Hello hello everyone! I'm hoping you all love this story so far, I'm getting some good reviews and I hope that means there are plenty more to come! ! Some new characters are introduced in this chapter, though I'm not sure how many, it depends on how much I write today. I do not own the Infernal Devices or any of its characters, that all goes to the lovely Ms. Clare!

Will's POV

I don't believe I could have run any faster than I was, but I knew there was something trying to hold me back. Something that would be successful had my sister not been locked away in an abandoned building. I couldn't get Tessa out of my head. That hurt look in her eyes…I betrayed her…

The arrogant part of myself interrupted my thoughts. You don't know this woman, William. She is but another pawn in the grand scheme of things. She is but another intelligent, beautiful, charming woman…

I smelled something. Smoke. The location it floated from was definitely nearby, for the scent was strong. I looked up and saw massive billowing black clouds spreading through the sky. They were rising from a building in the direction I was running.

And that is when the brutal realization awakened inside me. The warehouse was burning, and my sister was inside.

Tessa's POV

I was still gagged as I rode inside the carriage, both of Axel's men on either side of me. I had stopped thrashing around, for I could see it was giving Axel pleasure to watch me fight and fail to escape, and I did not wish him to feel any pleasure at all. I simply glared at him, and he grinned back at me.

"So, Miss Gray, do you have any idea why you are here?" Axel said. I wasn't sure if he expected an answer, but I looked down at the gag in my mouth pointedly. "Ah yes, Marcus, if you will." Marcus removed the cloth from my mouth and I immediately sucked in a breath of air. Simply breathing through your nose is not always pleasant.

I looked at him with disgust. "Since you are giving me the liberty to guess, I suppose you have taken me captive in order to hold me for ransom."

Axel's eyebrows raised. "You are quite clever, Miss Gray, more so than I thought. You are correct, in a sense." I looked at him skeptically. "There are two options for you to choose from."

"Options?" I repeated. It did not make much sense to me that my captor was allowing me to choose anything.

"Yes. The first is that I hold you captive until a substantial amount of money is offered in exchange for your return."

"How much money are you asking for, precisely?" I asked him.

"Approximately 50,000 pounds."

"50,000 pounds?!" I sputtered. "You must be mad!"

"I have been told that once or twice."

I looked at him warily. "What is the second option?"

Axel grinned. "That you marry me, of course."

Will's POV

"Cecily!" I screamed, running through smoke and thrashing fires. Even if she was alive and conscious, she would never hear me over the roar of the flames. But I still I shouted for her. "CECILY!"

I was making my way to the main storage room, or what I thought was the main storage room. Angel forgive me if it wasn't. The fires seemed to be getting larger the closer I got to my sister.

Part of me questioned if that wasn't a coincidence.

I reached the large doors of the storage rooms and fumbled for the key to open them. My hands were beyond slick, but I managed to get them unlocked and pushed open. "Cecily!" The flames hurt to look at, but I had to look nonetheless. I had to find her. I would find her. The largest fire was sitting in the center of the room, and it looked as if dozens of crates had been piled on top of one another…as if someone had used them to start a fire. Axel-

Something in the corner of the room caught my eye. A shadowed figure, curled into a ball… "Cecily!" I rushed towards her. She was unconscious, but breathing, though barely. I swung her up into my arms and ran towards the doors, using my back to open them so as not to injure my sister. I was wheezing, and my eyes were watering, but I kept running. I wouldn't rest until she was safe.

Tessa's POV

"Marry you?!" I exclaimed, more bewildered than when I had first been taken captive. "You are mad-"

"Ah ah ah, Miss Gray, my darling, don't speak of it now. You have all the time in the world to think…"

"Oh, do I? How long, exactly, do you think it'll take anyone to realize I'm missing?"

"Hmm…you are correct. Perhaps I should have said that you have until tomorrow morning."

"I won't marry you, and I won't allow you to rob my family either."

Axel narrowed his eyes. "I'm afraid you will be doing either one or the other." The carriage stopped. "Ah, we have finally arrived." The door opened, and he stepped out. "Marcus, Lucas, please." The two thugs lifted me out of the carriage and drew me towards the dark stone building that stood before us. I shuddered, and couldn't help but think that the building reminded me of a prison.

Will's POV

"Cecily," I said, smoothing her black hair back from her face. She was covered in soot. "Cecily, please answer me, please…" Her eyes fluttered slightly, then opened. I looked into her deep blue eyes that I knew so well, the ones that were identical to mine. "Oh, thank the Angel…"

"Will," she croaked. "Will the fire…"

"Shhh, shhh, it's alright. Everything's alright…"

"No Will, it's not. Marcus, he- he tried to-" She bit her lip and tears filled her eyes.

"He tried to what?" I asked her, though I already knew what. She just looked at me with large watering eyes. "I'll kill him," I whispered. "That bloody bastard!"

"Will-"

"The fire, how did the fire start?"

Cecily looked down. "That was Marcus as well. When I refused him and kicked him in the groin."

Pride flared up inside me. She was so brave, my Cecily. "And Axel? What did he do about it?"

She looked me directly in the eyes. "He was the one who locked the doors."

Tessa's POV

They had shoved me into a room in the cellar, with a cot and a water basin. There was a single window that showed me the night sky, but bars ran across it. Never had I felt more imprisoned in my life. The room was cold, but I still had on Will's jacket, and it kept me warm. Even when he wasn't here, I was still comforted by him.

But I didn't want to be. He had traded me over to an evil man, probably for money. What hurt even more was the fact that I still felt connected to him. That I still wanted him to be by my side, making me laugh with his witty remarks.

I laid down on the cot, clutching the jacket closer to me, even though the right thing to do would have been to throw it onto the floor. I laid there in the moonlight, and cried myself to sleep, because now I was alone in a way I never was before.

Soooooo R&R, ya? That'd be lovely!