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Chapter 1
London, 1878
"Come now, Will! We do not have much more time!" Will looked down at Jem in his arms, a painful shadow above his head. William Herondale had not been looking so well himself. He'd been looking far more than under the weather since Jem collapsed early this morning. It was now late into the night. It had taken Will, Charlotte, Henry, Sophie, Jesse and herself, Tessa hours to calm themselves and then think of a steady plan. They had nothing that could fix Jem, his illness had gotten the better of him on the eve of his and Tessa's grand wedding.
The wedding had taken them months to plan. Everyone had helped prepare Tessa and Jems big day. Even Will. He'd helped more than anyone, and left every remark of regret to himself. Which Tessa was sure he'd be incapable of, she was happy he'd proved her wrong. Jem deserved this more than any of them. And she did love him, just maybe not the way he wanted her to. It was no matter now though. Jem had fainted, Will had said, most likely due to the stress of his day.
She was sure he was right. But his heartbeat was still there. And no one seemed ready to let him go. She'd been sitting in her room, six hours had passed since the horrible vision of Jem falling had been ingrained into her mind.
She listened to the creak as her door opened without looking to see who it was. She was pretty sure it was Will. She'd been staring out the window for hours it seemed. Watching as the gray clouds in the sky shifted in size and moved throughout the sky. Tessa couldn't help but wonder while she was captivated by the clouds what her life would have been like if she'd never come to London. She would have never met Will or Jem and Charlotte. And she'd never have felt the fear she felt now. Or the sadness at losing her own brother to evil.
"Tessa," She startled at the sound of Magnus Banes voice. She had never expected it to be him who came to see her. She turned to look into his cat eyes with envy. He knew what he was. Where he came from and more importantly where he belonged. She didn't.
"Yes?" He studied her with a vague expression of sadness.
"I know that this is very hard for you." He sighed. "You are not used to loss as the Shadowhunters are. And that's okay. It means you are human at heart." She turned back to the window.
"But not human enough." She knew he hadn't meant that, but Tessa couldn't help feeling sorry for himself at a time like this.
"Right now, you of all people, need to be strong. Because only you can accomplish the task I am going to give you." She shut her eyes as a hot tear slid down her cheek.
"I cannot give anymore strength." He looked at her then in surprise. "I have nothing else."
He stalked up to her then. Determination set into the lines of his unaged face. "You will be strong. A portal is what you need and I can give it to you." His face was inches from hers. "The world and time I am sending you to is hard and corrupt, but it is the only place you will find the solution. I promise you it is the only solution."
It were those words, his words, Magnus's words that had brought them here. In the middle of nowhere in a clearing on a hill where they could open a portal and not be seen. It had taken some talking, but eventually everyone but Henry had agreed to come. Someone had to watch over the Institute while they were gone. Tessa didn't know what they would face once they entered the new world and Henry had never been the best fighter. He'd stated so himself.
"William! Please, you must hurry!" He continued to stare at the rectangle that shined the brightest glow she'd ever seen. "Everyone has already gone though but us. Please Will! Come!" Finally he stood beside her, and together they stepped through. Tess closed her eyes and anticipation. Waiting for the pain that must come with traveling time, but nothing ever happened. Her eyes were still squeezed shut when a hard object bumped into her, and then several more. Curses were exchanged her way. She opened her eyes to glare at the people with dirty mouths. How dare they speak that way in front of a lady.
"Tess? Where are we?" She looked around her eyes wide as millions of people practically stepping over each other to get around filled the street. Tall buildings larger than the Institute were everywhere and even giant screens with lights were the face of some of the buildings.
"Oh my." She heard Charlotte mutter. "Hurry. We must find the Institute quickly."
Will still holding Jem, shifted and then followed behind Jesse who was behind Charlotte. Tessa felt more than lost now. Magnus had been correct about this new world. Photos of nearly naked woman and men together were shown around as if such a thing was accepted in society.
"Charlotte!" She called ahead. "Do you know where we are?" A blare sounded in Tess's ear and she screamed then backed away from a yellow machine right beside her.
"Get the hell out of here, lady!" She balked at the balding man and then moved out of the way quickly.
"Don't lag behind Tessa!" Will barked at her unfriendly.
After hours of searching and asking people who had only stared at them, they'd finally come across a building. A building everyone but her had claimed had a large glamour upon it. It had only taken Charlotte and Will to declare it an Institute. Jessamine had only stared around her wide eyed and with satisfaction at the people who stared at us. Most commented on our clothing to which my only reply would've been to look at their own. But I didn't have the time for that just now.
Charlotte began to open the door then stopped herself.
"Charlotte open the door! Jem does not way very little." It was obvious the strain of Jems dead weight was wearing on Will and that he needed a break. She ignore him and then knocked hard on the double doors. "For Christ's sake Charlotte. Just walk in!"
"I cannot very well barge into another Shadowhunters home. Institute or not! We will wait." They continued to argue.
"Look." They all stopped to look at the swiftly opening door. A young lady, probably the same age as Tess or Jesse looked at the five of us in confusion. Her jet black hair was pulled into a high ponytail.
"Um, what?" Will, deciding he could wait no longer shoved passed the beautiful girl and into the Institute. Everyone followed, including Jesse who all but had to be dragged, as Will was stopped by a large metal cube. He stared at it, as did everyone else who probably wondered what it was and where the stairs were.
"Is that guy hurt?" She pointed to Jem. "You must be here to see the Silent Brothers. Well there not here, so you'll just have to wait. But we can take the elevator and maybe have him lie down." Will stared at the girl, realizing just as everyone else did, that she looked awfully similar to him.
She gestured us into the cube after a moments hesitation. A second had passed after the grated doors were shut again when the girl spoke.
"My name is Isabelle. My mother runs the Institute here. Where are you from?"
"What time period is this and where are we?" It was Will who'd chosen to ask that question.
Isabelle looked at him like he had ten heads. "Maybe you should get your pretty little head checked out too." He glared at her, his blue eyes never wavering. "God, chill. It's 2012 and you're in New York. Happy? As if you didn't know."
"We actually don't." I said, speaking for the first time. She looked down her nose at me."
"You're not a Shadowhunter. What are you?" She tilted her head.
"That doesn't matter at this moment. Right now we need to get Jem to an infirmary that can help him." She narrowed her eyes.
Another half hour later and we were all sitting in a large library where Isabelle had asked us to wait for her. She claimed she was going to get some people and we could discuss 'this whole thing'. Tess wasn't so sure she liked Isabelle.
"How do we know we can trust this people?" Will asked and Jesse nodded. Both Charlotte and I looked at him with astonished faces.
"Will, they're Shadowhunters as well. We need to trust them." Charlotte said, speaking as if he were a child. It was unusual for Charlotte to react that way, but she was stressed, we all were. Maybe Isabelle could bring us all some tea.
"Did you see the way that girl looked at Tess." I looked up at him in surprise. No one else seemed to realize what he had meant by that. That Isabelle had looked at her, well like an evil downworlder, and Will had taken offense to it.
"Excuse me?" They all looked toward the library doors at a small girl with flowing red orange hair. Behind her stood three men and Isabelle, as well as…
"Magnus?" Will said in shock.
