Cassandra Clare - Clockwork Prince

“You could ride up to Yorkshire and chop that old goat’s head off.” Charlotte sounded mutinous.

“Won’t that make things rather awkward with the Clave?” asked Henry. “They’re not generally very receptive about, you know, beheadings and things.”

“Oh!” said Charlotte in despair. “It’s all my fault, isn’t it? I don’t know why I thought I could win him over. The man’s a nightmare.”

“What did he say exactly ?” said Will. “In the letter, I mean.”

“He refuses to see me, or Henry,” said Charlotte. “He says he’ll never forgive my family for what my father did. My father . . .” She sighed. “He was a difficult man. Absolutely faithful to the letter of the Law, and the Starkweathers have always interpreted the Law more loosely. My father thought they lived wild up there in the north, like savages, and he wasn’t shy about saying so. I don’t know what else he did, but old Aloysius seems personally insulted still. Not to mention that he also said if I really cared what he thought about anything, I would have invited him to the last Council meeting. As if I’m in charge of that sort of thing!”

“Why wasn’t he invited?” inquired Jem.

“He’s too old—not meant to be running an Institute at all. He just refuses to step down, and so far Consul Wayland hasn’t made him, but the Consul won’t invite him to Councils either. I think he hopes Aloysius will either take the hint or simply die of old age. But Aloysius’s father lived to be a hundred and four. We could be in for another fifteen years of him.” Charlotte shook her head in despair.

“Well, if he won’t see you or Henry, can’t you send someone else?” asked Jessamine in a bored voice. “You run the Institute; the Enclave members are supposed to do whatever you say.”

“But so many of them are on Benedict’s side,” said Charlotte. “They want to see me fail. I just don’t know who I can trust.”

“You can trust us,” said Will. “Send me. And Jem.”

“What about me?” said Jessamine indignantly.

“What about you? You don’t really want to go, do you?”

Jessamine lifted a corner of the damp cloth off her eyes to glare. “On some smelly train all the way up to deadly dull Yorkshire? No, of course not. I just wanted Charlotte to say she could trust me.”

“I can trust you, Jessie, but you’re clearly not well enough to go. Which is unfortunate, since Aloysius always had a weakness for a pretty face.”

“Even more reason why I should go,” said Will.

“Will, Jem . . .” Charlotte bit her lip. “Are you sure? The Council was hardly best pleased by the independent actions you took in the matter of Mrs. Dark.”

“Well, they ought to be. We killed a dangerous demon!” Will protested.

“And we saved Church,” said Jem.

“Somehow I doubt that counts in our favor,” said Will. “That cat bit me three times the other night.”

“That probably does count in your favor,” said Tessa. “Or Jem’s, at least.”

Will made a face at her, but didn’t seem angry; it was the sort of face he might have made at Jem had the other boy mock insulted him. Perhaps they really could be civil to each other, Tessa thought. He had been quite kind to her in the library the night before last.

“It seems a fool’s errand,” said Charlotte. The red splotches on her skin were beginning to fade, but she looked miserable. “He isn’t likely to tell you anything if he knows I sent you. If only—”

“Charlotte,” Tessa said, “there is a way we could make him tell us.”

Charlotte looked at her in puzzlement. “Tessa, what do you—” She broke off then, light dawning in her eyes. “Oh, I see. Tessa, what an excellent idea.”

“Oh, what ?” demanded Jessamine from the chaise. “What idea?”

“If something of his could be retrieved,” said Tessa, “and given to me, I could use it to Change into him. And perhaps access his memories. I could tell you what he recollects about Mortmain and the Shades, if anything at all.”

“Then, you’ll come with us to Yorkshire,” said Jem.

Suddenly all eyes in the room were on Tessa. Thoroughly startled, for a moment she said nothing.

“She hardly needs to accompany us,” said Will. “We can retrieve an object and bring it back to her here.”

“But Tessa’s said before that she needs to use something that has strong associations for the wearer,” said Jem. “If what we select turns out to be insufficient—”

“She also said she can use a nail clipping, or a strand of hair—”

“So you’re suggesting we take the train up to York, meet a ninety-year-old man, leap on him, and yank out his hair? I’m sure the Clave will be ecstatic.”

“They’ll just say you’re mad,” said Jessamine. “They already think it, so what’s the difference, really?”

“It’s up to Tessa,” said Charlotte. “It’s her power you’re asking to use; it should be her decision.”

“Did you say we’d be taking the train?” Tessa asked, looking over at Jem.

He nodded, his silver eyes dancing. “The Great Northern runs trains out of Kings Cross all day long,” he said. “It’s only a matter of hours.”

“Then, I’ll come,” said Tessa. “I’ve never been on a train.”

Will threw up his hands. “That’s it? You’re coming because you’ve never been on a train before?”

“Yes,” she said, knowing how much her calm demeanor drove him mad. “I should like to ride in one, very much.”

“Trains are great dirty smoky things,” said Will. “You won’t like it.”

Tessa was unmoved. “I won’t know if I like it until I try it, will I?”

“I’ve never swum naked in the Thames, but I know I wouldn’t like it.”

“But think how entertaining for sightseers,” said Tessa, and she saw Jem duck his head to hide the quick flash of his grin. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. I wish to go, and I shall. When do we leave?”

Will rolled his eyes, but Jem was still grinning. “Tomorrow morning. That way we’ll arrive well before dark.”

“I’ll have to send Aloysius a message saying to expect you,” said Charlotte, picking up her pen. She paused, and looked up at them all. “Is this a dreadful idea? I—I feel as if I cannot be sure.”

Tessa looked at her worriedly—seeing Charlotte like this, doubting her own instincts, made her hate Benedict Lightwood and his cohorts even more than she already did.

It was Henry who stepped up and put a gentle hand on his wife’s shoulder. “The only alternative seems to be doing nothing, dearest Charlotte,” he said. “And doing nothing, I find, rarely accomplishes anything. Besides, what could go wrong?”

“Oh, by the Angel, I wish you hadn’t asked that,” replied Charlotte with fervor, but she bent over the paper and began to write.

That afternoon was Tessa’s and Sophie’s second training session with the Lightwoods. Having changed into her gear, Tessa left her room to find Sophie waiting for her in the corridor. She was dressed to train as well, her hair knotted up expertly behind her head, and a dark expression on her face.

“Sophie, what is it?” Tessa inquired, falling into step beside the other girl. “You look quite out of countenance.”

“Well, if you must know . . .” Sophie dropped her voice. “It’s Bridget.”

“Bridget?” The Irish girl had been nearly invisible in the kitchen since she’d arrived, unlike Cyril, who had been here and there about the house, doing errands like Sophie. The last memory Tessa had of Bridget involved her sitting atop Gabriel Lightwood with a knife. She let herself dwell on it pleasantly for a moment. “What’s she done?”