A/N 5+ Comments/votes for the next part please! :)
Also, do any of you watch The 100? I've just started season 2 and I'm obsessed!
(UPDATE: I've had so much trouble with wattpad today I hope this finally uploads! Ugh!)

It had been two days since Adelaide's true identity had been revealed and Magnus was worried about her. She had been unusually silent since Clary and Isabelle had left the apartment in the early hours of the morning, leaving Adelaide curled into the couch, waving at Magnus as they left.

Adelaide had woken up later and not spoken a word; she'd been training harder than Magnus had ever seen in the entire time he'd known her.

On this particular morning Magnus decided to intervene, it was only 10am and already Adelaide had been training for five hours.

Magnus entered the training room and watched with interest as Adelaide aimed at her target, slightly missing the centre as she fired.

Magnus quirked a brow at her, 'Having fun?'

Adelaide's body was covered in a light sheen of sweat, her muscles aching from overuse. 'Always.' She responded quietly.

'I wasn't aware you could shoot.' Magnus eyed the bow and runed arrows in her hands warily.

Adelaide laughed lightly. 'I'm not much of a shot, Alec was always a much better archer than me.' She placed her arrow and pulled back on the string, releasing it and hitting the target dead on, correcting her earlier mistake with ease.

'I find that hard to believe.' Magnus said wryly.

'What do you want to talk about Magnus?'

'You.' Was his simple response.

Adelaide sighed. 'What about me?'

'Are you okay?'

She sighed loudly. 'I'm fine.' Adelaide looked away from Magnus' prying eyes, knowing he'd see the truth in them.

'Well, after what happened with Alec-'

'I don't want to talk about it Magnus, alright.' Adelaide's voice was sharp and cold and utterly out of character.

The silence between the pair was deafening for a few moments until Magnus spoke again.

'Fine. Don't talk about it with me, but at least talk about it with your sister and Isabelle.' His voice was as hard and cold as hers had been.

Adelaide sighed and opened her mouth to apologise for snapping at the warlock, but when she turned to face him again, he was already gone.

*****

Adelaide was sitting on Magnus' kitchen counter, carefully drawing runes on arrows when Isabelle and Clary entered the apartment. Magnus still hadn't returned and the guilt was eating away at Adelaide, so she'd taken his advice and asked them over.

'Hey.' Adelaide spoke in greeting as the two girls entered.

Clary raised an eyebrow. 'What are you doing?'

Isabelle grinned at the familiar position Adelaide was in, it was one she'd seen her in many times before. 'Arrows?' She questioned, making her way towards the girl.

'Yep. Figured I should probably start making them again considering It's only a matter of time before dear old dad finds out I'm still alive.'

Isabelle grimaced. 'I'm sorry, Addy.'

Adelaide shrugged, jumping lightly off of the counter. 'My problem, not yours.'

Adelaide led them into her bedroom, seeking comfort in the familiar surroundings. She gestured for Isabelle and Clary to sit on the bed, while she sat on the plush chair across from them.

'I assume you've both had time to process everything, so... ask away, I guess.' Adelaide pulled her legs closer to her chest, resting her head on her knees.

Clary and Isabelle looked at each other, silently coming to an agreement.

'How did you know about me? That I was even born, if you didn't know who you were until a year ago.' Clary asked, hesitating slightly.

'Every year, from the time I was sent to live with the Lightwoods up until I left, There was an uncle who lived in Idris who I was allowed to visit once or twice a year. The last time I visited was a month before I left the institute for good. It was during that visit that Valentine revealed himself to me; he'd been using glamour's and posing as one of the Renhallow family, as someone who had actually died in the uprising fighting against him. He'd been living in their house, taking their missions, pretending to be my uncle, when in reality he was my father. Because I believed I was also a Renhallow it didn't seem suspicious that I visited. He eventually explained everything and asked me to join him, to overthrow the clave and rid the world of downworlders. Then he told me about Jonathan, and you. I came back to Brooklyn and tracked you down, it wasn't easy, but I did it.'

'He just let you leave?' Clary asked incredulously.

Adelaide laughed.

'No, but apparently one thing I inherited from our father is the ability to lie convincingly, because I told him I needed time to think things over and when he disappeared one night, as he did every night once he thought I was asleep, I ran. I was able to jump into an open portal as someone came through one into Idris.'

'And he's been hunting you ever since?' Clary questioned.

Adelaide nodded. 'Yes. He's sent scouts to find me, track me down. I've killed too many to count.'

Clary paled slightly at the thought.

After a brief silence, Isabelle spoke for the first time since entering the bedroom.

'Can you tell us why you left in the first place. I keep thinking of different scenarios and none of them seem to fit. It's driving me crazy.' Isabelle admitted, biting her lip.

Adelaide's breath caught, she knew the question was coming and yet somehow she didn't feel prepared to answer it.

'After I came back, I became paranoid. I didn't feel safe, even within the walls of the institute. When we were given missions I'd find a way to get out of them.'

Isabelle frowned. 'I noticed that. You told us you wanted to be more involved with the research and running of the institute rather than being out in the field with us. I just assumed you wanted to help Alec.'

Adelaide nodded. 'I didn't want to risk it. Knowing what I now knew about Valentine, about myself, I was scared, and instead of facing it head on, I hid like a coward.'

'No one could blame you for it though, everyone thought he was dead...' Clary trailed off.

Adelaide nodded solemnly. 'No one would have ever believed me.'

'I would have.' Isabelle spoke, her brows furrowing. 'Alec and Jace-'

'Would have thought I was lying.' Adelaide shook her head. 'You might have believed me but the clave, your parents, they would have thought I was being dishonest, and they were the only ones who could do anything about it Izzy.'

Isabelle sighed but didn't speak. She knew Adelaide was right.

'The night I disappeared, I couldn't sleep. I just had this horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach that just wouldn't go away. I wandered around the institute for hours hoping that sleep would find me eventually. Everyone else was asleep, tucked away in their bedrooms.'

Isabelle and Clary waited for her to continue.

'I ended up back in our wing of the institute. I almost came and woke you up to talk, Izzy, but decided against it. Jace was asleep too, but as I made my way back to my bedroom, I noticed Alec's bedroom light was still on.' Adelaide swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat.

'I knocked on the door and he didn't answer, but I opened it any way. Alec and I had routines and secret codes between us – for example, we'd leave our lights on if one of us wanted to talk. It was something we started doing when we were kids and it stuck.' Adelaide explained to Clary who nodded at the explanation, her mind wandering to Simon briefly.

Isabelle listened to Adelaide intently, hanging off every word that left the older girls lips.

'Alec was sound asleep, curled up under a mountain of blankets, exhausted from the mission that day. He'd been hit by a demon and Hodge gave him something to make him sleep for a solid 8 hours while his body healed.' Adelaide blinked back traitorous tears as the memories flickered behind her eyelids.

'Alec wasn't alone. There was someone in there with him.' Her voice broke.

Isabelle gasped and covered her mouth. Her eyes were like saucers, an array of emotions swirling in their depths.

'I don't know how he knew, but Valentine knew I would check on Alec if his light was left on so late. When I opened the door, one of his followers was standing over Alec with a knife against his throat, grinning at me. They were going to kill him just to prove Valentine could get to me, could find me no matter where I hid. They were targeting him because they knew how much he- how much all of you meant to me. They were proving a point.' Her voice trembled dangerously as her bottled up emotions became uncapped and exploded all at once.

'Addy...' Isabelle whispered as Adelaide's carefully composed expression cracked and then shattered like glass.

Adelaide couldn't help it. A sob broke free and she buried her face in her hands as tears spilled down her cheeks, the terror she felt that night threatening to consume her once again.

'They were going to kill him Izzy.' She whispered as she swiped at her damp cheeks.

Isabelle pulled Adelaide out of her seat and into a tight hug. Adelaide embraced the shorter girl tightly, clinging onto her like a life support.

'I won't let anyone get hurt because of me.' Adelaide stated as she slowed her breathing again, locking eyes with Clary over Isabelle's shoulder. Clary's eyes were sad for the girl. Adelaide had just wanted to protect them, and she would do anything to make that happen, even if it meant taking herself out of their lives to keep them out of harms way.

'You don't have to save everyone, Adelaide.' Isabelle whispered to her.

'Where you guys are concerned, I do.' Adelaide whispered back.

****

'This is useless.'

Alec rolled his eyes as Jace's voice cut through the silence of the institutes library. Jace shoved the wooden box across the table towards Alec and leaned back in his seat. 'You try.'

Alec scoffed, annoyance creeping into his tone. 'There isn't anything in here that's going to help us; we've already looked a thousand times. There's no hidden compartment, no hidden message; there's no indication that Jocelyn used this for anything other than a keepsake.'

'There's no indication of magic either.' The voice came from behind Jace, who jumped slightly at the sudden entrance.

'Magnus.' Alec's tone held irritation. He'd known Magnus was in the institute meeting with his parents.

'How do you know there's no magic involved?' Jace questioned.

'I've already looked over it. Clary seems to trust me more than the two of you do.' Magnus rolled his eyes.

'I wonder why that is.' Alec mumbled under his breath, shoving the box back towards Jace, whom ignored it completely.

'Oh don't be bitter Alec. It's not an attractive look on you.' Alec flushed at Magnus' words.

'You find Alec attractive?' Jace questioned, humour colouring his tone as he leant forward, eager to see where the conversation was going.

Magnus smirked.

'Anyone with eyes can see how pretty he is, if the circumstances were different who knows what might happen.' Jace was grinning as he looked between the warlock and his scowling parabatai.

Alec's cheeks were hot. 'Shut up, the both of you.'

'Oh relax Alexander; I'm leaving now anyway.' Magnus called as he made his way out of the room. He paused as he reached the door, turning around to face the two shadowhunters who were watching him leave.

'Besides Alexander, we both know you prefer the company of pretty brunettes with fiery tempers anyway.' Magnus' tone was full of implications that were loud and clear to the two parabatai.

Jace's face morphed into one of disbelief as Alec's jaw dropped and he sputtered out an incoherent reply to the warlock's parting words.

In their shock, both of them failed to notice the figure lurking in the shadows.