Magic for Nothing

The history of the human race has been one long quest to find, novel things and then kill, eat, or enslave them. There's a reason the aliens haven't made an appearance yet, is what I'm saying.

You shouldn't believe all the press about Ouija boards. They can't be used in an exorcism. Trivial Pursuit can, but that's another story.

I WAS DONE. No. That wasn’t quite right. I was a hundred miles past done, cresting into the Fjords of Nope, heading for Fuck-That-Ville.

Every time I think my family has plumbed the depths of stupidity, somebody goes and finds a goddamn shovel.” —Jane Harrington-Price

Sometimes monsters are made, not born.

When someone judges you for something you can’t help, try to forgive them. They don’t understand. And if they keep doing it, knock their fucking teeth in.

It’s not that I don’t date. It’s that I don’t date. I am an essentially misanthropic person: I don’t like people much, and they usually reward me by not liking me either.

Sometimes doing the right thing is the hardest thing in the entire world. Sometimes it costs you everything you have.' —Enid Healy

We can run from our past, but the past follows. One step at a time, forever, the past follows.

You mustn’t blame yourself for things you didn’t do and couldn’t have prevented. That way lies madness.

I was here for revenge. And revenge did not need a nap.

There is no skill so specialized that it cannot be adapted to the business of survival. When all else fails, look to yourself for answers.

I didn't look back. Sometimes, not looking back is the only mercy the world has left to show.

My family is accepting of all the differences in the world. ... And I STILL hadn't told them when my fingers started getting hot, or when I'd accidentally set fire to my sheets in the night. Some things are a step too far. They're terrifying and personal, and telling people about them would make them real. Worse, telling people about them might make those people look at you differently. It might make them change the way they treat you.

But oh, sometimes the future is a very long way away, and sometimes the present matters more than anything that might be coming down the line.

The trick is not learning to disappear. The trick is learning to hide in plain sight, until everyone around you swears you belong exactly where you are.

Pain and hunger are not awesome when taken together.

where she would have slept and showered and done all those other wonderful things that make the world a less unrelentingly awful place.

Everything was going to be perfect.

If I were an actual spider-centaur, I’d go to Comic-Con as the Stalk from Saga and get my picture taken with every famous person I could find.

It looks like a heart attack. I thought you should know, since you found her.” “Thanks,” I said. “That’ll help me sleep tonight.” “No, it won’t.” “No, it won’t,” I admitted.

It was almost nine-thirty. The Covenant expected me to check in at ten-seventeen. I ducked out the back of the tent, pausing at the supply closet to drop off my candy and earnings with the bored teenager doing inventory. She didn’t even glance at me as she took the tray out of my hands.

None to speak of at the moment, ma’am,” I said. “I’ve been on my own for a while now.” She glanced at the mice, clearly checking to see if they were upset by what I was saying. Using Aeslin mice as a living polygraph was clever. Unfortunately for her, nothing I was saying was technically a lie. The mice wouldn’t have reacted even if they’d been less well-trained than mine were. That’s the beauty of being the gray child. I knew how to color outside the lines.

We were parked on a graveled hilltop, with a small path winding down from our location to the gates of a stately manner home

Not very likely to happen; not probable. Probably not a very good idea anyway. See also “bad plan.

There’s things about everyone that I don’t know. I like you. That’s enough for right now, y’know?

The cocky always have the farthest to fall.

No matter how fast you run, you can’t change who you are.' —Jane Harrington-Price

Be an island, but build bridges, not walls.' —Evelyn Baker