Disclaimer: SOME of the dialogue in this chapter, all characters (but Grace and Philip), the main story line and settings belong to the magnificent Cassie Clare. Grace, Philip and my own story plot belong to me. The Infernal Devices do not belong to me.

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'Maybe I'm foolish
Maybe I'm blind
Thinking I can see through this
And see what's behind.'

- Human, Rag n Bone Man

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-*-*-*-*- Grace -*-*-*-*-

Grace opened her eyes slowly. She heard Tessa let out a breath beside her and she released her hand. The door behind them slammed shut and they were plunged into darkness.

"Grace?" Tessa asked in a shaking voice, somewhere in the darkness. "Grace, where are we?"

"The Great Room," Grace whispered. "This is where...where my parents-" Suddenly, there was a flash of bright light. Both girls covered their eyes, blinking viciously. Grace was first to recover, letting her eyes adjust. When the black spots stopped dancing, she cried out, taking a step back. Tessa was right behind her, gasping in shock.

Yanluo stood with his back to them, watching over a crumpled body on the floor with, what seemed child-like interest. The body was Jem. Eleven year old Jem. His black hair stood out against his pale skin as he screamed and writhed on the floor.

"Oh my God-" Tessa was cut off when another scream sliced though the air.

"Stop it!" a young Grace cried. Another spot light shot up and Grace saw her younger self, tied to a chair but struggling to break free. "Please, just leave him alone! He didn't do anything wrong! You've already killed our parents, you don't need him as well! Hurt me instead!" Grace felt her mouth dry up. She remembered every word. This was the scene that had haunted her nightmares for as long as they were in London.

History was repeating itself.

The demon ignored the young Grace and carried on laughing at the boy on the floor. "Your mother was foolish to attack my nest," he growled. "And even more foolish to have children. She knew what I would do if she ever had children of her own." Older Grace looked to the left at the corpses by the wall. Their skin was slit, their faces pale and their lips blue. Her mother and father.

"Grace," Tessa said, her voice hoarse. "It's not real. It's just a trick. This has all happened before, it can't happen again." Grace couldn't reply. She watched as the scene faded and changed, morphing into a new horror. 

Now, instead of the bodies of her mother and father, the corpses were Charlotte and Henry. Their hands were still clutching each other even in death. Henry's ginger hair was matted with blood and Charlotte's gown soaking with it. "It isn't them, Grace," Tessa said again. "Charlotte and Henry are alive."

Grace looked to the right, skipping past the bloodied bodies of Agatha, Jessamine and Thomas. Sophie was sat up on the wall a few metres away from them, looking like she was asleep but Grace could see no movement from her. She had another livid scar cutting down her face.

The last people she saw were the worst. Jem knelt on the floor, alive but injured. He was sobbing quietly, his thin frame shook. In his arms, he cradled Will whose eyes were open and glassy. They seemed to stare at her accusingly, all the light and laughter in them gone. Even their bright blue colour had turned grey.

"Will," Grace whispered, taking a step forward. At that moment, Jem looked up at her.

"How could you?" he croaked. "You told me you could control it. You said you'd never hurt them, hurt him. Why didn't you control it?"

"Jem, I- I couldn't have- I-" Grace stammered.

"You murdered them all!" Jem cried. "You killed my parabatai! I trusted you, Grace! How could you?! You killed Will! He tried to fight you, tried to protect me from you. But you killed him."

"It isn't real, Grace!" Tessa shouted. "This is all a nightmare! Don't believe it!" Grace turned slowly towards her.

"But what if it is real, Tessa?" she whispered. "What if this is what happens in the future? I won't be able to live with that. Maybe it's best if I just stay asleep. That way I won't hurt anyone..." Tessa grabbed her arm and shook her.

"Listen to yourself, Grace!" she exclaimed. "This is exactly what Yanluo wants. He wants to keep you trapped here so he can escape. But he's slowly killing you, Grace. You have to wake up. Will needs you! Jem needs you! God, even I need you! We're falling apart. You have to wake up! You have to fight it!"

"You killed him!" Jem shrieked. "You're a murderer!" Grace closed her eyes. It would be so easy to just give up, to let herself die. All the pain and suffering would be gone. She'd finally see her parents, her real parents, again.

But could she abandon them?

"No," Grace whispered then shouted out louder. "No, Yanluo! I will not let you win! I will never let you win! With every bone in my body I will fight you until my last breath and then I'll drag you down with me! You wanted Grace Carstairs, well here she is!"

"No!" Jem yelled. His eyes were turning red, turning into the true form of Yanluo. He rushed at her but she was too quick. Grace drew her sword and stabbed it into the floor of the Great Room. It cracked and splintered, sending shoots of flashing white light all around her. Tessa crouched on her knees, covering her ears to block out the ear splitting sound.

Somewhere near her, Yanluo screeched as the whole room started shaking like an earthquake had hit it. The bodies all disappeared and the room started dissolving.

"Keep going, Grace!" Tessa shouted. "Fight it! Wake up!" Grace screamed with fury out one last time as the roof collapsed in on them then everything went dark.

-*-*-*-*- Will -*-*-*-*-

Will paced up and down the room. There was less than four hours until the Magister's deadline and Grace still hadn't woken up. He didn't know what he was going to do. Jem would tell him to leave him but Will couldn't just abandon his brother; he had made an oath.

And yet he couldn't think of anything worse than handing over Grace and Tessa. Even if Tessa wasn't the girl he loved, then he still wouldn't put a weapon in the hands of the enemy. But Tessa was  the girl he loved, and he was already dying inside because of his curse. Losing her would rip him apart.

Suddenly, there was a gasp from the other side of the room. Will whipped around to find Tessa had jerked awake, gripping the sides of the armchair. Will took two long strides towards her, going to his knees.

"Tess?" he asked. "What happened? Did you convince her?" But Tessa wasn't listening. She looked to the bed where Grace was tossing and turning.

"I don't know," she said softly. "I hardly remember what happened. I don't know if..."

"What do you mean, you don't know?" Will said, trying to keep any anger out of his voice that wasn't meant to be directed at her. Tessa looked up up him. Her grey eyes were wide but there was something behind them that made Will want to punch someone, preferably Mortmain.

"Tessa," he said more softly. "What happened?"

There was a sudden scream and Will leapt to his feet. Grace had shot bolt upright, her eyes were clouded like she didn't recognise anything. Will took a step towards her. She cried out, tumbling off the bed but scrambling to her feet quickly. Without hesitation, she ran from the room, her dark hair flying behind her.

Will cursed. "Stay here," he said to Tessa. She pushed herself up.

"I am not some fragile girl, Will," she said. "I will not break." Will flinched. She said those exact words to him at Benedict's ball.

"Go and get Charlotte then!" he shouted. "I need to go after Grace before she hurts herself." Will raced out of the door, turning down the corridor and sprinting at full pelt. Grace couldn't leave the Institute. He'd never find her if she did and Jem would be lost.

"Grace!" He yelled. "Grace, it's me!" He skidded round a corner and just caught a glimpse of her running towards the training room. By the Angel, he was glad he wore gear. Will bolted forward again and into the training room. He dove and Grace, knocking her to the ground. She snarled viciously, trying to kick him away but he pinned her to the floor.

"Snap out of it, Grace," he shouted.

"Get off me!" She yelled. "You're not real! You're not Will!"

"It is me, Grace!" He said. "I'm not Yanluo, I swear to you."

"I'm fed up of your tricks!" she cried. "Let me go!"

"Grace, it's me!" Will said. "Please, you have to believe me. Who else is going to help me with me curse?" Grace went still. He watched as her eyes cleared of mist and she looked around.

"By the Angel," she whispered. "Oh God. Will? Will, is that you?" Will wanted to sob with relief but instead, he nodded. He let her up, helping her to her feet. Grace looked bewildered as she looked around the training room. It was as if she was seeing it all again in a different light.

"Are you all right?" Will asked her. She shook her head.

"I don't know," she said, her usual toughness returning. Will felt relieved when she went straight to the point. "But that doesn't matter right now. Tell me everything that has happened since I went to sleep. And I mean everything."

***

Will leant on the mantelpiece in the drawing room, just in front of Grace in the armchair. Sophie and Charlotte knelt by her side, trying to get anything out of her but she was silent. Henry sat on the sofa opposite, looking sad yet grim. Tessa wasn't in the room at that moment; she was recovering but Will yearned for her to be here. She was always a calming presence.

"Jem wouldn't do this," Grace said, her voice fragile. "He knows he can't fight the Magister alone."

"It's my fault," Will said. "I knew what losing you was doing to him. And yet I stood by and did nothing, because I was looking the other way at-" He stopped himself, glancing about the room. Charlotte looked concerned but Grace looked understanding. Will had to remind himself that she knew of his curse and his feelings for Tessa. It was a new feeling to share that with someone.

"When Jem is angry," Grace said quietly. "When he's really, really angry, it's like a fire burning inside of him. It burns through him quicker than anything. He can't control it, he just has to let it burn until it dies. Jem never gets angry usually because the things that makes the rest of us feel anger aren't cause enough for him to. He hasn't got much of a temper. But something like this...while the rest of us cope with it in different ways, Jem can't. It's just who he is."

"It ate him up inside," Will whispered.

"Where's his letter?" Grace asked. "Show me the note." Will handed it to her and she scanned through it, nodding to herself. "I think I know what he means."

"What?" Charlotte asked.

"He's talking about Mortmain's fortune," Grace said. "The Magister can't do anything without his money. Jem must have thought if he could track down where the money is coming from, then he could cut the Magister off."

"Opium," Will said, suddenly understanding. "He went to the docks. Of course! Why didn't we think of this before?"

"But he won't be there now," Henry pointed out. "Mortmain would have taken him somewhere else." Grace sat back in her chair, her eyes cast down at the knot her fingers were in.

"What about Jessamine?" she asked quietly. "You told me she was a spy. If that's true, then maybe she would know where the Magister took Jem." Charlotte pursed her lips.

"I doubt she'll talk to any of us," she said. Then her voice went quiet. "I never realised how much she hated us. It's my fault. I knew she was unhappy." Will tried not to cringed as Henry practically leapt off the sofa and hugged Charlotte.

"It is not your fault, my dearest," he said.

"If we're going to talk to Jessamine," Will said. "Then someone is going to have to go to the Silent City and convince her to tell us what she knows."

"I'll go," Grace said. Will snapped his head round to her.

"You are going to stay here and rest," he said, his voice hard. "You're still not well, Gracey."

"I am not a child, Will," she said. "And someone has got to apologise to Brother Enoch for stealing me from the Silent City." Will held her gaze but Grace held strong. She won, as she always did.

"Fine," he said. He moved towards the door. "But take Tessa with you. Jessamine may open up to her." Grace nodded, looking away. Will wanted to know more than anything what she went through and make everything go away. Grace's eyes, that were always so full of determination and grit, now looked ghostly and broken.

"Where are you going?" Charlotte asked, snapping Will from his thoughts.

"To look for Jem," Will said. "Please don't tell Brother Enoch where I went. I'd rather not get killed by a Silent Brother. That's not how I pictured my death."

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