Because if their own parents didn't care enough about them to keep them, who would want them in Heaven?

The Admiral's using us," he says to the kids around him. "Don't you see that?" Most of the kids just shrug, but Hayden's there, and he never misses an opportunity to add his peculiar wisdom to a situation. "I'd rather be used whole than in pieces," Hayden says.

No," says Ariana. "It was a dream. Reality got in the way, that's all.

This is not going to be easy. I'm good at being bad, but I'm bad at being good. I don't know the first thing about good deeds.

You may feel a tugging sensation near your ankles.

I believe that we have free will. I believe we get the chance to make choices in our lives. Not everything is set in stone from the moment we're born. We choose our destiny, our ultimate fate. But I also think that we don't realize the choices we've made until after we make them. We're racing down a freeway, only to realize we've missed all the exits, and the only direction we can go is dead ahead.

The living would come up with endless theories to argue, because the living were exceptionally good at arguing, especially when no one knew the answer.