“I have the cedar box safely tucked away in my bedroom closet, but its ghosts follow me about the house, distracting me from my work, interrupting my train of thought, pulling at my limbs and hair, whispering gossip in my ear.”

“The air has a voice and it whispers trouble, trouble.”

“Even now I steal outdoors in the dead of night to sit on the tree swing and watch the shadows breathe in the moonlight.”

“Defiance may be the roughest path to beauty but, unfortunately, often it is the only path.”

“No, Blake, I trust you. I’d be honored to have an escort to my Escort. I’m a little afraid of the dark.” Livia tucked a lock of brown hair behind her ear.“I’m not afraid of the dark at all, so this way, milady, to your chariot.” Blake held out an elbow, formally.”

“My mother called the cops and demanded they remove me from the house. I was never sure if she had me removed because she was scared of me or mad that all her alcohol was in puddles mixed with glass and my blood. When the police and paramedics brought me into the sunlight, I saw. I saw the glass in my skin. The sun reveals what I really am, Livia. I hit a woman. My own mother. The glass and liquor seeped in, and I can’t get it out.”

“Please don’t think of me that way. Let me be the guy at the train station.”“You’re not the guy at the train station. You’re my Blake.”