“Because even if we're strange and Cursed and Beasts, the people Above are monsters.”

“What's the moral of the story?People Above will hurt you. People Above will break you, and devour your heart raw.”

“Healing's not always natural, she says. Healing's not always the way a body wants to go. Sometimes the body wants to run. Sometimes it can't think of anything but what might stop the pain. And though stopping the pain's important if you want a body healing, it isn't the whole. Sometimes that just keeps you broke.”

“Oh, Atticus,” it says soft, and the softness is scarier than the rest in its sorrow. “I’d have done anything you asked. I’d have been your sea and sky.”

“I'd be your sky.”

“He yells, straightens up with a swear that tells me he is the one, he's the one that broke my Ariel, broke her down made her Freak made her scared of sweet words or touching so I had to walk slow and careful, talk soft and always be patient and never just kiss her like I wanted to. Took away her want to be kissed.”

“There would be people on the boardwalk, but even if they suspected something was wrong, he doubt they’d get involved. If there was one thing to be counted on, it was how eagerly the mortals ignored what they didn’t want to see. The truth passed right by, and never once did they open their eyes.”