Clockwork Prince (The Infernal Devices 2)

Jem was on his feet, hand reaching for the door-but he turned back and looked at Tessa, and she saw an expression cross his face, an expression that said that he realized that if he fled after Will, she could not fol ow. With another long look at her, he latched the door shut and sank into the seat opposite her as the train came to a stop.

"But Will -," she began.

"He Will be all right," said Jem with conviction. "You know how he is.

Sometimes he just wants to be alone. And I doubt he wishes to take part in recounting todays experiences to Charlotte and the others. " When she didnt move her eyes from his, he repeated, gently, "Wil can take care of himself, Tessa. "

She thought of the bleak look in Will s eyes when he had spoken to her, starker than the Yorkshire moors they had just left behind them. She hoped Jem was right.

Chapter 7: The Curse

A n orphans curse would drag to hell

A spirit from on high;

But oh! more horrible than that

Is the curse in a dead mans eye!

Seven days, seven nights, I saw that curse,

And yet I could not die.

-Samuel Taylor Coleridge,

"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"

Magnus heard the sound of the front door opening and the following clatter of raised voices, and thought immediately, Will. And then was amused that he had thought it. The Shadow-hunter boy was becoming like an annoying relative, he thought as he folded down a page of the book he was reading- Lucians Dialogues of the Gods; Camil e would be furious he had dog-eared her volume-someone whose habits you knew well but could not change.

Someone whose presence you could recognize by the sound of their boots in the hal way. Someone who felt free to argue with the footman when hed been given orders to tell everyone that you were not at home.

The parlor door flew open, and Will stood on the threshold, looking half- triumphant and half-wretched-quite a feat. "I knew you were here," he announced as Magnus sat up straight on the sofa, swinging his boots to the floor. "Now, Will you tell this-this overgrown bat to stop hovering over my shoulder?" He indicated Archer, Camil es subjugate and Magnuss temporary footman, who was indeed lurking at Will s side. His face was set in a look of disapproval, but then it was always set in a look of disapproval.

"Tel him you want to see me. "

Magnus set his book down on the table beside him. "But maybe I dont want to see you," he said reasonably. "I told Archer to let no one in, not to let no one in but you. "

"He threatened me," Archer said in his hissing not-quite-human voice. "I shal tell my mistress. "

"You do that," said Will, but his eyes were on Magnus, blue and anxious.

"Please. I have to talk to you. "

Drat the boy, Magnus thought. After an exhausting day spent clearing a memory-blocking spel for a member of the Penhal ow family, he had wanted only to rest. He had stopped listening for Camil es step in the hall, or waiting for her message, but he still preferred this room to others-this room, where her personal touch seemed to cling to the thorned roses on the wal paper, the faint perfume that rose from the draperies. He had looked forward to an evening spent by the fire here-a glass of wine, a book, and being left strictly alone.

But now here was Will Herondale, his expression a study in pain and desperation, wanting Magnuss help. He was really going to have to do something about this annoying softhearted impulse to assist the desperate, Magnus thought. That, and his weakness for blue eyes.

"Very well," he said with a martyred sigh. "You may stay and talk to me. But I warn you, Im not raising a demon. Not before Ive had my supper. Unless you have turned up some sort of hard proof . . . "

"No. " Will came eagerly into the room, shutting the door in Archers face.

He reached around and locked it, for good measure, and then strode over to the fire. It was chil y out. The visible bit of window not blocked by drapes showed the square outside darkening to a blackish twilight, leaves blown rattling across the pavement by a brisk-looking wind. Will drew off his gloves, laid them on the mantel, and stretched his hands out to the flames. "I dont want you to raise a demon. "

"Huh. " Magnus put his booted feet up on the smal rosewood table before the sofa, another gesture that would have infuriated Camil e, had she been there. "Thats good news, I suppose-"

"I want you to send me through. To the demon realms. "

Magnus choked. "You want me to do what?"

Will s profile was black against the flickering fire. "Create a portal to the demon worlds and send me through. You can do that, cant you?"

"Thats black magic," said Magnus. "Not quite necromancy, but-"

"No one need know. "

"Real y. " Magnuss tone was acid. "These things have a way of getting out.

And if the Clave found out Id sent one of their own, their most promising, to be rent apart by demons in another dimension-"

"The Clave does not consider me promising. " Will s voice was cold. "I am not promising. I am not anything, nor Will I ever be. Not without your help. "

"I am beginning to wonder if youve been sent to test me, Will Herondale. "

Will gave a harsh little bark of laughter. "By God?"

"By the Clave. Who might as well be God. Perhaps they simply seek to find out whether I am Will ing to break the Law. "

Will swung around and stared at him. "I am deadly earnest," he said. "This is not some sort of test. I cannot go on like this, summoning up demons at random, never having them be the correct one, endless hope, endless disappointment. Every day dawns blacker and blacker, and I Will lose her forever if you-"

"Lose her?" Magnuss mind fastened on the word; he sat up straight, narrowing his eyes. "This is about Tessa. I knew it was. "