Alexandra Bracken Quotes

I'm ... It's - it's like torture." His voice was strained, hardly even a whisper. "I think I'm losing it - I don't know what's happening, what happened, but I look at you, I look at you, and I love you so much. Not because of anything you've said, or done, or anything at all. I look at you, and I just love you, and it terrifies me. It terrifies me what I would do for you. Please ... you have to tell me ... tell me I'm not crazy. Please just look at me."
My eyes drifted up to his, and it was over. ~ Alexandra Bracken

He's so busy looking inside people to find the good that he misses the knife they're holding in their hand. ~ Alexandra Bracken

She stepped back out onto what little was left of the sidewalk, cupping her hands over her eyes to shade them from the sunlight. "Well, I officially have no idea where we are."

His jaw actually dropped. "Did I not say we needed a map…?"

She wasn't about to let him win that argument. "Hold on - just a second."

"Hold on to what?" he called after Etta as she walked away. ~ Alexandra Bracken

Red Five standing by, Luke said when it was his turn. ~ Alexandra Bracken

You're missing the point. It's not that I believe in what Lee's saying; it's that I hope he's right. I really, really hope he's right, because what's the alternative? ~ Alexandra Bracken

It is a difficult thing to, to lose, when one is so accustomed to winning. ~ Alexandra Bracken

People don't live like islands. ~ Alexandra Bracken

That done, a second list began to sketch itself from memory. Food, water, containers, blankets...

I set three piles aside, starting with the blankets, then took what pillowcases I could find. They always made useful bags for carrying things when backpacks weren't available. One small pot for boiling, one small pan for cooking or additional self-defense. Knives, always good. One fork and a spoon for each of us. More than that, and they'd clatter inside our bags, keeping us from moving silently. No batteries. One flashlight that seemed to be working for now, even if the beam wasn't strong. The real coup would have been canned food or toilet paper, but those were truly one-in-a-million finds.

"Did you forget to tell us that you're taking us camping?" I'm all four roughing it as long as that entails air-conditioning and a nice view."

...

"Sorry," I muttered, forcing myself onto my feet. "Old habits. ~ Alexandra Bracken

Alice had this magical look about her, like she would be at home in front of a hearth, wrapped in a large quilt, telling nursery rhymes to sweet-faced forest critters. ~ Alexandra Bracken

You could be a Hemlock, as I could be an Ironwood; or you could sign your name with Linden, as I might sign mine with Hall. Or perhaps you are Miss Spencer, and always will be," he told her, his thumb skating over her cheek. "Or you could choose, one day, to be a Carter. Or we might be nothing beyond you and I, and be done with this business of names once and for all, for they have never once had a true bearing on who we are or who we intend to be. ~ Alexandra Bracken

I would have been okay, because you would have been there with me! ~ Alexandra Bracken

Ruby,
I lied before. I would have run.
- CG ~ Alexandra Bracken

Wonderful. They had the rarest, most bewildering power in the world, and how did her family choose to use this incredible gift? To line their pockets with cash and go sightseeing. ~ Alexandra Bracken

I wanted to be a part of it.
But I couldn't ask, and I needed to stop lying to myself. Because every second I stayed with them was another chance for them to discover the skip tracers and PSFs weren't the real monsters of the world. No. One of the real ones was sitting in their back seat. ~ Alexandra Bracken

Because I'm not strong enough to survive seeing you with the League! I said. Because I wanted you, after everything you went through, to have a chance to find your parents and live your life. ~ Alexandra Bracken

I think.. I just want to look different.'
...
'Is that ridiculous?'

Priyanka came toward me, her expression contemplative.

'No, it's not. The only way to live is by following whatever message your heart is beating out for you.'

'Did you read that on a greeting card?' I asked.

'No, on some kind of medication ad,' she admitted, 'but it doesn't make it any less true.'

I turned back to the mirror and picked up the scissors again. ~ Alexandra Bracken

I bet it gets pretty lonely with only your ego for company. ~ Alexandra Bracken

I need to get through today, and maybe tomorrow will feel easier. It always gets easier as you get used to it. ~ Alexandra Bracken

You'd be surprised how little voice you have when you lose everything. ~ Alexandra Bracken

Dressed as a man, her horse unencumbered by anything but the bare necessities, she had the look of a survivor, a fighter, and he respected the hell our of her for it, especial when she slid the pistol our of one of the saddlebags and aimed it at him. ~ Alexandra Bracken

The worth is in the fight, not the conquest. Do not give up. ~ Alexandra Bracken

Who I was ad who I had beed disconnected, leaving me stranded somewhere in the middle. ~ Alexandra Bracken

It takes a sharp blade, a huge effort to separate one half of a coin from the other. It would take something a hell of a lot stronger and sharper to separate me from her. ~ Alexandra Bracken

What had Miss Finch said, all those years ago? That there were no do-overs, no comebacks? That once someone was gone, they were gone forever. Dead flowers didn't bloom, and they didn't grow. ~ Alexandra Bracken

I'm thinking that it's frustrating to feel like I know certain parts of you so well, but others parts of you ...
What coud I tell him? What could I say that would't scare him into letting go? ~ Alexandra Bracken

Like any girl, she still felt the echoes from earlier eras of repression. She'd been raised by a mother who'd fought hard to get a wage she deserved, to have access to education when she lacked every advantage, to travel on her own terms. The idea she was being asked-that she was expected to simply play along-made the blood throb in her veins. She was already in the damn stays. Wasn't the enough? ~ Alexandra Bracken

Hey, this ship hasn't sunk yet," she said, tearing her gaze away from the museum. "We may have one sail, but we're still going. ~ Alexandra Bracken

You really didn't have White Noise? Calm Control?" I demanded, surprised by the anger licking
at my heart. What camp had these kids been in? Candy Land? ~ Alexandra Bracken

I start to wonder if maybe the things we're so afraid they'll do to us are the things they have to do to survive the tidal wave of hatred and fear we send coasting toward them. ~ Alexandra Bracken

That's not very Team Reality of you."
His smile matched mine. "Screw Team Reality - I'm leaving to join Team Sanity. ~ Alexandra Bracken

Watercolors couldn't have begun to capture the sky in that moment, just as it prepared to brighten for dawn. The cruelest truth about life is that it just goes on--the sun rises, gravity keeps your feet on the ground, flowers open their faces to greet the sky. Your world could be dissolving with grief or pain or anger, but the sky would still give you the most breathtaking sunrise of violet, warming to shell pink. ~ Alexandra Bracken

My, my." A feral grin spread across Cole's face. "Little brother must be a good kisser. ~ Alexandra Bracken

Anyone who questined me-I made them feel crazy for doing it. ~ Alexandra Bracken

His fingers unhooked from hers, following that same path up her arm, and then back down it again. The feeling was so distracting, so good, so sweet against her clammy skin. She didn't choose a piece from her repertoire; Etta gave herself over to the notes that started streaming through her mind, rising from somewhere deep inside of her.

The melody of her heart had no name; it was quick, and light. It rolled with the waves, falling as the breath left his chest, rising as he inhaled. It was the rain sliding down the glass; the fog spreading its fingers over the water. The creaking of a ship's great body. The secrets whispered by the wind, and the unseen life that moved below.

It was the flame against the candle.

Nicholas's arm was a map of hard muscles and delicate sinews, heartbreakingly perfect. She wondered if he could hear her humming the piece against his skin over the droning roars overhead. Maybe. His free hand skimmed up her skin, leaving a trail of sparks in its wake.

With the world blacked out around them, she could catalog all over her senses, capture this moment in the warm darkness forever. He brushed back the loose hair across her forehead, cheek, the corner of her lips, her jaw, and she knew it had to be the same for him, that they'd never been so aware of another person in their entire lives.

She released his arm, and he drew it up around her, guiding both of them down so they were on their sides, their hea ~ Alexandra Bracken

Rest assured," he said, when he managed to find his voice, "there will always be a position for you on my ship."
Her face brightened with her clever, beautiful smile. "Will you let me climb up into the rigging? Reef the sails?"
A burst of thunder rolled through him. "Absolutely not."
She laughed again. "As if you could stop me. ~ Alexandra Bracken

Many humans do not care about what is "unfair," for it varies so much between them. ~ Alexandra Bracken

The thought occurred to me that she could easily take her knife and slash it though my spine. ~ Alexandra Bracken

No part of you is dark or ugly,' I said sharply, squeezing his hand. 'Not to me, not ever. Do you understand? ~ Alexandra Bracken

I don't do well without you," he said. "Who I was before
I never want to be that person again. But I told you when I took you away from here that when everything was over, it would be your choice. You would get to choose where you wanted to go and who you wanted to be. ~ Alexandra Bracken

Why would I ever search out someone who abandoned me? Someone who had no regard for any of us, who ran because he's too much of a damn coward to stand up to his family! ~ Alexandra Bracken

I used to dream about turning back time, about reclaiming the things I'd lost and the person I used to be.
But not anymore. ~ Alexandra Bracken

being different – being simply you instead of what other people wanted you to be – was it's own kind of bravery ~ Alexandra Bracken

One voice could be drowned out, but not a dozen. Not a hundred. Not a thousand. ~ Alexandra Bracken

For the first time in years, I could see the stars that Thurmond's monstrous lights had faded into nonexistence. They were so bright, so clear that they couldn't have been real. I didn't know what was more shocking–the endless stretch of road or the sky. Tears pricked at the back of my eyes. ~ Alexandra Bracken

Sometimes we don't know what we're looking for until we find it. ~ Alexandra Bracken

I've heard some people say life can change in a day, completely flipping you feet over head. But they're wrong. Life doesn't need a day to change. It needs three. ~ Alexandra Bracken

And it made me feel empty in a way - like I had forgotten the words to my favorite song. That girl was gone forever, and all that was left was a product of the place that had taught her to fear the bright things inside of her heart. ~ Alexandra Bracken

...Liam had been in the driver's seat, singing along to Derek and the Dominos' "Layla" at the top of his lungs, so off-key that it had even Chubs laughing. Zu had been sitting right behind him, moving in time with the music, her entire body rocking out to the wailing electric guitar... ~ Alexandra Bracken

Well," Etta said weakly, "she's always told me a good challenge builds character."
"Then we'll have an excess of it," he said dryly. ~ Alexandra Bracken

Is his eyesight really that bad?"
"Worse," Liam said. "So right after we got the hell out of Caledonia, we broke into this house to spend, right? I woke up in the middle of the night hearing the most awful noise, like a cow dying or something. I followed the wailing, clutching some kid's baseball bat, thinking I was going to have to bad someone's head in for us to make a clean getaway. Then I saw what was sitting at the bottom of the drained pool."
"No way," I said.
"Way," he confirmed. "Hawkeye had gone out to relieve himself and had somehow missed the giant gaping hole in the ground. Twisted his ankle and couldn't climb out of the deep end. ~ Alexandra Bracken

Calm down, I ordered myself. You're no good like this. Get a grip. ~ Alexandra Bracken

I told you not to drink that much water on the drive," Sarah told her. "You never listen to me."
"Sorry I don't have the bladder of a freaking sloth."
"You mean camel," Sarah corrected.
"I meant sloth," the other girl said. "I read somewhere they only have to go once a week. ~ Alexandra Bracken

He doesn't bring many girls round unless they're part of a job - but also 'cause his smell can sometimes kill kittens. ~ Alexandra Bracken

These people couldn't be counted on for anything. All of their promises bled into lies. ~ Alexandra Bracken

Where did she come from, and where can I find one?" "Picked this one up at a gas station in West Virginia, bargain price. Last one on the shelf, sorry. ~ Alexandra Bracken

They were two ships sailing in opposite diretions, having met for a short time in the middle of the voyage, and he could no sooner "keep her" than capture the wind. ~ Alexandra Bracken

You want to know the real reason they never let us touch or talk to each other if they could help it? It made us strong. If you have people who love you, you can fall back on them when you're afraid. ~ Alexandra Bracken

But there was another, secret Ruby. This one was as thin as a wisp of air, and had struggled for so long just to be. This was the one that Liam carried with him, without knowing. The one that would ride in his back pocket, whisper words of encouragement, tell him he was born to chase the light. ~ Alexandra Bracken

He said he'd never remarry, because he'd never find another lady that fit so neatly at his side.
He called her his equal in spirit. ~ Alexandra Bracken

Nothing changes if you don't take a risk. ~ Alexandra Bracken

Sometimes you're the one speeding along in a panic, doing too much, not paying attention, wrecking things you don't mean to. And sometimes life just happens to you, and you can't dodge it. It crashes into you because it wants to see what you're made of. Despite how terrifying the story was to me as a kid, I still ~ Alexandra Bracken

Strong feelings, especially terror and desperation, leave an imprint on the air that echo back to whoever's unlucky enough to walk through that place again. ~ Alexandra Bracken

Do you think the memory of someone should dictate how we live going forward?' he asks, threading and unthreading his fingers together.
'It depends,' I say. 'I think you can probably honor someone's memory, but you can't live for them, because that means living in the past. ~ Alexandra Bracken

This is a place where we don't have to lie," he said, motioning between us. ~ Alexandra Bracken

Perhaps we underestimated your mother," he said. "I can't imagine she would have made it so easy for anyone to find."

"A World War isn't enough of a hurdle?" Etta asked, rubbing her hand over her face. "Okay, okay…we just have to think this through.…"

"I do have an idea, but I'm afraid it's terrible," Nicholas said, surveying the lock on the gate and giving it another hard tug.

"A bad idea is better than no idea," Etta said.

"I'm glad you feel that way, because this is an exquisitely bad one." He turned toward her. "We can go around the back of the museum and I can lift you over the gate. You can then slip into the museum and hold any guards or curators inside hostage, until they give up the information about the location of the statues."

"Hold them hostage?" she repeated.

"Don't you know? That's how real pirates like Blackbeard made most of their money. He ransomed whole cities," he said. "I'll even teach you how to use the revolver."

Despite herself, Etta smiled. "I really appreciate the faith you have in my criminal abilities. But even if I find someone in there, I doubt they'll be good for anything other than calling the police to pick me up. It seems like the kind of information people would do anything to protect ~ Alexandra Bracken

As Vida always said, there are times you have to listen to your gut and tell common courtesy to fuck right off. ~ Alexandra Bracken

if we don't feel any responsibility for each other, who's ever going to care about us? ~ Alexandra Bracken

I hesitate, hand on my seatbelt buckle. I know I need to get going somewhere, but - well, what's the harm in scoping the area out? Making sure it's as safe as Remy seems to think it is?
"All right, Remy," I say, opening the door.
"Remy," he shoots back. "Jesus, you can't even remember my name? The sewers weren't kind to you, were they?"
"Wait - what?" I ask, shutting the door, locking it. No one's taking my Lucy.
He just looks exasperated, which just makes me confused.
"You called me Ruby," Remy said, indignantly.
I stare at him. There's a flutter of something wild, panicked in my chest I don't understand and I don't particularly want to examine. I'm tired and when I'm tired my tongue gets lazy. "Sorry. Tired. Idiot. ~ Alexandra Bracken

Some spent so long outside of their own heads that they couldn't function right when they finally had to return their own. ~ Alexandra Bracken

The scars of what had happened were still there, not glued together to try to minimise the appearance of them, but glowing with thin rivulets of gold - more beautiful for having once been broken. ~ Alexandra Bracken

You keep going to your bad place," she added. "I have one, too. I get trapped there if I stay too long."
"If you go to the bad place again," she said simply, "Tell one of us so we can help you back out. ~ Alexandra Bracken

Your whole family fell from the crazy tree and hit every damn branch on the way down. ~ Alexandra Bracken

And people like you are the reason we have middle fingers. ~ Alexandra Bracken

Can you not see it? Can you not feel how badly I want you? I'm a selfish bastard, I'm worse then you'll ever know, but I'll answer to God or anyone else who tries to stand in our way so long as I know you're safe. ~ Alexandra Bracken

Because, my weird has been able to cancel out your weird, Lady Cross-Stitch. ~ Alexandra Bracken

I want to feel every ounce of pain and happiness life can serve up, because it'll mean I've survived. It'll mean I'm alive. ~ Alexandra Bracken

He would not surrender to the disaster of loving her. ~ Alexandra Bracken

Only, they've done such a good job of making this place hell that I wouldn't be surprised if the real one turned out to be a much nicer place. ~ Alexandra Bracken

For the longest time, I saw them as the end of my journey, but now I thing they were always meant to represent the beginning of yours. ~ Alexandra Bracken

He said nothing; there was no expression on his face at all. His eyelids were hooded, and I could almost feel the way he was slipping back, away, into that place that was his alone. ~ Alexandra Bracken

Before we find out where we're going, do you have any idea where we are?"

He climbed to his knees, giving her a dry look. "I was rather distracted by you lying in a pool of your own blood."

"There isn't a pool," she protested, rubbing at her swelling cheek. ~ Alexandra Bracken

Rise and enter the lair, where the darkness gives you your stripes. Tell tyrants, to you, their allegiance they owe," Etta read, running her finger beneath the words within the star. "Seek out the unknown gods whose ears were deaf to lecture. Stand on the shoulders of memory. Bring a coin to the widowed queen. Remember, the truth is in the telling, and an ending must be final. ~ Alexandra Bracken

Also, screw you - maybe you can be all stealthy and break into their building to get the woman out, but I can get
us there and back safely. I did this for months and never got a second glance from anyone, including PSFs."
"Probably because your ugly-ass face blinded them on the first look," she muttered. ~ Alexandra Bracken

WINIFRED - WHO, IT SEEMED, HAD BEEN LISTENING AT THE DOOR - handed her a pair of shoes as soon as Etta emerged from the office. By the time Henry appeared at her side, a light coat over his suit jacket, the woman had faded back down the shadows of the hallway like the ghoul she was.
"No coat?" he asked, eyeing her up and down.
"Darling Winifred didn't think I needed one, apparently," she said. One of the guards chuckled into his fist, earning him a swat across the chest from the other.
Henry looked mildly startled. "Your mother called her that as well."
"My mother met that woman and they both survived it?"
One corner of his mouth twitched, and the parts of her that were still raw, and awkward - and, worse - unsure, eased. "I never said they emerged unscathed. ~ Alexandra Bracken

Thank you," he was whispering, "thank you, thank you. ... " And then he was kissing my face, every inch of it he could find, wiping away the tears and soot, chanting my name. ~ Alexandra Bracken

You get a good review, and it's like crack. You need another hit. And another. And another. I know authors are like Tinkerbell and generally need applause to survive, but it's a slippery slope. ~ Alexandra Bracken

I love you. With my whole heart. My whole life, however long I'm lucky enough to get, nothing will change for me. ~ Alexandra Bracken

I do not know what, in the end, makes a person who they are. If we`re all born one way, or if we only arrive there after as series of chioces. The bible claims that the wicked act on their own desires and impulses, because God is good, only good, and He would never compel a soul to wickedness. That I`m supposed to count on justice in the next life, even if I can`t have it in this one. ~ Alexandra Bracken

Has anyone else ... "
"Hmm?" Grams walked the paper back across the room and took up her tray of hospital good again, settling it over me. "Has anyone else, what?:
"Been by," I mumbled. "To visit."
Grams gave me a knowing smile. "A charming young woman with a mouth that could give a sailor a heart attack? A sweet little one who brought you flowers? The one who spent half a day chasing doctors and nurses around, demanding answers about your condition? Or, by any chance are you referring to a very well - mannered Southern boy? ~ Alexandra Bracken

- the longer you silence a violin, the harder it is for it to find its true voice again. ~ Alexandra Bracken

Every relationship is a transaction. Every so-called friendship begins with a promise that must be kept by both parties. ~ Alexandra Bracken

But she wondered if, in moving outside of the natural flow of time, they had forgotten the most crucial point of life - that it wasn't meant to be lived for the past, or even the future, but for each present moment. ~ Alexandra Bracken

When a girl cries, few things are more worthless than a boy. ~ Alexandra Bracken

Liam was a great many things, but mysterious and unpredictable weren't included in that deck of cards. ~ Alexandra Bracken

Perhaps it was a blessing that he couldn't cross paths with himself, lest he be tempted to shoot himself before making the deal with Ironwood. ~ Alexandra Bracken

There's a difference between broken and ruined. With one, you can hope to piece the object back together, but the other- there's just no coming back. ~ Alexandra Bracken

Liam cleared his throat again and turned to fully face me. "So, it's the summer and you're in Salem, suffering through another boring, hot July, and working part-time at an ice cream parlor. Naturally, you're completely oblivious to the fact that all of the boys from your high school who visit daily are more interested in you than the thirty-one flavors. You're focused on school and all your dozens of clubs, because you want to go to a good college and save the world. And just when you think you're going to die if you have to take another practice SAT, your dad asks if you want to go visit your grandmother in Virginia Beach."
"Yeah?" I leaned my forehead against his chest. "What about you?"
"Me?" Liam said, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. "I'm in Wilmington, suffering through another boring, hot summer, working one last time in Harry's repair shop before going off to some fancy university - where, I might add, my roommate will be a stuck-up-know-it-all-with-a-heart-of-gold named Charles Carrington Meriwether IV - but he's not part of this story, not yet." His fingers curled around my hip, and I could feel him trembling, even as his voice was steady. "To celebrate, Mom decides to take us up to Virginia Beach for a week. We're only there for a day when I start catching glimpses of this girl with dark hair walking around town, her nose stuck in a book, earbuds in and blasting music. But no matter how hard I try, I never get to talk to her.
"Then, as our fr ~ Alexandra Bracken

We have to keep moving. If I stopped now, I knew I would never be able to start again. ~ Alexandra Bracken

Cause, frankly, the way I see it, you and me? Inevitable. ~ Alexandra Bracken

If he were to fall over dead, would they just push the body out of the seat and use it as a footrest, do you think? ~ Alexandra Bracken