Chapter 3

B: As Jess lay on the couch she drifted into a weird dream-like state. Her mother and father were there. She looked at them and they walked up to her and hugged her. They were in their old cabin they use to go to for a weekend getaway. It was mid-summer and the leaves were bright green. She watched as a soft breeze blew through the trees. "Mother, Father, why am I here? Is this my heave?" She asked them. They both shook their heads and her mother took her hand. "My dearest, Jessie, I hoped this would not happen to you. You can't keep running. IT was not your fault that we died. It was the demons you were sworn to protect the world from. You have to keep that promise to me and your father. You can't keep hurting Seth either. He needs you and you need him." Her mother said softly.

"Go home to the institute and train to be a shadowhunter again. Hunt demons. It's who you are. You will never be happy in the mundane world. You will always see the demons and werewolves and vampires. You will never be able to escape that, my child. Please don't get yourself killed. You have a good life ahead of you my child." He father said to her. "I love you." Her parents said together as everything faded to black.

She slowly came to after a few hours. Her head was pounding, and her arm hurt from where the runes had been placed. She slowly opened her eyes and sat up slowly and looked around. Her eyes landed on Isaac and his position. He is protecting me. Why? He is watching to make sure I'm okay. But Why? He hates me. She thought to herself as she grunted as she pulled herself into the sitting position.

She cleared her throat and looked at him with her soft green eyes. "How long was I out?" She asked softly. She knew it was not more than a day. As she awaited the answer she looked around and then back to him. "Where are we? Also, I am sorry for lashing out earlier. I just don't like people thinking I am doing this to get my brother in trouble. I beg him not to lie for me. I try to convince him I would be fine in the mundane world...but the truth is I would not be okay. I would die...How can I save my brother? I will do anything" She said softly to Isaac.

As she said the words, she felt something inside her break and something else heals. She knew what she was doing is right for her brother but wrong for her. I will train and do my best at hunting those damn demons. I will no longer run away from who I truly am. She thought to herself in a determined voice.

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I: Isaac slowly, painfully opened his eyes. He stared at her in silence from where he sat, slumped and exhausted from what he had been listening to for the past few hours. There were so many questions in him, that he had no idea where to begin so that he didn't sound like an idiot.

"You were out for a day or two. I have lost track." He grumbled as he looked up to her, his furious eyes boring a hole through her head. "Do you have any idea the crap I had to come up with? I couldn't find her, I am on my way, she slipped past me again...All of those lies I told because I don't want to get Seth in another deep hole that he can't crawl out of. Not only did you get yourself injured, but you also put me in a position of choice, and like a fool, I chose to protect you and Seth. That isn't my job, Jess. I save people from demons." he stood and turned away from her and clenched his fists.

When she asked where they were, his head slowly lifted. Should he tell her the truth? If he mentioned it as him home, would that mean she would return to it or possibly want to stay? "It's my loft." He ground the words out through gritted teeth. "And it isn't up for visits, so don't get comfortable." He went to fix a simple mundane drink, it was hard to let some of his mundane habits go after his father left his family in the Mundane world for years post their grandfather's death. The liquid was warm, and it would hopefully make her feel a bit better. He fashioned a cup for them both.

As she spoke, he slowly shook his head at her. "There is no need to apologize to me for lashing out. I know that you and Seth were very close, and I understand your love for him goes very deep, Jess. You are not the only one here with a sibling." He walked to the couch and sat beside her and placed the two mugs on the coffee table. "You cannot tell your brother not to lie, Jess, you cannot tell him that you will "be alright" in the Mundane world. Just like my little brother could never tell me not to worry about him, or not to follow him when he strays. You cannot control people who love you, who care about you. Their feelings will consume them if they do not know you are safe and in good hands. Seth is probably out there now on every job and mission worried if you are alive and well when he should be concentrating on his task. At first, when I met you, I believed you were being selfish. I saw the way you fought, and you are a little rusty, but you are a fighter none the less. I can train you and get you back on your feet. That is how you save Seth. Doing the best, you can to be who your parents knew that you were. Do you think your mother and father would have made you and Seth shadow hunters because they thought you were weak? No. They saw in you exactly what I saw in you yesterday. You are strong, and I want you to give this another shot. I could have turned you in. I should have...but I didn't. Call me foolish for it later."

Isaac sighed and lay back on the sofa and looked at the ceiling. Then his eyes slowly drifted to her, and for the first time of them being together, he didn't look angry. His voice came again, gentle and concerned. "You spoke in your sleep. Mother, Father, you even said Seth's name. I have heard rumors about your past, but I think you deserve my attention." He sat up and scooted closer to her and placed an arm on the back of the couch to get comfortable. "What were you dreaming of? What happened to your parents?"