Home > Work > Legendborn (The Legendborn Cycle #1)
21 " Grief does strange things to people’s minds. This I know. One morning a couple of weeks after my mother died, my dad said he thought he could smell her cheesy grits cooking on the stove—my favorite and my mother’s specialty. Once, I heard her humming down the hall from my bedroom. Something so mundane and simple, so regular and small, that for a moment, the prior weeks were just a nightmare, and I was awake now and she was alive. Death moves faster than brains do. "
― Tracy Deonn , Legendborn (The Legendborn Cycle #1)
22 " Someone I care about is alive but hurt. Someone I like very much is right here in front of me, asking me to sit with him. It dawns on me that if I ignore that, or forget how important that is, than I truly will make the shadows my home. "
23 " Don’t make your life about the loss. Make it about the love. "
24 " Sometimes, you say the awful thing quickly and without taking a breath because lingering is too painful. "
25 " Each leap into nothingness, each hovering moment before the fall, call to spark a wild yearning inside my chest. "
26 " My mother's life has stopped. Shouldn't everything and everyone stop living too? - Legenborn "
27 " How could I have risked so much for a lost little girl who probably needs as much therapy as I do?" He tilts his head, eyes going unfocused. "Well, that's not possible." He laughs again, but this time it's so self-deprecating it feels like my anger has nowhere to go. "No one needs as much therapy as I do. "
28 " Two faults. My race and my gender.But they are not faults. They are strength. "
29 " And when your people die, you have to listen to strangers speak your nightmare into existence. "
30 " She eyes me as if gauging my mood. “ ‘I hate tiny parties—they force one into constant exertion.’ ” I squint, searching my memories for the familiar words. “Did you—did you just Jane Austen me?” Her dark eyes twinkle. “Who’s the literary nerd? The quoter or the one who recognizes the quote?” “Wait.” I shake my head in amusement. “Did you just Star Wars me?” “Nah.” She grins. “I New Hope’d you. "
31 " she presses her love against my heart, and fades. "
32 " This boy is not part of the plan. Not the beginning, middle, or anywhere in between. "
33 " Legends are dangerous, Bree. Don't underestimate them. "
34 " I listen to these people I don’t know use the past tense about my mother, the person who brought me into this world and created my present. They are past-tensing my heart—my whole beating, bleeding, torn heart—right in front of me. "
35 " Like many true things, this is awful, and hard. "
36 " To be able to trace one’s family back that far is something I have never fathomed. My family only knows back to the generation after Emancipation. Suddenly, it’s hard to stand here and take in the magnificence of the Wall and not feel an undeniable sense of ignorance and inadequacy. Then, a rush of frustration because someone probably wanted to record it all, but who could have written down my family’s history as far back as this? Who would have been able to, been taught to, been allowed to? Where is our Wall? A Wall that doesn’t make me feel lost, but found. A Wall that towers over anyone who lays eyes on "
37 " Of course not. But…This week you’re a zombie. You know what you need?” I stand up and sigh. “You gonna say Jesus?” “No.” She points at me. “You need homeostasis.” “Did you just… biology me?” “Sure did. "
38 " My mother's life has stopped. Shouldn't everything and everyone stop living too? "
39 " blurts out, “By the way, your hair is totally badass!” I know without looking that the curls springing out of my puff are wide-awake, reaching toward the sky in the night’s humidity. I bristle, because his tone is the one that feels less like a compliment and more like he’s happened upon a fun oddity—and that fun oddity is Black me with my Black hair. Wonderful. "
40 " don’t know if there’s a single Black person in this country who can say with 100 percent confidence that they feel safe with the police. Not after the past few years. Probably not ever. Maybe there are some, somewhere, but I sure as hell don’t know ’em. "