The Jewel

and stare up at the violet, swaying in the breeze.
My

“Don’t worry,” Garnet says, his usually confident tone gone and a fierce urgency in its place. “We’re going to get you out.”

“Violet,” he says, and when he looks in my eyes, my stomach somersaults. “I think . . . I think I love you.”
I feel myself dissolve into a thousand molecules, amazed at how three small words can completely alter my state of being.
“I think I love you, too,” I whisper.

right thing, but you know what? I don’t care anymore. I don’t want to be right, I don’t want to be good. I wasn’t supposed to have you any more than you were supposed to have me. And if you can’t forgive me for having a moment of weakness or a second of uncertainty, then maybe you’re right, maybe I don’t know you at all. But don’t think that I don’t want you, because I do and maybe I’m just not as good at saying it out loud. I want you forever, Ash, but that’s not going to happen and I get that. But I’ll take you for as much time as I can have, and I won’t waste a single second of it.”

What, because I was trying to be responsible? Because I made a mistake? Well, guess what—I’m human. I’m not perfect. I was trying to do the

“What were you thinking about?” he asks. “When you were playing. It was like you were somewhere else.”
“I was imagining that I was back at Southgate—that was my holding facility—and I was playing for the girls there. They liked to listen to me practice.”

“If there was any way I could stay with you, I would. I—I’m so proud to be a part of this family. Please know that.”

wonder if they even want to see me, if I’ve become like a stranger to them. Have I changed from who I used to be? I’m not sure if I can remember who I used to be. What if they don’t even recognize me?