Chapter 6
AN: I cannot find my copy of Clockwork Angel, so forgive me if I can't upload, but I realized that I had almost completed this chapter and worked mostly from memory at the end. We'll see how it goes.
Charlotte came into my room and told me that Sophie would be in in a minute to assist me in getting dressed for breakfast. "I can dress myself." I said, indignant.
"I think you'll find that the dress we're lending you is much more complicated than the outfit you arrived in or even the one you're wearing now." She gestured to the dress that the Dark Sisters had given me, now wrinkled and dirtied. "Speaking of, here it is." she produced a victorian dress made with pale gray fabric. "It's mine. I would've just given you one of Jessamine's, but they were all a bit long for you."
"I know. I'm tiny. I get it."
"Why should small stature be a bad thing?"
"Gee, where should I start? Maybe, finding clothes that aren't way too long? Or, never being able to see because the tall people always want to be close to the front?"
"Trivial things, being smaller makes you a harder target to hit and you can move faster when in battle." Charlotte replied with a chuckle.
"Yes, because those are so useful for me."
"You never know when it may come in handy." Charlotte said, carefully. "Anyway, I'll send Sophie up here soon." she turned and walked out the door.
The dress had been more complicated than I assumed but, I managed to get it on correctly by myself before Sophie arrived. She was a little irate about that. Sophie did my hair while I sketched. It came out as a fair likeness to her. After I had finished and my hair was in an elegant braid, I handed to drawing to Sophie.
"It's a gift." I said, after she declined my offer, "I made it of you and you can have it and do what you want with it." She eventually relented and took the paper with a mumbled thanks. Afterwards, she led me down the hallways to the dining area. I was right on time, it appeared. Seated at the table were, Charlotte, Will, and a girl who looked to be about seventeen with fair hair and a pompous look on her face.
"Ah, Miss Hall, this is Miss Lovelace." Charlotte made a swooping gesture towards the girl, who glanced at me and harrumphed. "And I believe you've met Mr. Herondale." she made a pointed glance in Will's direction, almost like a command for him to respond. And he did.
"Yes, we have." his tone was oddly merry given the somber events of the night before. But he may not have remembered it. After all, he was obviously very inebriated at the time. "You shot me. I have a scar to prove it if you'd like to see." I could tell he was mocking me and trying to get a rise. And then I remembered, I'd shot him in the upper thigh.
"What the hell, let's see it." Will looked shocked. Whether due to the fact that I responded, or the brashness of my response, he shut up.
"Miss Hall! Ladies shouldn't say such things." it was Miss Lovelace acting all high and mighty like a proper englishwoman.
"Luckily for me, I'm not a lady."
"Of course you are! You may not be human, but you're certainly a woman of sorts."
"What do you mean, 'not human?' I always have been and always will be, a human."
"What kind of human has blue hair?"
"The kind that has access to hair dye."
"Blue hair dye?" Her voice was incredulous. She appeared to be about to say something when the door opened to reveal a moderately tall man with a shock of ginger hair and a misbuttoned lime green waistcoat.
"Oh, Henry, this is Miss Hall. Miss Hall, my husband, Henry Branwell." said Charlotte.
"Please, call me Inara."
"Alright. Inara, pleased to meet you." Henry murmured distractedly as he adjusted a pair of wiry glasses.
The conversation fell into a lull after the introductions. Miss Lovelace was to be called Jessamine. A name befitting a spoiled brat such as she. Master Will was Will. He was almost as skillful in the art of snark as I was. And Charlotte and Henry were just that.
The young woman, Miss Gray, as I remembered her being called in the Dark house, entered the room with a contemplative look on her face. She appeared to be observing Will exceptionally closely. The others seated at the table carried on with a nonsensical conversation about shape shifters.
"We were just talking about you." Jessamine said in a matter-of-fact sort of tone.
"Oh, you were? I apologize Jessamine, I tend to tune out ineptitude." I said in response. There was a nagging feeling of distrust when Jessamine entered my thoughts.
"Ignore her." Jessamine said to Miss Gray after turning to give me a disdainful look. She offered Miss Gray a muffin plate.
"In any case, Miss Gray, this is Miss Inara Hall, Inara, this is Miss Tessa Gray." charlotte said, obviously unhappy with the banter between Jessamine and I.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Miss Hall. Please, Call me Tessa."
"Nice to meet you Tessa, you can call me Inara."
As Tessa gathered her breakfast, the rest of the group began discussing plans for the day.
"Someone should go to the Dark house to investigate. Will, you and Jem will go." Charlotte's tone was commanding yet respectful.
"Is he well enough?" Will's face became stoic.
"He's quite well enough." came a voice from the doorway, announcing the presence of none other than the silver boy, Jem. He held himself heavily over a cane with a jade figure on top.
As Jem sat down and poured his tea, Charlotte turned back to adress the rest of the group once again, only to be interrupted by Jessamine, "I'm going to take Tessa shopping."
"That's not a great idea Jesse." Charlotte responded simply.
"On the contrary, Miss Gray needs new clothes if she is to stay with us. She can't very well continue to borrow my old dresses. She's far too tall and dresses are not made to be widened." she stated, matter-of-factly.
"Well, then you can bring Miss Hall with you as well."
Both Jessamine and I turned towards each other with horror, "I'm not going. I'll find something else to wear." My response was fast and I had unexpectedly stood from my chair for emphasis.
"Alright, and what would you suppose you do?"
"I'll go with Will and Jem, I need to go back and see it."
"That's ridiculous and dangerous. You shouldn't go." Charlotte's voice bordered on shrill.
"I have to, it's important. I-I'll even stay with them the whole time and follow any instructions. I just- I need to go."
Charlotte let out an impatient sigh, clearly seeing that i wasn't going to back down, "Fine, you can go. Just so long as you obey any and all rules and instructions given by Will and Jem."
"Thank you." My sigh was not one of irritation, but relief.
On the other side of the table, Will was pestering Jem, completely ignoring the fact I had just joined their group. He was leaning over Tessa, elbow resting on the table when he addressed Jem, "Should we leave now?"
"I need to finish my tea first. Anyway, I don't see what you're so fired up about. You said the place hasn't been used as a brothel in ages." Jem replied, his tone even.
"I want to be back before dark. I have an assignation in Soho this evening with a certain Attractive Someone."
"Goodness. If you keep seeing six-fingered Nigel like this, He'll expect you to declare your intentions." Tessa interjected, causing Will to go a bright red and Jem to choke on his tea.
I was going to have to ask her about that later.