She grabbed his face and pulled him into a kiss, which effectively shut him up.

I think anytime you're writing to the middle grades, you're writing to young readers who are trapped in a number of ways between two worlds: between childhood and adulthood, between their friends and their parents.

Oh, god,” I said. “Sorry, sorry. Do I die now?” --Sadie to Zia

Poseidon’s trident was also all over the place, since Peter the Great wanted to stress Russia’s sea power. I especially like the trident on top of an obelisk -- what a great Egyptian/Greek mix up!

I stared at her. Maybe I wasn't the brightest guy in the world when it came to girls, but I was pretty sure Rachel had just dumped me, which was lame considering we'd never even been together.

Laistry....I can't even say that. What would you call them in English?" "Canadians.

I wondered if I would appear on a temple wall painting someday. A blonde Egyptian girl with purple highlights running sideways through the palm trees, screaming "Yikes!" in hieroglyphics as Neith chased after me. The thought of some poor archaeologist trying to figure that out almost lifted my spirits.