“Scatter?' Tate said. 'Why? We stay here. Why go anywhere else?''Because we'll never know how great this place is until we leave it,' Narnie said.”

“So what does the winner get in the end?" Tate asked."They get to sit around with the losers and say, 'I am King Xavier of the world.' Repeat after me.""And me?" Tate asked."You get to be my queen.""How come you're the leader of the community?" Narnie asked, almost smiling. "Why can't Tate be?"Webb looked at his sister, grinning. "Why can't you, Narnie?"Fitz leaned his head on Narnie's shoulder. "And I'll be your queen?""You can be the eunuch," Jude said, shoving him out of the way, "and I'll be her prince." He bowed and took Narnie's hand, kissing it, and their eyes met. It was awkward for a moment until Narnie looked away.”

“Guess what?' Fitz said.'I don't know,' Jude said. 'What? Narnie smiled?' He glanced at her for the first time.'When you guys see a Narnie smile, it's like a revelation,' Webb said, gathering her towards him.Jude stopped in front of her and, with both hands cupping her face, tried to make a smile. Narnie flinched.'Leave her alone,' Tate said.'I need a revelation,' Jude said. 'And you're the only one that can give me one, Narns.”

“My father took one hundred and thirty-two minutes to die.I counted.It happened on the Jellicoe Road. The prettiest road I’d ever seen, where trees made breezy canopies like a tunnel to Shangri-La. We were going to the ocean, hundreds of miles away, because I wanted to see the ocean and my father said that it was about time the four of us made that journey. I remember asking, 'What’s the difference between a trip and a journey?' and my father said, 'Narnie, my love, when we get there, you’ll understand,' and that was the last thing he ever said.”

“And if I get a little chemically imbalanced in the head, like we all know I tend to get sometimes, and I don't want my parents or brother knowing, Will's like, 'We'll deal with it.' He's never said, 'I'll fix it up.' He just says, 'You're not up to going back to uni to finish your Honours this year? Big deal. There's next year. We'll deal with it.'" She nods. "That's what he does well.”

“What’s the difference between a trip and a journey?" "Narnie, my love, when we get there, you’ll understand.”

“What about the contacts your mum had?” his dad asked.“I rang and spoke to four very polite computers who gave me all these options and then cut out on me. Then I tried the post office, because they were advertising, and I spoke to another computer. Very rude, that one. Don’t think it recognized ‘Are you shitting me?’ as an option.”“You know why that is?”“Why is that, Dominic?” Tom had asked drolly, because he knew he was going to be told why.“Because we don’t live in a society anymore, Tom. We live in an economy. We’re not citizens. We’re customers. That’s what this government’s done to us.”