"Wait!" Jason spoke up immediately. "Does my parents know about this?""Yes they do, Jason Ravenwood." One of the Sword Sisters replied. "They did not, however, give Morgana Hawke the permission to train Madeleine Shay in this manor."Maddie pulled her eyes from her trainer's steely blue gaze and turned to the Sword Sisters. "Where will I train, then?""We have made a reservation with Ayesha Hadid's father." One of the Sword Sisters informed them. "Get yourself prepared, Madeleine Shay. You start your training tomorrow.""That's fine." Ayesha noted, then reached for Maddie's hand and gave it a comforting squeeze. "It'll be better in my house, Maddie."Maddie nodded and tried to put on a brave smile. However, deep down she was terrified shitless. Having to stay in the hostile Ravenwood Manor was one thing, but having to change locations so quickly was another. The prospect was daunting."We will now take our leave." The Sword Sisters announced together, their eerie, joint voices raisin
Jason didn't follow her out the door, Maddie noticed. It was almost as though he was relieved to see her go. She felt a dull ache in her chest as she walked out; his words had hurt more than she was willing to admit.She quickly crossed to the corridor beyond the drawing room, feeling her tears rise to the surface. She'd never truly fallen for any boy the way she had fallen for Jason. It was as if her former teenage crushes paled in comparison to the Ravenwood boy.She was almost certain he liked her too, though she could never be sure with Jason. He had always been elusive.If he did like her back, why did he have to act this way around her? Why did they all have to? These days, Jason and Cassie seemed to tiptoe anytime she was around them, sharing as little information as possible when she was within hearing range, as though she was a time bomb waiting to go off.Finally, as the dull pain threatened to overtake her senses, Maddie stopped walking and leaned against the wall, taking s
A cold draft blew past as the delivery boy looked up at the five-stories high cathedral. The front was demarcated with yellow police tape. Typical New York crime scene.He saw the soaring spires of the cathedral, the dull, dusty stained-glass windows with its painted-on cherubs, the front door with the large placard on it. What he didn't see was the mangled body hanging down from the bell tower, blackened blood slowly dripping down from the tower. Nobody ever saw it.He sighed. This was the part of his job he hated, delivering packages in unknown places, all for a meager 50 dollars a week paycheck. This was so not in his job description."Alright" He looked down at the papers in his hands "St Patrick's Cathedral, 1205, 8 Mile and Houston." He frowned. Wasn't this supposed to be a crime scene? The yellow gauze police tape said it all.Whatever. He wasn't one to wonder about other people's living arrangements. He himself was a squatter in an apartment trailer and didn't mind it one bit.
The slightly windy spell of the previous week was over; the sun was shining brightly as Madeleine Shay hurried across the road to her favorite bookstore, too brightly for 9am in the morning, she thought. The hood of her sweater was up to keep her hair from blowing across her face. The weather might have warmed up, but the wind off the East River could still be brutal. It carried with it a faint chemical smell, mixed with the smell of rot, gasoline, and pastries from the bakery down the street. Olive was waiting for her in front of the bookstore along with a couple of other book freaks like her, her carrier bag slung across her shoulder “Hey” she said as Maddie reached her “I've been waiting ages for you. The new books aren't going to buy themselves.""Sorry, sorry" Maddie replied, slightly out of breath "My dad wouldn't let me go out without taking this" she raised an electric zapper up and rolled her eyes "For 'security reasons' he said. Big whup"Olive struggled against the throng
"This is the place. I can feel it, can't you?" Cassiopeia asked her brothers without taking her eyes off the cathedral."If you mean the venue for a potential mugging, then yes" Jason said, bored and examining his fingernails."Cassie can we go now?" The other brother Ethan asked in an exasperated voice "There's nothing here but ruins. Let's go home""Shut up, Ethan. You can go home if you want to. I'll stay here and stare at this place overnight if that's what it takes"The three of them continued to stare at the cathedral, their eyes willing it to open up and reveal its secrets. They were dressed in black wool turtlenecks with matching black leather pants and superhero-style weapons belts filled with everything from Celestial Bronze swords to throwing blades; standard fighting gear for Hunters.They'd been interested in the series of demon activities going on around the city ever since a deliveryboy had been declared missing on the news, and his body had been found days later in the
"Do you think she'll ever wake up? She's been unconscious for 4 days.""You'll have to give her time. I don't think Jason's dogs were being too careful when they abducted her""Mortals die awfully easy, don't they? Weak little things"Four days. She'd been sleeping for four days.She had to wake up.But she couldn't. Her dreams came on to her like torrents of water, each more vivid than the former. Figures of darkness crashed and blended into one another. She saw her father, tied up at the tower of a cathedral. She saw Olive, standing atop a pile of bones. She saw herself, like watching a recorded tape of herself, but with straight, black hair and eyes like cesspools of darkness. When she opened her mouth, spiralling smoke came out. Figures in black clothing running at her with blazing swords, and their weapons slashed through her skin like paper.Then she saw angels with white wings. Angels falling from the sky. And she woke up.She couldn't move. She felt as if her eyes have been g
"You have got to be kidding me" Maddie yelled"Think about this, Maddie. Do you know anything about your mother?""I–I do" Maddie said, but even as she said it, she felt her world crumbling around her. The only things she knew about her mother were the snippets her dad let loose at very few intervals. She knew her mother's date of birth and name: Mal Herodia Shay, and that her mother had died shortly after her birth, but nothing else. Not even the birthplace of her mother."No you don't, only the things your father chose to tell you. Your mother is a Greater Demon, Maddie. And she has been killing mortals all over New York. We need to find her and take her down."The tears that had been threatening to drop finally did, and Maddie curled in on herself, hugging her legs tight "I don't know what to believe anymore. I have a mother?" "Yes, Maddie, you do""Can you excuse me? I need some time to process this, please""I understand" Cassie smiled and left the room.It was all like a nightm
After eating her first meal in days (and truly, Cassiopeia was a very good cook) Maddie had a bath, though she had no change of clothes. After this, Ethan came in to her room."Hello" He said "I was asked to fetch you. The Sword Sisters are ready to see you""Okay" Maddie said and got out of bed. She walked out of her room with Ethan into a corridor of sorts, lined with similar looking doors."This way," Ethan said and led her to the left.As they continued walking, Maddie noticed that the house had a queer sort of outlook, the way the house of a wealthy kleptomaniac would look, so to speak. Rows and rows of shelves were filled with oriental objects gathered from all over the world, from Chinese porcelain dolls to African traditional masks and figureheads.The walls were also filled with portraits of varying people, all wearing the same black turtlenecked gear she'd come to associate with Hunters, all with their names scribbled at the bottom of the portrait. Maddie whispered them as s