Quotes By Author: Alexandra Bracken

“Fire is calling my name. It is whispering words of encouragement, sweet things. It wants out, for me to fan the heat until it’s a vortex that can’t and won’t be stopped.”

“Don’t say passed away,’ I tell him, drawing from my own terrible well of experience. “Say he died. Death is horrible. We shouldn’t give it a pretty name.”

“Don’t you dare call me Miss Spencer, it kills me when you act like we aren’t friends.”

“We aren’t friends.”

“She couldn’t help it – she flinched. One of them had clearly misunderstood whatever was between them. Apparently, it had been her. Etta charged away from him down the sidewalk. He caught up to her in three long strides and took her arm in his hand, forcing her to stop. She couldn’t bring herself to look up; she only waited for Nicholas to speak.”

“I forget myself with you. I forget the rules. I forget every other living soul in this would. Do you understand?”

“I don’t care about the rules or anyone else. People are awful – they’re idiots – and if they try to hurt you, I won’t need the revolver. I care about you and all I ask is that you try not to make me feel like an idiot for it. You’re supposed to . . . you’re my partner.”

“His fingers unhooked from hers, following that same path up her arm, and then back down it again. The feeling was so distracting, so good, so sweet against her clammy skin. She didn’t choose a piece from her repertoire; Etta gave herself over to the notes that started streaming through her mind, rising from somewhere deep inside of her.The melody of her heart had no name; it was quick, and light. It rolled with the waves, falling as the breath left his chest, rising as he inhaled. It was the rain sliding down the glass; the fog spreading its fingers over the water. The creaking of a ship’s great body. The secrets whispered by the wind, and the unseen life that moved below. It was the flame against the candle.Nicholas’s arm was a map of hard muscles and delicate sinews, heartbreakingly perfect. She wondered if he could hear her humming the piece against his skin over the droning roars overhead. Maybe. His free hand skimmed up her skin, leaving a trail of sparks in its wake.With the world blacked out around them, she could catalog all over her senses, capture this moment in the warm darkness forever. He brushed back the loose hair across her forehead, cheek, the corner of her lips, her jaw, and she knew it had to be the same for him, that they’d never been so aware of another person in their entire lives.She released his arm, and he drew it up around her, guiding both of them down so they were on their sides, their heads cushioned by the bag, his jacket drawn over them. Etta understood that here, in the darkness, they’d found a place beyond rules; a place that hung somewhere between the past and the future. This was a single moment of possibility. The clattering of the attack from above faded as he rested his forehead against hers, his thumb lightly stroking a bruise on her cheek. She traced his face – the straight nose, the high, proud cheekbones, the full curve of his lips. His hand caught her there, taking it in his own; he pressed a hard, almost despairing kiss to it. But when she tilted her face up, half – desperate with longing, her blood racing, Nicholas pulled back; and although Etta could feel him beside her, his heart pounding, his ragged breath, it was as if he had disappeared into the thundering dark.”

“Hope, as it turned out, dwindled like sand through an hourglass.”

“Do I look as pretty as I feel?”

“When it came to adults, it was better not to talk. They had a way of hearing one thing and processing it as something else. No reason to give them an excuse to hurt you.”

“You wanna go build some shelves with me?”

“I hugged him without any kind of fear or self-consciousness, fiercely, with a rush of emotion that almost brought tears to my eyes.”I could kiss you!” Chubs cried.”Please don’t!” I gasp out, feeling his arms tighten around my ribs to the point of cracking them.”

“…crackers…” a voice breathed out nehind us, “yesss…”Both of us turned, watching as Chubs twisted around in his seat and settled back down, still fast asleep. I pressed a hand over my mouth to keep from laughing. Liam rolled his eyes, smiling. “He dreams about food,” he said. “A lot.”

“Let’s carpe the hell out of this diem.”