The Equal Shadowhunter : A Rainheart Tale The Infernal Devices Fanfiction [PG]

Chapter 3 : The Secret

*Lulu PoV*

I wore my canary yellow dress, fully made of silk. Sophie stood behind me, her hands daintily moving between the strands of my hair.

"Your hair colour is stunning, Miss," she said when she finished braiding it French braid style, and laid it on my right shoulder, where it fell until my midriff.

"Look at the red colour against the yellow. It helps that you're so beautiful, too." She said again. It feels like she wasn't speaking flattery, but simply stating facts.

"I'm just like all of you," I dismissed her compliments. I myself have never felt that I'm beautiful or unique.

"And you're going out with Will," she said, her voice full of sting.

"Why don't you like Will?" I ask her while she dusts off my coat from the hanger.

"I never dislike anybody. I just find Will a little snobbish, and his attitude doesn't help anybody's opinion a bit." she said. I didn't push anything more off of her, and got out of my room while Sophie starts to clean it up.

*Will PoV*

I was waiting in front of the door when I heard footsteps pacing down the staircase. Then Lulu appeared from the turn of the staircase, and I was mesmerized. I'd never paid attention to a lady's attire before, yet the way her vibrant red hair held strong against the yellow of her dress fixed my eyes on hers.

"Good morning," she said to me when she finally walked over to me.

"Good morning, Miss Rainheart."

"Lulu, please," she insisted.

"Shall we ?" I offered my forearm, and she took it. She was wearing a pair of statement gloves today, so crimson it could only be compared to blood. I liked the way her fingers wrap tight around my forearm, but not depending on me.

When we got out, she squinted at the sun rays, and I felt an instinctive desire to shield her from the sun ray. But she opened her umbrella, and we walked.

*Lulu PoV*

Will took me to Blackfriars bridge, and it was mesmerizing. "So where had you lived all these years ?" he asked.

I was so caught up in the magical feeling in my chest. "Well, I was born in Idris. Then after my parents died, I lived in the Shanghai Institute, and after the incident in Paris, I stayed in Idris," I bared.

Will furrowed his eyebrows. "You lived in Shanghai ? It was Jem's home, you must have met him then," he asked.

I cursed myself for my stupidity. I shouldn't have forgotten to not say anything about Shanghai. About Jem. I squeezed my eyes shut before gained my composure. "Yes, unfortunately I did not remember much about my years in Shanghai. I've yet to remember anything before my Drevak attack," I said to him. Will sensed that I was distant, and he didn't push me further.

Then we stopped at Whitechapel. "This is where I buy Jem's yin fen. Surely you've noticed Jem's... silverness." he cringed at his own choice of words. "It's because he has to consume yin fen, the devil's powder. It made him lost all his colouring. He was injected repeatedly with the demon Yanluo's venom when he was kid, to make him an addict. He has to consume the powder now if he wants to live," Will said. All the unpleasant memories raced back to my mind. I wasn't about to tell anyone anything about what I saw, what I knew, what I lived through. About my cowardice.

Thankfully Will didn't realise anything. Long after, we got back to the Institute, and Will left me to go to Jem's room. I assured him I will be fine. I put my belongings to my room, then came back down and wandered until I found the library. I entered, thinking no one was here and sang. I dearly love to sing, among other things. I kept singing and walking, until I felt a presence behind and I gasped in surprise. I froze when I noticed it's Jem. He was holding a violin in his hand. So he still plays the violin. The xiao ti qin.

"So you sing, Miss Rainheart ?" he asked me delightfully.

"Lulu, please. And yes, I do." I answered.

"Well, you have a beautiful voice," he praised, and that earned him a smile.

"I thought no one was here, I'm sorry," I apologised to him.

"It's okay, really. I play my violin here, quite often," he explained. I nodded, and before saying anything else, I gave him a small curtsy and walked away hastily to get out of the library. It was suffocating to see Jem. Before the sight of him, broken and strong, broke me too.