“There’d been blood in his eyes and Johnny was dying, but it was the most beautiful and frozen dawn Elisha had ever seen. He’d laid on the ground and stared through red stains at a bloody sun and bloody clouds and night’s last death whisper. Even the blind remember a dawn like that.”

“None of us have a real name, Leonidas, just names we like and names people give us.”

“The time he'd cheated on Syl, Syl had seen through him, broken off their engagement, and cheated on him with Charles, which had fried his ass possibly worse than any single other ass frying he'd ever had, in a life that, it recently seemed, was simply a series of escalating ass fries.”

“Kissing him last night at the pep rally had been like kissing an underpass.”

“Dreading dusk, fearing night, praying for dawn.”

“The woman's face was grimly drawn, an ugly expression on an indescribably beautiful face. “This is the Shadowdun. You know who I am, but I wish to know you more. What is your name?” Her voice was rich; it sounded sweet and smooth in Athena's ears, like soft honey. She hated every last word.”

“She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, a tiny, bloody angel in the snow, and they were going to destroy her.”