“They're gone. I let them chase me. I led them like a sunbeam and vanished like a shadow.”

“No one likes them, because their ways are different,' Drina explained. 'Just like the Roamers - no one likes us either. So we have to like each other.”

“And suddenly, in the place of the woman-shape made of shadow, there was something else. Something huge, something ugly. Linay flung up both hands. The thing screamed like a hawk and opened to wings: one white as a death cap, one clotted in shadow. The wings came together and the whole pond shuddered.Something hit Kate's ear and shoulder and smashed to the deck by her feet. It was a swallow, dead. She could hear them falling all over the pond.”

“- the rusalka was kneeling beside Plain Kate on the deck. She was made of fog and shadow until Kate caught her eye, and then, all at once, she became human. She was young, mischievously sad, a fox in a story. Kate fell in love with her. And then she was gone.”

“Your shadow is bought and paid for, and your death will not remit that payment. You can go shadowless into the shadowless world, and your death will only be one last dark thing on my long dark road. It will hurt me but I do not care. It is all but over.”

“Go fast, Plain Kate, and travel lightLearn to walk the shadowy nightWithout a shadow, flee from lightBecome a shadow, truly”

“Witch, fish, flinch, kiss – won't you let me grant your wish?”