Alexandra Bracken

“Why are you so weird?""Because my weird has to be able to cancel out your weird, Lady Cross-stitch.""At least what I do is considered an art form.""Yes, in ye olde medieal Europse you would've been quite the catch-”

“But there was another, secret Ruby. This one was as thin as a wisp of air, and had struggled for so long just to be. This was the one that Liam carried with him, without knowing. The one that would ride in his back pocket, whisper words of encouragement, tell him he was born to chase the light.”

“Cause, frankly, the way I see it, you and me? Inevitable.”

“If there was one good thing that came out of all this, it was that I got to meet you. I would go through it all again - I would, as long as it meant I'd met you.”

“That was the Liam Stewart way of saying, Hi, darlin', missed you something fierce.”

“I had to be alone for a little while, but I'm okay now.""All right. But next time, don't go where I can't find you.”

“Where did she come from, and where can I find one?""Picked this one up at a gas station in West Virginia, bargain price. Last one on the shelf, sorry.”

“Try to imagine where we'd be without you, darlin', and then maybe you'll see just how lucky we got.”

“We want you. We wanted you yesterday, we want you today and we'll want you tomorrow. There's nothing you could do to change that.”

“Where in the world did you get that dress?""Present from Zu.""You look like you want to throw it in a fire.""I can't promise there won't be an unfortunate accident later on.”

“I can't do this anymore," I cried, "Why won't you just leave me alone?"Because you would never leave me.”

“I think maybe the most frustrating feeling in the world is to have something to say but not know how to put it into words. To have lived through something but not be able to get it out of you before it festers.”

“Because, my weird has been able to cancel out your weird, Lady Cross-Stitch.”

“That was not like riding a bike, you asshole!”

“Dreaming led to disappointment, and disappointment to a kind of depressed funk that wasn’t easy to shake. Better to stay in the gray than get eaten by the dark.”

“We have no idea, but its not like we're going to win any awards for normalcy anytime soon. So you get into people's heads? The two of us can throw people around like toys. Zu once blew up an AC unit, and all she did was walk by it.”

“...crackers..." a voice breathed out nehind us, "yesss..."Both of us turned, watching as Chubs twisted around in his seat and settled back down, still fast asleep. I pressed a hand over my mouth to keep from laughing. Liam rolled his eyes, smiling. "He dreams about food," he said. "A lot.”

“No spinning," I said. I wasn't sure my head or heart could take it. Up close, he was so warm, and so beautiful. I was already dizzy enough.”

“When a girl cries, few things are more worthless than a boy.”

“We'll just have to try to make better mistakes tomorrow.”

“Maybe nothing will ever change for us,” he said. “But don’t you want to be around just in case it does?”

“But inside or out, I was alone, and I was beginning to wonder if I always had been, if I always would be.”

“He's so busy looking inside people to find the good that he misses the knife they're holding in their hand.”

“Ruby, give me one reason why we can’t be together, and I’ll give you a hundred why we can. We can go anywhere you want. I’m not your parents. I’m not going to abandon you or send you away, not ever.”

“Don’t be scared. Don’t let them see.”

“I pulled myself from his mind, day by day, piece by piece, memory by memory, until there was nothing of Ruby left to weigh him down or keep him bound to my side..”

“I hugged him without any kind of fear or self-consciousness, fiercely, with a rush of emotion that almost brought tears to my eyes."I could kiss you!" Chubs cried."Please don't!" I gasp out, feeling his arms tighten around my ribs to the point of cracking them.”

“It feels like we should do something," he said. "Like, send her off on a barge out to sea and set her on fire. Let her go out in a blaze of glory."Chubs raised an eyebrow. "It's a minivan, not a Viking.”

“But hey, what's life without a little adversity?"That had to have been the fakest attempt at optimism since my fourth grade teacher tried reasoning that we were better off without the dead kids in our class because it'd mean more turns on the playground swings for the rest of us.”

“Never, never, never. I am never going to forget you.”

“Did you know...you make me so happy that sometimes I actually forget to breath? I'll be looking at you, and my chest will get so tight...and it's like, the only thought in my head is how much I want to reach over and kiss you.”

“Let's carpe the hell out of this diem.”

“I'm a monster, you know. I'm one of the dangerous ones.No you aren't, he promised. Your one of us.”

“The Darkest Minds tend to hide behind the most unlikely faces.”

“They were never scared of the kids who might die, or the empty spaces they would leave behind. They were afraid of us-the ones who lived.”

“No part of you is dark or ugly,' I said sharply, squeezing his hand. 'Not to me, not ever. Do you understand?”

“Owain told me about the beautiful, fair-haired Vesta. It took me several minutes to work out that Vesta was a horse, and that Owain was possibly in love with her.”

“What good is strength if you have no sense?”

“He held me against him gently, as if I was glass - as if I could shatter and fall away from him at any moment and leave him breathless and alone once more.”

“If you're going to knock down my suggestion, you'd better have one to replace it.”

“Real friends are hard to come by, and as annoying as Henry is, he'd throw himself in front of dragon's fire for you.""And that's the definition of a real friend?""Oh, yes, just ask Owain." He laughed.”

“Owain crossed his arms over his chest. "I've gone straight. Only good, clean jobs for me now.""So, in other words," North said, "you're living in poverty?”

“You're a wizard," I snapped. "Can't you just use magic to make your own food?""Ah, yes," he retorted. "Because mud pies are so very delicious and the wind fills empty stomachs quite nicely.”

“I'm trying to feel sorry for you, really I am,"North said."If you wait just a moment I'm sure the tears will come.”

“You get a good review, and it’s like crack. You need another hit. And another. And another. I know authors are like Tinkerbell and generally need applause to survive, but it’s a slippery slope.”

“Ah, I thought, feeling the first brush of tingling warmth as we fell into the unknown. Magic.”

“Well, have you ever thought of bathing?' I asked, turning away. 'No one wants to hire a wizard who smells worse than their outhouse. And who knows what creatures are living in that hair?”

“He's just like a stallion. Wild and kicking on the outside, but a heart soft as satin on the inside. Just waiting for the right girl to break him in.”

“He doesn't bring many girls round unless they're part of a job - but also 'cause his smell can sometimes kill kittens.”

“It's in our blood to start again.”