“This game's stupid," said Lief. "Who the heck is Zelda, anyway?”

“Your hair looks funny," Lief said, as soon as the Ugloids left. "It stands straight up!"No," said Nick, intensely irritated, "It's hanging straight down."Lief just gave him an upside-down shrug. "Up is down in China and you're part-Chinese.”

“Maybe we're standing like coins on the edge?"Allie considered this. "Meaning?""Meaning, we might be able to shake things up a little, and find a way to come up heads.""Or tails," suggested Allie."What are you talking about?" said Lief."Life and death.”

“What? Were you born stupid, or did you just die that way?”

“Between them, the baby still cries. It's like a game of steal the bacon, where no one wants to take the bacon.”

“Anyway, don't they have girls your age down there?" Talon shrugged. "Yeah...but none of them ever sprayed me with eye-poison.”

“Stupid dreams. Even the good ones are bad, because they remind you how poorly reality measures up.”