“I'm her boyfriend. She really only have to listen to what I say."She moved closer to him. "I am gonna kill you today, Tom. I can smell it on the air.""Really?" he asked. "I would've thought the cigs'd taken care of your sense of smell by now.”

“Stop it!" Chas shrieked, stomping her foot. "I will not have my boyfriend fighting if it's not over me! Stop it!""Let's say it's over you!" Tom grunted as he and Coalhouse wrestled with one another. "If he thinks he's gonna finally get a girl, he might grow balls enough to beat me!”

“I let her ask the questions. Predictably, the main questions she had were 'What?' and 'Am I going to be on the menu?' Oh, and 'What?”

“Pam," Issy attempted, voice high with fear. "I can tell you, from this side of the fence..you really need to calm down.""I will shoot you in the face if you say one more word to me," I fumed."So noted.""I am so glad that I am an only child," Coalhouse remarked quietly.”

“And Bram?"Panic punched me in the chest. So far today she'd been willing to touch me, laugh with me, confide in me, and now she was wondering if Chas shouldn't go out with me? Had I misread something somewhere?Chas shook her head and grinned. "Nah. Bram's too busy waiting.""Waiting?" Nora didn't take her eyes from me. Maybe she wanted me to answer. "For the right girl," I said curtly. "And he has very specific physical preferences," Chas said. I grabbed her wrist and squeezed. She'd better not.She did. "For some reason, he is terribly attracted to black hair. Tom's a leg man, himself...attached, unattached, doesn't really mtter. But Bram likes the hair."With all the various methods of Chastity Disposal flying through my imagination-should I just shoot her, or should I open her skull and puree her brains with a motorized mixer, or perhaps set her on fire?-It took me a minute to notice me a very shy smile.I dropped Chas's wrist. I almost dropped my machete.Nora looked away and moved a few steps in front of us, leaping into the grass to flatten it for herself as she went."I win," Chas whispered."Smoke all you want," I whispered back.”

“Now, feel free to call me what I am-call me a corpse, call me dead, call me a killer if you want. I've killed people in battle, I'll admit. But don't call me what I'm not. I am not a freak, and I am not a cannibal, and-"I would have adeed, I'm not a monster, if it hadn't at that moment hit me that I was going all self-righteous on a girl whose world I had just turned upside down.Smooth, Bram. When will you learn to shut up?”

“Tell him what I told the others-that I'm happy to have you watch me, and serve as my assistant, but only on my terms. Or,if you're feeling lucky...you can tell him that Dearly said he can go to hell.”