All the legends are true. Everything any mundane has heard as a 'fairy tale'? It's actually real history - and chances are the hero of that story that was made out to be some simple human? They were a shadowhunter, a child of the Nephilim. This is what the Nephilim children are taught from the moment they understand words. It's no wonder that the Downworlders hate us so much when we're brainwashed into thinking we're the be all and end all of the planet from the age of about three.

It was this thinking that created the Circle. This ingrained ego, telling us that we should rule the world that convinced Valentine Morgenstern that he had the divine right to wipe out the downworlders, that we shouldn't have peace with them but rather destroy them so that they couldn't challenge us to be the controllers of the shadow world.

I understand completely why he had followers, I've heard whispers throughout the years about the Circle despite it's status as forbidden information. I've always been good at finding things out, and I'm always reminded that I appear to have superhuman hearing, even for a Shadowhunter. It comes in handy though, when you're hidden behind a curtain listening in to your mother's conversations.

Laura Cartwright, my mother, runs the Chicago Institute. My father Gabriel plays a relatively important part there too, but the title of 'Head of Institute' falls onto my mother and I know that she feels like she's been born for that responsibility. My mother is a perfectionist, and she cannot stand anything going a way that she didn't plan for. Which is probably the sole reason she's never really taken to me as much as she had hoped. From the moment I could walk I caused all kinds of trouble for her. She'd dreamed of having a daughter, all pretty but fierce. It's what she got, sure, but I didn't have the discipline she had expected of me. Or rather, I didn't follow her rules. Never did, and never would. Luckily, precious Jon arrived three years later and took up the role of "Mummy's little angel" and slowly but surely as we both began to grow she let go of her expectations of me and let them fall onto Jon who was more than happy to follow her around like a perfect suck up.

Having a mother in a position of great importance always spurred me on to want something similar for myself, but something told me that I am too much of a wild card for the Clave to ever trust me. I couldn't blame them, I'm always caught hidden away listening to confidential conversations or rooting around through digital files on tablets and computers, especially the restricted ones. I'd been reading every guide I could find on hacking from the age of eleven, and I've gotten pretty good at it - but sometimes all it takes is waiting for someone to enter a password without realising you're stood close enough to see what they just typed.

In my four years living with the Lightwoods in New York I'd never really approached Hodge Starkweather about his involvement in the Circle. I already knew he had tailed Valentine around everywhere, awe-struck and naive. It made me feel for him, I knew what it was like to look up to someone so much that you'd believe anything they told you - only to realise when it was too late that maybe they weren't as perfect as you first thought.

Sometime around eight in the evening I finally left my room, rubbing my eyes with the back of my hand, trying to relieve the ache from spending several hours surrounded by piles of books and a Skype date with Evie Calloway from all the way in Bejing. Before I said goodbye she'd made me promise to say hello to Hodge for her, and earned herself the mother of all eyerolls. Evie and I had been friends for as long as I could remember, our parents being friends and all. Ever since Clary's arrival she had been demanding information as often as possible, hating every second of missing out on watching Alec almost have a heart attack every time we broke another of the Clave's rules.

I was basically sleepwalking my way to the kitchen, in search of anything edible, paying not enough attention so that I almost smacked straight into Hodge as I walked through the doorway into the kitchen.

"By the Angel, Anya." He muttered, a little miffed at the near collision.

"Oh sorry Hodge." I blurted out at him instantaneously, offering an apologetic smile, "Too tired, need food, clumsy as heck - y'know?" Normally Hodge would be a relatively cheerful sort, but he simply responded with the briefest of smiles flashing across his handsome features. So I mentioned the one thing that always guaranteed a boost in his mood.

"Evie says hello," Sure enough, his smile was much more genuine then.

"You spoke to her today?" He asked, suddenly forgetting all about the fact that I almost ran straight into him and whatever else had been bothering him.

I nodded, heading over to the fridge where I flung open the door and studied the contents. Some strange concoction that Izzy had knocked up and called a pasta salad, which I wrinkled my nose at the moment I saw the sticky label with her name written on it in elegant loopy handwriting. I sighed, realising there wasn't much that seemed actually edible in that fridge and closed the door in defeat.
"Did she have anything interesting to say for herself?" Hodge asked, trying his hardest not to seem overly eager to hear about what Evie had been up to recently. The last time she visited New York it was almost unbearable watching them cast what they thought were completely unnoticed longing looks at each other.

"Oh you know, same shit, different day." I said, making a flippant hand gesture as I headed over to the cabinet Alec liked to hide packets of chips in, thinking that no-one knew about his stash. "Think she was much more interested in listening to me harp on about Clary, but I'm sure if you gave her a call she'd love to tell you all about life in the Bejing Institute." I looked up then, to watch his face turn a nice crimson colour.

Spluttering a little, Hodge started laughing in an attempt to brush off my implication. I rejoiced when I found a packet of chips, ripping them open in delight knowing that I'd pay for it later when Alec discovered they were missing. Luckily, it seemed like Hodge figured that all of the joy written across my face was from my snack discovery, not at the fact that I found his crush on Evie all too amusing.

I pulled myself up onto the counter top and started eating, and Hodge stuck around for a while which I found rather surprising. "So, how are you finding all of these questions unanswered in the form of a redhead?" He asked me and I shrugged lightly, I'd never been the kind of girl to run from any kind of challenge, regardless of whether or not I found her a little irritating.

"It's our job to protect her, and help her find her mother. What is there to feel about it? It's just another mission, and the fact that it's one we found all on our own without it being assigned to us by the Clave? Sign me the fuck up." Hodge started to shake his head as he laughed, it was no secret that I'd never been a fan of the Clave's ways, and I wasn't ever quiet about it. It's played such a huge part in my strained relationship with my mother, after all.

"It's looking more and more dangerous Anya, this girl is the daughter of Jocelyn Fairchild. A member of the Circle." Hodge said then, and just as he finished talking he started to crumple as the Circle rune on his neck began to burn.

I held a hand up to tell him not to say anything else that might set off his rune. "I'm pretty sure I know more than you think I do, Hodge. Don't hurt yourself further than you already have today talking to Clary and Jace."

He frowned at me a little, tilting his head to the side, "What do you know?"

I began to smirk then, stuffing more chips into my mouth, keeping shtum and tapping the side of my nose with a finger as I chewed. "A good detective never reveals their sources," I said once I had swallowed the chips.

"You're more trouble than you look, Anya Cartwright." Hodge said, a little scolding. Not that it was anything I hadn't heard and totally disregarded before, though.

"Goodnight, Hodge." I said, slipping off the kitchen counter and heading out into the corridor that would lead me back to my bedroom.

I woke a few hours later, with not nearly enough sleep for my liking and before I'm even out of my bed I've dragged an awareness rune across my skin with my stele in an attempt to shake the tiredness that was plaguing me.

Typically a child of the Nephilim, I pulled out only black items of clothing and dressed as the rune began to awaken my body and mind. By the time I stepped out of my bedroom I felt like I'd just awoken from the most refreshing of sleeps, despite only actually managing to catch a few hours. I stopped by the kitchen, grabbing an apple for breakfast on my way to Isabelle's room. I've lived here and known Izzy long enough now that I don't ever bother to knock, and so I headed straight into her room, finding her already dressed and made up beautifully, lounging across her bed with a magazine open in front of her.

"The mundanes really are fascinating," She said without looking up to see who it was that had just entered her room - I swear she has a sixth sense for detecting who is around her.

"Fascinating how?" I asked, flopping down onto her bed next to her.

"Well look at this, a whole publication just to talk about who these 'star' mundanes are dating!" She showed me the magazine and I wrinkled my nose in distaste at it.

"Who cares about that kind of trash?" I asked, completely puzzled as to why anyone would spend their money on some glossy pages about somebody else's dating life. "I'd much rather hear about who holds the record for most number of demons killed or who's the unbeaten crossbow champion, also known as one Anya Grace Cartwright, legend among the Nephilim." Izzy looked at me then, kinking one dark eyebrow with a smirk playing about her red lips.

A knock came at Izzy's door, both of our heads turning to see who it was as the door pushed open a little and a head of red hair appeared. "Hey, um, Jace sent me here to borrow some clothes?"

"Oh sure, come in!" Izzy responded, jumping up from the bed with far too much enthusiasm. I sensed her excitement at the prospect of a make-over.

"You might have been wiser asking for a rummage through my wardrobe," I said, looking up from the magazine that I'd returned my attention to briefly and in an instant, Clary looked worried just as Izzy whipped her head around to glare at me jokingly.

"Excuse me, your wardrobe doesn't even come close to measuring up to mine." She said, throwing open the doors of her wardrobe to begin searching through for something that Izzy felt was what Clary should have been wearing.

"I'm sure Izzy will find something that will suit me…" Clary said, trying her hardest to sound like she believed the words coming out of her mouth and I started laughing.

Within mere minutes, Izzy was pulling out all kinds of short skirts and tops with plunging necklines. I put down my Codex and stood up, taking things out of her hand and shoving them back on the rail as soon as she pulled out something that only Isabelle Lightwood could pull off with ever the enthusiastic grin on her red lips.

"For the thousandth time Isabelle, no." I finally said, almost fifteen minutes later and bumped my hip against hers to push her out of the way. I found a simple washed-out looking black tank top and a pair of black jeans and handed them to Clary. "Here, it's the most normal piece of clothing that she owns." Clary thanked me quietly and headed off behind the elegantly decorated changing screen in the corner of the room to change.

"So your friend Simon, he's kind of nerd-hot, isn't he?" Izzy said, leaning back comfortably on her bed. I scrunched my nose up automatically at the thought of the mundane in any other way than just some tag-along to provide occasional entertainment. He wasn't hard on the eyes, but not my type.

"Um, I've never really thought about him like that." Clary said a moment later as she stepped out from behind the screen, dressed in Izzy's clothes.

"Isabelle is very liberal with her attraction to others - girl isn't limited to a 'type' like some of us are." I told Clary with a smile. Izzy's ability to radiate sexual energy was something that I'd always admired, it was impossible not to find her enthralling, even just platonically.

"This is the least revealing thing you have?" Clary asked, looking at herself in the mirror critically.

Izzy laughed quietly, "What? All the naughty bits are covered." She paused to examine Clary in the mirror, "A little too much in my opinion." Clary sighed softly.

"Where's Simon?" She asked, and Izzy and I both let our expressions fall blank as though we had no idea who she was talking about.

"Pardon?" I asked, knitting my eyebrows together in a confused manner. When Clary looked like she was starting to panic we both started chuckling.

"Kidding!" Izzy announced, "He's in good hands with the boys."

"So, um, you and the boys are… what, like, family?" Clary asked awkwardly, turning around to look at us instead of the mirror. Izzy sat down on the bed next to me and we both started to smirk a little at her question.

"What you mean to ask is, are either of us dating Jace?" I corrected her, and her eyes widened a little realising that we'd seen right through her thinly veiled question.

Clary scoffed, still trying to hide her true intentions behind her question. "Why would I care?"

"Because you do." Izzy said with a smile, "Don't worry. In every way, he's like our brother. My parents took Jace in when he was ten, and Anya when she was thirteen. We trained together. Learned to fight side by side."

"We're a well oiled fighting family machine." I added with a grin.

Clary sighed, leaning up against the wall, "A few days ago, all I had to worry about was getting into art school." She paused, inhaling with the weight of the world on her shoulders, "And now…"

"And now you've discovered you're a badass part-angel Shadowhunter." I told her with a shrug.

"Is this the part where we give you the pep talk about harnessing your inner Shadowhunter and accepting your true destiny?" Izzy asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Was that the pep talk?" Clary asked with a light laugh.

Izzy shrugged, rolling her lips together, "Basically. Clary…" She sighed, "Remember, you were born to do this. No matter what has happened… this is who you are."

"Yeah, not exactly feeling that." Clary responded, looking down at the floor.

"You're gonna be bad-fuckin'-ass with some training, trust us. You've got the best possible people to teach you." I said, standing up from the bed and crossing the distance to where Clary stood, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. I'd been finding her somewhat vexing the past few days, sure, but there was no denying that she was one of us despite her mundie upbringing.

"You'll be feeling it in no time." Izzy added, standing up also.

"Okay, but now we just have to find Dot." Clary reminded us.

"And track down and kill the most dangerous rogue Shadowhunter in history before he kills us all." Izzy said with a sweet smile.

"You really know how to ruin a pep talk, don't you?" Clary said with a laugh.

I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket, pulling it out at my side to glance at it without being too obvious.

"It's been a while Anya, meet up soon? Miss you, S x"

I felt a pang of guilt, it had been several days since I'd seen Seb, but I'd been too busy to even stop and think about anything other than the trouble unfolding in front of us.

"Come on, let's go find the boys." Izzy said, linking arms with Clary and leading her from the room, "Coming Anya?" She called back behind her and I shook my head a little to clear the guilty haze and smiled.

"Right behind you Iz." I said, waiting until they were out of the door to type a reply.

"Sorry, been super busy at the Institute. Will call you later, A x"

In the weapons room, Izzy and I pulled open one of the weapon stores, and immediately Izzy started running her fingertips over our options longingly. Finding a long sword particularly tempting, until Jace slapped her hand away and shook his head at us. "Whoa, no, girls."

With her back to the training room entrance, Izzy rolled her eyes at Jace before she spoke, "Fifty bucks says he doesn't approve this mission." Izzy's Lightwood sixth sense in full tact, as a fraction of a second later my eyes fell onto the frame of one Alec Lightwood.

"I don't approve of this mission." Alec said as he entered the training room and I instantaneously started laughing, Alec is nothing if not true to his character. "I spoke with the Clave. They're sending Seelie scouts to search for Valentine, but they made it clear, the little girl does not leave the premises." He continued, and it appeared that Clary wasn't taking very kindly to her new nickname.

"Hey, my name is not "little girl", okay? I don't care what that Clave thing or you want, I'm going to find Dot." She said, her face scrunched up in a somewhat angry manner. The hilarity of Clary trying to seem scary was almost too much to handle, I had to roll my lips together not to laugh again. I could tell she meant it, but her temper wasn't enough to scare any of us.

"Alec, this warlock could have the answers we need. With Valentine's people out there searching for Clary, she's not safe outside alone." Jace tried to reason with Alec, but why he thought he could change Alec's mind about this was beyond me. Jace seemed to be the only one not realising that Alec was certainly the least fond of Clary and the trouble she was bringing along with her.

"Jace has a point." Izzy said with a light shrug of her shoulders, and Alec almost looked incredulous.

"Et tu, Izzy?" He asked, eyebrows raised before a sigh followed and he gave in, just a fraction. "All right, since you have all the answers, where do you suggest we search?" He asked Clary.

Clary thought about it for a moment, tilting her head to the side a little, "We should start at Dot's apartment in Greenpoint, and there's this thrift store that she…" She broke off from her train of thought with a gasp, her fingers around the purple pendant around her neck. Her eyes widened as though she were seeing something somewhere else and the rest of us all frowned at her, confused.

"What's wrong? What is it?" Jace asked at the same time that I asked "What the hell?"

When Clary seemed to snap back to reality a second later she seemed just as confused as the rest of us. "I, um…" She exhaled, trying to make sense of whatever had just happened to her, "Weirdly, I think I know where Dot is."

"Absolutely fantastic news." I said without even thinking, unable to stop the tone that came along with it, earning myself a scowl from Jace.

"Great. I'll drive." Simon said with what I assume most people would find an adorable smile, he then faltered at the raised eyebrows from Alec and Jace. "What? Unless you have, like, a Shadowhunter-mobile or something." He chuckled a little at his own joke and when it wasn't met with anyone else's laughter he looked a little concerned. "You were kidding about the runes on the floor killing me... right?" He asked, looking to all of us for some sort of reassurance.

I raised my eyebrows and widened my eyes at him before I looked away as though I was trying to avoid giving him the bad news myself.

"Possibly." Said Jace, leaning in close to Simon before he gave him a pat on the shoulder as the rest of us turned and started heading off toward the front door of the Institute.

"Wait… am I gonna die?" Simon called after us before he scurried to catch up.

"There's always a chance." I answered, not dishonestly. He looked at me with a frown and exhaled loudly, as though he were gathering all the courage he could summon into his little mundane form. "Prepare yourself, mundie." I said with a grin.

A/N: Hello lovelies, as usual - it's been a while. I am unproductive as heck... sorry! But thanks for reading, and please please if you have the time leave a review, this chapter's a little boring it's just sort of getting Anya into the dynamic and I know I said I'd go for mostly out of episode Anya scenes for this chapter but... It started with one? HA. Got so much of the episodes to get through! Head over to my tumblr wild-stdreams for edits etc xo