“And I met Madeline's necromancer. His name's Luca." "A death detector?" Tod made a face. "That's creepy." "It gets weirder. He's dating Sophie." "On purpose?”

“That's because Tod never brings anything but death and bad advice," I snapped. "That's not true." Tod tried to grin, "Sometimes I bring pizza.”

“Vampire. Dangerous. Unknowable. Seriously creepy. This one's name was Constantine. We'd met before.”

“i didn't think you remembered my name."Lucas narrowed his eyes back as a tiny smile flitted across his face. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and placed his mouth close to my ear. "Of course i did, love. I always remember the names i moan out in pleasure.”

“Names are just words. I know that. But learning that the last name I’d used all my life was fake…“So what should I call myself, then?” I asked. “Sophie Atherton? Sophie Brannick?” Both sounded weird and made me feel like I was wearing clothes that didn’t fit.Mom smiled and brushed my hair away from my face. “You can call yourself whatever you want.”“Okay. Sophie Awesome Sparkle-Princess it is.”

“But before I could come up with an answer, Tod appeared in the desk chair, where I'd sat minutes earlier. 'Hey. Am I interrupting something?' 'Yes,' Nash said. 'Get out.' But Tod was watching me, and I could tell from the angry line of his jaw that he'd been listening long before he showed himself. He'd heard what Avari had done to me. What Nash had let him do. 'You want me to go?' Tod asked me, his back to his brother. Nash implores me silently to say yes. Tod waited patiently. 'No,' I said, looking right at Nash. He scowled, and his shoulders sagged. 'Good.' Tod stood and kicked the rolling chair out of his way. 'I just checked on your friend in the straitjacket. But first...' The reaper swung before either of us realized what he intended to do. Tod's very sold first slammed into Nash's jaw. Nash's head snapped back. He stumbled into the wall. Tod shook his hand like it hurt. 'That's for what you let him do to Kaylee.”