“It was harder to let yourself sink if someone else needed you to be their rock.”

“The world is bigger and harder to understand than you think... You have to keep your mind as wide-open as your eyes, because almost nothing is what it seems.”

“Sometimes people say terrible things when they're scared. They don't mean to, but they can't help it. They lash out because if they can see that their words hurt someone else, it makes them feel as if they aren't completely powerless.”

“Closure isn't closure until someone's ready to close the door.”

“Courage is tricky, oily. Easy to drop, easy to misplace." "I thought that if you had courage you always had it.". . ."Lilah, nothing is always there. Not courage, not joy, not hate or hope or anything else. We find courage, lose it, sometimes misplace it for years, and sometimes live in its grace for a while.”

“When Chong made to sit down next to her, Lilah drew her knife and stabbed the point into the earth between them."I can see that you need some quiet time," he said and scuttled quickly away.”

“Basher shook his head. "No, we climbed in through a ground-floor guest bedroom all ninja-like. Snuck up the back stairs.""Then you might be the cavalry," said Tom, "but I'm Santa Claus. Let's go downstairs and open some presents.”