Chapter 3- An Unexpected Worrying Event

Disclaimer: SOME of the dialogue in this chapter, all characters (but Grace), the main story line and settings belong to Cassandra Clare. Everything else belongs to me. Cassandra Clare owns The Infernal Devices and not me sadly.
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'It's like we're standing hand in hand with all our fears upon the edge.'

- Sad Song, We The Kings
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"Run, Grace!" Will shouted. Grace whirled around, holding her witchlight up to illuminate the dark, damp corridor. She had told Will to wait so why was he yelling at her to run?

Peering into the darkness, she just made out the silhouettes of Will and Miss Gray. "What are you-" she started to say before Will grabbed her arm, spinning her around and yanked her after him. His grip was like iron and she didn't rip free of him until they reached the room at the end of the corridor.

Miss Gray and Will slammed the doors shut and that's when Grace heard the musically evil voice coming from the corridor:

"Miss Graaaaaay. Come out, come out where ever you are!"

"Now that is just simply patronising," Will said.

"I think it's slightly more than patronising," Grace said, realising that the Dark sisters were chasing Will and Miss Gray and deciding to forgive him about ruining her plan. She turned to face the room they were in. As soon as she did, she heard Miss Gray choke down a scream and Will take a sharp intake of breath. She herself had to bite her lip hard to prevent herself from cursing.

The room was littered with bodies, all stripped and mutilated. Skin was in the process of being peeled back carefully, like someone not wanting to tear the paper of a parcel. Disturbing as it was, Grace had seen a lot worse. "Well I guess we know where all the mundanes are going," Grace muttered. Will looked at her.

"No, we just stumbled upon a human factory," Will said, his voice literally dripping with  sarcasticasm. "Of course this is where they were all going, Grace!"

"How can you joke about this?" Miss Gray asked.

"No disrespect, Miss Gray," Grace said. "But we've been in this game a very long time so please don't tell us what we can and can't do."  Behind them, the doors were rattling and squealing like a cat.

"One can only assume that is the lovely Dark sisters," Will said.

"I think it may be time for some reinforcements," Grace said.

"You think correctly," Will agreed. He jumped on top of one of the tables. "Henry! Some assistance please! Gracey and I need a tiny bit of help!"

"Who is Henry?" Miss Gray cried.

"You'll see in a minute," Grace told her. "He does have a flare for dramatic entrances."

"As do I," Will said. "Though mine are so much better."

"How can you boast about that when we are locked in a room and about to be caught?" Miss Gray exclaimed. "You are mad! Both of you! You're absolutely insane!"

Grace slipped out a short sword from the sheath that was strapped across her back, choosing to ignore both Will and Miss Gray. She passed Will a seraph blade from her belt. Miss Gray stared at her and her sword. Grace realised she was one of those girls who thought women were to sit and look pretty. Jessamine, to put it bluntly.

"Miss Gray," Grace said as the doors cracked and groaned. "I would advise that you get behind us and find a weapon to protect yourself with." She listened, darting behind the table and selecting a hack saw. She obviously didn't have much experience with handling weapons as she looked extremely unsure of herself.

Suddenly the door burst open and what could only be the Dark sisters stood, glaring at Miss Gray and completely ignoring Grace and Will. That was a first for the both of them, Grace being a Shadowhunter and Will being...well, Will.

He didn't exactly like being ignored and immediately started stalling, engaging the pair of warlocks in conversation. Behind his back, Will gestured for Grace to slowly make her way towards Miss Gray in their secret hand signals used in battle. Grace inched her way across, trying not to draw attention to herself.

She caught some conversation between Will and the sisters. Something about Miss Gray not being human which she guessed even before. Why would they have her otherwise? It wasn't like she was anything special. Either way, she was just a scared girl who had got herself into a whole world of trouble. Shadowhunters protect people like that, even if they have very annoying accents.

"Sister, could it be?" One of the sisters said, jolting Grace out of her thoughts. "Is she the one?"

"I believe she is," the other said. "But it isn't possible. He said she'd be hard to find and even harder to deal with compared to Theresa."

"Yes but here she is." It took Grace all of a second to figure out they were talking about her. Will's face showed a flicker of surprise and nervousness but it was gone as soon as it came.

Now Grace had three options: ignore the warlocks, let Will handle it and carry on inching slowly towards Miss Gray. Option two was confront the sisters straight away about how they knew her (she kept a very low profile in Downworld for a very specific reason). Option three: use her wit to get the answers.

Unfortunately, Will chose for her, opting for all choices at the same time. "You know Grace but not me?" He asked with mock hurt in his tone. "How very rude. If you were going to recognise anyone it would be me. This Magister of yours obviously doesn't know who's the more-"

"How do you know of the Magister?" Mrs Dark asked, her eyes narrowing. Grace stopped moving towards Miss Gray when she felt the slight vibration underneath her feet. Henry had such bad timing... Luckily neither of the warlocks seemed to notice.

"Ah, I see," the warlock continued. "Only what Miss Gray told you."

"We'll make you a deal, little boy angel," Mrs Black said. "Leave now and we won't bother you but you must hand over Miss Gray and the other girl."

"Why do you want them?" Will demanded. "I'm not giving you my best friend or Miss Gray. I'll bet my right arm that the Magister is no one but an deranged occult leader."

"Stupid boy," Mrs Dark snarled. "The Magister is more powerful and dangerous than anything you'll face. He's a very patient man, waiting all that time for someone with Tessa's ability. He was the reason she was born-" The wall caved in suddenly with a mighty roar. Grace dived at Miss Gray, knocking her out the way so the debris wouldn't crush her. Will covered her with his own body as the debris rained down. Grace rolled under a table.

Mrs Black started screaming with rage as Henry and Thomas charged in, their seraph blades shining in the dust. One of them yelled out but in the chaos, Grace couldn't tell who. She rolled out from under the table just as Will flung his blade, plunging it into Mrs Black's chest. Grace ran at her, leaping off one table and vaulting the other, her short sword arcing straight through the warlock's flesh. Mrs Black staggered and collapsed into another gruesome table, writhing and smoking.

"Grace, look out!" Thomas yelled at her as Mrs Dark came flying at her. She dodge the sparks shooting from her hands, sliding on her knees to Thomas.

"Thanks," she said briefly.

"You're very welcome," Thomas replied and they plunged into battle again. They managed to snatch Mrs Dark, Thomas holding her in his strong arms. Grace put a knife to her throat to keep her from struggling too much.

"Will!" Henry cried. Out of the corner of her eye, Grace saw Mrs Black lunge at Will. But she and Will killed that thing! What was going on? The monster sank her claws into Henry, making him fall to the ground. She heard Will shout out the name of a seraph blade then silence. Grace turned to see Mrs Black's head bounce away.

Mistake.

Mrs Dark screeched in anger, knocking her with such a force that she sailed across the room and slammed into the wall near Will. She crumpled. "Grace!" Will shouted and started towards her before the warlock threw her lightning. The shards of energy shot out in all directions as Will deflected it. There was a sudden cry. Grace managed to lift her head as Miss Gray flew across the room, hitting the wall and falling unconscious. Mrs Dark laughed an evil laugh. "We will kill you soon, Grace Carstairs," she laughed, "and when we do, the Magister will have what you keep hidden!" She disappeared into a cloud of smoke.

"Damn it," Thomas said, getting up from the floor. Will tossed his blade aside and ran to Grace who was currently struggling to get up with a broken rib.

"Woah, easy, Grace," he said, helping her sit up and lean against the wall.

"That was stupid," Grace said through gritted teeth as Will drew out his stele. "I shouldn't have lost concentration like that. It's going to get me killed one day."

"Not your fault," Will muttered. "Whatever those warlocks were talking about is not good for us. And you're lucky it's me here and not Jem. I think he may roast you on a spit for being reckless. Although he'd probably say careless."

"Don't tell him," Grace said quickly. "It doesn't do him any good to worry about me." As Will rolled up her sleeve, she glanced over his shoulder. Thomas and Henry were seeing to Miss Gray on the other side of the room.

"How do you want to do this, Grace?" Will asked her, his stele a centimetre from her skin. She tried not to flinch at the sight of it. When runes were drawn on Shadowhunters, they usually burned a little as they were put on but for her, they really burned. She could just about stand them being put on. Once they were on, it was fine but she tried to use them as little as possible by only going for the essential ones for the mission. It was just another one of it's ways of making her life as hard as possible.

"Just draw the bloody iratze," Grace said. Will hesitated then went to work, drawing as quickly as possible. Grace ground her teeth and gripped Will's other hand so tightly that her nails cut him as the rune burned like a fire into her skin. Finally it was done and she breathed a sigh of relief, wiping the sweat from her forehead. The healing rune went to work straight away, easing the aching bruises and the broken rib from her time smashing into the wall.

"Thomas," Will called. "Get Miss Gray to the carriage. Grace will accompany you back to the Institute. Then come back for me and Henry after we finish searching the house."

"Will," Grace said, grabbing hold of his wrist. "On the second floor, there's another office. It looks more private than the one down the hall. In the first drawer, there's a demon medallion. It has essence of Yanluo." Will's eyes widened fractionally.

"Oh," he said, now understanding what happened on the stairs earlier.

"You have to get rid of it," Grace said. "It can't be brought to the Institute as evidence. It's bad enough me getting affected by it but if Jem knows-"

"I know," Will said softly. "I'll destroy it. But first, I want to know how they got it in the first place."

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Hello peeps!

I'm not sure if I feel ok about this chapter or not. First of all I couldn't think of a name for it which is a bad start then I wasn't sure if it flowed or not. What do you guys think??? Please let me know in the comments!

So, next chapter has Jem in it ,for those of you who were missing him, and I'll be introducing my next new character Philip to you.

Let me know your thoughts on this one please! Comments and votes are always helpful and keep me motivated!

See ya next chapter.

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