Dr. Everest, got up and gave us a little pep talk. Mostly it boiled down to the fact that it was autumn, and everyone was back, and while that was a great thing, people better not get cocky or misbehave or he'd personally kill us all. He didn't actually say those words, but that was the subtext.
Maureen JohnsonWe Deveauxs preferred to talk you to death, rather than face you in physical combat.
Maureen JohnsonSometimes it is worth any amount of suffering just to prevent giving your parents the opportunity to be right.
Maureen JohnsonThese houses had been plunked down with an alarming randomness -- unevenly spaced, on crooked lines, like whoever had designed the place had said, "We'll just follow this cat, and wherever he sits down, we'll build something.
Maureen JohnsonWe're going to die," Keith said, the moment he was gone. "This man is a serial killer. We're going to die, and he's going to bury us in his garden and build a shed on us.
Maureen Johnson