Ten minutes can be a long time when you're waiting with a beating heart for something you don't understand, something you don't really want to know.

You know what they say: When people start burning books they'll soon burn human beings.

Ten minutes can be a long time when you're waiting with a beating heart for something you don't understand, something you don't really want to know.

The night breathed through the apartment like a dark animal. The ticking of a clock. The groan of a floorboard as he slipped out of his room. All was drowned by its silence. But Jacob loved the night. He felt it on his skin like a promise. Like a cloak woven from freedom and danger.

Every reader knows about the feeling that characters in books seem more real than real people.

Down there the nights are bright and nobody believes in the Devil.

This world,' she said. 'Do you really like it?' What a question! Farid never asked himself such things. He was glad to be with Dustfinger again and didn't mind where that was. It's a cruel world, don't you think?' Meggie went on. 'Mo often told me I forget how cruel it is too easily.' With his burned fingers, Farid stroke her fair hair. It shone even in the dark. 'They're all cruel,' he said. 'The world I come from, the world you come from, and this one, too. Maybe the people don't see the cruelty in your world right away, it's better hidden, but it's there all the same.