If I could light the world up for just one day...

L E T A

Oh, my day was going so badly it was unreal.

First, Clary's friend Dot (who turned out to be a warlock, because apparently nobody's normal where Clary's concerned) got kidnapped and we all went along on a merry little rescue mission, where Alec far everybody the stink eye and bitched about how me and Simon were 'mundanes', whatever the hell that was, and then we all went on a group hiking trip where (yet again) I became the third wheel for Simon. Only this time it was him and Izzy, not him and Clary. At least his taste in girls was getting better. Izzy was pretty awesome.

After I left the couple to do whatever (really, really don't want to know), I got kidnapped.

Yeah. That actually happened.

I was walking around, mentally cursing Simon and his tendency to make me his third wheel, when I heard the crackling of dry leaves. I paused, my heart racing. 'Who's there?' I called. 'Simon? Isabelle?'

I rolled my eyes. It was probably Alec, come to tell me I was a mundane again. 'Look, whoever it is, just come out. I know you're there.'

There was a whooshing noise, and the hot boy from the other night appeared. That was the part where I decided I was dreaming. It was just the kind of thing my brain would do- try and convince me Hot Dude was my type, even if he totally wasn't.

'Oh my God,' I muttered. 'I'm going crazy. Yup. Totally cray-cray.'

The boy looked at me like I had two heads. 'Hi,' he said carefully. 'Are you okay?'

'Please stop with the are you okays,' I mumbled. 'It's not helping my brain.'

'Look, I'm Raphael,' Hot Boy said quickly. 'I've got to go, um, do stuff. But I think you should sit down by this tree-' he pointed to a huge tree by the edge of the path. 'And try not to move much.'

'What?' I glared at him. 'Who even are you? I'm not sitting by a tree! I don't even know you, and you're telling me to get off the path and sit by a tree? Are you a stalker or what?' Another thought occurred to me. 'Why are you even here? Isn't this private property or something?'

Then I realised if it was, I was trespassing just as much as he was, and I shut up. 'You're actually mad. You're probably one of those weird stalker dudes with knives or something, I don't know.'

Raphael blinked. 'Okay. Why don't you sit down?'

'I'm not going to sit down!' I said hotly. 'You're probably going to tie me to the tree and sacrifice me to some weird creepy God! Just no!'

Maybe I was overreacting and being a bit too harsh on this poor guy. But he'd just appeared out of nowhere, and kind of looked like a stalker too, with his black jacket and dark eyes. If stalkers even had a look, or a clothing shop (www.stalkerclothing.com, maybe?).

'If you don't sit down soon I'm actually going to tie you to that damn tree,' Raphael muttered.

I blinked. For some reason, that made me feel better. I preferred psycho killers to liars. Well, as long as the psycho killer was locked up. 'Fine.' I sat by the tree, and folded my arms. 'Happy now? I'm sitting by the stupid tree. Not moving. Now, can you explain why you're stalking me and threatening to tie me to trees, or do I have to call 911?'

'Will you promise me to stay by the tree?' Raphael asked.

'No,' I replied. 'No, no, and also no. You can't just ask me to sit by a tree then leave! I could get you arrested for stalking, you know.'

Hell, I didn't actually think I could, but at that point I didn't care. I just wanted answers.

Sighing, Raphael crossed over to kneel by me and peered into my eyes. 'Sit by this tree, Leta,' he told me. 'And don't move until I come back, okay?'

'What? No!' I growled and tried to move my leg, only to find that my muscles were locked in place. 'Wait, what? Raphael! Seriously? What the hell?'

But he was gone.

I groaned and leant my head back against the tree. Great. Raphael's probably some kind of witchy thing. What did those Shadowhunter dudes call them? Warlocks? Whatever he is, when he comes back he's so dead.

****

Minutes went by, and Raphael still didn't appear. I passed the time by humming Do You Wanna Build A Snowman and plotting ways to a) send a message to Alec b) send a message to Clary c) kill Simon or d) kill Raphael.

Most of the time was spent on option d.

'This is just getting ridiculous,' I told the tree across the path from me. 'I mean, I don't even know the guy and he does some creepy voodoo magic on me? Who does that? And then he just vanishes, and I'm stuck here singing Frozen songs. This is not the way you make friends! Are you listening to me?!'

The tree, unsurprisingly, didn't answer me, but I didn't let that affect my rant. 'He's just an idiot,' I mumbled. 'And it's probably going to start snowing or some shit now. I'm tempting fate by singing about snowmen. You know, if it starts snowing and Raphael's still off doing witchy stuff, I'll kill him.'

I started to hum Cool For The Summer by Demi Lovato. 'Maybe this'll make it warmer,' I told the tree. 'I'm freezing.'

'I'm very sorry,' a voice said calmly. 'My dear friend Raphael can be very rude sometimes. Allow me to help you.'

I screamed. To be honest, I wasn't sure why I hadn't tried screaming before. Maybe Alec or Izzy would have heard me if I just screamed and screamed instead of singing Frozen songs.

Then a woman stepped onto the path, and I caught my breath. She was beautiful, with long brown hair, dark red lips and pale pale skin. 'Your blood smells wonderful,' she told me. 'Do you think Raphael would mind if I took a bite?'

I felt the tree pressing into my back, but stupid Raphael and his voodoo kept me trapped. 'Um, yes,' I managed. 'Me and Raphael are, like, total BFFs. He'd be really angry if you hurt me.'

I desperately hoped the woman was stupid and believed my blatant lie. Alas, she just snickered and gave me a what is this girl doing here look. 'I've been told not to touch you,' she purred. 'But you look so tasty, and you'd make such a good bargaining chip. I'm sure Raphael wouldn't mind...'

Then she lunged.

Dedicated to NJ0001 for being totally awesome and helping me with ideas. If you hadn't realised, this is set when Raphael kidnaps Simon, and in this Camille decides to take Leta too as extra leverage against Clary.

Hope you're enjoying! Let me know what you think in the comments.

xxx Jade