“The word Styx got her [Mrs. O'Leary, the hellhound] excited. She probably thought I meant sticks. She jumped a few times,, and then calmed down enough for me to push Nico onto her back.”

“Like other ghosts, she whispers; not for me to join her, but so that, when I'm close enough, she can push me back into the world.”

“If she's passing back this way I'm not that hard to find
Tell her she can look me up if she's got the time.”

“but when I got down to it, I was doomed without her. She's the breath in me.”

“She was intelligent enough to realize that her excitement was childish, but not mature enough to care.”

“As Lacy waited for her turn to speak on Peter's behalf, she thought back to the first time she realized she could hate her own child.”

“She had always wanted words, she loved them, grew up on them. Words gave her clarity, brought reason, shape. Whereas I thought words bent emotions like sticks in water.”

“The truth is that I wasn't there with her when she needed me. Now she see's how I love Nanhoï and she believes that I can't love her as much as I love my son. That I've never loved her like this. I try to tell her that she's distorting everything in her pain and not seeing the truth. That I've painfully missed her since our separation and that I've never stopped loving her. But even though she gradually calms down, I have a feeling she doesn't believe me.”

“She kissed me, her mouth tasting of liverwurst on rye. She sat back, breathing with relief. I took out my handkerchief and wiped the sweat from my forehead…She pulled me down and her arms went around me and we fought until I thought it was absurd. I sat back and tried to think of another escape.”

“Hi, Max," she said, pushing her shades up onto her curls.
"I hope your wearing sunscreen," i said, “your gonna have hella wrinkles by the time your ten.”
“Want some daiquiri?” she offered, pointing at a blender.
“Is it traitor flavored?” I asked.”