Disclaimer: Sage owns it.
Author's Note: Yay, the glitch is gone! Thanks be to God! Hey, thanks to all who have read this. And I need to extend a congratulations to Izanami's Fury, who caught my hidden typo in the last chapter. Yes, that's right, I purposely put a typo in my story to see who was paying attention. I know, it's weird, but that sort of thing amuses me. Anyway, thanks to all who have read this, it means a lot. I'm not sure how much longer this story is going to be because it is only a prequel, it might have another couple of chapters. But I assure you, I'm not done with Heap, not yet. I still have one more trick up my sleeve, and that's my sequel to Guilty Pleasures. I've already outlined it and as it looks now, it's going to be five chapters longer than Guilty Pleasures was. After that, I think I am going to be well and truly "Heaped out" for the moment. That doesn't mean I won't write more Septimus someday, but it just means I'm going to take a break for a while. But like I said, you're not getting rid of me yet.
I don't wanna be a stupid girl- Pink
Chapter Fourteen
When Silas Heap returned to the Castle with Marcia Overstrand, no one could really believe it. Naturally, they were incredibly relieved. Everyone was regarding Silas as a hero and Silas was soaking up every minute of his time in the sun. The story he had told the people in the Castle was a far cry from the actual truth, but Silas was no stranger to lying. In fact, sometimes he lied better than he told the truth. He told the citizens of the Castle that Marcia had been kidnapped by a dangerous group of terrorists and that he had had to save her from them all by himself. Marcia agreed to go along with this story simply because it was more believable than the truth was.
Silas had also lied to Marcia. Once he had revived her, he had apologized for treating her so badly. He had tried to make his apology seem as genuine as possible, but he wasn't entirely sure Marcia bought it. But she was quite grateful to him, she made that abundantly clear. She couldn't believe he had travelled all that way just to rescue her. Silas loved getting Marcia's attention and respect, he had to admit, he did care more about her than he had ever cared about another girl. It was a bit unsettling. But hadn't taken Marcia long to ask where Peter was. Silas had hoped she wouldn't ask this, but he had known she would. That exasperated Silas a little. Why couldn't Marcia focus on him and only him for once? But Silas did answer Marcia's question. He answered it dishonestly, but he answered it. He told her that Peter had refused to join Silas on his journey to the land of the dead. Silas wanted to make Marcia believe that Peter had never cared about her anyway. Unfortunately, Silas was successful. Marcia believed his lies. She knew that, if Peter had really cared for her as deeply as she had cared for him, he would have joined Silas in trying to save her. Although she managed to hide it, Marcia could feel her heart breaking. She had let herself love Peter and by doing that, she had opened herself up to pain. Marcia hated herself for being so stupid. She was so tired of getting herself into painful situations that she just didn't have to be in. Between Milo, Silas, and now Peter, Marcia was beginning to think romance was a complete waste of time. She decided that, from now on, she was going to concentrate on her magykal studies and not much else. Men were overrated. However, Marcia did feel that she was in Silas's debt, at least a little. She still couldn't believe that he had gone all that way just to rescue her. That counted for something. Marcia still didn't think she could completely forgive him for the way he had treated her the night before her apprentice supper, but she didn't think she could hate him any more either. He obviously cared about her.
Alther couldn't have been more proud of Silas. He was deliriously happy to have Marcia back and he was so pleased that Silas had gone out of his way to help her. Alther felt that it proved to the whole city that he had been right all along. He had always claimed that Silas was a good man underneath his bad reputation and now all of the residents would see that Alther had been correct all the time. That made Alther very happy for the first time in months.
Sarah Willow was utterly thrilled. Her Silas had returned home! She never should have doubted him! He was alive! He was coming back to marry her. So happy was Sarah that she didn't even stop to think about why Silas had left her in the first place. He had gone to save another woman, a woman he had been willing to risk his life for. But all Sarah could focus on was the fact that Silas would be there to help her welcome their first child into the world. Even more importantly, she would at last be able to call Silas Heap her husband. She felt as though she was floating she was so excited. Now, finally, her life could be wonderful.
Silas wasn't looking forward to marrying Sarah, but he knew he didn't have a choice. He was well aware that the whole city would most likely turn against him if he abandoned her. Even though the citizens had a terrible opinion of Sarah, Silas knew they would have an equally bad opinion of him if he didn't to his duty and become her husband. Silas comforted himself by remembering that his marriage to Sarah would not mean the end of his affairs with various women. He would just have to be sneakier about them. He would have to keep all of his affairs secret from now on.
Two days before Silas was going to get married, Queen Cerys called him to the Palace. She, like the rest of the Castle, was impressed with Silas's "courage" and she was going to honor him with a ceremony. All of the Castle was invited. Silas couldn't have been more excited if he tried. Finally, he had made a name for himself. Everyone in the city thought he was a hero. Silas was famous and he was loving every second of it. His dreams were coming true.
Silas's ceremony was eventful for various reasons. All went according to plan until everyone was getting refreshments from the back of the room. While one woman was using a ladle to scoop some punch into her glass, a human head floated to the top of the punch bowl. The woman shrieked and fainted. When Silas rushed over to see what she had just seen, he was shocked and revolted by the sight before him. But he had a bit of a stronger stomach than the young woman had had, and he managed to notice that there was a tiny message written in blood on the unknown skull's forehead. It read: Silas, enjoy your time in the spotlight. It will be brief, I assure you. Once I've killed you, just as I killed Queen Elena, you will be forgotten. Within three months, not one citizen in this city will remember your name.
Before anyone else could read these words, Silas fished the head out of the punch bowl and flung it into a nearby wastebasket. By this time, many of the guests at the ceremony were screaming and running about. Marcia, who had seen this atrocious scene from a few feet away, turned her back on the frantic guests and vomited. She could tell Silas had seen something strange about the skull, something no one else had noticed and she was dying to know what it was. But she knew that, if she asked Silas about it, he would probably deny that he had seen anything unusual at all. If he did deny it, Marcia would know he was lying. His behavior had been too suspicious.
At Sarah and Silas's wedding two days later, most everyone in the Castle was trying to forget the horrific events of the ceremony, but not very successfully. Silas couldn't help but notice how tense everyone seemed at wedding. Silas was furious. He knew exactly who had placed the skull in the punch bowl, and now, his wedding was turning out to be a complete disaster because of it. Also much of the Castle was making fun of his bride, Sarah, because she was so pregnant that she resembled a small whale. Sarah barely noticed or cared, but Silas was embarrassed by Sarah's figure. He had always imagined himself marrying a thin, pretty woman on his wedding day. Silas's life never seemed to turn out like he wanted it.
At his wedding reception, Sarah only managed one dance with Silas before all of her energy was gone. Silas decided to search for Marcia. He told Sarah he was going to the bathroom and instead, found Marcia.
She was standing in the very back of the room, looking rather dejected. Silas reached out and touched her shoulder, which caught her off guard. She jumped and, when she realized who had come to visit her, she deliberately looked at the ground. She didn't want to Silas to see her face. It was obvious she had been crying and she was ashamed of her emotions. Silas smiled a little to himself. Was she crying because he had married another woman? He rather hoped so. "Hello Marcia." He said softly, loving the way her name rolled off of his tongue.
"Oh Silas, congrats." Marcia responded, her voice cold and flat. Marcia didn't understand how Silas could travel all the way to the land of the dead just to rescue her, only to return home and marry a pregnant slut. Marcia was hurt. She was beginning to think that Silas's saving her had only been a publicity stunt. Aside from that, just being at a wedding really bothered her. It made her think about Peter and all the things she would never do with him.
"That's all you're going to say 'congrats?' Marcia, look, I get it. I'm so sorry. I made a mistake. If I had known that I still had even the slightest chance with you, I wouldn't have started that affair with Sarah. It's something I'm going to regret for the rest of my life now. I love you." The words rolled out of Silas's mouth before he even thought about them. Suddenly he stopped. In all the years Silas had spent chasing women, he had never once said those three words. Now, he had just said them without even thinking about it. Did that mean he really mean them? The possibility of truly being in love and not even knowing it frightened Silas a little.
Marcia scoffed at Silas's words. "Love? You don't know what love is! Silas, can't you leave me alone for once? You're married! Go bother your wife."
"I'd rather bother you." Silas retorted. "Besides, I just have something to ask. I assure you that I'll never touch you again if you do one thing for me. Marcia, I want you to kiss me, just once more. We can go to the restrooms. No one will see us there. I just want to feel you lips on mine, just once more before I die. Please Marcia, I save your life, it's the least you could do. I'll do anything."
Marcia was about to say "absolutely not!" when she thought about what Silas had just said, "You said you'd do anything? Would you by any chance, consider telling me what you saw written on that human skull two days ago." Marcia saw Silas become pale. He obviously didn't want to say anything about it.
"Marcia, I can't. I doesn't really matter. It wasn't a big deal."
"Okay, well if you won't tell me, I won't kiss you. It's just that simple." Marcia smirked. She knew she had Silas now. There was no way he would turn down a good smooch fest.
"All right, all right Marcia! I'll tell you, but first you have to kiss me."
"Done. But let's go to the restroom and get this over with. Flip a coin. That will decide whether we go in the ladies room or the men's."
Silas's coin landed on heads.
"The ladies room it is." Marcia sighed with relief. "Now, let's go, before I change my mind."
Silas did as he was told. He and Marcia managed to sneak off into the ladies room and for a few moments, Silas was in completely ecstasy. He had forgotten how wonderful kissing Marcia was. Neither Silas nor Marcia noticed when another person entered the room. It was Sally Mullin.
When Sally saw Silas with Marcia, she gasped in horror. "S..Silas Heap!" she screeched, "Oh you bastard! You cocky son of a bitch! How dare you? Don't think Sarah won't know about this. I'll go and tell her right now. I bet she'd love to know what her husband is doing with this slut of a girl. You're going to have a difficult night, Silas." With that, Sally stormed out of the room, leaving Silas and Marcia behind. Silas moaned. It was going to be a horrible night.