“This should be a pleasant little interview. All I have to do is put on my scary face.""You have a scary face?" Ingrid sounded skeptical."Yes," said Myfanwy indignantly. "I have a very scary face."Ingrid surveyed her for a moment. "You may wish to take off the cardigan then, Rook Thomas," she advised tactfully. "The flowers on the pocket detract somewhat from your menace.”

“And the minibar in my hotel room was mysteriously emptied.""By arcane forces beyond the understanding of normal human beings?" asked Myfanwy as she sifted through the in-box. It was the sort of question you learned to ask automatically when you worked with the Checquy."No, it was me," admitted Shantay without a shred of embarrassment.”

“Now, do you mind telling me why you have all these guns lying around? Are you afraid the paperwork will rise up against you?''Oh, no. I'm going to use the guns as paperweights.”

“So what do you do?' she asked. 'I sneak around at night, well, usually at night, and gather coins out of fountains', I said slowly, watching her face for judgement. She burst into laughter. 'Like spare change? You collect people's wishes? And you spend them on yourself?' 'They're not wishes' I said. 'They lose their symbolism once they hit corporate water. At that time they either become extra income for people who don't need it, or they can help me get along in the world.”

“According to Thomas, the city [of Bath] had once been a veritable hotbed of manifestations, with every sorcerer, bunyip, golem, goblin, pict, pixie, demon, thylacine, gorgon, moron, cult, scum, mummy, rummy, groke, sphinx, minx, muse, flagellant, diva, reaver, weaver, reaper, scabbarder, scabmettler, dwarf, midget, little person, leprechaun, marshwiggle, totem, soothsayer, truthsayer, hatter, hattifattener, imp, panwere, mothman, shaman, flukeman, warlock, morlock, poltergeist, zeitgeist, elemental, banshee, manshee, lycanthrope, lichenthrope, sprite, wight, aufwader, harpy, silkie, kelpie, klepto, specter, mutant, cyborg, balrog, troll, ogre, cat in shoes, dog in a hat, psychic and psychotic seemingly having decided that this was the hot spot to visit.”

“I laugh shakily. ‘You’re a little scary, Four.’‘Do me a favor,’ he says, ‘and don’t call me that.’‘What should I call you, then?’‘Nothing.’ He takes his hand from my face. ‘Yet.”

“Yes, Minister, it turns out that there was a mysterious force that caused that plane to crash. We call it gravity.”