CHAPTER ONE
The room was lit only dimly, flickering Witchlights perched across the walls in golden clasps, as though they were candles, threatening to dehydrate, leaving the training room, and those inside it, in total darkness. Cecily Herondale narrowed her eyes as she sensed for her rival; listened for the faint foosteps or harsh breaths that might give him away, looking for the subtle casts of shadows to reveal his presence. She had not been training for long, and yet it was beginning to come naturally to her. Or perhaps that credit was more fitting to go to her instructor.
Suddenly, Cecily whirled around, swinging her wooden staff from her right hand to her left, as she blocked the blow of her opponent. There had been no warning but the slight whistle in the air, the sound of wood cutting through the empty atmosphere. That had been all she had needed to react. Sparring relentlessly, the two Shadowhunters began to circle each other, moving around the room. Each had been barely able to lay a mark on the other, despite the clear superiority of Cecilys' teacher over Cecily herself. She suspected at times that he was going easy on her, being kind. But that thought she dismissed almost at once. After all, this was Will Herondale. Her brother did not do things simply to be kind- nor did he presume to unbend his pride enough to lose a fight.
"A little slow, there, Cecy," Will called over the clash of their weapons, grinning provocatively. In response, Cecily spun on her feet, ducking to avoid a blow to the head, and swinging her leg up to land a kick on his abdomen, meeting her target with a low noise. Will swore, doubling backwards and colliding with the wall behind him.
"Was that fast enough for you, brother?" she asked conversationally. Will scowled at her, the shadows and light bouncing off the walls shading his face, making him look like a fallen angel. The Witchlights seemed to simultaneously flicker from light to dark, all in the space of a mere blink. That space was all Will needed. He grinned as he heard Cecily's gasp of surprise and dismay when she realised that he was no longer caught up against the wall as he had been- nor was he anywhere else in her line of sight. Instead, he approached from behind her in the darkness, masking his shadow with her own so she could not see him coming. This would be easy. But if it would be easy, it would not be half as fun. He decided to give his sister some warning.
"Oh, much better, Cecily, much better," he said, and she spun, wild-eyed, to meet her club with his. Will deflected the blow, and in one swift motion, threw Cecily's weapon out of her grip and drew his own towards her neck, resting it gently at the base of her throat. He smiled down at her.
"But not better enough."
Cecily's staff hit the floor on the far side of the room with a clatter from where Will had discarded it. She watched it fall with a wince, swearing in a most unlady-like fashion- indeed, a fashion that would most likely horrify the Institute, and all its' inhabitants, if it were revealed to them. But Cecily could swear around Will. She didn't have to act differently for him. He had been there, too- for however shortly, he too had lived in their country home in Wales as a child. He knew the carefree lifestyle, the songs and the dances, the neighbours, and the common practice of swearing like a drunken sailor. She watched his eyes light up as he recalled it, with a satisfied, yet somewhat bitter, smile. She had arrived at the Institute, begging to be trained as a Shadowhunter some eight weeks ago, having left her parents in their despairing, spiralling lives that she could no longer bare to witness. Her brother had simply stared at her for a long while with the most peculiar, half-broken look on his face, before enveloping her in a wide embrace. He had told her everything- about the curse he had thought had been put upon him when he had opened their fathers' Pyxis Box at just twelve years of age, how he had believed himself responsible for their sister Ella's death, and how he had left them all to protect him- or so he had believed. Of course, Cecily no longer held resentment against him so fiercely, now that she knew the truth. Yet still, there was no way for Will to change what had happened at home when he'd gone. The raw devestation of their mother, the gambling, wild ways of their father- and-though Cecily would never have told Will herself- her own endless tears, night after night until she had eventually realised that he was never coming back.
"Well, you do have five years training in your favour," she grumbled once she had finished cursing.
"And you think that whoever you may have to fight in the future won't?" Will countered. "For the most part, we fight Demons, Cecily. Demons tend to have rather long lifespans. They don't tend to consider the injustice of this before they try to eat us." He shrugged. "It's good for you. More realistic preparation."
"Demons eat people?" Cecily's eyes widened in horror.
"If its' a Globos Demon, it'll try to swallow you whole," Will said impressively. As Cecily paled, he nudged her softly. "Just teasing, Cecy."
She let out a sigh of relief, shoving him in the ribs.
"So, will we go again, then? You are getting better, Cecy. Your technique is almost perfect. All we need to work on now is experience," Will said, brandishing his staff, and going to pick up Cecily's, throwing it over to her in a graceful arch. She caught it with one hand, almost subconsciously.
"Tomorrow," Will was saying, "I thought we could try with guarded blades. They wouldn't hurt you much if they touched you, but its' a step up from these foul things." He gestured to their staffs eagerly, eyes glinting in the orange-yellow light of the room.
"Sounds great, Will," Cecily said, yawning. "But- that's enough for today. I'm tired, and I wanted to talk to Tessa before dinner, anyway."
At the mention of the other girls' name, Wills' hands seemed to tighten around the wood, something fracturing in his eyes, the set of his jaw becoming almost alarmingly tight. Cecily regarded him curiously. For two months she had been here, and for every day of those months, wherever Tessa Gray was concerned, her brother had behaved most oddly. Cecily had wanted to ask him about it, but something about the look on his face when she merely mentioned the name kept her from posing the question. Some things, she found, were better left alone.
"Oh," Will said now, his hand falling to his side. "You're tired, I-of course." He looked so deflated that Cecily could not help but feel a stab of pity for him in her chest.
"Will, we have been practicing since breakfast," she said softly. "It is almost dinner now."
"You didn't strike me as one to give up, Cecy," Will said with a tight smile. "No, it is alright then. I suppose we have been training rather vigorously these past few days. I…you may have tomorrow to yourself, if you like."
Cecily blinked at him, delighted. "Really?" she smoothed down her hair, now more of a tangled mess from the fight. "Not that you have any say in what I do anyway, but thanks, Will." she flew at him before he had the chance to retract his words, folding him into a hug. Will stood still as she hugged him, perhaps in shock, before hesitantly wrapping his arms around her, holding her where she stood- first loosely, and then with an almost crushing force.
"Will-I-Can't…breathe," Cecily choked in his ear, and he dropped her quickly, stepping back with a sheepish grin on his face. Cecily grinned back. "I'll tell Tessa and we could go into town and-"
"You're not taking Tessa out of the Institute," Will said suddenly. "It's too dangerous."
"I don't see why," Cecily reasoned, taken aback. Usually, it seemed that Will didn't have much to say where Tessa was concerned. Yet now, the conviction in his voice was impossible to miss. "She went into town last week, and nothing happened."
"She went into town last week with Jem and Henry," Will said. "Two trained Shadowhunters."
"One trained Shadowhunter," Cecily corrected him. "Jem only went because he's her fiancé." She glared at him reproachfully.
Will paled. "Look," he said warily, "Mortmain hasn't been seen or heard from in almost three months now- not since he invaded the Institute. That does not mean that he's stopped plotting. That does not mean that he is any less aware of our own plans, and that does not mean that he wants Tessa, for whatever reason, any less. This isn't a time to be careless. More than ever, we must be careful. He could strike at any time, and we need to all be here, to be ready. Promise me you and Tessa won't go into town tomorrow, Cecily. Promise you won't go alone?"
"I-" Cecily opened her mouth to complain or to bicker, but she hadn't the energy. The training certainly was taking its toll on her, she thought. Her all four limbs ached, muscles forming where she had not had much muscle or strength before. She also found that her appetite had increased almost embarrassingly- although Cecily, who had grown up in a robust, community environment, had never been a light eater herself. Nor had Will for that matter, she observed. She suspected it was their genetics that allowed them to indulge themselves without being reflected in their sizes. It was perks such as this one that made Cecily grateful that she descended from the family that she did. "Alright," she admitted defeat to Wills' request. "you used to have a sense of fun," she added in an undertone, but he appeared not to have heard her.
"Thanks, Cecily," he said, reaching over to ruffle her hair in affection. Cecily found herself warming inside as he did. Her family had been shown little affection since Ella's death and Wills' disappearance. It was comforting to have it back with her now. It was comforting to be a family once again.
"Henry, really," Charlotte said, although it was impossible to filter her tone of affection, "I can still walk down to dinner unassisted. That part will come later down the track, in perhaps another three or four months, if not further still away." Her husband waved away her protests, leaning her fondly onto himself, ensuring that he bore the full weight of her, lest she work herself too hard.
"Don't be silly, darling," he said at once. "you're carrying another person with you now- our little son! You can't be expected to carry all that around by yourself."
"Why Henry, are you saying I'm fat?" Charlotte asked, with a smile in her voice. Since she had told him of her pregnancy, Henry had been the most loving and supportive husband any woman could wish for; from escorting her absolutely everywhere, to arranging to have breakfasts sent to her in bed, for fear she would tire herself out before the day had even begun, to even reading through official Clave papers for her, leaving his inventions in the crypt to grow spider webs between the metals.
"And you leave this old Mortmain to me, dear," Henry had even announced when she had first protest him- all several weeks ago now. "He's got to deal with Henry Branwell now." Though that thought did not fill Charlotte with confidence for the future of the Shadowhunters, the gesture did fill her with another kind of hope. Hope for their marriage, and the family that they would soon have together.
"Besides, what if it's a girl? Did you ever think of that?" Charlotte added.
Henry looked dumbfounded. "My little Buford, a girl?"
"It could happen, you know," Charlotte taunted him with the idea as they made their way down the stairs- Henry carrying her with such great care and caution that it made Charlotte want to kiss him- or, as it happened, to kick him lightly in the ankle and say, "do hurry up, darling. I wish to reach the dining hall before dinner is served, not after."
The pair walked through the wide open oak doors and gazed upon the sight before them. The long table was lined with china plates and silver cutlery, napkins tucked under each wine glass in a show of elegance that seemed to hardly reflect Bridget- the cook- as a character. Steaming roast meat sat on a plate in the tables' centre, bowls of vegetables and sauces lying on either side of it, and yet there was nobody seated to appreciate it yet. Charlotte glanced at her husband. "And I thought we would be late for dinner," she said. "Wherever is everybody?"
Henry shrugged, pulling out a chair for his wife at the foot of the table and seating her in it. Bridget's wistful ballads of tragedy and heartbreak droned through the dining hall from the kitchen, echoing until it reached their ears. Charlotte shuddered with distaste.
"I suppose we know where Bridget is," she observed, answering her own earlier question. "And I would guess that Sophie is tending to the fireplaces- they've been bothersome to sustain this winter, as I've been told. Gideon is most likely with her; he doesn't like to see her working too hard." At that, Charlotte spared an internal smile for her maid. The relationship between Gideon Lightwood and Sophie Collins was, to say the least, unexpected, and strange. Yet it was lovely, in its own, imperfect way.
"And Cyril is tending to the horses," Henry supplied, hastening to load Charlottes' plate with an alarming amount of boiled carrots and potatoes. "And I expect Will and Cecily will be in the training room, once again."
"I don't understand how that girl can throw herself into the training so fully straight away," Charlotte shook her head in wonderment. "Rather like Will did, when he arrived, don't you think? It must be something of a family trait. It would be too much- too intense- for most people to train so frequently so suddenly."
"That girl does have a lot in her that is akin to our Will," Henry commented, in a most un-Henry-like manner. Charlotte was surprised that he paid enough attention to the people under the Institute roof for all those years that he could obtain their characters properly, he had seemed so preoccupied at the time. But then, there was much that Charlotte was beginning to find that surprised her about her husband; a thought that she was quite pleased by.
"And then there is Tessa and Jem," she went on, a smile playing on her lips.
Henry chuckled. "The young love birds. Soon we're not to be the only married couple among the Institute. I should guess they'll be together now, discussing the future and what-not. I wonder if they have settled on a time for the wedding?"
"I know that Jem seems eager to be married to her the first chance they get," Charlotte said, thinking of the glow that had been about him lately, the healthy shine to his cheeks and to his eyes. At first, their engagement had somewhat stunned her- it had stunned them all. She had seen the two of them as friends, but never as lovers before. Besides, there was always the issues that stood between them- things that no one had ever spoken of, but no one could ignore. There was the matter that Tessa was a downworlder- most likely, anyway, and therefore, a match between herself and a Shadowhunter was most controversial. There was the matter that nobody, not even she herself, was aware of exactly what she was, nor of who her parents were. And then, there was another matter, a problem that could not be taken lightly at all. Jem was dying, his condition deeming that he must take a drug to stay alive, and yet the same drug presented to him a slow and certain death. Charlotte dared not speak to either of them about how this issue was being taken in their engagement; after all, she was certain that Jem would have considered it, before he proposed, and that Tessa would have done the same thing before she agreed. Yet still, the thought ate away at Charlottes' heart, to think of the difficulties that the young couple had to face.
"Yes," Henry mused in response to Charlottes' words, now attempting-and failing- to cut Charlotte a piece of beef from the tray in front of him. "I only wonder…"
"What?"
"I wonder if Tessa feels the same. If she is also hasty to be married."
"Oh, I'm sure she is," Charlotte said. She gazed as Henry curiously, at his reddening face as he persisted in his mission to carve the meat. Because now, come to think of it, when it came to what Tessa felt about her coming wedding date, Charlotte was not so sure. Not sure at all.
Basically, this chapter is just meant to be setting the scene in the Institute-checking up on all our favourites 3 and seeing what's changed for them in the past 2 months. Let me know what you think of the way I wrote Cecily and the others- possibly the most daunting part of all is trying to do the characters justice- pretty sure I failed for some of them (suddenly, Will's witty lines are nowhere to be seen ). Tessa and Jem will be in the next update. It's kinda uneventful, but bear with me- there's some serious twists coming up. Pretty-please review! A massive thanks to Dewdrop Raine and the ticking clock for reviewing xD
