“Pleased to meet you," Tellin says, shaking me out of my reverie. "Lily told me much about you last weekend." "Funny." Quince throws me a questioning glance. "She didn't mention you at all.”

“Quince...why didn't you ever tell her? This girl you love. Why didn't you tell her how you feel?"..."Because"- his voice is heavy with a kind of resigned sadness-"She doesn't want to know."Lily & Quince pg.223”

“You're watching me, princess." His soft lips spread into an appreciative smile. "People might get the wrong idea.""What, that I actually like you now?" I tease.He shakes his head and leans toward me. "No, that you're trying to see past me to get an eyeful of Benson."-------------------------------------------I shift my gaze to the board and fix an innocent look on my face. "What makes you think that's the WRONG idea?"Quince leans even closer and says, "Because you came back for me.”

“I say it instead. "You told so," I admit. "You told me my image of Brody wasn't real, and you were right. I was just too blind to see it." He laughs a little. "You were to blind to see a lot of things Princess." It's reassuring when he calls me Princess-as opposed to princess or, worse, Lily. One seems too mocking, the other too intimate. His ironic nickname feels safe.”

“You'll get in," Quince assures me, proving once again that he can read my mind, even without a magical bond. "And if you don't," he adds, slinging an arm around my shoulders, "you can always take over for me at the lumberyard.""Ha ha," I reply, sending a sharp elbow into his ribs."Lighten up, princess.”

“Quince reaches me, and instead of wrapping me in a hug like I expect, he reaches for my hair. I try to swim back, away from the near-desperate look in his eyes, afraid that he’s going to fail the test.He tugs something from my hair.I look down and see a Padina antillarum—a beautiful little seaweed shaped like ginkgo leaves—in his hand. And it’s glowing.“You,” he says with an explosive grin. “You are the sixteenth object.”

“Oh, Lily," He says shaking his head. "I know about love. About wanting and dreaming and wishing with every part of your soul. I know enough to reconize the parts that are real and teh parts that are only in my fantasy." Ge turns his head slightly to face me, and I find myself saying,"L-like what?""Like when she cries and my heart tears in to little shreds, and all I can think of is making her forget the source of her sadness." His face is blank, emotionless. his words -and the underlying emotion bombarding me through the bond- more than make up for it. "That's real."my voice is barely a whisper when I ask, "And fantasy?""Believing she'll ever feel the same way.”