I've been intensely working on this TID fanfic since I started writing it five days ago. A majority of the story is written with only a little more left to complete To Duck or Not To Duck. Initially, I decided to have one long chapter but changed my mind. I'm going to split up the long chapter into two separate chapters.
This provides further backstory to get a feel for the atmosphere of Victorian London during 1878. There are significant character dynamics that must be understood amongst the The Infernal Devices characters.
This chapter mainly focuses on Tessa Gray, William Herondale, and James Carstairs...but there are MANY important supporting characters involved also!
I'd greatly appreciate your constructive feedback! Hope you enjoy my story! R&R!
Spring 1878
London, England
Weeks after the ambush of the Magister's automatons, everyone at the London Institute was still shaken up. Tessa Gray felt especially guilty for putting everyone else's life in danger. She was the reason Agatha, their cook, and Thomas, their driver and footman, are dead! Axel Mortmain, who was revealed to be the Magister, was a ruthlessly manipulative bastard. How dare warp her kind, loving brother, Nathaniel Gray. She never expected her older brother to betray his own sister. Her affection towards Nate blinded her from the truth right under their nose. His knife of betrayal had left an indelible scar in her heart, but she still loved him nonetheless. Family was complicated.
Charlotte and Henry consistently reminded her to stop beating herself up for the whole Mortmain situation. It was easier said than done though. The intense battle with the automatons had depleted much of Jem's strength. Whenever Will wasn't sulking around the library or in his room, he was always seen at Jem's bedside.
William Herondale was a fascinating mystery to Tessa especially in his talent of drastically switching moods almost instantaneously like a light switch. He had resumed his daily activities but with an overwhelming sullen manner. Tessa made many persistent attempts to comfort him, but Will intentionally avoided her entirely for almost two weeks. She only saw Will sporadically passing him in the corridors and sometimes during meal times. Will anxiously scoured every Downworlder hang outs in London to acquire more yin fen for his parabatai. Half of the Jem's stash was depleted just to stabilize him. Emotional distraught was written all over his elegantly chiseled face. Dark circles hung under his usually piercing blue eyes except there was a dull glaze to them lately. His mop of black hair was extremely unkempt. His clothes were full of wrinkles and creases. It absolutely broke Tessa's heart to see him like this.
Charlotte and Henry's attempts to soothe Will's tormented conscience epically failed. Jem's condition had stabilized but he was extremely weakened. William spent hours sitting next to his parabatai in almost complete silence. No one dared to ask him to move. Will personally delivered all of Jem's meals directly to his room. Jem went in and out of consciousness for another week in his weakened state. One and a half weeks later, the Silent Brothers lifted the prescribed treatment of bedrest for James Carstairs. If this news delighted Will, you couldn't tell from his morose facial expressions reflecting his consuming anguish. If there was one person who could get through William Herondale it was his close friend and parabatai. Jem was their truly desperate last effort to pull Will out of his depths of dark despair! While it was talking to a dense brick wall initially, Will slowly let Jem soothe the tumultuous emotional storm brewing inside of him. James Carstairs was the closest thing to a blood brother William Herondale had. Jem was his greatest sin. Otherwise, he allowed no one else to get that close to him. William Herondale was a baffling conundrum to everyone else except his cherished parabatai, James Carstairs.
William steadily began to socialize with the other London Institute residents. He was mostly back to his usual brooding self except the lingering remnants of his wallowing despair in his deep blue eyes. Their Will was slowly returning to them. The strong bonds between two people bearing parabatai runes spoke immense volumes. There was a running joke among Shadowhunters that when they got married the spouse's parabatai came with the matrimonial package. One big happy family.
Charlotte and the house staff including their temporary replacement footman, Ralph, frantically scrambled around the London Institute in preparation to entertain heads of Institutes from different continents. São Paolo Institute, Shanghai Institute. Moscow Institute, Mumbai Institute. Paris Institute. Oslo Institute. Los Angeles Institute. Melbourne Institute. Manila Institute. Cardiff Institute. Cairo Institute. Those were just a few of the Institutes invited. There was more than enough space to house all their guests at the London Institute. Consul Josiah Wayland convened an emergency meeting with all the significant Institutes heads in London in a week's time.
Charlotte was literally at her wit's end barely grasping onto her sanity. Charlotte's husband, Henry, was completely and blissfully oblivious to her desperate requests of helping to prepare the place for their guests. He often locked himself up in his laboratory, which was located in the crypt. Henry busily worked on his plethora of insane invention ideas. No one truly appreciated his brilliant genius. She basically threateningly recruited Jessamine to help her and the staff in preparations.
Tessa willingly offered her assistance because she had extra time on her hands. Also, there was still strained, awkward tension whenever she was in a room completely alone with Will. Neither made effort to strike up pleasantry conversation when none of the house residents nor house staff were in the same room with them. The massive Institute library was her favorite place of comforting solitude from the hectic bustle of Nephilim lifestyle. Although, Will frequently spent a great deal of time in the library lately. The only remaining place of comforting solitude within the walls of the Institute was her bedroom. Eventually even her own bedroom felt claustrophobically suffocating. Tessa needed to busy herself to not drown in her mental conflictions. Jem helped to keep her mind away from her internal struggle. Jem and Tessa regularly took long casual strolls along the Thames River. Fresh air was pleasantly refreshing for her overwhelmed conscience. After living in London for nearly six months, Tessa Gray had explored a great deal of London thanks to James Carstairs.
Within one week, Magnus Bane often stopped by the London Institute to visit Will upon his personal request. He would never explain his strange behavior. Their business was completely hush hush. Even Magnus wouldn't spill any beans. 'I don't kiss and tell about my business dealings' was his response every time any of them pressed for details. Dammit! Why did Will insist on being a stubborn bastard to everyone who genuinely worried about his well-being except Jem!? James Carstairs definitely had some inkling about the real reason behind Will's peculiarly erratic behavior. Charlotte refused to give up on her attempts to better comprehend William Herondale. Charlotte Branwell took it upon herself to understand the dynamically complex personalities of the five young wards living within the walls of her prestigious Institute. William wasn't the only person with an intensely stubborn personality in the London Institute. Never underestimate the feisty determination of Charlotte Branwell!
William Herondale, James Carstairs, and Theresa Gray had formed a strangely complex relationship over the course of her stay at the London Institute. Over the past two months, James had grown romantic feelings for Tessa, but kept them buried deep down inside. Jem deeply cherished his beautiful friendship with her. He wouldn't ruin it by declaring his romantic feelings. Also, Tessa's romantic feelings were directed towards his parabatai. Despite Will's many attempts to push her away, she persistently made it her mission to slowly unravel the enigmatic mystery of William Herondale. There was a lingering darkness that viciously engulfed Will's soul. James refused to cruelly deny his parabatai a chance of true happiness. Jem's "illness" made him truly appreciate the gift of life, but there was much uncertainty in his short life span. Tessa Gray didn't deserve to be widow at such a young age. Their complicated dynamics occasionally made their interactions uncomfortably strained as they cautiously walked on broken egg shells around each other. Never a dull moment for the three of them.
The day of the emergency council meeting came by faster than they expected. Their huge guest party has absolutely no idea of how Charlotte, Jessamine, Tessa, Jem, and their house staff intensely worked their arses off to spiffy up the London Institute for all them. If even one of their guests including Consul Josiah Wayland made one complaint or fussed about their living arrangements Charlotte would unleash her fiery wrath on them! Hell hath no fury like a blazingly enraged Charlotte Branwell. Many of the other Institute heads even Consul Wayland normally ignored her eccentric husband writing him off as incompetent or useless. It hurt Charlotte to hear such horribly cruel things said about her husband. No one saw Henry's incredible potential as a revolutionary inventor. His brilliant ideas would drastically transform how the future generations fought against evil forces threatening the safety of the mundane and Shadowhunters. Unfortunately, sometimes genius is only recognized and truly appreciated long after the person is dead.
Consul Wayland firmly insisted Charlotte not have Henry sit in on their emergency council meeting. All of the guests convened in the large dining room with Consul Wayland sitting at the head of the table. Charlotte Branwell sat to the right of the Consul. Widespread panic that had spread to the Council in Alicante. They immensely feared Mortmain's automaton army would attack other Institutes besides the London Institute. An immediate strategic protocol had to be established in case of emergency. The Magister was insanely dangerous madman who had to be stopped at all costs!
Will, Jem, and Tessa subtly eavesdropped on the emergency council meeting from the weapons room. It was directly located above the dining room. Will pulled the long Persian rug completely exposing the elegant marble floor. Drawing an Eavesdropping rune, he artistically glided his stele on the marble floor. Gently caressing Tessa's slender arm, he drew a Soundless rune on her lower forearm with his stele. She occasionally flinched but the painful burning sensation was temporary. His intense laser focus was the only thing keeping him from affectionately gazing at her face. Jem proceeded to draw a Soundless run on his right forearm. He quickly glanced over at his parabatai, who busily drew the same rune on his own forearm completely oblivious to his current surroundings. It was as if William were silently eavesdropping on the emergency council meeting by himself. The intricate rune transformed the dense, dark marble floor to become translucent giving them a fantastic bird's eye view of the dining room. It was packed to full capacity with important Institute leaders even Consul Wayland. Jem and Will recognized some of the Institute leaders because they attended the London Institute's annual Christmas and New Year parties. The topic of discussion at this meeting was: Strategic planning of stopping Axel Mortmain, a raving psychopath and his demonic automaton army. Two and half hours, all of the Institute leaders couldn't come a consensus on viable tactics. Consul Josiah Wayland vigorously massaged his forehead while vexingly grimacing from the incessant bickering amongst the Institute leaders. Grown adults were acting like immature children. He had enough of it! The Consul officially ended the emergency council meeting for that day. Everyone would reconvene tomorrow afternoon when they'd gotten a good night's rest.
This session was only supposed to last for three days. Unfortunately, it dragged on for a week and a half. The house staff and London Institute residents were at their wit's end awaiting the departure of their 80 guests. There wasn't a moment of silent since the arrival of the guests. Almost every inch of the London Institute was bustling with hectic commotion.
William and Tessa longed to seek comforting solitude in the massive library, but it was always full of people. The four walls of their bedrooms had become their fortress of solitude. Unfortunately, cabin fever started to set in making them feel overwhelmingly claustrophobic. Will aimlessly roamed around London for several hours at end returning with a crazed gleam in his hypnotic blue eyes. He was quickly running out of Downworlder hotspots scattered around London. A few times, William sometimes even stumbled back to the Institute completely pissed. He practically reeked of absinthe. His parabatai nursed him back to health every time. Tessa took advantage of the long stretches of downtime by learning more about warlock magic, excluding her ability to Change, with the help of her new warlock friend, Magnus Bane. Magnus was more than willing to provide his centuries of expertise on the matter of warlock magical abilities. Jem maintained his sanity by playing his violin for several hours every day. Hauntingly beautiful music came from his bedroom all hours of the day.
Spring had finally arrived but sun refused to shine its warm rays on them. Only non-stop rain showers ranging from light drizzle to torrential downpours. The dense fog didn't help either. The miserably dreary weather made any form of outdoor travel rather problematic. Tessa, William, and James were going stir crazy within the walls of the Institute. Any semblance of rational sanity was rapidly dissipating.
After the last group of guests exited the London Institute, Charlotte breathed a huge sigh of relief. She gave their entire house staff the next few days off as reward for their hard work during the emergency council session. Soothing silence echoed through the Institute. Everyone resumed their normal activities.
I appreciate you supporting my story. Stay tuned for the next chapter! It will be set in March 1878!