“The state of shock is losing itscharm. I want my brain back. Can’t it just shake itself off likea dog already and get back to work?”

“I want to cross my arms and say things like, "Don't come back if you're not going to stay!" and "If you think that nothing's changed, you're wrong." But she probably heard all this stuff from Thomas already. I wasn't the boyfriend. I don't know why I feel like I should get the chance to yell at her too.Jesus. I have become the thing they call the third wheel.”

“I can feel that photo of Anna staring at me from sixty years ago, and I can’t help myself from wanting to protect her, wanting to save her from becoming what she already is.”

“By the time I had gotten off the phone, I knew that I was going after Anna. My gut told me that she wasn't just a story. And besides, I wanted to see her, dressed in blood.”

“I’m staring at Anna’s house again. The logical part of my brain tells me that it’s just a house. That it’s what’s inside that makes it horrifying, that makes it dangerous, that it can’t possibly be tilting toward me like it’s hunting me through the overgrowth of weeds. It can’t possibly be trying to jerk free of its foundation and swallow me whole. But that’s what it looks like it’s doing.”

“She raises her brows at Thomas and Carmel."How do you want to room? The two of you and the two of us? Or boys in one, girls in the other?""Boys in one," I say quickly."Right. Back in a minute." Jestine gets up to make the arrangements, leaving me with my gaping friends."Where'd that come from?" Carmel asks."Where'd what come from?"As usual, playing dumb gets me nowhere.”

“The thought makes me reach back for my knife, my sharp, throat-cutting security blanket, as I look around.”