“But when Tel Hasani wasn't looking, he cast a worried eye over the snake, just incase there were any family resemblances.”

“A hand closed over my wrist. I looked over, and there was Lilly, cast in moonlight and blue, hair snaking around her, a siren calling to me: 'come on.”

“He looked around the room at all the stuff. But it wasn't just stuff and it wasn't just any girl grenade that had gone off in there. It was Nikki McKinney grenade.”

“Today is the end of the world, but I made next weeks schedule anyway, just incase....”

“He told me about his slow realization that when one person in a family was sick, the whole family was sick. In Jason's case, the sick person was his father, who was nice enough when he was sober, but mean as a snake when he was drunk.”

“You were the only one I saw when I closed my eyes," he said bringing his hand up to her chin and tilting her head up to look into his crystal clear blue eyes."Then why wasn't I enough when they were open?" she asked another tear welling in her eyes.”