hey guys! thanks so much for the love, almost 100 reads! You all are amazing, ilyttmab!
Apologies for not updating, I'll try to update more often but it's been a busy week. Drop me a comment about anything-- how you feel about this book, reviews etc!
27 days left
Marissa turned toward Chantelle at the dining table. “Please tell me you did not summon the High Warlock to the Institute.”
“Hey, it was hard enough to get him to come, compadre. And besides, he said something about Lightwoods. He’s related to them, somehow.”
Marissa rolled her eyes. She greeted Magnus Bane with a smile, but Marissa never liked Downworlders much, especially warlocks. “Magnus?” Surprisingly, it was Pablo who spoke.
“Pablo!” This caused Marissa to groan silently.
“You both know each other?” She asked, politely, but hidden inside was suspicion and displeasure.
“Of course. And Chantelle Herondale, great to see you. And your friends.”
Chantelle gave up on correcting him. And he obviously enjoyed calling her Herondale along with her first name, so Chantelle begun to think he meant to frequently torment through emphasis. “This way to the library.” She said, almost adding ‘compadre’ as an afterthought, but Magnus wasn’t their ally, of friend. Not yet.
They entered the library, and apparently new HoloPlants were delivered recently. Everything was neatly stacked, thanks to Ares’ help of co-managing the place. Last night Chantelle met him again, but only briefly, for half an hour or so. They hung out at the library.
“Not bad for an Institute library.” Magnus said.
Andre looked at the different sections. He barely came here, since reading was totally not his style, and he wasn’t like Ares, who didn’t enjoy reading previously but gave it a chance, thanks to Chantelle. “It’s Channy’s. I mean, Chantelle’s.”
Magnus nodded. “I asked a warlock to come. She can help you with this, as well.” He wandered to the History section.
Chantelle was displeased a little at the thought of another warlock coming, but she masked her feelings, typing into a scribe. Scribes used to be people who wrote, but soon they just became devices that everyone had, and they did almost everything. Soon this might be a warlock party. She said in her mind, meaning for the words to reach Ares, as they gossiped about people like that sometimes, but she remembered he was no longer there to receive the message.
Magnus seemed to pick up her displeasure, even without looking at her. Or maybe he just expected such attitude from Shadowhunters, even though they pretty much found peace after the Sebastian Morgenstern incident. “It’s a Herondale.”
Laressa stopped dead in her tracks. “A warlock’s a Herondale?”
Magnus ignored the way she seemed to look down on the warlock already. “Yes, I believe you all know of her, but not her identity. She’s half-warlock, half—“
“Please Magnus, allow me to explain myself.” A lady stepped in. But not really a lady, she seemed pretty young. She was pretty, and seemed to lack a mark all warlocks had. She smiled at the Younghunters. “I’m Tessa.”
“Why don’t you have a warlock mark?” Laressa asked, although it seemed impolite to do that.
Tessa smiled, a kind smile. “I’m half-warlock, half-Shadowhunter.”
Laressa almost dropped a book. “That’s impossible.”
“Yes, but mine’s a complicated situation.”
“Tessa can do amazing things. She can take the form of anyone.” Magnus added. He decided Tessa didn’t mind having this out in the open, since it concerns a Herondale.
“Oh really? Can you take the form of Zachary?” Laressa asked cheekily.
Chantelle looked at her warningly. “There’s something evil to it, isn’t it? Like it will be painful or something?” The question was directed at Tessa.
“Close. How do you know?”
“Just a guess. Ares taught me everything good in this world will have something bad to it. To balance out this damned world.”
Tessa’s smile turned to brief shock. “A lesson I taught James and Lucie myself.” Chantelle guessed those were her children. It was awkward, having someone young have children. Her children would be Shadowhunters, and Shadowhunters aren’t immortal, unlike warlocks. Her children would surpass her age, and Chantelle thought it would be horrible. She hated the idea of being immortal, sometimes pitying Downworlders for that, though most found it beneficial.
Magnus cleared his throat. “Shall we?”
They got to searching for information, on books and scribes. But Chantelle strongly doubted information would be on books in her library, since she managed the place herself. Chantelle was burying her nose in a book when she bumped into Tessa.
‘I’m sorry. Let me get that.” She said, reaching for the book Tessa dropped, but Tessa picked it up herself.
“It’s fine.” Tessa smiled, and Chantelle studied her unexpectedly. “Anything to ask?” She questioned, and Chantelle immediately regretted doing that.
“Urm… just curious about warlocks.”
“It’s okay. Don’t look sorry that you’re curious.” Tessa said, recognizing Chantelle’s look again. Man, she’s good at this. Chantelle thought, wishing Ares was here to kill this awkward moment. But he always killed awkward moments with snarky comments, so perhaps that wasn’t such a great idea. Chantelle found herself wanting to be on good terms with Tessa, warlock or not, considering she seemed kind.
“Urm… How long have you lived?” It wasn’t Chantelle’s plan to ask such a question.
“I’ve been around since the reign of Queen Victoria.”
“Wow.” Chantelle breathed. That was an awful long time. “Do you enjoy being immortal?”
Tessa frowned, but not because she was offended. “Frankly, not really. Someone once told me about a wheel, where you’d enter your next life and the ones after that, and I wish to move on. He has moved on, and I want to, too.” Her look was filled with love, and Chantelle assumed she was talking about the Herondale she knew.
“Is it really painful having him and all your loved ones leave?”
“Of course, but sometimes you do things, trying to numb the pain, but the emptiness is always there. Sometimes I’m afraid to make friends, enter the world outside the warlocks, for I have to watch them all leave. You’re a Carstairs, right?”
Chantelle nodded.
“The man, the one I heard about the wheel from, he’s a Carstairs too.”
“Oh. I assumed—“
“That I was talking about a Herondale?” She looked away for a little. “Love is a wild creature. It plays tricks on all of us, and it’s hard to say. Sometimes saying ‘I love you’ isn’t even appropriate. Maybe it’s just playing with us, taking us all for fools.”
Somehow, Chantelle linked the thought to Ares. Love plays tricks on all of us. Somehow that applied to her, but she didn’t know to what extent. She suddenly recalled something. “William Herondale. You’re Will’s… urm—“ She was unsure of Tessa’s relationship, and this caused Tessa to laugh gently. The smile didn’t quite reach her eyes, and Chantelle thought she should stop prying into Tessa’s life.
“Your parabatai, don’t you want him to move on the wheel too?”
“Of course. I want to move on with him.”
Tessa nodded. She thought of a particular pair of parabatai she knew, a Carstairs and a Herondale. She wondered if they already moved on together. Together, like how parabatai should.
“Sorry to interrupt, but it’s been hours, with no progress.” Magnus peeked out, holding a huge hardback book.
“It has to be somewhere.” Laressa said, voice echoing from across the shelf, and Tessa wondered how many people heard their conversation. Tessa felt more comfortable with just Chantelle knowing, since she was trying to help Chantelle not end up like some people Tessa knew.
Chantelle turned, eyes filling with desperation. “Please. We have to help Ares. Please don’t leave us to handle this.”
Magnus was unsure. “I don’t know. From the looks of it, all of you are—“
“Magnus, please.” Surprisingly, it was Tessa who spoke.
“I—“ Just then, he stumbled onto a panel, and the cobblestone behind him begun to shook. “What the..?” The cobblestone was always an odd section is Ares’ opinion, and he guessed it was a trapdoor there.
“Think about it. It could be Coraline reborn.” He had said.
And he was right.
Darkness and dust always made Chantelle uncomfortable, so she reached her throwing knife by instinct. She scanned the place, holding up a finger, as they shifted and aligned themselves 2-by-2, next to the door. “Magnus, Tessa, stay here.” Chantelle said.
“We’ll help you.” Tessa insisted, but she knew none of Chantelle’s commands. Chantelle considered then nodded, leaning slightly forward and walking slowly inside. They walked until they encountered a corner. Chantelle aligned herself next to it, peeking out before holding up three fingers. All these were foreign to the warlocks, but the Younghunters understood, and Zachary shifted such that Andre and Laressa could move up. Andre aligned himself to the adjacent wall swiftly, while Laressa peeked out, turning on their dim witchlights on the count of three.
They positioned themselves for a battle, but none was forthcoming.
“Wow.” Breathed Laressa as she surveyed her surroundings. It was like a dusty lair, filled with cobwebs and dirt. Laressa thought she heard a squeak of a rat, and was on higher alert, eyes darting back and forth.
“Safe.” Mumbled Chantelle, stepping forward slowly. Experiences taught her lairs like these could be full of traps.
It was the 2070s, and during World War 3, it was common for people to build lairs to store items. World War 3 was the war among mundanes for land, food, water, et cetera, and these lairs were a mundane practice, but the Shadow World and Downworlders continued the practice, hiding all sorts of stuff.
Laressa picked up an old hardback book that looked as though it hasn’t been touched for hundreds of years. Being the usual curious yet clumsy self, she almost stumbled onto something, and Zachary shot her a look that said ‘careful’. He remembered what happened the last time Laressa stumbled onto something.
“Guys, come look at this.” Chantelle called, squatting next to something on the floor. It was ancient, anyone could see that, and it had runes on it. They were all permanently drawn, and it was huge. She traced a finger lightly over it, as Magnus squatted next to her and the others examined it behind them. An angelic rune was in the middle, an empty circle just below it. Around it were different runes, and Chantelle read the different kinds of runes out loud.
“Foresight, equilibrium, alliance, stealth, strength, speed, enlighten, fireproof. Why would these be there?”
Andre shrugged. “Probably just some decoration from Shadowhunters who hid here.”
“I would doubt that. I think it’s some sort of message.” Magnus spoke, before turning to that book Laressa picked up. Understanding, Laressa got the book and flipped it open.
“Gross!” She yelped just as insects of some sort scurried over. She almost dropped it, for she never liked bugs.
“It’s all in… code.” Zachary said, scanning the pages. They were ranging from different kinds. Some curly, some swirly, some intertwining, some straight, and some almost like Chinese or Japanese characters. But Chantelle understood none of the words. They seemed like Chinese but were not.
Magnus shook his head. “Never seen a language like that.”
Chantelle examined the page, and laughed.
“What’s so funny?” Laressa asked.
“Just thinking what Ares would tell me through the parabatai connection if he was here.” She smiled. It would be better with him around, his mere presence could deter her discomfort of the darkness and dust. Normally they both worked together, managing the group, but this time it was just her.
‘Just like RoboWar 2 the movie!’ He would say. ‘This is probably when the code is something scrambled up, and when they unscrambled it, the evil robots would come bursting in, eating them all alive…’
Magnus nodded. “I know someone who can work magic with these—not literally. He could transform this into something we could actually read.”
They left the place, sealing it with a book shelf, as Magnus and Tessa left the Institute. Just when they thought the Younghunters could finally find some momentary peace, Pablo came bursting in. His eyes were wide with fear and panic, and he was bruised, badly. He might have twisted his ankle, and must have broken his nose.
“Marissa’s captured…”
*cliffhanger* hehe... anyways, the runes encircling the angelic rune (the ones that Channy read out are just random... from the list of runes I written just above my wattpad 'workplace'
BONUS: Emily Rudd (the casted actress as Chantelle Carstairs) for you all to thank you guys! (isn't she pretty?)
lolts of love,
@dystopianxfiction