“It’s ironic. At last I have my freedom. But at a price. Now my destiny is mine to choose. - Stanley aka Nine”

“I’m going to kill them all - Stanley aka Nine”

“Nine, now eight. Are the rest of you out there?”

“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.”

“The wind is knocked out of me; and when I look up, I see Nine spitting blood out. He's grinning. "Are you crazy?" I ask. "You're enjoying this?" "I've been locked up for over a year. This is the best day of my life!”

“My heart is breaking," she says. "I want to be strong for you right now but the thought of you leaving is killing me inside.”

“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.”