Lauren Kate Quotes

She'd kind of been missing him. In a friendly way. Like in a let's-catch-up-over-a-cup-of-coffee way, more than a let's-wander-along-the-beach-at-sunset-and-you-can-smile-at-me-with-those-incredible-blue-eyes way. Because she was with Daniel, she didn't think about other guys. She definitely didn't start blushing intensely in the middle of class while reminding herself that she didn't think about other guys. ~ Lauren Kate

Wordlessly they settled on a third-story ledge near Patriarch's Pond, of the roof across from Luce's window, where they used to watch her sleep. The memory would be fresher in Daniil's mind, but the faint recollection of Luce lying dreaming under the covers still sent a warm rush across Daniel's wings.
Both were somber.In the bombed-out city, it was sad and ironic that her building had been spared when she hadn't. They stood in silence in the cold night,both carefully tucking back their wings so that they wouldn't accidentially touch. ~ Lauren Kate

I do all of these things," Daniel said, leaning into her so that their foreheads touched, "because you're my love, Lucinda. For me, you're all there is. ~ Lauren Kate

Tossed By Waves,
She Does Not Sink. ~ Lauren Kate

I'll love you with all my heart, in every life, through every death. I
will not be bound by anything but my love for you. ~ Lauren Kate

Free will." Cam shrugged. "It's all the rage these days. ~ Lauren Kate

She liked the way he smelled - kind of free and open, like driving with the windows down at night. ~ Lauren Kate

The tender pressure of his lips soothed her, like a warm drink in the dead of the winter, when every part of her felt so cold. ~ Lauren Kate

Maybe that's what magic was - looking into darkness and seeing a light most people missed. ~ Lauren Kate

I just flew in from Heaven, and boy, are my arms tired. ~ Lauren Kate

Goggles but no bathing suit?" she asked.
Daniel blushed. "I guess that was stupid. But I was in a hurry, only thinking about what you would need to get the halo." He drove the paddle back into the water, propelling them more quickly than a speedboat. "You can swim in your underwear, right?"
Now Luce blushed. Under normal circumstances, the question might have seemed thrilling, something they both would have giggled at. Not these nine days. She nodded. Eight days now. Daniel was deadly serious. Luce just swallowed hard and said, "Of course."
The pair of green-gray spires grew larger, more detailed, and then they were upon them. They were tall and conical, made of rusted slats of copper. They had once been capped by small teardrop-shaped copper flags sculpted to look like they were rippling in the wind, but one weathered flag was pocked with holes, and the other had broken off completely. In the open water, the spires' protrusion was bizarre, suggesting a cavernous cathedral of the deep. Luce wondered how long ago the church had sunk, how deep it sat below.
The thought of diving down there in ridiculous goggles and mom-bought underwear made her shudder.
"This church must be huge," she said. She meant I don't think I can do this. I can't breathe underwater. How are we going to find one small halo sunk in the middle of the sea?
"I can take you down as far as the chapel itself, but only that far. So long as you hold on to my hand." Daniel extended a w ~ Lauren Kate

Here," he said,holding out a dark mink coat. "Thought you might be cold."
"Where did you-"
"I yoinked it off a broad coming home from the market back there.Don't worry,she had enough natural padding already."
"Bill!"
"Hey,you needed it!" He shrugged. "Wear it in good health. ~ Lauren Kate

There was nothing mean about his voice. In fact it was almost too nice. Like she was too dim to grasp whatever was so obvious to him. Which made her absolutely furious. ~ Lauren Kate

Then the Announcer would transform: into a screen through which to glimpse the past-or into a portal through which to step.
This Announcer was sticky,but she soon pulled it apart,guided it into shape. She reached inside and opened the portal.
She couldn't stay here any longer. She had a mission now: to find herself alive in another time and learn what price the Outcasts had referred to, and eventually,to trace the origin of the curse between Daniel and her.
Then to break it.
The others gasped as she manipulated the Announcer.
"When did you learn how to do that?" Daniil whispered.
Luce shook her head. Her explanation would only baffle Daniil.
"Lucinda!" The last thing she heard was his voice calling out her true name.
Strange,she'd been looking right at his stricken face but hadn't seen her lips move. Her mind was playing tricks.
"Lucinda!" he shouted once more, his voice rising in panic,just before Luce dove headfirst into the beckoning darkness. ~ Lauren Kate

Jealous?' Luce asked. They were alone now. She threw her arms around his broad shoulders and looked deep into his violet eyes. 'Why would you be jealous?'
'Because,' he said, rubbing his hands across her back. 'Your dance card is full. For all eternity. ~ Lauren Kate

Callie scrambled from under the covers, dashed around the bed, and flung herself into Luce's arms. "They kept telling me you were going to be okay, but in that lying, we're-also-completely-terrified-we're-just-not-going-to-explain-a-word-to-you kind of way. Do you even realize how thoroughly spooky that was? It was like you physically dropped off the face of the Earth-"
Luce hugged her back tightly. As far as Callie knew, Luce had been gone only since the night before.
"Okay, you two," Molly growled, pulling Luce away from Callie, "you can OMG your faces off later. I didn't lie in your bed in that cheap polyester wig all night enacting Luce-with-stomach-flue so you guys could blow our cover now." She rolled her eyes. "Amateurs."
"Hold on. You did what?" Luce asked.
"After you...disappeared," Callie said breathlessly, "we knew we could never explain it to your parents. I mean, I could barely fathom it after seeing it with my own eyes. When Gabbe fixed up the backyard, I told your parents you felt sick and had gone to bed, and Molly pretended to be you and-"
"Lucky I found this in your closet." Molly twirled a short wavy black wig around one finger. "Halloween remnant?"
"Wonder Woman." Luce winced, regretting her middle school Halloween costume, and not for the first time.
"Well, it worked."
It was strange to see Molly-who'd once sided with Lucifer-helping her. But even Molly, like Cam and Roland, didn't want to fall again. So here they w ~ Lauren Kate

Trust is a good way to get oneself killed ~ Lauren Kate

And the way he looked at her was so intense, his big green eyes probing into her, like he approved of everything she held inside. ~ Lauren Kate

Love is an endless drive on a winding road. You can't see everything about another person all at once. ~ Lauren Kate

Who can know the ending until the last word has been written? Everything might change with the last word. ~ Lauren Kate

This was weird. The thing that could have driven two friends instantly apart was actually drawing them closer together. ~ Lauren Kate

true love never says goodbye ~ Lauren Kate

Last night we told you that none of the angels remember where we landed when we fell," Daniel said.
"Yeah, about that ... How's it possible?" Shelby said. "You'd think that kind of thing would leave an impression on the old memorizer."
Cam's face reddened. "You try falling for nine days through multiple dimensions and trillions of miles, landing on your face, breaking your wings, rolling around concussed for who knows how long, wandering the desert for decades looking for any clue as to who or what or where you are - then talk to me about the old memorizer. ~ Lauren Kate

Then I'll cleave to my old self and spirit the full host of angels into the present with me.Even the ugly ones. ~ Lauren Kate

We put our faith in love. ~ Lauren Kate

Molly slapped the lid back down then pushed past Luce into the foyer stumbling over Shelby in her path.
"Excuse you " they said gruffly at the same time eyeing each other suspiciously.
"Oh good. " Gabbe leaned in to give Luce a hug. "Molly's made a friend." ~ Lauren Kate

And Daniel?" She asked.
"Daniel was a player-"
"Hey!"
"That's what they called the actors." Bill rolled his eyes. ~ Lauren Kate

Don't worry about me. I'll heal. Come on-"
"Where are we going?" Luce asked.
"The sun's about to rise," Daniel said, taking a small leather satchel from Phil. "And I figure you must be starving."
Luce hadn't realized it, but she was.
"I thought we could steal a moment before anyone else shows up."
There was a sheer, narrow path from the plateau that led to a small ledge down from where they'd landed. They picked their way down the jagged mountain, hand in hand, and when it was too steep for walking, Daniel coasted, always flying very low to the ground, his wings tucked close to his sides.
"Don't want to alarm the hikers," he explained. "Most places on Earth, people aren't willing to let themselves see miracles, angels. If they catch a glimpse of us flying by, they convince themselves their eyes were playing tricks on them. But in a place like this-"
"People can see miracles," Luce finished for him. "They want to."
"Right. And seeing leads to wonder."
"And wonder leads to-"
"Trouble." Daniel laughed a little.
Luce couldn't help grinning, enjoying that at least for a little while, Daniel was her miracle alone. ~ Lauren Kate

Sometimes when you try not to repeat your mistakes, you forget that the original mistakes are still unfolding ~ Lauren Kate

Eh? How 'bout that?" Bill nudged her. "Did I promise to show you love or did I promise to show you love?"
"Sure,they seem like they're in love." Luce shrugged. "But-"
"But what?Do you have any idea how painful that is? Look at that guy. He makes getting inked look like being caressed by a soft breeze."
Luce squirmed on the branch. "Is that the lesson here? Pain equals love?"
"You tell me," Bill said. "It may surprise you to hear this,but the ladies aren't exactly banging down Bill's door."
"I mean,if I tattooed Daniel's same on my body would that mean I loved him more than I already do?"
"It's a symbol,Luce." Bill let out a raspy sigh. "You're being too literal. Think about it this way: Daniel is the first good-looking boy LuLu has ever seen. Until he washed ashore a few months ago, this girl's whole world was her father and a few fat natives."
"She's Miranda," Luce said, remembering the love story from The Tempest, which she'd read in her tenth-grade Shakespeare seminar.
"How very civilized of you!" Bill pursed his lips with approval. "They are liek Ferdinand and Miranda: The handsome foreigner shipwrecks on her shores-"
"So,of course it was love at first sight for LuLu," Luce murmured. This was what she was afraid of: the same thoughtless,automatic love that had bothered her in Helston.
"Right," Bill said. "She didn't have a choice but to fall for him.But what's interesting here is Daniel. You see, he didn't have to teach he ~ Lauren Kate

I knew you could never forgive me," he said, "so I ran away. I thought I had lost you for good. But then I found this second chance, and I came here to redeem myself. This time with you has shown me that my love for you is bigger than my fear. My love for you is bigger than anything I know."
A tear rolled down his cheek. He closed his eyes. He had so much more to say and so little time for it to matter. ~ Lauren Kate

People are here because they've got baggage. I'm talking curbside-check-in, pay-the-fine-'cause-it's-over-fifty-pounds kind of baggage. Get it? ~ Lauren Kate

You are the soul that fits into mine ~ Lauren Kate

Being left out was a kind of freedom... ~ Lauren Kate

Things are precious when they're hard to come by. ~ Lauren Kate

Together, forever, whatever the weather ~ Lauren Kate

We're at the opening of the Globe." She thought back to Daniel's words under the peach trees at Sword & Cross. "Daniel told me we were here."
"Sure,you were here," Bill said. "About fourteen years ago.Perched on your older brother's shoulder. You came with your family to see Julius Caesar."
Bill hovered in the air a foot in front of her. It was unappetizing, but the high collar around her neck actually seemed to hold its shape. She almost resembled the sumptuously dressed women in the higher boxes.
"And Daniel?" she asked.
"Daniel was a player-"
"Hey!"
"That's whay they called the actors." Bill rolled his eyes. "He was just starting out then. To everyone else in the audience, his debut was utterly forgettable. But to little three-year-old Lucinda"-Bill shrugged-"it put the fire in you. You've been quote-unquote dying to get onstage ever since.Tonight's your night."
"I'm an actor? ~ Lauren Kate

What if it was enough to just stand here in the arms of someone who ared about her, to let his simple affection steady her for a little while? it felt so good just to be held. ~ Lauren Kate

So Bill thought she was being whiny. She couldn't help it.She was inches away from a breakdown.
"I hate this job.I hate this place. I hate this stupid solstice party and this stupid pheasant souffle-"
"Lucinda will be at the party tonight," Bill said suddenly. His voice was infuriatingly calm. "She happens to adore the Constances' pheasant souffle. ~ Lauren Kate

She didn't know that loss was alive in the world, a thief always about to slam you and steal everything you had. ~ Lauren Kate

Layla!" Don bounded into her sight. The door behind her was still bolted. Where had he come from?
The starshot tumbled from her hands and clattered to the floor. She snatched it up and slipped it back inside her dress. Bill was gone.But Don was-Daniel was right where she wanted him to be.
"What are you doing here?" Her voice broke with the force of having to act surprised to see him.
He didn't seem to hear it.He rushed toward her and wrapped her in his arms. "Saving your life."
"How did you get in?"
"Don't worry about that.No mortal man, no slab of stone can obstruct a love as true as ours. I will always find you."
In his bare, bronzed arms, it was Luce's instinct to feel comforted. But she couldn't right then.Her heart felt ragged and cold.This easy happiness, these feelings of complete trust, every one of the lovely emotions Daniel had shown her how to feel in every life-they were torture to her now.
"Fear not," he whispered. "Let me tell you, my love, what happens after this life.You come back,you rise again. Your rebirth is beautiful and real.You come back to me,again and again-"
The light from the lamp flickered and made his violet eyes sparkle.His body was so warm against hers.
"But I die again and again."
"What?" He tilted his head.Even when his physique looked exotic to her, she knew his expressions so well-that bemused adoration when she expressed something he hadn't expected her to understand. "How do you-Never mind. ~ Lauren Kate

He had the innate sense that something bad was just around the bend, but a hope that something incredible was waiting in the distance.
It had to be.
His burning love for her cursed through him until he felt so full he didn't know whether he would fit through the portal. ~ Lauren Kate

She liked to think that someday, if she she graduated, she'd escape to a better place. ~ Lauren Kate

Luce blushed. "Then what kind of angel are you?"
"I'm sort of in between gigs right now," Daniel said. ~ Lauren Kate

Would love be so different with someone else? Was love even possible with someone else? Love was supposed to be easy, wasn't it? Then why did she feel so tormented? ~ Lauren Kate

What does my soul look like to you?' 'I couldn't reduce it to words if I tried, but its beauty is unsurpassed. ~ Lauren Kate

The past is important for all the information and wisdom it holds. But you can get lost in it. You've got to learn to keep the knowledge of the past with you as you pursue the present. ~ Lauren Kate

I wouldn't know what to do if I weren't next to you. That's who I am."
"You can't rely on someone else to define you. Especially not me. ~ Lauren Kate

He still loved her - and every moment that he didn't have her hurt him deeply. That was why he'd spent the past nine days with a shadow of her soul, why he'd sought to reset the entire universe to have her back. ~ Lauren Kate

They turned to look at her and all three pairs of eyes narrowed, as if they could tell instantly that she had not been bred to attend high-society balls.
"Ignore them," Bill said. "There are snobs in every lifetime. In the end, they've got nothing on you."
Luce nodded,falling behind the trio, who passed through a set of mirrored doorways into the ballroom. The ultimate ballroom. The ballroom to end all ballrooms.
Luce couldn't help herself. She stopped in her tracks and whispered, "Wow. ~ Lauren Kate

What if the person you were meant to be with could never be yours? ~ Lauren Kate

Inspiration is an excuse for doing something you already want to do. ~ Lauren Kate

She saw Daniel hovering over her in his simple peasant's clothes...but then, a moment later, he was bare-chested, with long blond hair...and suddenly he wore a knight's helmet, whose visor he lifted to kiss her lips...but before he did,he shifted into his present self, the Daniel she'd left in her parents' backyard in Thunderbolt when she stepped through into time.
This was the Daniel, she realized, she'd been looking for all along. She reached for him,she called his name, but then he changed again. And again. She saw more Daniels than she'd ever thought possible,each one more gorgeous than the last.They folded into each other like a vast accordion, each image of him tilting and altering in the light of the sky behind him.The cut of his nose,the line of his jawbone, the tone of his skin,the shape of his lips, all whirled in and out of focus,morphing all the time. Everything changed except his eyes.
His violet eyes always stayed the same. They haunted her,hiding something terrible,something she didn't understand. Something she didn't want to understand.
Fear?
In the visions,the terror in Daniel's eyes was so intense Luce actually wanted to look away from their beauty. What could someone as powerful as Daniel fear?
There was only one thing: Luce's dying.
She was experiencing a montage of her death over and over and over again. This was what Daniel's eyes looked like, throughout time,just before her life went up in flames. She had seen this fear in ~ Lauren Kate

Don't worry," she whispered. "You're going to make it."
"I know." His whisper came so quietly, and sounded so impossibly sad, that Luce wasn't sure she'd heard him right. Until then,she'd thought he was unconscious,but something in her voice seemed to reach him.
His eyelids fluttered. Then, slowly, they opened.
They were violet.
The jug of water fell from her hands.
Daniel.
Her instinct was to crawl in next to him and cover his lips with kisses, to pretend he wasn't as badly wounded as he was.
At the sight of her, Daniel's eyes widened and he started to sit up. But then the blood began to flow from his neck again and his face drained of all its color. Luce had no choice but to restrain him.
"Shhh. She pressed his shoulders back against the stretcher, trying to get him to relax.
He squirmed under her grip. Every time he did, bright new blood bloomed through the bandage.
"Daniel,you have to stop fighting," she begged. "Please stop fighting. For me."
They locked eyes for a long,intense moment=and then the ambulance came to an abrupt stop. The back door swung open. A shocking breath of fresh air flowed in. The streets outside were quiet, but the place had the feel of a big city,even in the middle of the night.
Milan. That was where the soldier had said they were going when he assigned her to this ambulance. They must be at a hospital in Milan. ~ Lauren Kate

As soon as Roland was gone,the cupboard door swung open, banging the back of her leg.Bill popped out,gasping for air loudly as if he'd been holding his breath the whole time.
"I could wring your neck right now!" he said,his chest heaving.
"I don't know why you're all out of breath. It's not like you even breathe."
"It's for effect! All the trouble I go through to camoflage you here and you go and out yourself to the first guy who walks the through the door."
Luce rolled her eyes. "Roland's not going to make a big deal out of seeing me here.He's cool."
"Oh,he's so cool," Bill said. "He's so smart. If he's so great,why didn't he tell you what I know about not keeping one's distance from one's past? About getting"-he paused dramatically, widening his stone eyes-"inside?"
Now she leaned down toward him. "What are you talking about?"
He crossed his arms over his chest and wagged his stone tongue. "I'm not telling."
"Bill!" Luce pleaded.
"Not yet, anyway.First let's see how you do tonight. ~ Lauren Kate

I cannot be other than what I am, and I am the choices of all my days. ~ Lauren Kate

Yeah she celebrated Christmas, she'd been to church a handful of times, and even when her life made her and everyone around her miserable, she still had faith that there was someone or something up their worth believing in. That had always been enough for her. ~ Lauren Kate

Lys," he whispered. "Do you know what's coming?"
"Yes," she whispered.
"And you know that I'll be with you until the end? ~ Lauren Kate

Do you want to sit down?" she asked Olianna, who lurked directly behind Luce with her arrow at the ready.
"I prefer to stand guard-"
"Yeah, I don't guess you can really sit guard," Luce mumbled. "Ha-ha. ~ Lauren Kate

It made her want to stand up next to him and fight. Fight to stay alive long enough to live out her life next to him. Fight for the only thing she knew that was good enough, noble enough, powerful enough to be, worth risking everything.
Love. ~ Lauren Kate

I can't wait to make you the love of my mortal life. ~ Lauren Kate

Luce: "But what about all those other times, when I die before we kiss, before
"
Bill: "Before you even have a chance to see how toxic your relationship might become? ~ Lauren Kate

I'm not embarrassed about having, you know, no experience," Luce said quietly-these walls were thin. "It's just, do you ever feel like nothing has happened to you? Like you know you have destiny, but all you've seen of life so far is unexceptional? I want my life to be different. I want to feel that it's begun. I'm waiting for kiss. But sometimes I feel like I could wait forever and nothing would ever change. ~ Lauren Kate

Why Lilith?" Cam asked. "Do you craft
everyone's Hell this way?"
Lucifer smiled. "The dull ones make
their own dull hells, fire and brimstone and
all that crap. They need no help from me. But
Lilith - she's special. Not that I have to tell
you that. ~ Lauren Kate

Not belonging is the greatest gift. Always remember that. ~ Lauren Kate

Thank you," he said. Luce felt her lips quiver and her eyes burn.
Before she knew what she was doing, she fell into Cam's
arms, felt his hands wrap around her back.
When his chin rested on the top of her head, she began to weep. He let her cry. Held her close. He whispered,
"You're so brave." Then Cam's arms shifted and his chest pulled lightly away. For a second, she felt cold and exposed, but then another chest, another pair of arms replaced Cam's. And she knew without opening her eyes
that it was Daniel. No other body in the universe fit hers so well.
"Mind if I cut in?" he asked softly.
"Daniel - " She clenched her fists and squeezed her arms around him, wanting to squeeze away the pain.
"Shhh." He held her like that for what might have been hours, rocking her slightly, cradling her in his wings until her tears had tapered off and the
weight in her heart had eased enough that she could breathe without sniffling. ~ Lauren Kate

She would not stop until she beat the devil. ~ Lauren Kate

And even when she had no idea what she was doing, she always did the right thing. It was impressive ~ Lauren Kate

Then Daniel stepped forward and a trumpet sounded, followed by a drum. The dance was beginning. He took her hand. When he spoke, he spoke to her, not to the audience,as the other players did.
"The fairest hand I ever touched," Daniel said. "O Beauty, till now I never knew thee." As if the lines had been written for the two of them.
They began to dance,and Daniel locked eyes with her the whole time. His eyes were crystal clear and violet, and the way they never strayed from hers chipped away at Luce's heart. She knew he'd loved her always,but until this moment,dancing with him on the stage in front of all these people,she had never really thought about what it meant.
It meant that when she saw him for the first time in every life,Daniel was already in love with her. Every time. And always had been. And every time, she had to fall in love with him from scratch.He could never pressure her or push her into loving him. He had to win her anew each time.
Daniel's love for her was one long, uninterrupted stream.It was the purest form of love there was,purer even than the love Luce returned. His love flowed without breaking,without stopping. Whereas Luce's love was wiped clean with every death, Daniel's grew over time, across all eternity. How powerfully strong must it be by now? Hundreds of love stacked one on top of the other? It was almost too massive for Luce to comprehend.
He loved her that much,and yet in every lifetime,over and over again,he had to wait ~ Lauren Kate

Don't cry. Carry what you love about me with you; leave the pain behind. ~ Lauren Kate

What if they still think I'm the price or whatever?"
Daniel gave her a soft, unexpected smile. "I'm certain they still think that. Many do. But only you get to decide how you will fulfill your role in this old story. What we started when we first kissed at Sword & Cross? That awakening in you was only the first step. All those lessons you learned during your time in the Announcers have armed you. The Outcasts can't take that away from you. No one can. And besides"-he grinned-"no one can touch you when I am at your side."
"Daniel?" She took a sip of the grapefruit soda, felt it fizz down her throat. "How will I fulfill my role in this old story?"
"I have no idea," he said, "but I can't wait to find out."
"Neither can I. ~ Lauren Kate

We all carry pieces of our journeys within us," Roland said. "We all learn from our mistakes. Who's to say we don't deserve happiness? ~ Lauren Kate

Stop or I'll kill him!" Sophia shouted at the angels as she tore out a fistful of arrows and leaped on Cam. Straddling him, she raised the silver shafts above his head.
His dark hair was matted and greasy. His hands were pale and trembling. Miss Sophia studied these details with a smirk.
"I do so love to see an angel die." She cackled, holding the starshots high. "And such an arrogant one to kill." She looked back down at Cam. "His death will be a beautiful thing to behold."
"Go ahead." Cam's voice came for the first time, low and even. Luce nearly cried out when she heard him mutter: "I never asked for a happy ending."
Luce had watched Sophia kill Penn with her bare hands and no remorse. It would not happen again. "No!" Luce shouted, struggling to break free from Daniel's grip and dragging him with her into the chapel.
Slowly Miss Sophia craned her body around toward Luce and Daniel, clutching her fistful of starshots. Her eyes gleamed silver and her thin lips curled in a ghastly smile as Luce tugged Daniel forward, pulling against his relentless grip.
"We have to stop her, Daniel!"
"No, Luce, it's too dangerous."
"Oh, there you are, dear." Miss Sophia beamed. "And Daniel Grigori! How nice. I've been waiting for you." Then she winked and whipped the starshots over her head in a dense cluster aimed straight at Daniel and Luce. ~ Lauren Kate

Luce is different now. She's-" He could almost smell her.Clean, pure light, like sunshine. "Something fundamental has shifted.We finally have a real chance. And I-I have never been more elated ... nor more sick with terror." He opened his eyes and was surprised to see Daniil nod.
"Daniel?"
"Yes?"
"What are you waiting for?" Daniil asked with a smile. "Go get her."
And with that,Daniel teased open a shadow along the roof ledge-an Announcer-and stepped inside. ~ Lauren Kate

Existence is never so miserable as when you have a taste of something beautiful," Lucifer said. "It serves to remind you of everything you can never have. ~ Lauren Kate

In this lifetime you're nothing more than you appear to be: a stupid, selfish, ignorant, spoiled little girl who thinks the world lives or dies on whether she gets to go out with some good-looking boy at school ... I'd still relish this moment ... killing you. ~ Lauren Kate

You're an angel", Luce said, "I'm in love with an angel". ~ Lauren Kate

I don't know how you can stand it. Over and over again, the same sadness - "
He lifted her up. "The same ecstasy - "
"The same fire that kills everything - "
"The same passion that ignites it all again. You don't know. You can't remember how wonderful - "
"I've seen it. I do know. ~ Lauren Kate

Gorgeous, glowing rays of light ... This was what true beauty and goodness looked like
a spectral, luminescent gathering of beings so pure it hurt to look directly at them, like the most glorious eclipse, or maybe Heaven itself. ~ Lauren Kate

And she almost died of shock the night you showed it to her," Roland said. "We were all shocked, especially when you lived to talk about it."
"We talked about Daniel kissing me," Luce remembered, blushing. "And the fact that I survived it. Was that what surprised Miss Sophia?"
"Part of it," Roland said. "But there's plenty more in that book that Sophia wouldn't have wanted you to know about."
"Not much of an educator, was she?" Cam said, giving Luce a smirk that said, Long time, no see.
"What wouldn't she have wanted me to know?"
All the angels turned to look at Daniel.
"Last night we told you that none of the angels remember where we landed when we fell," Daniel said.
"Yeah, about that...How's it possible?" Shelby said. "You'd think that kind of thing would leave an impression on the old memorizer."
Cam's face reddened. "You try falling for nine days through multiple dimensions and trillions of miles, landing on your face, breaking your wings, rolling around confused for who knows how long, wandering the desert for decades looking for any clue as to who or what or where you are-and then talk to me about the old memorizer."
"Okay, you've got acknowledgement issues," Shelby said, putting on her shrink voice. "If I were going to diagnose you-"
"Well, at least you remember there was a desert involved," Miles said diplomatically, making Shelby laugh. ~ Lauren Kate

Maybe love was lying to yourself. ~ Lauren Kate

I try to hook you up every day. What's the point of calendars without dates? ~ Lauren Kate

Soooo," Arriane said. "Now you've met Randy."
"I thought his name was Cam."
"We're not talking about him," Arriane said quickly. "I mean the she-man in there." Arriane jerked her head toward the office where they'd left the attendant in front of the TV. "Whaddya think-dude or chick?"
"Uh, chick?" Luce said tentativley. "Is this a test?"
Arriane cracked a smile. "The first of many. And you passed. At least, I think you passed. The gender of most of the faculty here is an ongoing, schoolwiide debate. Don't worry, you'll get into it. ~ Lauren Kate

You were blasted out of the sanctuary. The force of the explosion caused the first avalanche that buried the Qayom Malak, but the fig and olive trees remained exposed, a beacon for the other sanctuaries that were built in the coming years. The Christians were here, the Greeks, the Jews, the Moors. Their sanctuaries fell, too, to avalanche, fire, to scandal or fear, creating a nearly impenetrable wall around the Qayom Malak. You needed me to help you find it again. And you couldn't find me until you really needed me."
"What happens now?" Cam asked. "Don't tell me we have to pray."
Dee's eyes never left the Qayom Malak, even as she tossed cam the towel draped over her shoulder. "Oh, it's far worse, Cam. Now you've got to clean. Polish the angels, especially their wings. Polish them until they shine. We are going to need the moonlight to shine on them in precisely the right way. ~ Lauren Kate

You're in there somewhere." He tapped at her collarbone. "You'll pop out again when-Well,when the time is right. But for now,you've slipped entirely inside your past. Like a cute little turtle in a borrowed shell.Except it's more than that.When you're in Lys's body, your very beings are entwined, so all sorts of good stuff comes with the package.Her memories,her passions,her manners-lucky for you.Of course,you also have to grapple with her shortcomings.This one,if I recall,puts her foot in her mouth with some regularity.So watch out."
"Amazing," Luce whispered. "So if I could just find Daniel,I'd be able to feel exactly what she feels toward him."
"Sure,I guess,but you do realize that once I snap my fingers,Lys has obligations at this ball that don't include Daniel.This isn't really his scene,and by that I mean,no way the guards would let a poor stable boy in here."
Luce didn't care about any of that. Poor stable boy or not,she would find him. She couldn't wait. Inside Lys's body she could even hold him, maybe even kiss him.The anticipation of it was almost overwhelming.
"Hello?" Bill flicked a hard finger against her temple. "You ready yet? Get in there,see what you can see-then get out while the getting's good, if you know what I mean."
Luce nodded.She straightened Lsys's black gown and held her head a little higher. "Snap to it."
"And...go." Bill snapped his fingers. ~ Lauren Kate

They could steam up windows with their kisses, but as soon as they started using
their mouths for other things - like talking - everything got so complicated. ~ Lauren Kate

"Don't worry."" Arriane stood next to Luce. "This place is like a reject revolving door. People come and go all the time because of some parole issue crazy parents whatever. Randy's off tonight. No one else gives a damn. If anyone gives you a second look- just give 'em a third one. Or send them over to me."" She made a fist. ~ Lauren Kate

It felt so good just to be held ~ Lauren Kate

Oh yes, we're going to brawl, baby. Over you. Again. ~ Lauren Kate

And for what? Lucinda. And the choice the two of them had made long ago - and over and over again: to put their love above everything else. ~ Lauren Kate

When she rolled over, nestling her back into Daniel's chest so that he was cradling her with his right wing, her eyelids fluttered shut. Then they flew open.
She was face to face with Cam.
He was inches away, on his side, head propped on his hand, green eyes holding hers as if they were both in a trance. He opened his mouth as if to say something-
BOOM.
The room trembled like a leaf. For an instant, the air seemed to take on a strange transparency. Cam's body shimmered, both there and somehow not there, his very existence seeming to flicker.
"Timequake," Daniel said.
"A big mother," Cam agreed.
Luce sprang upright, gaping at her own body in the sleeping bag, at Daniel's hand on her knee, at Arriane, whose muffled voice called out," "I'wuzznt me," until Annabelle's wing slapped her awake. All of them were flickering before each other's eyes. Solidly present one moment, as insubstantial as ghosts the next.
The timequake had jarred loose a dimension in which they weren't even there.
The cave around them shuddered. Sand sifted down from the walls. But unlike those of Luce and her friends, the physical properties of the red rock remained fixed, as if to prove that only people-souls-were at risk of being erased. ~ Lauren Kate

You don't really know either of us," Cam said, standing and stepping away, "but you're prepared to choose right now, huh? ~ Lauren Kate

She buried her face in his shoulder. And while the truth still scared her, being in his arms made her feel like the sea finding its shore, like a traveler returning after a long, hard, distant trip
finally returning home. ~ Lauren Kate

So" he asked.
She was stunned and amazed-and happier than she'd ever been before. It couldn't possibly be real, she thought-unless she spoke the truth aloud, with Daniel and the rest of the fallen angels there to witness.
"I'm Lucinda," she said. "I'm your angel. ~ Lauren Kate

She liked the way this road smelled in the evenings, like rain falling on night-blooming jasmine. Locusts sang old songs in the darkness. ~ Lauren Kate

Im a vegetarian," Luce said. She was glancing around the tables , looking for two people in particular. Daniel and Cam. She'd just feel more at ease is she knew where they were so she could go about having her luch pretending that she didn't see either one of them. But so far no sightings.
"Vegetarian, huh?" Arriane pursed her lips. "Hippie parents or your own meager attempt at rebellion?"
"Uh, neither. I just dont-"
"Like meat?" Arriane steered Luce's shoulders nintey degrees so that she was looking directly at Daniel, sitting at a table across the room. Luce let out a long exhale. There he was.
"Now, does that go for all meat?" Arriane sang loudly. "Like you wouldn't sink your teeth into him?" - Fallen ~ Lauren Kate

Cam was so much clearer, easier to figure out. Like he was algebra and Daniel was calculus. ~ Lauren Kate

I don't want to go through it all again. All that time without you, always waiting, my foolish optimism that someday it would be different-"
"Your optimism was justified! Look at me. Look at us! This is different. I know it is, Daniel. I saw us in Helston and Tibet and Tahiti. We were in love, sure, but it was nothing like what we have now."
They'd dropped back farther, out of earshot of the others. They were just Luce and Daniel, two lovers talking in the sky. "I'm still here," she said. "I'm here because you believed in us. You believed in me."
"I did-I do believe in you."
"I believe in you, too." She heard a smile enter her voice. "I always have."
They were not going to fail. ~ Lauren Kate

Oh, of course!" Daniel gave Luce a sad smile. "You thought she was - we should have told you that transeternals often look alike."
"You mean, she's not Miss Sophia?"
"Sophia Bliss?" The woman looked as if she'd just bitten into something sour.
"That bitch is still around? I was sure someone would have put
her out of her misery by now. ~ Lauren Kate

Shut up," Daniel said, but he said it softly and so tenderly that Luce suprised both of them by obeying.
"I don't think you're stupid."
He closed his eyes "I think you're the smartest person I know. And the kindest. And ... "
he swallowed, opening his eyes to look directly at her - "the most beautiful. ~ Lauren Kate