Will entered the room, his face impassive, "We have a visitor at the Institute."

Jem watched him cross the room to sit in the armchair, though he collapsed more than he sat, his muddy boots splattering specks of dirt, before Jem asked, "One of the Clave?"

"No, she's a warlock, it seems."

"She? Has she spurned your advances already?"

Will scowled, "Why do you ask that?"

"Because you're in here with me," Jem smiled, "Why is she here? Who is she?"

"She was being held captive by the Dark sisters, she possesses a power to transform her appearance into others. It was dormant until they taught her how to use it. Other than that, she seems to be a mundane with no knowledge of our world."

"How did the Dark sisters know about her?" Jem was sitting up now, very interested in this girl that Will spoke of with detached disinterest.

"She has a brother, he sent for her to come here from New York, and the Dark sisters met her when she got off the steamer."

"Her brother set her up?"

Will cocked his head, not looking at Jem, "She was holed up for six weeks in a foreign country with them, but she's just concerned about her brother, wondering where he could possibly be."

Seeing the faraway look in Will's eyes, Jem just nodded. The pair sat in silence for some time, before Will seemed to snap back into the present, leaning forward to look into Jem's eyes.

"How are you?"

Jem waved him away, "I'm fine."

"You missed dinner."

"What's she like?"

Will raised an eyebrow, "Who?"

"The visitor. What's her name?"

"Miss Gray."

"What's Miss Gray like?" Jem was genuinely curious, and Will fought the urge to divulge every thought he'd had about Tessa to his parabatai. He didn't want Jem to think he liked Tessa, not when he was trying to convince himself that he wasn't interested.

"Tall. American. Stubborn."

Suddenly, a coughing fit came over Jem, and Will sat straight up and clenched his fists until the coughing ceased. He hated being so unable to help Jem, to ease his suffering.

"Do you need more of your… medicine? I'll be going out later, I could get some." Will's voice was soft, his eyes troubled.

"No, I have enough, thank you."

Standing, Will looked at his parabatai, "I'll leave you to it. Goodnight, James."

"Goodnight, Will."

Jem dozed for a bit, waking when Sophie came to offer him water. He tried to sleep again, but kept reliving the past. He woke up and got out his violin, playing to drown out the memory of his mother calling out his name, her voice strained and broken.

While he was playing, he heard the door open.

"Will? Will, is that you?" There was no answer, so he stopped playing, "Will…" Turning, he saw someone that was not Will, and he said, "You're not Will."

He regretted making such an obvious observation, but she spoke, ""I'm so sorry," She paused to clear her throat, "I—I didn't mean to come in here like this. It's— My room is across the hall, and-"

"That's all right. You're Miss Gray, aren't you? The shape-changer girl. Will told me a bit about you." She was tall, with grey eyes and brown hair tumbling past her shoulders. Jem hadn't expected her to be so pretty, but his reverie was interrupted when the girl spoke.

"Oh." She sounded anxious, and Jem's curiosity rose.

"Oh? You don't sound terribly pleased that I know who you are."

"It's that I think Will is angry with me, so whatever he told you—"

Jem laughed, but he was thinking about Will, wondering what he'd done to Miss Gray, "Will is angry with everyone, I don't let it color my judgment."

Setting down his violin, he introduced himself.

The pair talked of China, of the girl's life in New York, of Marks. Their conversation was one that Jem was wholly interested in, and the more he learned about Miss Gray, the more he wanted to learn. Will entered, and while Jem was never not happy to see Will, he wished he'd stayed out just a little longer.

Will asked Jem what the Chinese call the British, and when Jem answered, Will said the girl's name for the first time, "Hear that, Tessa? I'm a devil. So are you."

Jem repeated her name inside his head, Tessa. It suited her.

The conversation continued with Will telling an undoubtedly fabricated tale of his night, all while pretending to be drunk. When Will joked about Tessa being in a gentleman's room in the night, Jem noticed that Tessa was quick to retort, "I don't see how what I do is your concern, especially since you abandoned me in the corridor and left me to find my own way back to my room." Her eyes flashed at Will, and Jem wondered why Will would have left her like that, but quickly put that question with the rest of the questions he had for Will that he would never ask.

Continuing on, they talked about Jem's violin, and when they-Tessa and Jem-began making fun of Will, Jem started coughing again. His knees buckled and blood bubbled up and he couldn't stop. Will was at his side, asking where it was. Will had taken Tessa out, and just as suddenly, he was back in the room.