Hi guys! This is my first fanfic for the Infernal Devices series, so please go a little easy on me! :) I really hope you like it though. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from the Infernal Devices series or any other works by Cassandra Clare.

To me, love isn't all. I must look up, not down,

Trust and honor with my whole heart,

And find strength and integrity to lean on.

- Louisa May Alcott, Rose In Bloom

Tessa

Tessa Gray sat on her bed, alone in her dark room, finishing off the last bit of tea and sandwiches that Sophie had brought up earlier. She felt glum, dejected, and completely worthless; she shouldn't have questioned Sophie the way that she had, about her and Gideon Lightwood. Sophie was a smart girl, smart enough to know how to handle herself, and the extra training that she and Tessa had been putting in during the mornings at the Institute certainly hadn't hurt either of their physiques. But the one thing she knew she had hurt was her friend's feelings when she'd warned her to be careful. Now she was left, glum and dejected, on the edge of her simple, wide bed, her tightly bound feet scraping the carpet below, wondering whether or not she should chase after her friend.

"I shall," she decided, whispering to herself almost silently as she stood up and crossed the room to the door. Her hand on the knob, she found herself turning to look behind her at the bedroom which, although it belonged to the Institute, had come to feel almost as dear to her as her room back in New York where she'd spent much of her life, despite this room having very little personal touches to make it hers.

She found herself hesitating to go, for whatever reason. She felt drawn to the room, compelled to wait around, to go back and sit on the bed. It seemed almost as if she were supposed to say, like she should be waiting for something. Like she was waiting for someone.

The thought disappeared from her mind as suddenly as it had entered, evaporating into air with a wave of her hand.

What an absurd idea, she thought to herself as she opened the door and waltzed into the corridor outside her room, the dim lighting of the Institute offering a subdued glow as she glided down the hallway, her path illuminated before her.

Unfortunately, the direction that Sophie had taken was not quite as certain as Tessa had hoped. No matter which way she went, she only seemed to run into another pillar or a dead-end hallway, and Sophie was nowhere to be seen, the entire time. I've been here for nearly three months now, she thought to herself as she passed a familiar-looking potted plant, possibly for the fifth or sixth time. Shouldn't I be able to find my way around by now? Apparently not.

At one point, she thought she heard someone calling her name, perhaps in the region towards her bedroom, but by the time that she had wound her way back to her room, whoever it was had gone, leaving no trace that he or she had been there in the first place.

With a shrug, Tessa entered her room again, having given up hope of finding Sophie for now. Perhaps the maid servant didn't want to be found at the moment; she wouldn't blame her for it, after the awful things she'd said to her. She had already entered her room, the door shutting behind her, and had nearly crossed the distance to the book on her shelf that she'd been eyeing for quite some time when there was an abrupt knock on the door.

Certainly, it must be Sophie, she contemplated, seemingly frozen in place. Perhaps she was the one who called for me earlier, and she has now come to say that she does not wish to fight with me either. I shall apologize to her right away, she decided as she crossed the room just as easily and quickly as before and threw open the door.

She was surprised to see that the figure standing in her doorway, looking agitated and rigid, was not Sophie, but Will. His face was pale and drawn, and his dark blue eyes were remarkably bright as they swept her body up and down, coming to rest on her gray eyes. He seemed to be looking at her differently, with an open expression on his face, his shoulders set back slightly, not squared like they usually were. He looked uncharacteristically vulnerable as he stood, huddled in the frame of her door.

A few months ago, she may not have been so surprised to see him. After all, when she had first arrived at the Institute, Will had seemed to be like any other teenage boy that she'd known back in America: rude, arrogant, stubborn, and incredibly full of himself, though he had admittedly been a bit more bitter than most she'd met before. He'd had a sort of dark aura around him, one that she likened to that of Sydney Carton from A Tale of Two Cities once she'd come to know him better. Originally, she had believed that maybe there could be something between them, especially after the first kiss they'd shared, which had been an electric shock like none she'd felt before, sort of a buzz of excitement in it, like lightning. But then, when they'd kissed on the roof, he had been so cruel and heartless, she'd believed there could never be anything between them. She could never be with someone who viewed her as a monstrosity, who viewed her as an object, and not as she was: human, despite any warlock or demonic qualities she might possess in her blood. Still...time had gone on, and they'd been relatively amiable, even stopping in the hall every so once in a while to share a few polite words, but it was never enough to convince her that he wanted to be anything more than friends or, as he had called them at one time, a convenient "arrangement". Though things had admittedly been better since then, they were still on that unspoken policy of only stiff, cordial talk; nothing like the few intimate bonds that they had - could have - shared, had they been friends... or something more.

"Will," she said, though the word came out as more of a question. Though she didn't have to say anything, the undertoned message was clear to both: What are you doing here?

He gazed into her eyes, trying to communicate something, she supposed, but it seemed as though his anxiety overrode his determination, and he quickly glanced away, instead angling his head away from her face and towards the floor.

He cleared his throat nervously. "What book is that?"

Tessa glanced down, and was slightly surprised to see that she had picked up the book off of the shelf after all. Glancing at the cover, she answered "Rose In Bloom, by Louisa May Alcott. I believe it was published a few years ago."

Will nodded thoughtfully, and questioned, "Louisa May Alcott... Is she the woman who wrote Little Women?"

"Yes." She couldn't tell what he wanted; better to keep her answers short.

"Ah." He hesitated, before continuing. "I heard that was a very good book, although I haven't read it for myself. Have you?"

"Yes."

"Is this the first book in the series?"

"No."

"Is it a sequel then?"

"Yes."

"Oh." A pause. "What is it about?"

Tessa sighed. Apparently her policy of keeping her answers short was not going to work, especially if Will was determined to talk about this as he was now. "It's about a young girl" she said warily, "named Rose. Rose Campbell."

Will chuckled, and she looked at him inquisitively, her nose scrunched up slightly. "What is so funny?"

"Sorry, it's just that... that's a very clever title, isn't it?"

She smirked at him as he snorted to himself. "I suppose it is, though that's not all that important, when you have a strong character like Rose." When Will gestured at her to continue, she couldn't help but grin as she felt herself getting more animated, just by talking about the book. "She is said to be kind, beautiful, and very determined, which is one reason that I decided to read the book; her character appealed to me. Rose is a young heiress, weighed down by the fortune placed on her shoulders, and the constant mob of suitors swarming her. She struggles to decide who to marry, all while working through trying to find out who wants to marry her for her money only, and trying to discover what love really is, and who actually loves her for her, and not her vast fortune." Tessa laughed, a short bark, that made Will raise his eyebrows. "Unfortunately, having a great deal of money and being swarmed by suitors are both things that I cannot relate to it. Pity."

"Do not be so sure of that," she thought she heard Will mutter.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Nothing," he said quickly, his face succumbing to a bright color, as red as a rose.

Tessa was not one to be easily fooled, but neither was she one to be so clueless as to not pick up on a social cue, and to know when and when not to press a matter. Thankfully, her aunt had brought her up very well in that area. Still, Tessa was running low on patience, and she felt too exhausted - both mentally and physically - to stand around like this much longer, speaking awkwardly, with clipped words, to one another.

"Will," she sighed, leaning against the door frame, phrasing the question that she had refrained from putting to words before, but which she now had no other option to ask. "Why are you here?"

In a very uncharacteristically-Will manner, the dark-haired boy seemed genuinely taken aback, before he replaced his startled signs with his usual cool, removed expression. He grabbed the book from her hand and clutched it against his chest, right over his heart like he was grasping a wound, and feigning injury. "Why, Tessa, my dear! I am hurt, truly hurt! Perhaps I just came to speak of books with you, the way that we often do." He drummed his fingers over the cover of the novel for emphasis, a suave grin plastered on his face.

Her irritation finally showing through, Tessa snatched the book from his hand, and was satisfied as a look of faint surprise replaced the devilish smirk. "Don't be silly. I know you did not come to discuss books with me, as you have not done so in the past few weeks. You have been avoiding me at every cost, ever since...Well, ever since what happened on the roof." She didn't have to say what specifically; the expression on his face confirmed that he knew exactly what she meant. And she was right: he had been avoiding her; at every possible opportunity, in fact: at supper time, he wouldn't look at her when she asked him to pass the marmalade, and he averted her gaze when passing her in the halls. Tessa swallowed, her eyesight becoming fuzzy with the threat of tears, "So, tell me Will: what are you doing here?"

Haha, sorry for that baby cliffie, but I've gotta leave something for next chapter, don't I? But this story is probably only going to have like 3 chapters in it, and I'll most likely be posting Chapter 2 next Sunday, so please check back next week! Please follow, favorite, and above all, review! (Really, it would mean so much to me.) Thank you for reading - I really appreciate it!

Have a wonderful week.

Love,

~Princess Andromeda II