“If by weirdo he meant that Nick didn’t play grab-ass with the wannabes on the street corner, didn’t yank at his crotch and call girls bitches, didn’t wear oversized jerseys and pretend to be a gangsta all day, then yeah, Nick had to agree.”

“Someone else has to be disseminating it. (Mark)Dis-a what? (Nick)Disseminating. It means distributing it. (Mark)Then why didn’t you say that? (Nick)Remind me to get him a word-of-the-day calendar. (Mark)”

“They didn’t agree on much. In fact, they didn’t agree on anything. They fought all the time and challenged each other ever day. But despite their differences, they had one important thing in common. They were crazy about each other.”

“I’m sorry, Nick,” I whispered, slipping his pendant from my neck. “I didn’t know what else to do.”

“Eleven thousand five hundred and fifty-one years old, and yes, I feel every day of it. (Acheron)Wow, I had no idea. Hell, I didn’t even know we had people back then. (Nick)Yeah, I was part of the original Bedrock crew who worked in the quarry on the back of dinosaurs and ran with the Flintstones. Barney Rubble was short, but he played a good game of stone-knuckle. (Acheron)”

“You are really starting to annoy me, Stanton.”Nick didn’t blink. “Good. By the end of the night I hope to finish the job.”