“After a while I get the feeling that Mum and Brian aren’t home. Kane either. It’s because the house is making so much noise; ticking and creaking as it stretches in the sun. Acting like a house does when nobody’s around to see it. It must have forgotten about me.”

“She didn't want to be one of those old ladies obsessed with death, hearing it in every tick of the clock and creak of the floorboards, as if it were prowling around the house like a burglar”

“I draw the light with my fingers, and it seems to spark in response. And it’s then that the magic of this place, this night beach, gets to me. Because that sparkling thing could be anything. A fallen star, a little buried sun. I feel like I’m a kid again. When there was so much to see. So much wonder.”

“I can see we're going to get along like a house on fire," said Miss Tick. "There may be no survivors.”

“I yawned and stretched luxuriously in the morning. I make noises when I stretch because it feels ten times better than stretching silently.”

“My house feels like home when you're there.”