So, it's been a long time, but here's a long chapter for you guys. Maybe I can get a couple more out over the holiday, we'll see.

Chapter 4

The Nightmare Twins

Her head was pounding as Tessa slowly opened her eyes and squinted into the darkness. She was confused and disorientated and tried to move her arms but they felt like lead.

Numb. They're numb, great.

The only thing she could tell was that she was lying diagonally on a bed in the dark with her arms over head and what felt like cloth against her wrists holding them against most likely a bedpost.

Shifting through her memories she tried to figure out how she had gotten into such a bizarre situation. And then suddenly she remembered the two strange identical girls and how the second one had thrown her head against the wall. No wonder her head was pounding.

She let out a groan. I come to a party to meet a few people and have some fun and what happens? I wake up tied to a bed in the dark because of two insane chicks.

Breathing in deeply to calm herself, Tessa assessed the situation. She needed to get out of this room, find Sophie, and get the hell away from these people who thought it was fun tying someone up because of 'tradition'. Luckily it didn't feel like metal was attached to her wrists but cloth of some sort. Her legs were also left loose and free to move.

Excellent.

Getting her feet onto the mattress and under her legs she pushed herself up towards the bedframe. She kept propelling herself forward until her head, unfortunately, hit the bedframe creating a lot of noise and adding to an already painful headache.

She waited, but didn't hear anybody coming, only the somewhat subdued sounds of the music blaring. I wonder where the two girls are. Did they really just leave me here by myself?

Shaking her head at the thought she didn't have time for Tessa stretched her head up to where the cloth was attached to her wrists and bit down trying to break her arms free. Biting down she realized it was, unfortunately, rope and not a scarf as she had been hoping.

What insane person carries rope around with them? Tessa wondered before rolling her eyes. The same person that ties random people to beds.

She kept pulling at the rope with her teeth to no avail. Switching tactics she rolled herself back and forth across the bed hoping that the excessive movement would allow the ropes to loosen enough for her to break free. It still did nothing. Trying a new tactic using her feet once again she pulled herself towards the end of the bed and hooking her feet over the bed's edge began pulling herself downward hoping for a loosening of the ropes.

While something did loosen, it was not the ropes as Tessa had hoped, and Tessa let out a shriek as the bedpost that she had been tied to fell on top of her.

"Owwww," Tessa whimpered as she tried to keep herself awake and not black out again. Her head pounded harder as she saw flashes and stars.

Taking a few deep breaths Tessa slowly and carefully pulled herself over to the edge of the bed and slid off, dragging her arms across the broken bedpost. She unceremoniously fell to the floor as her arms, still numb and tied with rope, fell into her lap.

She looked around, her eyes having adjusted somewhat to the darkness as pieces of furniture started to appear clearly before her. To her left she could see a desk and a lamp set under a window, in front of her a dresser with what looked like trophies of some sort, and to her right boxes pilled next to a door.

As the pins and needles feeling set into her arms, Tessa sat and waited taking in a few breaths before she tried to stand and walk out the door.

A few minutes went by and as she was getting ready to get up and leave she heard a noise outside the door. Footsteps.

Fear clamped down as Tessa's mind went back to the two girls who had put her in this situation to begin with. Without thinking she stood up, grabbed one of the trophies off the dresser, and stood between the door and the boxes with trophy in hand.

The footsteps stopped outside the door. Tessa's breathing stopped as she listened and waited. Light poured in as the door slowly opened. Without hesitation Tessa turned to the intruder and swung the trophy at her head.

There was a clash as the weapon hit its target, a yelp sounded, and the trophy was yanked out of her grip. Tessa blinked from the onslaught of light as she took in her intruder before realizing her mistake.

It wasn't one of the identical sisters standing in front of her, far from it. Instead the boy from earlier was standing there rubbing the side of his face and looking pissed.

Feeling guilty at her brashness that had caused her to attack the wrong person Tessa was about to apologize to him when his expression suddenly changed from anger to amusement and he started laughing.

The feeling of guilt vanished replaced by irritation. "Why are you laughing!?" she snapped.

The boy shook his head, still smiling, before replying, "So, you're the unlucky freshman this year to be taken for the annual tradition." He looked down at her arms and the ropes tied around her wrists before shifting his gaze over her shoulder towards the bed. "I have to say I think it's been awhile since someone escaped, or have come close to it anyway." His gaze shifted back to her as he chuckled again, "Though it's hard to commend you when you look so, well…"

"When I look so what?" Tessa asked him, confused and annoyed.

Flipping on the light switch next to the door as the room flooded with light, he pointed towards the mirror over the dresser. As Tessa walked over towards the mirror, the boy surveyed the room more and whistled when he saw the broken bedpost lying on the bed.

"Oh, Martin's not going to like this," he commented.

Standing in front of the mirror Tessa stared in dismay at her drawn on eyeglasses and full beard that went over her chin and halfway-down her neck.

"Kudos, you can grow a beard better than I can."

Tessa snapped her head back over to the boy with a narrowed gaze. "So, is this what you guys do for fun around here? Kidnap, tie up, and draw with marker all over a freshman's face because of some stupid tradition."

Shrugging the boy stepped closer to her as Tessa backed up slightly. "Well, there's a little more to it than just sharpie. But I guess your captors have gotten distracted for the moment to finish whatever they had planned." He looked over to the open door. "At this very moment they might be headed this way to finish their work." He looked back over at her as he tilted his head. "They're not going to be very happy if they find an empty room. Might even punish me if they know I let you escape."

"With what? Makeup?" Tessa asked sarcastically.

"Oh, I think that would be a punishment for everyone else. It would be a crime to make me look more dashing than I already am." Tessa rolled her eyes as he jerked his head towards the door. "Lucky for you I enjoy causing frustration for others; it's my number one hobby. Come on before whichever senior it was comes back."

Without any more encouragement Tessa went out the door and into the hallway as the boy switched off the lights and closed the bedroom door. The music was still blaring from downstairs probably masking any noise from upstairs which caused Tessa to start to wonder how this boy found her.

Switching her gaze back towards him, she asked, "How did you know I was in there?"

"I didn't," he replied. He looked slightly disheartened when he added, "I was looking for someone else actually." He shook his head as he gestured down the hallway. "We can hide out in the bathroom for a bit while you wash off the marker from your face and you can tell me exactly what happened."

Remembering the marks across her face Tessa eagerly followed his lead.

Reaching the bathroom Tessa immediately hit the sink, turning on the faucet, and viciously scrubbing at her face and neck and realizing this was going to take a while. The boy pulled the door shut and locked it before going and sitting on the edge of the tub. "So…" he asked as she continued to scrub, "…who were your captors?"

Tessa flinched from the memory as she answered, "I don't know their names. Just that they were two girls who looked alike. Twins, maybe?"

"Ah," the boy replied. "Yeah, those would be the Dark Twins, then. I don't know too much about them other than they're a bit morose and morbid."

"Dark Twins?" Tessa asked tilting her head over the sink to look at him.

"They're last name is Dark and like I said their a bit morbid. They're very into…well, let's just say they're always been overeager when it comes to dissection day." He shivered as a memory struck him. "One of them was a teacher assistant for my biology class one day and, well, she was not shy on the facts about everything that occurs to a corpse."

"That doesn't sound so bad."

"We were dissecting frogs and she was rambling on about human corpses."

"Oh." Tessa shifted her gaze back to the sink as she scrubbed harder, wanting to get far away from this house and the Dark Twins.

"Yeah. Oh, hey, let me help you with that." He stood up and walked over to her and taking hold of her wrists he started to untie the ropes that had her hands still bound together.

"Uh…thanks," Tessa replied nervously. He looked back up at her and smiled before shifting his attention back to the knot. Tessa swallowed hard as she took more of an inspection of him.

He was about her height, an inch of two taller. He appeared to be in shape most likely due to some type of sport. And as she took in another deep breath she could smell a dash of cologne on him. She shifted her gaze back to the mirror in front of her and took in the sight of herself. Her hair was a mess and while she had scrubbed away a good portion of the marker, there was still a jumble of lines over her face and down her neck. In other words she looked like a hot mess, while he was anything but.

How attractive, Tessa, you sure know how to make first impressions…or, well, second impressions, I guess.

"There you go," the boy announced as he finished untying the last of the rope as she looked back over at him. "That should be easier on you now," he added as he looked back up at her.

He seemed to realize how close he had gotten to her as he looked a bit sheepish and took a step back, scratching his neck, and looking around the room.

Embarrassed, Tessa shifted her attention on to scrubbing once more before she instantly froze.

"Where is she!?" a voice screeched out. "How the hell did she knock down a bedpost! I told you, you needed to tie her legs together."

"How was I supposed to know the Bakshaw's had such cheap furniture? Besides, she couldn't have gotten too far, not with the face we drew her."

Terrified, Tessa looked over at the boy who appeared nervous before calmness set over him. He glanced over at her and with a smirk said, "I've got this covered. You just finish cleaning up and get downstairs and disappear into the crowd as quickly as possible. For once, it's best to be the sheep following the flock." He went over to the door, paused, took in a breath, and opened the door before stepping out and closing the door.

Tessa listened to his retreating footsteps that sounded odd. She couldn't understand why he was walking in such a weird pattern until she heard his voice again.

"He—hey, puppy, where'd you scamper off to?" he asked, slurring his words.

"Oh, now what?" one of the sisters asked.

"Oh! Oh, why if it isn't the si—sistersss of the nights! How has it been lately…under theeee…Earth?"

"Go to hell, Herondale!" she snapped back.

"Is that an invitation, how swe—sweet of youse."

"Ugh."

"What's going on?" the other sister asked.

"It's just Herondale. Drunk, nothing new. Come on, let's go this way."

"Wh—what…why are you running away from me? I don't bite, pro—mise." He let out a chuckle. "Unless I want you to. Get it. Hey, ha—have you guys seen a puppy, around?"

Tessa listened as their voices, the sisters annoyed and frustrated, and the boy's gleeful and amused, got further away. She let out a sigh and a prayer of thanks as she scrubbed harder to finish the job and get out and away as quick as possible.

"Will! Will!" Amelie called out, looking around the crowd. She was annoyed and frustrated when she saw no sight of him as well as a little worried. She had chewed him out earlier and they had gone their separate ways to cool down, but she should have seen him by now.

"Oh, hey Amelie," a voice behind her.

Be cool, Amelie, play it cool. Just stay calm. Smile and everything will be alright.

She turned a smile planted on her face as she looked over at Sophie standing behind her.

At least it's not Jessamine. Oh, what am I going to do about her? She knows…no, she doesn't know, she has no clue. Relax.

"Hey, Sophie. You decided stay around town after all?"

She nodded and shrugged. "Yeah, I decided it wouldn't kill me to finish out high school here, it's only a couple more years anyway." She paused and looked around. "I actually brought a friend along with me. You haven't seen her have you? Tall girl, brunette, was wearing a blue shirt, was probably looking a bit lost. She just recently moved here."

That sounds like that girl…no, just no….

Amelie shook her head and let out a shaky laugh. "No, haven't seen her. Looking for someone as well. But good luck on finding your friend."

"Oh, thanks," Sophie said as Amelie started to turn away. "Hey, are you looking for Will?"

"Yeah," Amelie said turning her gaze back towards Sophie. "Have you seen him?"

"I think I saw him go upstairs a little while ago." Sophie gestured toward the stairs as Amelie nodded a thanks. "Honestly, I don't know what you see in him Amelie, you could do better." She turned away as Amelie looked over at the stairs.

She urged her feet to move towards the stairs, but couldn't seem to make them buedge. What's he doing upstairs? Why did he go upstairs? Did he—

Amelie's thoughts froze as her gaze locked on the girl from earlier stepping downstairs the girl's gaze shifting nervously all over the place. She was lanky with disheveled hair that looked like she had just rolled out of bed, and there was a nervous energy about her. She still had a ways of growing ahead of her, but Amelie could see quite a bit of potential in the years to come. She wasn't even all that unattractive now and as she took the final steps on the stairs she vanished into the crowd.

Amelie realized this must have been the new girl going by Sophie's description. She should probably go find Sophie and tell her or at least go find and confront Will, but she couldn't do either. Her breath came short and instead she turned and headed outside.

Moving through the crowd Tessa looked around to see if she could find the boy or Sophie while trying to stay out of sights of the Twin Nightmares as she liked to think of them now. She came across neither as she bumped into someone else.

"Oh, hey partner!" Jessamine called out as she pulled a surprised Tessa into a hug. She shifted back to her group, her arm around Tessa's shoulder, as she announced, "This is Tessa Gray. My partner in Mr. Ross's boring class. Yawn."

The group chuckled as one of the guys stuck out his hand. "Gabriel Lightwood, pleasure."

"Nice to meet you," Tessa replied as she shook his hand.

"Would you care for a drink?" he asked.

She shook her head. "No thank you. I—"

"Aw, Gabes, how gentlemanly of you," Jessie interrupted Tessa as Gabriel grimaced.

"I told you before Jessie not to call me that."

Jessie rolled her eyes as she leaned into Tessa and said, "Ignore him. He's just being a pain tonight because someone got the better of him tonight."

"Do not bring that up," Gabriel snapped, clenching and unclenching his hand, as Jessamine laughed.

"Oh, he gets under your skin way too easily Gabe."

"Stop calling me that!" Gabriel snapped as Jessamine just continued to laugh. "Or I swear Herondale won't be the only—"

"Uh, sorry to interrupt, but I really need to get going." Tessa shrugged out from under Jessamine's arm causing Jessie to pout before she turned her attention over to the girl beside her.

"Mindy, would you be a dear and…"

Tessa didn't wait and stay to hear the end of that conversation as she bolted away from that dysfunctional group. She really needed to find Sophie and leave already.

She stretched out her neck in her search to find Sophie.

"Well there you are. Where have you been all this time?"

Relief swept through Tessa as she turned and saw Sophie approaching her.

"Let's just say I was tied up. Can you take me home?"

Sophie looked slightly puzzled before nodding and replying, "Sure, I'm honestly starting to get sick of this party. Let's go."

"I'm so sorry, Tessa," Sophie said for the twelfth time as they walked towards her car. "I just saw someone I hadn't seen in a really long time and before I knew it I had wandered into this group reunion of old friends. I…I kinda forgot about you, I'm sorry. I never meant to leave you on your own. I can't believe the Dark Twins took you for the stupid, so-called 'tradition'. Ugh." They reached her car and she unlocked the door. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Tessa opened the passenger door and stepped inside. "Yeah, I'm fine. My head still hurts, but overall I'm fine. I just want to get out of here."

"Do you need to go to the hospital?"

"No, just take me home." Tessa laughed. "Honestly, right now I'm more afraid that Jessamine or someone might recognize me and try to keep me to stay here rather than the Nightmare Twins."

Sophie made a face as she joined Tessa in the car.

"You don't like Jessamine?"

Shaking her head Sophie replied, "It's a long story. But no, we don't really get along. I think she's a spoiled, pompous brat." She shrugged as she slammed the car door shut and started the car's engine. "But you can be friends with her if you want. Just…" She paused in buckling her seat-belt. "Watch your back."

She pulled away from the curve and drove down the street as Tessa thought this over and locked it into memory. She wasn't going to judge Jessamine just yet. True the girl seemed spoiled, but she wasn't going to discredit her from a friend completely. She didn't have that many too begin with. Besides, everyone has their flaws, but she would take Sophie's advice into consideration and be cautious around Jessamine.

After a few minutes Tessa decided to break the silence and tell Sophie about her other strange event of the night. As much as she hated to admit it she was curious to know the mystery boy's identity.

"Well I also had an interesting run-in with someone else," Tessa started. "With a boy."

"Oh?" Sophie asked with raised eyebrows. "Was he good-looking?"

"Well, uh." Tessa started blushing as she said, "Yeah, I guess people would say that. Anyway, I first met him when I was sitting by myself on the couch." Sophie looked slightly guilty at the mention of this. "We talked for a bit and then went our separate ways. I caught up with him later after my incident with the Dark Twins. He helped untie the rope from my hands and distracted them while I made my escape."

"Hmmm," Sophie said, "what did he look like?"

"Short, dark hair, blue eyes, fairly built," Tessa described as Sophie narrowed her eyes. "I think one of the Dark Sisters called him Herondale."

Sophie's eyes widened at this as she looked over at Tessa before narrowing her gaze.

"You know him?"

Turning her eyes back to the road Sophie replied, "Yeah, I know him and I'm giving you more than a warning of watching your back with him. I'm flat out telling you to stay away from him. Don't fall for whatever hero act he decided to pull off tonight. He's bad news that boy, he hasn't even been around town long and he's gotten a pretty horrible reputation about himself to the point nobody knows what's true or what's not. I'm not even sure if he knows what is or isn't true anymore."

"What's his name?"

"William Herondale," Sophie said and Tessa couldn't dismiss the slight bitterness in her tone as she said his name. "And like I said stay away from him."

By Sophie's tone Tessa knew not to pry instead she propped her elbow on the car door and rested her head against her open palm. For some reason she felt…disappointed. But then she remembered the girl from before who had yelling and shrieking at him over something. Yeah, she shouldn't have been too surprised by this.

It was late when Tessa arrived back home. All the lights were out in the household and as she stood in the doorway of the house. She waved at Sophie who had patiently waited to see that Tessa had unlocked the front door and was able to get into her house before driving away. It was a nice thing for her to do considering they didn't know each other that well, but maybe Sophie still felt bad about leaving her behind, either way Tessa still smiled, her spirits lifted. Maybe she had found one solid friend for the year.

Silently Tessa crept over the floorboards. She was supposed to be home a half an hour ago, which might not seem like a lot but to Aunt Harriet it meant everything. She was all about punctuality.

Reaching the corner Tessa looked into the living room but there was no sign of Aunt Harriet. She had half-expected to find Aunt Harriet curled up on the couch asleep waiting for her. But the pillows were upright against the couch's arms and the blankets were folded and set neatly in the middle of the couch. Everything was neat and organized…and perfect.

Tessa quickly shook her head of the thought. She needed to focus and get upstairs as quickly and quietly as possible. Aunt Harriet was still somewhere in the house waiting and watching and ready to pounce.

But as Tessa walked upstairs and into her room, she still heard nothing and started to wonder if Aunt Harriet was even home. Shrugging, she decided to consider herself lucky this time and not to ask too many questions as she got ready for bed.

"Amelie, wa—," Will began before the other line went dead again. Sighing he pulled the phone away from his ear and hung up his end, turning the phone off.

He sat there perplexed as he stared out into the street.

The door behind him opened but he didn't turn. "Still not answering?" Jem asked as he came to sit down next to him.

"No," Will answered before handing him back his phone, "But thanks."

Jem took his phone and placed it back into his pocket as he took a sip from his tea. The two boys were silent for a few minutes before Jem asked, "What did you do?"

Sighing, Will replied, "Nothing. Absolutely nothing. She's just being mental."

Looking at him sideways, Jem asked, "Are you sure?"

"Yes." Frustratingly he ran his hands through his hair. "I did nothing wrong. All I did was talk to some girl and now she refuses to talk to me. She's being psycho."

"Talk?" Jem asked before taking another sip.

Will looked over at him, annoyed. "Yes, all I did was talk to…to…to some girl." He realized he had never even learned said girl's name through all the chaos of tonight and she had disappeared shortly after his second run-in with her. He had wondered where she had run off and had searched for her while the Dark Twins had been distracted by some commotion that had went off in the kitchen. He had stepped outside thinking she might have hidden herself out there when he ran into Amelie who blew up at him for the second time that night. "I might have been looking for her."

"Oh?"

"Nothing like that. She was just the freshman target for this year. The Dark Twins tied her up in Martin's bedroom. She was able to get herself to the door before I found her. I helped her untie the ropes from her wrists and distracted the Dark Twins while she got rid of their make-up choice." Will chuckled at the memory of seeing the girl with a full neck-beard drawn on her. "Then when I went to find her to check and make sure she was okay I ran into Amelie. And, well, it didn't go so well…"

Jem nodded at this as he took another sip and Will looked over at him.

"So?"

Turning to him, Jem replied, "Just give her some space for now Will. She was probably just a little insecure about you searching for this girl; you know how your reputation is." Will grumbled at this as he laid his head down on his knees. "It'll be fine, just give it a few days for her to think it over," Jem said as he patted Will's back before standing up.

"Think it over? That's more likely to make it worse," Will muttered into his knees. Jem walked over to the front door before Will called out, "Hey, Jem."

"Yeah?"

"Don't ever get a girlfriend."

"Sure, Will. Maybe you should take your own advice." He left Will sitting on the porch as he headed for upstairs. He was glad that he had decided not to the party this time even though it apparently would have made for an interesting show.

'Freshman tradition' I thought they banned those after they found Carl Gallagher walking around naked in the park with marker all over his face and paint all over his body. And the Dark Twins were the seniors this year. Jem shivered from the thought, he had a few morbid conversations with the sisters that he didn't want to imagine all their plans they had wanted to perform for the tradition this year.

Reaching the top step he paused. Something didn't seem right about this whole situation. Amelie was acting quite unusual. There was something missing and Jem wasn't entirely sure if Will had left something out he hadn't deemed important or if he just didn't know the detail himself.

But something is missing from the story, Jem thought as he continued to walk down the hall, passing Jessamine's bedroom.

The door was wide open and Jessamine was dancing to the sound of music in her own head before she fell onto her bed with a fit of giggles.

"Had too much to drink, Jessie?"

"Oh, Jemmie! You should have come!" Jessamine said as she sat bolt upright before falling to the floor at her bed.

"Careful, I'd sober up within the next hour. Mom might be out working, but dad's still here working in the basement."

Jessamine swatted the idea away and laughed. "Please, he'll be down there for the rest of the night, working on whatever stupid invention he's come up with this time. Oh!" She brightened up and looked at him with glee. "You should have seen Amelie snapping at Will tonight. I wonder what idiotic thing he did this time."

"Yeah, so I heard."

"And they had been all over each earlier."

"Earlier?" Jem asked, intrigued.

"Earlier in the week," Jessamine answered, giggling. "Yeah, the first day of classes and they were all over each other in the storage room. Amelie was supposed to be in gym class with me and Will…" She paused in thought before looking at him. "Isn't he taking music this year with you?"

"Yeah," Jem replied slowly. "Jessie, are you sure it was Amelie and Will in the storage room? Did you see them?"

Jessamine scoffed at this. "Please, I didn't need to see them. I heard Amelie's voice crystal clear and then her face when she finally made it to gym class and I commented on her storage room antics. Oh, James, you should have seen it." Jessamine laughed at the memory. "I'm sure Will looked just as ridiculous to you when he finally arrived to the music room. Well, assuming he did and didn't just ditch like usual."

"Yeah, yeah, goodnight, Jessie."

"Goodnight, Jemmie."

Jem left his drunken adoptive sister to her own devices as he walked down the hall and to his own room. He thought back on the first day and what had occurred after music class.

"By the way, what took you so long to get to class?" Jem asked his friend as they were packing away the instruments.

"Oh," Will said excitedly as he looked around the classroom. There were a few people still milling around but mostly everyone had already left. He leaned in close and said, "Let's just say I had a little fun with Gabriel and his tennis equipment."

"What did you do, Will?"

"Nothing major," Will said with a chuckle. "Just that he might have a harder time letting go of his racket than usual." He laughed before turning and heading towards the door. Jem shook his head before following his mischievous friend.

Standing outside his bedroom now Jem realized the missing pieces were starting to appear. He couldn't jump to any major conclusions yet as a drunken Jessie wasn't exactly the most reliable source but he would need to approach this situation cautiously if what he thought was occurring was in fact true.

A/N: Yeah, so the girls were a reimagining of the Dark Sisters aka the Dark/Nightmare Twins, which one of you guys did get. As always reviews and comments are always appreciated. Until next time have a great rest of the week!