At the core, I try to write characters who are real people with real insecurities, fears, hopes, and dreams, which is why hopefully readers can identify with them.

Good-bye Dr. Steve,' I said, then climbed the stairs and went to the fifth floor to die.

So far Kat has been through all the Wa's she could think of, but Hale hadn't admitted to being Walter or Ward or Washington. He'd firmly denied both Warren and Waverly. Watson had prompted him to do a very bad Sherlock Holmes impersonation throughout a good portion of a train ride to Edinburgh, Scotland. And Wayne seemed so wrong she hadn't even tried. Hale was Hale. And not knowing what the W's stood for had become a constant reminder to Kat that, in life, there are some things that can be given but never stolen. Of course, that didn't stop her from trying.

...there was no such thing as curses. People make and break their own fortunes -they are the masters of their own fate.

Time. I would have gone somewhere to buy time.

What about him?" "What's going on with you two?" "Nothing," Kat said, a little too quickly. "Yeah, and why is that exactly? I thought you two were getting all relationshipy. But now you're gone half of the time and he's ...angry." "No, he's not." "Yes, he is." Gabrielle gave a short laugh. "He doesn't like you going off, doing these jobs on your own.

You don't have to do this, Kat." "I've been hearing that a lot lately." "He's right." "I didn't say who had said it," she countered. "You didn't have to." He looked out at the water. "You two are good together." "We're not together," Kat said automatically. "Sure you are. You just don't know it yet.