Silver Threads ↠ Matthew Fairchild [1]

EXTRA #2

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T H E   D E V I L   T A V E R N

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London, 1900

Willa knew there would be change when she returned home from her year at the Shadowhunter Academy. After all, she had grown since she first left home, she was beginning to mature. She was becoming the Shadowhunter she was meant to be.

Not to mention, her heart's glow had dimmed ever so slightly due to the news of her brother and Matthew. But she tried not to think of that much nowadays. It was still too fresh, too painful that every time she so much as thought about it her chest felt like there was a fire within her lungs.

What Willa hadn't been expecting was for just how much change there truly was. She had left the London Institute with nothing but her brother by her side and was now returning with three new friends who she wanted to spend every waking moment with.

She just hadn't realized how hard it would be to get a moment alone with them, including her brother. It was as if she were seeing the world with a new light, her time at the Academy opening her eyes in more ways than she would've liked and diminishing the hold her childhood had on her heart.

Maybe that was why Willa lay awake that night with her eyes staring blankly up at the ceiling — because she still wasn't quite sure how to process all that was happening and who she had become. She wanted to be able to sneak into James' room like she had before they left for the Academy. She wanted to climb into bed with him and whisper secrets to each other through the night, voicing their insecurities and helping each other through the thoughts that plagued them at night.

She wanted to see her friends, to hear Matthew's laugh and his voice reading Oscar Wilde, to see Christopher's smile while he talked about one of his latest inventions, to feel Thomas' hand holding on tightly to her own while they dragged each other towards their next adventure.

She wanted so much that she knew she would never be able to get it all. How could she possibly get to spend time alone with her friends when every moment she was being bombarded with Shadowhunter duties or being smothered in the love and affection of her parents? She loved her life. She really did, but sometimes she wished she had some place to go to escape it all when she needed nothing more than a breather.

Willa let out a small sigh as she tossed and turned in bed, her thoughts screaming too loudly in her head for her to even consider trying to sleep. But just when the young girl was beginning to devise a plan to knock herself out in order to force herself to sleep, there was a soft knock on her door that made her eyes widen slightly in surprise.