All the spoilers ahead... Will makes his way to the Cross Bones Graveyard near London Bridge. He can always hear ghosts, though not all Shadowhunters can – unless the ghosts choose to be heard. As such, he’s familiar with some of the ghosts found here, like Old Molly. Magnus has sent Will to Old Molly several times already, for candles, bones, and faeries’ eyes. Today Will need Foraii demon powders. He pays Molly in gold wedding rings with a lovers’ knot on top. Molly is looking for the one thing that holds her to this world so that she can finally pass on – her own wedding ring, though most believe that Molly’s ring is buried at the bottom of the Thames by years gone by. But the powder is not all Will wants. He wants to know if there’s something like the opposite of a love potion, call it an indifference potion, that he may be able to take. Jem takes Tessa to see Westminster Abbey. He takes her to a place he thinks she will truly appreciate, the Poets’ Corner where she sees the graves (and empty monuments, depending) of Robert Burns, Milton, and Shakespeare among. Over the last two weeks, Charlotte and Henry have been busy, and Will has been purposely avoiding her, so Tessa and Jem have spent a lot of time together as he shows her London. They’ve grown close. He helped her come out of her anger and unhappiness after what happened with Nate and then with Will. Will surprises them both by coming out from between two monuments. All three of them are late for a Council meeting. He looks like he’s been in his clothes all night. Will says he had an important errand to run - probably more important than visiting the Poets’ Corner. They pass into the East Cloister of Westminster Abbey where Will uses his stele to draw on a set of doors set into one of the walls. They swing open and all three step through before the doors close behind them. They continue to a pair of silver doors with the emblem of the Shadowhunters – four interlocking Cs which stand for Clave, Council, Covenant, and Consul. Inside the doors, Tessa sees a huge dome with amphitheater seating and a platform at the bottom. On the platform sits Charlotte and Henry, waiting. The Council is being addressed by a bearded, blonde man. She realizes that the blonde man is Consul Wayland. The Consul asks Tessa to answer a few questions for them, and she approaches the bench in front of Consul Wayland, escorted by both Will and Jem. As a Downworlder, Tessa’s testimony will only count for half of that of a Shadowhunter, even though neither Tessa nor the Silent Brothers (nor anyone else for that matter) really know what Tessa is. First the Consul dismisses Henry and Charlotte is questioned with the Mortal Sword about the events that happened the night de Quincey was killed and Nate betrayed the Institute. Then Tessa is questioned, and she attests that she does not know where Nate was, she had no idea he would betray the Institute, and she didn’t know until arriving in London that she had any powers. She’d always thought both of her parents were human. Mortmain had told her that her father was a demon, but she does not have a warlock mark. She tells them she used the button from Mortmain’s jacket to try to access his memories and thoughts, but it did not work and she doesn’t know why. Benedict Lightwood doubts her story. The Inquisitor announces that Mortmain’s houses, warehouses, and offices have been searched but he has not been seen since that night. The Consul advises that Henry and Charlotte be censured and placed on probation for three months for their missteps, he would have to personally okay any official actions they take on behalf of the Institute, but Benedict Lightwood interrupts. He thinks their punishment is too light, affected by the Consul’s friendship with Charlotte’s family. The Enclave’s relationship with the Downworlders has suffered since attacking de Quincey, and they let a dangerous criminal escape. Henry’s involvement running the Institute is nominal and Charlotte should no longer be in charge. Women cannot be trusted to run an Institute. Will leaps to Charlotte’s defense. He is a man and he was also fooled by Nathaniel Gray, as was Jem. Benedict brushes him away, he’s a mere child. Of course, Benedict could run the Institute instead. Three Shadowhunters rise to support his claim, Lilian Highsmith included. Consul Wayland retorts that Benedict has always wanted the Institute and challenged Charlotte the moment she was appointed, now the Shadowhunters need to work together more than ever. But Benedict will not withdraw his challenge. The Consul makes a decision. He gives Charlotte and Henry two weeks to locate Mortmain or find strong evidence of his whereabouts. They can use other members of the Clave if they have a specific need and may also use the Silent Brothers and Iron Sisters, but the investigation must be done themselves. Thomas’ brother, Cyril, will be joining the Institute and they have a new cook coming too, both trained to fight. This is a bit of a chastisement, but Henry insists that both Thomas and Agatha were trained too. Wayland points out that Tessa, Sophie, and Jessamine all live at the Institute, yet Tessa and Sophie have no training whatsoever and Jessie is woefully behind. Benedict offers the use of his sons Gabriel and Gideon to help with the training, since Charlotte and Henry will be busy with their investigation. Gabriel is horrified by the prospect, but the Consul advises Charlotte to accept the offer. The Consul adjourns the meeting, announcing that they will meet again in two weeks. Charlotte leads the residents of the Institute out of the Council room amidst whispers about them, but she takes a sharp right in front of the door and heads into a hallway. The Consul speaks to Charlotte there. It is better to placate Benedict because he has a lot of political power. The Consul believes in Charlotte, and he has always believed in her ability to run the Institute, but this mess was caused by bad luck, bad timing, complacency of the Clave, and bad decisions – of which Charlotte is accountable. But he has given her a chance to keep the Institute by doing a job that she would be required to do anyway. To stop the Magister. And if she thinks that job is impossible to do, then perhaps she should not be in the position after all. Charlotte puts everyone at the Institute to work on research: automatons, summoning and binding spells, the Pandemonium Club, and any Mortmain family histories. Even Jessamine is looking, she wants the man that nearly killed her punished. Tessa is looking through stories of Mortmain’s shipping company. When Charlotte leaves to speak to Brother Enoch, the others discuss Mortmain and what a waste of time this research feels like. What they need to find out is where Mortmain learned dark magic and why he hates Shadowhunters – which they aren’t going to find in a family history. Tessa says it has something to do with the watch Mortmain wanted Tessa to use. Jem suggests they look at the reparations section of the archives. Reparations are when a Downworlder is compensated after a Shadowhunter has broken the Law while dealing with them. Mundanes can also receive reparations, though it is not as common. Jem and Tessa leave to ask Brother Enoch to check the archives. Will decides to follow them, only to get into a petty argument with Tessa and storm off. Will goes to Camille’s house, where he is escorted to the drawing room by one of her subjugates and finds that Magnus has pushed all the furniture to the walls and drawn a pentagram in the center of the room. He has summoned Thammuz, a minor demon from the eighth dimension. Magnus tells Will to ask Thammuz his questions, but Will doesn’t think that Thammuz is the right demon. He’s not the right shade of blue, his voice is different, he doesn’t have the correct number of eyes. When compelled to give a truthful answer, Thammuz confirms that he’s never seen Will before. After banishing Thammuz, Magnus asks Will if there is any information he left out of his story. Will opened a Pyxis and released a demon that cursed him, he now wants that curse removed. Not much to go on. Will is desperate to end the curse that he has lived with for five years, but he won’t tell Magnus what the curse is. Sophie walks through the halls of the Institute when she hears the voices coming toward her – Jem and Tessa. She takes refuge inside a room. She can’t stand to see Jem and Tessa together, not seeing Jem’s feelings for Tessa on his face while she herself is in love with him. It makes Sophie jealous, even though she likes Tessa. It’s impossible not to like Tessa. Sophie watches as Jem lays a bundle of training clothes at Jessamine’s door before he and Tessa wander off, laughing and joking. She hears Jem tell Tessa that he thinks she is pretty. Once they’re gone, she prepares to leave her hiding spot, but Jessie’s door opens and Sophie sees Jessamine is dressed in traveling clothes. Jessamine kicks the training clothes into her room before walking off. After breakfast the next morning, Tessa and Sophie are told to meet the Lightwood brothers in the training room. Jem is there too, but Will is gone (probably avoiding the brothers) and Jessamine claims she has a headache. The two of them dress before walking to the training room together. When Jem joins them, Tessa finds herself worrying about how she looks in the loose pants and tunic and wishing that Jem could train them. But he’s not done training himself…and he’s not well enough to train them. Sophie asks how much training they will do and Jem assures her that a beautiful woman should at least know how to defend herself. Sophie gets upset and tells him not to make fun of her. He’s in the middle of saying he wasn’t teasing her when Gabriel Lightwood walks in with his older brother, Gideon. They’ve brought Thomas’ brother, Cyril, and the new cook, Bridget, with them. They give a little demonstration in which Gabriel fights Cyril but disarms him, only to be knocked down by Bridget - who puts a dagger to his throat. Gabriel laughs, making Tessa like him a tiny bit more. But then Will walks in and immediately starts insulting Bridget’s (as of yet still untasted) Irish cooking until Jem makes him leave the room. The two of them walk Cyril and Bridget downstairs to get their instructions from Charlotte. Gabriel focuses on training Tessa, and she thinks he’s pretty good at it, as Gideon trains Sophie. Afterward, dinner is served (Bridget’s cooking is rather good) though Charlotte is not present. She has gone to investigate the reparations records herself and soon she barges into the dining room, announcing that she has found something. A request for recompense made by Axel Mortmain for the unjustifiable deaths of his parents John and Anne Shade. Both of Mortmain’s parents were warlocks, so he must have been adopted and allowed to keep his previous surname. The record is dated before the Accords were signed and Shadowhunters could kill a Downworlder that they merely suspected had done something wrong. The Shades were killed for “natural and illegal dealings with demons” as well as creating a weapon that could threaten the Shadowhunters. Mortmain’s request did not ask for money, but for the Shadowhunters that killed his parents to be tried and punished, and he had the backing of Aloysius Starkweather through the York Institute. The full record should be in the York Institute still. Charlotte says that Aloysius Starkweather is still alive at the Institute in York and may even remember something about the event. Charlotte will write to Starkweather - which will be super awkward since he and her father had a severe falling out several years ago. Tessa goes to the library, giving Church his space as she walks around him – he likes to bite. Will joins her soon. It’s the first time they’ve been alone since he propositioned her on the rooftop, and their conversation quickly turns cool - at least on Tessa’s end. Will tells her that he read a book she said she liked and he did not like it himself. She prepares to leave the room and calls him Mr. Herondale. He is aghast. He thought they could at least talk about books. They begin to argue and Will says he read A Tale of Two Cities again after they had talked about it. It’s too sad, there’s no future for the character Sydney, with or without love, and for Lucie to be near Sydney would be worse for her. This makes Tessa soften a little and when she does leave, she calls him by his first name. She nearly says something else to him, but Church attacks Will before she can. Charlotte receives Aloysius’ reply and it is not favorable. He refuses to meet either Charlotte or Henry and furthermore says he will never forgive her family for what her father did. She’s not even sure what that was. Will and Jem offer to make the trip instead, since they can’t ask any of the other members of the Enclave to go. They don’t know who to trust outside of the Institute, anyone could be on Benedict’s side. Then Tessa suggests that they don’t really need Aloysius to tell them anything. If Tessa goes and retrieves something personal of his, she can Change into him and retrieve his memories. A good plan in case Aloysius decides not to talk to them. It’s decided that Tessa will join Will and Jem, the three of them will leave on the train the next morning. On the way to their next training session, Sophie seems maudlin. She says that Bridget is not particularly friendly and all she does is sing about murder and betrayal. She misses Agatha. She and Tessa make their way upstairs and overhear Gideon and Gabriel arguing. Gideon says that there will be a reckoning and they need to decide which side they will be on when it comes. Gabriel wants to staunchly stand next to their father, but Gideon says there are things that Gabriel doesn’t understand. Maybe there are reasons that the Consul didn’t put him in charge of the Institute, reasons that Gabriel doesn’t know. When Gabriel asks why he ever came back from Spain, where Gideon was training with another Institute, Gideon tells Gabriel that he came back to London for him. That makes Gabriel stop talking and the girls enter the room. Jessamine again is not with them, and Gideon makes a comment that Jessie’s headache probably won’t go away until the training sessions are over for good, which makes Sophie laugh. Gideon looks at her surprised, but not unhappy. Tessa is lying awake in her bed when she hears a rustle at her door. She opens it to find a book that Will recommended to her lying on the floor. He must have brought it – he’s so confusing! Inside, she finds a terrible poem Will wrote to her which makes her laugh. She is able to sleep at last. The next morning, she boards a train with Will and Jem. Will is in a sour mood (especially when he finds out that Tessa didn’t bother to bring anything to read) but assures the others that he will be the pinnacle of charm once they’re in York. He understands the trust that Charlotte is putting in them with this mission. They try to come up with a cover story as to why they’re in York and Jem suggests that Tessa be his fiancée preparing for her Ascension. Shadowhunter and mundane marriages are forbidden, but there are occasions when the couple will apply to the Clave to have the mundane use the Mortal Cup and be made into a Shadowhunter. The Clave considers each case for at least three months while the mundane studies to become a Shadowhunter. Will stares fixedly out the window but agrees it is a decent enough idea. Jem thought of the plan ahead of time and even has his Carstairs family ring for Tessa to wear. They explain that there are five other Institutes in Britain, but they are smaller Institutes that report to London, which reports to Idris. At eighteen, Shadowhunters are encouraged to travel to other Institutes to learn about different cultures. For example, Gideon Lightwood just returned from the Institute in Madrid. They also discuss what it is to be parabatai. It is an oath made to another, making them two halves of the same warrior. A rune placed by a parabatai is more powerful, you can draw on your parabatai’s strength in battle. There are even runes available to parabatai pairs only. You can only become parabatai once, but the bond can be broken by turning into a Downworlder or a mundane, or death. They’re met at the York train station by Gottshall, whose family has worked at the York Institute for nearly three hundred years. He doesn’t paint a favorable picture of Aloysius Starkweather for them. Aloysius does not disappoint. He starts by insulting Will about being both Welsh and having a mundane parent, then insults Jem, only to follow it by insulting Charlotte and her family, all before he even notices Tessa. Aloysius shows them to their rooms. As Tessa goes down for dinner, she looks at all the family portraits on the walls – including one of a young girl named Adele Starkweather. Will looks at the portrait too, probably a granddaughter of Aloysius. Will doesn’t like how the Institute feels like it belongs to the Starkweather family instead of to the Clave. Institutes shouldn’t be passed down through generations for that long. It’s part of the reason Benedict is so up in arms about the London Institute, and that was only two generations of Charlotte’s family: Charlotte and her father. Tessa, Will, and Jem are alone at the table for some time before Aloysius finally shows up, carrying a box in his arms. It is marked with the initials JTS, AES, and AHM, as well as the year 1825. He explains that the claim was made by Axel Mortmain, adopted son of two warlocks (he absolutely does not think that warlocks should be able to adopt). There’s not much about Mortmain in the file, but it does say that John Shade was in possession of the Book of the White, which had disappeared from the London Institute’s library around 1750 and specializes in binding and unbinding spells. They believed that John Shade was trying to animate corpses that he would buy off of medical students or dig up himself. A group of Shadowhunters killed both John Shade and his wife, the son was not found and was assumed dead until he made his reparations claim. It does list a family address at Ravenscar Manor, but there may not be much there still since most of the Shade’s belongings were taken as spoils. Tessa doesn’t know what he means by spoils, so Aloysius takes them on a tour – they have many spoils at the York Institute – as he finishes telling what he remembers of Mortmain’s case. Axel Mortmain was protesting the death of his mother only, he said that Anne Shade had nothing to do with her husband’s projects and hadn’t even known about them, thus her death was unjust. As recompense, he wanted those who killed her put on trial and to get his parents’ belongings back, including the Book of the White. The book was not given to him; it was placed in the London Institute’s library. Aloysius was part of the group that killed the Shades and he recollects the event fondly. They even took the cloaks off the dead warlocks’ backs. Tessa realizes that Mortmain never had a chance of winning his case. They arrive in the Institute’s museum of spoils. A locket splattered with blood, a dish of silver bullets pulled out of the bodies of freshly killed werewolves, rows of vampire fangs, faerie wings, the skull of a warlock’s head with tusks instead of teeth. Vials of blood. Tessa grows lightheaded, she sees black - she wants to fight the old man. She turns and presses her face into Jem’s face as he explains to Starkweather that she’s never seen spoils before. Maids come to escort Tessa to bed. She has a nightmare that night of the Dark Sisters, Nate, and Henry chopping her up and displaying her body parts like spoils. She is woken up by Will, who came into her room after hearing her yell out. He’s still in his evening clothes. He tells her everything was just a dream. The Accords outlawed spoils and besides, she must know that he would never let anyone hurt her. He nearly kisses her, but she turns away at the last moment. She doesn’t know that at all, not after what he said to her on the rooftop. She asks if he regrets saying it, but he admits that he doesn’t. She asks him to leave her room - even though it feels like a huge mistake. Tessa, Will, and Jem leave to investigate Ravenscar Manor early the next morning. They are told that they will not be returning to the York Institute but dropped off directly at the train station afterward. The carriage that Starkweather loans them doesn’t take them to Ravenscar Manor’s front door, but drops them off a little distance away so they can check for demonic activity before charging in. The manor is nestled between three tall hills and as they climb one, Will tells the others that his own home was in the country like this. Isolated, but not lonely since people would visit for weeks at a time. Neither can believe that Will is voluntarily speaking of his childhood. They crest the hill and look down to see that Ravenscar Manor is not in a state of disrepair at all. Someone has been using it. As they watch, a different carriage rides up to the gates, and a teenaged girl gets out. She turns around to look behind her, and Will chokes out one word – Cecily. Will is shocked. Cecily is his younger sister. His family must’ve been drawn into this somehow and are now in danger, possibly being held in Ravenscar Manor. He starts to run toward the manor to warn his family of the danger they’re in, but Jem grabs him and pins him to the ground. Jem points out an automaton that seems to be watching them. Will promises not to run again. But as soon as Jem releases him, Will takes off toward the manor. Jem and Tessa follow him as quickly as possible, but Tessa is wearing a corset and skirts and is quickly left behind. She is alone when the automaton finds her and attacks. She grabs a branch and uses her newly acquired training to try to hold the automaton off, but its metal weapons trump her wooden branch. Just as it tries to grab her throat, Tessa’s clockwork angel necklace defends her again. Jem and Will appear behind the automaton, and Will chops it in half with his sword. The automaton can still talk and delivers a message to Will and to all Nephilim. Leave the past in the past and stop investigating Mortmain, or Will’s family will pay the price. Once the automaton stops working, they see multiple other automatons standing guard. Jem tells Will that to protect his family, they need to lure the automatons away. They cannot speak to the Herondales, not to mention that it is against the Law since Will’s father gave up being a Shadowhunter. The Clave will not help them anymore. Will gives up and when he looks at Tessa, she sees pronounced, raw agony in his eyes. They bury the remains of the automaton and return to Starkweather’s carriage. Once inside, Tessa tries to help Will, but he isn’t speaking to anyone and just stares out the window. Jem speaks to Will – he thought Will’s sister was dead. Will looks at them both and says that his sister is dead, before they all lapse into silence for the rest of the ride. Once on the train, Will still refuses to speak. At least, not until he and Tessa are alone for a moment. She wants to thank him for his kindness the night before when she had her nightmare, but he only says that the night before never happened. He is not in the mood to talk further, not even to tease. Luckily, they’re interrupted by Jem returning to his seat and Will returns to starring. Tessa quietly asks Jem if he has any idea why Will’s family is involved and he doesn’t, other than to think that Mortmain is playing a very long game indeed. Jem says that at least Tessa didn’t have to change into Starkweather to get information, he seemed very willing to talk about Mortmain on his own. She shows Jem a button that belonged to Starkweather. She’s glad too, it probably would have been very unpleasant to be Aloysius, but she snagged his button just in case. When Jem starts coughing, Will is concerned about him but returns to despondency as soon as Jem says it’s just dust from the road making him cough. The second the train pulls into the station; Will jumps off and runs off alone. Jem insists to Tessa that he will be okay. Will storms into Camille’s house to see Magnus. He wants Magnus to send him to the demon realms to find the demon that cursed him, but Magnus says doing that is black magic and he would be punished by the Clave. Will cannot see any other recourse. He cannot deal with the constant disappointment of finding the wrong demon when every day brings a greater chance of losing her forever! Magnus knew that this was about Tessa! Will admits that yes, he loves Tessa. Of course he does, even though he never thought he would love anyone. Magnus points out that Will loves Jem, but Will brushes him off – Jem is his great sin. Will reveals that he saw his family earlier that day and they cannot be around him. He lied to Magnus before (Magnus is nowhere near shocked). Will’s father had kept a few things from his Shadowhunting life in their library. His stele and a small, engraved box - hidden in a false desk drawer. Of course, when Will found the box, he opened. It. A mist poured out, and he began to scream as the mist formed jagged teeth and a barbed tail. Then his sister barged in. Not Cecily, his elder sister Ella. She was holding a seraph blade. She tried to banish the demon, but it only laughed at her before knocking her to the ground with its tail. The demon looked at Will and told him that since his father was not there, the demon would make do with destroying Will instead. It cursed him, saying that all who loves Will will die. It may take only moments, or maybe years, but they will all die for loving Will. The demon pointed to Ella; he will start with her. Then it disappeared. But Ella was not hurt. In fact, she comforted Will – who was terrified. She’d been reading some of their father’s forbidden books and explained what the seraph blade was and what the Pyxis was that Will had just opened up. The terror started to fade. But the next morning, Ella was dead. She had swelled up and her skin turned greenish black in the night. That night Will left, knowing he had to leave to save the rest of his family. This is why he is cruel to those that may learn to care about him, to save them. He has been nasty enough to Tessa that he believes she does not care for him, although he nearly slipped up when he thought she had died, and he let his real feeling show. He had to crush any possibility of her loving him after that and now she hates him. As for Jem, he is the only person that Will allows himself to love since Jem is dying anyway. Will can delude himself into believing that Jem’s death would not be his fault. He has not even told anyone of the curse, so they would not pity him and form an attachment because of it. But he knows that Magnus does not like the Nephilim, and warlocks know how to protect their emotions, so he is willing to take a chance and tell Magnus. When Charlotte learns that Will is gone, she is worried, but Jem tries to relieve her of her anxiety. Will is always out at night, they never know where he is, and he can take care of himself. She reveals that she’s been paying Ragnor Fell to keep an eye on Will’s family. Ever since the Herondales came for Will and he refused to see them, he begged Charlotte to tell him if they died. Four years after that, Ragnor told Charlotte that the family had lost their house in Wales after Will’s father Edmund racked up gambling debts, but Ragnor didn’t know where they’d gone. Charlotte doesn’t understand why they would be in York, or in Ravenscar Manor. They suspect that Mortmain has found a way to prolong his life since he only looks like he’s about forty, but he should be in his seventies based on when his parents were killed. Jem suggests that Mortmain faked his death, leaving his company to his “son” – allowing him to come back to England and even change what the company was involved in. A trick that vampires employ often. Since they only have nine days left to solve this investigation, Charlotte asks Tessa to change into Aloysius Starkweather. They need to know if he can be trusted, if there was anything he was hiding. Magnus refuses to send Will to the demon realms and Will is desperate. He believes he is losing the good parts of himself as he pretends to be someone else, whittling away what was left of who he used to be. When Magnus does not change his mind, Will storms out. Magnus watches him walk away. Will reminds him of someone. Tessa changes into Starkweather. Aloysius’ mind is fractured with age, it is difficult to grab and hold on to a memory, but she finally manages it. She sees through Starkweather as Shade holds the hand of his son Axel, showing Axel the clockwork creatures that he’s been making. The automatons hold hands and dance around. Tessa feels Starkweather’s hatred. The memory is taken away, and she tries to find the Shade family again in Starkweather’s memory. She sees a room torn apart, full of cogs and gears with a green-skinned man and blue-haired woman lying dead – the Shades. She sees Aloysius’ granddaughter, the girl from the stairwell portrait, screaming in pain as a Mark is given to her. And she sees the first time that Starkweather saw her own face, saw Tessa’s face, and the shock that he felt is so strong that it throws Tessa back into her own body. She drops the button. She’s sitting in front of her vanity in her dressing gown thinking about what she just saw. She thinks she saw a glimmer of movement at the window and for a moment, she believes she sees Mrs. Dark. But below her window, the courtyard is empty. Just her brain, already anxious and on high alert, getting the best of her. The next morning, Will still has not returned and everyone (including Jem) is starting to get worried – except for Jessamine. Charlotte doesn’t think he would try to contact his family now that the heat of the moment has worn off, Tessa can tell that Charlotte would be upset if Will left and never returned – which is exactly what he would have to do if he spoke to his family. He would be giving up the life of a Shadowhunter. Tessa tells them what she learned from Starkweather the night before, basically nothing, and is reminded of their training that day with the Lightwoods. Jessamine volunteers to do anything else (her headache is finally gone but she can’t risk it returning by training) and Charlotte finally relents. She asks Tessa and Sophie not to mention anything about Will during training. Sophie and Tessa are waiting in the training room, speaking about Will when the Lightwoods are brought in by Jem. Of course, Gabriel overhears them. Gabriel says he hopes Will doesn’t come back. He hopes that Will’s dead. Tessa is astounded and asks what Will did to deserve that, Gabriel only says to ask Will herself. Today they start knifework and Gabriel is not patient and he is not kind; he even gets a little handsy when she fails to hold a knife correctly. When she rebukes him, he points out that Gideon is standing just as closely to Sophie, yet Sophie doesn’t seem to mind. Tessa does look. Sophie does look relaxed and amazingly, Gideon blushes a little when he catches Tessa watching them. But Tessa still thinks Gabriel was in the wrong and he ends up storming out of the training room. Gideon apologizes for Gabriel’s behavior. Things have not been easy at home lately and Gabriel is taking that out on Tessa. Then Gideon follows after his brother. Tessa leaves training to find Charlotte and Henry speaking to Ragnor Fell, the High Warlock of London. Charlotte wants to know why the Herondale family is in Ravenscar Manor, and she wants to know if they are safe... without the rest of the Clave or Benedict Lightwood hearing about it. She also thinks it would be beneficial to try to look into Axel Mortmain’s birth family. Ragnor agrees to do so, but he believes Mortmain is a name that Axel took himself. It feels like a Shadowhunter name. Stark-weather, Heron-dale, Light-wood, Fair-child. Mort-main. “The hand of death.” Once Tessa is back in her room, a letter is delivered to her from Magnus Bane. He tells her that he saw Will and is worried that he may hurt himself. He also recommends Tessa not tell Charlotte. As soon as she’s able, Tessa goes to Jem’s room to show him the letter. He knew there was something wrong with Will, he could feel it in their bond. He takes her to Will’s room and they look around (it’s a mess). Tessa finds a ton of books and the letters that she wrote to Nate. More of a diary since she never really thought Nate would get them, she wonders why Will has them. Jem finds a receipt for some of his medicine. Will usually buys it for Jem, and it turns out it costs a lot more than Will had said it did. He also finds a Herondale dagger – one of the only items Will brought with him from his family home. They should be able to use the dagger to track him. Cyril brings the carriage around; Tessa climbs in as Jem sits across from her and he tells Cyril to head toward the center of London. Tessa asks about the parabatai bond in the carriage and Jem tells her how he came to be parabatai to Will. Will asked Jem when they were thirteen, but Jem said no. Will deserved to bond someone who was not destined to die one day. So, Will challenged him to a duel with longswords. If Will won, Jem would agree to become his parabatai. Throwing daggers are Will’s weapon of choice so Jem agreed, but Will must’ve been practicing without Jem’s knowledge. He disarmed Jem and pinned him against the wall in nine seconds flat. Now Jem can’t imagine his life without his parabatai. They find Will at the drug den run by ifrits that he frequents to buy what Jem needs. Jem and Tessa insist that they’re there for Will, but the warlock at the door still tries to sell Jem some yin fen. The warlock tells him that it’s getting harder and harder to obtain, he should buy up what they have, and Jem gets paler and paler until Tessa orders the warlock to show them to Will. Will is high, barely conscious. Jem is so stunned that Tessa has to force him to help her get Will out of the ifrit den. On the way out, Will asks Jem to pay. Once outside, Jem punches Will in the face. As Jem returns inside to pay for Will’s merchandise, Cyril helps Will into the carriage and hands Tessa a handkerchief for Will’s face. She helps him staunch the bleeding as Will tells her he only wanted to have happy dreams for a little while, but he’s made a mess of everything. When Jem enters the carriage, he tells Cyril to drive, and Tessa takes the handkerchief wet with Will’s blood and tucks it into her sleeve. This time, it is Jem that does not speak during the carriage ride, and he runs off as soon as the carriage stops. Tessa tries to find him but eventually goes to her own room. She sees a new side of Jem, and she realizes that she has taken his patience and kindness for granted. As if that was just who he was, and not choices that he constantly made. When she hears a noise from the hallway, she realizes that Jem is playing his violin but not softly - violently. She goes to his room, and his pupils are blown wide. She tells him that he’s going to destroy his violin. He’s distraught. What does it matter if he destroys the violin when he’s going to die soon anyway. And when his closest friend makes a mockery of his illness. Tessa tries to tell him that Will is fighting something; he hadn’t been trying to hurt Jem at all. She feels Jem’s head to see if has a fever, but Jem brushes her hand away. He doesn’t want her to touch him, not like that. He knows that Tessa doesn’t believe he could want things like a normal man would, that when she touches his hand, she is only checking his pulse or looking to see how much drug he has taken when she looks in his eyes. She can’t believe that he would be healthy enough, alive enough to want her. But he is. Jem pulls Tessa to him and they kiss. They kiss a lot, ending up on the bed as they explore each other. Tessa reaches out and knocks a pillow off the bed, which falls into Jem’s nightstand and knocks his wooden box onto the ground. The box opens and the drug falls onto the ground. This stops him. Tessa shouldn’t touch or even breathe the drug in; he asks her to leave the room. She doesn’t want to, but he pleads with her to go. He doesn’t want her to see him degrade himself by scrabbling on the ground to collect what he can of the drug that he has to have. No man would want the girl he… he cuts himself off, ashamed. Tessa kisses him on the cheek before leaving, wondering what it was he was going to say. She makes it to her own room and has almost closed the door when she sees Jessamine sneaking around in men’s clothing. She wonders briefly what that’s about before going to bed, and she’s not sure if she dreams of Will or Jem… or both. The next morning, Tessa wakes up mortified at what she did with Jem. But really, about what Jem will think of her now. That she lost control. Will announces to the breakfast table that he was found in an opium den and does not get half of the response that he thinks he should. Tessa says it wasn’t really opium and Jem says he shouldn’t have worried about Will, he didn’t need Jem’s help after all (he’s still very angry), but Will does tell them something interesting that he learned. He saw a bunch of werewolves in the den, buying a lot of yin fen – the drug that Jem uses. It works as a stimulant on them and when asked, the werewolves said that Mortmain likes to keep them up all night working. Some of them were already starting to turn silver, like how the yin fen has changed Jem’s hair and eye color. Charlotte will have to talk to Woolsey Scott, who is in charge of the London werewolves. She hopes he’s not involved with Mortmain like de Quincey was. Soon, Charlotte stalks off after asking Henry to join her meeting with Woolsey and he doesn’t get the hint, then Jem stalks off because he can’t look at Will. Will asks Tessa why she isn’t changed for training with the Lightwoods and she says she doesn’t need to; it’s just knife throwing that day. What a great thing to hear. Will is really good at knife throwing, he thinks he will join them for the day. That should keep things interesting. He’s not wrong. Gabriel in particular is perturbed by Will’s presence at training. When Gabriel starts to insult Charlotte, Will speaks up. Even Sophie and Gideon stop training to watch what happens. Gabriel says that the Lightwoods should take over the London Institute and Charlotte can take the York Institute instead. It’s time Starkweather stepped down and his children won’t ever leave Idris, not after what happened to his granddaughter. Tessa asks what happened and is told that Aloysius’ granddaughter reacted poorly to her first Mark, turned Forsaken, and then died. Gabriel goes on. Charlotte doesn’t deserve the London Institute after what her family did to the Lightwoods. Charlotte’s father Granville found out that Gabriel’s uncle on his mother’s side, Silas, had broken the Law. Just a minor infraction but instead of letting it go, Granville told the Clave and Silas killer himself of the shame. Their mother never recovered and died from the grief a few years later. Though Charlotte had nothing to do with that, the sins of the father are inherited. Gabriel is cut off from talking further but not by Will, by Sophie - who has slapped him across the face. Gabriel runs off, but Gideon doesn’t seem angry. In fact, he’s happy Sophie has been paying attention to his training. Will asks if the story was true and Gideon says yes, at least partly. Gideon had known that his uncle had killed himself but not why until their father told them the story a few days ago. Gideon had told his father that Charlotte seemed to be doing a good job running the Institute, so Benedict told him and Gabriel the story. But Silas hadn’t committed a minor infraction, but a major Law. He fell in love with his parabatai. That is strictly forbidden. The Clave would have separated the two parabatai, but Silas couldn’t conceive of the thought and killed himself instead. Gabriel was five when their mother died, and Gideon believes that it has a lot to do with Gabriel’s hero worship of their father. Sophie is distraught. Because of what she’s done, Gabriel won’t return to the Institute, so Tessa decides to go after him and speak to him. Will follows her out, but they’re too late. She can see Gabriel’s carriage drive away through the drawing room window. Talk turns serious between Tessa and Will. She tells him that he needs to think of Jem – he should have thought about what it would be like for Jem to see Will in that ifrit den. What a slap in the face it is for Will to make a mockery of what is killing Jem. Will doesn’t understand. He wasn’t trying to make a mockery of Jem and Jem shouldn’t think that, but Tessa assures Will that Jem does. Maybe Will should start thinking about how what he does affects others, but Will insists that it is all he thinks about. How he feels about others and what they think about him. He’s about to say something about what he’s scared of but Charlotte walks in with Woolsey Scott, head of the London werewolf pack. Sophie and Gideon are left alone in the training room; she assumes that he will be leaving and won’t be returning to train her anymore since she hit Gabriel. But Gideon wants to confide something to her. He did not want to return to London from the Madrid Institute when his father sent for him. He’s never been happy in London, not since his mother died and their house descended into misery. Moreso, he thought that Tessa and Sophie would be silly and uninterested in training, that training them would be a waste of time. He has found that he was entirely wrong. And Sophie shows more ability than many of the younger Shadowhunters he’s trained. He began to look forward to their training sessions, look forward to seeing Sophie. It’s the only time he’s happy in London. She protests. He’s always saying “Dios mio” when she messes up but he just grins - he speaks Spanish when he’s in a good mood. He wants to know if he can see her again… even if the lessons do not continue. Woolsey insists that Tessa and Will stay while he speaks to Charlotte. He’s more interested in gossip and namedropping, but Charlotte is eventually able to get him on topic. He assumes that the reason Charlotte wanted to meet is to see if he was betraying the Shadowhunters like de Quincey did, she says she thought members of Downworld might be upset about what happened with de Quincey. But not Woolsey. Camille’s werewolf lover that de Quincey killed was his older brother. Woolsey loathed de Quincey. He was given the position of pack leader after the previous leader, his brother, died so that he could get revenge, but the Shadowhunters have taken care of that for him – for that he owes them a favor. He knows there’s a small group of rogue werewolves not associated with any pack that may be working for Mortmain. They seemed to have quite a bit of money, but he didn’t know they were using yin fen. He hopes they won’t create a shortage, leaving Jem without what he needs. Will panics and walks out, he hadn’t even thought of that. Woolsey assures Charlotte that he is not a member of the Pandemonium Club; he refused to join when de Quincey was already involved. But he does know that Mortmain hates the Shadowhunters. Killing them all is an obsession of his. Charlotte asks Woolsey to let her know if he learns anything more about these rogue werewolves. When Woolsey tries to talk about Charlotte’s personal life, she “accidentally” knocks over the teapot and shows him out. Ragnor writes to Charlotte. Will’s parents and sister Cecily are living in Ravenscar Manor as custodians of the property. Edmund was offered the position after losing their house in Wales to gambling debts. Mortmain is not often seen in the area - according to the locals. Ragnor had the chance to speak to Cecily, who told him it was Will’s desertion of his family that made their father lose everything. If Will is worried about them, he should return to them. But Ragnor believes that Mortmain hired the Herondales to watch the manor so that the Shadowhunters could not investigate there, that would be breaking the Law. In addition, none of the items in the house can be used to track Mortmain since they now technically belong to the Herondales, and it gives him power over Will should he ever need it. Cecily speaks of Mortmain with nothing but affection, she believes he is in Shanghai though Ragnor has spoken to the Shanghai Institute and they disagree. Ragnor told Cecily that Will missed her, that seemed to make her happy. Ragnor plans to stay in the area a while longer. Charlotte is worried about how Will will take this news. He can be trying, and mean, but she always remembers the way he looked the night his parents came for him and her heart goes out to him. Jem comes in as she’s thinking and tells her what Gabriel said in training about Silas Pangborn (Sophie had relayed the story to him). Charlotte says the story can’t be true. Silas killed himself because he was in love with his parabatai, but her father didn’t tell the Clave. The first time the Clave heard about it was in Silas’ suicide note. Silas’ father even asked Granville to help write Silas’ obituary. Jem suggests she tell the Consul about this, perhaps it will give them extra ammunition to keep the Institute. Jem starts to cough and Charlotte worries about him. She loves all those under her care – Jem and Will included – and she’s worried about losing Jem. And of how that will affect Will. Will comes back from buying all the yin fen he can find to find Jem pacing in front of Tessa’s door. He convinces Jem to go to his own room, where Will gives him the package. He confirmed that Mortmain has been buying up all the supply, if they didn’t have enough for Jem, they would have been forced to comply with Mortmain’s demands for the drug… or to let Jem die. Will won’t allow that. He would do anything to save Jem, and he apologizes for going to the ifrit den. Without Jem, he would be alone in the world. He doesn’t want to hurt Jem; he’s hurt enough people - but never Jem. If not for Jem, Will would be dead already. Will’s speech alarms Jem. Jem reminds him that he is dying and there is nothing that Will can do about it. Will says they made a bond. They are one person now; one cannot go where the other cannot follow. But Jem disagrees. Two people with a bond that only death can separate them. He agreed to be Will’s parabatai because he thought Will needed him. Will had built a wall around himself but no one should be so alone, and Jem thought that he could be the person Will relied on. But something has changed and Jem thinks that Will’s wall is finally coming down. Tessa is in her room. She thinks Jem is avoiding her because she acted so scandalously the night before, she’s relieved when she hears the quiet knock on her door. But it isn’t Jem, it’s Sophie. She tells Tessa of how she’s seen Jessamine sneaking out and tonight she found an invitation to a ball at Benedict Lightwood’s. She shows Tessa the invitation. On the back, she sees Nate’s handwriting. He’s planning to meet Jessie at the ball. She asks Sophie if Jessie has already left – but that’s the thing. Jessamine saw when Sophie discovered the invitation and got really angry. She came toward Sophie, who used her new training to hit Jessamine in the head with a mirror, knock her out, and tie her to the bed. Now Sophie’s not sure what to do. She doesn’t want Charlotte to fire her, and she doesn’t want Jem to know what she did, which only leaves Will. Will is shocked – and impressed. He doesn’t think Charlotte will be upset with Sophie. If Jessamine had met Nate, she may have betrayed the whole Institute, but Will doesn’t think they should wake Charlotte either. Charlotte would be honor bound to alert the Clave, but they have an opportunity here. He gives Jessamine an iratze and a sleeping rune, so she won’t wake up soon. Why is Benedict throwing parties none of them know about? Why is he inviting Nathanial Gray? He suggests that Tessa attend the party as Jessamine and they get some answers. He will go with her - it is a masked party, and he happens to have a venetian mask handy. Sophie agrees she can get Tessa ready in an hour, and Will goes to dress himself and wake Cyril for the carriage. Will looks devastating dressed for the ball, and Cyril is confused why Jessamine and Will are going anywhere together. While in the carriage, Tessa reveals that she cannot access Jessie’s memories. Something is wrong. She can feel anger and rage and bitterness, but nothing specific. She says she knows another reason that Will didn’t want to wake Charlotte. If Jessamine is actually in love with Nate, that would break Charlotte’s heart and Will doesn’t want that. He’s not as cold as he pretends. He does care. She asks about his sisters and he actually answers. He had two. Ella, older by one year, was protective. She died. Cecily, younger by three years, was wild. At least when she was nine. Will hasn’t seen her since. He also finally tells Tessa what happened between him and Gabriel’s sister Tatiana. When they were twelve, she fancied herself in love with Will. He found her diary and read it out loud at the Christmas party. Gabriel wanted to preserve his sister’s honor, but Will broke his arm instead. It was an embarrassment for both Tatiana, for obvious reasons, and Gabriel, because he’d been gossiping about how Will was weak and basically a mundane. Not quite the sordid tale that Tessa had expected. She says she heard that Tatiana got married and has just returned from her honeymoon. She has more questions. She’s been trying to figure out what she might be, a combination not seen before. She asks about the children of demons and Shadowhunters, but Will tells her that they are always born stillborn. He asks if she could access her parents’ memories, but she’s tried. Not even the clockwork angel allows it, probably because it’s been Tessa’s for too long. When they arrive at the Lightwood’s estate, the house is black. Tessa wonders if they’ve messed something up, but Will can smell witchcraft in the air. Some powerful magic is being done tonight and there is something very strong, stronger than a ward, concealing it. Will conceals himself in the shadows as Tessa (as Jessamine) waits at the gates. It is opened by a hooded figure (she thinks she sees a cluster of red eyes under the hood but she’s not sure) who leads her toward a side entrance to the house. A strange symbol is carved into the door. As soon as she goes inside, the door slams behind her and lights turn on around her. Torches with green flames going up a narrow staircase. At the top is a door with the symbol of the Pandemonium Club. When she goes through the door, she finds the ball. The room is packed with people; she can spot different kinds of Downworlders. Automatons line the walls. Someone touches her shoulder, her brother – who calls her Jessie. He looks great. Dressed opulently in the height of fashion, it’s everything he always wanted. He asks Jessie to dance, and she asks how he has been. The Magister still favors him, thanks in large part to the information that Jessamine has been passing to him. As they dance, Tessa sees Gideon and Gabriel in the crowd. Then finally, she finds Will. He looks furious. Nate shows her where Benedict is sitting with a woman sprawled over him. Or, what looks like a woman but has snakes coming out of her eyes. Nate confirms what Tessa suspects, it’s a demon. That’s what Benedict likes. Tessa remembers what Will said about Benedict having demon pox. Nate’s disgusted. He doesn’t understand why Mortmain favors Benedict so highly and wants Benedict at the Institute so badly. But then, Mortmain could use Benedict to destroy the Clave from the inside, plus there’s the library. As for Tessa, they plan to have her arrested for possession of dark magic items and sent to the Silent City, from which Benedict will deliver her to the Magister. It’s part of the agreement they made, but Nate doesn’t know what Benedict is getting from the agreement. It must be something big. All this will go to plan, as long as Jessie hid the Book of the White in Tessa’s room like she was supposed to. Tessa assures him that she did. He comes in for a kiss, but Tessa says she feels faint and needs to sit down. He helps her off the dance floor and goes to get her a drink, although he is annoyed about it. While alone, a woman with lavender hair speaks to Tessa. She can see through Jessamine to the real Tessa, and she recognizes her because the lavender-haired woman knew Tessa’s mother. She says Tessa’s mother always called her Hyacinth, though her kind doesn’t give their actual names. She’s known Tessa’s mom since childhood. Tessa guesses that Hyacinth is a faerie and Hyacinth asks if Tessa knows about changelings: human babies replaced in their cribs with sickly faerie children. The human child grows strong in faerie and strengthens their bloodlines, as the humans deal with the weakling faerie child. They kids are switched out to avoid suspicion and revenge sought by mortals, usually the mortals don’t even realize the child has been changed out. Tessa asks if she is a changeling, but Hyacinth only laughs. Of course not! Nate comes back with a glass of fizzy lemonade that Tessa drinks, and he asks Jessie to dance again, but Tessa says she isn’t feeling well still. That’s fine. A man can’t dance all night with his wife. They’re Married! Nate receives a note from the Magister summoning him, he leaves Jessamine alone. Soon Will comes up to Tessa. He sent the note to get rid of Nate, and now its time for them to leave before they’re discovered. And they need to hurry; Tessa is starting to Change back to herself. Soon she’s shivering, twitching with the Change as she tries to stave it off. Will quickly gets her to a balcony for privacy. She thinks all the information has overwhelmed her, but Will says she did great. He’s gentle with her. He hates Nate for breaking her heart, but he tells her the Institute is her family now. They should go back in, but they don’t. Will touches her face, her neck, her waist, telling her that he has wanted to touch her every moment since they’ve meant, then he kisses her. They don’t stop, even when an old lady comes onto the balcony (and quickly turns around). But then they’re found by Magnus. He heard from his “sources” (Camille’s subjugate that recognized Will) that Will and Tessa might need some assistance and he came to give it to them. The lemonade lowers inhibitions. Will turns away from Tessa and asks Magnus to get them out of the party. Magnus magics them off the balcony to a pathway near the garden where a group of demons are walking and chatting. One looks like a corpse, one looks like a spinning wheel of mouths, and the last looks like… a blue lizard with a barbed tail. Will sees the blue demon and immediately attacks him, running after the demon when it tries to flee. Magnus tells the two remaining demons that they’re having a minor disagreement and shuffles them toward the party. Magnus tells Tessa they won’t be able to catch Will, so they start to walk down the path instead. Will will find his own way back to the Institute. Magnus puts Tessa in his own carriage; he wants to hear what she learned at the party. Tessa returns to the Institute to find Jessamine still asleep and Sophie standing guard. No doubt about it, they’re going to need to wake Charlotte up. Magnus is waiting when Will arrives at Camille’s house looking like he got into a fight with a giant cat. He shows Magnus his arm, pulling a tooth out of it. He chased the blue demon all over, the demon got away but only after he bit Will and left his tooth behind. Magnus can use the tooth to summon the demon. Magnus says it will take a couple days as Will starts to stumble around. Will says the tooth may have been poisonous - just before he passes out. Jessamine wakes before Charlotte comes to the room and Tessa takes the chance to try to talk some sense into her, but it goes very poorly. When Charlotte arrives, Brother Enoch is with her, and he has the Mortal Sword. They use it to question Jessamine since the sword will force her to speak the truth. Jessamine admits that Nate sent her his first message only a few days after the Institute was attacked. She ignored it, but he kept sending letters until she agreed to meet him. He proposed the second time they met in person. He said they could be together; they could have children and they would never have to worry about money. They were married in a church with a minister and everything. Jessamine has told him everything. It’s part of the reason she was so involved in the investigation. Where they were looking for Mortmain, which Downworlders they spoke to, about the trip to York. That’s why the automatons were sent to Ravenscar Manor. The Magister’s plans are nearly complete and then he will take the Institute and Tessa. Jessamine doesn’t know what Mortmain has on Benedict, or if he’s managed to open the Pyxis yet. She admits that she found the Book of the White in the library and hid it in Tessa’s floorboards to frame her. Jessamine looks at Tessa. Nate hates Tessa. He knows that she’s always looked down on him with her ideas of morality She never wanted him to get ahead. Nate said Tessa’s father was a demon and her mother was a Shadowhunter. Magnus patches Will up and lets him sleep on the sofa as he sits nearby. That’s where Camille finds them. Magnus wants to know where she was, but he already knows she was in Russia with a human lover. It hurts when she isn’t honest with him. She tells him she was in Paris. He calls her out and she admits she had a bit of a distraction in St. Petersburg, but that guy’s dead now. The two of them, they’re immortal. Monogamy is for those with short lifespans. If Magnus wants to be with her, he will have to deal with her small transgressions. Magnus doesn’t want that. He lies and says he’s got Will now anyway; he doesn’t need Camille any longer. Magnus wakes Will up and says they must leave, kissing him before they go out the door. Will is stunned but plays along until they’re outside. Camille is angry. A Shadowhunter! And in her own house! Outside, Will asks if Magnus really kissed him and Magnus says it was just a hallucination from the painkillers. He will start work on the demon tooth right away and will let Will know when everything is ready. Tessa is stunned, but Charlotte agrees with what Will told Tessa. Jessamine is only saying what she believes is the truth about Tessa’s parentage, that doesn’t mean what Nate told Jessamine was the actual truth. Tessa can’t be part Shadowhunter. Besides, if their mother was a Shadowhunter, so would Nate – and he is not. Charlotte decides to tell the Consul about both Jessamine and Benedict’s betrayals, at this Jessie laughs. That is exactly what Mortmain wants her to do, though Jessamine is not sure why. Charlotte asks where Mortmain is hiding and after a moment, Jessamine says Idris. In the next breath, she denies it. Charlotte calls in Brother Enoch, who was waiting in the hall. He says there is a block on Jessamine’s memory, if they keep questioning her, it could kill Jessamine. He asks to take Jessie to the Silent City; they have different ways to get Jessamine’s secrets – ones she might not even know she has. He carries Jessamine out of the room and Charlotte breaks into tears. Charlotte tells everyone about Jessamine’s betrayal and Henry does not take the news well either. They all knew that Jessamine was unhappy there, but she’s lived there since she was a child and they didn’t think she hated them like this. Will returns, tired and with a bandaged arm, but also a spirit of excitement for some reason Tessa doesn’t understand. Brother Enoch has agreed not to tell the Clave of Benedict’s betrayal for a day or two and Charlotte tells everyone what Jessamine said about Mortmain wanting the Consul to know about Benedict. It’s decided that they will not turn him in… yet. They will try to lure Nate in for a meeting with Jessamine instead, Tessa will reprise her role. But they’re going to need Jessie’s help. A last chance for her to help them and gain some leniency when the Clave finds out what she has done. Jem and Tessa agree to speak to Jessamine in the Silent City. Once the Institute’s meeting is done, Tessa finds Will. She wants him to promise not to tell anyone about what happened on the balcony the night before. He teases her but agrees in the end. He wasn’t planning on bragging about it anyway. He won’t even tell Jem. Sophie meets Gideon at the park. He’s ready for a picnic but after what she’s learned of Benedict Lightwood’s party and his sons’ attendance, Sophie tells Gideon that she cannot see him. He begs her to let him explain. He had no idea what his father had gotten involved in. Before he went to Spain, his father was not this bad - although he had always bent the Law. He swore all the Shadowhunters did the same. It wasn’t until Gideon studied in Madrid that he found that was not the case. Most Shadowhunters uphold the Law rigorously. Gideon came home partly to try to show Gabriel the truth before Gabriel is too far gone down the same road as their father. The party was the first time Gideon had seen this level of depravity, and he was disgusted. He’s also pretty sure he saw Will chasing a blue-skinned demon but hasn’t told anyone that Will was there. He does want to know why Will was at the party – he thought the Institute was busy investigating Mortmain. He asks Sophie to tell him the truth, she’s more trustworthy than his own family, and she agrees to go to the park with him. If only so she can tell him what the Institute knows and how the automatons at his father’s party belonged to Mortmain. Tessa is tortured by riding to the Silent City alone in the carriage with Jem. She thinks he must think the worst of her. That she is wonton and not worth getting to know any longer, but he suspects she thinks the same of him. When they finally talk, they find that neither of them despises the other and they both blame themselves for what happened. Finally, Jem tells Tessa that the reason he is upset is not because of what happened, but when it happened. He would have liked to court her first, properly. Before you know it, they’re kissing again until a bump in the road brings them back to their senses, and Jem decides it’s probably prudent to sit across from Tessa instead of next to her. Soon they’re at the Silent City and asking to see Jessamine. Jem tells Tessa to speak to Jessamine alone first. Tessa has brought Jessamine the little baby Jessie from her dollhouse. Tessa explains that she knows Jessie is in love with Nate, but Nate cannot love her back. There is something missing in his heart which will not allow him to love. Tessa tries to reason with her, but Jessamine refuses to listen. When Jem comes in, Jessie turns to him. He should know how she feels, Jessamine sees the way that he looks at Tessa. But he insists that he would never betray the Institute or the people who care for him, and if Tessa asked him to then he would know that Tessa did not truly care about him at all. They explain that if Jessie doesn’t help them, she will lose everything. She will stay in her cell in the Silent City and will not be able to see Nate, and she will also lose whatever support she still has. Jessamine insists that Mortmain will triumph and when he does, Nate will come for her. Maybe so, Tessa agrees. If he does, he will understand that women are fragile and easily led astray. He would forgive her if he loved her. Jem concurs – he would forgive Tessa for anything. Jessamine tells them where to find the boy’s clothes she wears when she meets with Nate and agrees to write a letter for them. The Institute breaks into a flurry of activity, preparing for Tessa to meet with Nate. Jem comes in to tell Tessa that everyone is ready and sees her in the men’s clothes, he stumbles out quickly while blushing, making Sophie laugh. She explains to Tessa that the clothes are a bit tight on Sophie form since they are for Jessamine, plus she is wearing pants. And besides, Jem fancies Tessa as it is. Sophie says all this with no animosity and that intrigues Tessa. Sophie admits that there was a time she had a crush on Jem, but he never returned her feelings, and those feelings have cooled into friendship. Tessa suspects that they’ve cooled with the help of Sophie’s crush on someone else. She asks if Sophie has been seeing someone else, but Sophie insists that she has not. Tessa joins the Shadowhunters as they make their plans. They’re still waiting for Nate’s reply, but Jessamine has shown them on a map their usual meeting place. Henry will drive the Shadowhunters with the carriage so they can get into the warehouse first and hide themselves. Tessa will walk, since Jessie would not be driven, and Cyril will follow at a discreet distance to make sure she doesn’t run into any trouble. Will points out that they will again be leaving the Institute without a Shadowhunter, but Charlotte and Sophie have already thought of that. Sophie recommended they call Gideon Lightwood; he arrives at the same time as Nate’s response – in the form of a flying letter outside the window. Nate says he will be there at sundown, and Charlotte tells Gideon he is there to train Sophie and guard the Institute while the others are gone. Gideon and Sophie go upstairs as the others head outside. There’s not much time before sundown. Just before the Shadowhunters leave, Sophie touches Jem’s wrist and tells him “mizpah” like he taught her. He gives her a quick kiss on the cheek, unnoticed by the others, before climbing into the carriage. Before she leaves, Tessa wants to grab her clockwork angel necklace. She can’t wear it, but she would feel better with the necklace in her pocket. She runs inside but finds Gideon and Sophie in the hallway. They’re whispering and looking very focused on each other. Tessa turns around before she’s noticed. She doesn’t need the necklace. The Shadowhunters arrive at the warehouse and find nothing of note. While they investigate, Will and Jem go up a set up stairs to a gallery where the lower floor can be watched. They are not alone. A man sits and as they approach, they believe he’s dead. His hair is silver, as are his eyes when they finally look at him. Not dead but dying, one of Mortmain’s hired werewolves. He tells them they’ve been putting the clockwork creatures together; Mortmain would have them take the yin fen six or seven times a night. Charlotte comes up behind them, sees the man, and immediately turns and leaves to be sick. As Will tries to find a way to move the werewolf, maybe the Silent Brothers can help his suffering some, the werewolf dies. Immediately afterward, Jim and Will hear Nate come into the warehouse - calling for Jessie. Tessa walks to the warehouse without trouble and finds Nate in the back room. She tells him she needs to know where the Magister is, she has urgent information, but first he wants a kiss. He insists on a kiss actually. When she prepares herself to get the kiss over with, he starts laughing. He wondered how far Tessa would go to protect her Shadowhunter friends. He grabs Tessa by the arm and doesn’t let go. He knew she was behind this. Her meddling caused him to have a falling out with the Magister after the ball, and he was quite worried about it before he got this note from Jessie and knew Tessa must be behind it. They must’ve tortured Jessamine to get her to write that note to him. Jessie wouldn’t betray him, she loves him. Tessa says she loved him once too, he was her brother, but he reveals they are not siblings. Not even half siblings. Tessa’s mother was Elizabeth Gray, born Elizabeth Moore. But Nate’s was Tessa’s aunt - Harriet Moore. She was once engaged after her sister was already married, and she got pregnant before the wedding. Her fiancée unexpectedly died before they could be married and left Harriet in a bad situation. Elizabeth raised Harriet’s son, Nate, as her own so that Harriet would not be shamed by the world. Nate found this out from Elizabeth’s letters. Its part of the reason he killed Harriet. She disowned him and he will never know who his father was because of her. This still doesn’t make sense. He told Jessamine that her mother was a Shadowhunter, but that can’t be true. If it were, Aunt Harriet and Nate would be Shadowhunters too. Nate just smirks at her but does not explain. Tessa tries to free herself from Nate, using all of her sparse training, but he overpowers her. That’s when Nate shows her an automaton – but it is twenty feet tall with metal spikes on its feet and hands, and horns on its head with fire crackling between he horns. It’s already holding Charlotte’s limp body but allows Charlotte to fall to the floor. The giant is prototype that the Magister has abandoned for being too cumbersome but has given to Nate for his own uses. Nate orders it to crush Charlotte. Henry darts out screaming Charlotte’s name and uses a misericord on the automaton. It breaks the blade and grabs Henry. Nate orders the automaton to hold Tessa until the Magister arrives. Nate shoves her away and she rolls to the side in time to see Will and Jem jump onto each of the automaton’s shoulders. It’s let go of Henry, who lies still near a pillar, but Tessa is more worried about Charlotte - who could be crushed by the machine’s feet. She is still alive; Tessa drags her to the edge of the room. Will and Jem distract the automaton and shear off pieces of its body; Tessa tries to find a way to where Henry lies. Nate orders the automaton to shake, and it does. Will is able to hold onto the creature’s neck but Jem falls and lands hard on his leg. Before he can draw an iratze, the automaton is coming for him. Jem takes out a metal object – a new invention of Henry’s. He had given one to Jem and one to Charlotte, he only had two. It’s specifically made to disrupt the mechanics of the automatons. Before he can use it, Nate kicks Jem’s injured leg and the leg snaps beneath Jem. The object rolls away from his hand as he falls. Nate and Tessa both go for the device. She nearly has it when Nate grabs her leg and pulls her backward. She Changes - into Nate using only the touch of his hand on her skin. This throws Nate off. Tessa grabs the device and throws it to Will. Tessa (as Nate) orders the automaton to hold Nate, but it doesn’t move until she orders it a second time. The automaton picks Nate up as Will finishes doing something on the automaton’s back and drops down to the ground. He runs at Tessa, who has Changed back into herself, and pushes her to the ground. He covers her body with his own as the automaton blows apart. When the metal is done falling, Tessa looks around. Henry is cradling Charlotte in his lap, kissing her face – but she is awake. Jem has his stele in hand as he slowly gets to his feet. And Nate leans against one of the pillars, a chunk of metal in his chest. She runs to Nate. She tries to save him, but Nate stops her. He has failed the Magister; this is a better death than he would get from Mortmain. He tells her to always wear her angel necklace, making her swear - but she can’t really trust him. He knows that. He knows there’s no forgiveness for him, but she leans in and whispers that she does forgive him. He only responds that she doesn’t know everything he’s done. He dies. Only then does Tessa realize that no one else has come over. She sees the Shadowhunters kneeling in a circle around Will’s body. Will covered Tessa to protect her, but they were closest to the blast, and his back is torn apart with wounds and imbedded with shards of metal. They cannot heal him because the skin would close over the metal, but they have used a rune to slow the blood flow. They must get him back to the Institute before he loses too much blood. Just then, Jem points out that Tessa is also hurt. She touches her temple and feels a piece of skin in a loose flap. It’s too much and she passes out. Tessa can hear Charlotte and Brother Enoch. Brother Enoch says Tessa is not badly injured, she passed out from repeated shocks to her system. She will wake up when her body and spirit are ready. Tessa wakes up when Will cries out. He’s a few beds away from her on his stomach as Brother Enoch removes the metal from his back. Jem stands at Will’s head, giving his parabatai whatever comfort he can as Will refuses any more painkilling runes. All this because Will chose to protect her. She dreams of her Aunt Harriet, who explains that she coddled Nate because she felt so guilty about not being able to raise him herself. About not telling him the truth. When Tessa says she has no family anymore, Harriet tells her she has more than she thinks. Tessa can hear Charlotte speak to Jem and Sophie as Tessa and Will rest. She thinks she will lose the Institute after this – after finding a traitor living there (again) and losing their best source of information. Jem asks what Henry thinks. He’s shocked that one of his inventions worked as intended, but also blaming himself that Will and Tessa are injured. It doesn’t matter that without his invention, they would be dead. Jem tries to console Charlotte. Everyone says that Henry doesn’t really love Charlotte, she must’ve heard the mean gossip, but Jem assures Charlotte that he does. Henry nearly went mad when Charlotte was hurt by the automaton. Charlotte doesn’t believe Jem but is soon drawn away by Sophie, who wants to talk privately. Jem whispers to Tessa. He thinks he will be lost if she doesn’t come back to him. He says something to her in Mandarin, and she knows what it means without being told. He loves her and he doesn’t want to lose her. She wants to wake up, but she can’t. Tessa sees Jessamine in her cell. Jessamine knows somehow that Nate is dead and uses her necklace, a diamond given to her by Nate, to carve the initials “JG” into the wall for “Jessamine Gray”. The diamond breaks. Not even the stone was real. Tessa wakes to find Will sitting in the bed next to her. He tells her he’s sorry about what happened to her brother, even if he deserved it. He couldn’t save his own sister either. Tessa is pretty sure this is a dream and that makes her bold. She curls up next to Will, her head on his shoulder. When he leans down to kiss her, she tells him this is all a dream and he gets concerned, but she falls back asleep. Will leaves Tessa (though he really doesn’t want to) to see Magnus, who has sent him a note. Will’s back is nearly healed since they used iratzes after removing the metal. Magnus is now staying with Woolsey Scott since moving out of Camille’s house, and he’s ready to summon the demon Will found - Marbas. Once summoned, Will demands to know if Marbas recognizes him. Sure, he chased him around the Lightwood Manor. But no, does Marbas recognize him from five years ago. Then Marbas realizes, Will is Edmund Herondale’s son. He remembers Will’s sister, he remembers the night he was freed. Will asks about the curse and Marbas says the curse wasn’t enough, he should have made it worse after being imprisoned for twenty years. Then Magnus speaks up. Something isn’t right. A demon is usually at its weakest after being released from the Pyxis. How was Marbas strong enough to curse such a strong and clever curse. Marbas admits that the curse was fake. Ella died because Marbas hit her with his stinger. Will has lived his life this way unnecessarily. Will doesn’t believe it at first, but Marbas swears it. Magnus burns Marbas, destroying him for his cruelty. Will is bereft. Everything he’s done, the things he’s said, abandoning his family, the nasty way he treated Tessa – all because he was stupid enough to believe a demon. Magnus tries to tell him that this is a new beginning. The people he thought he was protecting really do love him, despite the way he has acted. And Magnus thinks that includes Tessa. When Will leaves (still in shock), Woolsey asks how much Will paid for Magnus’ help. Magnus says nothing. Will did him a favor once, a favor Will doesn’t even remember. Tessa wakes up for real and wonders how much she remembers was a dream. Sophie helps her to her room and Tessa reveals that she saw Sophie with Gideon. Tessa isn’t going to tell Charlotte, but she warns Sophie. Can Sophie imagine Gideon going to his father and saying he wants to marry a mundane? She tries to tell Sophie not to be ridiculous, but Sophie just gets angrier. Tessa has no idea what Gideon is capable of, what he would do for the two of them. She storms out of the room, slamming the door behind her. Charlotte is penning their resignation letter as head of the London Institute when Henry comes in and sees what she’s writing. He’s hurt. They technically lead the Institute together; shouldn’t he get a say in this? He tells her that he knows why she’s mad at him – because he didn’t see Woolsey Scott with her. Before she can protest, he goes on. He always thought Charlotte understood his need to make something great, something that would help the Shadowhunters in their fight. That’s why he’s always inventing, always working. He has the same passion for his inventing as she has for running the Institute. She also wants to make things better. Henry knows that he will always come second to Charlotte, that he will never be first in her priorities because that title belongs to the Institute… here she interrupts him. Charlotte knows that Henry only married her because his father owed Granville Fairchild money. Granville forgave the debt because of their marriage. She was too plain, too strong willed, and unmarriageable – no one would want her without incentive. Henry gets angrier than she’s ever seen him. He doesn’t know anything about any owed money. He went to Granville Fairchild himself, in good faith, and asked for the honor of marrying Charlotte. She is not plain, she is beautiful and he wanted to marry her because he loved her. Because he has always loved her and he loves her now. He asks if she ever loved him or if she only married him for the Institute, she cries out that she does love him! Now she’s mad. She’d give up the Institute before she’d ever give him up. She married him not for the Institute but because no matter how hard it was to head the Institute, or how poorly the Clave treated her, it would be okay because she would be with him. They’ve both been so silly, thinking the other may grow to love them with time when they’ve actually loved each other this whole time. Charlotte needs to tell Henry something else, but they’re interrupted by a wild-looking Will looking for Tessa. Seeing Charlotte’s letter, Will says they can’t give up the Institute. He won’t stay if she isn’t there. This is their home! Will tells Charlotte that he is grateful for everything she and Henry have done for them and he will not allow her to make this mistake. But they only have three days to the end of the deadline and they cannot expose Benedict, based on what Jessamine has said. Will says they’ll figure something out and leaves to round up the others. Charlotte and Henry are stunned. Was that Will… their Will? Tessa stares at the door, hoping that Sophie will return and she can patch things up. But when there is a knock at the door, it is Jem instead. He looks awkward and asks to come in. He’s making Tessa nervous and she’s worried this has something to do with his illness, but he assures her he’s fine. He explains that Charlotte may have to give up the Institute and they will all be scattered. Tessa will not be able to stay there unless she wants to, and is allowed to, stay with the Lightwoods. But Jem doesn’t want her to leave. Her place is with him – forever. He asks her to marry him. She thinks he’s doing this, sacrificing himself, for her sake since he would have to leave the Clave to marry her. But Jem doesn’t think he would need to leave. Tessa is not a mundane, their marriage would not be against the Law, the Clave they would have to consider their case specifically. In the meantime, they could be engaged. And the sacrifice would be made by Tessa because Jem won’t live for long, even less time than a regular mortal, while Tessa is immortal. But he thought he would die before he ever loved someone and had them love him back. He gives her a jade pendant that his father gave to his mother when they became engaged. Shadowhunters exchange family rings when they get engaged, but those are meant to be returned when they’re married. She would not need to return this pendant. He says that Tessa makes him stronger. He doesn’t even have to take as much yin fen anymore. And he wants to be with her because he loves her. There’s a small part of her heart still holding on to Will, but she decides she will just have to let that go. She says yes and puts the necklace around her neck. Jem is so relieved. Sophie finally does knock, telling Tessa (and Jem when she notices him) that they’re wanted by Charlotte. Jem says they will tell Charlotte about their engagement first whenever they get a chance. When Tessa walks into the room where everyone is gathered, she sees Will and they lock eyes. Will does not look away - and he looks bright somehow. But talk turns serious quickly. Charlotte still plans to give up the Institute. After everything that has happened, it has become clear to her that she is not capable of running it well. Everyone disagrees with her, including Will and then Sophie. Sophie tells them she knows that Jessamine’s information is correct - giving up Benedict Lightwood would play directly into Mortmain’s hands. Sophie doesn’t want to say where she got this information at first but then she admits she’s been seeing Gideon privately. Gideon has also figured out what Mortmain has on Benedict. He only just found out, and Benedict does not know that Gideon knows, but Benedict does have demon pox. They thought that was made up! Jem asks what symptoms demon pox has and Will, the only person who believed in any capacity that it was real, tells him that it starts with a shield-shaped rash on the back that spreads and creates cracks in the skin. Jem rushes from the room, he will be right back. He returns with a report that he got from the Silent Brothers when Tessa saw Jessie alone. A report about Barbara Lightwood’s death. He was interested after finding out about Silas Pangborn exactly how Barbara Lightwood had died. She had a shield-shaped rash on her left shoulder, indicative of astriola or demon pox. She slit her wrists and Benedict made up a story so that his children wouldn’t have to know that she killed herself after getting demon pox from her husband. Sophie has heard that Mortmain has been giving Benedict Lightwood drugs to slow the progression of the disease. But the disease is moving more quickly now, making Benedict desperate. They come up with a plan. Charlotte will contact Benedict for an immediate meeting under the pretense of passing the Institute to him. She knows now that she will lose it and Benedict will not give up the chance to see her embarrassed. But once they are there, they will turn on him and blackmail him for information. Benedict will throw his support behind Charlotte as head of the Institute and withdraw his challenge. Unfortunately, Benedict has a lot of followers, and they do not know who they can trust outside of their group - and Benedict probably has blocks on his memory like Jessamine did. But Will thinks he will prioritize not being shamed in front of the Clave rather than staying alive longer. The Clave would give him the worst of punishments for this transgression and make him Forsaken, while stripping his sons of their Marks and striking the Lightwood name from the rolls of Shadowhunters. They would no longer be Nephilim. Benedict would not be able to handle that. And if Benedict doesn’t agree, they’re no worse off than they were before. Charlotte agrees to Will’s plan, on one condition. He has to follow her lead. But he and Tessa will come to the manor with her while Henry and Jem stay at the Institute. Tessa and Will rise to prepare as Charlotte writes a note to Benedict. Cyril will take the note ahead of their arrival, alerting Benedict to their impending visit. Will asks to speak to Tessa once they’re alone in the hallway but the others come out to quickly and he has to wait. Tessa says she will meet him in the drawing room after they go to the Lightwoods. She thinks he wants to hear her thank him for saving her life. Tessa goes to her room to find a new outfit on her bed. Sophie comes in and helps her dress, saying that Charlotte had ordered Tessa a few new dresses so that she didn’t just have the ones from Jessamine. Charlotte thought it would make Tessa more comfortable. Tessa is overwhelmed at Charlotte’s kindness. She also apologizes to Sophie. She should not have said the things she did about Gideon, and she makes a point of saying Gideon wasn’t partaking in any of the party activities when she saw him. Sophie has already forgiven her. Tessa said she was brave to tell Charlotte the truth about Gideon. Sophie says Charlotte wants to talk later – Charlotte is disappointed in her. Tessa proclaims that Charlotte loves Sophie. She’s not going to fire her. Charlotte knows that Sophie is wonderful, and Tessa thinks so too! Sophie warns Tessa to beware Benedict, he’s very cruel to his boys. And she asks Tessa not to break Jem’s heart, looking at the jade pendant Tessa now wears. Tessa meets Will and Charlotte at the front steps. When she sees Will, she is struck again by how beautiful he is. She wonders if there will be a day when she will not notice. She shouldn’t notice now, since she’s engaged to Jem. Will looks at her and smiles broadly. He comments on her new dress, and he doesn’t make fun of it. He compliments her eyes, stunning her. Soon Charlotte joins them and rushes them into the carriage. It’s going to rain. Cyril does not take them to the manor like Tessa’s expects, but to the Lightwood’s weekday house where they are escorted into Benedict’s office to see him. Gideon stands to one side with Gabriel on the other. When they tell Benedict that they know he is fraternizing with demons (unless you consider a demon licking your face an act for a mere acquaintance), Benedict is not concerned. He gestures at them saying that they are not trusted sources, and he will testify with the Mortal Sword that he has done no such thing. But Will sees a mark on Benedict’s wrist and asks how far the demon pox has spread. To be at his wrists, it must be advanced indeed. Benedict turns on Gideon and accuses him of betrayal. Gideon admits he did tell them about the demon pox and he would again. Furthermore, he will stand up in front of the Clave and tell them what Benedict does in the evenings, how Benedict believes the Law can be bent (or broken) at his will, and testify that Charlotte is far more fit to run the Institute than his own father – with the Mortal Sword if necessary. Charlotte explains that if Benedict does not withdraw his claim and throw his support behind her, she will tell the Clave (and his sons) everything she knows about Benedict’s wife and the real reason Barbara killed herself. Before they leave, Gideon chooses to leave with them. He removes his family ring and places it on his father’s desk. Gideon asks Gabriel to come with them. Gabriel is torn, but he ultimately decides to stay with Benedict while Gideon leaves with Charlotte. Gideon is quiet on the ride back to the Institute. He really thought Gabriel would come with him. Charlotte says to give Gabriel time. He has only just learned the truth. Tessa sits next to Will, and he seems happy and sweet, but she can feel the tension emanating from him. As soon as they arrive at the Institute, he leads Tessa to the drawing room - locking the door behind them and kissing her before she has a chance to say anything. She pushes him away. She thought he wanted her to thank him for saving her life. He insists that he didn’t save her life so she would be grateful or because it is expected of him. He did because he loves her and he has loved her for some time. She doesn’t believe him after the way he acted on the roof, but he explains what he has told no one else. He thought he was cursed and he was pushing her away to save her. Everything clicks into place for Tessa. He tells her how he read her letters that she wrote while imprisoned by the Dark Sisters and he felt a connection to the way she used books to keep herself sane in the Dark Sisters’ House. Books were the only reason he didn’t kill himself at certain low points in his own life. He only allowed himself to love Jem because Jem was already dying. Will figured that after Jem succumbed to his illness, he would leave and go live alone somewhere alone where he could not hurt anyone. Tessa tells Will that it’s too late, but he insists that it’s never too late! They can start again. She just embraced him the night before! She tells him she thought she was dreaming then, and that she accepted Jem’s proposal only that morning. This stuns Will. He had no idea how Jem felt – Jem never said anything. Will thinks that if they told Jem the truth, he would not hate either of them. But they cannot do that to him. They both love Jem too much to hurt him that way. Will asks Tessa to never say a thing to Jem about this, and not to speak of the curse to anyone at all. He does ask if she loves him, but she won’t give him her answer. She tells him he will have no trouble finding someone to love him now that he does not feel the need to push people away. He rushes out of the room, believing that she could never love him and she watches him go. She is in so much pain, it feels impossible that the pain is invisible to others. She sits alone for a long time before she grabs the hot fire poker and wraps her hand around it. Burning her hand finally allows her to cry and when she does, it is with earth shattering sobs. That is how Sophie finds her. Sophie takes her to her room and tends to Tessa’s hand, and Tessa apologizes again for telling Sophie not to be foolish about Gideon. Sophie is not the person Tessa needed to worry about being foolish. But Sophie begins to cry. She is happy that Gideon has taken their side but if he lives at the Institute, he will see Sophie as she truly is. Just a servant. Sophie got in over her head and has everything to lose, where Gideon stands to lose nothing. And all she’s ever wanted was to be a Shadowhunter. She used to think that if she married Jem, she might Ascend. But is Gideon going to offer that to her? Will thought that Tessa would come after him, but when she doesn’t, he finds himself at Jem’s door. Any remaining thoughts of asking Jem to let Tessa go are washed away when Will sees Jem. He looks happier than Will has ever seen him - and stronger too. Jem thanks Will for saving Tessa. He wonders if Will did it partly because he knew what Tessa meant to Jem. And Jem apologizes for being so harsh about finding Will in the ifrit den. He knows that Will was only looking for solace. He knows who Will truly is, no matter what he shows others. Will is not just better than who he pretends to be, but better than most people ever could be. Will is worth everything. Later, they all attend the Council meeting – and they’re all nervous. Charlotte is called to testify with the Sword about everything that has happened in the last two weeks. Consul Wayland calls on Benedict. How does he think Charlotte has performed? Was she too cruel to turn Jessamine in? Too lax to allow yet another spy into their midst? Too careless to allow Nathaniel Gray to be killed? Benedict throws his support behind Charlotte completely. He insists that she needed to be tested, but she has passed muster. She has discovered who Mortmain is and, in Benedict’s opinion, they need to focus on preparing for a war against Mortmain and his creatures now. Gabriel sits next to Benedict looking awful, like he hasn’t been sleeping. They take a vote, and the vote decides that Charlotte remains in charge of the Institute. Then tons of tiny clockwork creatures the size of large beetles fly into the room. The Shadowhunters take cover, but Tessa traps one creature inside her hat and calls Henry, who smashes the machine before it can dig a hole through Tessa’s hat to freedom. Aloysius Starkweather makes his way over to Tessa and asks if she’s okay. He had noticed that the clockwork machine had come right over to her and wanted to make sure that she wasn’t harmed. She assures him she’s fine as everyone else stares in wonder. Everyone is acting so strange lately! In the carriage, Henry tells them that the automatons are cameras, although he can’t tell yet if they can record sound. He decides they are going to celebrate that night since they get to keep the Institute. When they pull in, Tessa sees a curtain twitch and a glimpse of a face watching from the window. She thinks it may have been Sophie but can’t be sure. Jem comes to escort Tessa to dinner and, carried away by his love, kisses her in the hallway. He apologizes again that she is going to marry someone who will die young, but she tells him there is plenty of time for them to find a cure. She plans to be with him forever. He tells her that he does believe they’ll be together forever. He was born to love her and that love will travel with him to the next life and every life thereafter. When they enter the dining room, Jem cannot wait any longer. He grabs Tessa’s hand and announces that he and Tessa are going to be married. The room is shocked into silence until Will stands and proposes a toast. Then Henry and Sophie are very excited, Will is congratulating Jem, and Gideon is standing awkwardly. Charlotte, though, is strangely quiet. Tessa asks if she’s okay and Charlotte says she has news of her own. She and Henry are having a baby – a boy! Henry is utterly elated, Gideon just gets more embarrassed, while the others are so happy for the couple. When Cyril comes in and announces there is a Shadowhunter at the door to speak to Henry, they can’t imagine who it may be, but the person is refusing to wait. Henry says to let the Shadowhunter up but make it quick, they have celebrating to do. This is a private affair only for their family. When the girl walks into the room, Tessa recognizes her immediately. Will gasps a quick intake of breath as the girl introduces herself. Her name is Cecily Herondale, and she is there to be trained.