Joss Stirling

“They grabbed me and up I went. My shriek probably could've been heard in England. It certainly brought the basketball coach and the rest of the boys running in the belief that someone was being brutally murdered.I don't think Mrs. Green will be picking me for the squad.”

“Think about it: the chances of meeting your other half are tiny. Most of us are doomed to knowing there's something better out there but we can't discover it.”

“She looked fragile. Alone. Prisoner in the room through the mirror; an Alice who never made it back through the looking-glass.”

“Did you know that chocolate had special chemicals in it to make you feel happy?""I don't need an excuse for chocolate.”

“Yeah, really scary," agreed Zoe, struggling not to laugh. "Like Bambi with an Uzi.”

“Get out of here. Yoda so does not have an English accent!''Other than that you're saying I'm a dead ringer?''If the shoe fits.''Sheesh, I hate tall girls.”

“Wisdom you speak, Obi Tina.''None of that - I'm the one who gets to speak backwards - no, we're both wrong - that's the little green guy, Yoda.''You're right. So I just get to pout and act badly when you try and teach me anything.''Try channelling Luke rather than Annakin - the outcome is better.”

“Fine, I'll teach you,''Besides, there's only so many times a girl wants to fall on her butt in front of the boy she's out to impress.”

“Trace is cooking Nonna's lasagna.""Wow. I must see this.""He was wearing her little apron and everything.""Got a camera?”

“You pushed it too far. You shouldn't take the same risk again.""Says the guy who got shot.”

“Zed and Sky had stayed behind and were chatting with Will, Sky sitting on Zed's knee as if nothing was going to get them apart again in a hurry. Victor and Uriel were playing cards at the kitchen table. Trace looked cute in an apron, chopping vegetables with a surgeon's precision.”

“Saul tapped his wife's obstinate chin. "Mrs. Benedict, you certainly are. You promised to obey.""That was thirty years ago! Before the wedding ceremony caught up with the modern age.""Well, I for one am holding you to that. Gondola for two, in the moonlight, with champagne and roses.”

“He said he needed to unwind. He was furious we all let you go so far. That boy would stop you so much as breaking a nail if he could.”

“I've just had a really evil idea.""My favourite kind”

“I wasn’t sure, but I thought it kind of suited me. With the right shoes and everything.” I displayed the new blue pumps. “I wanted to look, you know, pretty.”Yves gaped. I felt a little bit sorry for him. “Um…Phee, I don’t know what to say.” I let my bright expression dim. “You… you think I look horrible in it?” My voice rose in a convincing squeak of distress.He put his hands on my soulders. “No, you look great. You always look great, no matter what you’re wearing.”Zed laughed. “Ouch. Wrong thing to say.”

“So, Zed, isn’t this a killer outfit?”“Certainly a killer, baby.”“Good, because I’ve bought another five just like it.”“You horrible, teasing fairy. If you really have more of those fashion disasters in your bags, I’m gonna hang you on top of the family Christmas tree in December.”

“Oh my gosh, don’t you both look pretty!” We looked like rejects from the auditions for The Sound of Music.“I will have to buy them – they are meant to be yours!” Karla waved her credit card around like a wand.“What a shame they didn’t have one in green for me. But then, it is a young girl’s style. I would’ve looked foolish.”

“Sky. Hope mixed with horror as I searched for Zed, quessing he would not have let his soulfinder walk into this situation alone. I finally identified him as the heavily bearded drummer in the flowery shirt and, yes, socks and sandals. I bit my tongue, repressing the absurd desire to laugh at his fashion sacrifice for our cause.”

“Xav tugged Yves off me and handed me the call button. “You’ll be needing this, Phee, when my irritating little squirt of a brother bothers you again. Just press and the nurses will come running. One of them looks like a pro-wrestler, so she’ll make short work of him.”

“How am I going to help you?”“You are going to jump.”“Ha.”“You are.”“Have you done this before?”“Yeah, with fruit.” That was Xav.“And why am I not reassured?”

“You…you want me to argue with you? I thought you wanted me to understand you.”

“I’m so pleased you’re such a quick judge of character. You’ve got him tagged.”“Yep, toe-tagged, in the freezer, then buried six feet under.”

“Glancing in through the open door to Xav’s room, I saw Zed stretched out on the queen mattress, his arm hugging a pillow as if he felt Sky’s absence at his side.”

“But I’ve kept first of March as my birthday as I like to tease Zed about dating an older woman. And my parents wouldn’t understand if I told them about the soulfinder bond and tried to change it.”“They don’t know?”“Well, I think they’ve picked up that there’s something special between Zed and me but I’m not sure how I’d even start to explain to non-savants. I was exactly overjoyed when Zed filled me in about it all the first time.”“What did you do?”“Thumped him with a shopping bag and told him he was a jerk.”“Ouch.”

“So you got Phoenix back,” declared Karla, clapping her hands in delight. “That’s lovely.”“I’m more on loan,” I muttered.“Yeah, my little library book.”

“Just, in future, an ‘I’m-not-going-to-get-myself-killed’ note would be appreciated.”

“I revised my opinion that the girl was timid. She appeared to have her giant well under control and a disturbing ability to know what I was feeling.”

“Xav bounded out behind him. “Yeah, Phee equals You-She squared. I’ve been working on that one: like it?”

“Nice. Like the new look. He didn’t sound as if he liked it one tiny bit. He sounded fit to be tied down and given a dose of sedatives.”

“I unbuttoned my white shirt and reknotted it under by breasts. I felt like one of those circus 'quick change' acts – ta-dah, no more Wimpy Wendy, now we have Slinky Phee rising from the ashes.”

“I caught a glimpse of him thinking of the final combat in the movies, Harry versus Voldemort, Spider-Man versus the Green Goblin.”

“Xavier, you have given me more grey hairs than all my sons put together.’ Saul frowned, then corrected himself. ‘To be fair, you and Zed. Just try not to add to them tonight.”

“I wasn't thinking all of them—just Zed and Victor. Zed as the seventh son has a touch of most of our skills and can hold us together when we do a joint investigation. He’s a pain in the neck but a useful one.”

“...I want you to be as happy as I am.""Trust me, that wouldn't be the case if I found myself shackled to Xav Benedict by a quirk of fate.”

“With kisses like that, I wish this was the Universe where you were my soulfinder.”

“The no-kiss rule starts when we’re home and I’ve found you a class,’ Sky said smugly. ‘Read the small print.’Zed folded his arms and pushed back his empty plate. ‘She won’t last.”

“If there’s one thing I learned, it is that blood families can sometimes be the pits; it’s the one you make for yourself that really gives you a home and people to love.”

“Even geniuses could get things wrong-look at Einstein's unfortunate choice of a hairdresser.”

“How touching. I think I'm gonna throw up.”

“I'm a big boy. I can take it.You got into a fight.I'm also stupid.”

“I'm not afraid of the dark.I am. Humor me.”

“I...I'm sorry to come like this,' I murmured.'Stop being so damn British about it-you don't need to apologize. Ssh, it's fine.”

“I hadn't hold out much hope for myself; if my counterpart existed, he'd be amazingly talented to make up for my shortcoming, and that would condemn me to a life of living in his shadows; or he'd match my feeble powers and be so weak that we'd barely sense each other.”

“I am equivalent of what in the Harry Potter world is called a sqib. A damp Squib. As the seventh child, all had expected me to come loaded with the whole box of fireworlks. Instead they got a girl who could tell you where you left your keys. Yes, that's right. I'm equivalent of a whistling key fob.”

“Hell-on-skis, can you hear me? This is flying cupcake.”

“Xav!Got you. Not letting you go.I realised I wasn't alone in mental deep space; he had always been there and could pilot me home.”

“Yves. You are goint to love him all over again when you meet him, believe me. You're married.' 'I'm what? But I can't be more than eighteen!' 'My son is very persuasive,' said Saul proudly.”

“Xav sprinkled olive oil on his lettuce. 'Lola was very particular that it all had to fit properly.' 'Lola?' squeaked Diamond. I wanted to warn her not to rise to the bait Xav was dangling in front of her but it was too late. Xav added some Parmesan and pepper. 'Suspicious, Diamond? You should be. This is a bachelor party I'm organizing, not a school outing, and it is going to tick all of Trace's boxes. Lola is either a very efficient water sports instructor or an exotic dancing girl; I'll leave it your imagination.' I rolled my eyes at Diamond. 'Myabe she's both. I mean the guys will really go for that, I guess. Don't worry,Di, Luigi and his crew will not disappoint us girls.' Luigi was in fact Contessa Nicoletta's little bespectacled chef with whom I had been consulting about the menu for Friday, but the Benedicts weren't to know that. 'He has promised to provide something suitably spicy for our tastes.”

“He[Crystal's father] had found my height amusing, referring to me as his "little girl" at every opportunity even though I could see the bald patch on top of his head fringed by curls when we stood side by side.”

“I shook my head, folding my arms around my waist. He was wrong; he was the one offering fairy dust, Peter Pan offering to carry me off to the Neverland of soulfinders and happily ever after. But he was too late. Last night i had to grew up and I now knew that such dreams did not exist; real life was more like living with Captain Hook's mercenary pirates than playing happy families in a treehouse”