“Mom says you have to believe in Santa if you want presents on Christmas.”

“It’s a long story, but one you’ve never heard before. This story is about a place that dwells on the mountain; a place where bad things happen. And you may think you know about the bad things, you may decide you have it all figured out but you don’t. Because the truth is worse than monsters or men.”

“The Skinned Men kill again.”

“Underneath the Triple Tree there is a man who waits for me and should I go or should I stay my fate’s the same either way.”

“Lydia shrugged. "At least we'll have some stories to tell after graduation.""These aren't the kind of stories I want to tell.”

“I’ve always felt a little lost in life, like I never received complete instructions on who I'm supposed to be. Everyone else around me seemed to know exactly who they were. Their lives would fly right by me; their GPS’s locked on to destinations while I just sat idling in the street. In high school I never did any extracurricular activities because I couldn't figure out if I was a sports person or a music person. And it was no different in college. I wandered through four different majors, unable to decide who I wanted to be. I just felt like a blank slate.And if I was a blank slate, Micah York was The Starry Night - authentic, beautiful, perfect. He was my exact antithesis which is what attracted me to him in the first place. He was born knowing exactly who he was and what he was about. His confidence and certainty in himself was an all but tangible element of him.”

“When I awoke I was laying on the floor in a darkened room. The rope, like the very core of myself, had turned from snow white to a hot, unfamiliar red.”

“I believe that you believe that. But this thing, whatever it is, it's tricky. Manipulative. A liar. And it's smarter than you.""I'll try not to be offended by that.""You shouldn't be."“What do you think it is?”“Something very old and very evil.”

“I'm an art major. You're a political science major. YOU go lay down the law.”

“Mom says you have to believe in Santa if you want presents on Christmas.”