Hey, This is a story about Will's point of view when he meets Tessa and about her first day at the institution. It's going to be a short story, because I'm only going to the breakfeast scene. I'm not doing the whole book, but I hope you will enjoy it.

That man of loneliness and mystery,
Scarce seen to smile, and seldom heard to sigh

Lord Byron, The Cosair, 1814

Prologue: A nightmare.

I always knew how the nightmare began. First I was back in Wales. I was standing next to Llyn Cau in the mountains of Cedair Idris. My father used to tease me and my sisters with at it was the closest we could get to Idris.

The wind blew through my hair as I watched the sun go down. And when the mountains were covered in darkness, She would turn up. I have never could see her face or known the color of her hair because of the darkness. She would walk by the lake over to me. She didn't speak to me and I didn't speak to her, but somehow we seem to understand each other. And when we stood in front of each other, waiting for the other to make a move. But we did enjoy it.

I took a step closer to her and lift up my hand to caress her cheek. Then she would lean her head so it would lie in my hand. Her skin was so warm and soft. I could hear my own heart beating. I moved closer. I was a bit taller than her, so she leaned head back, so she could still look at my face. I could feel her warm breath on me just before I press my lips to hers.

I buried my fingers in her long hair, soft as silk, while she did the same to my hair. I would forget everything, the past, the future and even who I was. The only thing that mattered was here and now with her.

After the kissing, we would simply hug. I would look over her shoulder… and held my breath as I realized we were not alone.

Ella.

She stood there behind the girl, pale as a clean linnet and looked at me with a warning look. She was wearing a white nightdress.

With a bloody red X on her chest.

Suddenly the girl in my arms collapsed. In panic I cried at her, tell her to stand up and tell me what was wrong. Then I could smell it. A rotten nauseating smell of death.

Ella's death.

I woke up bathing in sweat. Yet the air was cold. I could hear Jem playing on the violin in his room.

I sight and got out of the bed with a strong need to move myself and went to the window to sit on the windowsill. It was still night in London, but I could see that the sky was covered in clouds and factory smokes.

The nightmare. I didn't have that nightmare frequently, but it shows up, when I'm beginning to forget my past.

And I know that I should not forget. The girl in my dreams was an example on what I couldn't allow myself to do.

It was that blond girl, Jem and I found dead that was the cause for my nightmare tonight. Fourteen years old the girl was. Just the same ages as Ella had been. Ella, the sweetest other sister a boy could ask for. If she had lived she would have been nineteen now. And Cecily, that adorable little devil, would now be around fifteen.

Jem's music stopped. He was probably asleep now. I have to look at his stock of Yen Fin tomorrow and see if it's necessary for me to buy more for him.

I wondered how it would feel to be in love with somebody. Jem has never thought about it. He was ill and thought that he would be a waste for any girl. Jessamine have always seem to be longing for something, I knew it was to leave the institution and live like a mundane, but maybe it was also after love she longing. Sophie knew that with that scar in her face, the only man who would have her would be one, who really loved her and just not like her looks. And in Henry and Charlotte's case. They really seem to care about each other, but there was like a wall between them.

I thought about my parents. I remembered how they would look at each other with so much tenderness in their eyes like they spoke a private language. When we, their children, the fruits of their love, talked about it, Ella would think of it as sweet and Cecily, as the child she was, would find it disgusting. I just didn't know what to say.

How would it be to really love somebody?

I would never have the answer. All around me, except Jem, thought of me as a horrible person. If they knew the truth what would they think of me?

I looked down on my hands, which were very similar to my father's. Does the curse run in my blood or does it just laid on my skin? Would it only last until my death or would it continue, if there were somebody who cared about me after I have died?

Nobody must love me.

Or else they will die.

That was the prologue. Did you like it? Please review and tell what you really liked. If there was any grammatic mistakes in it, then I'm sorry. I can't tell you when the first chapter will come, as I have some school work to do, but I'm working on it.