Sarah Rees Brennan

“They were standing in a very large room. The floorboards stretched in a pale expanse at their feet. There was so much dust on the floor that it had a pearly sheen.”Even you could not nap on this floor,” Kami told Angela.”I don’t know, a dust mattress might be very comfortable,” said Angela. ”Also possibly orthopedic.”

“He was always part of her thoughts, and now that he was real, he was inescapably part of her life, but it was as she had told her mother: saying he was part of her or that they were more than friends sounded like love, but it seemed like loss as well. All the words she knew to describe what he was to her were from love stories and love songs, but those were not words anyone truly meant.”

“The first touch of his mouth was gentle, light and sweet.Fun fact, Jared put in, Ash wet the bed until he was five. Kami spluttered out a laugh against Ash's lips.”

“He punched me in the face," Ash said, who understandably did not seem to find the situation humorous at all. "And then he yelled at me for sleeping with our personal trainer!""I was told breakup scenes were a good way to distract people," Jared said with beautiful simplicity."Ash looked so surprised," Holly said. "He had no idea what was going on. He said, 'I didn't sleep with our personal trainer! We don't even have a personal trainer!'"Angela and Holly giggled. Ash held the back of his hand to his bleeding mouth and glared. Jared was still grinning like a maniac. "In that case," he told Ash solemnly, "I will consider taking you back.”

“Who ever he is, I agree with your mother," said Dad as he entered the kitchen. "Stay away from him. Stay away from them all until you're of marrying age. Once you reach a nice, mature fifty-four, gentlemen callers will be welcomed here.”

“They aren't monsters!"Her mother whispered, "Yes, they are.”

“When Kami jumped over a style, he looked like he's never seen one before. "I have never seen one before," Jared said.”

“I was thinking.""I see no evidence of that, Jared." Kami said.”

“Honestly, Jared, one thing at a time. Why are you in a well with me? This is a really bad rescue!" [...]"I called the police as I was running to the well. I'm sure they're coming.""Did they say they were coming?" Kami asked suspiciously. "Or did you shout, 'Kami's in the well!' before jumping in the well too, thus loosing your phone and making sure the police think it was some kids playing a dumb joke?"Jared paused. [...] "Alternate plan," Jared said. "Do you have a very intelligent collie who might communicate through a system of barks to your parents that little Kami is in the well?”

“My current verdict would be: Crazy Eyes. Nice Ass.""I think I want that on my tombstone.”

“Also, you may not have noticed, but this is a cupboard.""I admit that our private office is of modest dimensions," Kami told him, "But that's the way we like it. Just because we're editors doesn't mean we need special privileges. We're not snobs.”

“Forest deep, silent bellsThere's a secret no one tellsValley quiet, water stillLynburns watching on the hillApples red, corn goldAlmost everyone grows old”

“Not doing things you can do is the whole point of laziness. Not doing something you can't do is just sensible.”

“They had to swing by Jared’s locker so he could grab his jacket. “A leather jacket,” Kami said as he shrugged into it. “Aren’t you trying a little too hard to play into certain bad boy clichés?”“Nah,” said Jared. “You’re thinking of black leather. Black leather’s for bad boys. It’s all in the color. You wouldn’t think I was a bad boy if I was wearing a pink leather jacket.”“That’s true,” Kami said. “What I would think of you, I do not know. So what does brown leather mean, then?”“I’m going for manly,” Jared said. “Maybe a little rugged.”“It’s bits of dead cow; don’t ask it to perform miracles.”

“I'm sorry about dragging you into my evil schemes with my masculine wiles. I didn't realise, um, the force of my own wiliness. I don't actually use my wiles a lot.”

“Kami: I beg you not to throw down with Angela.Jared: I know you want us to get on, but-Kami: She'll beat you down until you cry. I'll be so embarrassed for you.”

“I'd rather live laughing for one year than live without laughing for one hundred.”

“Oh, Rusty, why did you let her in?" Angela said. "We could have just lain down on the floor until she went away. We could've had a nice floor nap.""Have you guys eaten?" Kami asked. "I'm starving.""Cooking is so much trouble," Rusty said mournfully."You could order in," Kami suggested."Delivery people are so annoying," Angela responded.”

“Unfortunately, the headlights of the car were bright enough for them to see Mae's outfit quite clearly. "Oh my God," said Nick, and shut his eyes. Jamie gave a small, nervous laugh. "What?" Mae demanded. "Alan told us that we were supposed to dress as we truly are!" "And you felt that what you truly are is a Christmas tree with too much tinsel." Nick grinned. "Huh.”

“It's the closest place to Exeter they could have chosen," Alan said. "We can pick up Mae and Jamie on the way."Nick rolled his eyes. "Thrill me, why don't you.”

“Remember," he called. "Just be yourself, and everyone will love you!"Nick rolled his eyes and made a rude gesture, and Alan drove the car away laughing.”

“I've changed my mind," said Nick. "The demons can have you.”

“Well," Nick said as Alan gave him a stern look over the top of his glasses and Nick rolled his eyes and buckled his seat belt. "Let's examine the events of the past twenty-four hours in Exeter. Ravens in the kitchen, snakes in the living room, demon marks on you, magicians sending us stupid messages, and at the end of it all you got was the boy's telephone number.”

“All he said was, "Here, have your dinfast. Then we can start packing." "Dinfast," Nick repeated. "Dinner and breakfast!" Alan said triumphantly. "Like brunch." Nick subjected him to a long, judgemental stare. "There's something very wrong with you," he said at last. "I thought you should know.”

“Chimes?" Phyllis asked. "Chimes to call a lover? Chimes with the voice of a bird trapped in them? Chimes that play you whatever song you most desire to hear?" "No thanks," said Nick. "We've got MTV.”

“Merris, this is Mae and Jamie." Merris unbent slightly. "Alan's young lady, I presume?" Mae actually blushed. "Er - no." "Young Nicholas's, then," Merris said wearily. "What they all see in you, I cannot imagine." Nick leaned against the stall ansd smirked at her. "You'll never know until you try.”

“Well, there are always two dancers in two circles," Alan said, and went a little red. "Usually a girl and a guy dancing side by side. It's often couples, because, um - the demons are attracted to strong feelings, and the fever fruit lowers inhibitions, and, er-"It's all very Magical Circle Dancers Gone Wild," Nick interrupted, and tucked his knife away.”

“You're dressed for dancing," she said in her throaty stage voice. "Being undressed for dancing occured to me, but I didn't think Merris would like it.”

“Love always costs more than you can afford to pay," he said. "And it's always worth the price.”

“She clenched her fist in his T-shirt, put her other arm around those too-broad, too-real shoulders. When he tried to pull away, she held on tight. Kami felt the surrender in his mind a moment before he laid his face in the curve of her neck. The whole world was so real it hurt.Kami whispered into Jared's hair, "I'm always on your side.”

“Down the well," Angela repeated, and had to go sit down and hold on to her letter opener. It was in the shape of a dagger. Angela said holding it soothed her; seeing Angela hold it did not soothe Kami.”

“She overcame a moment of hesitation and glanced at Jared. All the lights in his crazy gray eyes were dancing. A shiver went through her, a ripple of his delight. She felt again the way she had at the Crying Pools and at her house, the thrill of sharing your secret soul and having someone think it was wonderful.”

“She walked beside Jared, four inches of rain-dashed darkness between her hanging wrist and his.”

“Have you seen a unicorn in the woods?""I imagine that's next," Jared muttered."Right," said Holly. "Well. If the unicorn is pink, about two feet tall, with a sparkly mane, we'll know my imaginary friend is real too.”

“If you’re calling her a floozy, I’m by way of being a bit of a floozy myself.” “Oh, Jared,” said Kami, who was well aware of his romantic experience, or total lack thereof. “You are not.” “Well, I have floozy ambitions.”

“I read books, but I do it because I want to - because it's like an escape in my head, like being with you.”

“There are none so deaf as those listening to ‘All by Myself’ over and over and over again.”

“Better overcautious than missing a jugular vein, as the saying goes."That was a very morbid saying. Maybe only vampire said it.”

“A lady’s success will so often be looked on with dark suspicion, while a dude’s success is looked on as his due.”

“Sorry-in-the-Vale, Sorriest River, Crying Pools," said Jared. "Is the quarry called Really Depressed Quarry?”

“While I was looking into Olivia's mad eyes and dreaming, my son left his game and his place by the fire. I didn't even notice as he went toward what I had thought was a bundle of rags. I didn't notice as he turned it over and drew back the blanket, lifted it carefully in his small arms.I only noticed when he spoke."Look, Daddy!"Then, too late, I turned around. I did not know what I was seeing, but even then I felt a sudden lurch of shock and dread. I felt as if I had looked away at a crucial moment and my child had fallen into the fire and been burned horribly.I saw my son, my Alan, my darling boy, and in his arms a creature with staring, terrible black eyes. Something that had not stirred or cried out even when Olivia threw it on the floor."Daddy," Alan said, glowing. "It's a baby.”

“There were stalls nestled around the castle the way the lights were, not in rows but in odd spots, as if the stalls had grown there or alighted on random places like birds. There was one stall with ringing chimes that was set halfway up a ruined wall, so the customers had to climb sliding pieces of slate to get to it. There were more stalls set in the grassy hollows among the stones and nestled into the corners of the walls. One woman had actually turned a ruined wall into her stall, brightly colored jars arranged on the jagged, protruding shards of stone.All through the fragments of a lost castle lit by magic moved the people of the Goblin Market. There was a man hanging up knives alongside wind chimes, which made dangerous and beautiful music as they rang together in the sea breeze. There was a boy who looked about twelve stirring something in a cauldron with a rich-smelling cloud handing over it, and bark cups ranged along his stall.”

“It looked like someone had been planting stars. The castle was in shreds, flagstone floors tiny islands in a sea of stones and wild grass, but clusters of lights were nestled on the castle floor and the earth of the cliffs alike, lanterns strung from the crumbling battlements.There were so many lights they cast a shimmering haze over everything, bathing the ruins in a pale glow. Mae walked, hardly aware that she was walking, through Tintagel Castle over stones washed in brightness”

“Nick was sitting on the slant of the pebble-smooth gray roof tiles with clouds wrapped around his wrists like pale ropes.”

“Annabel was trying to hide her sword under her suit jacket without much success. People were staring...And then they weren't. There were no people, as if the whole town had forgotten as one that these streets and this square had ever existed. The deserted street they were racing down seemed darker than the busy street they had left, as if light was lost with memory, as if they were running into oblivion, and Mae didn't care as long as they got there in time.”

“Also," Nick added curtly, "I'm sorry about your face."Jamie looked over his shoulder, and touched the demon's mark crawling along his jaw with the back of his hand. "Sorry about saving all our lives by doing something you had to do?""Oh no," Nick said blandly, "I just meant, you know. Generally."Jamie stared at him, shocked, and laughed. It was a real laugh, helpless and sweet, and Mae memorized it in case he died. Jamie by the river at dawn, laughing.”

“Jared told her he used to be an exotic dancer in San Francisco.''My body is a gift from God,' Jared said gravely. 'Except for my hips, which are clearly a gift from the devil.”

“Maybe he likes the look of Mae," Nick drawled."Don't be ridiculous."Nick raised his eyebrows. "Does he like the look of Jamie?”

“Nick subjected him to a long, judgmental stare. "There's something very wrong with you," he said at last. "I thought you should know.”

“She did know that she liked the way happiness flooded back into his face, eyes on hers suddenly, warm and private, as if he was about to lean over to her and whisper the best secret ever.”