Clockwork Angel
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uk canada goose outlet Tessa set the book she had canada goose been reading down on the bedside table, and turned to see Miranda standing in the doorway of her small room just as she did at this time every day, delivering the same message she delivered every day. In a moment Tessa would ask her to wait in the corridor, and Miranda would leave the room. Ten minutes later she’d return and say the same thing again. If Tessa didn’t come obediently after a few of these attempts, Miranda would seize her and drag her, kicking and screaming, down the stairs to the hot, stinking room where the Dark Sisters waited. uk canada goose outlet
It had happened every day of the first week that Tessa had been in the Dark House, as she had come to call the place they kept her prisoner, until eventually Tessa had realized that the screaming and kicking didn’t do much good and simply wasted her energy. Energy that was probably better saved for other things.
canada goose coats “One moment, Miranda,” Tessa said. The maid bobbed an awkward curtsy and went out of the canada goose coats room, shutting the door behind her. canada goose coats
Canada Goose online Tessa rose to her feet, glancing around the small room that had been her prison cell for six weeks. It was small, with flowered wallpaper, and sparsely furnished a plain deal table with a white lace cloth over it where she ate her meals; the narrow brass bed where she slept; the cracked washstand and porcelain jug for her ablutions; the windowsill where she stacked her books, and the small chair where she sat each night and wrote letters to her brother letters she knew she could never send, letters she kept hidden under her mattress where the Dark Sisters would not find them. It was her way of keeping a diary and of assuring herself, somehow, that she would see Nate again someday and be able to give them to him. Canada Goose online
She crossed the room to the mirror that hung against the far wall, and smoothed down her hair. The Dark Sisters, as they in fact seemed to wish to be called, preferred her not to look messy, although they didn’t appear to mind her appearance one way or the other past that which was fortunate, because her reflection made her wince. There was the pale oval of her face dominated by hollow gray eyes a canada goose black friday sale shadowed face without color in its cheeks or hope in its expression. She wore the unflattering black schoolmarmish dress that the Sisters had given her once she’d arrived; her Canada Goose Parka trunk had never followed her, despite their promises, and this was now the only piece of clothing she owned. She looked away quickly.
She hadn’t always flinched from her reflection. Nate, with his fair good looks, was the one in the family generally agreed to have inherited her mother’s beauty, but Tessa had always been perfectly content with her own smooth brown hair and steady gray eyes. Jane Eyre had had brown hair, canada goose store and plenty of other heroines besides. canadian goose jacket And it wasn’t so bad being tall, either taller than most of the boys her own age, it was true, but Aunt Harriet had always said that as long as a tall woman carried herself well, she would forever look regal.
She didn’t look regal now, though. She looked pinched and bedraggled and altogether like a frightened scarecrow. She wondered if Nate would even recognize her if he saw her today.
canada goose coats on sale At that thought her heart seemed to shrink inside her chest. Nate. He was the one she was doing all buy canada goose jacket cheap this for, but sometimes she missed him so much it felt like she’d swallowed broken glass. Without him, she was completely alone in the world. There was no one at all for her. No one in the world who cared whether she lived or died. Sometimes the horror of that thought threatened to overwhelm her and plunge her down into a bottomless darkness from which there would be no return. If no one in the entire world cared about you, did you really exist at all? canada goose coats on sale
The click of the lock cut her thoughts off abruptly. The door opened; Miranda stood on the threshold.
“It is time to come with me now,” she said. “Mrs. Black and Mrs. Dark are waiting.”
Canada Goose sale Tessa looked at her in distaste. She couldn’t guess how old Miranda was. Nineteen? Twenty five? There was something ageless about her smooth round face. Her hair was the color of ditch water, pulled back harshly behind her ears. Exactly like the Dark Sisters’ coachman, she had eyes that protruded like a frog’s and made her look like she was permanently surprised. Tessa thought they must be related. Canada Goose sale
cheap Canada Goose As they went downstairs together, Miranda marching along with her graceless, clipped gait, Tessa raised her hand to Canada Goose Outlet touch the chain around her throat where the clockwork angel hung. It was habit something she did each time she was forced to see the Dark Sisters. Somehow the feel of the pendant around her neck reassured her. She kept hold of it as they passed landing after landing. There were several levels of corridors to the Dark House, though Tessa had seen nothing of it but the Dark Sisters’ chambers, the halls and stairs, and her own room. Finally they canada goose outlet reached the shadowed cellar. It was dank down here, the walls clammy with unpleasant moisture, though apparently the Sisters didn’t canada goose coats on sale mind. Their office was ahead, through a set of wide double doors. A narrow corridor led away in the other direction, vanishing into darkness; Tessa had no idea what lay down that hallway, but something about the thickness of the shadows made her glad she had never found out. cheap Canada Goose
Canada Goose Coats On Sale The doors to the Sisters’ office were open. Miranda didn’t hesitate, but clomped inside, Tessa following after her with great reluctance. She hated this room more than any other place on earth. Canada Goose Coats On Sale
To begin with, it was always hot and wet inside, like a swamp, even when the skies outside were gray and rainy. The walls seemed to seep moisture, and the upholstery on the seats and sofas was always blooming with mold. It smelled strange as well, like the banks of the Hudson on a hot day: water and garbage and silt.
canada goose uk outlet The Sisters were already there, as they always were, seated behind their enormous raised desk. cheap Canada Goose They were their usual colorful selves, Mrs. Black in a dress of vibrant salmon pink and Mrs. Dark in a gown of peacock blue. Above the brilliantly colored satins, Canada Goose Jackets their faces were like deflated gray balloons. They both wore gloves despite how hot the room was. canada goose uk outlet
canada goose black friday sale “Leave us now, Miranda,” said Mrs. Canada Goose online Black, who was spinning the heavy brass globe they kept on the desk with one plump, white gloved finger. Tessa had many times tried to get a better look at the globe something about the way the continents were laid out had never looked quite right to her, especially the space in the center of Europe but the sisters always kept her away from it. “And shut the door behind you.” canada goose black friday sale
canada goose store Expressionless, Miranda did as asked. Tessa tried not to wince as the door shut behind her, closing off what little breeze there was in this airless place. canada goose store
Canada Goose Parka Mrs. Dark tilted her head to the side. “Come here, Theresa.” Of the two women, she was the more kind more likely to wheedle and persuade than her sister, who liked to convince with slaps and hissed threats. “And take this.” Canada Goose Parka
buy canada goose jacket cheap She held something out: a dilapidated bit of pink fabric tied in a bow, the sort that might be used as a girl’s hair ribbon. buy canada goose jacket cheap
canada goose uk black friday She was used to being handed things by the Dark Sisters now. Things that had once belonged to people: tie pins and watches, mourning jewelry, and children’s toys. Once the laces of a boot; once a single earring, stained with blood. canada goose uk black friday
“Take this,” said Mrs. Dark again, a hint of impatience in her voice. “And Change.”
canada goose factory sale Tessa took the bow. It lay in her hand, as light as a moth’s wing, and the Dark Sisters stared impassively at her. She remembered books she had read, novels in which characters were on trial, standing quaking in the dock at the Old Bailey and praying for a verdict of not guilty. She often felt she was on trial herself in this room, without knowing of what crime she stood accused. canada goose factory sale
canada goose She turned the bow over in her hand, remembering the first time the Dark Sisters had handed an object to her a woman’s glove, with pearl buttons at the wrist. They had shouted at her to Change, had slapped her and shaken her as she’d told them over and over again with rising hysteria that she had no idea what they were talking about, no idea what they were asking her to do. canada goose
She hadn’t cried, even though she’d wanted to. Tessa hated to cry, especially in front of people she didn’t trust. And of the only two people in the world she trusted, one was dead and the other imprisoned. They had told her that, the Dark Sisters, had told her that https://www.canadagoosejacketonlines.ca they had Nate, and if she didn’t do what they said, he would die. They’d showed her his ring, the one that had been her father’s stained with blood now to prove it. They hadn’t let her hold it or touch it, had snatched it back as she’d reached for it, but she’d recognized it. It was Nate’s.
canada goose clearance sale After that she had done everything they’d asked. Had drunk the potions they’d given her, done the hours of agonizing exercises, forced herself to think the way they wanted her to. They’d told her to imagine herself as clay, being shaped and molded on the potter’s wheel, her form amorphous and changeable. They’d told her to canada goose clearance reach down into the objects they’d given her, to imagine them as living things, and to draw out the spirit that animated them. canada goose clearance sale
Canada Goose Online It had taken weeks, and the first time she had Changed, it had been so blindingly painful that she’d vomited and passed out. When she’d woken, she’d been lying on one of the moldering chaises in the Dark Sisters’ rooms, a damp towel being sponged buy canada goose jacket across her face. Mrs. Black had been leaning down over her, her breath as bitter as vinegar, her eyes alight. “You did well today, Theresa,” she had said. “Very well.” Canada Goose Online
Canada Goose Jackets That evening when Tessa had gone up to her room, there had been gifts for her, two new books on her bedside table. Somehow the Dark Sisters had realized that reading Canada Goose sale and novels were Tessa’s passion. There was a copy of Great Expectations and of all things Little Women. Tessa had hugged the books to herself and, alone and unwatched in her room, had let herself cry. Canada Goose Jackets
canadian goose jacket It had grown easier since then, the Changing. Tessa still didn’t understand what happened inside her to make it possible, but she had memorized the series of steps the Dark Sisters had taught her, the way a blind person might memorize the number of paces it takes to walk from their bed to the door of canada goose clearance sale their room. She didn’t know what was around her in the strange dark place they asked her to journey to, but she knew the pathway through it canada goose deals canadian goose jacket.