“It was, come to think of it, a little like a kinder, gentler Psycho-Dad making one of his command decisions. Exactly the same, only without all the fuss and blood.”

“Why can't you like me?" he said, his voice breaking. His scent steamed then, hot and heady with a welter of contradictions: apples and fire and electric roil of those cold, black shadows. "Why can't you like me just a little?"She would never know how she might have answered, because he never gave her the chance.Instead, he kissed her.”

“So I need the story, Jenna. I need the truth.Right, like the two are the same thing.”

“It was that stages-of-anger thing. I was shocked and then I got pissed and then I fought like hell … and then I went numb. They called it acceptance, but it wasn’t. It’s what happens when you have only two choices: live with the monster, or kill yourself.”

“Those brain-zapped kids weren’t the only - or maybe even the worst - enemy.”

“The things you think about when you're a hair's breath away from getting yourself killed.”

“But sticking to rules just because they're there does not make them right. You need to learn when the rules should be broken.”