“Oh gods, are you listening? A storm out at sea is one of your greatest creations. You should hear it praised. The sky is dark, almost as night, and the swells... they were taller than mountains.”

“Listen to me. I will spill my insides for you once only. We were three—I am the green, thegrowing, the day. I loved the moon, the silver night, and he loved the sunshine, fierce and hot, and sheloved me because the sun must love the day. And the sun and I stood in a valley of stone and faceddeath, because we wanted to spare the night, who had suffered a thousand deaths already, and we didn'twant him to bleed any more. But he would not allow it. He swooped from the sky and clenched deathin both hands, and we wore his blood like skin.”

“Oh—and you need to work on making my opinion more important than Josh’s, too. I know it’s a stretch—he’s your most intimate relationship to date, but when you’re balls deep in my ass, I’d prefer you not be wondering if it counts as a workout.”

“But see? Then you got all human on me the other night, and it's official. I'm there, Henry. I'm...I'm ready for the Henry lifestyle. And I know you've only gotten your toes wet in Lake Justin right now, but I want you to come in, take a swim, and build your house out here, okay?”

“I thought your boyfriend died?" Nicky asked, and it was actually a good question, and I was somad that I wasn't even embarrassed to answer him."We were three," I choked out. "I had a night lover and a day lover,” I said, and it felt likepoetry, just to say it there in public in the middle of the quad, under the foggy sun. "And they lovedeach other like night loves the day. And then the night lover died, and the day lover and I were naked inthe sunshine, with only ourselves for cover.”

“He didn’t scream hysterically or stand up and kick the headstone or any of that. He put his face on his knees and listened as the wind from the mountains mercilessly leveled everything in its path. He remembered the person who had helped him fly with the wind instead of being beaten down by it, and he cried quietly into his knees, finally knowing how the big of the sky could make a person feel as alone as a heartbeat in space.”

“I shall be your guide through the fields of frantic holiday shoppers. You will come to depend on me. I'll be your Sherpa through the human mountain, your faithful Saint Bernard, guiding you through the shopping Alps, your Strider, hauling your poor hobbit ass through the perils of Middle Earth-""My Gollum, prepared to dump my hobbit ass in the volcano," Hank finished, although it was hard because he was fighting laughter with every word.”