The Infernal Devices Reimagined

The Protector

Will awoke in a puddle of sunlight, knowing that he had overslept. Groaning, he pulled off the covers and dressed on autopilot. He ambled out the room and down the stairs, looking for Jem. He was vaguely aware that he looked half a dead man, so he knew that being seen like this wouldn't be good for his 'reputation'. It didn't help that Charlotte was speaking to Gideon and Gabriel Lightwood when Will walked into the dining hall.

Gabriel regarded him with a mix of dislike and revulsion, which was expected, but Gideon, on the other hand, walked up to Will and extended his hand to him. "Mr. Herondale. How are you this fine morning?"

Will blinked. He couldn't have heard that correctly. Both his ears and eyes were conspiring against him. Gideon Lightwood, who had been sour to the point of acidic toward Will, had just offered him his hand and asked him how he was. "Pardon me?"

"I asked you how you were, Mr. Herondale. Will you be shaking my hand anytime soon?"

Will wearily clasped his hand and shook it. "I have heard that terrible cases of Bronchitis can induce hallucinations, but I'd have thought that if I was so ill, I would have noticed."

Mr. Lightwood laughed. "You are not hallucinating, my friend. I, Gideon Lightwood, am truly extending an olive branch to you. It was cruel what you did to my sister when we were children, that much is true. However, we are no longer children, and Tatiana is married to a good man. I see no reason for hostilities between us to continue."

'Stranger things have happened, I suppose,' Will thought as the older Lightwood walked away, but not by much. Unlike his brother, Gabriel stomped up to Will, livid. "Just because my brother had forgotten how you disgraced my sister does not mean I have, Herondale." With that, he turned away from Will and followed his brother up the grand staircase to the training. At least some things will never change.

He turned to Charlotte. "Where is Jem? I was told that he was some papers regarding Mortmain up from the Silent City? Dare I say that I missed it?"

"Oh, no," Henry appeared from his crypt, "you're right on time. Here he comes."

Jem dropped a massive stack of papers onto the dining table. The papers spread on the table at the force. Will spotted articles from the newspaper, cargo reports, everything in the Silent City containing a reference to Axel Mortmain. Looking at the hundreds of documents, Will internally groaned. How could the Wayland expect them to sort through so many papers in a mere fortnight? 'He doesn't. This entire assignment is a farce. Wayland means for Charlotte to lose the Institute, that bastard.'

Grumbling, Will grabbed a paper out of the pile at random. It was an article telling of Mortmain Industries shift from trading to mechanics. Nothing else could be parsed from the text. He sighed and reached for another paper.

"Why so glum, Will?" Jem teased, "You love to read. I would have thought that this task would have overjoyed you."

"You had once thought that Gabriel Lightwood and I would be splendid friends. Your judgment is not always perfect, I'm afraid."

"It often is, however. I did know to come for you at De Quincey's manor if you'll recall."

Will did recall. That only added another question to his ever-lengthening list of those. How did Jem know to save him at De Quincey's manor? Neither Ms. Gray nor he had gone back to warn the Institute, so how would he have known that they needed help?

"William!" Charlotte took him out of his thoughts. "James! Stop chattering amongst yourselves."

"How can we possibly not?" Will complained. "You have us doing the dullest thing imaginable."