“Okay, Ella. Is it possible for you to be any more vague?""Maybe," I say, smiling at her.”

“Thanks for looking out for her, Sage. You're okay. For a human."I almost laughed. "Thanks.""You can say it too, you know."I walked over to Latte and paused. "Say what?""That I'm okay...for a vampire," he explained. I shook my head, still smiling. "You'll have a hard time getting any Alchemist to admit that. But I can say you're okay for an irreverent party boy with occasional moments of brilliance.""Brilliant? You think I'm brilliant?" He threw his hands skyward. "You hear that, world? Sage says I'm brilliant.”

“Okay, so maybe sometimes the real world is smiles and miracles.”

“Okay, maybe I don't go around loving everybody I meet, maybe my smiles are hard to come by, but I do care for some people.”

“Nobody will ever hurt her. She’ll just smile her faint vague wonderful smile and walk away.”

“The smile made her want to hug him, and maybe love him up some more. Stupid smile.”