“Win," Leo said, "you'll burn the house down, just after it's been rebuilt. Give me the bloody matchbox."She shook her head resolutely.Are we starting a new springtime ritual?" Leo demanded. "The annual burning-of-the-manse?" Come to your senses, Win.”

“Did it fall out?" Leo asked. "Is she bald?""No, not at all. It's just that her hair is...green."To look at Leo's face, one would think it was Christmas morning. "What shade of green?""Leo, hush," Win said urgently. "You are not to torment her. It's been a very trying experience. We mixed a peroxide paste to take the green out, and I don't know if it worked or not. Amelia was helping her to wash it a little while ago. And no matter what the result is, you are to say nothing.""You're telling me that tonight, Marks will be sitting at the supper table with hair that matches the asparagus, and I'm not supposed to remark on it?" He snorted. "I'm not that strong.""Please, Leo," Poppy murmured, touching his arm. "If it were one of your sisters, you wouldn't mock.""Do you think that little shrew would have any mercy on me, were the situations reversed?" He rolled his eyes as he saw their expressions. "Very well, I'll try no to jeer. But I make no promises."Leo sauntered toward the house in no apparent hurry. He didn't deceive either of his sisters. "How long do you think it will take him to find her?" Poppy asked Win."Two, perhaps three minutes," Win replied, and they both sighed.”

“Gaea?” Leo shook his head. “Isn’t that Mother Nature? She’s supposed to have, like, flowers in her hair and birds singing around her and dear and rabbits doing her laundry.”“Leo, that’s Snow White,” Piper said.”

“We started this together, Leo. Seems only right you come along. You find us a ride, you're in.""Yes!" Leo pumped his fist.* * * * *Jason gazed up at the dragon and shook his head in amazement. "Leo, what have you done?""Found a ride!" Leo beamed. "You said I could go on the quest if I got you a ride. Well, I got you a class-A metallic flying bad boy! Festus can take us anywhere!”

“Amelia told me once about a suspicion she'd had for a while. It bothered her quite a bit. She said that Win and I had fallen ill with scarlet fever, and you made the deadly nightshade syrup, you'd concocted far more than was necessary. And you kept a cup on it on Win's nightstand, like some sort of macabre nightcap. Amelia said that if Win had died, she thought you would have taken the rest of that poison. And I've always hated you for that. Because you forced me to stay alive without the woman I loved, while you had no bloody hell intention of doing the same."Merripen didn't answer, gave no sign that he registered Leo's words."Christ, man," Leo said huskily. "If you had the bollocks to die with her, don't you think you could work up the courage to live with her?”

“It's not fair," Davis protested. "After Nick wins, you'll just say conditions were different when Hayden came down, and that's what made her slower.Like,it started snowing.""Or it stopped snowing," Gavin said."Or the wind was harder," Davis said."Or the wind was softer," Gavin said. "Girls will whine about anything.”