The Butcher's Masquerade (Dungeon Crawler Carl, #5)

by Matt Dinniman

Trauma does that, I thought. It’s an explosion with your heart at the center. It changes everything all at once.

This was also something that trauma could do. It could make you blind, and it could open your eyes wider than they’d ever been, all at the same time.

Hope is crucial, but it can also be poison if it is blind.

And it’s not just Ferdinand. This is typical of the entire species. Cats don’t ask for permission. They never apologize. They’re soulless murderers. All of them.

we wore masks so we could pretend for a little bit that we weren’t monsters. But she was wrong about that. She had it backwards. You’re wearing a mask right now, Donut, and you don’t know how to remove it. That’s okay. You don’t need to. Not yet. That mask is protecting you.”