Page 111 of Shadowman

He taps another button, and the camera angle and location change, displaying various areas of thisEast Wing. It’s very different from general population. There are rows of padded cells, occupied by inmates laced up in straitjackets, and rows of other cells, which look like a doctor’s exam room from the forties—a big chair in the middle bolted to the floor, with shackles hanging off of it.

All of which can be seen at all times by Manuel Blanco, apparently.

I must admit, this is triggering me just a tad. The conditions at Riverwoods were nowhere near as bad as these, but it was still a place I detested. They would never use straitjackets… But they had no problem strapping your arms and legs down if they felt you might harm yourself or one of the staff. I know this because I spent many an evening strapped to a gurney and screaming until they stuck a needle in my neck.

Fear releases a fervent flood of adrenaline into my nervous system. I sincerely hope this isn’t what The Ivory has in store for me… Testing and experimentation,withoutthe laws and regulations of a place like Riverwoods.

Is that… what Dr. Love does?

Alabaster Pen’s resident psych superstar, reigning over the East Wing??

The Warden presses yet another button, changing from the live feed to what looks to be recorded video. It’s date and time-stamped, but I don’t know what date and time it is, so I can’t tell when this is from.

“You see, Trevel, the thing with Dr. Love is that I brought him here solely to examine my most prized possession, Felix Darcey. Which he certainly did, and did well. That said, it seems as if spending all of his time with his subject may be… shifting his objectives.”

My forehead creases, muscles stiffening at his words. “What do you mean… And who’s Felix Darcey?”

The name sounds rather familiar… But I’m drawing a blank.

“Felix Darcey is an inmate. #89. He goes by The Carver.” He speaks calmly, then pauses to let his words sink in as movement on the screen catches my attention. It’s Dr. Love…

The Carver… That’s who Byron said killed his friend.

It sounds so familiar, but I just can’t…

My confusion is set aside while I watch Dr. Love stepping into a room. He’s out of sight for only a moment, and when he returns to the screen, he’s…smiling. It’s so foreign, I barely recognize him at first.

He’s speaking to someone just out of view, but I can’t hear what he’s saying. Though it would appear that he’s not just smiling… He’s smilingatsomeone.

The Ivory taps a button, and sound comes through the speakers. Not crystal clear, but audible enough for me to make out my former doctor speaking.

“It’s impossible not to miss you, sweet monster. Even when we’re apart for mere minutes…”

What the bloody fucking hell??

My eyes are as wide as can be when Dr. Love shifts enough that the person he’s speaking to becomes visible. A man, clearlyyounger than him, with fair skin and chestnut brown hair, wearing black-framed glasses. Lemuel’s hands are on his waist…

The lad looks very fucking familiar, but I’m finding it difficult to breathe at the moment. My gut has crawled all the way up my throat and is trying to jump out of my mouth.

The young man is gazing up at Lemuel, smiling a wide, beaming expression as he toys with one of Lemuel’s dreadlocks. “So… show me then, Doctor Want.”

Wait…

Lem’s hands slide down to cup the kid’s ass, and my pulse is nowpoundinglike a bass drum in my ears. He leans down, lashes fluttering. And the world crashes to a halt when he drops a kiss on the kid’s mouth… So gentle, I can almost feel it myself.

Everything is falling around me. Cement bricks are cracking and crumbling, the ceiling crushing me where I sit. I can’t catch a proper breath, and Ihateit.

What sort of fresh hell is this??

Dr. Love is… He’skissingthat bloke??

Dr. Love is gay?? Since bloody when?!

Eyes flitting up to The Ivory, I find him watching me closely, while I just sit here, dumbfounded and fucking bleeding inside.

Felix Darcey…

The Carver…