There were things in the shadows but none had come close enough to Alec for him to see what they were. Something was wrong. His instincts warned him of that but he had no idea what it was. Not demonic. Not Downworlder. Not a spirit. At least not the type he was used to.

Whatever it was, it wasn't something that Alec had encountered before or read about in the Codex.

When Kara lifted her hand, he knew that she assumed he meant the scars. "Yes, the black eye," he clarified. The scars weren't something that bothered or frightened him. He looked at her as if the scars didn't exist.

"I don't think we're giving ourselves these injuries in the usual way." Kara might have given herself a black eye and split lip but he doubted she had. His own injuries would have been impossible for Alec to give himself.

"Something similar happened to me. I dreamed about a battle and woke up with a version of the wounds I had." Thankfully they weren't exactly the same or he'd have died an agonizing death since no one here would be able to help him. "They're claw marks. Definitely not made by a human." Or a Shadowhunter.

"I've seen something. I don't know what they are. They seem too solid to be shadows."