“There is power within great sacrifice, within noble deeds. There are moments... brief, shining moments when the impossible becomes possible.”

“Yes, tell us, Ari. Tell us what you have seen."Athena.Dead flowers and flashing emerald beads threaded through her tangled, upswept hair. A hard swallow went down down my throat, followed by a tightening of every muscle I possessed. All the emotions of my vision boiled over, as fresh and furious as they'd been a few moments ago. "You should know, you petty piece of shit.”

“I laughed in disbelief, the sharp sound rebounding down the corridor, the echo eventually replaced by the flat, continuous drip of water against stone. First vampires, witches, and shape-shifters. And now this.This is what Alice must have felt like when she tumbled down the rabbit hole.”

“Don't be afraid."And then we were gone.Weightless.The ground at my feet suddenly disappeared along with everything else.A scream lodged in my throat, coming out broken and pathetic.And then we were sitting on a wide ledge. High above Jackson Square. Christ, he'd blinked me to - I gazed above me.Not just a ledge. Oh God, oh God, oh God."It helps if you breathe.""I think I might kill you," I said in a near whisper.Sebastian's shoulder bumped mine as he tried to hide a smile. "Well, you've got time, because we'll be up here for an hour or so before I have enough power again to get us down. I didn't think you'd be afraid of heights."I glared at him. "I'm not afraid of heights. I am, apparently, afraid of disappearing from solid ground and then reappearing on a ledge.”

“You're a vampire." I laughed."Half," he came back, as if there was a huge difference. "My father wasn't a vampire. He was a Lamarliere. I'm not some three-hundred-year-old pervert who kisses teenage girls, okay? I'm the same age as you. Born just like you.”

“Scared?" "You haven't lived until you go grave robbing.”

“Sebastian's eyes were the color of smoke and silver. His pale skin, raven hair, and naturally dark red lips, paired with a rebel attitude and a poet's soul, pulled me in like a dark, magnetic force.”