“Dumb as he looked, he never missed an insult.Dr. Rowan musing about Simple Silas”

“Helplessly I look at him. He will never be just Rowan again. I will never be just Rhine. Everything has been tampered with.”

“What they never tell you about grief is that missing someone is the simple part.”

“He hated games they made the world look too simple. Chess, in particular, had always annoyed him. It was the dumb way the pawns went off and slaughtered their fellow pawns while the king lounged about doing nothing. If only the pawns would've united ... the whole board could've been a republic in about a dozen moves.”

“He stared at her face as if he wanted to peel it off andtake it home with him.What a gruesome thought, Rowan.”

“As he mused about these things, he realized that he had to choose between thinking of himself as the poor victim of a thief and as an adventurer in quest of his treasure.”