The Mortal Instruments discussion
Clockwork Prince Excerpt
message 51:
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Jazmyn
(new)
Mar 07, 2011 12:15PM
I was so shocked when he died. I wish he would've lived.
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The worst part was the way he was killed. With a hammer. I mean, it's cruel enough he dies in the first place...
CP deleted scene: The darkness came and went in waves that grew ever slower. Tessa was beginning to feel lighter, less like an awful weight was pressing her down. She wondered how much time had passed. It was night in the infirmary, and she could see Will a few beds away from her, a curled figure under the blankets, dark head pillowed on his arm. Brother Enoch had given him a tisane to drink once the [redacted] was cut out of his skin, and he had fallen asleep almost instantly, thank God. The sight of him in that much pain had been more harrowing than she could have imagined.
She was in a clean white nightgown now; someone must have cut away her blood-stiffened clothes and washed her hair before bandaging her — it lay softly over his shoulders, no longer twisted into rat-tails of tangles and drying blood.
‘Tessa,” came a whispered voice. “Tess?”
Only Will calls me that. She opened her eyes, but it was Jem seated on the side of her bed, looking down at her. The moonlight spilling through the high ceilings turned him almost transparent, an ethereal angel, all silver but for the gold chain at his throat.
He smiled. “You’re awake.”
“I’ve been awake here and there.” She coughed. “Enough to know I’m all right besides a crack on the head. A lot of fuss about nothing —” Tessa’s eyes dropped, and she saw that Jem was carrying something in his hands: a thick mug of some liquid that sent up a fragrant steam. “What’s that?”
“One of Brother Enoch’s tisanes,” said Jem. “It will help you sleep.”
“All I’ve been doing is sleeping!”
“And very amusing it is to watch,” said Jem. “Did you know you twitch your nose when you sleep, like a rabbit?”
“I do not,” she said, with a whispered laugh.
“You do,” he said. “Fortunately, I like rabbits.” He handed her the cup. “Drink just a little,” He said. “It is right for you to sleep. Brother Enoch says to think of the wounds and shocks to your spirit as you would think of wounds and shocks to your body. You must rest the injured part of yourself before you begin to heal.”
Tessa was dubious, but she took a sip of the tisane anyway, and then another. It had a pleasant taste, like cinnamon. Barely had she swallowed the second mouthful when a feeling of exhaustion swept over her. She lay back against the pillows, listening to his soft voice telling her a story about a beautiful young woman whose husband had died building the Great Wall of China, and who had cried so much over his loss that she had turned into a silvery fish and swum away across a river. As Tessa drifted off into dreams, she felt his gentle hands take the cup from her and set it down on the bedside table. She wanted to thank him, but she was already asleep.
Will owns. Will is just purely amazing. He is sensual and dark and all round sexy. Jem is boring and too much of a goodie two-shoes. WILL <3
Stefana wrote: "Will owns. Will is just purely amazing. He is sensual and dark and all round sexy. Jem is boring and too much of a goodie two-shoes. WILL <3"yeah but it was pretty awful what he did at the end of CA - other than that your right :)
Mairead wrote: "Awww, that's so cute. I love Jem!"I love him too! Jem is just so sweet!
Mimi wrote: "The worst part was the way he was killed. With a hammer. I mean, it's cruel enough he dies in the first place..."
agreed.
He did what he did at the end of CA because he knew Jem was in love with Tessa, and so he gave her up because he knows Jem will soon die and also because they are best friends. He knew the only way to push Tessa away was by saying what he did. It did make me very angry though because now Tessa will be giving off the pretense that she hates him, but really deep down inside she loves him <3
i never thought of that- but you do make a pointwould you want jem to have tessa or will?
Will!! Jem is a sweet guy, but he is also dull. Will surprises you and makes you laugh and just has this magnetic pull around him.
I don't think Jem is dull. He seems like the quiet type, but when he does say something it is always so adorable. His life story was so intriguing, I think as we learn more about him and he is in the books more Jem will start to come alive.
“Our souls are knit. We are one person, James.” — Will
I think they are going to Merge Jem with automaton parts to save him, or he'll turn into a vampire, or someone will.....
"“You’re seventeen,” Magnus said. “You can’t have wasted a life you’ve barely lived."
Mairead wrote: "I think they are going to Merge Jem with automaton parts to save him, or he'll turn into a vampire, or someone will....."I never actually thought of that! That would be really interesting if they did. I think either he will die, or we think he dies, but then massive shock at the end of the series when he lives by some miracle.
Well... Tessa is going to live forever, being a warlock and all. And wouldn't it be kindest, if at least one of the boys (pref. the one she ends up with) gets to live with her?But I'm not sure CC sees things the same way..
hmmm...what if the reason will believes in demon pox is because he *has* demon pox, and that's his big secret? lol...i know that's not how it's going to go, but geez, does cassie have to torture every character to the brink of madness??
Jeannette wrote: "hmmm...what if the reason will believes in demon pox is because he *has* demon pox, and that's his big secret? lol...i know that's not how it's going to go, but geez, does cassie have to torture e..."Couldn't agree with you more. She always finds a reason to make the characters life miserable.
He reached up and unlocked Tessa's hands from around his neck. He drew her gloves off, and they joined her mask and the hairpins on the stone floor of the balcony. He pulled off his own mask next and cast it aside, running his hands through his sweat-dampened hair, pushing it back from his forehead. The lower edge of the mask had left marks across his high cheekbones, like light scars, but when she reached to touch them, he gently caught at her hands and pressed them down. “No,” he said. “Let me touch you first."
It's probably Will....a part of me hoped it was Jem.
Mairead wrote: "It's probably Will....a part of me hoped it was Jem."
same!
Personally I think it could be either Will or Jem, but im kinda hoping it is Will. Unfortunately we don't have much description here so the odds are 50/50.
okay, i'm new. and just curious, are the infernal devices books any good?
Brilliant. There is only one so far, but it's so funny and exciting!
i'm thinkin about readin em. i prob will(:
Sara(: wrote: "okay, i'm new. and just curious, are the infernal devices books any good?"there are darn good!!!! =D
The CP prologue:The fog was thick, muffling sound and sight: where it parted, Will Herondale could see the street rising ahead of him, slick and wet and black with rain, and hear the voices of the dead.
Not all Shadowhunters could hear ghosts, unless the ghosts chose to be heard, but Will was one of those few who could. As he approached the old cemetery, their voices rose in a ragged musical chorus: wails and pleading, cries and snarls. This was not a peaceful burial ground, but Will knew that; it was not his first visit to the Cross Bones Graveyard near London Bridge. He did his best to block out the noises, hunching his shoulders so that his collar covered his ears, his head down, a fine mist of rain dampening his black hair.
The entrance to the cemetery was halfway down the block: a pair of wrought iron gates set into a high stone wall. Any mundane passing by could see the thick chains that bound the gates shut, and the sign declaring the premises closed— it had been fifteen years since a body was buried here, but the place itself remained, as yet undesecrated. As Will neared the gates, something no mundane would have seen materialized out of the fog: a great bronze knocker in the shape of a hand, the fingers bony and skeletal. With a grimace, Will reached out one of his own gloved hands and lifted the knocker, letting it fall once, twice, three times, the hollow clank resounding through the night like the rattling chains of Marley’s ghost.
For several long moments, nothing happened. Beyond the gates, Will saw mist, rising like steam from the ground, obscuring the grave markers and long, uneven plots of earth between them. Slowly the mist began to rise and coalesce, taking on an eerie blue glow. Will put his hands to the bars of the gate; the cold of the metal seeped through his gloves, into his bones, and he shivered. It was a more than ordinary cold— when ghosts rose, they drew energy from their surroundings, depriving the air and space around them of heat. The hairs of the back of Will’s neck prickled and stood up as the blue mist swirled, forming slowly into the shape of an old woman, in a ragged dress and white apron, her head bent.
“Hallo, Mol,” said Will. “You’re looking particularly fine this evening, if I do say so.”
The ghost raised her head. Old Molly was a strong spirit, one of the stronger Will had encountered. Even as moonlight speared through a gap in the clouds, she hardly looked transparent; her body was solid, her hair twisted in a thick yellow-gray coil over one shoulder, her rough, red hands braced on her hips. Only her eyes were hollow, twin blue flames flickering in their depths.
“William Herondale,” she said. “Back again so soon?”
She moved toward the gate with that gliding motion peculiar to ghosts. Her feet were bare and filthy, despite the fact that they never touched the ground.
Will leaned against the gate. “You know I missed your pretty face.”
She grinned, her eyes flickering, and he caught a glimpse of the skull beneath the half-transparent skin. Overhead, the clouds had closed in on each other again, black and roiling, blocking out the moon. Idly, Will wondered what Old Molly had done to get herself buried here, far from consecrated ground. Most of the whispering voices of the dead belonged to prostitutes, suicides, and stillbirths— those outcast dead who could not be buried in a churchyard. Although Molly had managed to make the situation quite profitable for herself, so perhaps she didn’t mind.
She chortled. “What d’you want then, young Shadowhunter? Malphas venom? I have the talon of a Morax demon, polished very fine, the poison at the tip entirely invisible—”
“No,” Will said. “That’s not what I need. I need Foraii demon powders, ground fine.”
If a ghost could have paled, Old Molly would have paled; as it was, she seemed to flicker as Will spoke, like the flame of a candle at an open window. When he was done, she turned her head aside and spat a tendril of blue fire.
Will exhaled, his breath turning to mist on the cold air. “Surely,” he said, “that’s not the worst thing anyone’s ever paid you for, Old Mol.”
It was always like this. She argued, and then she gave in eventually. Magnus had already sent Will to Old Mol several times now, once for black stinking candles that stuck to his skin like tar, once for the bones of an unborn child, and once for a bad of faeries’ eyes which had dripped blood on his shirt. Foraii demon powder sounded pleasant by comparison.
She slid her hands into the pouch at the front of her apron. When she removed them, she was holding a faded cloth bag, tied with a scrap of dirty ribbon. She shook her head slowly. “You think I’m a fool,” she said, hoarsely. “This is a trap, innit? You Nephilim catch me selling that sort of stuff, an’ it’s the stick for Old Mol, it is.”
“You’re already dead.” Will did his best not to sound irritable. “I don’t know what you think the Clave could do to you now.”
“Pah.” Her hollow eyes flamed. “The prisons of the Silent Brothers, beneath the earth, can hold either the living or the dead; you know that, Will Herondale.”
Will held his hands up. ”No tricks, old one. Surely you must have the rumors running around Downworld. The Clave has other things on its mind than tracking down ghosts who traffic in demon powders and faerie blood.” He leaned forward. “I’ll give you a good price.” He drew a cambric bag from his pocket and dangled it in the air. It clinked like coins rattling together. ”They all fit your description, Mol.”
An eager look came over her dead face, and she solidified enough to take the bag from him. She plunged one hand into it and brought her palm out full of rings— gold wedding rings, each tied in a lover’s knot at the top. Old Mol, like many ghosts, was always looking for that talisman, that lost piece of her past that would finally allow her to die, the anchor that kept her trapped in the world. In her case, it was her wedding ring. It was common belief, Magnus had told Will, that the ring was long gone, buried under the silty bed of the Thames, but in the meantime she’d taken any bag of found rings on the hope one would turn out to be hers. So far it hadn’t happened.
She dripped the rings back into the bag, which vanished somewhere on her undead person, and handed him a folded sachet of powder in return. He slipped it into his jacket pocket just as the ghost began to shimmer and fade. “Hold up there, Mol. That isn’t all I have come for, to-night.”
The spirit flickered while greed warred with her innate sense of self-preservation. Finally, she grunted. “Very well. What else d’you want?”
Will hesitated. This was not something Magnus had sent him for; it was something he wanted to know for himself. “Love potions—”
Old Mol screeched with laughter. “Love potions? For Will Herondale? T’aint my way to turn down payment, but any man who looks like you has got no need of love potions, and that’s a fact.”
“No,” Will said, a little desperation in his voice, “I was looking for the opposite, really— something that might put an end to being in love.”
“An ‘atred potion?” Mol sounded amused.
“I was hoping for something more akin to indifference? Toleration…?”
She made a snorting noise, astonishingly human for a ghost. “I ‘ardly like to tell you this, Nephilim, but if you want a girl to ‘ate you, there’s easy enough ways of making it ‘appen. You don’t need my help with the poor thing.”
And with that, she vanished, spinning away into the mists among the graves. Will, looking after her, sighed. “Not for her,” he said, under his breath, though there was no one to hear him, “for me…” and he leaned his head against the cold iron gate.
Ah, that was brilliant. Can't wait for CP!
April/May Teaser:The door to the training room opened. Tessa and Sophie turned as Gabriel Lightwood strode into the room, followed by a boy she had not met. Where Gabriel was slender and darker-haired, the other boy was muscular, with thick, sandy-blond hair. They were both dressed in gear, with expensive-looking dark gloves studded with metal across the knuckles. Each wore silver bands around each wrist — knife sheaths, Tessa knew — and had the same elaborate, pale white pattern of runes woven into the sleeves of their gear. It was clear not just from the similarity of their clothes but the shape of their faces and the pale, luminous green of their eyes that they were related, so Tessa was not in the least surprised when Gabriel said, in his abrupt manner:
“Well, we’re here as we said we would be. James, I assume you remember my brother, Gideon. Miss Gray, Miss Collins —”
“Pleased to make your acquaintance,” Gideon muttered, meeting neither of their gazes with his. Bad moods seemed to run in the family, Tessa thought, remembering that Will had said that next to his brother, Gabriel seemed a sweetheart.
Yayyy =)So excited to read about Gabriel's brother!
Oh man!! I can't believe that prologue! I cannot wait for this CP to come out.
Cassie promised to post a scene from a male character's perspective when she reaches 30, 000 followers! Go vote! http://polls.tw/5wy/r
Punk wrote: "Mairead wrote: "I think they are going to Merge Jem with automaton parts to save him, or he'll turn into a vampire, or someone will....."i hope so. it says that Jems health worsens in Clockwork..."
someone mentioned another theory which is pretty clever, that Jem becomes a Silent Brother perhaps, and maybe one of the Silent Brothers we met in MI is actually Jem.
Daylighter wrote: "someone mentioned another theory which is pretty clever, that Jem becomes a Silent Brother perhaps, and maybe one of the Silent Brothers we met in MI is actually Jem."That would be AWESOME! Love that idea!
yeah that's what I thought too but what sucks about this theory is that there's a huge chance that he got killed already when Valentine killed most of the Silent Brothers in CoA! =(
Daylighter wrote: "Punk wrote: "Mairead wrote: "I think they are going to Merge Jem with automaton parts to save him, or he'll turn into a vampire, or someone will....."i hope so. it says that Jems health worsens i..."
ew no! i hope that doesnt happen! i find silent brothers very creepy and i like jem alot!!
well it's hypothetical and just a theory, but if they couldn't find him the cure, you would rather see him die from his illness/addiction than for him to stay alive as a Silent Brother?!
Daylighter wrote: "well it's hypothetical and just a theory, but if they couldn't find him the cure, you would rather see him die from his illness/addiction than for him to stay alive as a Silent Brother?!"well yea kinda... sure it would be sad.. but if i got through fred dying than am sure i can go through this too lol!
killing someone off makes story more awesome-er!
hey I agree with you! you'r actually one of the few people who's said that! most people think I'm weird for thinking stories are better when people die in them... it makes the story more tragic and more emotional. I'm generally curious as to what people's reactions are to Jem's situation. & if they think he should end up with Tessa or not! I know I want him to =)
Daylighter wrote: "hey I agree with you! you'r actually one of the few people who's said that! most people think I'm weird for thinking stories are better when people die in them... it makes the story more tragic and..."I know.... otherwise the book becomes another breaking dawn *shudders* lol
i reaallyyy rreaally want him to end up with tessa than die so will can take over! haha :P
lol that would be good too :D& I know what you mean about Breaking Dawn -.- that book was worse than a fan fic
How i finished that book is still a mystery to me :P
Punk wrote: "Fariha (dream on!) wrote: "Daylighter wrote: "hey I agree with you! you'r actually one of the few people who's said that! most people think I'm weird for thinking stories are better when people die..."ooo maybe they can do it indian movie style!! jem can make will promise that he will take care of tessa after hes gone!!! :P :P
Daylighter wrote: "He reached up and unlocked Tessa's hands from around his neck. He drew her gloves off, and they joined her mask and the hairpins on the stone floor of the balcony. He pulled off his own mask next a..."If this was Jem he would not say " let me touch you first"
He would say it kinder or more intelligent
"Clockwork Prince extra May teaser. As a special thanks for not asking me questions about the movie& casting that I cannot answer. :) Will and Tessa, midbook.Tessa pushed the carriage curtains aside. Outside she could see the gaslights going by in a yellow blur; two children were slumped in a doorway, leaning against each other, asleep. Temple Bar flew by overhead.
“Have you ever thought of transforming yourself into one of your parents?” Will asked. “Your mother, or father? It would give you access to their memories, wouldn’t it?”
She turned to look at him. “I have thought of it. Of course I have. But I have nothing of my father’s or mother’s. Everything that was packed in my trunks for the voyage here was discarded by the Dark Sisters.”
“What about your angel necklace?” Will asked. “Wasn’t that your mother’s?”
Tessa shook her head. “I tried. I — I could reach nothing of her in it. It has been mine so long, I think, that what made it hers has evaporated, like water.”
Will’s eyes were dark blue in the shadows. “Perhaps you are a clockwork girl. Perhaps Mortmain’s warlock father built you, and now Mortmain seeks the secret of how to create such a perfect facsimile of life when all he can build are hideous monstrosities. Perhaps all that beats beneath your chest is a heart made of metal.”
Tessa drew in a breath, feeling momentarily dizzy. His soft voice was so convincing, and yet — “No,” she said, sharply. “You forget, I remember my childhood. Mechanical creatures do not change or grow. Nor would that explain my ability.”
“I know,” said Will, with a grin that flashed white in the darkness. “I only wanted to see if I could convince *you*.”
Tessa looked at him steadily. “I am not the one of us who has no heart.”
It was too dim in the carriage for her to tell, but she sensed that he had flushed, as he did when startled or upset, across the tops of his cheekbones. To her surprise, he reached out a gloved hand for her. It just brushed the edges of her curls, the kid leather smooth against her cheek — and the carriage wheels came to a jerking halt. They had arrived."
Cannot decide whether or not I like this one...hahaha
Sweet, I've been waiting for Clockwork Prince Excepts, but where do you find them?
When she posts excerpts from her upcoming books, they're usually found at any of these sources.twitter:
http://twitter.com/cassieclare
facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/Cassandraclare
Cassie's googlegroup:
http://groups.google.com/group/Mortal...
Cassie's website:
http://www.cassandraclare.com/cms/faq...
