So sorry about taking so long to post the next part! My life has been super busy lately, and I've been sitting on a half-finished chapter for a while now.
SilverCarstairs: Thank you for reviewing at one am and inspiring me to get off my lazy butt and finish the chapter.
After I had been chosen, I had been taken to a bare room in the middle of city hall. There had been only one guard. I doubted that they thought I was worth the effort of more. Even if I hadn't been so shell-shocked, I doubted that they would have been wrong.
The first thing that I had noticed about the room upon being placed in it was that it was cold. The short uniform I had on, the only outfit that my aunt had provided me, did nothing to protect me from the temperature. Outside, where the weather had been warm and pleasant, I hadn't minded. However, the room that I waited in had obviously been a freezer in another life.
As the door opened, I fancifully hoped that I might be taken out of the room. Instead, my aunt and cousin entered the room. Upon seeing the expressions on their faces, my heart leapt into my throat.
The guard who let them in was different than the guard who had taken me to the room. My eyes fell upon him, devouring every detail the way I would devour words on a page whenever I was fortunate enough to find a book.
He was silver. That was the only way to describe him. His hair fell in sterling sheaths across his head. His eyes, like liquid starlight, stared into mine with a fervid kindness that stood alongside a profound sadness.
The few seconds that it took me to study the guard was all it took for my aunt to fly across the room to stand in front of me. "How could you do this to us?" she shrieked. Her piercing voice, combined with the slap she sent across my cheek, sent my head ringing.
That certainly broke the strange trance that I had fallen under. The guard started, rushing forwards to restrain my aunt before she could strike me again. "I'm afraid you'll have to leave now, ma'am," he told her, holding her arms to her sides. She struggled and cursed at both him and me, but he managed to get both her and himself out the door before slamming it shut with his foot. He was so preoccupied with my aunt that he seemed to have forgotten about my cousin. The same cousin who, I imagined, had gotten away with murder more than once.
Nate smiled, a feral smile that spoke of bitterness and pain to come. That smile had me scared even before he crossed the room. I was stiff with fear even before he bent down to whisper into my ear. However, it was the three words that he spoke that left me white-faced and trembling as he walked leisurely over to stand by the door. Even after the nameless guard had returned and escorted a smirking Nate out to join his vile mother, I could still hear his words echoing in my mind.
"I'm going too."
.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.
When the guard finally returned to the room I was in, it was to retrieve me. By that time, I had stopped shaking, but my cheeks were still pale. As I got up, I dug my nails, chipped and uneven from being broken so many times, into the hard flesh of my palms to keep my legs from collapsing under me. As he led me out of the frigid room and into the warmer air of the hallway, I barely noticed. I subconsciously placed one foot in front of the other while my thoughts whirled and collided inside my head, tied together only by the common theme of Nate's words.
How could he be going? Why would he even want to be going with me? I had thought that I might finally escape from my family, even if it might end in my demise. A new thought occurred to me then. If Nate was going, didn't that mean that there was somewhere to be going to? If there was one thing I could count on, it was that Nate was a coward. If he was going, then I was definitely not going to die.
Unintentionally and unknowingly, Nate had given me a small spark of hope. The knowledge that I was most definitely being taken somewhere, and I was not just going to be killed. If I was being taken somewhere, then it was only a matter of time before I would be able to escape. I would run away, and start again somewhere new. I could feel the color return to my flesh at this thought.
The guard, who had been walking silently in front of me, stopped suddenly. Lost in my thoughts, I ran into his back before stumbling away. He turned around and caught me before I could fall. Flinching, I waited for a strike, or harsh words. He only looked at me searchingly for a few moments before righting himself, leaving me as grateful as I was confused.
Gazing cautiously beyond the guard, I spotted the reason that we had stopped. We were in front of the entrance to the building, which I vaguely recognized from coming in. As the door opened, natural light flooded in, blinding me and forcing me to squint my eyes. My eyes adjusted quickly, though. Soon enough, I'm able to make out the large black car parked on our side of the sidewalk. I had only read about cars in books, and finally seeing one had me so amazed that I almost noticed the most disturbing thing. Just in front of it, leaning against the side door, is the dark-haired man from earlier.
I blinked once to make sure my eyes weren't playing tricks on me. He doesn't disappear. "What are you doing here?" I ask, bewilderment spread clear across my face.
"Hello to you too, Tessa. Welcoming as always. Wonderful to see you again, although I can't say it's much of a surprise. Ah, I see you've met dear Jem already, too!" He stepped forwards, each footfall as languid as a cat's. He had his arms spread wide, as if announcing to the world that it had been temporarily blessed with his presence.
The man spoke so fluidly, the sentences leaking into each other, that it was a struggle to keep up. It was all I could do to latch onto his last sentence. "Jem?" I asked dumbly.
His smirk only became wider. "So he didn't tell you his name? How improper. I expected more from you, James." He gazed dramatically towards the silver-haired guard, feigning insult. The guard only rolled his eyes sarcastically.
"Well it isn't as if you've told me your name, either," I pointed out, catching my balance in the conversation.
The light in his eyes flared as the skin around them crinkled, and he dropped his arms to his sides. "Indeed. How rude of me. You deserve to know whose presence you have been blessed with not once, but twice." I only looked at him as he spoke. He crossed his right hand over his heart, before dipping into a sweeping bow. He leaned so low that his tossed black locks hovered just above the ground. Mocking me.
"I am known as William Herondale, the wonderful and beautiful." Straightening, William turned his deep blue eyes into my gray ones. A mask of humor covered them, but deep within I could sense the hint of something raw stewing. And dangerous, I added to myself.
"Or just Will," the silver-haired guard, Jem, interceded. Will looked towards him with a sort of surprised delight spread across his face.
"So he does speak!" Will exclaimed, his whole demeanor changing in an instant. "I'd almost thought you'd lost your tongue."
The corners of Jem's mouth tilted slightly upwards. "I only thought it rude to interrupt."
As Jem spoke, the smile on Will's face seemed to become more genuine. Watching the effect they had on each other, I could tell that they were important to each other.
Will opened his mouth as if he were about to say something, before seeming to again notice the car behind him. "You're never interrupting," was all he said before turning around. He opened up a door for Jem and I. "Shall we?" he asked. Jem waited for me to enter before climbing in next to me. Once we were settled, Will entered, perching on the edge of the seat across from me. He threw me a wolfish smile.
I watched him closely for as long as I could, before the rocking motion of the unfamiliar vehicle lulled me into a fitful slumber.
