ever could.

"Okay... we all need to calm down," the one with black hair and blue eyes said. He seemed to somehow be the most mature in the whole group. Golden Boy broke his staring contest with Nico to glance at the other.

Nico also took this chance to look at the man with the cat-eyes. He had a different... aura? then the rest did. The man with blue eyes and the older woman seemed to be similar, and Golden Boy was that magnified. Nico honestly had no idea what they were. At least with the Romans, he knew what he was up against.

There was also something else with Golden Boy he hadn't picked up in the heat of the moment. He had died at some point and come back.

"Ok, so let's take this back to the beginning. The Shadow World consists of everything supernatural, including but not limited to demons, vampires, werewolves, the fae, and warlocks, and it mostly governed by the Nephilim or Shadow Hunters, who fight off demons and try to maintain peace. Mundanes, people who aren't involved in the Shadow world, typically can't see what goes on since its hidden naturally by glamors, but those who can have something called the Sight." He explained.

Nico had to pause to take this all in... So... there was another group in New York all along... and they didn't seem to know of demigods and didn't mention anything about the gods in general. Nico decided to keep it that way. He generally knew other pantheons existed, but this seemed a bit more complex than just a group of gods' involvements. He managed to pick out the words 'demons' and 'Nephilim'.

"So what are you all then?" Nico decided to ask.

"We're Shadowhunters, Magnus, however, is a warlock." Golden Boy explained.

Nico didn't give a verbal response this time while he processed everything. So, this was a bit more complicated than just a simple pantheon... and they could clearly see through the Mist, so why hadn't they encountered each other before? Why now? Nico didn't know how to proceed in his current situation. Should he tell them who he really was? Or perhaps just try and get out and let the Shadowhunters draw their own conclusions. Was their situation similar to the one with the Romans, intentionally separated by the Mist? He could also just play dumb... that was always a good option but it would make them suspicious.

"Ok, your turn." Golden Boy demanded.

Nico quickly made his choice, and silently thanked the gods that he didn't have the same problems Percy did. His expression shifted from contemplation to conflicted self-doubt, full of falsely displayed emotions.

"I... I don't know!" He proclaimed, letting desperation leak into his voice. He hung his head, "I've never known anything about myself, please," Nico looked up at them again, meeting the eyes of the older woman, "I truly don't know anything, I was just acting on something... I don't know!"

Nico's voice was filled with emotion, like a truly desperate plea of someone who had spent their entire life lost. Of course, the best lies stem from truth. He didn't know his past, nor why he was here other than what he told them, or anything about the Shadow World he was currently submerged into. But, he wasn't as lost as he used to be, he'd found a home and family, and he wasn't going to put them into unnecessary danger because he messed up and got captured by the supernatural police.

The woman faltered for a moment, and Nico struggled to tell if she believed him, or was taken aback. He could see a frown on Golden Boy's face, and the man with blue eyes seemed to buy more into Nico's story. The warlock, Magnus, if Nico had heard correctly, held a look in his eyes that he didn't quite understand. Understanding, empathy maybe?

Nico pulled back into himself, pulling his knees to his chest and resting his head on them. Hopefully, to his audience, it would seem like he was curling into himself due to internal conflict and perhaps even fear, but he was just tired. Nico wondered what time it was. He knew it was close to midnight when he was attacked, so he guessed it was close to the early hours of the morning.

"Ok, so how about we take this in a different direction. Mom, let's leave him alone until morning and get a bit of sleep. He's just a scared kid who doesn't understand what's going on. There's clearly more to this than we're seeing," The one with blue eyes said.

Nico couldn't see her reaction from his new position, but he assumed she hesitated and gave in from the sigh he heard from her lips.

"I... You're right Alec. I'm sorry... hey, do you have a name?" The woman cooed, and Nico slowly lifted his head up, careful not to let any of his annoyance show, but feigned being terribly frightened.

"Nico," he responded, barely above a whisper.

"Nico, I'm sorry for pushing you. We have to leave, but Jace is going to stay here to answer any questions you may have. I'll be back around breakfast time."

"I am?" Golden Boy, now Jace asked.

"Yes," was the stern reply. He groaned.

"Goodnight, Nico," Alec said, looking apologetic.

And then Nico was left alone with his baby sitter.