chapter three
act i : this is our story

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          THE NEXT MORNING, Marek found himself caught in a foul mood when he was pulled out of class and ordered to meet Headmaster Saltzman in the library. Yesterday's fiasco was still fresh on his mind. Not only were he and Hope scolded and ordered to bury the dead dragon, but Landon and Rafael had also skipped out on them and disappeared. The only good thing about their little excursion was that they had retrieved the stolen knife. Other than that, the trip had been a complete and utter failure.

Marek, along with Hope and the Saltzman Twins, watched as Alaric scampered about in the Stefan Salvatore Memorial Library, collecting relevant books off the shelves. Finally, after another five to ten minutes of waiting, did the man finally deign to acknowledge them. And of course, the purpose of their summoning was to receive punishment for each of their respective actions in the day prior. Marek would be lying if he said he hadn't seen it coming.

"This makes no sense, Dad!" To absolutely no one's surprise, Lizzie was the first of the group to object. "Why are we being punished?!"

Alaric sent her an exasperated look from his position on the raised platform that lined the bookshelves. "Because you started a brawl at a charity football game that risked exposing what we do here."

Lizzie scoffed. "Well, you weren't mad last night."

"As a matter of fact, I was mad last night." The Headmaster of the Salvatore School informed while shaking his head. "My undying love for my daughters just happened to trump my rage."

Exhaling deeply, Alaric walked down the steps to the study tables and set the books he had in his hand down before turning to face the four teenagers once more. "I volunteered everyone in the game, so stop complaining. You're lucky that it's just community service and not actual jail time."

"Can I at least offer a rebuttal in my defense, if it pleases the court?" Lizzie asked and Marek rolled his eyes at her words. Alaric, on the other hand, merely crossed his arms, silently gesturing for her to go on. "First of all, I was provoked. My response was totally proportional considering the levels of abuse I was forced to endure. Secondly...if anyone should take the blame, it's Josie."

Josie gave her sister a betrayed and offended look. "What?"

"Bitch move." Marek murmured quietly as he shook his head, his hazel green eyes narrowing into a glare that was aimed at the pale-blonde haired Saltzman.

Josie was one of his two only friends in this school, the other being Hope. Unlike the other students, she had never treated him with malice or rejected him just because of his anger issues or who his parents were. Her kindness was an exceedingly rare trait – one that Marek was not often used to seeing. She had always been a caring friend and in the moments when he would let her in, she'd make it her goal to help him. That was why he didn't appreciate it when people took her for granted or used her for their own gain or walked all over her, something Lizzie often did.

The blonde siphoner instantly noticed how her comment had hurt her sister. "I'm sorry, I totally cracked under cross, but if you would have just let Kaleb catch the ball..."

"You'd still be in trouble." Alaric redirected the conversation back to the punishment, his stern expression fixated on Lizzie while Josie let out a scoff of disbelief.

Hope, amused by the scene that was playing out in front of her, interjected before the Headmaster could continue. "But nice job throwing your sister under the bus."

Josie sent the auburn-haired girl a grateful look. "Thank you, Hope."

Marek breathed out a slight chuckle of amusement as Lizzie gaped at the exchange shared by the two girls. It seemed the Gemini Witch Bond was under assault and Hope was the instigator of the attack. If the circumstances were different, he might have given her a high five. Any opportunity to see Lizzie suffer was cause for celebration in his book.

Alaric cleared his throat and set stern and demanding stares on each of the teenagers. "The bus leaves in ten minutes and I expect all four of you to be on it, working together, harmoniously and without drama. End of debate."

Hope furrowed his brows. "Wait, what? Marek and I weren't even at the game so why are we being punished?"

The Headmaster of the Salvatore School turned to his two students with a flat stare. "I think you both know what you did."

Marek pressed his lips together with a nod. As enraged as he was at Alaric for bringing up Hope's dead father and his own absentee parents, he knew all too well that their tampering with Black Magic had been wrong. Even if he hadn't been the one to cast the spell, he had done nothing to stop Hope and even encouraged her to kill Landon. Yes, he indeed knew what they did wrong.

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          THE THIRTY MINUTES IT TOOK for the students who were in trouble to board the bus and make their way down to the Town Square were irritating, to say the least. Marek rode up front with Dorian and Hope. Apparently, the Salvatore School librarian had been informed about their actions of the previous day, which would explain why he was warily watching them. Likely, he had been told by Alaric to make sure Hope didn't pull out a black magic spell and wipe Mystic Falls off the map while Marek egged her on.

"This is stupid." Hope muttered under her breath as the bus came to a halt in the Mystic Falls Town Square. She and Marek remained seated as they waited for the rest of the students to get off the bus before finally moving.

The Descendant of Fenrir shrugged. "Maybe. Not much we can do about it, though. As much as I hate to say it, if playing good Samaritan is going to get Ric off our backs then that's what we're going to do."

A scowl twisted Hope's features as she stepped off the bus with Marek close behind her. As soon as their feet hit the ground outside, however, they were immediately met with Lizzie Saltzman's condescending smirk.

"So what did you guys do? The walking bag of testosterone I get, but my dad never gets mad at you, Mikaelson. You're like the prodigal daughter. Must've been something real juicy." The blonde siphoner questioned, likely taking the opportunity to poke at them in hopes of getting some information or dirt she could use as blackmail.

"Here's an idea, witch-bitch. Why don't you fuck off?" The hazel-eyed boy snapped at her. Marek wasn't about to indulge any of her questioning. He refused to give her any more ammunition to use against Hope and himself. Besides, if the headmaster didn't see fit to fill his daughter in on yesterday's excursion and their encounter with the dragon, then neither would he.

"Why don't you go crawl into a hole and die?" Lizzie hissed back at him with a harsh glare.

"Sorry, no time for chit-chat. Public service awaits." Hope chose that moment to intervene. It was the right moment as well because Marek's claws were beginning to come out and he was seconds away from tearing into the blonde siphoner with them. The Mikaelson Tribrid grabbed her friend by the arm and led him away from Lizzie.

"How the fuck does Josie deal with her shit all the time?" Marek asked no one in particular once they were a short distance away from the troublesome witch.

"With a great amount of patience." Hope replied smoothly and sent him a pointed look. "Which is something you are going to have to muster up. I'm also going to need a little cooperation from you. I can't always be around to reign you in when somebody pisses you off."

The Descendant of Fenrir chuckled. "Noted, princess. I promise I won't try and kill anyone no matter how much they – as you so eloquently put it – piss me off."

"Eloquently, huh? That's a big word for you, Mare. Try not to overload your brain." Hope snarked playfully.

"Aw, how sweet." Marek said with a grin and mockingly placed his right hand over his heart. "It's always touching to see how much you care about my wellbeing, Hope."

The auburn-haired girl rolled her eyes but couldn't keep the smile from spreading across her face which made Marek's grin grow wider.

"Alright, listen up!" Dorian announced as he approached the students who had all congregated in the lawn of the Town Square. "It's a beautiful day and we've got a lot of options. Litter, weeds, graffiti, your choice."

The librarian then proceeded to hand out large orange trash bags and trash pokers to the students. He held one out to Kaleb Hawkins and the newly turned vampire sent him a disbelieving look before taking it. Once he was done distributing the equipment, Dorian turned around and walked back to the bus.

"It's bad enough that we get punished while the humans get a pass, but there ain't no way in hell I'm picking up their garbage." Kaleb voiced out loud and all eyes fell on him. He tried handing the stick over to Lizzie but the blonde siphoner quickly held her hands up and stepped away.

"Uh, I don't do trash either, fangs." Lizzie hissed with disgust.

Hope rolled her eyes and quickly moved forwards to take the trash poker from Kaleb's hand while picking up a second one from the ground and tossing it over to Marek who begrudgingly caught it. "I love trash...as of this moment."

"Perf. It suits you." Lizzie said with false sweetness coating her voice before she turned to Josie, who appeared unimpressed with her attitude. "Looks like we're scrubbing paint today."

"Dad told us to work together, remember? Harmoniously." Josie stated sternly, which earned her an eye-roll from her sister.

"Yeah, and he also said without drama, and I feel a rage attack coming on, so I will be remaining drama-free over by that wall of graffiti. Are you coming or not?"

Josie narrowed her eyes. "I don't know, Lizzie, is there another bus you want to throw me under?"

Lizzie gaped as she watched the brunette siphoner move away from her and over to Marek and Hope. Betrayal was shining clearly in her eyes before she huffed and tore her eyes away. "Fine, daddy's girls..." Her eyes met Marek's and when she saw him wearing a smug smile on his face, she growled. "...and boy." She then looked around at the rest of the students. "Anyone else?"

Kaleb smirked and walked away while the other students all split up to deal with the chores they had chosen for themselves. Lizzie huffed and sent one final glare at her sister, Marek and Hope before stalking away from them with MG, a nerdy young vampire, close by at her heels. Once everyone had dispersed, Marek sighed before turning to the two girls next to him while twirling his trash poker in the air.

"Alright, who's up for trash duty?" He exclaimed with clearly faked enthusiasm which earned himself an eye-roll from Hope and a small smile from Josie.

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          MAREK HUFFED AS HE STABBED HIS POKER into yet another empty and dented beer can before stuffing it into a trash bag. Hope, Josie, and he had been working on clearing the park of every piece of litter and trash they could find but there didn't appear to be an end in sight. He wouldn't go as far as to say that all humans were dumb and dirty little rats but the people of this town were certainly worthy of being referred to as such. Especially the students at Mystic Falls High who he was almost a hundred percent sure were responsible for the whole mess in the park.

"I think you might have a future in waste management, Mare." Josie commented with a small smile.

The Descendant of Fenrir rolled his eyes. "Yeah, how about no. Cleaning up messes is your thing. Not mine, Sunshine."

"He has a point." Hope glanced at them, her bright blue eyes falling on Josie. "Your sister is kind of a dumpster fire."

"Amen to that." Marek muttered as he stabbed his poker through a sauce-stained burger wrapper.

"Why do you always pick fights with my sister?" Josie suddenly questioned as she sent a narrowed stare Hope's way. The Mikaelson Tribrid blinked in confusion which pushed the brunette siphoner to elaborate on her statement. "We've known each other for a decade and any time you get the chance, you poke."

Hope huffed and went back to stuffing trash into a bag while Marek sent Josie a flat look. "Hate to break it to you, Jo, but neither Hope nor I have ever instigated a fight with your sister. Lizzie is the one who constantly tries to put us down and insult us. I don't know what her problem is with Hope and me but our pokes have always been in retaliation to her pokes."

"Well you can't blame her for holding a grudge against you guys." The brunette siphoner countered. "With how much time you two spend with our dad and all the secret keeping..."

"We aren't keeping secrets." Hope said quickly, turning around to look at her.

"Oh yeah? What happened when you guys went to find Landon Kirby?" Josie questioned with one eyebrow lifted upwards.

"Nothing happened." The auburn-haired girl stated firmly while Marek fidgeted nervously. While he had no problem keeping information from Lizzie, Josie was another matter entirely. He actually liked her and she was his friend.

Josie shook her head. "Something clearly did happen. Rafael never showed up at school and my dad looked more rattled than I've ever seen him. So why don't you guys just tell me?"

"Because there's nothing to tell!" Hope suddenly snapped and punctuated her response by slamming her trash poker down onto the ground. But instead of stabbing through dirt like she intended it to, the sharp spike of the trash-picking tool punched through her foot. "Ow."

Marek burst into cackles while a horrified Josie rushed over to her side. "Are you okay? I mean, what do I do?"

"I don't know, maybe pull it out?" Hope said sarcastically before sending a cold glare her best friend's way. "Could you shut up?"

The Descendant of Fenrir managed to bring his laughter down to quiet snorts and sniggers as he casually walked over to the girls. Without warning, he grabbed the trash poker and pulled it out of her foot. "So much for those impeccable and sharp Tribrid reflexes."

"Fuck you." The Mikaelson Tribrid replied monotonously as she twisted her foot around as the wound quickly closed up.

"You two are insane." Josie breathed out with an amused chuckle as she took a step back and shook her head.

"All the best people are." Marek declared confidently and Josie, and even Hope, couldn't help but laugh at his statement. Soon, they went back to cleaning up the park but after a few minutes, Josie suddenly yelped and doubled over, clutching her abdomen tightly.

Hope and Marek quickly moved over to her with the hazel-eyed boy grabbing his friend by the shoulders to keep her from tumbling over. "Hey Jo, what's wrong? You good?"

"I'm fine, but my sister isn't." The brunette siphoner said quickly, panic and concern written all over her face. "This is twin pain which means something happened to Lizzie. I need to get back home!"

Marek pursed his lips and exchanged glances with Hope before they nodded in agreement and the Descendant of Fenrir faced Josie once more. "Fine, but you aren't going alone. We're coming with you."

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          IT TOOK A BIT OF ARGUING AND NEGOTIATING, but the trio of supernaturals somehow managed to convince Dorian to let them go back to the Salvatore School. The situation that greeted them though sent a shiver down Marek's spine. There had been a magical barrier erected around the school which Josie had brought down by siphoning it and once they entered the building, they saw that the ground floor was unnervingly quiet and empty.

"Lizzie?" Josie called out but received no response, which then drove her into a frantic frenzy.

"Hey, calm down." Marek said quickly squeezing the brunette siphoner's shoulder. "We'll find her but we need to keep a levelled head, okay?"

Josie swallowed thickly before nodding. "Yeah. Yeah, okay."

"We should split up." Hope stated as she looked around the empty corridors with a narrowed glare. "I'll go check the library. Mare, you stick with Josie."

"Right." The Descendant of Fenrir nodded in acknowledgement and after one last look at them, Hope walked off. Marek's hazel eyes trailed behind her as she went and once she was out of sight, he blinked before turning back to Josie. "Come on, let's go."

Josie nodded and the two friends began walking down the corridor opposite of the one Hope had just taken.

"Marek?" The brunette siphoner suddenly spoke up after a few minutes of silent searching. The Descendant of Fenrir glanced back at her in question. "What happened yesterday?"

"You guys got in trouble cause you picked a fight with the locals during the football game." Marek replied, trying not to wince at his own words.

"That's not what I'm talking about and you know it." Josie snapped at him. "What happened when you, Hope and Dad went after Landon Kirby?"

"Jo..." Marek started to say but the brunette siphoner quickly cut him off.

"I've known you for a long time, Mare. I know you keep secrets. I know you have your own demons buried in your closet. And you know that I've never pushed you to tell me something you don't want to. But now my sister's been hurt and I have a feeling that what's happening right now is linked to whatever happened yesterday. And I think you've had that same thought as well. So please, just tell me what happened."

Marek clenched his fists, his mind a jumbled mess of thoughts. What Josie was saying had a large modicum of truth to it. It wasn't a coincidence that all this weird shit started happening the moment Landon Kirby stole the knife. First the dragon and now this? No, it wasn't a coincidence. It was a pattern and though Alaric could believe whatever he wanted, Josie, Lizzie and the rest of the students at the school were now caught in this. They were all a part of this now. So he had to tell her.

"Fine, I'll tell..." Marek trailed off slowly when his hazel eyes fell on large claw marks that had been engraved on the walls on the right side of the corridor they were walking down.