“When they came to harvest my corpse(open your mouth, close your eyes)cut my body from the rope,surprise, surprise:I was still alive.Tough luck, folks,I know the law:you can't execute me twicefor the same thing. How nice.I fell to the clover, breathed it in,and bared my teeth at themin a filthy grin.You can imagine how that went over.Now I only need to lookout at them through my sky-blue eyes.They see their own ill willstaring then in the foreheadand turn tailBefore, I was not a witch.But now I am one.”

“Al, close your eyes.” He swallows. His eyes look excited and terrified at the same time.He closes his own and leans towards me, his hands on the blanket, supporting the weight of his upper body. I lean in too until I can feel his breath on my lips. My hands are now joined in my lap. My eyes are still open. I want the memory of this moment burned in my mind forever.”

“When things get unbearable, I wrap myself into a tight ball and shut my eyes. Every muscle in my body is tense. I open my eyes and I'm still where I was when I closed them to escape. Nothing's changed.”

“I see the beauty of the world through your eyes. I can't see it through my own.”

“Oh my gosh, he smells good, like some exotic but comforting spice, nutmeg or cardamom. Slowly Damian lowers his head to mine and I think my chest might explode, my heart is tap-dancing so quickly. He's going to kiss me. I've imagined this and now it's really happening, I am like a block of wood. I can't move. I can't breathe. I close my eyes as the lightest feather of a breath , then lips, brushing over my lips. His breath is sweet and the taste of coffee barely lingers in his mouth. I feel as though my whole body has turned to liquid, into a river of millions of droplets, rushing apart and then back together. "You have the softest lips," he whispers as he pulls back to look at me. "So do you," I murmur. Oh, was that a stupid thing to say? I turn my face into his jacket and breathe in his scent.”

“You think I am afraid to love you, ma fee? Look at me, my only love, and see how you hold my heart in your hands, see how much I love you when you look into my eyes.”