“I realized then what had happened.She had turned us–all of us, except for Mouse–into great, gaunt, long-legged hounds.Wonderful!” Lea said, pirouetting upon one toe, laughing. “Come, children!” And she leapt off into the jungle, nimble and swift as a doe.A bunch of us dogs stood around for a moment, just sort of staring at one another.And Mouse said, in what sounded to me like perfectly understandable English, “That bitch.”

“I’m so pretty, it’s hard for me to think of myself as intelligent.”

“I’m amazing and studly, but I have limits.”

“You can have everything in the world, but if you don’t have love, none of it means crap,” he said promptly. “Love is patient. Love is kind. Love always forgives, trusts, supports, and endures. Love never fails. When every star in the heavens grows cold, and when silence lies once more on the face of the deep, three things will endure: faith, hope, and love.” And the greatest of these is love,” I finished. “That’s from the Bible.” First Corinthians, chapter thirteen,” Thomas confirmed. “I paraphrased. Father makes all of us memorize that passage. Like when parents put those green yucky-face stickers on the poisonous cleaning products under the kitchen sink.”

“Da. This is going very well already.”Thomas barked out a laugh. “There are seven of us against the Red King and his thirteen most powerful nobles, and it’s going well?”Mouse sneezed.”Eight,” Thomas corrected himself. He rolled his eyes and said, “And the psycho death faerie makes it nine.””It is like movie,” Sanya said, nodding. “Dibs on Legolas.””Are you kidding?” Thomas said. “I’m obviously Legolas. You’re . . .” He squinted thoughtfully at Sanya and then at Martin. “Well. He’s Boromir and you’re clearly Aragorn.””Martin is so dour, he is more like Gimli.” Sanya pointed at Susan. “Her sword is much more like Aragorn’s.””Aragorn wishes he looked that good,” countered Thomas.”What about Karrin?” Sanya asked.”What–for Gimli?” Thomas mused. “She is fairly–“”Finish that sentence, Raith, and we throw down,” said Murphy in a calm, level voice.”Tough,” Thomas said, his expression aggrieved. “I was going to say ‘tough.’ “As the discussion went on–with Molly’s sponsorship, Mouse was lobbying to claim Gimli on the basis of being the shortest, the stoutest, and the hairiest–“Sanya,” I said. “Who did I get cast as?””Sam,” Sanya said.I blinked at him. “Not . . . Oh, for crying out loud, it was perfectly obvious who I should have been.”Sanya shrugged. “It was no contest. They gave Gandalf to your godmother. You got Sam.”

“We are not going to die.” Butters stared up at me, pale, his eyes terrified. “We’re not?” “No. And do you know why?” He shook his head. “Because Thomas is too pretty to die. And because I’m too stubborn to die.” I hauled on the shirt even harder. “And most of all because tomorrow is Oktoberfest, Butters, and polka will never die.”

“Love is another kind of power, which shouldn’t surprise you. Magic comes from emotions, among other things. And when two people are together, in that intimacy, when they really, selflessly love each other it changes them both. It lingers on in the energy of their lives, even when they are apart.”

“Life would be unbearably dull if we had answers to all our questions.”