“There were only six adults in the oldest picture,and all of them looked really serious,like they'd probably kicked kittens for fun.”

“In fact, there was an ancient bearded guy in the corner who looked like he'd probably palled around with Mary Shelley.”

“Still,there was this heavy feeling in the air, like everyone was trying too hard to have a good time. Laughs were too loud, and smiles looked forced. Maybe they were afraid Dad and I would vaporize them if they didn't act like this was the best party ever.I would have laid my forehead against the cool glass wall, but I didn't really want to see my reflection that closely. Lysander had brought the dress earlier that afternoon, and insisted on doing my makeup,too. Consequently, it looked like a glitter bomb had exploded on my face. Even my bare shoulders were dusted with sparkling blue powder.”

“This is bad," was all I could manage to say. "Yeah, I kind of picked up on that too.""No,I mean really bad. Like, to a level I didn't know badness could reach."Archer crouched down near the lip of the crater, the flickering blue light playing in his eyes. "It gets worse.""What,does this put also eat kittens? How much worse can it be?”

“I stared at them. Had that been their sales pitch? Look!We're really scary! Come be scary too!”

“Irish girls, red hair,' I replied, remembering a picture of them from Mrs. Casnoff's 'People Who Want to Kill Us All' lecture at Hex Hall last year.”

“Do you know anything about the Brannicks?""Irish girls, red hair," I replied, remembering a picture of them from Mrs. Casnoff's "People Who Want to Kill Us All" lecture at Hex Hall last year. I also remembered Mrs. Casnoff saying that if the Brannicks and The Eye ever teamed up, we were screwed.”