Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Septimus Heap. This is getting really old.

Author's Note: Thanks, as always, to my reviewers. And to Marcy, who's craziness inspires me every day. Okay, the characters aren't exactly like they are in the series yet because they are still young and not quite comfortable with themselves yet. A few of them are getting ready to make some rather stupid decisions that they probably wouldn't have made in canon, but hey, what's fanfiction for?

Chapter Four

Silas could hear the footsteps coming closer. He didn't have much time. Quickly, he grabbed Tiffany's corpse and stuffed it into his closet. It was all he could think of to do. He would have to get rid of it later. Silas had just managed to get poor Tiffany in his closet when there was a knock on his door. "Yes?" he answered, praying that he sounded calm. His heart was pounding in his chest.

"Silas Heap? Are you in there?" the voice was unfamiliar to Silas and it made him nervous. Against his better judgment, Silas cracked open the door. To his amazement, there was no one there.

"Hello?" he called, "Hello, who is there?"

An angry man's voice filled the air in response to Silas's question, but he still couldn't see a person. "Do you honestly think people believe your lies, you slimy worthless son of a bitch? You're a spineless, worthless piece of talentless trash! Someday, people are going to see you for what you really are, a lazy scumbag. Then, you'll be sorry. Don't think I don't know what you're doing, I watch you all the time Silas. Just know that you're going to pay for your actions. You can't get away with murder forever." Then the voice laughed and said, "Figuratively and literally."

Silas felt as though he had been punched in the stomach. How did this person know anything at all? Was he a ghost? A demon? An all powerful being? In any case, he had the power to destroy Sials future if he wanted to. Silas would have to tread carefully. "Who are you?" he asked, attempting to hide his fear, but not very successfully.

Unfortunately, there was no response to Silas's question. The man's voice was gone.

Meanwhile, Milo Banda was standing outside the Palace. He couldn't believe he had actually had the nerve to come here. Of course, he wasn't going to enter the Palace, but he loved being close to where Queen Cerys was. He knew that she had to be devastated about her mother, who wouldn't be? But still, he wanted a chance to meet her, to get to know her. He was beginning to recognize that his chances of getting to see the Queen anytime soon were slim, let alone getting to talk with her, but he couldn't help but dream. Marcia was always telling him how stupid he was being and that he should get his head out of the clouds, but Milo just couldn't make himself forget the beautiful Queen. Milo didn't see how Marcia could be so serious all of the time. He wondered if she liked anyone romantically sometimes. In all the years he had known her, she had always acted as though she detested romance and found it a waste of time. Milo didn't believe it though. Marcia was too secretive; she needed to show more of her feelings.

Milo was quite right. Marcia had plenty of feelings. At the moment he was prowling near the Palace grounds, Marcia was immersed in her thoughts of him. She was disgusted with herself for thinking of Milo. He obviously didn't feel for her. She was just good old Marcia, always there, a faithful friend, nothing more. Marcia tried once more to push Milo from her mind and focus on her studies. She felt so pathetic pining over Milo, so weak. Maybe her mother had been right all along, maybe she was weak and pitiful. Marcia cringed at the thought of her mother. She doubted her mother even missed her now that she was at boarding school. In fact, she was most likely relieved. No one really wanted Marcia around and she knew it. Milo probably only tolerated Marcia because he felt sorry for her.

Suddenly, Marcia decided she had had enough of these horrid thoughts. She knew she was too distracted to read another word from any of her school books. Tonight, she was going to have fun. Marcia only knew one person who honestly seemed to enjoy her presence, even if she didn't enjoy his at all. Perhaps Milo would even be jealous if she spent time with another man, maybe that was the way to win him over. It was worth a try. So without thinking about what she was doing, Marcia made her way to the Wizard Tower.

Silas was still shaken by the mysterious voice. He was in his bedroom, waiting for night to fall so that he could sneak out to the Forest and bury Tiffany's body somewhere no one would find it. At the sound of a knock at his door, he nearly jumped out of his skin. He afraid to open it this time. He didn't want to be threatened again. The person on the other side of the door rudely banged on two more times, and finally Silas opened it. Once he had, he was both relieved and delighted by the sight before him.

It was Marcia Overstrand. She was standing in the doorway wearing a party dress that Silas would have called risqué. He was shocked to see Marcia wearing it, but needless to say, he was pleased as well.

For a second, there was a silence. Then, Marcia decided to take charge. She had already planned out what she was going to say to Silas, although it had taken her a while to work it out. She was still feeling rather silly about looking to Silas, an obnoxious boy, for love and attention, but she didn't really have a choice. She couldn't think of anyone else and frankly, Marcia was tired of being ignored. If nothing else, being around the famous Silas Heap would get her noticed in some way or another. Then, after people began to realize who she was, maybe, they would recognize her magykal ability. Maybe, she'd get to be ExtraOrdinary Wizard after all. She knew that the chances of that were slim, but still, Marcia strongly believed that nothing was impossible.

"Silas," she began, "I feel like I owe you an apology." As soon as she said these words, Marcia felt sick at her stomach. They were a complete lie and she was positive that anyone would be able to hear how false her words were. But to her relief, Silas appeared to actually be taking her seriously. For once, Marcia was glad Silas was a blockhead. At least he would be easy to manipulate. She decided to continue, thrilled that Silas was buying her fake words. "I treated you terribly and you didn't deserve that. You were always..polite to me." Marcia gritted her teeth at this word. She remembered the way Silas had laughed when he had spilt punch on her the night they met. That hardly qualified him as polite. She looked into Silas's eyes. He was still believing her lies! Marcia nearly chuckled at Silas's ignorance. It was a pretty amusing. "I've been having a pretty rough time lately and I took my stress out on you. I'm sorry."

Marcia paused to look at Silas. He actually looked interested in her problems. Of course, he was obviously more interested in her ample cleavage peeking out from her dress, but at least he was somewhat interested in hearing about her. So even though Marcia barely knew Silas and didn't even like him much, she found herself spilling many of her childhood stories. About how she had never lived up to her mother's standards or how she always been the kid everyone else picked on, the loser. Marcia had never told anyone as much as she told Silas that evening. These were all the things she had wished she could tell Milo, but she was always scared to tell him because she was sure he would think she was pathetic. At least if Silas ended up thinking she was insecure and weak, it wouldn't hurt too much.

Silas was becoming a more and more enamored with Marcia, but not so much with her stories. In fact, he was more or less nodding his head and pretending to listen to her. All he was really thinking about was what she would look like without any clothes on at all. He knew he wanted to go to bed with her desperately, but he couldn't figure out how he was going to pull that off. Marcia didn't seem like the type for one night stands. Then, Silas thought of a plan.

"Marcia," he said, attempting to make himself sound kind and gentle. "Do you want to go to dinner with me? I want to talk with you some more if you don't mind."

Marcia was excited. Was Silas Heap really being a gentleman? She hadn't thought it was possible. "I'd love to." she replied. She was still extremely happy to have someone to talk to. She had never really realized how lonely she had been.

At the same time Marcia and Silas were looking a popular restaurants, Milo Banda was writing a love letter to Queen Cerys. He didn't think he would ever have the courage to give it to her, but writing it helped him to express his feelings. In some ways, he felt as if he was speaking to her, even though she wouldn't ever get the chance to read the note. Milo was beginning to feel sorry for himself. Here he was, in love with a girl who didn't even know he existed.

Sarah Willow was in a similar boat. She had come to adore Silas Heap from afar in a way none of his other women admirers had. She knew it was foolish to think she had even the slightest chance with Silas, but it was all right to dream, Sarah was sure of that. And dream she did. In her dreams, she saw Silas waiting for her, his arms outstretched, ready to hold her and never let her go. She never told Galen about these dreams. Galen had little tolerance for men in general, and Sarah knew she wouldn't understand her interest in Silas. Not even Sally really understood it.

A few hours later, Marcia and Silas had finished eating dinner and having a few drinks. Marcia had had some kind of a cocktail and Silas had ordered it for her. When Marcia left to go to the restroom, Silas had told their server to make her drink alcoholic, even though she had requested a non alcoholic drink. This was Silas's plan. He was going to get Marcia tipsy and unaware of her surroundings, and then, he could take her back to his room and screw her. It was foolproof. So far, Silas's plan was working. He had managed to get Marcia back to his rooms and she was relaxing on his couch, muttering something unintelligible and laughing. She was obviously unaccustomed to alcohol. Silas thought Marcia was even more adorable now that she was drunk, she was suddenly silly and fun. He made a silent vow to get her drunk more often. But now was his chance to make a move. Here was a goddess sitting in his living room area and he was just standing there.

At last, Silas made his move. He approached Marcia and took her into his arms. She let him. Silas decided to go a step further. He began kissing her lips. She responded eagerly. He kissed her neck and ran his hands up and down the curves of her body. Still, she did nothing to stop him. Finally, Silas had gained all the confidence he felt he needed. He started tearing her dress off. Suddenly, Silas felt a sharp pain in a very private part of his body. His naked would be lover had just kicked him, hard. She was more tuned in to what was going on than he had thought. Great.

"You bastard!" exclaimed Marcia, "You sick, stupid bastard! You honestly thought I was going to let you have me, like some weak little slut? For a moment, I thought you were actually interested in what I had to say. I should have known better. I don't know why I ever trusted an egotistical oaf like you. I must have lost my mind. I don't feel like myself at all. I'm not stupid, Silas Heap. Somehow or another, you got them to put alcohol in my drink. I'm not an idiot, Silas. You were trying to use me tonight. You're a sleazy louse. You have the chance to be the next ExtraOrdinary Wizard and you're throwing your future away. I would never-well never mind, you don't care what I think, do you?" Marcia didn't allow Silas to respond. Quickly, she threw her clothes back on and rushed out the door in a huff. She felt horrible. The one person she had believed just might enjoy her company had only wanted to take an unfair advantage of her.

When Marcia got to the bottom of the Wizard Tower and then, she rushed into the ladies room and vomited. The alcohol was still poisoning her body. She was overcome with embarrassment and grief and no one cared. Once she was sure she was completely alone, Marcia started weeping, long unstoppable sobs. It took her quite a while to regain her composure after she finished her emotional fit, but she didn't dare leave the room until there were no signs of her tears. Marcia wasn't about to let anyone else see that she had lost her composure.

Back upstairs, Silas had collapsed onto the bed, frustrated and exhausted. He had been so close to getting Marcia but she had succeeded in fooling him again. Eventually, Silas's aching head got the best of him and he fell asleep.

In a room down the hall, Alther Mella was perplexed by a very odd smell coming from Silas's room. He decided to see what was possibly be making Silas's room smell so unpleasant. The scent resembled that of a dead animal.

When Alther came into Silas's room, he noticed that Silas was asleep. But the smell was stronger than ever before. It only took Alther a moment to realize that the smell was coming from Silas's closet. Slowly, Alther cracked the closet door open. Needless to say, he couldn't have been more flabbergasted or appalled by the sight before him. He was going to wake Silas up. They had some very serious matters to discuss.