“It's this or a short hospital stay," she said, greeting Scarlett with a raised glass of a deep red liquid with a celery stalk sticking out of the top. "Bloody Marys are one of the truly medicinal cocktails. The only way I can beat this jet lag is by staying up all day, and this is going to keep me alive. And who is this?"This was directed at Marlene, who was stalking along behind Scarlett like a wet cat.”

“A leader. . .is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind.”

“Stalking?” Brad made a face, drawing back as if he’d been asked to host a Pampered Chef party. “I didn’t say anything about stalking. All I want you to do is stick close to her and check out who she talks to… see where she goes… maybe find out what kind of guys are approaching her. That sort of thing. Then report it all back to me.”

“She figured out that the only way 
to keep from being frozen was to 
stay in motion, and long ago converted
 most of her flesh into liquid. Now when she
 smells danger, she spills herself all over,
 like gasoline, and lights it.
 ”

“And if things always stayed the same, Scarlett, what would be the reason for bothering to draw breath?”

“There’s a fine line between support and stalking and let’s all stay on the right side of that.”