“I shook my head. His body felt so strong and alive next to me, an electric current bounced between us. "I don't need dozens of wishes fulfilled. I'm with you. There's nothing else I want.”

“He nodded, his forehead fused with mine. "My head fogs when you kiss me like that. I can't think," he murmured."It does?" I grinned. "I like making your head fog." I kissed him again.”

“...His gaze seemed to say what I felt: looking at you eases everything inside of me.”

“In your heart of hearts you don't want to see that happen." "No. But sometimes I wish he'd learn a lesson and shape up." "Sometimes that's all it takes. But sometimes the road is much longer. Zoe, you have to be patient. Have faith." "How can I have faith in him when he's not trying?" "Do you know he's not trying?" "He's not changing, is he?" "Zoe." He stepped closer and though he didn't touch me, his nearness swiped away my anger. "Change isn't as easy as snapping your finger." "It's easy if you just decide to do something. Come on Matthias, everybody's got their turning point, their rock bottom or whatever you want to call it.""And for everyone it's different. If we all learned the lesson the first time around the track, there'd be no need for a stadium, for coaches, for cheerleaders, for those people who maintain the field so we can pick ourselves up and try again.”

“I'll go. Anywhere you ask. But I couldn't say that to him. Even if I felt like I could follow him to Mars, I wouldn't tell him. My will was the one thing I was not prepared to give anyone.”

“I want to be the one protecting you.”

“More than anything, I wanted someone to understand what was inside me.”