My parents were pretty liberal, but they were still parents. I definitely had my teenage rebellion.

anything, anything is possible, if you can just see the sky.

This is the language of the world before—a world of chaos and confusion and happiness and despair—before the blitz turned streets to grids, cities to prisons, and hearts to dust.

It's the way he says my name: like music.

One of the strangest things about life is that it will chug on, blind and oblivious, even as your private world - your little carved-out sphere - is twisting and morphing, even breaking apart.

I'd rather die on my own terms than live on theirs. I'd rather die loving Alex than live without him.

When he speaks again, I can tell that he's smiling. "So I guess we saved each other.