Hope and belief. I'd always wanted hope, but never believed that I could have such an adventure on my own. That I could own it. And love it. But it happened.

There is no such thing as a soulmate...and who would want there to be? I don't want half of a shared soul. I want my own damn soul.

Better to end this dream before it becomes a nightmare.

Do you want to guess what's in here?" I asked Dash. "I think I've got it figured out already. There's a new supply of red notebooks in there, and you want us to fill them in with clues about the works of, say, Nicholas Sparks." "Who?" I asked. Please, no more broody poets. I couldn't keep up. "You don't know who Nicholas Sparks is?" Dash asked. I shook my head. "Please don't ever find out," he said.

I mean, I think I am basically a cool girl, but I am also a pain in the ass.

We all just took the bookstore at its word, because if you couldn't trust a bookstore, what could you trust?

But I know the difference. Everyone else is a ghost. I exist here alone, stranded by choice. Deserted.