There is not always a good guy. Nor is there always a bad one. Most people are somewhere in between.
Patrick NessI don't know how much time passes with us just lying there, just feeling that the other is really there, really true, really alive, feeling the safety of him, his weight against mine, the roughness of his fingers touching my face, his warmth and his smell and the dustiness of his clothes, and we barely speak.
Patrick NessViola blows out a thoughtful air. "My dad used to say, 'There's only forward, Vi, only outward and up.'" "There's only forward," I repeat. "Outward and up," she says.
Patrick NessAnd I know Iโve lost. Everything is lost. Everything is over. โAs the newly appointed President of this fair planet of ours,โ the Mayor says, holding out his hands as if to show me the world for the first time,โ let me be the very first to welcome you to its new capital city.โ โTodd?โ Viola whispers, her eyes closed. I hold her tightly to me. โIโm sorry,โ I whisper to her. โIโm so sorry.โ Weโve run right into a trap. Weโve run right off the end of the world. โWelcome,โ says the Mayor,โ to the New Prentisstown.
Patrick Ness