“We're not robbing him," Skulduggery said." But I'm afraid I have some bad news."
"Is it Deacon?" Francine asked, her eyes wide.
"It is."
"Is he sick?"
"It's a little worse than that."
She gasped. "He's dying?"
"He was briefly dying," said Skulduggery. "Now he's dead.”
― Derek Landy, quote from The End of the World
“Valkyrie made a face. "Bloody vampires."
Ryan sat forward. "That was a vampire? That guy who looked like an accountant?"
"We don't talk about vampires," Skulduggery warned.
"But it was daytime. How could he have been out during the-"
"We don't talk about vampires!" Valkyrie said sharply.
Ryan shrunk back. "Sorry," he said.
"Don't worry about it," Skulduggery told him. "Valkyrie used to date a vampire that's all."
"We didn't date ," Valkyrie said immediately.
Skulduggery held a hand up. "I'm not judging."
Valkyrie scowled.”
― Derek Landy, quote from The End of the World
“The workshop door opened and Skulduggery emerged. "Ryan," he said, "stop leaning on my car.”
― Derek Landy, quote from The End of the World
“I’ve got good news and bad news for you, Ryan. The bad news is that you’re the only one in the world who can activate the Doomsday Machine, and Foe and his gang are never going to stop coming after you. The good news is that with myself and Valkyrie protecting you, you stand a very good chance of emerging from this relatively unscathed.”
Valkyrie looked at the back of Skulduggery’s head. “You said they’d probably try to cut his hand off.”
“I said relatively,” Skulduggery reminded her.”
― Derek Landy, quote from The End of the World
“He was so strong,” Francine sobbed. “So proud. So much dignity. How did he die?”
“Wood chipper,” said Valkyrie.”
― Derek Landy, quote from The End of the World
“Ryan, you're not real. You don't exist... You're Deacon Maybury," Skulduggery said. "You're a hiding place who thinks it's a boy.”
― Derek Landy, quote from The End of the World
“Are you sure you won’t be too bored here, waiting for us to come back? We don’t know how long our time with the Pythia will last; I hope you’ll find something to do.”
“Of course I will,” I told him. “I’ll be exploring Delphi.”
“No you won’t,” my brothers responded in perfect unison. Then they took turns telling me exactly why I couldn’t do what I wanted.
“You wouldn’t be safe,” Castor said.
“You’d get lost if you went wandering around the city on your own,” Polydeuces added.
“It’s too big.”
“Too noisy.”
“Too confusing.”
“Too busy.”
“You could run into the wrong sort of people.”
“Dangerous types.”
“But sneaky enough so you couldn’t tell they’re dangerous until it’s too late.”
“We’re responsible for your safety.”
“We have to know where you are at all times.”
“It’s not that we don’t trust you, Helen.”
“It’s them.”
“It’s for your own good.”
I flopped down on my bed. “Fine. Go. I’ll stay here,” I told the ceiling.
Castor and Polydeuces each grabbed one of my wrists and pulled me back to my feet. “I don’t think so,” Castor said, chuckling. “You’d stay here, all right. You’d stay here just until you saw us go into Apollo’s temple, and then you’d be a little cloud of dust sailing out through the gates.”
“You don’t have to come with us,” Polydeuces said. “But if you want to tour this city, you’ll have to do it on our terms.”
With that, he left me in Castor’s company.
“Where’s he going?” I asked.
“Probably to see if the priests of Apollo have an oil jar big enough to stuff you inside for safekeeping.” He winked at me.
No matter how much I loved my brothers, I wasn’t in the mood for more teasing. “Aren’t you afraid you’ll insult the Pythia if you don’t go to see her right now? You were summoned. She could foretell terrible fates for the two of you if you keep her waiting.”
Castor didn’t seem worried. “If she’s truly blessed with the gift of prophecy, she already knows we’re going to be delayed. And if she can’t foretell that, she’s as much of an oracle as I am, so why should I care what she predicts?” He laughed out loud, then added, “But don’t tell Polydeuces I said that. He’s the devout one.”
― Esther M. Friesner, quote from Nobody's Princess
“Stability itself is nothing but a more languid motion.”
― Stephen Greenblatt, quote from The Swerve: How the World Became Modern
“I wondered what it must be like to be so handsome. Surely it would affect the behavior of everyone around you, always?”
― Michelle Paver, quote from Dark Matter
“We want different things. Men want to have sex with a woman. Then they want to have sex with another woman. And then another. Then they want to eat cornflakes and sleep for a while, and then they want to have sex with another woman, and another, until they die. Women,’ and I thought I’d better pick my words carefully when describing a gender I didn’t belong to, ‘want a relationship. They may not get it, or they may sleep with a lot of men before they do get it, but ultimately that’s what they want. That’s the goal. Men do not have goals. Natural ones. So they invent them, and put them at either end of a football pitch. And then they invent football. Or they pick fights, or try and get rich, or start wars, or come up with any number of daft bloody things to make up for the fact that they have no real goals.’
‘Bollocks,’ said Ronnie.
‘That, of course, is the other main difference.”
― Hugh Laurie, quote from The Gun Seller
“Lonely. I hated that word more than any other in the dictionary.”
― Pepper Winters, quote from Debt Inheritance
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