My head is my favorite swimming pool.

I think, in this strange world of beautiful things, there may be some humanity after all.

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.

You’re insane, you know that?” he says. “It’s the only thing keeping me afloat,” I say.

Childhood is a long, long road, from which that dark whispering forest of death seems an impossible destination.

There's a hazy smile on her lips that won't go away, and her hair is a mess. It's like a brushfire filled with casualties.

Before I can process what’s happening, Deirdre has opened her hands and Linden has taken the ring from her and slipped it onto my finger. “Rhine Ashby,” he says. “My wife.