"Again!" Cecily said sharply.
Tessa desperately tried to pull herself up on the bar, but her arms were screaming at her for her to stop. She hung there on the bar. "I can't do pullups, Cecy!"
Cecily gave her a disappointed look. "Then give me fifty clappush ups."
Tessa dropped from the bar, collapsing in a heap of tired limbs and dripping sweat. "Why do I even have to do this?" Tessa asked tiredly.
"To defend yourself from Will?" Sophie suggested.
"I thought we established the fact that Will Herondale is too good of a fighter for me," Tessa sighed.
"To protect you from muggers on the street," Cecily offered.
"Admit it. You're doing this to watch me suffer," Tessa said, pulling herself up into a sitting position before doing a cooldown stretch. One time, she didn't do the stretches, she
woke up the next day feeling sore from head to toe.
"You want to be strong, don't you Tessa?" Sophie asked.
"Yes," Tessa sighed. "But… you know how to fight, Sophie?"
"Err…" Sophie said hesitantly.
"Sophie Jane Collins!"
"Okay!" Sophie said, raising her hands. "I don't know how!"
"Cecily, teach her!" Tessa said, without skipping a beat.
"Alright. But we're moving onto throwing knives now, so since I feel slightly bad about poor Tessa doing all that work – give me fifty clappush ups, Sophie!" Cecily said cheerily.
Sophie groaned, shooting Tessa and Cecily scowls before dropping onto all fours and began struggling to do her clappush ups.
"It's a good thing I'm amazing at throwing knives then," a voice said. Tessa whirled around to see William Herondale, leaning against the gym doors.
Tessa screamed then, diving for her tank top that she had shed for her sports bra during her 'training.'
Cecily scowled, reaching for a knife and chucking it at her brother. Tessa was about to scream again, but as quick as lightning, Will sidestepped calmly out of the way. "You're lucky
I'm as good as I am," Will said. "You could have killed me. Or scarred my beautiful face."
"Shut up, Will," Cecily said. "So why are you here?"
"Shadowhunter trip. Decided to go to Hawaii and if you dare snog Gabriel during this trip, I will forcibly remove you two to different sides of the island," Will scowled.
"Why tell me now? Why not at home?" Cecily questioned, picking up several more knives and guided Tessa to the archery targets.
"Because Tessa and Sophie are coming too," Will said nonchalantly, checking his nails.
A thud sounded and it was Sophie collapsing on the ground. She shot up immediately. "Is this a joke? A prank? Are you going to leave us on Hawaii to fend for ourselves? Like…
leave us with rabid monkeys and eating coconuts for the rest of our lives?" Sophie demanded.
"No. I just so happened to find freaking rabid parrots I wanted to take you to!" Will said sarcastically. "But I wanted to invite Tessa and Jem and Gideon wanted you, Sophie, so now
we're all going."
"So we're going to Hawaii for Christmas?" Cecily said, arranging the target boards.
"Yup. And don't even give me that look, Tess," Will said, eyes resuming their gaze on her. "I already asked your parents and they said it was alright. They love me," Will smirked.
"But what if I don't want to go?" Tessa challenged.
"Well then you can live on the cold, London streets because they said if you declined, then you aren't going back inside their house until you go to Hawaii with me," Will smiled.
Tessa groaned. "I'm not going though," Sophie said. All eyes whirled to Sophie. "Spending my holiday break with four Shadowhunters, a girl who does nothing but read classics,"
Sophie looked to Tessa, " and a girl who wants me to do fifty clappush ups?" Sophie turned to Cecily. "No way."
"Please, Sophie?" Tessa begged. "You can't leave me with them," Tessa pleaded.
"Hey! Them in the room!" Cecily protested.
Sophie looked at Tessa's pouting face. "Fine. Whatever. But if anyone dares leave me with rabid animals, I will come back as a freaking ghost and haunt you for the rest of your
lives," Sophie said, glare directed to Will.
"Good," Will said, clapping his hands loudly. "Now let's move to knife throwing."
"You're helping?" Cecily asked incredulously.
Will shrugged. He walked to Tessa, Cecily and Sophie, positioning Tessa and Sophie in the right place in front of the archery targets. "We aren't using a bow today – though we will
eventually," Will said, immediately taking a leader position. Now your wrist is the most vital part for this. Hold your knife carefully and I'll show you the grip but make sure your
arm is at a ninety degree angle…"
Cecily was surprised. She had never seen Will like that… not since Ella had died. Cecily sat on the side while Will coached Tessa and Sophie thoroughly. Cecily was observant, and
she was picking up things that she honestly did not understand.
Will was so careful around Tessa. More careful than Cecily had ever seen him. Will was reckless, like a wildfire in an already thinning forest. But now, he didn't seem at all
unstable.
"Remember to flick your wrist at the end. And the way your wrist and shoulder is positioned will determine how it will go," Will said. He picked up a knife and in one fluid motion,
he flung it at the archery targets, immediately hitting the exact center.
"Now you've been doing this for three minutes or so? I've been doing it for three years. So don't be discouraged if you can't do it on the first time."
Will Herondale? Being supportive and encouraging? Cecily was taken aback. Will's attitude had suddenly taken a leap for the better. Not that Cecily was protesting, but she was
wondering why and how?
How did the cold, icy, mean and reckless Will Herondale suddenly become the brother Cecily had missed three years ago?
...
Halloween came, and Tessa had a huge dilemma. She had absolutely nothing nice to wear. "Tessie, dear?" came her mother's voice. Elizabeth Gray opened the door to find Tessa
wearing her tank top and boxer shorts. "Jem and Cecily come in thirty minutes, Tessa!" Elizabeth scolded. "Why aren't you dressed yet?"
Tessa shrugged helplessly. "Nothing to wear!"
Elizabeth Gray frowned. "Let's go to the costume shop," she said.
Tessa shook her head. "And dress up like a stereotypical vampire? Or a ghost with a bed sheet over their heads? No thank you."
"That's it!" Elizabeth said, clapping her hands for added effect.
"What?" Tessa asked, looking to her mother.
"Hmm… but it might be too big…" Elizabeth said, pacing as she tapped her chin with her thin index finger. "But it would look so nice…"
"Mother?" Tessa interrupted.
"But then again…"
"Spit it out, mom!" Tessa cried, exasperated.
Elizabeth glanced at Tessa sharply. "Come to my room. I have the perfect thing." Then Tessa's mother turned on her heel and exited the room. Sighing at her practically bipolar mother, Tessa followed her into the master bedroom, where Elizabeth was tossing out clothes from the closet in her mad rush to find something nice for Tessa to wear.
A black Tshirt hit Tessa in the face. Sighing, Tessa picked up the Tshirt and the other things Elizabeth had thrown out of her closet in her haste.
"Tessie…" Elizabeth breathed. Bringing the dress out, she stared at Tessa. "I found it."
…
Tessa was dressed in a corseted white dress, a silky and smooth material to the touch. Like most corseted dresses, it was a strapless one, and it flowed down to her ankles. On her
feet were white ballet slippers. She denied the silver stilettos her mother had offered, saying that she would rather wear her muddy Converse instead of any heels she would offer.
Horrified, Elizabeth tossed her a pair of flats.
"Tessie," Elizabeth said. Tessa turned around to see her mother, holding a pair of feathered, white wings. These weren't the fake wings you would find at a dollar store, or even a
decent store. These were the wings you saw in your dreams, in a highbudget movie perhaps, but they looked absolutely gorgeous.
"How will I even fit through the doors?" Tessa asked as she relieved her mother from the weight of the wings that were surprisingly light. She put them on gingerly, afraid of
wrecking them.
"Retractable sweetie," Elizabeth said. "There's a string here. Pull it and it will either open or shut." Tessa found the thin and barely noticeable string and tugged on it. The wings
immediately folded against her sides.
"No halo?" two voices asked, amused. Sophie and Jem stood at Tessa's bedroom door. "Your dad let us in," Sophie explained. Tessa smiled. Sophie was dressed up like a princess –
complete with the blood red gown (Sophie wanted to have something that looked bloody in her ensemble because of course, it was Halloween) and the tiny tiara atop her head.
Jem was dressed as a dashing white knight, and even had a shiny cane at his side. Tessa wasn't surprised at all when she found out the cane had a retractable knife hidden inside.
"Of course there's a halo," Elizabeth said, appalled that someone would think there wouldn't be one.
"Mom, I don't need a…" Tessa started, but like most sentences she spoke to her mother, it was cut off.
"Nonsense, Tessie. Every angel needs a halo."
"Not every angel has a halo, Mom," Tessa argued.
"Well this one does!" Jem and Sophie watched the mother and daughter bicker, smiling at the affectionate argument. In the end, Tessa and Elizabeth compromised by placing a gold
circlet on Tessa's head.
"Let's go," Jem said, offering an arm to both Sophie and Tessa. And off the three of them went, out into the night – to the bonfire in Sophie's neighbourhood.
To just let loose for one single night.
…
"I wouldn't drink that. Thomas spiked it," Sophie advised. Tessa immediately set down the red plastic cup in her hand. Sophie's friends were really friendly. There was Thomas,
Agatha and the couple Henry and Charlotte.
The teenagers and Henry and Charlotte, who were in their early twenties, had a blast reliving their childhood. They ran around to each others' house in Sophie's neighbourhood,
barking out laughter as they would offer each other candy.
Now they were dancing around the bonfire and Tessa could see Henry was already tipsy. "Charlotte," Henry said drunkenly as he took hold of Charlotte's two hands. He knelt to the
ground too. "Will you marry me?" he asked.
Charlotte blushed a blazing red. "Not when your ass is drunk," Charlotte whispered furiously.
"I'm not drunk," Henry blubbered. "I was going to do it tonight," Henry said, taking out a ring box. "All I know is Thomas gave me red cups…"
Henry collapsed.
"Thomas!" Charlotte shouted.
Thomas appeared immediately, shuffling his feet. "Sorry?" he asked
Tessa and Sophie laughed. Tessa honestly hadn't had this much fun in a while, just letting loose and enjoying the company of others. "We should make s'mores," Sophie said
suddenly.
"Not when my fiancé is passed out," Charlotte said decisively.
A few seconds passed before everyone could clearly register her words. Everybody hollered and shouted when they realized Charlotte had accepted Henry's drunken proposal.
"How romantic," said Jem, who dropped beside Tessa onto one of the benches facing the fire. "When I'm proposing to the girl I love, I'm definitely going to be drunk," Jem joked.
Tessa's heart fluttered slightly, hearing those three words: girl I love.
"Go make s'mores for us," Sophie commanded, once she sat on the other side of Tessa.
"No," Jem said, crossing his arms like a little child.
"James Carstairs!" Sophie argued. "Go make us some s'mores."
"You can't make me," Jem taunted. Tessa had never seen Jem so playful. Then Jem stood up, and began running away from Sophie.
"Oh you better run!" Sophie hollered, running after Jem around the large bonfire.
Tessa grinned. It truly was a beautiful night. Nothing could bring down Tessa's high spirits. But there was a nagging thought in the back of Tessa's mind that kept repeating itself.
I wish I could see Will this happy.