The Iron Crown |Shadowhunters|

8 - A new beginning

"Saepe creat molles aspera spina rosas"
"Often the prickly thorn produces tender roses"
-Ovid

Olivia saw her brother's face, he smiled at her. She knew that smile, that's how he smiled when he wanted to comfort her. Saying it will be fine, knowing it won't be. Olivia didn't smile back, he looked so young.
Only now her surroundings became more clear. He was standing on a cliff, the wind blew his black hair in his face. It looked like it was summer. Olivia wanted to run to him, but her feet refused to move. She shouted his name, he looked at her, but not really. It seemed like he was looking straight through her.
She tried to get to him with all her strength, but he seemed to move even further away from her. All of a sudden he looked her right in the eyes, his lips formed her name. She suddenly stood straight in front of him, he crampedly grabbed her wrists.
'"Liv," he whispered again. No sound came out of her throat, she felt a drop rolling over her cheek. The weather changed, it started to rain and she saw lightning. The sun disappeared behind a thick layer of dark clouds. The first so peaceful sea, at the bottom of the cliff, was now wild.
He released her wrists, closed his eyes and fell backwards. Olivia saw him being swallowed up by the ferocious waves. Now she could finally move, she fell on her knees and waited till it was over.

Olivia woke up with a scream from the nightmare. Her head and clothes were wet with perspiration and her cheeks with tears. She shivered all over her body, she still wore the same clothes as yesterday. Olivia hadn't felt like taking them off, she had just wanted to sleep.

Of course it had been stupid to think that the nightmares would stop when she was in a different place. A place that didn't remind her of her brother. She looked at her cellphone, it was half-past six.

Olivia swung her legs over the bed, for the first time she looked around in her room. She had a view of the garden of the Institute, she longed to go running outside. She had an old, normal room with a large bed. Little light came through the gothic window, there were some old closets and not many decorations. The floor was made of black wood and the walls were of the same large old stones as everywhere in the Institute.

She opened the large gothic window to get some fresh air, it led to a modern looking balcony, it was still dark outside. Oliva shivered again and closed the window. She continued looking around in the room. There were two doors, one of which she knew led to the corridor. The other one led to a small, modern bathroom.

Olivia was relieved she didn't have to share a mouldy bathroom again and that she had her own room. In the Academy, the "mundanes" - or whatever they called normal people - had to sleep in the cellars. It had been moist, dark and lonely there. Not to mention the roaches, fungi and the giant snail which scared everyone so much. Again a cold shiver ran down her back. She decided to take a hot shower, hoping that would make her feel better.

After the shower Olivia had put on clean clothes, now she was standing in the doorway between her bedroom and the hallway. She wanted to go to the kitchen, though she didn't know where that was, she could eat a horse.

She stepped into the corridor, it felt like she was on hostile grounds, far away from her familiar environment. Olivia took a deep breath and started her search for the kitchen. The Institute was illuminated by witchlights, stones on the wall that emitted a white light, they were always on. Olivia tried to remember how she had come to the second floor yesterday. As quietly as possible, they snuck through the corridors, she felt like a thief in the night. Olivia hoped she wasn't waking everyone up.

*

After certainly ten minutes she found a staircase that led down, she decided it was her best option for finding the kitchen and went down. In each room, she saw the faint white glow of a witch light, except in one room, where she saw the yellow glow of a lamp. Olivia walked to the light, she hadn't expected anyone would be up. She had always been the first one to be up at the Academy, she would go jogging early in the morning.

She opened the door, which was ajar. She had found the kitchen, relieved she snuck in. There was a large country-style table in the middle of the room. Only now Olivia saw the light didn't come from a lamp, but from the open refrigerator. Jonathan stood in front of the refrigerator, he thoughtfully looked at the content. Olivia cleared her throat, now Jonathan seemed to notice her.

"Oh, hey...," He snapped his fingers, trying to remember her name, "... Liv isn't it?" Olivia leaned against the doorway. Jonathan was still wearing his pyjamas: a shorts with a grey T-shirt, he turned back to the fridge. Olivia came closer and looked at what was so interesting about the fridge.
"I'm trying to figure out what we can have as breakfast," Jonathan said, still looking at the fridge. Olivia saw the problem: there was only an apple, some lettuce, ice cream and eggs.

"An omelette maybe?" Jonathan sighed and grabbed the eggs.

"I hate eggs," he said, as he took a pan and put on the fire.

"Me too," Olivia said, but she was so hungry that she could eat everything, "Can I help?" Jonathan shook his head.

"Sit down." Olivia sat down on a chair.
"Coffee?" Jonathan gave her a bag of coffee, she wrapped her hands around the hot cup.

"Thanks." She gratefully drank the coffee, followed by an uncomfortable silence.

"So, do you like the Institute?" Jonathan asked. Olivia was glad he was standing with his back to her. She was afraid he would see it if she lied.

"Great, very big, I almost got lost when looking for the kitchen." Jonathan turned around, he laughed.

"We will give you and Arthur a tour soon." Olivia smiled.

"Great!" Jonathans face suddenly became serious, he came to sit next to her.

"I heard it, about your boyfriend," he began. Olivia perplexedly shook her head.

"Wait, wait, my boyfriend?" Jonathan shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

"Yes, Arthur said he ran away the day before the ascension." Olivia leaned forward, she didn't want to talk about it.

"First of all: never believe what Arthur says and secondly: that was not my boyfriend, but my brother." Jonathan clearly didn't know what to say, he opened his mouth and closed it again. His light blue eyes looked at her.

"I didn't know," he managed to declare.
Olivia hated this. They always said they were sorry, but she had to move on. When she decided to become a shadowhunter with her brother and go to the Academy, she thought her life couldn't get any worse. Now she's a shadowhunter and she couldn't return to her family, nor her brother.
Their stupid Law said she couldn't have any contact with her former family, now the shadowhunters were her family.

During the training in the Academy, she already knew her brother wasn't made for this life. He didn't like the fighting and was not good at it either. But then they couldn't go back anymore, she also didn't want to go back. She knew her brother was doing it for her. He ran away with the thought that she would have a better life, he knew that she wouldn't run away from anything. Now he was out there somewhere, alone, or maybe he had gone back to mommy.

Olivia noticed she was silently crying and felt that Jonathan had put his arm around her. What happened? Why was she crying? He was sitting on the floor next to her chair and almost came at eye-level. She hated it when people comforted her, usually she just wanted to forget why she was sad. She didn't even know Jonathan. Now she heard herself sobbing.

Get a grip girl, she strictly said to herself. But it was as if all the suppressed sorrow overcame that little voice. For some reason, Jonathan reminded her of her brother, he always comforted her. That thought made her cry even harder, she fell next to Jonathan on the ground and leaned against him. She felt he was shocked and froze for a moment. Then he relaxed again, he put his arms around her and stroked her hair. Just like her brother used to.

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