“That's how Darkness works. It turns love into something bad.”

“You know how it feels right before a tornado hits? I mean when the sky's still clear, but the wind's starting to cool off and change direction. You know something's coming, but you don't always know what. That's how things feel to me right now." -Zoey Redbird”

“What if all I'd ever known was how it had been for the past three years - me being an unwanted outsider in my own family?I might have turned out like Aphrodite, and I might still be letting my parents control me because I was hoping desperately that I would be good enough, make them proud, so that some day they would really love me.”

“Oh, for crap's sake, I can barely look at it," Aphrodite said, turning her head from the archway and averting her eyes. "And I usually love sparkly things.”

“A window within the soul to see Light and Magick I send with thee Be strong, be brave, make the right choice Though Darkness shouts with a terrible voice Know that I am watching from above And that always, always, the answer is love!”

“You can borrow my two-carat diamond stud earrings," Aphrodite said. I stopped and looked back at her. "Huh?"She shrugged. "That's as close to a declaration of love as you're gonna get from me.”

“I'm going to remember this, I told myself sternly. I'm going to remember how awful they made me feel today. So when I'm scared and alone and whatever else is going to happen to me starts to happen, I'm going to remember that nothing about be as bad as being stuck here.Nothing.”