“Right now, we need to trust one another!” Jayce snarls. “You can’t just accuse Renji, Theo!”
“I just know that it’s one of us, and that person killed Ma!” Theo growls, his voice shaking with fury. “And when I find out who, and I swear I fucking will, they’re fucking dead! I’m calling for everyone to be brought in for questioning.”
“And you, right? Or does that exclude you? Carter said it could have been you,” says Ares.
“Like I’d kill Ma!” Theo snarls.
“You kill enough, though, right? What’s your own mother?!” Ares hits back.
“Cut it the fuck out! Mom’s dead, and you think this is what she’d want?! For us to fucking turn against each other?” Jayce hisses.
“Listen, Jayce, you might be a fucking saint, but it’s making you a tad fucking thick right now. There was no sign of a scuffle. The way her injuries were, she was hit frontally, and they were clean, no strain on the injury to show she tried to move outof the way. Whoever did this was someone she trusted,” Theo says, his voice quieter yet still firm.
Ares scoffs. “Yeah, you just want it to be someone, right? This is fucked up shit, I’m out. Take your crap and just piss off, man.”
“You’ll regret that,” Theo snarls.
“Alright. If that’s the case, then I vote for you. You’re the one who has always been the most selfish of us all. Right?”
No, he hasn’t. Hearing Ares say that about Theo hurts.
“Yeah? Well, I might be a dickhead, but I don’t hurt family!” Theo snarls. “They knew where the tome was, Jayce!”
“I’m done,” Ares says, and I think he’s moved away.
“Theo, you need to drop it. This is the last thing Dad needs.”
“No! I’m not dropping it because there IS someone among us who is not who they are pretending to be. I need justice for Ma, and you will need to be the one to deliver it.” Something in Theo’s voice borders on urgency, almost desperation.
Why can’t he figure it out himself?
I’ll help him.
“You want me to believe it’s one of my brothers, Theo. That’s…”
“Look, Ares died that night. I got Hades to bring him back. How did Ares die so easily? Again, it has to be someone hetrusted. We need to find the answers, Jayce. Because who knows who might be next.”
“Theo-”
“No, I just told you, they knew where the tomes were. They went straight to Dad’s office.”
“It’s the most obvious place,” Jayce refutes.
“Is it? Before the mansion even?” I ask.
There’s a pause. “Look, only Dad and I knew it was there. So, will you blame Dad now?”
“Someone could have overheard you,” Theo tries.
“Theo-”
“No, promise me, Jayce, you’ll find the answer. You’ll find the one who took our ma from us. And that you’ll look into all our brothers.”
It’s silent. Then Jayce answers, “Fine.”
But it’s not convincing, even to me. As if he’s trying to get rid of Theo. Yeah, he’ll search for the killer, but he won’t point fingers at his own family.
Theo’s silence speaks louder than any word can. “Great,” he says simply, but he also knows he can’t rely on him. Jayce will soon go to Russia, if that plan stands anyway.
