Quotes from Mary E. Pearson

I want to kiss you, Kazi," he finally said, his voice a whisper. "And I want you to kiss me back. But this time I don't want it to be because we're only making the best of it. And I don't want a kiss that's for show or has any conditions. I want you to kiss me just because you want to. Because you deeply want to. No one's watching now. You can walk away, and I won't say a thing.

No one is too great to fall.

A choir of pink-cheeked boys lift their voices as a priest seems to pull the music from their throats with the urging of his hands.

I woke up on the floor of Lia's wagon and thought she had finally planted an ax in my skull.

Another step, my sisters, My brothers, My love. The way is long, but we have each other. Another mile, Another tomorrow, The path is cruel, but we are strong.

Our fingers unlace so slowly that I am certain some part of me has been left behind on her fingertips.

Some truths refused to be hidden.

How does it feel? The rope dug into my wrist . Numbed my ankles. Familiar , I had wanted to answer. Being a prisoner feels familiar. It was all I had ever been. My past held on to me me as strongly as it had when I was a child, my choices still limited, my steps still shackled. My life had been patched together with lies from the day I was born. How does it feel? Old. I was tired of lies.

These memories descend out of nowhere, giving me pieces of who I was, but their significance is lost. I sigh and resume my walk, not knowing if this memory is important, or just more of the jumbled trivia of Jenna's life, like sock shopping. Maybe that is all any life is composed of, trivia that eventually adds up to a person, and maybe I just don't have enough of it yet to be a whole one.

Truth was a harder skill to master than swinging a sword.

It had been a clever deception from the very beginning.

You are not letting me go anywhere. Where I go and what I do is still my choice to make.

He could silence the devil with a whisper.

I didn't have the luxury of living only in a single moment. I had to live in a hundred fractured moments that held our futures in the balance.

It wears on a person, you know, always having to be perfect. You know that one day something will happen,some problem that won't fit into a neat little project. Something that can't be fixed. Then where does that leave you?" She doesn't hesitate. "You become mortal like the rest of us," she says.

Some betrayals ran too deep to ever forgive.

My back is dirtier than a potato?

But even the great can tremble with fear. Even the great can fall.

The angels threw glitter up there, just for you, Zoe, Daddy had told her. They celebrated almost as much as I did the day you were born. Every time you look up there you remember how special you are - so special the angels threw a big party.

Deceit knew no boundaries.

I can't promise any tomorrows

A family's not a puzzle with a set number of pieces. It's more like a well—the fuller, the better.

No matter how much they want it, or how much I want it, I can't make it happen. The feeling of failure is familiar. I always tried so hard to be everything they wanted

May the good grant you a still heart, heavy eyes, and angels guarding at your door.