“People only worry about the uncanny for about a week; that's the end of their attention span. After that, suspicions turn into shtick.”

“The Shrink always warned me that carriers stay wracked with lifelong guilt. It's not an uplifting thing having turned lovers into monsters. We feel bad that we haven't turned into monsters ourselves--survivor's guilt, that's called. And we feel a bit stupid that we didn't notice our own symptoms earlier. I mean, I'd been sort of wondering why the Atkins diet was giving me night vision. But that hadn't seemed like something to worry about...”

“But you know what? It's not my behavior I'm worried about anymore. It's yours.”

“She needed Andrew Simpson Smith, it was that simple. And he had spent his life training to help people like her. Gods. "Okay, Andrew. But let's leave today. I'm in a hurry.""Of course. Today." He stroked the place where his slight beard was beginning to grow. "These ruins where your friends are waiting? Where are they?"Tally glances up at the sun, still low enough to indicate the eastern horizon. After a moment's calculation, she pointed off to the northwest, back toward the city and beyond that, the Rusty Ruins. "About a week's walk that way." "A week?""That means seven days.""Yes, I know the gods' calendar," he said huffily. "But a whole week?""Yeah. That's not so far, is it?" The hunters had been tireless on their march the night before. He shook his head, an awed expression on his face. "But that is beyond the edge of the world.”

“It's just been a long week, that's all.""It's monday night, Jess.""My point exactly.”

“And over all those sleepy weeks, the dream always ended the same way, with the dragon coming for the princess saying the same words every time.... "Face it, Tally-wa, you're Special.”

“Ring around the rosie.A pocket full of posie.Ashes ashes, we all fall down.Some people say that this poem is about the Black Death, the fourteenth-century plague that killed 100-million people...Sadly, though, most experts think this is nonsense...How can I be so sure about this rhyme when all the experts disagree?Because I ate the kid who made it up.”