Chapter 3
Unjustifiable Death
Evan slept all through the day, only waking up for dinner when Sophie got her but went to bed right after that, sleeping until early the next morning. Her hair was less curling now and more straight, so Evan put it up in a sleek ponytail, put on a fresh sweater and her converse before going down to the library again, running her fingertips over the volumes until she came to one she thought would be helpful; Demonic Summonings and Rituals. She flipped through it breezily, reading passages here and there but it turned out to be useless.
"Miss," Evan turned to see Sophie with her arms crossed. "You missed breakfast again."
"Sorry," Evan said distractedly, biting her lip. Then she looked up when Sophie moved closer.
"We have training with the Lightwood boys today, miss." Sophie reminded patiently, taking the book from Evan's hands and placing it on the long table. Then she frowned, "How did you get the book off the shelf?"
"I reached in and pulled," Evan said as if it was obvious.
Sophie looked at her before shaking her head, "You have training, too, miss, come along. Your gear is in your room."
"Is it mandatory?" Evan cringed. "The gear? I could fight just as easily in jeans and a t-shirt."
"You should try your gear, Evan," Jem's voice floated from the hallway as he stuck his head in the library. "At least for today." Evan made a sour face, but nodded, bolting out of the library, past Jem and down the hall. "It's odd how she runs everywhere if she can help it, isn't it?" Jem noted, speaking to Sophie who shrugged.
"I suppose, Master Jem," Sophie agreed, slipping past him to go to her own room to change.
Evan's gear wasn't like Tessa's and Sophie's. It was more like Jem's; without the swishing tunic and more flexible with leg freedom but more form fitted than either styles. Evan made a mental note to thank Charlotte for it. Sophie, Tessa and Jem (who came down from the rafters and Evan had to grin, making a cheesy "Dropping in?" joke) didn't look at her directly, trying to be respectful. The gear was stuffy, but no one complained.
As they spoke, politely leaving out Evan as she went to examine the weapons on the walls, Evan heard the telltale "Sophie, I wasn't -" before the doors opened and in stepped Gideon and Gabriel. Evan easily could tell the two apart; Gideon was shorter and more built but Gabriel was more lanky with greener eyes and lighter hair. They left her out of the small talk, too, but Evan listened in - not that she needed to. But sooner still, Gabriel was calling for Cyril and Bridget.
Evan never liked the name Bridget, mostly because an Irish friend of her's turned out to be everything Evan didn't need in a friend and left her friendless for most of her Freshman year of highschool but at the end she made a few good friends that stuck with her until her family died in June, 2020 - then they, too, became unfriendly. But she always loved Bridget Daly and liked Cyril Tanner even more.
But what made her smile the most was seeing Bridget on top of Gabriel, a knife to his throat. Evan giggled softly but it echoed in the stone room and soon Gabriel was laughing too, but quickly.
"Very impressive," Will appeared at the door. "But can she cook?"
Bridget hurriedly got off of Gabriel and flushed; "I am a fine cook, sir," Her Irish accent thick. "My previous employers had no complaints."
Will opened his mouth to ask about potatoes but Evan beat him to it, cutting him off, "I'm pretty sure that these are one-no-one lessons and we have three students and two instructors. Unless there is a third Lightwood instructor."
"We've seem to have forgotten you, Evan," Will drawled, "How awful."
Gabriel and Gideon shared a look.
"Esta es la idea más estúpida que nuestro padre ha tenido, jamás." Gideon told his brother. Everyone one but Gabriel and Evan looked confused.
Evan grinned "Convenido!"
In the end, Evan sat back and watched and took notes. The gear was useless, and she decided that she wouldn't wear it again if she could help it - no matter how great it made her look. The Lightwoods politely agreed to let Evan get changed and grab a notebook and pen before starting their lessons on balancing and blocking exercises. She came back wearing her desired t-shirt and jeans and converse, her hair still pulled into a sleek ponytail. Gabriel (who worked with Tessa) spoke loud enough for Evan to take notes with Gideon adding hints and making corrections in Spanish that Gabriel couldn't catch fast enough.
Her hand was cramped but at the end for the last thirty minutes, Tessa and Sophie sat on the bench to let Gideon and Gabriel show Evan what they spent hours teaching the other girls. Evan had to admit that reading about it was completely different that actually working with weapons. But in the end, she a pretty good feel for it so she could practise by herself.
Evan skipped dinner, deciding that she wasn't hungry, and made her way to the library to look back at the book. In Clockwork Prince, one of the boys - Jem - had suggested looking through the Reparation archives for information on Mortmain. Which made her discovery on Mortmain seemingly useless. She wasn't sure why she was searching through the book, maybe she was looking for evidence that could speed up the process and shut down Mortmain before he took control of the yin fen handling. Maybe she was looking for a way to get back home? She didn't know but she knew that somewhere in this Great Library there would be a book that held the answers she needed.
"You weren't at dinner," Tessa said, seeing Evan sitting on the edge of the table, pouring over thick volumes written in dead languages. Without looking up, Evan hummed "Not hungry."
Tessa kept talking regardless, "Charlotte found what she was looking for in the Reparations archives. You were right; Mortmain's older than we thought."
"That makes him dangerous," Evan looked up frowning. Tessa could see the unsettlement in her dark blue eyes. "He's waited this long. He's had everything planned out to the last detail, probably." As Evan spoke, Tessa made her way to the poetry section, pulling out Christabel to look up what Will was reciting at dinner. "He was waiting for you, didn't you say? The night I showed up? If he thinks you really are dead.... But I doubt that." That made Tessa lookup.
Sometimes, Tessa noticed that Evan is much like Henry; dreamy and fascinated by mechanics but Evan's eyes cleared like the calm before the storm as soon as she was needed.
"Why do you doubt that?" Tessa asked, wishing immediately after that she hadn't.
"Checking my quotation for accuracy?" Will's drawling made Evan slip off the table and leave with all of the volumes in her arms, weighing her down, with colored papers sticking out on certain pages, marking places. Will watched her go before turning back to Tessa. "I assure you, my recall is perfect."