“It's not big," Veck said, "but it's flawless. That was important to me. I wanted to give you something...flawless”

“Tell me this isn't permanent""No, you have to give me my weapon back at the end."Har-har, hardy-har-har. "I'm talking to Jim.""No, it's not," the angel answered from out of Veck's mouth. "I can get free as easily as I got in.""You sure about that?""Nope.""Fabulous.”

“I… What are you saying, Zsadist?" she stammered, even though she'd heard every word.He glanced back down at the pencil in his hand and then turned to the table. Flipping the spiral notebook to a new page, he bent way over and labored on top of the paper for quite a while. Then he ripped the sheet free.His hand was shaking as he held it out. "It's messy."Bella took the paper. In a child's uneven block letters there were three words: I LOVE YOUHer lips flattened tight as her eyes stung. The handwriting got wavy and then disappeared. "Maybe you can't read it," he said in a small voice. "I can do it over." She shook her head. "I can read it just fine. It's… beautiful.""I don't expect anything back. I mean… I know that you don't… feel that for me anymore. But I wanted you to know. It's important that you knew.”

“Text me when you want to see me again, he signed. I'm giving you your space, but know this: I will wait forever for you.”

“I was living with this sense that there was something going on, something important, but I didn't know what it was. It was like...I knew the secret was there, and it was a dark one, but I just couldn't reach it. Nearly drove me mad.”

“Okay, big guy, as much as I'm enjoying this, I don't think my tan's improving much considering it's pitch dark." [Butch to Vishous]"You don't have a tan.""See? This is getting me nowhere. So how about we head home?”

“I want that," he said fiercely. "What?" "For you to be around." Her breath caught. A tenuous hope took fire in her chest. "Really?" He closed his glowing eyes and shook his head. "Yeah. It's fucking stupid. It's crazy. It's dangerous." "So it'll fit right into your life script." He laughed and looked down at her. "Yeah, pretty much.”