Celia Thomson

“he never really got over how she sparkled”

“The first time she'd gotten a short haircut-- paid for with her own money, thank you very much-- her mother had demanded to know if she was a lesbian.”

“Chloe thought madly about tiny FM radios that she could hide in her ear and pull her hair over to hide, about getting very badly drunk or stoned, about getting one of the loopier Wiccans at school to put her into a trance before the reading. Anything that could get her through it with her sanity intact and a straight face.”

“Flying daggers don't kill people, Chloe thought, leaping sidewise at the last minute to avoid one, grabbing the pedestrian rail. People kill people.”

“I think," Paul said delicately, "she might be a little… concerned about your current choice of boyfriends." Which one? Chloe almost asked."Alyec? What the fuck, man? I wasn't pissed or rude to her face about Ottavio or that loser Steve who brought fucking ecstasy into my mom's house and tried to sell it at my Halloween party." Paul nodded again, getting quieter as she got louder. He did not disagree. "Alyec is completely hot, doesn't take himself seriously, and doesn't deal drugs. Look, whatever," Chloe said, calming down. She could feel her fingertips beginning to itch again. "I think she's acting like a real bitch about everything, and frankly, I don't have time to deal with her shit right now. If she's not going to be around to lend an ear, at least she can keep her distance and shut the fuck up.”

“How are you going to keep the lions from attacking people?" "Big fences? Signs that say, Don't Jog at Night by Yourself, Dumbass?""You really don't feel anything for the guy who was almost killed?" Brian asked quietly."Of course I do," Chloe sighed. "The poor shuck wasn't really doing anything wrong-- aside from buying a new condo recently built up against parkland, which merits some kind of punishment. But is hunting down and killing the cat the right answer?" "The problem is that it's no longer afraid of humans, and now it has a taste of their blood.”

“I'm meeting Ame at the Beanery first," Chloe responded."I don't want to sound old-fashioned, but--" "It's gonna stunt my growth?" "It's a gateway drug.”

“Coffee leads to cigarettes leads to cocaine and crystal methamphetamine.”