“And in the air around her, the echo of all those stifled hearts, trapped spirits, fluttered and sighed and breathed.”

“Opportunity never knocks. It hangs thick in the air all around you. You breathe it unthinking, and dissipate it with your sighs.”

“Gregori gathered Savannah tenderly into his arms. Come to me,my life and breath. Wake and be with me. He gave the command,and even as he felt her heart flutter, he pressed her mouth to his throat.Feed, ma petite. Feed and replenish what you selflessly gave to me.Savannah turned her head,her first breath a sigh of warmth against his throat.”

“All things share the same breath - the beast, the tree, the man. The air shares its spirit with all the life it supports.”

“...the air seeming to gather around her like held breath. As if this whole place were a story about her.”

“Six years later my mother's absence remained in the air around us, a deafening silence that I had not learned to stifle with words.”