Clockwork Angel

The Dark Sisters have held Tessa captive for six weeks. The women claim they are holding Nate captive and that he will be killed if Tessa does not cooperate with their demands. During this time, Tessa has learned from the Dark Sisters that she can shape-shift. Each day, the sisters force Tessa to hold objects belonging to dead people and change into their form. While changed, Tessa can see the person’s final moments and understand a little of their personality and thoughts. Tessa’s only comforts over the past six weeks have been a few novels that the sisters bought for her and her one family heirloom: a clockwork angel pendant given to Tessa by her late mother. 

On this day, the sisters give Tessa a dilapidated pink bow and demand that she Change into the girl it belonged to. Tessa becomes the owner of the bow, young Emma Bayliss, the girl Will and Jem found in the alley six weeks prior. Pleased with Tessa’s progress, the sisters tell her it is time for her to be presented to The Magister, the sisters’ master and Tessa’s soon-to-be husband. Furious and frightened, Tessa tries to run away. She is recaptured by the coachman, who has “teeth [that] gleamed like metal,” and returned to the sisters’ house (29).

The Dark sisters tie up Tessa in her room, reminding her that her brother’s life is on the line if she does not cooperate. Tessa asks why The Magister wants to marry her, and the sisters tell her, “Because of your talent [...] because of what you are and what you can do” (31). Later that night, Tessa attempts to Change without an object. She successfully becomes Emma Bayliss, whose smaller limbs can wiggle out of the restraints. Before Tessa can leave her room, someone walks in. Tessa assumes it is one of the Dark Sisters, so she throws a porcelain jug at the intruder, who turns out to be William Herondale. 

Will has been investigating the ouroboros dagger for the past six weeks, leading him to the Dark Sisters. At first, Tessa thinks he might be The Magister, but Will does not recognize the name or her brother’s name. Will and Tessa try to escape but end up in a room full of dead human bodies and bloody machinery. Mrs. Dark and Mrs. Black corner them. Then, another Shadowhunter named Henry bursts through one of the walls, knocking the sisters off balance. Henry and Will strike down Mrs. Black and fight back against Mrs. Dark with their flaming light swords. Tessa passes out before the end of the fight.

Tessa wakes from a nightmare in an unfamiliar bed to see a pale, eyeless person with black stitching over their mouth and a young woman with the same markings as Will. The young woman, Charlotte Branwell, calms Tessa down and tells her she is the head of the London Institute, the organization of Shadowhunters, and that she works with Will Herondale. Charlotte explains to Tessa that there is a secret world of supernatural groups living alongside the “mundanes”—regular humans—and that Tessa is likely a warlock—a being descended from a human and a demon. The Shadowhunters, descended from the Angel Raziel, enforce the Accords, a peace agreement between the various supernatural groups including warlocks, Shadowhunters, vampires, and werewolves. As the leader of the London Shadowhunters, Charlotte offers Tessa safety while they continue the investigation into the Dark sisters, The Magister, and Nate’s disappearance. 

Charlotte introduces Tessa to Sophie, a human working for the Shadowhunters, and Sophie helps Tessa change clothes and prepare for dinner. At dinner, Tessa meets Jessamine, a self-absorbed teenage Nephilim who does not seem to care about Shadowhunter affairs. Henry, Charlotte’s husband and one of Tessa’s rescuers, arrives late to dinner from his laboratory where he has been tinkering with his inventions. Charlotte and Will discuss the details of the investigation, and Will suggests they spend more time focused on a Downworlder club called The Pandemonium. The conversation turns to Tessa and her power, and Tessa shows the Shadowhunters her changing ability by turning into Jessamine.

The Shadowhunters ask Tessa for more information about her time with the Dark Sisters. After dinner, Tessa leaves the dining room to return to her room alone. She gets lost, and Will finds her, offering to give her a tour. On the tour, Tessa meets the cook, Agatha, and another human servant, Thomas, who had been part of the rescue team. As Will, Thomas, and Tessa walk through the weapons room, Tessa notices a familiar symbol on a golden box. The box is a Pyxis, a container for holding demonic energy, and the symbol is an ouroboros, though not a double ouroboros like the sisters’ daggers. Will warns her not to touch the Pyxis, then leads her to the Great Library where he and Tessa discuss their favorite books. Will lets Tessa borrow The Shadowhunter’s Codex, an encyclopedia of the supernatural world, so that Tessa can learn more about it. 

Tessa asks Will about his family, and Will tells her that Jessamine and Jem are orphans like her. Tessa asks Will to call her by her first name, introducing a new level of intimacy between them. Will explains how tutors and Charlotte taught Jessamine, Jem, and him how to fight. Tessa is astonished that Charlotte, a woman, would fight. Will challenges Tessa’s beliefs that women should not fight, referencing Boadicea, the ancient British queen who “took poison rather than let herself be captured by the Romans” (93). The two share another intimate moment, but then Will abruptly tells Tessa they ought to get her back to her room. On their way, they see Sophie, who seems frustrated by Will. Tessa probes Will about Sophie: “I’d have to say that it looks a great deal like she hates you because you did something awful to her” (96). Upset, Will leaves Tessa alone in the hall.