Fear lay down on top of her like a black cloud, trying to get into her mouth through her clenched teeth. There was nothing she could do but wait, and hope that the danger – a danger she couldn't...

She held her right hand out to Elske, as if they were two merchants closing on a sale, and she bowed her head to Elske, as if they were two swordsmen ending a match, and she looked Elske in the eye,...

She felt funny, strange, making up lies as quickly and smoothly as if she'd been doing it all her life.

He was studying his grandmother, as if he was hungry too, but for something not food, hungry in a way that food could never fill.

The No filled the whole air of the house. Every time she breathed in she breathed in that No.

Out here, there was salt on the wind itself that fell on your skin like rain. You could taste it. Out here the sun heated and the wind cooled, and the waves sang their constant song.

There could be no home for the Tillermans. Home free - Dicey would settle for a place to stay. Stay free.

Throughout the meal, Windy's voice blew over them, smooth and steady. It didn't matter what he was saying.

He took his time getting to her, as if he was sure she'd wait, sure of his own strength to hold her, even at that distance. He moved like he thought she was afraid of him, too afraid to run.

Dicey felt a great weight settle on her shoulders. She tried to shrug it off, but it wouldn't move.

Elske screamed, too. But when Elske screamed, it was the war cry of the Volkaric that came out of her mouth, a howling like the voice of a wolf. The cry wound around the narrow streets as if they were...

They spent almost four dollars on supper at the mall, and none of them had dessert. They had hamburgers and french fries and, after Dicey thought it over, milkshakes.

They wouldn't know that grief had come down up on him unbearably, and he must be alone to put his arms around her, and feel her arms around him, to take enough comfort from grieving so that he could...

There was something that hurt him in the way the hills rose so gently from the broad, rich southern plain. Something painful in the lazy curves of the river, golden under a sinking sun, shadowed by...

On a bright Sunday morning in the early years of the last century

Night's darkness cloaked Elske, covering her as the winter snows cover mountains, from peak to foot. Elske moved with the weight of darkness on her shoulders, on her head; and she tasted it in her...

Miss Koala, The Eastern Star, and The Simón Bolívar.

If the Damall had caught Griff taking wine and salt, Griff would have begged forgiveness. Griff would have been afraid and sorry and promised never to do it again. When Griff was afraid he would...