A book, child. A book just for you, in a lost language.

— Celia McMahon

.and she is a star, to outshine all the suns of men days.

— Celia McMahon

And you shouldn't choose to care about someone. There shouldn't be a time and a place for it. Either you do or you don't. Don't try.” He looks off. “There can be falseness in trying to do something that should come naturally to people.

— Celia McMahon

Dead. The words fall from my tongue and linger there like poison. A slow death hanging from my lips. I shake the thought away and swallow, but I can still taste the remnants in the back of my throat. It's sour, and I gag a little as tears swell behind my eyes.

— Celia McMahon

Everyone is good at heart. We all do things with the greatest of intentions and most of the time we do it for selfish reasons. Myself included.

— Celia McMahon

Everyone makes mistakes. If everyone fell into the sand after making a mistake we would never get anywhere. We'd all be washed away in the sea, lost forever. Do you understand?

— Celia McMahon

Grin is still beside me. His arms are hung tightly as his side and I take his hand. It is like touching stone, and he turns stiffly toward me as we begin making our way back to where Ross had camped the horses. We are both quiet, but I know we were both thinking the same thing. That we wish we were out there and that we wish this wasn't happening at the same time. I suddenly feel the need to apologize to him too. It is because of me that his father and brothers are in this situation, but that was their choice. When he looks at me, I can see forgiveness in his eyes. Neither of us have to speak to understand and neither of us look back at the people we leave behind.

— Celia McMahon

Haven't you noticed most of your fairy tales take place in the woods?” a man a few feet from me says. He stutters and lets a belch escape him. “That's why we're out here. We were hoping Jimmy would bring enough damsels for us all, though!

— Celia McMahon

I begin to cry as my walls of my resolve break down. I don't know how long I can hold on. The pain is horrid and I curl into myself wrestling with a wish to die and a wish to live. Both have their perks. Only one will release me from this agony.

— Celia McMahon

I believe that we should all be free to believe what we want and not be condemned for it,” I say without a thought. “I believe in a higher power and that it works within us. Whatever the name doesn't matter, it's the thought behind it that matters. It's the way we live our lives that matter and as long as I believe that there is someone in the sky there to protect us, no one here will ever break me.

— Celia McMahon