Page 90 of Dead Wrong

I had always felt awkward about sharing a name with my father, and I’d often wondered what his surname was before he took Mother’s. I hadn’t really known the man, and what little information I could find out about him didn’t leave me with strong feelings one way or another. He simply was. As he died shortly after our birth, the term ‘Junior’ never seemed appropriate, so it was easy to forget most days that someone had shared my name at all.

He was forgotten, just as I would be one day.

“Are you really going to give it up?” I asked after a moment of silence bloomed between me and my sister.

“Give what up?” she asked, straightening.

“Your position. Our family’s power. All those things you said back there. Are you really going to throw them away?”

Lynette stiffened, folding her arms over her navel. “I’m not throwing anything away, Tobi. I’m simply relinquishing it. Our family doesn’t deserve the power that Mother has amassed. It needs to be given to those better suited.”

“And who determines that?” I continued, my stream of consciousness flowing freely now. “A popular vote? Then, you’ll be handing the reins over to someone who can manipulate emotions better than the next Adored. That doesn’t exactly seem wise. So, what else can you look at? Maybe the Council will be able to hold a search for the right candidate. But they’re all in Mother’s pocket already, so it’s dubious whether or not we can trust the lot of them.”

“Then we’ll reform the Council. It’s unfairly balanced as it is. It’s supposed to be the Council of Magi, yet the Adored and Hallowed are the only ones appointed. We can bring in the Unseen.”

“Right,” I scoffed, folding my arms across my chest, “because that will ever happen. You hand over power to one of them, and you’ve got a war on your hands before they can hold a single gathering. The people would revolt, Lenny!”

She balked at me. “Where is this animosity coming from, Tobi? I thought you were sick of working for Mother’s agenda. What, did you get scared because you might have to give up your swanky bachelor pad on the upper side?”

“Oh, fuck you, Lenny. You know this isn’t about that.”

“Isn’t it?” she pushed, stepping toward me. “The only reason you’re asking me this is because you’re afraid that I’ll fly off the handle and rid our family of its wealth. Well, here’s a novel concept—maybe we should!”

Anger flared in my gut, spurring me on. “And that would make you feel less guilty, huh? Maybe if you give away enough money and resources, people will forget you’re Adoranda’s daughter? Never. You’re stuck with the name Greene just like I am.”

“Then let’s make it synonymous with hope!” Lynette retorted. “Let’s show the world that we’re not the monsters that everyone has made us out to be.”

“Exactly! And if you give away your most effective tool—power—how do you think you’ll accomplish any of it? The minute you vacate that seat, they’ll just replace you with someone worse, someone who will do whatever they want, and we’ll be right back where we started.”

Lynette stepped back, and I advanced another step toward her.

“Not to mention, Mother will still be there, waiting in the wings. If your plan to remove her fails, then there’s nothing stopping her from just taking over the Council again through whatever figurehead gets established.”

“But that won’t happen?—”

“How can you be sure? How can you know for certain that what you’re proposing will work? What kind of assurance can you?—”

“Because I’ve seen it!” Her voice filled the empty cemetery, reverberating off the rows of polished stone. “I’ve seen it all happen, Tobias. Flames will consume the world, and it happens because of her. She’ll be the death of everything good and beautiful if I don’t stop her. If I don’t….”

Lynette’s gaze trailed down to our father’s grave.

I halted my advance, her revelation throwing me off balance. “You’ve seen it?” I questioned. “Like the visions you used to have? How long have they been back?”

“They never left, Tobias.” Lynette’s shoulders sank, her voice cracking. “I merely stopped talking about them once I was old enough to understand that’s what Mother wanted.”

“But they can’t be real, Lenny. Don’t you see that? You can’t throw your life away because of a couple of bad dreams?—”

“Do not mock me, Tobias. I know the difference. These are no dreams.”

“Then let me help you!” I pleaded with her. “Clue me in on what’s going on, and maybe I can help think it through. But giving up the power you’ll need to enact change isn’t the right move. You’ll only clip your wings?—”

A sound from the bushes a few feet away silenced me. Movement out of the corner of my eye and someone?—

* * *

If this was Paradise, I struggled to imagine what the opposite must look like.

The warehouse was vacant, except for a few cardboard boxes stacked against the wall that seemed to be melting into one another. Dark stains on the brown exteriors oozed some sort of mysterious liquid onto the floor, and I didn’t want to get closer to investigate exactly what it might be. Lights flickered overhead, throwing shadows that danced across the floors. Kaine followed us inside, just as he promised he would, closing the door behind him. Without the dying sunlight streaking through the doorway, the room was even more dim, and I squinted into the dark, searching for any reason as to why he brought us here.

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