Chain of Gold

The story revisits the past in a flashback to the time following James’s scalding fever in 1900:

Recovered from the scalding fever and reunited with his family, James received a note from Grace, asking to meet. He realized he may have been the girl’s only friend. The two met, and James told her of his convalescence and Cordelia’s care. Grace teased James that he was in love with Cordelia, which James hotly refused. As Grace and James resumed their friendship, they began trading secrets. Grace told him about her decrepit manor and her mother’s refusal to get it cleaned. James also learned that Grace’s parents were killed by demons when she was eight, after which Tatiana adopted her. Her only keepsake from her deceased parents was a silver bracelet Tatiana kept locked. James told Grace he can shape shift, turning into shadow. While James expected Grace to be horrified, she was supportive and suggested James could cast himself into a shadow to visit her in her house and retrieve the bracelet for her. James felt grateful for Grace’s understanding.

Back in the present 1903, James is in the shadow realm, where he feels a piercing cold. On his previous falls, James saw but did not completely experience the realm; this time, he seems immersed in it, possibly because this fall was voluntary. The world is an endless expanse of empty dirt, some of which James collects to take back to the “overground” (the non-underworld). He spots a small firefly in the distance and follows it. The light grows as James nears it, and he bursts out into the real world.

Meanwhile, Lucie and Cordelia are horrified to see the rot in Chiswick Hall. The decrepit state of the house gives them fresh pity for Grace, who is forced to live there. Protecting themselves with charms, the young women approach the manor; Cordelia heads to the front door to distract the residents so Lucie can sneak in and find Jesse. Cordelia manages to talk to Grace for a few minutes before Tatiana turns up and throws Cordelia out. On her way out, Cordelia hears an odd furious hissing sound that, when she follows it, leads her to a still-running greenhouse behind some ruins. Inside, Cordelia finds nightshade growing—a plant used in dark magic—as well as other mysterious plants. Suddenly, a demon’s face appears before her in the dark, and its tentacle wraps around her leg, causing intense pain. She falls, her sword Cortana buried under her side. A hand pulls her up; Cordelia is shocked to see James.

Retrieving her sword, Cordelia fights off the demon—which is unlike any she and James have ever seen; it is attached to the wall like a plant but has three wolflike heads and long tentacles. It is a modified Cerberus demon. James and Cordelia kill the demon, and James tends to Cordelia’s wounds. He tells her that, in the underworld, he was drawn to the glow of what he thinks was Cortana and that he ended up in the greenhouse.

At the time that James and Cordelia are fighting the demon, Lucie sneaks into the mansion. She meets Jesse, who tells her it is dangerous to come here. According to Jesse, his mother, Tatiana, hates not just the Lightwoods (her birth family) but also the Herondales and the Clave itself for supposedly causing the death of Rupert Blackthorn (his father and Tatiana’s husband). Additionally, Tatiana’s father, Benedict, was “obsessed with demons” (172) and crossbred them for dark experiments. Jesse tells Lucie his biggest secret on the condition of her utmost secrecy: After his death, his mother refused to burn his body or hand it to the Clave, and she keeps him half-alive by necromantic (dark) magic. Jesse can communicate with his mother and Grace, but if his body were to be destroyed, he’d truly die. On the night of the ball, Jesse could sense a “sinister presence” about which he warned Lucie when he told her that death was around them; he thinks the same presence returned at Regent Park the morning of the picnic. Just then, Lucie’s attention is caught by a light in the distance—the glow from Cordelia’s torch as she falls in the greenhouse.

Lucie finds James and Cordelia on the grounds. James stays back, possibly to meet Grace. Lucie and Cordelia head back to the Institute, where their irate parents wait for them. On the grounds of Chiswick Manor, seedpods—which the Cerberus demon dropped in its last moments—begin to germinate. The newborn demons swarm the ground of the greenhouse.

A flashback recounts what happened when James kept his promise to Grace to visit Blackthorn Manor in a shadow state:

Willing himself into a shadow, James slipped through the walls of Grace’s house. He knew this was dangerous because, by shapeshifting like this, he was “courting” the realm of shadows, a world he could always sense because of his warlock blood. James slipped into Tatiana’s study and retrieved Grace’s bracelet. However, on his way back to Herondale Manor, he was unable to return to a solid state. He thought of Cordelia to calm himself and returned to his real self, promising to never repeat his misadventure.

The next night, he handed over the bracelet to Grace. The words “Loyalty Binds Me” (187) were inscribed on it. Grace thanked him for the bracelet but confessed she couldn’t wear it as Tatiana would spot it immediately. She asked James to wear it for her, and he agreed. As Grace closed the bracelet on James’s wrist, he felt a surge of love for her.

Since then, he has never taken off Grace’s bracelet. This suggests the bracelet may carry some sort of an enchantment.

As the narrative shifts back to the present, James is called to a disciplinary meeting of the Enclave, the Clave’s branch in London. A tracking rune traced him to Chiswick Manor, and Tatiana Blackthorn now accuses him of trespassing. According to Tatiana, James vandalized her property after she refused to let him see Grace. The meeting is headed by Charles Fairchild, standing in for the Consul, who is currently in Idris to deal with the trial for Cordelia’s father, Elias. James suggests the Clave focus instead on the fact that he killed a Cerberus demon that Tatiana housed in her property, but Charles says it was Tatiana’s father who had installed a demon in Chiswick Manor to protect the family. Charles forbids James from meeting Tatiana or Grace, and James, who suspects Charles is biased from his own romantic interest in Grace, angrily leaves to meet Matthew.

At the Fairchild house is the scientist Henry, James’s godfather and Charles and Matthew’s father. James gives him the dirt from the shadow realm to investigate, but he does not tell Henry how he came by the sample. Later with Matthew, Christopher, and Thomas, James shares about the previous night (though he omits the detail about being drawn to Cordelia involuntarily, which suggests unresolved feelings for her). James confesses to Christopher and Thomas that he loves Grace. He receives a letter from her, in which she asks for his help. James leaves to meet Grace at a midpoint between Matthew’s house and Chiswick Manor.

Cordelia is delighted to receive an invitation for tea at Anna Lightwood’s flat. She is surprised when Alastair backs Cordelia’s visit before a reluctant Sona, and he drops her off before Anna’s building. On the steps, she meets Evangeline, a young woman Anna has jilted. Inside, Anna tells Cordelia she has long been trying to break up with Evangeline, especially given Evangeline’s upcoming nuptials with a baron. Cordelia is impressed by Anna’s boldness to live so unconventionally, and in turn, Anna likes Cordelia’s frank demeanor and innate heroism. Anna tells Cordelia she is unhappy with the Clave’s passivity in dealing with the Regent Park incident. She wishes to explore the incident on her own and asks Cordelia to come along.

While Anna goes to change attire for their outing, Matthew arrives. Cordelia learns that Matthew will join her and Anna on their trip. The three take a carriage to Hell Ruelle, where a salon is being held by Downworlders; they hope to learn more about the demon attack since Downworlders often have secret information. Anna tells Cordelia that those injured at the park—including her cousin Barbara—have been placed in an enchanted sleep by the healers so their body can rest and reject the demon poison. The carriage heads to Soho, a bohemian part of London. Cordelia is surprised to see that Downworlders are creative; she thought that like Shadowhunters, they were incapable of making poetry or music. Matthew tells her that this is untrue for both Downworlders and Shadowhunters. Shadowhunters are merely conditioned to believe they cannot create. After all, Cordelia’s closest friend, Lucie—a Shadowhunter—loves to write stories.

The scene shifts to Lucie in her room, where she writes a romance featuring a heroine called Cordelia. Lucie is startled at Jesse’s sudden appearance. Jesse tells her that James may be in danger, as he and Grace are soon to meet: Jesse saw the offspring of the slain Cerberus demon follow Grace out of the house. Since the demons carry a genetic memory of loyalty to their host family of the Blackthorns, they would instinctively protect Grace and harm James, as James is an outsider. Jesse has no idea where Grace and James are meeting, so he hopes Lucie can find out and go there with back-up. A determined Lucie heads out to track her brother.