“Outside, the night lay coiled in the street, cobra-cold and scaled with stars.”

“Each night, Liesel would step outside, wipe the door, and watch the sky. Usually it was like spillage - cold and heavy, slippery and gray - but once in a while some stars had the nerve to rise and float, if only for a few minutes. On those nights, she would stay a little longer and wait.Hello, stars.”

“If love wants you; if you've been melted down to stars, you will love with lungs and gills; with feathers and scales; with warm blood and cold.”

“These past couple of weeks, I’d scaled Kelly’s massive wall and peeked at what lay beyond. But I’d made myself too comfortable, and he’d tossed me back out, stacked his defenses thicker and taller and coiled it with a halo of concertina wire.”

“The night was crisp and the stars shone with a cold blue light like loneliness or infinity.”

“The stars glitter from outside... like cosmic confetti sprinkled across the night sky.”