“I want to die in my own way. It's my illness, my death, my choice. This is what saying yes means.”

“Cal says, "Do you want to see my Megazord? You'll have to come to my room because it's defending a city and if I move it, everyone will die.”

“Death straps me to the hospital bed, claws its way onto my chest and sits there.I didn't know it would hurt this much. I didn't know that everything good that's ever happened in my life would be emptied out by it.”

“Cal says that humans are made from the nuclear ash of dead stars. He says that when I die, I'll return to dust, glitter,rain. If thats true, I want to be buried right here under this tree. Its roots will reach into the soft mess of my body and suck me dry. I'll be re-formed as apple blossom. I'll drift down in the spring like confetti and cling to my family's shoes. They'll carry me in their pockets to help them sleep. What dreams will they have then?”

“It's all right, Tessa, you can go. We love you. You can go now.''Why are you saying that?''She might need permission to die, Cal.''I don't want her to. She doesn't have my permission.”

“It's utterly beautiful not to know my own edges.”

“. . . my bones they'll burn or bury. It'll be my death.”