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The alley opened out into a wide street, and there, rising up before the edifice of the Institute They dashed through the entrance, Jeates behind them The creatures reached theate like windup toys unable to stop the the iron with a tre The clockwork creatures were pressed up against the gates, their hands reaching through the gaps in the iron She looked around wildly Jem stood beside her He was as white as paper, one hand pressed to his side She reached for his hand, but he stepped back, out of her reach "Tessa" His voice was uneven "Get into the Institute You need to get inside"

"Are you hurt? Jem, are you injured?"

"No" His voice was ate made Tessa look up One of the clockworkat the iron chain that held it closed As she stared in fascinated horror, she saw that he was dragging at the loops ofaway fro the jointed th in those hands The rip; it was clearly a matter of minutes before the chain split and broke

Tessa seized hold of Je hot to the touch; she could feel it through his clothes "Coroan he let her pull hi, and leaning on her heavily, his breath rattling in his chest They lurched up the stairs, Jerip alround on his knees, choking coughs ripping through hiate burst open The clockwork creatures spilled through into the drive, led by the one who had torn the chain apart, his skin-stripped hands glea what Will had said, that one had to have Shadowhunter blood to open the door, Tessa reached for the bellpull that hung beside it and yanked it, hard, but heard no sound Desperate, she whirled back to Jeround "Jem! Jem, please, you have to open the door--"

He raised his head His eyes were open, but there was no color to them They were all white, like marbles She could see the moon reflected in them

"Jeave out; he slu from the corners of his mouth The cane had rolled from his hand, almost to Tessa’s feet

The creatures had reached the foot of the steps; they began to surge upward, lurching a little, the one with the skinned hands in the lead Tessa flung herself against the doors of the Institute, pounding her fists against the oak She could hear the hollow reverberations of her blows echoing on the other side, and despaired The Institute was so huge, and there was no ti away from the door, she was horrified to see that the leader of the creatures had reached Je over him, its skinned metal hands on his chest

With a cry she seized up Jem’s cane and brandished it "Get away frohtened up, and in the ht, for the first time, she saw its face clearly It was smooth, almost featureless, only indentations where the eyes and mouth should have been, and no nose It raised its skinned hands; they were stained dark with Jem’s blood Je blackly around hiled his bloody fingers at her, in a sort of grotesque parody of a wave--then turned and sprang away down the steps, alates and was lost to view

Tessa moved toward Jem, but the other automatons moved swiftly to block her way They were all as blank-faced as their leader, aset of faceless warriors, as if there had not quite been time to finish them

With a whir-click a pair ofthe cane, almost blindly It connected with the side of a clockworkup her arered to the side, but only for a moment His head whipped back around with incredible speed She swung again, the cane slaainst his shoulder this ti the cane, yanking it frorasp with such force that the skin of her hand burned She rerip on her, as the autoht it down across his knee with stunning force

It snapped in half with an awful sound Tessa whirled to run, buther back She struggled to pull free--

And the doors of the Institute burst open The light that poured fro but the outline of dark figures, ringed in light, spilling frorazing her cheek There was the grinding sound of metal on metal, and then the clockwork creature’s ar

Tessa looked up Charlotte stood above her, her face pale and set, a sharp , disc was buried in the chest of thein a circle, like a ash in his neck

Around hi as the Shadowhunters converged on the open the chest of one of the auto into the shadows Beside hi what looked like a sort of scythe, over and over, chopping another of the creatures to bits with such fury that it sent up a fountain of blue sparks Charlotte, darting down the steps, threw the second of her disks; it sheared through the head of a round, leakingtwo creatures, see toward the gates Henry darted after the his weapon, turned and raced back toward the steps "What happened?" he shouted at Tessa She stared, too dazed to answer His voice rose, tinged with furious panic "Are you hurt? Where’s Jem?"

"I’m not hurt," she whispered "But Jem, he collapsed There" She pointed to where Jem lay, crumpled in the shadows beside the door

Will’s face went blank, like a slate wiped clean of chalk Without looking at her again he raced up the stairs and dropped down by Je in a low voice When there was no reply, Will raised his head, shouting for Tho else, soh her dizziness Perhaps he was shouting at her Perhaps he thought this was all her fault? If she hadn’t grown so angry, if she hadn’t run away and made Jem follow her--

A dark shadow loomed in the lit doorway It was Thomas, tousle-haired and serious, ithout a word to kneel down by Will Together they lifted Je around each of their shoulders They hurried inside without a backward glance