“We were like astronauts floating through a starless universe.”

“If I had to shut my eyes it wouldn’t have been any darker. We were like astronauts floating in a starless universe.”

“Because we weren’t like other people. We were peculiar.”“Peculiar how?”“Oh, all sorts of ways,” he said. “There was a girl who could fly, a boy who had bees living inside him, a brother and sister who could lift boulders over their heads.”

“Stars, too, were time travelers. How many of those ancient points of light were the last echoes of suns now dead? How many had been born but their light not yet come this far? If all the suns but ours collapsed tonight, how many lifetimes would it take us to realize we were alone? I had always known the sky was full of mysteries—but not until now had I realized how full of them the earth was.”

“Sometimes you just need to go through a door.”

“I slammed out of the [house] and started walking, heading nowhere in particular. Sometimes you just need to go through a door.”

“We hadn't spoken since the day he nearly shoved me off the roof, but we both understood the importance of maintaining the illusion of having friends.”