Read The Infernal Devices 01 - Clockwork Angel for Free Online Page A

Nate intoxicated enough times to know the difference. Perhaps he was merely insane.
    “How very direct, but I suppose all you Americans are, aren’t you?” The boy looked amused. “Yes, your accent gives you away. What’s your name, then?”
    Tessa looked at him in disbelief. “What’s
my
name?”
    “Don’t you know it?”
    “You—you’ve come bursting into my room, scared me nearly to death, and now you demand to know my name? What on earth’s
your
name? And who are you, anyway?”
    “My name is Herondale,” the boy said cheerfully. “William Herondale, but everyone calls me Will. Is this really your room? Not very nice, is it?” He wandered toward the window, pausing to examine the stacks of books on her bedside table, and then the bed itself. He waved a hand at the ropes. “Do you often sleep tied to the bed?”
    Tessa felt her cheeks flame and was amazed, under the circumstances, that she still had the capacity to be embarrassed. Should she tell him the truth? Was it at all possible that he was the Magister? Though anyone who looked like that wouldn’t need to tie girls up and imprison them in order to get them to marry him.
    “Here. Hold this.” He handed her the glowing stone. Tessa took it, half-expecting it to burn her fingers, but it was cool to the touch. The moment it struck her palm, its light dimmed to a shimmering flicker. She looked toward him in dismay,but he had made his way to the window and was looking out, seemingly unconcerned. “Pity we’re on the third floor. I could manage the jump, but it would probably kill you. No, we must go through the door and take our chances in the house.”
    “Go through the— What?” Tessa, feeling mired in a semi-permanent state of confusion, shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
    “How can you not understand?” He pointed at her books. “You read novels. Obviously, I’m here to rescue you. Don’t I
look
like Sir Galahad?” He raised his arms dramatically. “‘
My strength is as the strength of ten, Because my heart is pure—
’”
    Something echoed, far away inside the house—the sound of a door slamming.
    Will said a word Sir Galahad would never have said, and sprang away from the window. He landed with a wince, and glanced ruefully down at his injured hand. “I’ll need to take care of this later. Come along …” He looked at her pointedly, a question in his eyes.
    “Miss Gray,” she said faintly. “Miss Theresa Gray.”
    “Miss Gray,” he repeated. “Come along, then, Miss Gray.” He sprang past her, moved toward the door, found the knob, turned it, yanked—
    Nothing happened.
    “It won’t work,” she said. “The door cannot be opened from the inside.”
    Will grinned ferociously. “Can’t it?” He reached for his belt, for one of the objects that hung on it. He chose what looked like a long, slender twig, picked clean of smaller branches, and made of a whitish-silver material. He placed the end of it against the door and
drew
. Thick black lines spiraledout from the tip of the flexible cylinder, making an audible hissing noise as they spread across the wooden surface like a directed spill of ink.
    “You’re
drawing
?” Tessa demanded. “I don’t really see how that can possibly—”
    There was a noise like cracking glass. The doorknob, untouched, spun—fast, then faster, and the door sprang open, a faint puff of smoke rising from the hinges.
    “Now you do,” Will said, and, pocketing the strange object, gestured for Tessa to follow him. “Let’s go.”
    Inexplicably, she hesitated, looking back toward the room that had been her prison for nearly two months. “My books—”
    “I’ll get you more books.” He urged her into the corridor ahead of him, and pulled the door shut behind them. After catching hold of her wrist, he drew her down the hallway and around a corner. Here were the stairs that she had descended so many times with Miranda. Will took them two at a time, pulling her after