A fear Paul had transformed all these years, like a gifted alchemist, into anger and rebellion.

His love for her was so deeply woven with resentment that he could not untangle the two.

That there were other worlds, invisible, unknown, beyond imagination even, was a revelation to him.

He'd kept this silence because his own secrets were darker, more hidden, and because he believed that his secrets had created hers.

Its impossible to control the reception of your work - the only thing you can control is the experience of writing itself, and the work you create.

After all these years, I feel so free. Who knows where I might fly?

He fished in his pocket for his keys and instead pulled out the last geode, gray and smooth, earth-shaped. He held it, warming in his palm, thinking of all mysteries the world contained: layers of stone, concealed beneath the flesh of earth and grass; these dull rocks, with their glimmering hidden hearts.