“FLY THE PLANE, MADDIE.”

“How did you ever get here, Maddie Brodatt?""'Second to the right, and then straight on till morning,'" she answered promptly-it did feel like Neverland."Crikey, am I so obviously Peter Pan?"Maddie laughed. "The Lost Boys give it away."Jamie studied his hands. "Mother keeps the windows open in all our bedrooms while we're gone, like Mrs. Darling, just in case we come flying home when she's not expecting us.”

“Maddie took the top of her egg off. The hot bright yolk was like summer sun breaking through cloud. The first daffodil in the snow. A gold sovereign wrapped in a white silk handkerchief. She dipped her spoon in it and licked it.”

“And this, even more wonderful and mysterious, is also true: when I read it, when I read what Julie's written, she is instantly alive again, whole and undamaged. With her words in my mind while I'm reading, she is as real as I am. Gloriously daft, drop-dead charming, full of bookish nonsense and foul language, brave and generous. She's right here. Afraid and exhausted, alone, but fighting. Flying in silver moonlight in a plane that can't be landed, stuck in the climb—alive, alive, ALIVE.”

“One moment flying in green sunlight, then the sky suddenly grey and dark.”

“He just put his hand through the bulkhead, exactly as she'd done, and squeezed my shoulder. He has very strong fingers.And he kept his hand there the whole way home, even when he was reading the map and giving me headings.So I am not flying alone now after all.”

“And I envied her that she had chosen her work herself and was doing what she wanted to do. I don't suppose I had any idea what I 'wanted' and so I was chosen, not choosing. There's glory and honor in being chosen. But not much room for free will.”