I hoped I wasn't actually dead. That would make finding our parents and saving the world really hard.

Once I was seated, I couldn't help people-watching. I'll admit it, I'm an addict from way back.

Have you been playing in toxic waste lately?

In this family, we always celebrate each other's birthdays. I don't care if you're four or fourteen or forty and scattered around the world. We gotta stick by each other, okay? And meals- as long as you live under the same roof, you have at least one meal a day together. I don't care if it's a dreaded hot dog in front of the dastardly TV as long as you're all there. -Maeve Bennett

Okay, that so did me in. Mr. Rock being all emotional? Expressing his feelings?" p. 12

Max, if you survive your final test, can you steal me one of those magic outfits for me?" I'll try to get one for each of us. Hey! 'If'?

Okay, if this is what falling in love feels like, someone please kill me now. (Not literally, overzealous readers.) But it was all too much - too much emotion, too much happiness, too much longing, perhaps too much ice cream.