TESSA'S POV
I scrambled to my feet and instantly started trembling.
"Wha-what did you say the boy's name was again?" I stuttered.
"Gabriel Lightwood, son of Benedict Lightwood." Jem said.
"Oh my god.." Tears formed in my eyes, I blinked them away, I couldn't, and I wouldn't tell him or anyone what that man did to me. I cleared my throat and spoke once more my voice itching and scratching like sandpaper of my throat. "Would you like me to walk you back to where you cam from?"
"Oh, Tessa, if you come with me, you can't go back." He replied with a smirk.
JEM'S POV
Tess had wrapped my head tightly with a piece of fabric from her torn shoulder bag, helped me up and we began walking.
"So where did you grow up?" I tried to start a little bit of conversation so it wasn't terribly awkward for the both of us. She didn't reply for a minute and then opened her mouth and closed it once more.
"I..Uh.. I grew up in a cabin out here in the woods."
"Interesting. Who lives there with you? Do you have any siblings?"
"No. My family abandoned me, Jem. When I was 6 they ditched me at that cabin, I learnt to fend for myself."
"Oh.. I'm sorry, I didn't kn-"
"I had a brother, a mom, and a dad. We were fantastically happy, It was like we were a perfect family, my parents didn't fight, my brother didn't argue with me. If I would have been a little older, I would have known this wasn't normal. I would have thought my family was slightly creepy. When you're six though, you don't expect your family to just leave you in a cabin alone, with nothing, to basically die. Luckily, my mom had a fruit and vegetable garden outside of our house, so food that I knew was edible, I could easily gather." She sighed. "I'm sorry, I don't really get to talk to other people that often."
"I understand what you feel, I lost my parents too."
The leaves rustling in the wind was about the only communication we had until we had reached the institute.
"We're here, can you see it?" I asked.
"Uh why wouldn't I see it? It's a giant building!" she giggled.
"Some things are better left off unspoken." I muttered under my breath.
TESSA'S POV:
I was utterly confused at why Jem had made that comment, but I decided to leave it alone. His hand was on the small of my back leading me up the grand stairs that lead into the Institute. It was made of limestone with shiny bits in it, and it sparkled in ways that could only seem majestic.
Walking into the building seemed almost like I was in some sort of a trance, above me, the ceiling was open and there where skylights allowing the sun rays to flow into the front parlor. The design on the floor was of an odd blackened symbol that looked like an eye with a strange line through it. A girl with glossy brown hair and hazel eyes came to the parlor and greeted Jem.
"Hello Master Carstairs, Charlotte has been wondering where you have ben, you've been gone an awful long time." She finally lifted her eyes to meet Jem's and she realized that there was a bandage across his forehead with a thin layer of blood seeping through. "Oh my goodness! What has happened to you?!" She shrieked.
"Sophie, it's okay, I just had a run in with Gabriel, that's all. He wasn't there for what Charlotte believed he was, and he bashed me in the side of the head. I have a headache, and I'm a little dizzy, but I'm okay."
She fretted with her fingers but nodded her head slightly. "Who is this lady that you have brought into here?"
"This is Tessa Gray, she found me when I had been knocked out she bandaged my head for me."
"Hello Miss Gray. It is a pleasure to meet you. Shall we go to meet Master Herondale and Charlotte now?"
She lead us down a series of corridors lined with torches burning with a witchy sort of flame, the tip of the torch wasn't even burnt what so ever, and I wondered what they had done to make it that way. Opening a large door, she lead us into a room with walls of glass, and books filled the floor, even with all the shelves lined with hundreds of thousands of books.
"Master Herondale? Jem and a visitor are here to meet you." Sophie squeaked.
"And who is this visitor that you speak of, Sophie?"
He appeared from around a corner with a book in hand, his blue gaze piercing straight through mine.