Hey guys!
I'm really happy with the progress that I'm making, hopefully I will be done before Clockwork Princess comes out :)
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE INFERNAL DEVICES
You have three days shadow hunters. Three days until the invasion starts, give up on your investigation, I have no weaknesses.
Charlotte tapped the small button indicated on the top corner of the left on the device. It stopped for a moment before she could tap it again to replay it. The raspy words of the old man whispered violently into her ears, threatening her in the sentences and in between the lines that held subconscious messages. She had replayed his words over and over for the whole night, discarding the thought of it having to break if she was overworking it. She closed her eyes and ran her fingers through her bed head hair. She couldn't sleep at all, not with that thought of three days in her mind. Charlotte knew that this was a warning. The invasion would be in three days and they were not completely ready yet. She was scared, and over time that fear grew into stress.
Charlotte needed answers, and fast. She needed to devise a plan among with the Clave, well for starters, she need to tell the Clave first. She wondered what their faces would be like, what words they would speak, what arguments and arousing panics that would fill the room and Charlotte would be in the middle of it. Then they would ask of that device that held the three days, and she would respond of a spy in their midst. Oh, how they would think that Charlotte was a blind lunatic for not being aware of Mortmain's obvious plans, for example: Spies. She would die of embarrassment, and it would be much more painful that Benedict Lightwood's case of demon pox.
She twirled the small mechanism in her hands before settling it on her table after convincing herself that she heard more than enough. Charlotte turned her gaze onto blank sheets of stationary paper. She rubbed her temples as she took a piece of paper unwillingly as she readied her feather quill pen. Charlotte thought for a moment before lowering her hand on the smooth sheet of paper. Her pen bobbed uneasily in her fingers as she began to write to the Clave. Charlotte steadied her work, carving out her letters with elegance meticulously.
I, Charlotte Branwell, request a meeting for tomorrow if this is possible. My other fellow shadow hunters will accompany me with no one absent at that day. I wish to speak to the Clave for urgent reasons that will be discussed in the meeting. I hope-
Her quill and her concentration clattered onto the table. Her hand was shaking as the once elegant t turned into a scribble monster. She turned around to see Henry standing at the door, closing the door knob carefully as his eyes was set on her. Charlotte sighed as she took the ruined letter and crumbled it
She shook her head; she didn't peel her eyes off the paper."I'm sorry; I just had a lot of work to do. And, I couldn't sleep."
His eyes averted to the paper where she was writing on. "The Clave? Charlotte dear that can wait until tomorrow." He put his fingers on the sheet as he started to pull it out from her hands.
Charlotte held onto the paper as if it was her own life."Henry no! I must do it now! We must have a meeting before the invasion starts!" She snapped the paper out of his hands and faced him.
"Mortmain is only trying to scare the dickens out of us. It's not going to happen in three days." He assured her.
"I'm sorry darling, but I just can't believe that." She looked painfully at him. He sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. A sign that he gave in.
"Let me help you with it." Henry demanded as he took a chair and sat down across from his wife. Charlotte looked helplessly at him. "That way you can finish faster so you can have a night's rest." He raised his hand and placed it onto her cheek. She breathed as she let his hand carry the weight of her head. "You've been stressing every night about different things." He said gently."I'm worried about you."
She smiled as he lowered his hand. She put her hand on his as their fingers curled together. "Thank-you for your concern Henry, I appreciate it." He smiled as he glanced at the blank sheet of paper that Charlotte began with.
"Shall we begin?"
After that previous night when Henry helped Charlotte with her letter, it was already time to attend the meeting with the Clave. Everyone was informed this right in the morning, and every one a bit confused and startled about the day's sudden plans but everyone understood. The Clave needed to know of Mortmain's plans; they needed strategies that Charlotte hoped that they would discuss over. After breakfast, everyone got ready for the trip. Will forced Cecily to stay in the institute to rest after her puppy face performance. Tessa did the same thing, only with Jem. She insisted that he stayed with Cecily because of his critical state (also, they didn't want an episode happening in the meeting). Will showed Cecily where he kept the yin fen if Jem ever needed it.
And for everybody else, they went to the meeting with Charlotte and Henry. Gideon was loosening the collar of his shirt. It felt so odd having to side with the London institute instead with his overly proud father. He knew that he wasn't coming, in the position he was in no one wanted to see a green-blue man sitting with the Clave, ready to empty his stomach. But he smiled as Sophie politely gave him his top hat. Instinctively, he kissed the top of her head in a way of saying goodbye for now. She replied with hot cheeks that flamed her skin as she gingerly walked up the stairs.
Jem stood by his favorite cat: church as he waved goodbye to his companions until the heavy doors closed. He sighed as he turned in Church's direction.
"Shall we head off to the library my furry feline?" He asked, and with a stroke of his delicate white fur, they headed off to the west with Church meowing all the way.
Meanwhile, Tessa, Will, Gideon, Jessamine, Charlotte and Henry sat on the carriage as they waited patiently until it stopped. It was pleasantly quite and nobody seemed to care. Everyone was busy drowning themselves in their thoughts. Jessamine was stretching her gloved hand as she patted her lips after she yawned; it was another day that would be wasted. Well, to her anyway. She hated going to meetings, especially with Charlotte. But, this time, she came prepared. Hidden away in her weapon transforming purse was a book. Dog eared and crinkled was a romance novel that she recently started. She wondered if Tessa brought her book with her too, the one that Jessamine forced her to read.
"We're here." Cyril said as he came around and opened the carriage door. Everyone filed out of the dark, crowded place as they stepped into the beaming sunlight. Yes, beaming sunlight. Quite odd for a place like London, but everyone took advantage of it. Tessa could see people outside, having a picnic or having a splendid walk in the park, nice to be out instead of isolating yourself in your home.
They went through the secret passage way and over the guarded doors until they reached the main hall. It was full of shadow hunters, talking about in little groupies here and there. Nobody seemed notice them as they made their way inside. It was fascinating, seeing all sorts of people that practiced the shadow hunter life. Different faces, different personalities. Tessa felt like saying a hello to every single one of them. They were all waiting for the doors to open, so that they could start the meeting.
Charlotte nodded to the rest of the group that they would meet each other inside the meeting room. Jessamine disappeared in the crowd while Gideon, Tessa and Will were left by themselves. Leaving their undiscussed conversations to the loud talking noise that filled the room.
"Will, is that you?"
He turned around to see a familiar face. It was a lady, looking no older than sixteen. She was a brunette with straight hair that matched her cat like brown eyes. She had a heart shaped face that was pale as snow. She was quite small for her age but she had nice angled curves and nice frame.
"Pearl?" He asked, his eyes widening
"That's my name!" She smiled as he hugged her. Tessa couldn't help but feel a twitch of jealousy that spread like a quick fire in her heart.
"It's been so long" He said as they pulled apart. The girl looked at Tessa and Gideon with gleaming eyes.
"Tessa, Gideon. This is Penelope Brisette. Pearl, meet Tessa and Gideon." Will said as they exchanged hands.
"We're childhood friends when Will was eleven." She explained."I haven't seen him in so long."
"You look well. How is your family? Your brother?"
She waved her hand dismissively as she kept on grinning. "They're fine, don't tell but I've been contacting them." She said. Tessa remembered that shadow hunters weren't allowed to stay in touch with their former families.
"How are you?"She asked
"Fine, thank you for asking."
Tessa could tell that Will was trying not to have a discussion about his current life. She could tell it by the tightness of his voice.
Penelope's eyes averted to Tessa. "I haven't seen you around before." She said, looking her up and down. "Are you a shadowhunter?"
She knew the answer to this question well. She knew that she needed to address herself as a shadowhunter since demons and warlocks are not allowed inside unless they were summoned. In her clearest lying voice yet she said. "Yes, I recently just became one Miss. Brisette."
Penelope nodded."Please, call me Pearl. Everyone does." Tessa smiled in agreement.
"What are you doing here?" He asked as she peeled her eyes off of Tessa.
"The Clave ordered two representatives from each institute. If you are wondering what institute I am from, I live in Edinburgh institute, I was just transferred from the Madrid institute." She replied.
Will looked around, scanning the crowd. "Where is your other representative?"
"Please wait, I'll go find him." And with that, she disappeared into the crowd of people. In a few seconds she came back with someone that she was dragging along. Pearl tugged a boy that was quite tall than her with brown tousled locks. He had dull black eyes but he looked attractive in a way. He seemed quite puzzled with Pearl.
"Everyone, this is Isaiah." She introduced, she was still clinging onto him. "Isaiah, this is Will, Tessa and Gideon."
He tipped his hat politely. "How do you do?"
"He's my step brother." She informed. Tessa's assumptions dropped and her hopes crumbled.
Isaiah checked his pocket watch. It was silver with a rose golden carving on it, it looked stunningly beautiful.
"That's a lovely pocket watch you have there." Gideon complimented.
He smiled. "Thank you" and with that he closed the watch and put it back where it once held. "If I'm not mistaken the doors should open…."
Suddenly the heavy shadowhunter marked doors gleamed a bright blue before opening automatically. People huddled together as they went inside the meeting room but the five remained still.
"Now." He smiled as he gestured to the open doors. They went inside and said goodbye as they parted to take their seats. It was the same room that they had their last conference. The same chilly air, the growing tension and the high seats that looked upon the council, the Clave sat patiently in their seat with their hands on their laps, sitting perfectly still. They met Charlotte, Henry and Jessamine in their seats. (The first row)They sat down and said nothing as everyone else took their seats until the doors closed.
When they did, the one with the first seat and with a blue sapphire robe held up his hand. "We are brought here by the urgent request of Mr. and Miss Branwell of the London Institute. We are here to listen and to help. Anyone is free to object or to support." He glanced over to Charlotte. "Miss Branwell, please come to the stand."
Obediently, she stood up as she walked down to the stand where she was supposed to talk. In her hands was a small sheet of paper, Tessa could see how nervous she was, her hands were shaking so bad that she dropped the paper. When she reached it, she cleared her voice as she began to speak in her loud and projected voice.
"I wish to discuss to you all about the investigation that the London Institute is working on. This case is regarding of Axel Mortmain and his plans. And to assure you, we have been working hard to capture this evil man and bring him to justice.
"As promised, we have gathered evidence from Mortmain's Manor. We found this manor by the help of another fellow shadowhunter who is called Cecily Herondale, brother of Will Owen Herondale. We have searched through his property to find blueprints of mechanisms that he was working on. We believe that this has a connection to his clockwork army. We also found a journal containing a vital piece of evidence. It was a letter sent from Mortmain to Elizabeth Gray."
The room began to buzz with low murmurs. Tessa couldn't help but sink down in her seat as her face began to redden. Next to her, Will wanted to hold her hand to tell her that it was alright, but he knew that he couldn't bring himself to do it.
"Elizabeth Gray? Isn't that the birth mother of Miss. Tessa Gray?" Someone asked from the crowd.
"Yes." Charlotte answered, the buzz seemed to grow louder but she managed to project her voice even further."We have yet to uncover why Elizabeth Gray is linked to Axel Mortmain."
"Have you checked the Shadowhunter archive in the City of Glass?" The one is the emerald green robe holding an amethyst staff asked.
"We have." Will said as he stood up."It claims that Miss. Tessa Gray's mother is indeed a shadowhunter, but as we looked deeper into the files we have found nothing."
"Is that right Mr. Herondale? Nothing at all?" The one in the blue robe said.
"That's right sir." He answered, the one in the robe nodded as Will took his seat.
"Please continue Miss. Branwell." He said
She cleared her throat again. "While we were investigating our case we found a spy in our midst. It has been recording all of what we have learned." Her throat tightened, she knew that she was going to die of embarrassment right now, at this very spot. Murmurs filled the room, louder than the previous one. They (Henry, Jessamine, Gideon, Tessa and Will) could hear words like."Spy? How unfortunate." "How could Charlotte let this one slip out of her hands?" "Where is Benedict Lightwood?"
Charlotte swallowed the lump forming in her throat. "We have found the spy." She looked at Will who seemed to look painfully at her, but nodded in understanding. "The spy was Cecily Herondale
"But Miss. Herondale was not aware of this. While she was staying in Mortmain's manor he implanted a device that would use her body as a host so it could obtain information without making people suspicious about automen. But, the mechanism was also designed to hurt other people as well."
"Has it hurt anyone?" Someone asked in the crowd.
"Yes. 'she' has tried to injure Miss. Tessa Gray and the mundane servant Sophie Collins."
"I do not understand." The one in the yellow robe said. "You say that this device was designed by Mortmain and I understand that he wants Miss. Gray. Why would this device hurt Miss. Gray when his plot is to kidnap her? Why did the device also hurt the mundane too?"
"We believe that Mortmain is warning us." Charlotte said. "In a way, he is telling us to give up Tessa and lend her over to him unless we want our fellow friends hurt."
The man in the yellow robe nodded."That makes sense." He said. "Go on."
"When we knew of this spy, we had Brother Enoch remove the device from her. My husband examined it and found a tape recordings of our meetings along with other unimportant discussions. He has also found a tape recording with Mortmain's voice."She held up the small device to let everyone see, then she tapped the button and let the recording run.
You have three days shadow hunters. Three days until the invasion starts, give up on your investigation, I have no weaknesses.
Then everybody started to panic.