“A gun is a terrible thing. It's a dark hole pointed at you, and that hole swallows up everything else in the world, your friends, your nerve, until there's nothing but you and what's waiting in that little round space of dark.”

“What's it like where they live?""It's everything you want it to be.”

“I thought maybe I could just get away from everything. But you can't get away from a thing that's your own fault.”

“Bullets sound like hornets when they pass too close to your head. After a while, the world closes down. You can't hear much, you can't see much, just the way ahead, the next slat, the next open gate. All you know is running; the only place that's real is away.”

“Sometimes it's not good for people to find out who you really are.”

“Now that you know the wishing ways, you'll feel the wishes around you. They'll make you itchy, 'cause you know you can do something about them, but that ain't always the best idea.”

“I wish I knew who I am," I whispered to the stars in Baya's eyes.Slowly, Baya shook his head. "Oh, Dust Girl, that's the hardest wish of all. Not even Baya can give you that one. That one you earn.”