Fragile Hearts (TID - Will Herondale fanfic)

Chapter 49: The Drug

Eleanora didn't return to the Institute, instead leaving the other Shadowhunters and going to Magnus Bane's house which he shared with Woolsey Scott.

"I received a fire message for you," Magnus said as she stepped into the house. He paused, taking in her bloodied state. Ella didn't seem to process his words.

"What happened?" Magnus asked as she grabbed a rag that he had made appear in front of her and started cleaning the blood off her arm.

"It was ridiculous," Ella laughed mirthlessly. "Lightwood—he was turned into a worm. Blasted thing bit me. And then I fell from it onto the ground."

"You were the only injured?"

Ella nodded. She felt so uncharacteristically bitter. She had no idea why.

"Of course," she grinned. "I'm somehow always getting injured. But Jem... Jem isn't well, Magnus."

Magnus frowns. "His curse?"

She nodded. "Do you have any messages for me?"

"Yes," Magnus said, and instantly Ella felt like herself again. "Your Brother sent a fire message."

He handed it to her and she snatched it up, eyes skimming through the words.

Ella,
I haven't found Father yet. The Geritch has separated, and all of them have fled. I managed to find Rabe, though, but he ran away before I could get any answers. I could really use your help in finding the rest and questioning them. I would like to meet you tonight, at midnight. You know where.
C.

  She crushed the note.

  "No news?" Magnus asked.

  Ella shook her head. After Cecily had appeared, Caspian had had enough. He packed up and left one night, telling only her. He wanted to find their father and kill him. Turns out that was harder than expected.

  They kept in contact, though, meeting each other at midnight occasionally.

  "Nothing," said Ella.

  "What's wrong, Ella? Don't say nothing as well," Magnus said, narrowing his eyes at her. "I can tell that something's wrong."

  "I'm just really worried," Ella confessed. "I doubt that Father has had enough with us. He's going to come back. I want to know when, why, where. But I don't."

  Magnus stayed silent for a moment, then laid a hand on Ella's shoulder.

  "And Will?" He asked.

  Ella shook her head. "He's so worried for his Sister, and I think her being here is making him feel so guilty. I don't know what to do to help him."

  Magnus smiled. "Just be you. Go out with him for a night. Act like it was old times."

  Ella looked at Magnus skeptically. "With Jem in bed—"

  Magnus cut her off. "With Jem in bed, you are the one thing he needs most. Trust me, Ella."

~

  "I just came back from the East End," Will said. He didn't want to tell them what he had found, but he had to. He couldn't even think. "I had gone to look for more yin fen. But there is no more."

  "What do you mean, there's no more? Jem has a supply, does he not?" Tessa asked.

  Will turned to face her, walking backward down the stairs. "It's gone," he said curtly. "He did not want you to know, but there is no way to hide it. It is gone, and I cannot find more. I have always been the one to buy it. I had suppliers—but they have either vanished or come up empty-handed. I went first to that place—that place where you came and found me—you, Nora and Jem, together. They had no yin fen." He heard his own voice when he said Nora's name. A desperate longing.

  She had not returned to the Institute with Cecily and Henry and the Lightwoods. They claimed that she didn't want to. Will was frantic. Last he saw her, she had blood all over her arms, and a cut on her face. He needed her now, of all times.

  "Then another place—"

  "I went everywhere," Will said, spinning back around. They emerged into the corridor on the second level of the Institute; the library and the drawing room were here. "Everywhere. In the last place I went, someone told me that it had all been deliberately bought up in the last few weeks. There is nothing."

  "But Jem," Tessa said, shock clear in her voice.  "Without the yin fen. . ."

  "He'll die." Will paused for a moment in front of the library door; his eyes met hers. "Just this afternoon he gave me permission to seek a cure for him. To search. And now he will die because I cannot keep him alive long enough to find it."

  "No," Tessa said. "He will not die; we will not let him."

  Will moved into the library, Tessa beside him, his gaze roaming over the familiar room, the lamplit tables, the shelves of old volumes. "There were books," he said, not paying attention to what she had said. "Books I was consulting, volumes about rare poisons." He moved away from her, toward a nearby shelf, his gloved hands running feverishly over the tomes that rested there. "It was years ago, before Jem forbade any more research. I have forgotten—"

  Tessa moved to join him, but he barely noticed. "Will, stop."

  "But I have to remember." He moved to another shelf, and then another, searching desperately. "I have to find—"

  "Will, you can't read every book in the library in time. Stop. This will not help Jem."

  "Then what will? What will?" He reached for another book, stared at it, and threw it to the floor; Tessa jumped.

  He was so scared. Scared for Jem, scared for Nora, scared for Cecily, scared for his family, everything.

  "Stop," she said again, and caught at his sleeve, turning him to face her. He knew how he looked to her: flushed, breathless, and his eyes wild. "When you searched for the cure before, you did not know what you know now. You did not have the allies you have now. We will go and we will ask Magnus Bane. He has eyes and ears in Downworld; he knows of all kinds of magic. He helped you with your curse; he can help us with this as well."

  "There was no curse," said Will, as if he were reciting the lines of a play; his eyes were glassy.

  "Will—listen to me. Please. Let us go to Magnus. He can help."

   He closed his eyes and drew a deep breath. "Yes," he said finally. "Yes. Of course. Tessa—thank you. I did not think."

  "You were grieved," she said, stepping back and releasing him. His eyes opened. "And you had thought he would always forbid you from searching for a cure. You know I have never been at peace with that. I had thought of Magnus before."

  His eyes searched her face. "But you have never asked him?"

  She shook her head. "Jem did not wish it. But now—All is changed now."

  "Yes." He drew back from her. "I will go down and call Cyril to fetch the carriage. Meet me in the courtyard."