Home > Work > An Artificial Night (October Daye, #3)
21 " Come here, she said. "I need to hold someone, and you need to be held. It's a fair trade. Just for a little while, and then we can go on being what we are. "
― Seanan McGuire , An Artificial Night (October Daye, #3)
22 " It’s not that I enjoy surprising everyone I know; it’s more that I almost never know where I’m going before I actually get there. "
23 " Toby, if I say challenging him is futile, that you'll change nothing and only grant the omen you saw this morning power over you...if I say you can save your life and your heart by walking away from this, will it matter?" Part of me--most of me--wanted to say, "Yes, it would matter; please tell me to stay here. If you tell me, I'll stay." I didn't want to go. I'm not a hero; I never have been. I just do what has to be done. But when you get right down to it, isn't that the definition of hero? "
24 " We can’t save them if they don’t want to be saved. It doesn’t work that way. "
25 " Don’t be. I went off to play the hero myself, once. I’d do it again, if I had to.” His smile turned wistful. “I’d do it all again, and I’d do it differently. When certain people wanted to walk away, well . . . it would be different. But we can’t change the past, and now I get to watch you ride away. I saw you born. I watched you grow from a confused little girl into one of my finest knights. I shouldn’t have to see you die. "
26 " dear October, you’re the most passively suicidal person I’ve ever met, and that’s saying something. "
27 " Because, dear October, you’re the most passively suicidal person I’ve ever met, and that’s saying something. You’ll never open your wrists, but you’ll run head-first into hell. You’ll have good reasons. You’ll have great reasons, even. And part of you will be praying that you won’t come out again. "
28 " I’m not a hero; I never have been. I just do what has to be done. But when you get right down to it, isn’t that the definition of hero? "
29 " nestled against her, enjoying the feeling of security given by knowing someone bigger and stronger than I was would stop anything from hurting me. That’s all childhood is, after all: strong arms to hold back the dark, a story to keep the shadows dancing, and a candle to mark the long journey into day. "
30 " The Luidaeg.Something woke in me that remembered how to hope, because I recognized her as soon as I knew her name--the sea witch, Blind Michael's sister, who sent me to him in the first place. There were figures in the darkness behind her, but none of them mattered; the Luidaeg would save me if anyone could. I owed her, after all. She needed me alive to pay my debts. "
31 " Their eyes were blank and hollow, like the eyes of refugees running from a war they didn’t understand and couldn’t escape. There were no tears. The time for tears was past. It was time to go, and none of us knew what was coming. "
32 " Sometimes I envy kids for the way they dismiss the things that don’t matter. They still get bogged down in details, but at least they’re different details. "
33 " Oh,” I said, and stopped. There was nothing else to say. I’ve always been proud of my words, and they’d all left me. They’d been doing that a lot lately. "
34 " Damn it. I hate crying almost as much as I hate bleeding. They’re both signs of weakness, and I can’t afford either one. "
35 " How did you get away?” “I escaped. Isn’t that how one always gets away? One escapes. One takes whatever route is open and gets out. The methods don’t matter. "
36 " Every time I think the world can’t get weirder, it finds a way. "
37 " you’re the most passively suicidal person I’ve ever met, and that’s saying something. You’ll never open your wrists, but you’ll run head-first into hell. You’ll have good reasons. You’ll have great reasons, even. And part of you will be praying that you won’t come out again.” Her words struck a little too close to home. "
38 " Sometimes I think I’m getting trigger-happy. Then I think of how many things have tried to kill me and I wonder why it’s taken this long for the paranoia to kick in. "
39 " I’m not Orpheus. I’m not that easy to trick. "
40 " listen to commands from the shadows, especially when I don’t have any other choice. "