Kendare Blake

“If your mom's a witch, what does that make you? Harry Potter?”

“Can you fight?"Jestine nods in my direction. "I can take Cas on pretty easily.""Is that supposed to impress me?”

“You'd better come in handy. Something tells me we won't have time to be saving damsels in distress."Anna's brows knit. "Damsels? You get sliced open, burned, and dashed against the rocks about a thousand times or so. Then we'll see who the damsel is.”

“I feel … sane. Is that possible?”

“You’re the voiceof reason. You think of the things we forget about.”

“I never thought I’d get to do that.”

“I’m not afraid. Despite the searing between my eyes andthe knowledge that something is coming for me, somethingthat could easily rip out my spleen and pop it like a waterballoon, I am not afraid. She’s with me. She’s my purposeand we’re going to save each other. We’re going to saveeveryone. And then I’m going to convince her that she’ssupposed to stay here. With me.”

“Having no choice doesn’t seem fair.But having all of them isn’t really easier.”

“Death is my world.”

“Do you see what I do?”

“Don’t be afraid of the dark, Cas. But don’t let them tell you that everything that’s there in the dark is also there inthe light. It isn’t.”

“My dad always said that water makes the dead feel safe. Nothing draws them more. Or hides thembetter.”

“I like it more to come to a place like this, where the scent of deathis carried to you on every seventh breath.”

“Cassio,” she whispers. “Get me out of here.”

“Arthur without Excalibur was still Arthur.”

“What?" she asks, but I don't answer. Instead I kiss her, one time, and try to tell her in that single gesture everything that she'll forget as soon as she turns away. I tell her I love her. I tell her I'll miss her. And then I let her go.”

“In the sixth row of the theater, in the third chair in, Anna winks at me. Or maybe she just blinks. I can't tell. She's missing half of her face.”

“Chef?" Carmel exclaims. "I could give a shit about a chef. I'm going to find the most expensive thing in that kitchen, eat one bite, and throw the rest on the floor. Then I'm going to break some plates.”

“She crossed over death to call me. I crossed through Hell to find her.”

“If you’ve been reading the Mortal Instruments for any length of time, you know that only two things are certain: Dead doesn’t necessarily mean dead, and you never know whose blood is going to wind up running through your veins.”

“Damsels? You get sliced open, burned, and dashed against rocks about a thousand times or so. Then we'll see who the damsel is.”

“You'd better eat that," she says."I'm taking it easy on my stomach," I protest. "Come on. It just had a knife in it.”

“Without a word, we start to walk together down the long hall. I'm so pent up and irritated with this place; I want to kick down the closed doors and break up a prayer circle, maybe juggle the athame with a couple of candles just to see the horrified looks on their faces and hear their screams of "Sacrilege!”

“Jestine and I lock eyes. She's going to look away first. Even if my eyeballs have to completely dry out.”

“I want to cross my arms and say things like, "Don't come back if you're not going to stay!" and "If you think that nothing's changed, you're wrong." But she probably heard all this stuff from Thomas already. I wasn't the boyfriend. I don't know why I feel like I should get the chance to yell at her too.Jesus. I have become the thing they call the third wheel.”

“Guys," he says. "After this is over, can we go get a burger or something?""You're thinking about food now?" Carmel asks."Hey, you haven't spent the last three days fasting and doing herbal rue steams and drinking nothing but Morfran's gross chrysanthemum purification potions." Carmel and I grin at each other in the mirror. "It isn't easy becoming a vessel. I'm freaking starving.”

“This is as close as I've ever heard to a Thomas and Carmel argument. And as special as it is to listen to your friends argue over whether or not you have a mental illness, I'm starting to get the urge to go back to class.”

“She's liked you since chemistry last semester," Carmel says, scowling."Then you should have told her what an ass I am. Made me sound like a moronic jerk.""Better to let her see it for herself.”

“We walk around like a photograph that my dad's been cut out of.”

“The accusations make me want to be kid again. Why isn't my mommy calling them big fat liars?”

“They shouldn't be allowed to teach math so early in the morning.”

“It's the wrong way. She's farther away from the door now. It occurs to me that some people only have book smarts.”

“Part of her followed him, wherever it was that he went.”

“As we look at each other, something inside me is trying to click, trying to fall into place. I feel it in my mind and in my chest, like a puzzle piece you know has to go somewhere so you keep trying to push it in from all different angles. And then, just like that, it fits. So perfect and complete that you can't imagine how it was without it there, even seconds ago.”

“What is it about the sight of your mother that makes everything fireside-warm and full of dancing Muppets?”

“But I don't think she ever figured on raising a son by herself. Her family was supposed to form a circle. Now we walk around like a photograph that my dad's been cut out of.”

“I'm no superhero. If anything I'm Rorschach from Watchmen. I'm Grendel. I'm the survivor in Silent Hill.”

“His skin is black as a struck match, cracked and oozing liquid metal heat, like he's covered by a cooling layer of lava. The eyes stand out bright white. I can't make out from this distance if they have corneas. God I hope they have corneas. I hate that creepy weird-eye shit.”

“cas, superheroes go to college too" " I'm not a superhero mum ”

“It crouches like a spider, waiting for us ti get close enough, pretending to be inanimate.”

“I live dangerously enough. Now what's this about condoms or tigers?”

“But the mall is a thing that should not be suffered. Except maybe for Cinnabon.”

“Fear kept you sharp, that it kept you steadfastly holding on to your life.”

“If I allowed it, he'd strap on a proton pack and follow me around the country”

“She raises her brows at Thomas and Carmel."How do you want to room? The two of you and the two of us? Or boys in one, girls in the other?""Boys in one," I say quickly."Right. Back in a minute." Jestine gets up to make the arrangements, leaving me with my gaping friends."Where'd that come from?" Carmel asks."Where'd what come from?"As usual, playing dumb gets me nowhere.”

“I don't believe that." She seems like suck a force,this reasonable girl who kills with a turn of her fingers. She would have left all this behind, if she had the chance. "I honestly don't remember," she sighs "I don't think I was strong in life. Now it seems like I loved every moment, that every breath was charmed and crisp." she clasps her hands comically to her chest and breaths in deep through her nose, then blows it out in a huff. "I probably didn't. For all my dreams and fancies, I can't recall being...what would you call it? Perky?”

“I love her.” “She’s dead.” “That doesn’t mean to me what it does to other people.”

“I’ll be here if he needs me. I’ll watch his back.” Carmel smiles. “Better watch all sides. He can be downright clumsy sometimes.”

“It’s true what they say about answers only leading to more questions. There will always be more to find out, more to learn, more to do.”

“This is weird. There's a dead woman in front of me like dozens of other dead women I've seen. But this one is a queen, and a famous one. If it's possible to be starstruck by the dead, then I guess that's what's happening.”