Cristin Terrill Quotes

I struggle to keep my hard, expressionless mask in place. The doctor's most powerful weapon has always been his particular brand of brutal honesty. Bruises fade, but words like that fester.

I squeeze Finn's hand back, and my eyes fall closed. I feel something like the whisper of a touch to my face. Deep from the back of my mind, a voice that sounds a lot like my own speaks to me like a memory, telling me I'm strong and loved and that everything is going to be okay.
And, for some strange reason, I believe it.

It's always been you and me, James. That's why I can't kill you, and you can't kill me. Because even if it means the end of the world, I love you too much.

It's time you started seeing how great you are, just like you wish Marina could see it. I mean, look at me. I think I'm fantastic.

It's my first glimpse at my old self, and my heart constricts in pure longing for the girl I was. She's catty and shallow, but only because she hasn't learned how to like herself. How can she not see how beautiful she is, how special?

If you look like you belong, people assume you do.

I almost regret having to tell him this. No one should be confronted with the depths of darkness they're capable of all at once.

Not looking stupid tonight is step number one in not being stupid.

The truth is, the world is a fucked up place sometimes.

All good lies contained some truth.

When it comes to James Shaw, it seems, I will never learn.

I've been scared of so much stupid crap in my life. Making a bad grade or not fitting in. God, I was scared of you. And it was all such a waste. None of it matters now that the real scary shit is here.

I watch James's face. His expression is an open book to me, because I took the time to learn the language many years ago.

Let me look at you." I pull away and put my hands on his cheeks, examining his face. Blue eyes, of course. And how could I forget that mouth? Thin pink lips with one crooked corner always suggesting a mocking smile. My God, how had I never noticed before how handsome he is? "You need a haircut."
He rubs the side of his thumb over my cheekbone. "You're beautiful.

They were the best family I'd ever had, and it was all total, total bullshit.

If I don't want, I can't be disappointed.

I'd spent a lifetime becoming a mirror that just reflected back the person others wanted to see, but she didn't want anything. So I was nothing.

I tell her everything I wish I had ever known.

I guess you can never really know what's going on inside another person.

Time isn't quite that simple. For one thing, it isn't linear, the way we perceive it. And the current research suggests there's some unknown variable that eliminates threats to time, like the paradox you're talking about. My theory is that time has a sentient element. It fixes events in place to stop paradoxes from happening. So, in theory, if I were to go back in time to kill my grandfather, that event would become fixed by my action. Because he's dead, I would never be born, but a remnant of me from my original time, a kind of shadow, would always be there to kill my grandfather and ensure he stayed dead.

Was it always this beautiful and we just never noticed?

How long have I loved Finn? It crept up on me so gradually, I don't know if I can even pin the moment down.

You're not really the one I want to see,' the older James says. 'I'm not exactly thrilled by the reunion either.

I look down at the gun. It's jammed. Stupid semiautomatic piece of crap.

Do you know Einstein's theory of relativity?"

Connor just stares at me. "Let's assume I don't."

"Yeah, I didn't either, until . . . well." I shake my head to clear that line of thought. "Basically, space and time are really one thing, a kind of giant film stretched across the universe called space-time. Dense objects warp the fabric of space-time, like the way a trampoline dips when someone stands on it. If you've got something heavy enough, like insanely heavy, it can punch a hole right through."

"Okay, I get that."

"Well, in the future the government develops this massive particle collider called Cassandra. When they slam the right subatomic particles into one another under the right conditions, the particles hypercondense on impact and become heavy enough to punch a tiny hole in space-time. We came through that hole."

"Why?"

"Because the future needs to be changed. We need to destroy Cassandra before it's ever built, or it's going to end the world. People weren't meant to travel in time."

"But . . ." Connor presses his fingers into his temples. "If you destroy the machine before it gets built - "

"Then it will never have existed for us to travel back in time to destroy it?" Finn says.

"Right."

I nod. "It's a paradox. But the thing about time is that it's not actually linear, the way we think of it. This person I once knew, he had this theory about time, that it had

This is when the old me would have run.
The new me was starting to have too much to lose.

I hate you,' I say. 'I know,' he says, and he holds me until I can breathe again. I pull away and wipe my eyes. 'Sorry,' I mumble. 'It's okay. I'm sure I'll deserve it one day.

But soon we'll be gone, so this is my last chance." He gives me a shy little smile. "I love you.

It's stupid to get so embarrassed and trembly over a few little words.

It's a silence I know. The kind that's actually a sound so loud your brain doesn't know how to interpret it at first.

Hey, it's going to be okay.
How?
I don't know. That's just what you have to say.

I quickly remember what Finn taught me about how to get what you want from people: pay attention to them, figure out what they want and what they're afraid of.