Whew, OK sorry it took me so long to update, i've been having trouble finding time to sit down and write lately. I'll try to be better about it , I promise. So this chapter killed me to write. I literally wrote a 3,000+ word chapter, re-read it and hated it, started over from scratch, wrote another completely different 3,000+ chapter, hated that one even more, and eventually went back to the first version and just tried to revise it. I don't like at all how it turned out but I'm having a bit of writers block so I need to just move past this chapter to get my flow back. Ok, enough with the disclaimers, here it is. Reviews would make me feel better about this chapter's suckiness!

Chapter 7: Climb

Tessa was hurtling down the hallway, trying desperately to keep up with Will's long strides. She had barely had time to throw a traveling cloak on over her long dress, and her hair was hanging in limp curls at her sides, but she didn't care, her excitement drowned out all other thoughts.

She almost ran into Will when he stopped abruptly at the end of the hallway, peeking his head slowly around the corner. She leaned against the wall, her chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath.

"Will," she said in a breathy whisper. "I think the Clave is watching me. Blackwell said they we're keeping a close eye on me. We have to be careful."

"I know," Will answered not turning around to face her. His eyes were trained on the end of the hallway where it split off in opposite directions. "They have two men posted at every exit, two men posted on the grounds outside, and five men that sweep the building every twenty minutes."

Tessa was stunned. "Wh—what?" she stuttered out. "Who do they think I am? A magician?"

"Well you are supposedly a Warlock," Will murmured. "Though not a very good one since you don't seem to really have any powers except the ability to change into creepy dead people." Tessa shot him a dirty look, crossing her arms over her chest in indignation.

"Not all of them are dead," she said obstinately.

He grinned at her over his shoulder. "Don't get me wrong, it's an interesting talent. Just not very—versatile."

He turned back to peek once more around the corner, Tessa staring daggers at the back of his head.

After a moment Will turned completely to face Tessa. His face had turned suddenly very serious and he spoke in a low voice. "Ok you have to listen to me now, no questions just do what I say. Understand?"

Tessa nodded, her eyes widening.

"There's a secret passageway—"

"A secret passageway?" Tessa asked before she could stop herself. She suddenly felt like she was in one of her favorite mystery novels, escaping the clutches of the evil Lord through secret torch-lit passageways and hidden underground channels.

"No questions!" Will scolded, narrowing his eyes at her. "There's a passageway out of here that opens on the west side just inside the property gates. If we time it right we should have enough time to hop the fence in-between the grounds sweeps by the guards. I have a carriage waiting for us a block away outside Blockard's Tavern." He paused. "Ok now you can ask questions."

Tessa stared at him stunned. She hadn't quite expected Will to have things so planned out. She had always just assumed Will ran head first into situations with an idea of what he wanted to accomplish but no real clue as to how he was going to do it. He had that arrogant air of the young who think they will never die, that rash impulsiveness of someone who always new he would win, no matter what. Tessa thought he had just been extremely lucky thus far. And hopefully his luck hadn't run out just yet.

Will took Tessa's silence as a sign that she had no questions, though in reality her mind was teeming with them, she just couldn't decide upon which of the hundreds to ask.

"Ok, let's go," he said in a hushed voice, though Tessa didn't really have a choice in the matter since he had grabbed her around the wrist and was dragging her clumsily behind him. They darted around the corner and down the hall, Tessa stumbling repeatedly over the hem of her dress but Will somehow managing to keep her upright and moving forward.

"Will," she whispered as loud as she dared to as they careened around another corner, running now at a full out sprint,"are you sure the guards don't know about the secret passageway? Wouldn't the Clave be aware of things like that?"

Will looked back at her over his shoulder, his unruly hair flopping in front of his eyes in the wind, a wide grin plastered on his face. "Well then they wouldn't be secret now would they."

Tessa was about to ask another of her many questions when Will suddenly skidded to a stop, Tessa actually running into his back this time. Then she heard it, two sets of footsteps and murmured voices. Will whipped into action, whirling Tessa around and pushing her into the large indent of a doorway to their left. His body followed hers, crowding her into the crevice in the corner of the door's frame, flattening them both against the side of the door. Will reached behind Tessa and tried the doorknob, finding it locked. He swore softly under his breath. They were both only partially concealed and if whoever was about to walk by only turned their head to the right they would be found out. Tessa prayed whoever was coming was too involved in their conversation to look around much.

Tessa was now kiddy-cornered against the edge of the door and its large frame, her back crushed uncomfortably into the corner and the doorknob pressing hard into her hip. Will was standing directly in front of her, his legs on either side of her own and his body almost caging hers. He was so close that when he breathed in his chest pressed against hers, his breath gliding out against the side of her neck, making her loose curls flutter against her skin. He looked down at her, his eyes wide and perfectly round, mouthing a silent, "shhh."

Tessa gave a tiny nod and closed her eyes, taking the smallest breaths she could manage, trying to shrink into the wall.

Her heart hammered against her chest as the voices got closer. They were familiar voices, both low and male. Ritecliffe and Blackwell, she thought. As they approached she could begin to make out their words.

"…against the law!" Ritecliffe was saying in his anxious, jittery voice.

"The law is for Nephilim, it does not extend to Downworlders," Blackwell responded in a hard voice.

"But we're not even certain what she is! What if it kills her? How would we explain it?"

The footsteps stopped suddenly and Tessa imagined Blackwell turning to face Ritecliffe, towering over him menacingly. "We are the Clave, we answer to no one," Blackwell growled. "We are the law. One little girl will not stand in our way!"

There was a pause and Tessa could almost hear Ritecliffe trembling in fear. When he spoke again it was in a wavering voice.

"But," Ritecliffe stuttered out. "But what if she's telling the truth?"

"She's not. Her parents would not resurface and not contact her," Blackwell answered coldly, his voice beginning to tremble in anger. "She's helping them and lying to our faces about it. She's making a mockery of the Clave! I want the truth and then I want her silenced! Permanently!"

Tessa could hear the pure unadulterated rage in Blackwell's voice, and it made her hands begin to shake. This man was after more than a confession, he was after her life.

The full magnitude of what she was doing now began to sink in. She was running away from the Clave, knowingly disobeying them, an act that would certainly be taken as proof of her guilt. If she was unsuccessful in finding Caldwell and learning the truth to clear her name, she had just signed her death warrant.

She opened her eyes and found Will's big blue orbs staring back at her. His eyes were not gentle, not comforting like Jem's would have been at that moment, but rather filled with fire. They were swirling with a raw determination, blazing the way they only did when he was in a fit of intense passion. They were daring her to feel angry, not broken, to use the fear she felt not as a reason to fall apart, but as a means of finding strength. And somehow it reassured her.

Ritecliffe and Blackwell were continuing on now, passing where she and Will hid without a second glance, their footsteps and voices becoming softer as they rounded the corner and disappeared down the hall.

Will took a step back, disentangling himself from Tessa and stared at her hard. "Do you still want to do this? It's not to late to back out."

"No," Tessa said firmly. "I want to finish this."

Will gave a slight nod. "Ok."

He turned and wordlessly they began moving again. Will wasn't running anymore, but his long strides were so swift that Tessa had to jog to keep up. After almost a minute, Will suddenly came to a stop in front of one of the massive statues that lined the halls. It was a statue of an angel, which one Tessa had no idea, but it was quite the imposing figure, towering fifteen feet over them, its placid gray face staring down at them from high above.

Will reached behind the statue, feeling up and down the wall for something. Tessa was about to ask what he was doing when he seemed find what he was looking for, giving it a little shove. Suddenly the wall behind the statue gave way, pushing back to reveal a small doorway that led into darkness.

Tessa was stunned into silence. "I told you, it's pretty secret," Will said in answer to her surprised expression. He ducked through the doorway, becoming lost in the darkness momentarily before just his head popped back out. "Are you coming?" he asked.

Tessa nodded and hesitantly followed Will into the darkness.

As soon as she passed through the doorway the wall swung back into place, cutting off all light. But just before they were plunged into complete darkness, a bright white light erupted into life, showering herself and everything in a five-foot radius in pale light. Tessa looked around in confusion for a moment before catching sight of Will, standing a few feet away half concealed in darkness, the light glinting off his eyes. He was looking at her, but not at her eyes, rather at her chest. She looked down too and realized that the light was coming from the necklace tied securely around her neck. Of course. Tessa thought. Jem.

Tessa picked the star-shaped stone up off her chest in awe, twirling it between her fingers and watching the witchlight flash across the walls before glancing up and meeting Will's gaze. "Jem gave it to me," she said in answer to his unasked question.

"I see," Will said stiffly. "Well if you're done admiring your pretty new gift, we really must be going." He turned his back on her and walked forward, bringing his own witchstone out of his pocket and igniting it. Between the two stones there was now enough light for Tessa to make out her surroundings. She found herself in a narrow stone passageway, three feet wide and under six feet tall. Will, up ahead of her, had to crouch down slightly to fit. The walls and floor were made of the same uneven gray stone, dipping in some places and jutting out sharply in others. It looked as though whoever had made the passage had been in a great hurry and had cared little about how it looked. Or how maneuverable it was. The uneven floor kept tripping Tessa, causing her shoulder to bang repeatedly into the sharp edges of the wall. She heard her dress rip after one particularly painful stumble and cursed silently to herself. This was the first time she had worn the dress, and would most likely be the last.

Up ahead Will had stopped and he was crouched over slightly, his face pressed against the wall. Tessa thought perhaps he was going to be sick, but when she finally reached him, rubbing her aching shoulder tenderly, she found him looking though a small peephole in the wall beside a small door that was so well disguised she would have mistaken it for part of the wall had her attention not been drawn to it.

He turned to her, his eyes glinting with excitement. "Ok this is it," he said in a rushed voice. "Outside of this door is the west wall. It takes the guards two minutes to circle the perimeter, that means we have one minute before they see us. They'll be coming from the left, from the driveway. We only have one chance at this. When I say run, you run. Head for the wall and start climbing, understand? Don't stop, don't hesitate, just go." He pressed his eye back to the peephole hurriedly as Tessa tried to process what he had just said.

"Wait, Will, how am I supposed to—"

"Go!" he bellowed, cutting her off and swinging open the door revealing an empty courtyard and an ivy-covered wall ten yards away. He darted out the door, already halfway across the lawn before Tessa had even made it out of the doorway. She dashed after him, making it to the foot of the wall just as Will jumped, landing halfway up the wall among the vines, using them as footing to swing himself up to the top. It had taken him five seconds flat to reach the top of the wall.

Tessa grabbed at the vines that covered the stone wall and gave an uncertain tug, looking up to where Will sat crouched ten feet above her on the top of the wall. The vines hardly seemed secure, but she had no choice. Taking a deep breath she grabbed a vine and began climbing.

She was almost to the top, just a few more steps and she would be safe. She reached for a higher hanging vine, grabbing it and bringing her foot up. But as she stepped down her skirt caught under her shoe, causing it to slip on the slick silk material. She lost her footing, plunging downward, the vines scraping painfully at her arms and face, until suddenly an arm shot out, grabbing her wrist and stopping her fall. Will was leaning over the top of the wall on his stomach, one arm holding her as she dangled helplessly, the other holding himself to the wall. His muscles strained through his shirt as he fought to hold onto her, his jaw clenched in tension. They stayed suspended like that for a moment, both afraid to make any sudden movements lest Will lose his grip. Suddenly the soft crunch of gravel could be heard coming from the driveway. Tessa looked up at Will, fear swirling in her eyes.

"Climb," he grunted out in a strained voice.

And she did. Somehow finding her footing again, Tessa pushed herself up the wall, Will pulling her by the arm until she was just about at the top. With one last tug, Will heaved her up and over the edge.

But she didn't stop. The momentum was too much, crashing her into Will and carrying them both over the opposite edge of the wall and down the other side.

There was the briefest moment of weightlessness before Will landed with a resounding thud in a bush, Tessa landing on top of him a second later.

They stayed like that for a moment, the air knocked our of both of them, before eventually Tessa rolled off of Will and onto her back, groaning as she lay sprawled out next to him.

"Well I don't know what you're groaning about, you landed on me," Will grunted out in a strained voice.

Both just laid there, chests heaving, pieces of ivy and leaves fluttering around their heads until eventually settling on the ground.

"Anything broken?" Will asked finally.

"I don't think so," Tessa moaned out. "Though I doubt that bush will ever look the same."

She heard Will chuckle softly next to her. There was a soft rustling and then his face suddenly appeared over hers. There were twigs and pieces of bush stuck in his messy hair, but he seemed otherwise unharmed. A goofy grin was plastered on his face. "Not my smoothest escape to date, I must admit, but I'll take it." He extended his hand down to her, offering to help her up.

Tessa took a deep breath, grabbing his hand and wincing slightly as he hoisted her up to the standing position. "I'm going to be black and blue tomorrow," she sighed.

"I can nurse you back to health if you like," Will grinned at her. "I do everything, sponge baths, fully body massages, tension relief—"

"Can we just keep moving please?" Tessa cut him off.

"Certainly," Will said, the grin never leaving his face. "Though my offer still stands."

He led them out from the bushes and onto the cobbled sidewalk, Tessa grumbling in irritation while trying to remove all the twigs from her hair. The walk to Blockard's Tavern was a short one, taking them only a few minutes. The tavern seemed deserted, though it was still daylight hours. Tessa supposed that its real business came when the sun had set and the creatures of the night came out to prowl the streets of London. She was certain that in a few hours time, this exact spot would be crawling with life, not all of which would be human.

But Tessa wasn't thinking about the deserted tavern anymore because there, parked directly in front just as Will had said it would be was the carriage. Tessa sighed in relief at the sight of it. Though she knew she would soon be going to a place possibly even more dangerous than the Institute had now become, the carriage offered a momentary reprieve, a small calm before the storm.

Will walked up the side of the carriage, heading to the drivers seat, Tessa close behind. "Timothy, we're here," he called out to the driver as he reached the front. "We're ready to g—" He cut off, eyes going wide. Tessa was about to ask him what was wrong when she saw what had caused his reaction, her mouth falling open.

There, sitting in the drivers seat with his top hat and golden cane, was Jem.

"You didn't really think I'd let you two go off without me and miss all the fun, did you?" he asked, grinning down at them.

Will's look of astonishment transformed into a large smile, his eyes lighting up. He gave a loud laugh, jumping up into the drivers seat next to Jem, grabbing him by the shoulders. "Well done!" he exclaimed. "Very well done!"

Jem smiled back at him, his brows suddenly furrowing as he took his Will's appearance. "I must say, it seems my escape from the Institute went much more smoothly than yours."

"Nonesense," Will scoffed. "We just took a slight detour through the garden. The shrubbery is lovely this time of year." He eyed Jem suspiciously. "How did you get out?"

"I walked out the front door," Jem answered simply. "No one stopped me. I don't think they pay particularly close attention to Shadowhunters with disabilities. They don't suspect I'd go out of my way to go find trouble."

"How little they know you," Will grinned.

"Indeed," he smiled back. His eyes then shifted behind Will to where Tessa stood, watching them silently. "Tessa," he said, inclining his head to her in a gentle greeting, a soft smile spreading across his face.

"Hello Jem," Tessa replied, shooting him a smile of her own.

"Right then," Will said eagerly, "let's go find out how this whole mess got started, shall we?"