Brodi Ashton

Despite all the other factors that had contributed to my fate, in the end it was my decision that destroyed my life. And all the hurt I was enduring now was my doing. The blame rested solely with me.

So he earns your undying love by reading a book under a tree?" Cole said dryly. "Why didn't I ever try that approach? I like books and trees.

I dreamed of you every night. It felt so real. And when I'd wake up the next morning, it was like your disappearance was fresh. Like you'd left me all over again.

Heroes don't exist. And if they did, I wouldn't be one of them.

Faith?_ The word popped out before I could think about it. __aith in what? A higher power? The gods? The universe?_ My voice cracked at the end, and I realized what this whole thing had done to my faith, if I__ had any to begin with. I realized that the thought of a higher being in charge of all this made me angry.

If there is an afterlife, I want my soul intact. And then maybe I'll see you there."I smiled, somehow calm now that I was facing something inevitable. I was getting the good-bye I'd always wanted. - Nikki

If the eye really was a muscle, I had pulled it long ago.

How are you still sane?""Who says I am? I only stopped asking myself the escape question when the walls started to answer me."Shit.

What was the point of finding something worth living for if my life was no longer in my own hands?

He paused and let out a little sigh. Then I__ saying it wrong, because it has everything to do with you. I want what Hades and Persephone had, and I can__ do it without you. The only time the queen of the Everneath has been overthrown is when an Everliving has found his perfect match. I__e spent my whole life - and it__ a long one, trust me - looking for my perfect match, and it__ you. I knew you were different from the first moment I met you. The first moment you placed your hands on mine. You remember?

I tell him there'll be an army waiting for him, and your friend is only concerned with the color of their uniforms. What's this really about?"Max shrugged. "A girl."I glared at Max. "Dude. Shut up.

In the moment I faced dying, I finally knew my reason for living.

Say something Becks. Say anything""You," I said. "I remember you." I kept my eyes shut, and felt his hands drop. He didn't move back."What do you remember about me?" There was strong emotion behind his voice. Something he fought to control.With my eyes closed, I could easily picture the other side of the century."I remember the way your hand could cover my entire shoulder. The way your lower lip stuck out when you were working out a problem in your head. And how you flick your ring finger with your thumb when you get impatient."I opened my eyes, and the words no longer got stuck in my throat on their way out. They flowed. "And when something surprises you and you don't know what to say, you get a tiny wrinkle in between your eyebrows." I reached up to touch the divot, then hesitated and lowered my hand. "It showed on the day the coach told you you'd made first-string quarterback. And it's showing now." For a moment the space between us held no tension, no questions, no accusations.Finally he leaned back, a stunned expression on his face. "Where do we go from here?""Nowhere, really," I whispered. "It doesn't change anything.

Sometimes, when something hurts us, our hearts break a little-in a slightly ... more literal way than for humans. Our pain sort of spills out and onto anyone around us. We call it a cracked heart.

Never focus on the end. Only focus on your first step.

Sometimes... Sometimes our hearts...crack a little.

If you're gonna leave, I wish you'd just leave. Why do you keep coming back if you're not going to stay? Because even when you're gone, you're never really gone... I won't get over it if you keep coming back. Losing you once was hard enough. And now you're here again and everything's coming back. I'm going to get screwed. And I can't do it again.

Heroes are made by the paths they choose, not the powers they are graced with.