Chapter 2
Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Imer and Kakashi sensei now all stood in front of Lady Tsunade.
"Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi, your mission is to protect this girl," Lady Tsunade held up a photo of a girl about Sakura's age with yellowish brown eyes and short dark hair that came just under her chin, "You are to aid her and the package she'll be carrying to the village hidden in the mist. This is a very important passage and so is the girl. Protect her from enemy attacks."
"So what's the deal, what's supposed to be in that passage?" Naruto asked.
"We don't know, and it doesn't concern us." Lady Tsunade said..
"What if it's a bomb?" Naruto complained.
"Don't get too carried away, Naruto." Sakura said.
"This is an A ranked mission, and Imer will be accompanying you, any questions?" Lady Tsunade said loudly.
Naruto put his hand up and asked, "Where's the girl we're supposed to protect?"
"Oh, right, Shizune has gone to get her. Meet her at the village gate in ten minutes."
"Yes, Lady Tsunade." Sakura said.
And with that they all turned to leave.
"Jeez, what is that Naruto been up to, and Imer isn't here either, and neither is Kakashi sensei." Sakura complained.
Sakura, Sasuke and the girl who they were supposed to accompany, Maria, were waiting for the rest of their companions.
After about a minute Imer came with Naruto beside her.
Then after another minute or so Kakashi sensei showed up.
Maria was introduced by Sakura to Naruto, Imer and Kakashi sensei.
They headed out of the village.
While everyone else was looking ahead while making their way, Imer and Kakashi sensei were reading books on their way.
Imar had found these really cool books in the village library and had thought no other books could compare with them. The books she'd found were in series, so she had to find the one after the one she'd just finished reading. The first book was called 'Clockwork Angel'. She wasn't sure which book was after that one, because she'd just started to read it, and had nearly finished half of the book. She loved the way it was written and the quotes it contained. Imer had an interest in collecting quotes from books, and so had written them down in a water proof book incase she ever felt like quoting something. This book was amazing. She'd read 'The Mortal Instruments' and Clockwork Angel was the first book of the series called 'The Infernal Devices' related to 'The Mortal Instruments'. There was this one particular quote that had gotten her attention. Well it was mostly the name of the chapter 'Hell is cold'. She'd then wandered if it really was.
Between two worlds life hovers like a star,
Twixt night and morn, upon the horizon's verge.
How little do we know that which we are!
How little we may be.!
-Lord Byron, Don Juan.
Were there really two worlds, what if they were? Maybe life does hover like a star. She'd thought about others as well, the other quotes.
She read in her mind.
"Will," Tessa murmured. "Will, please."
Will glanced past her, at Magnus. "Magnus. Take her out of here."
Something in Tessa rebelled at the idea of being sent away. "Will, no, I'm all right
here—"
Will's voice was quiet, but his eyes blazed. "We've been over this. Go, or I won't
summon the Enclave. Go, or that man will die."
"Come." It was Magnus, his hand on her elbow, guiding her to stand. Reluctantly she
allowed the warlock to draw her to her feet, and then toward the doors. Tessa glanced
around anxiously to see if anyone noticed their departure, but no one was looking at
them. All attention was riveted on de Quincey and the prisoner, and many vampires were
already on their feet, hissing and cheering and making inhuman hungry sounds.
Among the seething crowd, Will was still seated, leaning forward like a hunting dog
yearning to be released from the leash. His left hand slid into his waistcoat pocket, and
emerged with something copper held between his fingers.
She shut her book, put it in her backpack and glanced at Naruto. Naruto was pretty weird, that's why she liked him. She'd been called weird herself once, but that was two years ago. No one had called her weird in the Leaf village. Naruto seemed like such an idiot but there were times when he wasn't. Whenever she shared something she knew with Naruto, he would go around telling people about it and say 'Did you know' at the start of the sentences. Still, that made her happy. She saw him as her younger brother. She didn't know why, but she also had times when she'd wanted to punch Naruto like Sakura did. Imer thought that Sakura seemed like a good older sister to Naruto, even though Naruto wanted to date Sakura.
"I'm tired." said Maria.
"What, you can't be serious, we just left the village!" complained Naruto.
"Naruto, we've been going for about five straight hours already." Sakura said, "Besides this is an A rank mission, Lady Tsunade said so herself, we need to rest or we won't be able to fight when the time comes."
"Sakura's right." Kakashi sensei said, "And it's nearly getting dark, we should camp here for the night."
"Aww, but…"Naruto started, but Imer cut him off.
"Naruto," she said, "Even if you have energy left, Maria and Sakura are nearly out of it."
She was right, when Naruto looked at Maria and Sakura, he saw that there faces were flushed and they were both breathing hard. They seemed to be able to barely stand and their eyelids were drooping. Naruto guessed that the package on Maria's back also must've been heavy.
"Alright." said Naruto.
They set up three tents, and Imer took out her own tent she'd packed at home and set it up. She usually stayed up late whenever she was on missions for over the nights because she couldn't sleep while others were getting ready to sleep. So that's why she brought her own tent, so she wouldn't disturb another person while they were trying to go to sleep.
They set up a campfire and warmed up their hands. They ate the food they'd brought from home. Imer chewed on the seaweed of one of her sushi. She's always bring too much on the missions. Today she'd brought eighteen rice balls, some made to look like Naruto, some Sasuke, some Sakura, a few of Kakashi sensei, and a couple of plum ones. She'd also brought ten sushis. Every time she returned home from her missions, she would have leftovers and would eat them for however long they lasted.
She ate two sushis and two rice balls. She then packed up the rest of the food and put it in her backpack, before taking out 'Clockwork Angel'.
She volunteered to be on watch for three hours. So everyone else packed up their food too and went inside with their tent partners. Sasuke with Naruto, Sakura with Maria and Kakashi sensei in the third one. Imer stayed up for three hours true to her word. All the while she was reading her book. She continued from where she'd left off.
The Phosphor.
Magnus swung the door open behind them. "Hurry."
Tessa hesitated, looking back at the stage. De Quincey was standing behind the
prisoner now. His grinning mouth was smeared with blood. He reached out and took hold
of the prisoner's hood.
Will rose to his feet, the Phosphor held aloft. Magnus swore and pulled at Tessa's arm.
She half-turned as if to go with him, then froze as de Quincey whipped off the black hood
to reveal the prisoner beneath.
His face was swollen and bruised with beatings. One of his eyes was black and
swelled shut. His blond hair was pasted to his skull with blood and sweat. But none of
that mattered; Tessa would have known him anyway, anywhere. She knew now why his
cry of pain had sounded so familiar to her.
It was Nathaniel.
FEW ARE ANGELS
We all are men,
In our own natures frail, and capable
Of our flesh; few are angels
—Shakespeare, King Henry VIII
Tessa screamed.
Not a human scream but a vampire scream. She barely recognized the sound that
came from her own throat—it sounded like shattering glass. Only later did she even
realize that she was screaming words. She would have thought she'd cry her brother's
name, but she didn't.
"Will!" she screamed. "Will, now! Do it now!"
A gasp ran through the room. Dozens of white faces swung toward Tessa. Her scream
had broken through their bloodlust. De Quincey was motionless on the stage; even
Nathaniel was looking at her, dazed and staring, as if wondering if her screams were a
dream born out of his agony.