“She was hard, numb. The hardness had come about recently, spreading through her brain and chest. She worried that if she were hit hard enough she would just crack”

“David had said something about her 'distinctive features'. Was he going to make her look ethnic? Jade worried. She was trying so hard to look just like everyone else!”

“Wenda's chest and hips shrank, her shoulders and arms turned muscular and her body became lean and hard where it had been rounded and soft. The hair of her head shortened drastically, and a mustache sprouted on her upper lip. Her delicate human feet had become hard hooves. She was now not a nymph but a faun. Physically; she would never be male in spirit.”

“She tried not to slip her arms beneath his trench coat, or spread her palms across his broad, muscular back, or inhale the delicious scent of him, or rest her cheek against his hard, warm chest. She tried. And failed.”

“Deb shoots Deano a hard look and grits her teeth so hard she snaps the end of her cigar which flies out the window.Mac orders, “Deb, stop!”Deb says, “It’s just a scratch. I’ll worry about it later.”

“Dreaming was easier than screaming, and screaming was easier than worrying, and worrying was easier than crying, which was what she knew she would be reduced to if she didn’t keep a hard eye on herself.”