Chapter 10: The Altar

"So, Septimus," Marcia said, entering the arrest again. "Have you come to a decision?"

Septimus suddenly hesitated. He had thought of Rose, even though he felt guilty about it. Ever since a few weeks ago when Rose had been promoted to work in the Pyramid Library, they had been good friends. Maybe not as much of a friend as Jenna, but they were close. And maybe Septimus could fool whatever Darke Spell, Charm or Ceremony Marcia was going to go through with.

He had also thought of Beetle and Nicko, but it seemed too unfair. Not that it wouldn't be unfair with Rose. "Or will I... have to stick to my original plan?"

"I have." Septimus said.

"Go get that person then." Marcia snapped. "And no one else than that person. Don't tell anyone what you're doing, don't tell the person what's going on and if you don't come back soon enough... well, I'm not feeling very patient today."

She snapped her fingers and the Magykal boundaries around him let go. "Now go!" she said. "And as I said, don't be long."

Marcellus knocked at Marcia's door for the sixth time, when she bumped into him. He had stood there for a while. Or, well, five minutes. He could see her jaw drop, before she pursed her lips, crossed her arms and tapped her feet impatiently.
"Marcellus?" she said. "What are you doing here? Now?"

"I'm only looking for Septimus," Marcellus replied. "He didn't turn up today."

"Oh," Marcia said. She looked shocked. "Right, I forgot to tell you. Er, I needed him today. I'm sorry, but it was really important."

"You should have told me." Marcellus replied, angrily.

"There was no time for that." Marcia snapped, "It was an emergency."

"Well, if you sometimes would have cooperated, maybe-"

"Do you claim that your... your alchemy is more important than the safety... or rather the welfare of the Castle?" Marcia cut him of.

"As you know, Marcia," Marcellus replied coldly, "I am working to destroy the... you-know-what, so that nothing like the Darke Domaine will happen ever again."

"Hmmph," Marcia snorted. "In which case, Marcellus, I am very busy. So if you would be so kind and step out of my way..."

"I still don't know where Septimus is." Marcellus folded in, and Marcia snorted. It was clear, at least to Marcellus, that Marcia only saw him as an annoying holdback, a disturbance, which annoyed Marcellus. As he had said, he thought that they should cooperate- the Alchemists and the Wizards once had cooperated and it had worked well. Or, until the incident, that he didn't like to talk or think about.

In which case, Marcia had no right to treat him like a holdback. And she should tell him where his Apprentice was. Overall, she was being unfair.

"Septimus is fetching someone... whom we need." Marcia replied.

"I very well understand that your work is important as well, Marcia," Marcellus said, "But please, after he has done that, could I have him back? There's a very important thing that-"

"No, Marcellus." Marcia said, "I will need him tonight."

"Well, then-"

"Step aside, Marcellus." Marcia snapped.

"Marcia!" Marcellus tried, but Marcia shuffed him aside. She opened the big, purple door and was about to step into her apartment, but then turned around.

"And Marcellus," she said, softly. "Furthermore... I wouldn't get in my way if I were you in the future. Things might get ugly."

"What do you mean by that?" Marcellus hissed, but Marcia had already shut the door.

Marcia hadn't expected to see Marcellus, and surprised made her in a bad temper nowadays. She didn't like the unexpected.

But there was other things in her mind- for an example, clearing up a space for the Ritual. Marcia snapped her fingers- the living room would have to do. She would have to make it SoundProof, as well. She didn't want anyone to interrupt the Ritual. There would be more important things to think of than some idiots storming into her apartment in the middle of such an important moment.

Marcia strode into her living room. She Magykally moved her furnitures out of the way, then went to her study to get the Altar she was going to use. Milo had bought it for her- she had asked him to do it, of course. Little did he know that it would be used against his own daughter.

The Altar was placed in the middle of the room. Marcia lit candles, which she put around the Altar. They were red, to symbolize the return to life, green for youth, blue for the calm, yellow once again for the new life and white for the purity of the new life, the unstained.

Marcia got upstairs again, in order to collect the parts of the different men. They laid under her bed, but Marcia took them down and laid them on the Altar. She ordered them as one single body, using Magyk to link them to each other.

And when she was done with that, she just had to wait for Septimus to come back with whoever he was going to sacrifice. She only wondered who he was going to sacrifice. Just a few weeks earlier, it perhaps would have been her. She laughed at the thought of Septimus trying to sacrifice her- Marcia. He wouldn't have the guts.

Marcia traced her fingers along the symbols on the Altar- she knew them all, now. There was Ankh, the symbol of life, a wheel, representing the circle of life, a balance to symbolize justice, the sun, the symbol of power... she could spend hours counting them.

What she adored with the Darke Magyk was that they were more focused on symbols and irony, than the Magyk was. In the Magyk, it was more important to calculate and etcetera. She had used to adore the tidiness, but now it seemed so much more boring.

Marcia had almost fallen asleep, when the door was knocked at. She jumped up, straightened her cloak and smiled to herself- Septimus was finally there with his sacrifice. Finally.

She opened the door, with a triumphant smile.

It faded as soon as she saw who stood there. "Raphael!"