Maggie Stiefvater

Cole sat back up, slowly, and I opened my eyes. His expression, as ever, was blank, the face he wore when something mattered. He said, "That's how I would kiss you, if I loved you.

I stood on my toes and stole a soft kiss from his lips. "Surprise attack," I said.Sam leaned down and kissed me back, his mouth lingering on mine, teeth grazing my lower lip, making me shiver. "Surprise attack back.""Sneaky," I said, my voice breathier than I intended.

I settled on the floor and whispered to Sam, __ want you to listen to me, if you can._ I leaned the side of my face against his ruff and remembered the golden wood he had shown me so long ago. I remembered the way the yellow leaves, the color of Sam__ eyes, fluttered and twisted, crashing butterflies, on their way to the ground. The slender white trunks of the birches, creamy and smooth as human skin. I remembered Sam standing in the middle of the wood, his arms stretched out, a dark, solid form in the dream of the trees. His coming to me, me punching his chest, the soft kiss. I remembered every kiss we__ ever had, and I remembered every time I__ curled in his human arms. I remembered the soft warmth of his breath on the back of my neck while we slept.I remembered Sam.

Sean reaches between us and slides a thin bracelet of red ribbons over my free hand. Lifting my arm, he presses his lips against the inside of my wrist. I'm utterly still; I feel my pulse tap several times against his lips, and then he releases my hand."For luck," he says. He takes Dove's lead from me."Sean," I say, and he turns. I take his chin and kiss his lips, hard. I'm reminded, all of a sudden, of that first day on the beach, when I pulled his head from the water. "For luck," I say to his startled face.

What was a kiss without a kiss?" It was a tablecloth tugged from beneath a party service, everything jumbled against everything else in just a few chaotic moments. Fingers in hair. Hands cupping necks. Mouths dragged on cheeks and chins in dangerous proximity.

She tapped out a beat on the edge of the piano as I tripped and plummeted through the refrain of __pacebar,_ trying to translate the synth chords into a piano bit on the fly. It had been a million years since I__ played it.But it was still catchy.Whoever had written this song had known what they were doing.

One thousand brilliant stars punched holes in my consciousness, pricking me with longing. I could stare at the stars for hours, their infinite number and depth pulling me into a part of myself that I ignored during the day.

She stood on the ledge of his smile and looked over the edge.

I don't care to be pretty," Blue shot back hotly, "I care to look on the outside like I look on the inside.

I thought, possibly, that what I really needed was to go where nobody knew me and start over again, with none of my previous decisions, conversations, or expectations coming with me.

It is possible to be in love with you just because of who you are.

You're my change of skin/ my summer-winter-fall/ I spring to follow you/ this loss is beautiful

Sam- " After you were bitten, i knew what would happen. I waited for you to change, every night, so i could bring you back and keep you from getting hurt." Grace- " How long did you wait?" Sam- " I haven't stopped.

I still watch her now, like I always did, and she watches me, her brown eyes looking out from a wolf's face. This is the story of a boy who used to be a wolf, and a girl who became one.I won't let this be my last good-bye. I've folded one thousand paper cranes of me and Grace, and I've made my wish. I will find a cure. And then I will find Grace.

When you're tired, sleep. Don't watch stupid tv or play games on your phone. Sleep, and then get up early, and do the stuff you hope you'll be known for after you die.

It__ not about fancy literary prizes. It__ not about seeming impenetrable or smart or high fallutin. I__ not trying to impress anyone. I am trying to make you feel a story, that__ all.

Cole,_ I said, __o you think I__ lovable?___s in __uddly and_?___s in __ble to be loved,__ I said.Cole__ gaze was unwavering. Just for a moment, I had the strange idea that I could see exactly what he had looked like when he was younger, and exactly what he__ look like when he was older. It was piercing, a secret glimpse of his future. __aybe,_ he said. __ut you won__ let anybody try.__ closed my eyes and swallowed. __ can__ tell the diference between not fighting,_ I said,__nd giving up.__espite my eyelids being tightly shut, a single, hot tear ran out of my left eye. I was so angry that it had escaped. I was so angry.Beneath me, the bed tipped as Cole edged closer. I felt him lean over me. His breath, warm and measured, hit my cheek. Two breaths. Three. Four. I didn__ know what I wanted. Then I heard him stop breathing, and a second later, I felt his lips on my mouth. It wasn__ the sort of kiss I__ had with him before, hungry, wanting, desperate. It wasn__ the sort of kiss I__ had with anyone before. This kiss was so soft that it was like a memory of a kiss, so careful on my lips that it waslike a memory of a kiss, so careful on my lips that it was like someone running his fingers along them. My mouth parted and stilled; it was so quiet, a whisper, not a shout. Cole__ hand touched my neck, thumb pressed into theskin next to my jaw. It wasn__ a touch that said __ need more_. It was a touch that said __ want this.__t was all completely soundless. I didn__ think either of us was breathing.Cole sat back up, slowly, and I opened my eyes. His expression, as ever, was blank, the face he wore when something mattered.He said, __hat__ how I would kiss you, if I loved you.

Somewhere fate laughs in her far-off country, because now I am the human and it is Grace I will lose again and again, immer wieder, always the same, every winter, losing more of her each year, unless I find a cure.