Page 66 of Dead Wrong

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Azzy was supposed to meet me outside my bedroom an hour ago. I checked the watch in my pocket for the tenth time before deciding I would go looking for him. Perhaps his chores had taken longer than expected, and he was still in the kitchen helping his father.

The kitchen was bustling like always when I arrived, but the air was heavy, like a great sorrowful cloud hung overhead. There was no music to be heard between the Unseen as they went about their tasks. No humming or whistling or murmured cordiality back and forth, only the stark silence and gentle clattering of dishes.

“Excuse me,” I asked one of the mortal maids close by. “Have you seen Azzy?”

The maid’s eyes widened, and she looked like she was about to cry. “He… he’s not here, young master. He left this morning.”

“Left?” I repeated, not understanding. “Where did he go?”

“I don’t know. Nobody does. I’m sorry.”

The woman bowed, hurrying away from me. Shock rooted me in place as I processed the news. Where was Balthus? Surely, he would know what happened to his son. Willing my feet forward, I ran through the kitchen in search of him, but he was absent as well.

“Did you need something, young master?”

One of the older Unseen with greying hair and a long, crooked nose had spotted me frantically pacing by the pantry.

“Where is Balthus?” I asked, breathless.

The Unseen winced, his eyes crinkling with deeper wrinkles. “He’s out in the gardens, I would imagine. But you should know, young master?—”

“Thank you!” I didn’t wait for the rest of the answer, already bolting through the servants’ entrance and around the back of the chateau. The gardens sprawled ahead of me, rows of hedges and rosebushes, but I wouldn’t be deterred. I ran down each row, panting as I searched for Azzy’s father. Questions buzzed in my mind like a swarm of insects. How could he have left without telling me? Where would he have gone that his father didn’t accompany him? Why was there a terrible pit in my stomach?

Near the edge of the garden, I found him knelt in the dirt, spreading what appeared to be a layer of fertilizer around the base of a rose bush. He looked up as I approached, his violet eyes—so much like Azzy’s—widened, and he scrambled to his feet.

“Tobias!” he nearly shouted, reaching for me with his sullied hands and then thinking better of it. “Please, tell me. Tell me he’s safe, that’s all I ask. I beg of you, just tell me he’s safe.”

“I don’t understand,” I replied, taking a step back from him. “Are you talking about Azzy? Where is he?”

Balthus sank to his knees, tears spilling down the lavender stubble on his cheeks. “Please, just tell me my boy is okay. That’s all I ask.”

“Your boy is fine, Balthus,” a voice called from behind me. The Unseen stiffened at those words, his gaze moving past me.

I turned to see Mother standing by a rosebush, admiring the blooms. She gave me a slight nod before coming over, careful to keep a distance from the stench of the manure and the man who wept at our feet.

“Tobias, I’m glad you’re here. You can see the fruits of your labor.”

“My what?”

“Balthus here was the one whispering conspiracy around the hallways, trying to get others to join him in abandoning their duties for a doomed rebellion. Now, Balthus, I had every mind to order your execution without a second thought. However, my daughter saw fit to err on the side of mercy. You have her to thank for your head still being attached. But Tobias here,” she paused, resting a hand on my shoulder. “He reminded me that there was something more effective I could rely on than magic to get what I wanted. See, Tobias, all I had to do was inflict enough fear in dear Balthus that he’d never think to question the status quo ever again.”

Cold dread pulsed through my veins. “What did you do, Mother?”

“Please, Madame Greene,” Balthus pleaded, snot dripping from his nose. “I never meant you or your family any harm. I just wanted a better life for my son. That’s all I wanted.”

“And he’ll have it,” Mother replied, her grip on my shoulder tightening. “You can rest every night knowing that dear Zazzy—or whatever his name is—is well taken care of and will remain that way so long as you remain loyal to this house. Am I understood?”

“Y-Yes,” Balthus managed through his sobs, bowing lower to the ground. “Yes, I understand.”

I wanted to vomit.

“Good. See, Tobias? You and your sister were right. I didn’t need to stoop so low as to have someone killed. He’s so much more useful to me alive. Balthus, don’t forget my peonies. They won’t bloom fully come Spring if they aren’t swimming in shit by the end of the day, yes?”

I slowly walked back to the house, my breath coming in short, shallow gasps.

It was the first life I’d ruined.

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