There is no darkness like that of a confined space.

— Lauren DeStefano

There's a world out there that nobody has bothered to promise her.

— Lauren DeStefano

There’s this anomaly that sometimes happens with twins. It occurs in the womb when the fetuses are growing too closely to each other. The stronger twin develops normally, while the weaker twin crumples and is encased by the body of the stronger twin, where it becomes a parasite. The result is a single child, plagued by a twin-shaped fossil inside. Like a tumor. In death Rose became Linden’s parasitic twin. They were two separate organisms once, growing steadily beside each other. Two pulses. Two brains. But she has crumpled and died, and still he carries her inside himself. She goes where he goes, feeling nothing, seeing nothing, a shadow behind his ribs.

— Lauren DeStefano

They're dead. We're alive. We have things to do.

— Lauren DeStefano

They're making me go to school," Stroller said. "I don't think it's a very good idea. I've read about how cruel kids can be."" Are you afraid they'll be cruel, or that being around them for too long will make you cruel?" Felix said." Both, I suppose.

— Lauren DeStefano

This is the real Madame. I can see why she hides herself in accents and gems and exotic perfumes. I can see why she's grown to hate anything to do with love. She isn't evil or corrupt the way that Vaughn is. She's broken. Only broken.

— Lauren DeStefano

This time as we ascend, I watch the world sinking below us. I watch the way the city fades into sand that gets washed by the ocean.

— Lauren DeStefano

Trust is the strongest weapon.

— Lauren DeStefano

Vaughn is talking about the heat, and his voice is so excited that it breaks into whispers at times. He loves his madness the way a bird loves the sky.

— Lauren DeStefano

Wanting to be happy is not stupid.

— Lauren DeStefano