“He were still smiling but his voice were hard as a spoon rattling in a metal cup.”

“The bath wasn’t the best thing. Lying with him spooned up against her, listening to the rain rattle against the glass and his voice like a rolling wave…that was the best thing.”

“He could hardly lift his spoon during breakfast, and then he was out on the lake, his spoon soon replaced by a shovel.”

“Feelings, she learned, were hard to fight. She treasured his smiles and compliments and tried not to dwell on the fact that he gave this things to his friend Kel.His dreamy-eyed gazes, poems, and fits of passionate melancholy were for Uline. It was hard not to resent the older girl.”

“The smile was still on his face, but his words were like the arctic winds. “You don’t talk to her. At all.” There was no stopping He-Man when he came out to play.”

“Luke's left side was bloody. His eyes were open—blue eyes, the way they used to be. His breath was a deep rattle. "Good . . . blade," he croaked.”