Fragile Hearts (TID - Will Herondale fanfic)

Chapter 2: Introductions

ELEANORA'S POV
  At dinner, I make my appearance in front of all the other Shadowhunters. I don't wear a dress. God forbid, those things are torture.

  I wear my Shadowhunter gear. Only Jem is at the table. And Will. Will, on the other hand, is standing on one of the sideboards, tinkering with something attached to the ceiling.

  Jem, seated on the chair, is looking up at Will with a dubious expression. "It serves you right if you break it."

  He turns to the sounds of me walking in. I'm usually quiet, but I want to be noticed. Someone walks in behind me. Someone foreign. I've never heard Jem describe her to me before. She's got brown thick locks of hair, and gray eyes tinted with blue.

  "Ella," He grins, relaxing slightly. "Tessa. I was hanging the gasolier crookedly, and Will is endeavouring to straighten it."

  Tessa eyes me. "I've never seen you around." I notice her eyes widen upon noticing what I'm wearing.

  "I'm sure you haven't," I say, slightly amused. "You're the shape shifter, aren't you?"

  "You know of Tessa?" Jem inquires.

  I grin. "I have my sources."

  A blond girl stalks into the room before Jem can reply. Jessamine is a bit of a pain, but she's part of our family, I remember Jem saying when he told me of the Institute and it's occupants. I observe her. My eyes lock onto the blood on her sleeve. I simply raise an eyebrow but don't comment.

  "Really! Can't you get Thomas to do that? A gentleman needn't—"

  "Is that blood on your sleeve, Jessie?" Will asks, glancing down at her, barely acknowledging me and Tessa. That maddens me.

  "Did something happen while you and Jessamine were out?" Jem asks, looking genuinely worried.

  Jessamine looks at Tessa, panic written on her face.

  "No," Tessa says cautiously. "It was nothing—"

  "I've done it!" A man with sandy brown hair enters the room in triumph. Henry. He's more invested in his inventions and his clockwork stuff than any of us. Even his Wife, Charlotte, sometimes.

  "I'll wager you didn't think I could, did you?" He says, brandishing a copper tube looking thing with a black button on one side in his hand.

  Will, abandoning his efforts with the gasolier, glares at Henry. "None of us have the slightest idea what you're on about. You do know that?"

  "I've gotten my Phosphor to work at last," Henry says proudly. "It functions on the principle of witchlight, but five times more powerful. Merely press a button, and you will see a blaze of light like of which you have never imagined."

  Silence settles amongst us. What kind of name is Phosphor? I ask myself.

  "So," Will finally breaks the silence. "It's a very, very bright witchlight, then?"

  "Exactly," Henry says, and I hear a hint of pride in his voice.

  "Is that useful, precisely?" Jem asks. "After all, witchlight is just for illumination. It's not as if it's dangerous...."

  "Wait till you see it!" Henry replies. "Watch."

  Will opens his mouth, as if to object, but Henry is already pressing the button.

  There's blinding light, and then a sound like wind, and then we're engulfed in darkness. Tessa yelps in surprise, and I hear Jem's soft laughter.