Fragile Hearts (TID - Will Herondale fanfic)

Chapter 5: Massive Charades Game

ELEANORA'S POV
  The boys and Tessa practically barge into the attic. I hold back a sigh.

  "Well, I don't suppose you're going to tell on me, are you?" I ask, looking up from the clear panel of glass below me.

  Technically, it wasn't there before. I wanted to listen into the meeting, though. After leaving Jem's room last night, I explored the whole Institute. This would be the best place to spy on Charlotte and the Enclave.

  "Always a step ahead of us, aren't you, Ella," Jem grins, sliding up next to me.

  "Naughty child, Jem. I thought you of all people would listen to Charlotte," I mock chided.

  Jem laughs as Will seats himself across from me. Tessa hesitates, and I grin up at her.

  "Don't worry about ruining your pretty little dress, Tessa. It'll be worth it," I say confidently.

  Tessa finally seats herself next to Will, who is pointedly ignoring me. I get annoyed that he is.

  "Why up here?" Jem asks Will and I both. "Why not the weapons room? It's next to the library."

  I look at Will to explain.

  "Sound radiates," Will says. "Just as easy to listen from up here. Besides which, who's to say one of them wouldn't decide to pay a visit to the weapons room halfway through the meeting to see what we've in stock? It's happened before."

  "Can they hear us?" Tessa asks, staring down in fascination. She amuses me.

  "It's only one way," I say, then bring a finger to my lips. "Listen."

  "I don't know about this, Charlotte," Benedict Lightwood says. "This whole plan seems very risky."

  "But we cannot simply let de Quincey go on as he has," Charlotte argues. "He's the head vampire of the London clans. The rest of the Night Children look to him for guidance. If we allow him to cavalierly break the Law, what message does that send to Downworld? That the Nephilim have grown lax in their guardianship?"

  "Just so I understand," Lightwood says, "you're willing to take Lady Belcourt's word that de Quincey, a longtime ally of the Clave, is actually murdering mundanes in his own house?"

  "I don't know why you're surprised, Benedict." There is an edge to Charlotte's voice. "Is it your suggestion that we ignore her report, despite the fact that she has given us nothing but reliable information in the past? And despite the fact that if she is once again telling the truth, the blood of everyone that de Quincey murders from this point onward will be on our hands?"

  "And despite the fact that we are bound by the Law to investigate any report of the Covenant being broken," says a slender dark-haired man at the far end of the table. "You know that as well as the rest of us, Benedict; you're simply being stubborn."

  Charlotte exhales as Lightwood's face darkens. "Thank you, George. I appreciate that," she says.

I roll my eyes. All this talk isn't at all interesting. I tune them out, taking to observing them.

Gabriel sits with his Father, and Henry isn't present yet.

"But that's the point of this whole enterprise," Charlotte is saying. There is a tinge to her voice—of nervousness, a strained desire to prove herself. "To observe de Quincey breaking the Law, Aunt Callida."

Tessa makes a startled noise. I simply raise an eyebrow.

Jem looks up. "Yes, she's Charlotte's aunt," he says. "It was her brother—Charlotte's father—who used to run the Institute. She likes to tell people what to do. Although, of course she always does whatever she wants."