I waited until the room had gone silent before whirling toward Marcus. “What was that? Who were those guys?”
Glass vials clinked against one another as Marcus started putting potion ingredients away. “I told you, they’re not important.”
“It didn’t sound like it. Marcus, were thosegangmembers?”
He practically raced across the room to put ingredients away. He mumbled something, but I didn’t hear it.
“Was that a yes?” I demanded.
“They’re just… my friends.”
My nostrils flared. “Gang member friends?”
“So what if they are?” Marcus snapped. “You’re acting like it’s the end of the world.”
“Marcus, you idiot!” I burst. “Those guys aren’t your friends! They’reusingyou!”
“They are not!”
“Then what were those papers? What are you doing for them? Homework? Work-Study stuff?”
“No. Even if I wanted to tell you, I can’t,” he snapped.
“Tell me everything, or Marcus, I swear—”
His tone got nasty. “Why? I thought we weren’t friends anymore.”
That hurt. More than I wanted to admit.
My shoulders fell. “Maybe… maybe we could be friends again.”
Marcus seemed to calm down, because he returned to the table, and sat across from me. “Even if I wanted to tell you about the Dead Men Walking, I couldn’t. I took an oath when I joined.”
I’d heard about the Dead Men Walking. They were one of the Institute’s biggest gangs, and the people who got involved with them usually ended up in Cellblock 9 or the prison’s morgue.
I shook my head. I couldn’t believe Marcus had ended up in a prison gang. And by the sounds of it, they didn’t care about him. They just wanted him for whatever those papers were. I felt so bad for Marcus. I was lying to myself if I said we weren’t friends anymore.
“You know why they call themselves the Dead Men Walking, don’t you?” I asked, trying to talk some sense into him.
“It’s creative and intimidating,” he stated confidently.
“Yeah, because that’s what you call a guy on death row!” I explained. “These guys want to be so evil that they end up there.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Marcus countered.
I pressed my hand to the side of my face. “Ancestors, they’ve brainwashed you.”
“I’m not brainwashed,” Marcus spat defensively. “They’re my friends.”
I scoffed. “Some friends, making you do their homework.”
“You don’t understand,” Marcus growled. “After Forevermore… after I lost the Villain’s Club… I neededsomeone. I can’t survive in this prison alone.”
I felt the blood drain from my face. Marcus had joined a prison gang because ofme— because I’d abandoned him. My tone softened as I realized what he must’ve gone through. “You joined them for protection.”
“Yeah, I guess,” he admitted.
I raked my fingers through my hair. Fuck, how was I going to get him out of this? This could turn bad pretty damn fast.
