Quotes from Anne Ursu, The Real Boy

It was a beautiful lie that they had all been telling themselves—that you could have magic without monsters.

He's gone now. He did something terrible, but...he did good things, too. And he kept us well. And it's all right if you are sad.

This was not [him]. It was a thing, with all the [him]-ness gone from it. Death takes the person and leaves his shell behind, like a hollowed-out tree.

He could still escape—the fear was in front of him, and all he had to do was wrench free and run in the other direction. But he kept walking forward, straight into its embrace.