Clockwork Heart | ✓

decem.

London, 1903

The next few weeks were dull, and Cordelia spent much of the time in her room or with Lucie and Matthew, who had been feeling awfully neglected by James since the arrival of Brooklyn.

After the announcement, James had been insistent on showing Brooklyn more of London, despite the fact that Lucie thought he was sure that he'd shown her all of it. They often came back with a book or two, and would spend hours together at night in the library, quietly reading and leaning on each other on the couch. She'd seen him carry an unconscious Brooklyn upstairs to her room several times, despite how exhausted he obviously was and how much he stumbled.

There was a knock on her door, and she and Lucie looked up from their books, sharing a confused look. Lucie stood up to answer it and allowed fair-haired Matthew Fairchild inside. "They're having an Enclave meeting tomorrow." He announced, looking like he just ran a mile.

"What for?" Cordelia demanded and pushed herself up and off of her bed.

"Along with a small issue with some vampires that are pulling a de Quincey? To discuss where Brooklyn should be staying. Tatiana Blackthorn is strongly opposed to it."

"And I suppose Grace is going to be there?"

"If that little brat is, then I am too." Lucie snapped. "She's younger than James and you, Matthew. She has no right to be there if you two aren't. And I'm older than her!"

"I am too," said Cordelia, "and I'll be damned if she's allowed and I'm not."

"Of course she will be," Matthew said bitterly. "Grace is Tatiana's little princess."

James knocked on the open door, and they all looked up. "Did you guys hear? There's going to be an Enclave meeting tomorrow. My father said we're allowed to sit in, and so are the Lightwoods. Because Tatiana is pushing for Grace to sit in so hard."

"Good." Matthew said. He looked angry and pleased, and although it was a weird combination, it fit just fine on his face.

Cordelia made a face. "She disgusts me."

"Father says that Tatiana is trying to push for Brooklyn to not be allowed in the meeting, since she's a mundane. They're shouting an awful lot about it downstairs. I think Gideon might be here, too." James added thoughtfully. "I was hearing an awful lot of Spanish."

"Where is Brooklyn?" Lucie asked.

James grinned. "I believe she's downstairs with Father, Lucie."

"Isn't Will arguing with Tatiana?" Cordelia asked, baffled.

"No, don't be silly. Father would never yell at a lady, despite how much she infuriates him. Mother, Uncle Gabriel, and Gideon are in yelling at her."

Matthew shook his head. "I keep forgetting that they're her brothers."

"Shadowhunter family trees generally are quite complicated," Cordelia sighed. "What could your father possibly be doing with Brooklyn?"

"Well, he's either educating her on demon pox, educating her on the demonic origins of ducks, or he's teaching her something of no use like what the Enclave meetings are for and how they are run." James smiled brightly in a way that made Cordelia smile back.

"Oh, heavens," Lucie sighed, clutching her forehead and taking a seat as well. "I do hope that if he is educating her on demon pox, he isn't singing that awful song."

James and Matthew grinned wickedly at each other. "Demon pox, oh demon pox, just how is it acquired?" James sang, and Cordelia and Lucie both groaned in loud protest.

Matthew continued the song. "One must go down to the bad part of town, until one is very tired."

They ended it together. "Demon pox, oh demon pox, I had it all along--No not the pox, you foolish blocks, I mean this very song--for I was right, and you were wrong!" They collapsed against each other, cackling.

"That song haunts my nightmares." Lucie moaned.

"Shall we sing it again, then?" James asked.

Cordelia had thrown a pillow at him, which caught him in the chest. "By the Angel, James Herondale. If you sing that damned song again--"

James and Matthew, in response, launched into the second of many times of singing the demon pox song.