Will pulled me to the ground, covering my body with his.
Once the dust had cleared and everything was quiet, we looked up.
And facing us was row upon row of automatons.
And slung over one of the larger one's shoulders were an unconscious Jem, Charlotte and Henry.
Tessa's POV
Will looked at them, and then back down to me. His eyebrows were scrunched together, his blue eyes alert. He was conflicted.
Save Tessa, or get Jem and the others back?
He looked like he had made a decision, because he pulled me up and raised his body in front of mine, backing me into a wall and placing each of his hands back, his fingertips grazing the wall, each of his arms around me.
"Will, stop," I said, pushing him forward. He didn't even budge. "We have to save Jem! And Charlotte! She's pregnant! I can help. I've been training, remember?"
"Please be quiet, Tess," Will growled. His body was practically vibrating with anger and passion. "I...I can't let you go out there and risk your life. Once my back is turned, one of them will just snatch you up and haul you away to the Magister."
"I can fight for myself!" I shouted. "Do you think Charlotte will be happy with you if she has to deliver a dead baby? What about Henry? Him and Charlotte have never been happier with their relationship! And Jem! Jem is your brother! We have to get them, please Will."
Will whipped his head back to look at me.
Blue, cold as ice, met stormy grey.
"God damn it. Just stay by my side, you hear, Tess? You stray away more than three feet, and you're over my shoulder and we're running."
I nodded.
Will's angry face turned gentle, and he pecked me on the lips. "Be safe. Don't do anything rash."
I rolled my eyes. "You too."
Will reluctantly moved from in front of me, and he nodded.
We charged.
The automatons immediately reacted, moving aside so that they made a gap for us to run through. It was so much easier running without all of my skirts weighing me down, Will's shirt light on my skin.
No wonder the men are such better fighters than women. They didn't have an added 50 pounds from their clothing and jewelry.
I brought my foot up and kicked an automaton in which should have been its face. The metal hurt my toes, but I ignored the pain shooting up my leg.
One good thing about me was that I was flexible.
Extremely flexible.
That and I was light, and could flip myself up in the air.
I used the force of that kick to lift my body up, and I turned and kicked the back of the same automaton's head, making it crash to the ground.
Will moved so that he wash closer to me, while using an odd black weapon to defeat the Magister's creations.
I twirled around and punched one.
It did nothing.
Guess I wasn't so good at fighting with my strength, which was next to nothing, like Jem and Will were. For a second, I looked at Will's built, hard arms and my pale skinny ones, and laughed at the huge difference.
But the laugh was knocked out of my throat when an automaton kicked me in the back, and another one scraped a long slash in my arm.
Already weak from the blood loss and head injury, I fought back nausea.
"Tess, catch!"
Will, seeing my predicament, tossed me a knife.
I caught it just in time, quickly twirling it in my fingers so that I was holding the hilt, and jabbed it into one of the automaton's joints.
It twitched, sparks shooting out of it.
I quickly took it out and kicked one that was coming behind me.
Will had taken out a lot more than I had, not surprisingly.
Suddenly, I remembered our mission.
I looked around for the automaton holding my family – because they were the only family I've got now – and saw it surrounded by at least a dozen others.
My breathing was already labored, my cheeks flushed, and I needed to throw up.
Then, an automaton pushed me over, and I fell onto my knees with a cry.
I distantly heard Will call my name.
Guess I didn't enforce the 3 feet rule.
With the last strength I had, I rolled onto my back and kicked up with both feet as hard as I could. It stumbled back, but then caught its balance and just started coming forward again.
It ducked down and stuck a knife into the ground, an inch from my arm.
I screamed and rolled to the left.
Then Will materialized out of nowhere and punched it in the face, and attacked it with the odd black weapon.
But while he was distracted with that one, another one came up and pulled me up by my hair, and hit me hard in the face.
And I said a word that a lady should never, ever say.
Will glanced back, and for a second we locked eyes.
His were desperate but determined.
Mine, I'm sure, just looked desperate.
He mouthed something to me.
Change.
I threw a confused expression at him, raising an eyebrow.
I don't think this would be the time for me to run across the room and go put on my skirts.
The automaton threw me back against the rubble, and a sharp piece tore into my stomach.
I cried out again, and I heard Will growing even more desperate with his punches.
Automatons around him were falling quickly, and for a moment I felt a hint of pride bubble up within me. Suddenly, I knew what Will meant.
Change.
I was wearing Will's shirt – I could change into him.
I immediately did it, closing my eyes and feeling the familiar, almost comforting, feeling of the Change. I grew taller, more muscular. My hair got shorter, and the shirt suddenly fit me.
I thanked god that I was wearing my loose undershorts.
I felt a lot more powerful, a lot more capable.
I took out four automatons in the time it would've taken my body to take down half of one.
Will looked a bit disturbed by his twin across the room, but was a lot more comforted knowing that I was stronger now, therefore safer.
I quickly got to the automaton carrying Jem – they had separated Jem, Charlotte and Henry, each were on a different automaton now – and grabbed his unconscious body after knocking that automaton down.
In Will's body, carrying Jem was only a little struggle.
No wonder Will was always calling me a midget. He could probably be carrying me and not even notice my weight. I gentle set Jem down next to my skirts, where none of the fighting was going on.
More Shadowhunters had arrived, to which I heaved a great sigh. Some of them did a double take at the two Wills in the room, but we just waved off their questioning glances.
With back ups' help, the adrenaline slowly faded away and I changed back into Tessa. Coughs racked my body, and blood fell onto my hand covering my mouth.
Will ran over to me with Charlotte in his arms, setting her down with Jem.
"Why aren't they waking up? What's wrong with them?" I gagged out.
Will looked at me, concern in his eyes. He muttered something about a knock-out potion that lasted for around five hours, and started rubbing my back.
"I think," I gasped. I felt something in the back of my throat. "I think I'm gonna throw up."
"It's alright, Tess. Just...let it out."
I meant to chuckle at his choice of words, but then I quickly spun away from him and Charlotte and Jem and threw up.
Tears squeezed out of my shut eyes and I coughed a little more.
"That was gross," I said weakly, once I was done.
Will pulled me over. "Are you alright?"
I vaguely heard a loud shout, someone calling Henry's name.
But black dots were swimming in my vision, and I couldn't stop coughing.
Everyone's voices, the stomping of the automatons, the sound of metal against metal pounded around in my head.
Even Will's silky voice was obnoxiously loud.
He was calling my name, the way only he calls me 'Tess'.
I wanted to reach up to him, touch his face and pull his sweaty hair back from his eyes, but I couldn't even lift my eyelids anymore.
Everything just hurt so much.
The scrape on my arm, my stomach, my head, my foot, even my face.
I heard Will begging me to stay awake, but I didn't want to anymore.
I stopped fighting, and let go.
