“I spend my money...I don't know on what.”

“...I know I was wrong. If i could go back and do it over, I would. I wish I could undo it all."I know that." Grandma reached over and put a twisted hand on hers. "'Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.' Isaiah one eighteen."I've done terrible things."Don't make no difference. You can't out-sin the cross.”

“He crossed toward me, a grin curving his mouth-then he stopped. "Should I get the other blade?"I looked at the sword in my hand. "I'm waiting for the Rake."He raised a brow. "The Rake?"Oh, right, we'd never talked about him. "He's a ghost. Your ancestor. The Bennett you're named after.""What?" Bennett laughed in surprise. "Here? When did he show up?""Um...a couple days after you brought me here from San Francisco.""Why didn't you tell me?""He's private. And you're both Bennetts. It'd be like...I don't know. Traveling back in time and meeting yourself.""And you call him 'the Rake'?""Well, he's all swagger and devilish charm," I explained."In that case, how can you tell us apart?”

“It hurts more than anything in the world because even though it might not be the case, it feels like you've chosen your child over me.'I haven't there is no choice. She's part of me. You're part of me too. It's like...I don't know...asking me to pick between my heart and my lungs.''I know, but the thing is, you are my heart and my lungs. You're everything to me. And what hurts is that I know i used to be everything to you.”

“I'm just a--" I looked at Yoshiro. "An unimpressive girl who doesn't want to battle ghosts and kill wraiths. There's only three things I want. To find my family. Dispel Neos. And to--" I stopped suddenly, and didn't know where to look."Yes?" Yoshiro said. "The third thing?""To be with me," Bennett said.”

“Often, when I have been feeling lonely, when a book as been thrust aside in boredom [...] I have lain back and stared at the shadows on the ceiling, wondering what life is all about [...] and then, suddenly, there is the echo of the swinging door, and across the carpet, walking with the utmost delicacy and precision, stalks Four or Five or Oscar. He sits down on the floor beside me, regarding my long legs, my old jumper, and my floppy arms, with a purely practical interest. Which part of this large male body will form the most appropriate lap? Usually he settles for the chest. Whereupon he springs up and there is a feeling of cold fur [...] and the tip of an icy nose, thrust against my wrist and a positive tattoo of purrs. And I no longer wonder what life is all about.”

“Lukas grinned at me. "I didn't know how badass you are. That's kind of hot.”