“Age had nothing to do with how well my brain worked.”

“It was a thing that could not be articulated or explained. It merely was, like the sunrise or a sheer and sudden drop to the giant water that had stolen my breath, where the land ended in the ruins...”

“I missed you." I didn't mean to tell him so, even if it was true. Admitting need felt like weakness; it demonstrated dependence and vulnerability.”

“I resolved, then, deep in my soul never to let him go. I'd be the one never to leave him. I'd prove to him that some things could be for always- that we could be.”

“We are born and reborn again and again. We are changing with the waves of time.”

“No one ever changed the world waking up at noon.”

“Stories do not change, only the lives they live in do.”

“Zachary smiles, and I wonder if he's felling different. Because standing out here waist deep in Gossimer Lake, next to my best friend, I'm feeling different-light and good and maybe even holy.”

“Don't make me sit through reality.”

“My wishing star glowed slightly and winked back at me. I could almost hear its voice, tinkling like wind chimes and church bells, reassuring me that everything would return to normal.”