Nick could see the gun shaking in Alan's hand now, in tight, terrified spasms. "Last night we put a magician in the river," Alan said, his voice low and intense as if he was making a promise."Maybe we should send you to join him." "You know the rules," the woman whispered. "Don't shoot the messenger." Nick interrupted, leaning down to speak in her ear. "Do they say 'Don't cut the messenger in half with your great big sword'?

The word 'home', it seemed, once learned, was a hard one to forget.

Nothing else ever mattered to me, and you weren’t even real. All I ever wanted was you.

You know my beautiful speech has made you see me in a whole new and even more attractive light. You totally think I'm secretly deep now. And you are right. It is true. I have deeps.

Don't waste time blaming yourself when you can spend time planning how to destroy our enemies.

Love always costs more than you can afford to pay," he said. "And it's always worth the price.

Romance is something people make fun of others for caring about, and yet it’s something that’s very natural to care about—it’s a loving connection between people, like family and friendships: it’s a significant emotional choice people make.