he said, half to himself; returning the dagger and stele to his belt, he leaned out the window, and she heard him repeat the words to Cyril. A moment later Jem was back in the carriage, shutting the window against the cold air, and they were sliding and bumping forward over the cobblestones.
Tessa took a deep breath. She had been eager to look for Will all day, worried about him, wondering where he was-but now that they were rol ing into the dark heart of London, all she could feel was dread.
Chapter 9: Fierce Midnight
Fierce midnights and famishing morrows,
And the loves that complete and control
A ll the joys of the flesh, all the sorrows
That wear out the soul.
-Algernon Charles Swinburne, "Dolores"
Tessa kept the curtain on her side of the carriage pulled back, her eyes on the glass of the window, as they rol ed along Fleet Street toward Ludgate Hill.
The yel ow fog had thickened, and she could make out little through it-the dark shapes of people hurrying to and fro, the hazy words of advertising signs painted on the sides of buildings. Every once in a while the fog would part and she would get a clear glimpse of something-a little girl carrying bunches of wilting lavender, leaning against a wall, exhausted; a knife grinder rol ing his cart wearily homeward; a sign for Bryant and Mays Lucifer Matches looming suddenly out of the gloom.
"Chuckaways," said Jem. He was leaning back against the seat across from her, his eyes bright in the dimness. She wondered if he had taken some of the drug before they left, and if so, how much.
"Pardon?"
He mimed the act of striking a match, blowing it out, and tossing the remainder over his shoulder. "Thats what they call matches here- chuckaways, because you toss them aside after one use. Its also what they call the girls who work at the match factories. "
Tessa thought of Sophie, who could easily have become one of those "chuckaways," if Charlotte hadnt found her. "Thats cruel. "
"Its a cruel part of the city were going into. The East End. The slums. " He sat forward. "I want you to be careful, and to stay close by me. "
"Do you know what Will s doing there?" Tessa asked, half-afraid of the answer. They were passing by the great bulk of St. Pauls now, looming up above them like a giants glimmering marble tombstone.
Jem shook his head. "I dont. I only got a sense-a fleeting image of the street-from the tracking spell. I Will say, though, that there are few harmless reasons for a gentleman to go down to Chapel after dark. "
"He could be gambling . . . "
"He could be," Jem agreed, sounding as if he doubted it.
"You said you would sense it. Here. " Tessa touched herself over the heart.
"If something had happened to him. Is that because youre parabatai?"
"Yes. "
"So theres more to being parabatai than just swearing to look out for each other. Theres something-mystical about it. "
Jem smiled at her, that smile that was like a light suddenly being turned on in every room of a house. "Were Nephilim. Every one of our lifes passages has some mystical component-our births, our deaths, our marriages, everything has a ceremony. There is one as well if you wish to become someones parabatai. First you must ask them, of course. Its no smal commitment-"
"You asked Will," Tessa guessed.
Jem shook his head, still smiling. "He asked me," he said. "Or rather he told me. We were training, up in the training room, with longswords. He asked me and I said no, he deserved someone who was going to live, who could look out for him all his life. He bet me he could get the sword away from me, and if he succeeded, Id have to agree to be his blood brother. "
"And he got it away from you?"
"In nine seconds flat. " Jem laughed. "Pinned me to the wall. He must have been training without my knowing about it, because Id never have agreed if Id thought he was that good with a longsword. Throwing daggers have always been his weapons. " He shrugged. "We were thirteen. They did the ceremony when we were fourteen. Now its been three years and I cant imagine not having a parabatai. "
"Why didnt you want to do it?" Tessa asked a little hesitantly. "When he first asked you. "
Jem ran a hand through his silvery hair. "The ceremony binds you," he said. "It makes you stronger. You have each others strength to draw on. It makes you more aware of where the other one is, so you can work seamlessly together in a fight. There are runes you can use if you are part of a pair of parabatai that you cant use otherwise. But . . . you can choose only one parabatai in your life. You cant have a second, even if the first one dies. I didnt think I was a very good bet, considering. "
"That seems a harsh rule. "
Jem said something then, in a language she didnt understand. It sounded like "khalepa ta kala. "
She frowned at him. "That isnt Latin?"
"Greek," he said. "It has two meanings. It means that that which is worth having-the good, fine, honorable, and noble things-are difficult to attain. "
He leaned forward, closer to her. She could smel the sweet scent of the drug on him, and the tang of his skin underneath. "It means something else as well. "
Tessa swal owed. "Whats that?"
"It means beauty is harsh. "