Prologue
London, April 1878
The demon exploded in a shower of ichor and guts. Danyelle Dewey jerked back the dagger she was holding but if was to late the viscous acid of the demons blood had already began corroding the blade, she cursed in Spanish and threw it aside. Then she said "Lexie! Lexie did you see that? Killed it with one blow! Not bad, eh?" There was no response to her call so she whirled around expecting to see her hunting partner who was standing right behind her a couple minutes ago, she knew that she had been standing right behind her. Then she shouted "Alexandria! Where are you? You ungrateful hunting partner?" Then she heard her hunting partners voice "Over here. Follow the witchlight." Then she did as she was told, following the witchlight that glowed like a little firefly in the woods. "Did you see that? The Shax demon thought if could get me with it giant pincers, but I wouldn't let it!" "Yes I heard you." Then Danyelle spotted dark red stains on her shirt, she tensed and said "You're bleeding. What happened?" Lexie just waved away Danyelle's concern and said "It's not my blood, it's theirs." She pointed to the ally where Danyelle saw two limp bodies, she cursed with great volume in Spanish and said "The stinking Shax demon, if only we had stumbled across it earlier." "Danyelle, I don't think that it was the Shax." Then Danyelle remembered "The Shax are parasites, so if if wasn't the Shax then who was it?"
Southampton, May
Aislynn was standing by her best friends, Tessa Gray, Hailey Bagby, Alexis Roland, And Elizabeth Harper. They were all waiting to get off and visit Aislynn and Tessa's siblings, Nathaniel Gray, and Annie Dewey. When they arrived London wasn't so pretty it was grey and raining, so Aislynn said "So Tessa was this what you expected of London." Tessa shook her head and looked away. Once they got off of the boat Tessa and Aislynn started to search for their siblings, but saw no sign of them. Then the girls headed a man say "Aislynn Dewey, Teresa Gray, Hailey Bagby, Alexis Roland and Elizabeth Harper? Nathaniel Gray sent me, come this way." So they followed the strange man to a carriage. He opened a door and helped two ladies out, they looked at the girls and the shorter of the two said "Aislynn Dewey, Alexis Roland, Elizabeth Harper, Teresa Gray, and Hailey Bagby it's a pleaser to meet your acquaintance at last, I'm. Mrs. Black and this is my sister Mrs. Dark." Then handed Tessa a note and said "Your brother however did leave you a note. Then Tessa opened the note and gasped at the contents so the other girls looked over her shoulders and gasped at what they saw. It was a note from Nate it was his handwriting. Then the sisters beckoned them to the carraige and said "Get comfy girls. It's gonna be a long ride.
Six Weeks Later
Chapter 1: The Dark House
Miranda knocked on the door and said "Ms. Dewey, Ms. Bagby, and Ms. Gray the sisters await you in their chambers." Then Aislynn said "Just a moment Miranda." Knowing that if she didn't come out then Miranda would drag her kicking and screaming. The girls looked at themselves in the mirror, not even recognizing themselves, Aislynn thought that she looked like a corpse, with her pale white face and sunken eyes. Aislynn and Tessa touched the necklaces around their necklaces that were settled in the hollows of their throats, it was a reflexive gesture that they did every time that they were called to the Dark Sisters chambers. Aislynn's necklace was made out of pure sapphire and silver, the sapphire was outlined in silver and the whole penant was strung on a black leather string. The sapphire necklace used to belong to Aislynn's mother before she died, it had sat in her mothers jewelry box before Aislynn's sister Danyelle retrieved it. Tessa's necklace was a clockwork angel strung on a simple gold chain.
Once the girls arrived in the Sisters chamber the realized that today wasn't an ordinary day, the other girls were there so Aislynn began to grow suspicious. When it came time for Aislynn and Tessa to Change they were handed matching hair ties except the fact that they were different colors. When Aislynn Changed she gasped when the Change was complete, she looked down at her hands and then said "Who are you?" Aislynn spoke, only the voice wasn't hers, it was the voice of a younger girl that said "Isabelle, Miss Isabelle Bayliss ma'am." "And where were you Issabelle? On the night you died?" Memories flashed through Aislynn's head and she was suddenly snapped out of the Change with Issabelle's blood all over the front of her dress and said "Ms. Dewey what happened to Issabelle?" "She died, in an ally right after she found her sister who bled to death, she stabbed herself." "You've done well today, Ms. Dewey and Ms. Gray now go with Miranda so she can get you all nice and pretty." "Why do we need to be pretty,Mrs. Dark, if you don't mind me asking?" Then said "You will be visiting the Magisteir." Then the sisters left the room. After the sisters left Tessa said to Miranda "Who is the Magisteir?" Miranda replied in her flat tone "He is a great man. I will be a honor when you are married to him. Now you must come with me now." Then Tessa shouted in disbelief "Married?!" "Yes it will be an honor." Then the rest of the group backed up against the desk whereas Aislynn grabbed the heavy brass globe and swung it at Miranda's head. It struck with a resounding CLANG that made the girls flinch then they ran. Once they reached the front door they opened if and ran out. They found a man reading the newspaper and said "Sir, may you help us?" Then the man turned his head and Aislynn thought 'The coachman!' Then he dragged them back in.
"You stupid little girls! What did you think you were going to accomplish? Running away like that. The Magisteir would give you anything you want, that is except for having me killed." Said Mrs. Dark as she finished tying Aislynn to her bed. Then Aislynn spat in her face and she wiped it off of her face saying "You stupid little girl!" Then Aislynn said "I'm not stupid! I am rather intelligent. You know who's stupid in this room? YOU!" Then slapped her across the face and she bit her hand and she yanked it free then she said "Stupid little girl!" Then Aislynn snarled "I'M. NOT. STUPID!" Then turned and left, cradling her bitten hand.
A few minutes later Aislynn turned her head and whispered to Tessa "Tessa, the Bayliss sisters." Then she gasped and whispered back "Right." Then they turned away from each other and Aislynn remembered Isabelle's memories and she Changed. Once the Change was complete the ropes fell off of Aislynn wrists and she untied the ropes that bound her feet. After that Tessa walked over to Hailey and untied her. Once Tessa finished that Aislynn heard the doorknob twist and Hailey seemed to hear it too so she said "Kick her! Kick her hard girl." Once the figure entered the room Aislynn kicked out, hard, with her left foot and she struck the figures shin, hard. Then she heard a slight "Gôu pì!" It was a male voice so Aislynn backed up and she admired the man's silver hair. When he looked up Aislynn gasped at the color of his eyes, they were pure silver then the man spoke "You kicked me." Aislynn's hands flew to her mouth and she said "Oh I'm sooooo sorry! Are you okay?" The man nodded and said "I'm just dandy." Then Aislynn backed up even more as he stepped into the room and she said "Are you the Magisteir?" The strange man shook his head and said "I'm James Carstairs, but please, call me Jem. Everyone does. And who are you girls and boy?" Then Aislynn turned to see that Hailey wasn't there stead a boy that looked strangely like her but Aislynn started "I am Ms. Dewey, but please call me Aislynn." Then the Hailey boy said "I am Alexei Bagby." Then Tessa curtsied and said "I am Teresa Gray. But please call me Tessa." Then Jem bowed and said "Follow me." Then he tried to turned the knob but it didn't budge so Aislynn said "It doesn't open from the inside." Then he pulled a strange looking cylinder from his belt and handed Aislynn a strange stone that dimmed in her hand and he turned back to the door and said "Oh really?" Then he touched the strange cylinder to the door and drew. Once he lifted the object off of the door the knob began to spin, fast, and then the door made popping noise as it sprung open and said "Now it does." And he grabbed Aislynn's wrist and the others followed while Aislynn was practically being dragged through the hallways.
Once they reached a cellar Jem opened it and they saw three figures the boy of the three turned and said "Jem, you unfaithful hunting partner. Where have you been?" "I saw another door down the hallway so I followed if and I heard voices. And when I opened it I got kicked by here and then we all introduced ourselves and here we are." Then Aislynn piped up and said "Lexi! Lizzie! It's so good to see you again!" Then the three hugged each other and they all said "It's been so long since we've seen each other and got to talk." Then the black haired boy rolled his eyes and said "Yes, yes. You all get to see each other. Yay." The end of his sentence was sarcastic so Aisylnn went up to him and slapped his face. Then Jem snorted and said "Do you need an iratze for that burn William?" Then William shot him a glare and said "Be quiet James Carstairs." "No, William Owen Herondale." The girls covered their mouths as the boys argued, calling each other by their full names. Then Aislynn heard a banging on the door which was held closed by a piece of wood and she yelled "Boys! Put your differences aside for the moment the door is about to give way!" Then Jem lifted his cane revealing a silver, wicked looking blade and William grabbed two daggers from his belt and shouted "Uriel!" And they flamed up, with the girls watching in amazement. Then the door finally gave way revealing the Dark Sisters, Mrs. Blacks hands were ungloved and the girls saw that her nails were actually talons so Alexis let out a huge scream. That's when all chaos broke loose and William lunged at with his strange blades extended and he lopped off her head. Mrs. Dark screamed and said "I'll slaughter you!" And she threw a strange bolt of lightning at Mr. Herondale but he reflected it off of his blade.
When a bolt of lightning escaped from William's range Jem lifted his blade and the lightning bounced off without leaving a scratch or visible mark. Then another bolt came our way and Jem ran to the side as it distroyed a wall and three more people came flooding in, the girl of the group looked strangely familiar to Aislynn, with her hazel eyes and brunette hair that matched her own, Aislynn was shocked when William shouted "Ms. Dewey, please take... Ms. Dewey to safety!" Then the other that William refered to led Aislynn to a corner and said in a strangely familiar voice to Aislynn "Stay put." Then Aislynn nodded and caught a glimps at the lady's ring finger, the ring that she wore had a big D and the Dewey crest on it, then Aislynn looked at her finger and gasped, her ring had the same design. Aislynn said to Jem "What is 's first name?" Jem only replied with a cough and then he doubled over in a fit of coughing so Aislynn ran over to him and held his shoulder as Alexei grabbed his sword and held it up, not knowing how to wield it properly, and he reflected the bolts of lightning off of the flat of the blade. Then Jem coughed a final time and a fine spray of blood flew from his mouth, splattering the front of Aislynn's dress and she grabbed a handkerchief from her small bag that she packed and she handed it to him, he took it gratefully and he said "Thank you." Aislynn just nodded and held his shoulders as more coughing racked his frame. When William finally noticed his hunting partner he said "Ms. Dewey, please take him to the corner and tend to him carefully." Then Aislynn nodded and followed his instructions. Once Aislynn and Jem were safe in the corner Aislynn held his shaky frame while he coughed more blood and Aislynn whispered "You are going to be fine." Then he wiped the blood off of his mouth with Aislynn's handkerchief then he took a breath and coughed again with Aislynn holding his shoulders and applying minimal pressure to hold him still. Then I heard William curse and so I looked behind me and I said "What happened to Mrs. Dark?" Then William said "She disappeared. To where, I don't know." Then Aislynn said "May you please grab my cello? Alexei will show you where it is." Then William was off.