“Leo and Soledad simultaneously gave out a sort of half laugh, half snort. It was loud, and it was relieved, and it broke the tension and caused Pierre to bark again, indignantly.All of which meant that neither of them heard it when Zach turned to Lucy in that same second and whispered:There's something else you need to know. I'm not just your friend. I am completely in love with you.”

“Zach found himself remembering something he'd heard Soledad and Leo saying the previous night, about healing. That it was mysterious. That it took time. And that Lucy was just at the beginning. That a terrible thing had happened - two terrible things, really - but they were now over.And that Lucy would be okay, in the end.”

“It won't be the same for me," I whispered, half to myself. "You won't let me be like that. We'll live in Antarctica."Edward snorted, breaking the tension. "Penguins. Lovely.”

“What, are you totally psycho?" I shouted."Maybe I am!" he screamed back at me. "Maybe that's just what I am. Maybe I'm that quiet guy who suddenly goes nuts and then you find half the neighborhood in his freezer." I gotta admit, that one stumped me for a second - but only for a second. "Which half?" I asked. "Huh?" "Which half of the neighborhood? Could you make it the people on the other side of Avenue T, because I never really liked them anyway.”

“I'm blessed and I couldn't be more grateful. Do you want to know why? Because I'm a mother, but that's only half of it. I'm blessed because, when I need to, I can still just be a daughter. I get the feeling that there is nothing more precious than to have both of these roles, simultaneously.”

“Have you not explained to your friend? She seems confused.""I've told her what she needs to know.""I would suspect, Nephew, that she needs to know more. Particularly when I seehow you look at her."Taka gave another sudden start, but didn't turn. What did his uncle see when he looked at her? Murderous tendencies? Vast annoyance? Or something else?"And she looks at you the same way," the old man added, and it was Summer'sturn to jump. Definitely vast annoyance, then. And something else.”