Clockwork Heart | ✓

quattuor.

London, 1903

"Tessa, is there anywhere I can go to read this in quiet?" Brooklyn asked. "I'd really hate to be locked up in that room all day."

The older woman--who actually looked Brooklyn's age, to her confusion--smiled at her and laughed. "Of course. There's a library here. I'll show you where it is."

After several hours of being in the library--and being nearly finished reading the Codex--Brooklyn had determined that she rather liked the quiet room, with all of its books. The fire and some Shadowhunter lights called witchlights were the only illumination in the room, and Brooklyn found that she preferred it to the harsh lights of school and her house. Perhaps she'd have to try reading by candlelight at home...

The library doors burst open and Brooklyn jolted, whipping around in the chair to face the double doors. James strode into the library, scrubbing furiously at his face as he took long strides into the room. The doors shut loudly.

"I know why she doesn't love me." He said in a tear filled voice. "It's because I'm a monster. Brooklyn, I'm a monster!" He covered his face with his hands and sobbed, his shoulders shaking.

It took her a moment to realize what was happening. She sprang to her feet and rushed to cross the distance between them. She peeled his hands back from his face and took his face in her hands, brushing back his tears with her thumbs. "James Herondale, you are not a monster."

"Yes, I am." He said, the whites of his eyes pink. "It's why they bullied me at the Academy, and it's why she doesn't love me. I'm a monster."

"No, no." She lead him over and sat him on one of the plush chairs of the library and he leaned forward, resting his head against her stomach. "You're not a monster, James. What could possibly make you say that?"

"I am," He said. "My mother, she isn't a Shadowhunter. It's why she looks so young. She's my father's age, but she's a warlock. They're immortal."

"But warlocks are sterile." Brooklyn said.

He nodded. "Her mother was a Shadowhunter, but she hadn't been raised in the Clave. It's a long story, but anyway. She was conceived as a warlock usually is--trickery on the part of the demon. My sister and I aren't normal Shadowhunters, Brooklyn. I'm a monster."

"How does this make you a monster?" She asked. "Shadowhunter blood overshadows anything else."

He stood up slowly and Brooklyn took a step back to give him room. "I have to show you." And then he disappeared. Brooklyn gasped and looked around, and the shadows of the library seemed to come to life. She whipped around, searching for the gold eyes or pale skin that would lead to James, but there was nothing.

"And here I am," came a soft whisper, breath fanning over her ear and jaw and neck. She nearly screamed, but his hand clapping over her mouth stopped it.

Brooklyn whirled around. "What was that? What did you do?"

James smiled the way Lucifer might have smiled, moments before he fell from Heaven. "From my mother I inherited the ability to transform into a shadow. It's a result of her demonic origins. At the Academy, they called me Demon Eyes and tried to release a demon on me as a joke, but a boy was killed and I was blamed and expelled. Here, it seems as though it will only prevent me from my love."

"She isn't your love," Brooklyn said, taking a step closer to him. There was barely any space between them, just a ribbon of air no wider than a Codex was thick. "How could anyone be so cruel? It's a remarkable talent."

James's eyes softened. "Do you really mean that?"

"Of course," Brooklyn said. "Although I can't see how my opinion would mean anything, being a mundane and all." They both smiled like they were sharing an inside joke.

His smile fell, and he tilted his head to the side, eyeing her curiously. "You...you're different." He said. "Different from every girl I've ever met, Shadowhunter or otherwise."

"I'm from a different time period." She reminded him.

He shook his head. "No, no. That's not it. It's not that. You're so accepting and kind. I've never met someone so incredibly patient before." She smiled up at him. "Brooklyn, you told me yesterday that there is nothing in you that I could possibly fall in love with. I think you're very wrong."

"I'm not," she said, blushing. "I'm just a stupid girl with her nose always tucked away into a book, and nothing more." She had to look down, because she didn't want to watch as he realized that that truly was all she was.

Instead, he set his hand beneath her chin and lifted it, forcing her to look at him. "You're not stupid, and there is nothing wrong with having your nose in a book. I find that more often than not, that's my favorite place to be. I'm not sure what you read, but I tend to prefer Dickens."

She smiled up at him. "I have to think about what books I've read that are around your time. Dracula, Frankenstein, The Scarlet Letter, A Tale of Two Cities, Wuthering Heights..."

He laughed loudly. "I believe I have found my true soulmate." He said. "Have you ever read the Grimm brothers' fairy tales?"

"They were my favorites when I was younger."

"Younger? How old?"

She shrugged. "Six? I still enjoy them, of course."

James looked horrified. "You read them when you were six years old? Didn't your parents think that they were awfully morbid?"

"Perhaps," Brooklyn said. "But I'm not sure why my father would have given me the book if he didn't want me to read it..."

James simply shook his head. "Dear God," He said. "You're all completely mad in that time period, aren't you?"

"Yes," She said. "We most definitely are."

He smiled down at her. "Thank you, Brooklyn. I've...no one's ever been this way with me. Sometimes I feel as though even my parabatai doesn't want me because of my powers."

Brooklyn just shrugged. "One cannot help the way they were born."

He nodded in agreement. "Please don't tell Lucie about this. She doesn't know that these powers exist..."

"Oh." Brooklyn's eyes widened. "I promise I won't."

His smile turned relieved. "Thank you, Brooklyn. I'll let you return to your reading." He took her hand and raised it to his lips, pressing a kiss to her knuckles as he gave her a mischievous look. Then she blinked and he disappeared, but she felt her hair lifted from her shoulder and held back as something brushed over her cheek, and her heart pounded in her chest. She returned to her seat once the library doors opened and shut, although she guessed that James had not left. She sat and leaned back in her seat, closing her eyes and trying to steady her racing heart.

Brooklyn could not see it, but as James opened the doors once more and actually left, sliding into the hall, he had the most brilliant smile on his face that stayed there, even as he melted back into flesh.