“You're my lodestar – that's the one that sailors followed, the Pole Star that took them safely home to harbour.” he said.“And I suppose you're like a shooting star” she responded “Always travelling in unexpected directions”And like a shooting star, he had disappeared over the edge of her world, taking all the light and leaving her in cold darkness.”

“Mark had gone, passed into the care of the Keeper of the Stars, but the stars were still there.”

“The wanderlust crept up again inside her like a shooting star, a sudden, violent urge to escape disappearing into darkness again. She pushed down the afterglow and focused.”

“And then it was between Shane and Claire on who retreated first. "Uou go," he said."Why?"Shane and Pete exchangedblooks. "Seriously?" Pete asked."Yeah, she's like that," Shane said, and turned to her. "Because you're my girlfriend, and I'm not going unti; I know you're safe. How's that?”

“Up home we wear a hat like that to shoot deer in, for Chrissake," he said. "That's a deer shooting hat.""Like hell it is." I took it off and looked at it. I sort of closed one eye, like I was taking aim at it. "This is a people shooting hat," I said. "I shoot people in this hat.”

“He was yelling at them all to follow. Claire didn't want to; she didn't trust them, any of them. But the boy took her hand, and said, "Trust me, Claire," and she felt something inside her that had been howling in fear...go quiet.”

“She wasn't absolutely sure who kissed whom this time. Maybe it was gravity tilting, stars exploding. It felt like it.... She gasped into his open mouth, and he moaned. Moaned. She had no idea a sensation could go through her like that, traveling through her skin and nerves like lightning.... Okay, this was kissing. Serious kissing. Not just a kiss before moving out, not a goodbye, this was Hello, sexy, and wow, she'd never even suspected it could feel this way.”