When the carriage pulled up in front of the gate of the Institute, Will got out first.He wanted to find out in the fresh air , of course , assuming that in London there is a concept as fresh air. He ran across the courtyard, unable to stop. He felt as if something burnt him from the inside and pulled him in the direction from which they came. He felt as if everything revolted him. He wanted to run, not stopping until he arrived on the residence de Quincey. But his legs – happily - did not move from the spot. His mind knew how would end this trip in one direction. Becoming a slave to vampires or vampire. And he did not want to be neither one nor the other.
“Will.”He heard a voice behind him so familiar that it might belong tohim. Jem.
“Will, where are you running?”
“You know where. Do not make me said”.
“ Well. I just want you to know what awaits you now.”
“ I know. I hate this.”
“ Then why are you doing this?”
“ I've said it alreadyin the carriage. Because vampires don’t expect this.” Will grinned.
“ Yes, but you know what awaits you now.”
“ I know”. Willwinced. He hated this part.
“Will, where are you running?”
“You know where. Do not make me said”.
“ Well. I just want you to know what awaits you now.”
“ I know. I hate this.”
“ Then why are you doing this?”
“ I've said it alreadyin the carriage. Because vampires don’t expect this.” Will grinned.
“ Yes, but you know what awaits you now.”
“ I know”. Willwinced. He hated this part.
A dozen minutes later, he was sitting in the attic, waiting for Sophie, who had to bring him full buckets filled to the brim antidote to vampire blood. Lying on a hard floor he was thinking about what happened in the residence. Magnus Bane ... vampires opposed to the Law ... Nathaniel Gray ... Tessa ... Tessa .... Will couldn’t forget her expression when she became frightened and looked at her brother. When he saw this scene he wanted to kill all the vampires, and take her to a safe and secluded place. Do not think about her! He told himself sternly.
“ Mr. Herondale” He heard a voice coming from the door. “I brought holy water. When you will drink this bucket I will go after the next portion.”
The boy looked up. Sophie stood over him with a big bucket in hands. Sometimes he wondered if the servant ceases to call him "Mr. Herondale" and starts as Jem, the " master Will". But he knew that the maid doesn’t like him much enough to force herself to such a naming him. Unfortunately, he couldn’t change his behavior towards her, for reasons only known by him, reasons, which Sophie would not want to know. He held out his hand after the pail, and then slowly raised it to his lips. As soon as the first drops passed through his lips, he felt as if thousands of glowing-hot needle was stuck him in the esophagus. He felt as if he were about to explode from the inside. Everything in it was burning. This torture lasted for a very short time, but he knew that this one bucket is not the last. Why could not?
“ I am looking Cecily, Mom. Don’t you know where she can be?”
“ Oh I do not know.” Mom smiled slyly. She knew. In these moments she always remind him Cecy. His sister had the same face when she knew something but she didn’t want to say it to not spoil the fun.
“ The residence. On the willow.”The man said.
“ Edmund! Do not destroy the children’s play!” The woman scolded him .
“ Forgive Line.”
“ Thank you dad.” Will smiled and ran towards tree . “Cecily, Cecily!” He cried.
“Back, are you, Sophie?” He asked. But something told him that this wasn’t Sophie. He guessed that the fact that his hands began to tremble, and the muscles were tightened. Only one person had such an impact on him. However, he preferred to make him sure “I told you if you brough me another one of those infernal pails, I’d ...”
“That's not Sophie. It’s me. Tessa” The boy was right. Although he was all wet, he did not feel the cold. And this was because of a fever, which was burning poison in his veins.
“They sent you?”
“Yes.” That Sophie had enough of him. Okay, but why she sent Tessa?
“Very well, then. Leave the water and go” He did not want to tell her to go, but he knew they have to be away from each other as far as possible.
The girl did not put a pail or did not move from the spot.
“What is it, then? I mean to say – what am I bringing you, exacly?” Oh Tessa and her curious nature. He though.
“They didn’t tell you?” He asked, puzzled. He knew Sophie long enough to know that she will never let Tessa come here without telling her why. ”It’s holy water. To burn out what’s in me.”
“You mean –“
“I keep forgetting everything you don’t know. Do you recall earlier this evening when I bit de Quincey? Well, I swallowed some of his blood. Not much, but it doesn’t take much to do it.”
“To do what?”
“To turn you into a vampire.
“You’ re turning into a vampire? - Tessa asked, startled. She looked so sweet and innocent with that expression. He almost forgot that two hours earlier she fired from a gun.
“Don’t alarm yourself unduly. It requires days for the transformation to occur, and even then, I would have to die before it took hold. What the blood would do is make me irresistibly drawn to vampires – drawn to them in the hopes that they’d make me one of them. Like their human subjugates.”
“And the holy water ...”
“Counteracts the effects of the blood. I must keep drinking it. It makes me sick, of course– makes me cough up the blood and everything else in me.”
“Good Lord.”The girl handed him a pail. On her face terror mingled with curious “I suppose I had better give it to you, then.”
“I suppose you have.” The boy sat down. He looked with disgust at the water. He already felt like his stomach turns into a knot. He forced himself to drink a few sips, and then he poured the rest on himself. Oh. Finally a little colder. I wonder about the reason for pouring myself with water Tessa also me ask.
“Does that help?” I knew He thought. He smiled to himself.He was glad when she was asking him about everything “Pouring it over your head like that?
“The questions you ask…” I love these your questions He thought. Wait, I love her too or just her questions? “Holy water makes me a fever, and my skin is burning. I can’t get cool.But, yes, the waterhelps. “
The girl looked into his eyes. When hefirst saw her,he thought she was the most amazing girl he'd everseen. Now he understood that he considers herthe most beautiful too. When he was seeing her, he wanted to hug her, weavehis fingers in those thick, shiny, brown hair. Look deep into her eyes. Look like his dadto his mom.With pure worshipand adoration. The only thing that he wanted in this moment was to hug Tessa,to feel her hair on his face, touch the place where laythe clockwork angel. And most importantly to touch her beautifulmouth, which in the moonlight looked like the most precious thing in the world.
“Will, Will, I want to ask you…” He looked at her. Her eyes were huge and sparklingin the dark.
“What?” He asked trying to sound calm.
“You act like you don’t care about anything.” She burned. “But –everyone cares about something? Don’t they?”
“Do they? Tess, come over here and sit by me.” He couldn’tstop himself, he had to check did he has a chance to be with her. To his surprise and happiness girl came over and carefullysat down very close to him. He felt her armin contact with him.
“You never laugh.You behave as if everything is funny to you, but you never laugh. Sometimes you smile, when you think no one is paying attention.” Good God, she has a strong sense of observation He thought, but to his surprise he wasn’t angry. He began to thinkabout the answer. Tell her that she makes me laugh? Yes!
“You make me laugh.From the moment you hit me that bottle.”
“It was a jug.” She improved him with this wonderful expression, which disarmed him deeply. He smiled in spite of himself.
“Not to mention the way that you always correct me. With that funny look on your face when you do it. And the way you shouted at Gabriel Lightwood. And even the way you talked back to de Quincey. You make me…” He stopped fearing that he can scare her. Her eyes were black and wide open. She looked at his face with a gentle delight,from time to time stopped on his lips, inviting him to touch with his own. Slowly he continued to prevail over what his body was doing. Reluctantly he tore his eyes away from her face and turned it into her hands, clasped in a knot.
“Let me see your hands, Tessa?” He asked gently. He noticed that her hands were shaking slightly.He felt a warmth in hisheart, fillingall over his body. “There’s still blood, on your gloves.” Tessa lookedsurprised at her hands.
“Oh.” The girl gently began to undo his hands,but he let go only her left hand. Gently he heldher right wrist. He ran his fingers over the fourpearl buttons thatsprang open by the pressure of hisfingers. His fingers were on her bare skin, where he could feel the pulse, which was very fast.
“Will.” Tessa said. She wasn’t angry.
“Tessa, what do you want from me?” He touched further her wrist.
“I - I want to understand you.”
“Is that really necessary?”
“I don’t know. I'm not sure anyone does understand you, except possibly Jem.”
“Jem doesn’t understand me, he cares for me – like brother might. It's not the same thing.”
“Don’t you want him to understand you?”
“Dear God, no. Why should he need to know my reasons for living my life as I do?”
“ Maybe he simply wants to know that there is a reason.”
“Does it matter?” In Sudden movement he pulled the glove and put it aside. He began to stroke her hand, feeling that he lacks breath. Her hand was so small in his own, so fragile. “Do reasons matter when there’s nothing that can be done to change things?” He felt that Tessa was trembling.“Are you cold?” He asked. He laced her fingers with his and pressed it to his fiery cheek. “Tess.”He whispered in awe.
And that thought, gave him his intellect back. He pulled away from Tessa, horrified.He couldn't cause that she will fall in love with him. He did not want to see like another personhe loves die because of him.
“Go? I ... I should not have been so forward, I’m sorry” He felt as if he was in the belly of a heavy stone.
“God, Tessa. Please.Just leave. I can’t have you here. It’s not possible.”
“Will, please –“
“No. I'll tell you anything you want to know, tomorrow. Anything. Just leave me alone now. I’m begging you. Please, please leave.”
“Very well..- she said sadly.”
When the door closed behind her, Will slumped to the floor. He never thought he would ever kiss a girl. And yet. But why he could enjoy it if his beloved could not reciprocate his feelings, if she didn't want to end up as a corpse? I have to do only one thing. Make her began to hate me with all her heart. And then he curled upand his body passed shiver of despair.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Immediately after the conversation with Tessa, Will went to his room. He walked past piles of books and smiled to himself. Sophie always was nervous when she was coming there. He opened a large three-door wardrobe to find his evening dress. He found it at the bottom of it. In less than twenty minutes, already dressed, he walked over to the mirror. He always wondered how other people see him, especially Tessa, but he did not want to think about her. Will was similar to mom and dad. After his mother he inherited the black, curly hair, which had ink gloss, blue - violet eyes and the shape of the cheekbones. Dad's genes revealed in the shape of the chin and the construction of the body, although the boy was not as broad - shouldered as his father. After dad, he also inherited character, although his mother also used the cut comebacks and sarcastic remarks. Will sometimes wondered if he could take girls’ fancy. He did not want someone to fall in love with him, but he couldn’t stop thinking, whether is he in the type of representatives of the fair sex, and especially one of them. Sometimes, though he terribly hated himself for it, he envied Jem that he could speak aloud what he want and be who he wants. Will looked at the clock. Not good. He was standing before the mirror for ten minutes. He had to hurry up. He grabbed a black mask from commode and ran out of the room.
He found Cyril in the stables while he was brushing horses.
“Good evening, sir. What brings you here so late?”
“I want you to prepare horses and drove me and Jessamine to the Lightwoods’ country house in Cheswick.”
“Why so late?”
“To Mr. Lightwood arrived her close relative. He's been there for a week, and he is leaving early tomorrow morning. Jessamine learned that only now, so she said that, she must visit him. He is very rich” Will said in a conspiratorial whisper “and she want him to rewrote her some money.
“I understand sir”.
Five minutes later, Will was standing in the courtyard of the Institute, waiting for Tessa. After a moment in the doorway appeared low, female figure. As always, the boy was very impressed by the skills of his friend. But he could not see Jessamine clearly as if his mind knew it was not she. He could see Tessa’s outline, as if she were a ghost. The girl was wearing a white dress, and her hair pinned many clips. Face hid gold mask.
“Ah” Will said when she went down the stairs. He felt her body undergoes a slight shudder. Is she reacts on me? he thought. It’s impossible. Certainly she's cold, she is only wrapped in a scarf. “I see now why your brother quoted that execrable poetry. You are meant to be Maud, aren’t you?”
“You know. I don’t care for that poem either.” she said when he helped her came into the carriage.
He jumped into the carriage and sat down in front of her. Suddenly he found himself on the fact that he thought about very inappropriate in the current situation. Namely, that he will never be as long alone with Tessa.
“Jessamine adores it.”
“I am not Jessamine .” She always surprised Will with her firmness and he liked it very much.
“No. No, even though you are the perfect picture of Jessamine, I can see Tessa through it somehow –as if, if I were to scrape away a layer of paint, there would be my Tessa underneath.”
“I am not your Tessa either.”
He felt disappointed. He knew that he should enjoy her reaction, but unfortunately he could not. Maybe if it wasn’t Tessa. But it was none other. He decided to change the topic of conversation.
“Fair enough. I suppose you are not. What is like, being Jessamine, then? Can you sense her thoughts? Read what she feels?”
“I tried. Upstairs in her bedroom. But there’s something wrong. I – I couldn’t feel anything from her.”
“Well, I suppose it’s hard to meddle in someone’s brains if they’ve got no brains to start with.”
“Be flippant about it if you like, but there is something wrong with Jessamine. Trying to touch her mind is like trying to touch – a nest of snakes, or a poisonous cloud. I can feel a little of her emotions. A great deal of rage, and longing, and bitterness. But I cannot pick out the individual thoughts among them. It is like trying to hold water.”
“That’s curious. Have you ever come across anything like it before?”
“No. It concerns me. I am afraid Nate will expect me to know something and I will not know it or have the right answer.”
Will noticed that Tessa was looking at his curly hair, flowing down over his eyes .
“You are a good actress, and you know your brother. I have every confidence in you.”
“You do?”
“And” he continued, ignoring her question “in the event that something goes awry, I will be there. Even if you don’t see me, Tess, I’ll be there. Remember that.”
“All right.”She cocked her head. The boy had known her long enough that he knew girl wanted to ask him important personal question. “Will?”
“Yes?”
“There was a third reason why you didn’t want to wake up Charlotte and tell her what we were doing, wasn’t there?”
Will felt as if he were standing very close to the precipice, leading into the darkness.
“And what’s that?”
“Because you do not yet know if this is simply a foolish flirtation on Jessamine’s part, or something deeper and darker. A true connection to my brother and to Mortmain. And you know that if it is the second, it will break Charlotte’s heart.”
How she figured it? He thought scared a little.
“And what do I care if it does? If she is foolish enough to attach herself to Jessamine - ”
“You care. You are no inhuman block of ice, Will. I have seen you with Jem – I saw you when you looked at Cecily. And you had another sister, didn’t you?”
Why did she has to ask that? How am I supposed to answer since I do not want to respond?
“What makes you think I had – I have – more than one sister?”
“Jem said she thought your sister was dead. And you said, ‘My sister is dead.’ But Cecily is clearly very much alive. Which made me think you had a sister who had died. One that wasn’t Cecily.”
Will felt as if he slipped and fell into the abyss.
“You're clever.”
“But am I clever and right, or clever and wrong?”
Will was glad to have a mask because he had some privacy .
“Ella. Two years older than me. And Cecily, three years younger. My sisters.”
“And Ella ...”
Will couldn’t withstand Tessa’s sight on himself, so he quickly looked away. Suddenly in front of him stood the scene in Ella’s bedroom, in which his sister was dead.
“What she was like? Ella? And Cecily, what kind of girl is she?”
The boy was surprised and relieved at the same time. Yet no one, neither James nor Charlotte asked about the nature of his sisters. Jem didn’t want to be nosy, but if he wanted to know about the various details that he would know more.
Eyes of imagine he moved to Wales, to the years when he could be himself and he saw his parents, including on the veranda, he saw himself, twelve years old, running, laughing behind his beloved sisters. Their black hair were blowing in the wind.
“Ella was protective. Like a mother . She would have done anything for me . And Cecily was a little mad creature. She was only nine when I left. I can’t say if she’s still the same, but she was – like Cathy in Wuthering Heights. She was afraid of nothing and demanded everything. She could fight like a devil and swear like a Billngsgate fishwife.”
“If I might ask - ,”
“You know you’ll ask whether I say it’s all right or not.”
“You have a younger sister of your own, so what exactly did you to Gabriel’s sister to make him hate you so?”
“Are you serious?”
“Yes. I am forced to spend a great deal of time with Lightwoods, and Gabriel clearly despises you. And you did break his arm. It would ease my mind if I knew why.”
For Christ's sake. Another question is worse than the first one. I wonder what will be next.
“ Dear God. Their sister – her name is Tatiana, by the way; she was named after her mother’s dear friend, who was Russian - was twelve years old, I think.”
“Twelve? “Tessa asked, horrified . She created cool version of the story. Does she think I'm a seducer? That's right or wrong? He sighed .
“I see you have already decided for yourself what happened. Would it ease your mind further to know that I myself was twelve? Tatiana, she… fancied herself in love with me. In the way little girls do. She would follow me around and giggle and duck behind pillars to stare at me.” “One does silly things when one is twelve.”Tessa said with a smile.
“It was the first Christmas party at the Institute that I attended… .”
He told her how he read a few pages of Tatiana 's diary in front of an audience, and Gabriel Lightwood tried to strangle him, but Will had broken his arm .
He closed the curtain and the coach got dark. He was feeling very calm, while he was hearing her rapid breathing.
“Will.”
“The lady has another question. I can hear it in her tone. Will you never have done asking questions, Tess?”
“Not until I get all the answers I want. Will, if warlocks are made by having one demon parent and one human parent, what happens if one of those parents is a Shadowhunter?”
This question very surprised boy. He hadn’t expected this question . But after all, he wasn't astonished at Tessa. If he were in her place, he would like to know who he is, too. Unfortunately, he could not show what he really thinks , so he decided to become unpleasant.
“I am not the one who has no heart.”Tessa said .
Will felt in the heart of grief to his companion, because in spite of all her inquisitive nature, she didn't try to break through his protective wall. He felt that his face was turning red. But before he could answer, he felt that the horses abruptly stopped. They arrived.
No comments:
Post a Comment