“Poor kid,' Jenna says, and rolls her eyes toward me for a moment. Then she returns to her book. 'She doesn't even understand what kind of place this is.”

“Without moving her head, she turned her dark eyes toward me and answered, “Jenna, you are different from all the others who seek me. You come to me with an unselfish heart.” She paused and turned her head to match her eyes. “You seek to save someone and give up your own happiness in return.”Save someone and give up my own happiness in return,I repeated again in my head, trying to understand what she meant.“Ah, Jenna,” she continued. “Don’t let your mind worry you. Not everyone has happy endings.”

“Just because she's dead it doesn't mean I stopped loving her or that she stopped loving me. It's just her body that left. The love didn't.—Jenna Richards”

“Sometimes she wishes she could return to the naive happiness of their life. But mostly, she aches to go forward, to a place her body doesn't seem willing to take her.”

“How you can come to love an animal! She doesn't talk, but she speaks with her eyes, her paws, her meows, and I understand her.”

“Should i even bother scanning the crowd for my parents? I could turn around and go back to the dormitory. Then I see her. My mother stands alone near the railing with her hands clasped in front of her. she has never looked more out of place, with her gray slacks and gray jacket buttoned at the throat, her hair in its simple twist and her face placid. I start toward her, tears jumping into my eyes. She came. She came for me. I walk faster. She sees me, and for a second her expression is blank, like she doesn't know who I am. Then her eyes light up, and she opens her arms. She smells like soap and laundry detergent.”