CHAPTER TWO
OUROBOROS

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     Evangeline, true to her words to Jessamine, spent the rest of the day resting. She knew the night would be long, as the patrol she was now assigned to with Jem and Will would last from dusk to dawn. As dusk neared, Evangeline called on Sophie to help her out of her dress, and then she was sliding into the breathable leather of Shadowhunter gear. It was sized to her precise measurements, the cloth clinging to her legs and arms. Gear was supposed to be tight but comfortable, not allowing for any loose fabric; loose clothes were reckless, something an enemy could grab hold of. As Evangeline sat in front of her vanity and allowed Sophie to fold her long hair into a braid down her back, Evangeline got to work etching runes onto her skin. No doubt Will and Jem were off somewhere drawing on each other, but alas, Evangeline had no parabatai to draw runes for her. That was left for her to do alone.

She drew them on her skin like she was marking them off from a list. A hearing rune on the side of her neck, a strength rune on the inside of one wrist and a speed rune on the inside of the other, a rune for night vision on the other side of her neck, and finally, an iratze to ease the cramps and lower back pain that had come upon her halfway through the day. It was just her luck that she could have her monthly the very day she was due for an all-night patrol. Sighing softly, she lowered her stele—it had been her mother's—back onto the vanity table and cast Sophie a curious look through the mirror. Sophie was finished braiding her hair, a simple French braid straight down her back, and now she was tucking in stray locks. A smile pulled at Evangeline's mouth.

"No need to make it perfect," she said gently, twisting on the cushioned mini piano bench that served as her vanity chair to beam up at Sophie brightly. "If we happen to run into trouble tonight, my hair will be the least of anyone's worries." Sophie wrinkled her nose, and then she was dropping her hands and stepping away. Evangeline twisted back around, turning her head and running a hand over the braid to pat it into place. Sophie had braided her hair tight, tying it off at the end with a thin ribbon, triple-knotted. She'd likely have to take a knife to it to undo it later, but Evangeline was satisfied with it for now. Standing from the seat, Evangeline smiled at Sophie brightly. "Well, Sophie, if all ends well, I will see you in a few hours. If all ends badly, please give me a lovely eulogy." A horrified look developed on Sophie's face, a gasp rasping up her throat.

"Evangeline!" Sophie said in a scolding tone. Evangeline giggled as she twisted around her, reaching for the extra stele Evangeline left on her nightstand. She never carried her mother's old stele out on patrols, too afraid she would lose one of the few things she had left of her mother. The Rosewell estate in Portland Place was locked up until Evangeline turned eighteen, along with her family's money and her mother's and father's things left to rot inside to collect dust. Shaking her head, she attached the stele to her belt, then spun around the room, finding her various daggers she had hidden around it. One was under a hat, another under a shawl on her window seat, and another left under her full-body mirror. She strapped them all to her body, one by one, as Sophie followed her around. "You shouldn't say such things! And you should let me clean in here. It is such a mess." Sophie bent to pick up the shawl Evangeline had casually thrown over her shoulder, letting it flutter to the ground. Evangeline stepped on it smoothly, keeping it on the floor. Sophie tugged at it a few times, then sighed through her nose and straightened, her hands going to her hips.

"I like it messy," Evangeline reminded, removing her foot from the shawl. Her boots were clean, so the shawl didn't look worse for it. "It reminds me of..." Evangeline trailed off, cocking her head to the side. She turned away from Sophie a moment later, digging around her desk until she found something else. She made an ah-ha! sound and twisted around with a wide smile, another dagger in her hand, this one all silver. "I knew I had a fourth one in here somewhere!" She twirled it around her fingers, turning it briefly into nothing but a silver blur, and then it was sinking into the holster around her right thigh, the left one already holding another dagger made of iron. She patted at all her holsters once she was done, making sure her daggers and stele were safely in place, and then she was blowing a kiss Sophie's way as she skipped toward the door.

Escaping out of it with only an impatient sigh from Sophie in her wake, she made her way to the weapons room in record time, popping her head through the door with a grin. The sight of Jem pulling at Will's collar to mark him was familiar as breathing. Will was rambling about something, a book he had finished the previous night while at Jem's bedside, and Jem was nodding along, his brow furrowed as he drew. Will was wriggling about, growing impatient, and Evangeline watched in amusement when Jem sighed and planted a hand on his shoulder, keeping him still. Evangeline laughed and skipped forward, going to hold Will still for him.

"Thank you, Evie," Jem said immediately, shooting her a warm smile. Evangeline pressed her chin on Will's shoulder and smiled back, pressing herself against Will's back, barely thinking about the contact. She hardly noticed the way Will went suddenly still.

"Of course, my darling," Evangeline said, laughing again. "Any chance to hinder Will's antics is a delight for me." Will leaned back into her abruptly, dropping all his body weight onto her. Evangeline shrieked and stumbled away, swatting at his arm as she did. His laughter rang out then, loud and bright. Jem threw his hands up in the air in exasperation, groaning as he did and turning away, giving up on marking Will entirely. "I fear you might just drive Jem insane one day, William."

"He did that a long time ago," Jem grumbled, picking up his cane, which had a blade installed inside. One press of a button and it flew out of the bottom end. A perfect weapon hiding in plain sight. Jessamine had something similar, a parasol with sharp blades along the edges, designed by Henry. He had asked Evangeline, once, if she would like something similar. A parasol like Jessamine's, or perhaps boots that released blades for one hell of a nasty kick. Evangeline had politely declined. She rather liked carrying around her axe for Downworlders and mundanes with the Sight to see. It made her feel dangerous, invincible. When she had told Henry that, Henry had fastened her a holster for her back, so she wouldn't have to carry it on her hip. She'd kissed him on the cheek for it.

"Flora, your axe is on the table," Will murmured as he passed her, off to pull a sword the size of his arm off the wall. He didn't have a set weapon, usually choosing whatever he was in the mood for, and Evangeline watched him slide it into the scabbard strapped to his back before she shook her head and turned toward the table. She didn't know how he knew what she'd been thinking of. Perhaps it had been the look on her face. He often said she looked mad with 'demonic glee' whenever she got to thinking of her axe. But who could blame her? It was a beautiful weapon, and had been her father's. Charlotte had managed to get it from the Clave once Evangeline started showing interest in axes, and had surprised her with it her first Christmas in the Institute. She had been in love with it ever since.

She walked over to the table, and sure enough, her axe was there, freshly sharpened and shining from a fresh clean. Thomas Tanner often came in there to clean the weapons, finding them fascinating and happy to do the work. Evangeline had tried offering him how to use an axe once, when she had caught him swinging her weapon about, the cloth he'd been using to clean it forgotten on the floor. He hadn't taken her up on the offer, stammering out an apology instead. Evangeline couldn't imagine refusing such an offer herself, especially as she picked up her weapon and twirled it around her hand. The handle was made of silver, and angelic runes were carved into every inch of it. The blade was made with adamas, making it deadly to demons. She studied the blade for a moment longer, bringing it closer to the witchlight on the wall. When she was satisfied it was sharp enough, she hummed and twirled it behind her back, already wearing the back holster for it. It fell into place with a small clicking sound, the blade covered with protective leather, and the weight of it was a comfort on her back.

"Are we ready, my darlings?" she asked, turning away, only to see Will trying to draw a rune on Jem and being unsuccessful. Jem looked even more exasperated than before as he tried and failed to put daggers into the holster around his waist. Each time he glanced down, Will tilted his head back up, being as slow and precise as possible as he drew a strength rune on Jem's neck. Evangeline rolled her eyes, already moving toward him. "Honestly, you were both supposed to be runed and ready before I arrived. Jem, let Will Mark you, and Will, let Jem Mark you into return. Quickly." As she spoke, she took the daggers from Jem's hands and put them into the holsters around his waist herself. Like before, she didn't even notice when Jem went still.

"You are very bossy today," Will said, though he quickened his hand, finishing Marking Jem quickly. He even stood still when Jem went to finish Marking him in return. Evangeline, satisfied, dropped her stern look and grinned at them both.

"I have to be," she sighed dramatically. "I have to keep you two safe, don't I?"

"Just you wait, Flora," Will said as he and Jem followed after her. "One day, it will be me keeping you safe for a change." Evangeline made herself sound full of sorrow when she responded.

"And what a tragic day that will be," Evangeline sighed, "for it will be the day I will be forced to retire in shame."

Jem's laughter was so loud it echoed against the stone walls.

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They were patrolling in Limehouse, a district by the port, full of ships and gambling dens, drug dens and brothels. Evangeline patrolled there often, since demon activity—and Downworlder activity, though mostly vampires—was so high. There were plenty mundanes who the world would never miss, who the world wouldn't even deem worthy enough to search for. The place often made her sad, since there were so many people she wished she could help but couldn't. She made up for that by being a vigilant hunter. It was the only time in her life where she didn't let herself get distracted, the only time when she focused on nothing else but the weapons in her hands and the tense air around her. The Clave and their gossiping ways could say whatever they wanted about her virtue, but they would never be able to say Evangeline Rosewell was a bad Shadowhunter.

Which was why she was the first to notice they were being followed. She tilted her head, but didn't slow her pace. Her hand slid to the handle of one of her daggers—reaching for her axe would be far too obvious—as Will sang some sea shanty he had heard in a bar a week or so ago. Jem was keeping an eye on the roofs above them, and Will was keeping an eye to the front, despite acting like he wasn't paying a lick of attention. It was Evangeline, who was perhaps the best Shadowhunter-in-training at the London Institute despite Will's insistence that it was him, that kept up the rear. It was why she had been given the task of keeping the two boys safe. The amount of times she had saved their hides from attacks from behind when they were too busy bantering to notice was almost criminal. Jem and Will were not incompetent by any means, but Evangeline's presence often made them relax without even realizing they were relaxed.

"Will," Evangeline said sweetly. "Sing louder, would you? I quite like the shanty." Will paused, tilted his head, then sang the next verse much louder than before. No good Shadowhunter would ever ask someone to be louder, not unless they had a reason, and Will and Jem picked up on that instantly. As Will did as he was told, Evangeline glanced over at Jem at her side, and saw his hand tighten around his cane. He didn't slow his pace, but his eyes did flicker over to meet hers. An excited smile curled at his lips. He had missed this, she realized. He had missed hunting.

"How many?" Jem whispered, so low that Will's obnoxious singing drowned out his words, just like Evangeline wanted them to. Will was not a talented singer, but he was a very loud one.

"One," Evangeline whispered, sliding the dagger out of her holster, acting casually as she started playing with it, twirling it around her fingers. "But there could be more. And it's getting closer. Can you feel it?" Jem tilted his head, and then his jaw tightened. The air had shifted when they had turned into the long alley leading closer to the docks, only slightly, but enough to make the air feel humid and heavy. It hadn't been humid earlier, but Will and Jem hadn't noticed, neither of them as sensitive to the weather as Evangeline was. "There could be one ahead, waiting for us. Will?" Will only dropped a single nod, not even pausing in his singing, and then he was speeding ahead, falling into a casual skip. Jem and Evangeline both stopped walking immediately, more in exasperation than anything else.

They only had time to share mutual fond smiles before they were both ducking. The demon had seen their stopping as a sign to attack, and it didn't hesitate to do so, flying from the shadows of the alley with a scream that they both winced it. It sounded awful, like metal on metal. Jem pressed the button on his cane, the blade springing free, and Evangeline tossed her dagger to her left hand, reaching back to remove her axe with her right. They were on their feet as the demon was turning around, Jem going low and Evangeline going high. She threw the dagger in her left hand, and it sank into one of the demon's eyes. The hit allowed Jem to slash out the other one, leaving it blind.

Evangeline didn't much care what type of demon it was. She simply moved as she was trained to, diving to the side to avoid the demon's claws when it swung blindly in front of it, trying to hit them. Jem took its feet out from under it next, and that's when Evangeline went for the killing blow. Twisting her axe, she ducked under the swinging arm again and brought it up from the bottom, having no time to raise it above her head and bring it down. It hit where she wanted it to regardless, splitting the demon's head from beneath its mouth, cutting its face clean in half. It didn't even have time to scream. It just swayed for a moment, as if confused, and then it exploded into burning ichor, coating Evangeline and Jem both with the stuff.

She turned her face away quickly, but not quick enough, some of it hitting the bare skin of her cheek. Jem was luckier, having stayed low as he trusted Evangeline to deal with it, staying out of the way of every swing of her axe. The demon body was gone now, nothing left of it aside from the ichor that landed on them both. Their gear protected them from most of it, designed to make most demon ichor—when they were unfortunate enough to stumble upon demons that exploded into acidic ichor rather than just ash and smoke—simply slide right off. Jem was using his sleeve to wipe his face clean, but Evangeline was more worried about her axe than her face or fingers. She twisted her weapon once more, then brought it down sharply, making most of the ichor fly off onto the cobblestone below. Whatever ichor was left, she used her sleeve to wipe off. Her axe was protected from being burned by acidic ichor, of course, but she still hated seeing it dirty regardless. Especially with something as disgusting as demon blood.

"Evangeline, really," Jem sighed, and the use of her full name made Evangeline look up in surprise. She blinked rapidly at him, opening her mouth to ask what she had done to offend him so. He didn't use her full name, not unless he was upset with her about something. She got her answer in the way he pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and stepped forward, taking her free hand to clean it of ichor. He cleaned her other one once she switched the axe to her clean hand, and then he was tilting her head up and cleaning off her cheek, the press of the handkerchief gentle. He scolded her as he cleaned, though there was no real heat in his voice, just gentle amusement. "You must take better care of yourself. Look at you. You have a burn on your cheek."

"But why should I," Evangeline teased, "when I have you to take care of me?" Jem sighed softly and pulled the stele from his belt, cupping her chin with his hand as he drew a small iratze on her cheek. Her eyes slipped shut without her permission, and then only flew open again when she felt his thumb caress the side of her jaw. Her stomach jerked, that fluttery feeling forming in her chest again. She hid it with a wide smile, her gaze casting over where the demon had perished. Her dagger was right in the middle of the spot, shining and clean, like it hadn't been used at all. Jem dropped his hand, and it was only then that Evangeline moved away from him, bending to retrieve her dagger and securing it back in her holster. "Do you think Will has gone and lost his head? I don't hear his singing."

"Even losing his head wouldn't make Will stop singing," Jem joked with a roll of his eyes, and it made Evangeline laugh, her heart pumping fast in her chest. Now that the focus of battle was slowly fading away, she was left with nothing but adrenaline and the nervous, fluttering feeling in her stomach. She studied him for a moment, the silver hair and pretty curve of his mouth, then quickly looked away when he caught her. She secured her axe to her back just for something to do. Jem was touching her elbow a moment later, his voice soft. "Come along. Best go find him before he ends up bleeding out in a ditch somewhere."

"He'd be more likely to be naked in a ditch, not bleeding out," Evangeline murmured.

"By the Angel, even worse," Jem said dramatically, making Evangeline laugh again. They reached the end of the alley then, coming out on another street, this one lined with houses more than falling-apart businesses. She could see the port in the distance, the outline of ships docked, and the cobblestone was tinted yellow from the streetlights. Evangeline raked her eyes over the street quickly, looking for any sign of Will, but all she saw were a few ladies of the night and a single police officer. All four of them looked straight through Evangeline and Jem, the glamour both of them were wearing making them see something else entirely. She wondered what they saw. Perhaps another lady of the night, with Jem as her customer. Or perhaps they were a poor couple, coming home from a late night in a factory. Neither image seemed all that enticing, so Evangeline wrinkled her nose and looked over at Jem. He was turned slightly to the right, his head bowed.

"I don't suppose your parabatai bond can point us to Will's location?" Evangeline drawled, slightly annoyed. Will wasn't supposed to go far, just to this street to make sure everything was clear. But since she had seen all the streetlights, she had come to the conclusion that any other demons would likely be in alleys, or perhaps by the port. She glanced over at the area in question, having a gut feeling the port was precisely where Will was. She wasn't worried, since Jem seemed calm as ever, so she turned away from the Thames and faced Jem again. "Should we leave him? Or do you think he would just end up in a gambling den?" Jem didn't respond. Evangeline frowned. "James Carstairs, are you ignoring me?"

"Evie," Jem whispered. "Look." Blinking, Evangeline stepped closer, then followed his gaze down to the cobblestone below. It took her a moment to really see what it was. Blood, slightly dried. She immediately crouched down, pulling her dagger out as Jem kneeled with her and brought out his witchlight. As he shined the light over the blood, Evangeline used the dagger to scrape at it. Most of it smeared on the cobblestone. It was barely dry at all, fresh.

"The demon must have killed someone before we got here," Evangeline whispered, her throat closing up. Jem merely nodded, then angled the witchlight forward, following a gut feeling Evangeline didn't have at that moment. There was more blood, then more. They got to their feet and followed the trail, followed it into they got to an entire puddle of it. It looked like the body was dragged through it, deeper into another alley. They were right below a streetlight, so the alley was well-illuminated. No demon would hide there. They were most comfortable in the dark. Jem took the lead, and Evangeline kept close, keeping watch as they went deeper. Jem froze halfway down, sucking in a sharp breath, and Evangeline circled him, preparing herself to see a horrible, mangled mundane corpse, barely recognizable.

But the corpse wasn't unrecognizable. It was completely intact, and it was small, so small that Evangeline's eyes filled with tears. The girl—a child, really—was no more than fourteen, malnourished, with fair blonde hair. The front of her dress was covered with blood, and a dagger was in the palm of her hand, like she had dragged it out of herself. Taking a deep breath, Evangeline kneeled down beside the girl and took a moment to close the girl's eyes, pale blue and vacant. She closed her own eyes after and sent a short prayer up to Raziel, asking him to guide the little girl to whatever afterlife she believed in safely, and then she was opening her eyes and reaching for the dress. Stretching it out showed clearly just how many times the poor girl had been stabbed, even with all the blood. A demon had not committed this tragedy. Demons didn't need knives.

Beside her, Jem was pulling a large piece of cloth from his jacket. He picked the knife out of her hand gently, murmuring his own prayer to Raziel as he did, though he spoke in Mandarin. Evangeline only knew it was a prayer because she recognized Raziel's name on his lips. They both stepped away from the dead girl a moment later, and it was only then that either realized blood had gotten on them both. There was so much blood in the alley that there was no way to avoid it. She wiped her hands clean on her gear. Jem was worse off, the knife soaked in it. Even when he tried to clean his hands after wiping off the knife, the gear he was wearing was soaked through with it. Unlike Evangeline, who was wearing black gear, Jem was wearing light gray. The bloodstain was obvious. It would be burned when they got home.

"Perhaps we should put the knife back," Evangeline suggested quietly, turning toward the mouth of the alley. The one the little girl had crawled inside to die in had a dead end. "I saw a police officer on the street. This was a murder, not a demon attack. We should let the mundanes handle it."

"She has a better chance getting justice with us," Jem whispered. Evangeline couldn't disagree. The little girl was poor, and she would be a headline in the newspaper, a tragedy. But one girl stabbed to death in Limestone wasn't worth the time, not unless more little girls followed. She would likely end up in an unmarked grave if she was lucky, cremated and thrown away if she wasn't. That was the reality of the mundane world, and Evangeline wasn't naïve enough to believe otherwise. Jem was right. If only they had jurisdiction. If only the Clave would allow them to investigate this further. As if sensing her thoughts, Jem angled the knife toward her and said softly, "There are symbols here. Perhaps we can do something?"

Tilting her head, Evangeline took the witchlight from Jem's coat pocket and held it up, willing it to shine brightly. The knife wasn't completely clean, but it was clean enough to see the symbol Jem spoke of. Burned into the flat side of the thin blade were two serpents, swallowing the other's tale to make a perfect circle. The fact the handle of the knife was made out of polished bone certainly made it suspicious. The symbol and the bone handle were more than enough to approve an investigation. It was ritualistic in nature. Even if it turned out to be nothing, just a regular mundane who stumbled upon an odd-looking knife, the Clave would want it cleared up. There was nothing they hated more than ritualistic killings from mundanes. Mundane cults were a headache.

"Ouroboros," Evangeline murmured. Jem opened his mouth, but snapped it shut when they both heard Will calling for them, calling them both disloyal for leaving him, even if he had left them first. Evangeline rolled her eyes and waved her hand at Jem, telling him to bring Will to her with just a look. She kept the knife to herself, studying the blade some more. Twisting it over, she saw the ouroboros was repeated on the other side. There was rust at the hilt of the handle, caused by blood much older than the murder scene they had stumbled upon. The knife was used to kill more than one person. Many people, most likely. It made her feel sick. Her eyes went back to the symbol, her brow furrowing in thought. She had seen ouroboros plenty from her studies and training, but there was something nagging at her. It looked familiar, but not from the books she'd read over her entire life. It was familiar from something else.

"...the peculiar thing," Jem was saying. Evangeline hadn't realized Will and Jem were beside her, too absorbed with trying to remember where she had seen the double ouroboros before. She blinked and looked at them. Jem was composed much like Evangeline, having already processed their horror like they were trained to do. Will was still processing. Evangeline didn't even realize he thought a demon had murdered the girl before Jem continued. "I don't think this is the demon's work. Shax demons are parasites, brood parasites. It would have wanted to drag its victim back to its lair to lay eggs in her skin while she was still alive." Evangeline grimaced. "But this girl—she was stabbed, repeatedly. And then she dragged herself here to die of her injuries."

"You're dealing with the report when we get home," Evangeline said flatly. Jem usually did anyway, always one to remember the details. Evangeline did quite a few herself. Will never bothered. Jem glanced at her, giving her a short nod, and Evangeline released a breath in relief. She would have hated having to describe the details of this poor girl's death.

"But the Shax demons—" Will started. Evangeline knew why. Two Shax demons—because clearly Will had stumbled upon a demon himself, he hadn't been there to see what kind of demon Jem and Evangeline had killed—in the same place wasn't a coincidence. They had been looking for something or someone. Perhaps even the very knife Evangeline was holding, or even the girl herself. Perhaps she had stabbed herself just to get away from the demons. The knife had been in her hand. Or maybe the murderer had placed it there just so whoever found her would think it was self-inflicted and not look deeper.

"I'm telling you, I don't think it was the Shax," Jem said, following Evangeline's own train of thought. "I think the Shax was pursuing her, hunting her down for something, or someone."

"Shaxes have a keen sense of smell," Will said thoughtfully. "I've heard of warlocks using them to follow the tracks of the missing. And the one I stumbled upon did seem to be moving with an odd sort of purpose, sniffing around alleys by the port."

"The one we killed was hiding in an alley as well," Evangeline reminded. "Perhaps this poor girl had spread her blood in more places than this. It would explain why they were searching in different places." She frowned as she looked at the girl, her chest aching. "I can't imagine it was fast, then."

"You didn't find the weapon, did you?" Will asked, changing the subject quickly, before any of them could really think about how long the girl would've suffered. Sometimes bleeding out was fast, but the knife was so thin that it wouldn't have made that easy, even with multiple stab wounds. Shaking her head, Evangeline turned and offered Will the knife, the cloth falling open around it.

"It's a sort of misericord, or a hunting dagger. Look how thin the blade is," Jem murmured. Will nodded as he studied it, though he took a moment to clean it with his sleeve. Evangeline raised her hand and shined her witchlight onto it for him, and he murmured his thanks, brow furrowing. He paused when he saw the symbol, like he recognized it but couldn't remember the name. Jem said it before Evangeline could. "Ouroboros. A double one. Now, what do you think that means?"

"The end of the world," Will said, a small smile playing at his lips, "and the beginning."

"A little girl just died," Evangeline said immediately, her voice so cold that the smile fell from Will's lips. "Horrifically, painfully, and alone. Perhaps save your smiles for another time?" Jem shifted on his feet, uncomfortable at the sudden tension between Evangeline and Will. Out of the three of them, Evangeline and Will fought the most. Jem hated conflict and tried to play mediator, but sometimes, Evangeline's wrath was deserved. Just like now. Will seemed to know that this time, because he didn't retort back. He just pushed his hair back when the wind blew it into his eyes and kept studying the knife.

"It's an alchemical symbol, not a warlock or Downworlder one," he explained. Evangeline stopped herself from pointing out that warlocks were Downworlders and that warlocks practiced alchemical magic all the time, simply waiting for him to finish. "That usually means humans—the foolish mundane sort who think trafficking in magic is the ticket for gaining wealth and fame."

"The sort who would sacrifice their own daughter to gain that wealth and fame," Evangeline murmured, eyes going back to the girl.

"The sort who usually end up a pile of bloody rags inside some pentagram," Jem added, sounding grim.

"The sort that like to lurk about the Downworld parts of our fair city," Will said, wrapping the knife in the cloth and tucking it safely into his jacket. There was nothing to do for the little girl. They weren't allowed to move her body, not unless she had died from a demon or Downworlder attack. Evangeline bent to touch her fair hair, whispering one last prayer into the wind, then turned and motioned for Will and Jem to head out of the alley. Hopefully, someone would find the girl soon. "D'you think Charlotte will let me handle the investigation?"

"Do you think you can be trusted in Downworld?" Jem asked in return. "The gambling hells, the dens of magical vice, the brothels..." Will grinned.

"Would tomorrow be too early to start looking, do you think?" Will asked. Jem's answering sigh was tired, and Evangeline couldn't blame him. That Will was thinking hedonistically when the little girl's body was barely cold was unsurprising, but it was disappointing. Evangeline shook her head.

"Do what you like, William," Jem said dismissively. "You always do." Will's smile seemed to dim, like he heard Jem's disappointment in him and it hurt. He opened his mouth to say something, probably a joke, but Evangeline gasping made both Will and Jem turn around. She had stopped in the middle of the cobblestone road, the streetlights tinting her brown hair gold. Both of the boys were at her side in seconds, both asking her if she was hurt, if something was wrong. Evangeline shook her head once, then shook it again, harder. Blinking rapidly, she glanced between her two best friends before settling her eyes on Jem. She was still a little cross with Will for smiling down at a weapon that had killed a little girl.

"I remember where I've seen that symbol before," she whispered, jabbing her finger at Will's jacket. "I remember. I saw it on a coach, black as night, it was. I was out with Sophie, we were looking for a gift for Charlotte's birthday, and—I remember commenting that the carriage looked straight out of a gothic novel. It had gold details on the side. That symbol, and around it, were the words, 'The Pandemonium Club.' I thought it was just another silly mundane club, like the ones that think they're summoning spirits? Charlotte and I laughed about it over tea." Jem and Will shared a look, and then Will was planting a loud, obnoxious kiss to her forehead. Jem, in comparison, picked her up briefly and spun her around. She shrieked, startled, and looked at them both with bewilderment when Jem released her.

"Your lovely, lovely mind," Jem said, grinning as he took her hand and pulled her down the road. Their patrol would end soon, and they needed to get home and report everything to Charlotte immediately.

"What would we do without you remembering useless information?" Will continued, hurrying right beside them, a laugh at the tip of his tongue. The prospect of an investigation excited him. Now, all they had to do was find the carriage, follow it, and wait for something to give them clearance to strike.

"It was not useless information!" Evangeline barked at him.

"This time," Will teased, and he only laughed when Evangeline smacked him on the shoulder hard enough to sting.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: So sorry for the long wait! Combined with severe health anxiety getting worse, writer's block, and mentally preparing for a pap smear (my results were normal! I'm fine! Please go get one if you're sexually active or over 22, even if you're not active at all, it's very important), I lost motivation for this story. But I'm on meds for anxiety and on birth control to regulate my period so hopefully those two things help a lot xoxo