People say they want freedom, but what they really want is freedom from worry. If I take care of their problems, they don't mind being told what to do.

A monster, I think, remembering what Ben told me once. War makes Monsters of Men.

Ideals, my girl,” she says. “Always easier to believe in than live.” “But if you don't at least try to live them,” Bradley says, “then there's no point in living at all.

Everything that's happened has brought me here, to this place, with this knife in my hand, and something worth saving.

It’s a trick Ben taught me to help settle my Noise. You close yer eyes and as clearly and calmly as you can you tell yerself who you are, cuz that’s what gets lost in all that Noise.

It is a true story, the monster said. Many things that are true feel like a cheat.

So we forgive each other?" The crooked smile climbs up one more time. "Again?" And I look right into his eyes, right into him as far as I can see, because I want him to hear me, I want him to hear me with everything I mean and feel and say. "Always," I say to him. "Every time.