“I'm so sorry, Henri," I whisper in his ear. I close my eyes. "I love you. I wouldn't have missed a second of it, either. Not for anything," I whisper. "I'm going to take you back yet. Somehow I am going to get you back to Lorien. We always joked about it but you were my father, the best father I could have ever asked for. I'll never forget you, not for a minute for as long as I live. I love you, Henri. I always did.”

“I'll come back to you," I say. "I promise you, if it's the last thing I do, I'll come back to you."Her face is buried in my neck. She nods."I'll count the minutes until you do." she says.”

“I don't know where you have to go or what you have to do, but I'll wait for you, John. Every bit of my heart belongs to you, whether you ask for it or not.”

“I'll come back to you," I say, "If it's the last thing I do, I'll come back to you.”

“I can't take not knowing what the next day will bring- the uncertainty is sawing me in two. The room is dark. A flickering candle burns on the window ledge a few feet away. I take a deep breath, which is to say, as deep a breath as I can take."Are you okay?" Sarah asks.I wrap my arms around her. "I miss you," I say."You miss me? But I'm right here.""That's the worst way to miss somebody. When they' re right beside you and you miss them anyway.”

“So I'm guessing you're Seven and Ten; What can you do?" I say as I find our rifles in the sand and hand each of them a gun."You can call me Marina," the girl with the brown hair says. "And I can breathe under water and see in the dark and heal the sick and wounded. And I have telekinesis."Call me Ella, I hear ten say in my head. Aside from my telepathy, I can change ages."Awesome. I'm four, that nut job with the long black hair is nine and the beast is my chimaera, Bernie Kosar.”

“I am not who you thik I am,' I say. 'Who are you?' 'I am number Four.”