The Shadowhunters

The Devils in Hell

Tessa listened intently to Miss Trudy. Not only was she her history teacher, but English Literature teacher – and by far,

she was her favourite one. Unlike the other teachers, she was not biased and treated the Shadowhunters as she would a regular student.

"In this line from Shakespeare, it says that, 'Hell is empty, and all the devils are here. Can anyone elaborate on that? It is fairly obvious, so those who truly aren't brainless, raise

your hand," Miss Trudy asked, scanning the entire class. Out of the entire class, it was only Tessa who raised her hand.

Tessa was surprised. Other people had to understand that line. It was so simple. But Tessa got it immediately. Everybody else was either balancing a pencil on their nose, texting

away on their phones or gossiping. Tessa was sitting at the back, so she had a view of everything.

One particular seat was empty. William Herondale's. Tessa's suspicion rose. "Yes, Tessa. Tell the other brainless children that are texting and gossiping the answer," Miss Trudy

said, making sure everybody heard her. Guiltily, everyone put their distraction away and turned to glare at Tessa – as if she was the reason they got caught. Tessa wanted to cower

under their stares, but didn't dare to.

"'Hell is empty and all the devils are here,'" Tessa repeated.

"Thanks for repeating it for us. We didn't know," a brunette girl said, several rows in front of her. Sarcasm and hatred oozed down her words. Since the incident with Will a week

ago, Tessa had been getting hate letters. In her locker, her clothes, in class – they would all be slipped to her – telling her that Tessa should die and that Tessa should just move out

of the Institute.

Tessa was forever grateful for Sophie, who had tossed those letters and notes into a burning flame. "It means that all the bad – death, pain, sickness, jealousy – those are not in

Hell but on earth," Tessa replied shortly.

"Perfect," Miss Trudy said, returning to the whiteboard to write down some more lines from Shakespeare. Glares from everyone were placed on Tessa, who tried to keep her eyes

on the board.

Suddenly, if not simultaneously, everybody glanced down at their phones. They seemed to have gotten a text message. Everybody – but Tessa. Once again, Tessa began to feel left

out in her class, but put it aside. Sophie was in Business and Creative Writing. The next block would be with Sophie.

Tessa tried to calm herself with that knowledge, though it truly didn't help a lot. There was still fifteen minutes left in class, but the clock seemed to taunt her as well, moving

slower than a snail.

"Work of the day," Miss Trudy called, but the loud ring of the school bell drowned the blonde teacher and the class cheered before filing out. "Read Othello!"

Tessa took her time with leaving, despite wanting to meet Sophie quickly. It was comforting without having so many glares on her back, and she feared that once she stepped into

the hallway, she would be met, once again, with glares.

Thanking the Angel, Tessa tucked her books into her bag and slung her worn messenger bag over her shoulder before walking out of the room.

Miss Trudy exited from her classroom to walk to the teacher's lounge as Tessa was stuffing Othello into her locker. Surprisingly, she was the only one in the hallway, lingering still.