Megan Shepherd

“Analyzing, always analyzing— I couldn’t feel safe until I knew every aspect of what I was facing.”

“The ways of men and women are such a puzzle. And I could barely decipher my own feelings, let along anyone else's.”

“Paranoia had crept into that part of my brain usually reserved for reason.”

“My heartbeat faltered. He pulled away, taking a little piece of my heart with him.”

“I ran after him, but he was already back with the others. My footsteps echoed in the hollow space below the dock. I stopped. If he'd wanted me to catch him, he'd have let me.”

“I folded my arm. "You know, I suspect you and Edward would be friends if it weren't for this place."His eyes were on fire. "It's not this island keeping us from being friends."My pounding heart stole the words to reply to that.”

“We're going to die, aren't we?" I asked bitterly. He held me so tight I could hardly breathe. But I wanted tighter still. "Not here. I swear it.”

“He left slowly, as if he had to pry himself away before he something improper. A growing part of me wished he'd stayed.”

“Thwack. The nail drove deeper, as if Montgomery was driving it into my very heart. How hard was it to fix a loose nail? He hit it again and again, determined to set that bookshelf straight. Determined to do something right, after so much wrong.”

“A scream hurled up my throat, but I never heard it. I'd slipped into a welcoming darkness.”

“But I couldn't get the image out of my head of the beast strapped to the table, Father humming while the candle wax slowly dripped, and Montgomery assisting. I felt betrayed, as though the boy I'd idolized was nothing more than a fantasy.”

“The rising and falling cadence of words, carried on the wind, spoken in a language other than human.”

“The last thing the justice system is, is just.”