I nod slowly, gazing at him in concern. “Yea… but you probably shouldn’t go up there. If you escaped…”
He grins. “You let me worry about him. Just don’t get yourself caught.”
He pinches my cheek. And then he’s off, darting away, into the night.
Leaving.
I want to call out, ask him to come with me, because I don’t want to be alone. I’m scared and missing Lem. Finding him would be much easier if I had help.
But he seems determined to handle his own business.
“Wait,” I call after him, and he stops. “You didn’t happen to see my fiancé out there, did you?” He peeks over his shoulder. “He’s a tall, super hot black dude with dreads and like,perfectlips…”
Angel grins. “Trust me, I know what your man looks like. Bueno para ti, cariño.”
I know enough Spanish to understand that he’s basically saying some version ofslay kween. It makes me smile.
Reminds me of something Ren would say.
My chest cinches. I hope he and Luthor are okay. Joy, Rook, and Velle… I’m sure they’ve got things handled. They always do, even over the last few weeks, when tensions have been suffocating the life out of the mild comforts we once knew in Alabaster Pen.
Maybe getting to them will be my best bet to get Lem back.
Despite Byron and Trevel causing this, I still hope they’re okay too.
“I didn’t see him. Sorry,” Angel mumbles, expression serious as he grips the doorframe. But then he shows me a knowing smirk. “You’ll get him back, though. I know you will. You’re TheCarver, querida. Don’t forget that. Anyone who threatens what you love will lose.”
He winks. And then he’s gone, vanishing into the dark hallway. On his own mission to find someone… Only I don’t think he’s going torescuethem.
His words echo in my head as I rush around the room, getting dressed and packing up any supplies I can use, because who knows when orifI’ll be back. Angel was right. It’s not safe here… But it’s definitely not safe near the prison either.
I’m afraid of the unknown waiting out there in the woods. I’m terrified that Lem could be in danger, and that the fall could have started something much bigger than just the reclaiming of Alabaster Pen that Velle was planning.
But none of that matters right now. I have only one objective.
Save my fiancé.
Adrenaline absorbs all the frantic emotions, settling inside me until I’m calm. Ready.
With every step I take, out of our bedroom and down the stairs, I’m purring with a zeal that’s been dormant in me for far too long. But now it’s back.
After all… this is what I do.
The Carver is awake.And he’s ready to play.
Over time, I’ve grown to accept and even embrace my invisibleness.
I used to resent it. A lot.
Never being trulyseen… People I liked, thought were cute, or maybe wanted to talk to damn near passing through me like I was a ghost. There’s no waynotto take that personally.
Being The Carver meant adopting that identity, regardless of how much it still hurt my feelings most of the time. It was like The Carver was born as a way to accept that I was never going to be the star of the show.
I wasn’t Cam, or Emmanuel… Velle, or Ren…Dash.
They’re vibrant, loud, and magnetic; vivid neon presences you couldn’t ignore if you tried, demanding of full attention.
I was in the shadows. But rather than fighting it, I let it envelope me. And I used it to become something they were forced to acknowledge. Something they’dneverforget.
