She shrugged and flipped her glossy hair behind her shoulders. "What else do you have to do with your time besides think about stuff like this? It's not like you're real heavy into extracurriculars. Besides, you're all, like, goth and into the dead, right?" Alona Dare, queen of the insult-compliment. "Wow. Thanks. Anyone ever tells you're good with people?" She frowned. "No."" Good. I'm not goth."" Your hair is black, you have piercings, you wear black all the time and act all freaky-""My hair is naturally this color. I have three airings in one ear, that's it. This shirt" -I tugged at the fabric across my chest- "is navy blue, and if I act weird all the time, it's because of ghosts like you.

— Stacey Kade

So it turns out that late-night flashes of brilliance often look a little less brilliant in the bright light of morning.

— Stacey Kade

Sorry, maybe this is the head injury talking, but … what?

— Stacey Kade

So what did it matter where she came from? Who-or what-her parents were? Everyone's family was messed up in some way including my own. And she was still the same Ariane.

— Stacey Kade

That was, in fact, my life. A whole series of reasonable lies.

— Stacey Kade

The trouble with rules, though, is that you'll always be tempted to break one-for the right reasons, due to unavoidable circumstances, because it feels as if there's no other choice. And once you break one, the rest seem like so much broken glass. The damage is already done.

— Stacey Kade

The truth is, it's really only okay to be yourself if that self is within an accepted range of 'normal'.

— Stacey Kade

Trust me, you see the dead walking around, you learn not to scream, laugh, or piss yourself pretty quickly.

— Stacey Kade

What happened to you?" she asked." Ben was feeling artistic. Wanted to rearrange my face.

— Stacey Kade

What was the point, I had to wonder, of fighting so hard to learn to protect my life if I was destroying it in the process?

— Stacey Kade