It's funny, isn't it? When you are young you just want to be old, and then later you wish you could go back to being a kid.
Lauren OliverI think of the quietness of Julian's voice as he said I love you, the steadiness of his rib cage rising and falling against my back, as we sleep.I love you, Julian. But the words don't come.
Lauren OliverFor a second we just stand there in silence. Then, suddenly, Alex is back, easy and smiling again. โI left a note for you one time. In the Governorโs fist, you know?โ I left a note for you one time. Itโs impossible, too crazy to think about, and I hear myself repeating, โYou left a note for me?โ โIโm pretty sure it said something stupid. Just hi, and a smiley face, and my name. But then you stopped coming.โ He shrugs. โItโs probably still there. The note, I mean. Probably just a bit of paper pulp by now.
Lauren OliverSometimes I feel like if you just watch things, just sit still and let the world exist in front of you - sometimes I swear that just for a second time freezes and the world pauses in its tilt. Just for a second. And if you somehow found a way to live in that second, then you would live forever.
Lauren OliverAnd this, really, is the story-within-the-story, because if you do not believe that hearts can bloom suddenly bigger, and that love can open like a flower out of even the hardest places, then I am afraid that for you the world will be long and brown and barren, and you will have trouble finding the light. But if you do believe, then you already know all about magic.
Lauren Oliver