“In this world, you were either strong, or you were dead. you did what you had to if you wanted to survive. And i could barely take care of myself; i couldn't worry about someone else's insecurities.”

“Were you really not frightened?""Sometimes I was terrified, but that was the whole point.""You wanted to be afraid?" She couldn't imagine deliberately putting herself in a position of fear.“I wanted to test my courage, my determination. It was a journey ofdiscovery, but it was more about what I discovered within myself. What Idiscovered about the world was simply a bonus.”“And what did you discover—about yourself, I mean?”“That I’m not nearly as weak as I thought, nor nearly as strong as I’dhoped.”

“You almost have to step outside yourself and look at you as if you were someone else you really care about and really want to protect. Would you let someone take advantage of that person? Would you let someone use that person you really care about? Or would you speak up for them? If it was someone else you care about, you'd say something. I know you would. Okay, now put yourself back in that body. That person is you. Stand up and tell 'em, "Enough!”

“We'd already talked in the stacks, and I knew you were different from any other girl I'd met. And you told me that your parents were dead, and I thought that you were so . . . lost and vulnerable. So when I saw you in the physics lab . . . and I saw you try and take care of someone that you thought who had been through what you'd been through; could be that . . . well, generous, and thoughtfull . . ." Guy said."But you hardly knew me." said Willow"I know . . . I didn't know that we'd even talk again, or that if we did, if we'd get along, or maybe you were seeing someone else . . . I just knew that the way you tried to protect someone's life that, especially given your situation . . . I just . . . I though that you had to be the most special girl I would ever meet . . .”

“They were a susitute. They were what you did when you couldn't have what you wanted.”

“When I first saw you, you were like a flood of sunshine. All the others wanted to kill you. They thought I was crazy. They laughed...."He means the other Shadow Men, Jenny thought."But I knew, and I watched you. You grew up and got more beautiful. You were so different from anything in my world. The others just watched, but I wanted you. Not to kill or to use up the way --the way they do with humans sometimes here. I needed you."[...]"I couldn't see anything else, couldn't hear anything else. All I could think about was you. I wouldn't let anyone else hurt you, ever. I knew I had to have you, no matter what happend. They said I was crazy with love.”