“She sounded so bright and businesslike that I wondered if I had hallucinated the part where she basically told us we were all going to die.”

“I wondered if they had rehearsed this weird three-way-talking thing they had going on. I imagined them sitting in a circle in their dorm room, brushing their hair and saying, "Okay, so I'll say we feel bad, and then you'll say that your hot boyfriend thinks she's pathetic.”

“It's going to be okay," I told her, even though I was pretty sure we were all going to be skewered on L'Occhio silver daggers any minute now.”

“So when you left Hex Hall after Holly died, that wasn't because you were the grief-stricken fiance. You were going to The Eye.""Yeah. I told them that I thought Elodie and her coven had raised a demon, so we decided I should get close to her,see what was really going on.""And you decided to get really close to her."He laughed softly. "I can't see you, but I have a feeling you're cute when you're jealous,Mercer."Crossing my arms over my chest, I said, "It's not jealousy you're hearing, it's digust. You dated a girl you didn't even like just to get information out of her."His laughter died, and his voice sounded weary when he said, "Trust me, a lot of my brothers have done much worse."There was so much I wanted to ask him, but it's not like we could sit out here all night passing the sharing stick or whatever.Time to cut to the chase."So did The Eye tell you to get all Mata Hari on me too?”

“She gave a brittle smile. "The curriculum can be challenging, but I have no doubt that Sophie will do very well."Never had encouragement sounded so much like a threat.”

“Is this about Archer? Please don't tell me you're upset about us, because...I mean, you're dead."She floated closer to me, until she was right in my face. At first I thought she was going to spit ectoplasm on me or something, but then I saw her lips moving again. I wasn't an expert lip-reader, but she was close enough and speaking slowly enough that I was able to make out what she said. "I told you," her pale lips mouthed, "that I'd haunt your ass."I stared at her mouth, horrified, as she smirked. And then,just like that, she was gone. The air near my face wafted sligtly, like someone had just opened a window."I don't need this!" I said to the empty room. "Seriously, plate? FULL."But there was no reply.”

“When Mrs. Casnoff saw us, she walked over to us. "Sophie," she said, her voice warmer than I'd ever heard it. "Happy birthday. It's good to see you."I actually believed he meant it, which was weird. Weirder still was the smile she gave me as she said, "I was just talking with several of the guests about your decision not to go through with the Removal. We're all so pleased."Great. Nothing better than my superpersonal decision being party chitchat."Well,that's probably a first for you," I tried to joke. When she just looked confused, I clarified. "Being pleased with me."And then she completely freaked me out by laughing. Granted, it was a low, short laugh, but still.”