Slytherin's Heir

Chapter Thirty-Nine ~ Confessions

Marcus flinched at the heavy 'smack' of Annabeth's palm on the table in front of him. The morning after the most recent DA meeting, Annabeth and Will had woken everybody up bright and early before breakfast and dragged them to the Room of Requirement.

The place now hosted an appearance unseen by the small group of wizards and sent an ominous chill down their spines. Everybody knew that the magical room morphed into whatever the user required, gathering equipment fit to the wish from Merlin knows where.

So why on Earth did it look like some kind of interrogation set up!?

There weren't even any windows, light only provided by the grimy dim lanterns swaying from the charcoal chains above their heads. Gone were the comfy cushions and chairs, instead there was a solitary desk with two wooden chairs on either side. Nothing was on the desk, and other than themselves and the simplistic furniture, the room was barren.

Upon entering he room, Annabeth had turned to Marcus with a falsely sweet voice, dripping with honey but oozing danger. Maybe it was because it was incredibly uncharacteristic for her, or the too wide forced smile or unblinking eyes just daring him to disobey, but when she told him to have a seat in one of those chairs, he sat.

Will stood sullenly by the door, arms folded over his chest and eyes downcast. Nobody could see the anger burning in his eyes, but they could all see his stiff frame and decided to keep their distance.

Isa stood closer to Zaiden, wondering what the hell had been going on since she woke up to find the two demigods missing. Zaiden had no answers, and neither did any of the Golden Trio, so they stood and watched with furrowed faces of concern.

Annabeth did not sit. In fact, she dragged the chair out of the way so she could stand directly in front of Marcus on the other side of the desk.

"Why?" Annabeth finally broke the tense silence.

The pale wizard blinked, reclining back as much as was comfortable. "Why what?"

The demigod's eyes blazed. "Why did you do it!?"

He could feel a sinking feeling beginning to churn in his belly. That bundle of nerves couldn't be described as anything other than guilt. "Do what..." he said lowly.

Annabeth could tell he knew what she meant, and it was becoming incredibly hard to keep her voice down. But now at least, he couldn't say she hadn't given him a chance to come clean first.

"Why is you help them kidnap Percy?"

Dead silence.

Dead silence was what followed her outburst.

Isa shattered it first with a small voice calling is name. He couldn't bring himself to look at her. Of course, she knew of his appointed extra curricular activities, but she didn't know his hand in this.

"Wait, Marcus— what?"

"Is that true?"

His silence gave them the answer. Only the one question remained and it glittered in Zaiden's eyes, bathing in disappointment.

"Why?"

Marcus released a heavy sigh, slumping down in his seat as if he could no longer hold himself up. His eyes shut tiredly as he contemplated the answer to that question.

Why?

His father flashed behind his eyelids. Cruel and dripping with blood. The same blood that clung to Marcus' hands. Their tie through bloodline, through death and threats and terrible broken promises and abuse. Marcus was buried far too deep in the mess they'd made and he didn't think he'd ever manage to claw his way out of it.