The Next Herondales - Sequel to The Infernal Devices

Chapter Three: Conclave

The meeting room was just as Will remembered it to be. Spacious, high-ceilinged, and with a cheery fire in the corner, which was warming up the whole place.

The room was packed with shadowhunters. It seemed like all the shadowhunters of England had shown up, and some from other countries. Since Henry and Magnus invented the portal, over twenty years ago now, travel had become so much easier. This meant that shadowhunters could gather together and meetings could be arranged at short notice.

A hush fell upon the crowd, as the shadowhunters saw Charlotte get up onto the podium. She was well-respected among all of them. A natural leader, Charlotte had brought them out of many sticky situations during the last twenty-five years she’d been consul. When she spoke, everyone listened.

“I have gathered all of you here today to speak about a matter of great importance.” Charlotte’s clear, high voice rang out through the room. “We are meeting to discuss the sudden increase in demonic activity during the past week.”

Charlotte paused and looked around the room, making sure that she had everyone’s attention. Seeming satisfied, she went on. “It’s as if someone’s opened a portal from hell straight into London. There’s been a ridiculous amount of demon raids in the past week. Also, we’ve not received any reports of unusual demonic from any of the other institutes, so it seems like it’s just London.”

Will did not like having to leave his children alone at the institute, especially while so much was going on. But then again, he reasoned, the institute is probably the safest place for them to be, at the moment. The wards would be able to fend off all demons. And besides, it’s not as if they’re children anymore…  

Still, Will could not shake off the feeling of unease, as if he knew something was going to go wrong. But what could possibly happen? Will shuffled in his seat, feeling uncomfortable.

“There’s been so much unrest lately,” said Charles Fairchild, a young man in his twenties with curly red hair, “And not just in the shadow world, but in the human world, too. The mundanes are beginning to notice something going on. We’ve had to erase the memories of about ten mundanes in the last week alone.”

Will nodded in agreement. It was true. It was hard enough getting rid of the demons, without having to worry about the mundanes as well. There had been so many demon attacks during the last week was barely able to rest at all. In fact, just the day before Will had fought off two shax demons, right in the centre of London, only a few streets down from the institute. Demons rarely ventured so close to the institute, one could not help but feel uneasy about it.

And as if that wasn’t bad enough, there had been many more downworlder raids since the start of the century than any of them could have anticipated. It was as if the downworlders were forgetting the accords all of a sudden, and were deciding to do whatever they liked. The members of the conclave had been trying their best to keep the peace, but there was only so much they could do. 

Suddenly, Will felt a small buzz coming from his pocket.

 Will smiled apologetically at the other members of the conclave, and dug his hand into his pocket, pulling out what seemed like a smooth, flat, palm-sized rock. It was a Communicator, and it was another one of Henry’s inventions. Will had no idea what power it ran on, but it worked well enough. The Communicator was a simple device that allowed shadowhunters to send messages instantaneously over long distances. It beeped and glowed when the owner received a message, as it was doing now. Whoever could it be, thought Will, We’re all here at the meeting… Suddenly, words began to appear on the surface of the stone. Black, swirly letters, as if an unseen hand was writing on it with ink.

The blood drained from Will’s face as he read the message. Oh Raziel, he thought, this can’t be happening. Please let it not be true. It was his worst nightmare.

Tessa placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, asking him what was wrong. Will just shook his head and passed the stone into her hand. There it was, bold and clear. The message was unmistakable.

Lucie has been taken.