“Above the rustic stone fireplace was a deer's head-but not an everyday deer's head. This mangy thing surveyed the room with a huge toothy grin. Either he had died with a smile on his face or the taxidermist had had a rare sense of humor. But the funniest thing was that, somehow, the ridiculous creature seemed to fit the room perfectly.”

“Henry turned as if to dart out of the room, then swung around and stared at them, a look of confusion passing over his freckled face, as if he had only now had cause to wonder why Will, Tessa, and Jem might be crouching together in a mostly disused storage room. "What are you three doing in here, anyway?"Will tilted his head to the side and smiled at Henry. "Charades," he said. "Massive game.”

“What are you doing here?" he questioned, noting her harried appearance. Wild strands of chestnut hair had escaped her sever chignon and her blue dress was gray with dust."What am I doing here? The question is, what are you doing here? And where's Willow? Was that her room you just came from?"Before he could answer, Miriam's eyes suddenly widened. "Good God, what is that?" She pointed at the grinning deer's head."That's just Hairy," Rider returned impatiently, "and,yes,that was Willow's room.”

“What he had was a sense that few things mattered much. That few people are to be feared. And so he now faced all such situations with a sense of exhausted resolve, and he dealt with everything head-on.”

“George had taken off all ten of his fingers and tied them into a bundle with what appeared to be either his own small intestines, or a guitar string; as I walked into the room, he lovingly placed the bundle on his head.”

“PERMALINK · 169465 · 15 HOURS AGO"She tried to feel sad, or guilty, or even to be angry about the way things had happened, but there frankly wasn’t much room in either her head or her heart for wishing or moping.”