All right. Tell me what I'm looking at." From the improvised Rolling Stones T-shirt bag tied to my sash, Bob the Skull said, in his most caustic voice, "A giant pair of cartoon lips." I muttered a curse and fumbled with the shirt until one of the skull's glowing orange eye sockets was visible. A big goofy magic nerd!" Bob said.

There are bad things in the world. There's no getting away from that. But that doesn't mean nothing can be done about them. You can't abandon life just because it's scary, and just because sometimes you get hurt.

...as nervous as a bird in a coal mine.

Sticks and stones and small caliber bullets may break my bones... Words will never, et cetera.

Here there be monster." Bob whispered, half hysterically. "Run! Run already!

You're such a cynic," Molly said. "I think cynics are playful and cute.

I felt like I had just double-tapped Santa.