I swallowed down an exclamation of surprise. The sun had set while I was left to wait in another room, and the chamber to which I was eventually escorted had a dubious air about it. Several layers of a thin, exotic veil hung from the ceiling, obscuring the silhouettes beyond. I could make out several people behind it. They were all sitting on the floor in the same manner foreign performers sometimes did. An expensive-looking animal print rug was laid out over a platform one step above the ground, and a figure was lounging upon it.
Several dim lamps lit the space, and a suspicious scent hung in the air. It was the perfect entrance for the mastermind. I almost had to applaud in the privacy of my mind.
A voice called out to me from behind the veil as I was brought front and center. “You there, boy,” it said in nasally tones. “What is your name?”
I gathered a lot from those few words. This person was in their midfifties. Based on the sound of their voice, they were thin. Probably a picky eater. The raspy edge to the voice suggested a habit of smoking or drinking. Furthermore, the faint rustle of clothes when they moved evoked images of opulent, exotic garments. The breathing of the figures seated around them was that of children my age.
“I’m Alan,” I replied in my usual friendly and cheerful manner.
The owner of the voice laughed, perhaps amused by my fearlessness. “Alan, then. Your performance in the garden was brilliant. The guests were quite pleased. Would you mind playing one more song just for me?”
My trusty lute gripped securely in one hand, I said that I wouldn’t mind. A smile on my face, I chose my next words carefully. “I do make a living off these skills, though. And I accepted your invitation because I was promised an attractive reward. If I perform here, can I hope for a little something extra?”
Laughter rang out from the other side of the veil. The Master behind the curtain said that it was no wonder a boy as savvy as me had lasted so long on Luwak Street. Then they snorted and asked, “What do you desire?” It sounded like they were testing me.
I assessed the mood in the room, hiding my own nervousness. Was now the time to go all in?
Once I’d made up my mind, I smiled and said, “I’d love to become your new favorite.” I added that it would come with lots of perks, and I wouldn’t have to worry about the adults bleeding me dry anymore. I went with a fawning answer because I’d determined that now wasn’t the time to push my luck. It was something of a hunch—a sense for danger that had helped me survive in the backstreets. My instinct turned out to be right, but by the time I had set foot in the room, it was already too late.
The Master behind the curtain chuckled meaningfully, then called my name in a sweet yet sinister murmur. They praised me as clever and resourceful, but something about the compliment sounded insincere.
A moment later, they snapped their fingers in some sort of signal. “But...you still think like a child,” they sneered. Just as I braced myself, a couple of captive children emerged from a door toward the back.
“Alan!”
It was Marcus and Maurie, two of my teammates from the slums. Just as we’d discussed beforehand, they’d been sneaking around the mansion in search of clues while I drew everyone’s attention with my music and song. Children like us had been disappearing from the backstreets one after another, and before they went missing, they had always been approached by a suspicious man. This time around, the plan was to take him up on his offer, then rescue the other kids while I was confronting the Master. This was all based on my assumption that they must be confined somewhere in the estate.
But we’d been caught red-handed. Or, no...had our whole plan been a miscalculation?
Maurie apologized to me in tears, while Marcus looked guilty. I immediately began working out my next move. What did I have to do to escape with my friends? If I tried to fight back alone, I knew I’d be caught in no time. Was my best move to submit and wait for an opening?
While I pondered my options, the Master behind the curtain guffawed. “You’re a clever boy, Alan. But what could children like you hope to accomplish on your own? You can search every inch of this estate, but you’ll still never find what you’re looking for.”
They gave a mocking laugh, and their next words were chilling.
“Alan, and you children there. Who do you think would care if orphans like you went missing from Luwak Street? If anything, most people would be glad to see fewer pickpockets and purse-snatchers around. Kelk Harbor is the western gateway to Sauslind Kingdom. We have to keep it spotless. The front door of a kingdom with such an excellent reputation should always be swept clean.”
The color drained from my face, and Marcus and Maurie gulped upon realizing what the words meant. The Master behind the curtain was saying that the kingdom’s authorities didn’t care how many orphans like us went missing, or what suffering we endured.
And he was probably right. We had no family. We were all of dubious heritage and upbringing. The only benefits we got from the state were the occasional soup kitchen or roadside lessons on how to read, write, and do simple arithmetic. I’d never once felt respect or gratitude for the government, the royalty, or the nobility. At best, I’d felt a longing for a world not my own.
Besides, just as the Master said, we had done our share of questionable deeds. That was the whole reason we’d chosen to resolve the problem ourselves, without relying on the help of officials. It was easy for the Master to say we were thinking like children, but we didn’t have any other options available to us.
We were the trash in the lowest recesses of the kingdom. The officials and higher-ups didn’t care about us. We could be swept away like dust—and no one would bat an eye.
“Ugh...”