“Whales, porpoises, mermaids and mermen, dead sailors, fishes, crabs, tiny shrimps; the sea is forever full of eyes that watch me. I never fly far beyond the shore. If my town were a map the bay would have Here Be Monsters written on it in golden ink.”

“Up here, far away from everybody, the night is peaceful: there's no sound except the hum of the Earth. At school, when I sang the note to Mr Hughes Music he said it was B flat but he laughed when I said it was the note the Earth hummed. He said: You'll be hearing the music of the spheres next, Gwenni. But he doesn't know how the Earth's deep, never-ending note clothes me in rainbow colors, fills my head with all the books ever written, and feeds me with the smell of Mrs. Sergeant Jones's famous vanilla biscuits and the strawberry taste of Instant Whip and the cool slipperiness of glowing red jelly. I could stay up here for ever without the need for anything else in the whole world.”

“I can sue you? Cool." I rummage around in my purse for a pen, wanting to write this down. "Under what? Medical malpractice? Assault with a deadly fang?" I look up. "How much you think the courts would award me for that?" Rayne frowns. "Sunny, stop being a bitch. Can't you see poor Magnus is freaking out here?""I need to stop being a bitch? For Magnus's sake?" I stare at her, unbelieving. "Uh, hello? He's the guy who walked up and bit me for absolutely no reason whatsoever.”

“I loved sliding into him as he lay on his back so I could watch his face while we moved together. On those nights I could coax him out of the harsh world and its problems into a safe place inhabited by just the two of us. For a brief time, my arms really were strong enough to protect him. Nothing else had ever made me feel so powerful or righteous. Some people say gay sex is wrong because it has no purpose. I pity them, because they’ve clearly never found with another person what Jamie and I shared in those moments.”

“Hi, my name is Jareth, and I'll be your- God" He curses as he lays his eyes on me.I raised an eyebrow. "You'll be my god? Hm...Well, we'll have to see about that. I mean, it takes a lot to my world these days.”

“What, are you like Buffy or something? A vampire slayer?”I wish. “No, but my sister is. And my boyfriend’s a vampire so I know a lot about their kind.”Jayden shrinks back from me, wide-eyed.“No, no. He’s one of the good ones. Not all vampires are evil,” I assure him.“So…you’re dating…Edward Cullen.”“Sure, if you have to relate it all to a Stephenie Meyer book,” I grudgingly agree. “But don’t say that to Magnus’s face. He’s a card-carrying member of Team Jacob. Even has the T-shirt.”

“I have never been contained except I made the prison.”