“Henri said our names were fitting because we were destined to be together in our old age, like our great-great-aunts. Two gray old ladies in the bodies of teenage girls. Someday wed live in a big h...”

“Now our father lived in a world where we didnt belong, with a needy girlfriend who didnt look much older than Henri, a saltwater pool in need of daily skimming, and a flashy Porsche that needed to ...”

“Nobody could hold the same place in your heart as your sister. Love or hate her, she was the only person who grew up exactly like you, who knew the secrets of your householdthe laughter that only t...”

“Henri held herself as if only her arms could keep her pieced together, and I saw that behind all her fake controlthrowing herself at a teacher, carving our dad out of her heartwas something fragile...”

“I was awakened by a tremendous earthquake, and though I hadn ever before enjoyed a storm of this sort, the strange thrilling motion could not be mistaken, and I ran out of my cabin, both glad and f...”

“An afternoon drive from Los Angeles will take you up into the high mountains, where eagles circle above the forests and the cold blue lakes, or out over the Mojave Desert, with its weird vegetation...”

“Chiron looked surprised. I thought that would be obvious enough. The entrance to the Underworld is in Los Angeles.”

“Only once in your life, I truly believe, you find someone who can completely turn your world around. You tell them things that youve never shared with another soul and they absorb everything you sa...”

“As he read, I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once.”

“I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you simply, without problems or pride: I love you in this way because I do not know any other way of loving but this, in which there i...”