“I absolutely adore Christmas.”

“I absolutely adore Christmas.”

“It's very strange to go to cities like London and New York. People walk so quickly, they seem to be in a hurry all the time. And you don't say 'Hi' to everyone you meet, and you don't smile to everyone you meet, because there's just so many. Which is also very strange.”

“I'm very sensitive. I remember, as a kid at school, if someone in the classroom was sad or angry, it could have a great impact on me.”

“Even if my songs are quite sad or quite dark, I don't want my songs to make people sad. It's very important for me that all my songs have some kind of hope or light.”

“I really want a pet, and I really love animals.”

“I absolutely adore Christmas.”

“Aurora looked into the mirror and smiled. She was pretty. She was a royal princess. There was about to be a ball. These were things she could, once in a while, allow herself to be happy about.”

“She lifted her head in surprise, following his line of sight above the tree line. Beyond the distant peaks, a green and blue symphony of lights had begun. It rippled and shimmered like sunshine on water, leaving Rich blinking back tears. He'd read something about this but had never seen it before.“It's the aurora borealis,” Lou said quietly. “Northern lights.”

“Aurora!” Dad came running out.“Over here.”“We’re going to head home.” Dad leaned against a post at the bottom of the steps. “Hey, guys. What’re you talking about?”I smiled. “Just…girl stuff.”“Tampons,” Blake blurted.My jaw dropped. Dad’s eyes went wide. “Well, that’s…very…uh…” He backed a few steps. Glanced over his shoulder. “I’ll just…um…Gemma!” And he was sprinting toward the building.“Blake!” we all snapped.“Sorry, I panicked.”“Aurora,” Ayden said. “You’d better—before your mom—”“Yep.” I raced down the steps. “Dad, he was kidding!”

“The dark sky.A hundred million stars.More stars than I’ve ever seen before. My eyes let me see farther, but they don’t show me the one thing I want to see. I would trade all the stars in the universe if I could just have him back again.Wind whistles through the trees nearby. Birdsong weaves in and out of the sound.The hybrids emerge from the communication building, heads tilted to the sky.And then we see the end.Godspeed’s engine was nuclear; who knows what fueled the biological weapons. But they explode together. In space, they don’t make the familiar mushroom cloud. They don’t make the boom! of an exploding bomb.There is, against the dark sky, a brief flash of light. It is filled with colors, like a nebula or the aurora borealis, bursting like a popped bubble.Nothing else—no sound of an explosion, no tremors in the earth, no smell of smoke. Not here, on the surface of the planet.Nothing else to signify Elder’s death.Just light.And then it’s gone.And then he’s gone.”

“When sweet lullabies are whispered into the sky, my heart is filled with with the sorrow of time. So when the kiss of a midnight moon ends, drop sweet nothings to fill my ear. Too many years to be sincere, and too many lost favorites that were never there.A tear or two, and maybe three; apathy is-and may not be me. ”