There is a silence so great that I can hear the ice crystals cracking and falling from eyelashes of girls who will never blink again.

Fate,' I said, 'Is a theif.

The madness of youth made me unafraid.

We are stronger than we've credited ourselves to be. We have been the victims and the witnesses. We have said a lifetime of good-byes.

I can hear my brother's voice in my head. Your problem is that you're too emotional. But how can I not be emotional, Rowan? How can I not care?

And everywhere girls, tumbling from trees like orange blossoms and hitting the earth with sickening thuds. They crack open.

Sometimes we don't know how afraid we are until we've reached a strange door and we don't know what will be on the other side.