Not like Tobias, who is almost shy when he smiles, like he is surprised you bothered to look at him in the first place.

My first instinct is to push you until you break just to see how hard I have to press.

I know that change is difficult, and comes slowly, and that it is the work of many days strung together in a long line until the origin of them is forgotten.

We are not the same. But we are, somehow, one.

I tell myself, as sternly as possible, that is how things work here. We do dangerous things and people die. People die, and we move on to the next dangerous thing. The sooner that lesson sinks in, the better chance I have at surviving initiation.

Fear doesn't shut you down; it wakes you up

His hand touches my waist, steadies me. The touch sends a shock through my body, and all my insides burn like his fingers ignited them. I pull close to him, pressing my body against his, and lift my head to kiss him.