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I had a polynomial once. My doctor removed it.Michael Grant
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Conner hadn’t liked leaving the gravesite with his father still not buried. But he’d learned from his grandmother’s funeral that you have to go. It’s expected. Nobody hangs around the cemetary. Grief–a little or a lot–is tucked into your pocket and carried away.Kathleen Jeffrie Johnson
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I believe in free will. I think we make our own decisions and carry out or own actions. And our actions have consequences. The world is what we make it. But I think sometimes we can ask God to help us and He will.Michael Grant

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Scared people did scary things sometimes,Michael Grant
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One minute the teacher was talking about the Civil War. And the next minute he was gone. There. Gone. No 'poof.' No flash of light. No explosion.Michael Grant
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Caine’s a guy who needs to win. He needs to win before he poofs. Or he needs to win before I poof. The point is, he’s not going to just accept us freeing all these kids from Coates and taking over Perdido Beach, ” Sam said. “So we need to be ready. And we need to be ready for something else, too: tomorrow is my birthday.” He made a wry face. “Not a birthday I’m exactly looking forward to. But, anyway, we need to decide who takes over for me if…when… I step outside.” Several of the kids made sympathetic or encouraging noises about how Sam maybe wasn’t going to blink out, or maybe it would be a good thing, an escape from the FAYZ. But Sam hushed them all.“ Look, the good thing is, when I go, so does Caine. The bad thing is, that still leaves Drake and Diana and other bullies. Orc…well, we don’t exactly know what’s going on with him, but Howard’s not with him. And Lana…we don’t know what happened to her, whether she left or what.” The loss of Lana was a serious blow. Every one of the Coates refugees adored her for the way she had healed their hands. And it was reassuring to think that she could heal anyone who was injured. Astrid said, “I nominate Edilio to take over if…you know. Anyway, we need a number two, a vice president or vice mayor or whatever.” Edilio did a double take, like Astrid must be talking about some other Edilio. Then he said, “No way. Astrid’s the smartest person here.”“ I have Little Pete to look after. Mary has to care for the prees and keep them out of harm’s way. Dahra has responsibility for treating anyone who gets hurt. Elwood has been so busy in the hospital with Dahra, he hasn’t dealt with Caine or Drake or any of the Coates faction. Edilio’s been up against Orc and Drake. And he’s always been brave and smart and able.” She winked at Edilio, acknowledging his discomfort.“ Right, ” Sam said. “So unless someone has an objection, that’s the way it is. If I get hurt or I ditch, Edilio’s in charge.”“ Respect to Edilio, ” Dekka said, “but he doesn’t even have powers.”“ He has the power to earn trust and to come through when he has to,.Michael Grant
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Caine has Drake and Orc, Panda and Chaz, and I hear Mallet has made peace with him. And maybe a half dozen other guys.”“ Are you afraid of them?” Astrid asked him.“ Yeah, Astrid, I am.”“ Okay, ” she said. “But you were scared of going into a burning building, too.”“ You don’t get this, do you?” Sam demanded with enough heat that Astrid took a step back. “I know what you want, okay? I know what you and a bunch of other people want. You want me to be the anti- Caine. You don’t like the way he’s doing things and you want me to go kick him out. Well, here’s what you don’t know: even if I could do all that, I wouldn’t be any better than him.”“ You’re wrong about that, Sam. You’re–”“That night when I first used the power? When I hurt my stepfather? How do you think I felt?”“ Sad. Regretful.” Astrid looked at his face like the answer would be written there. “Scared, probably.”“ Yeah. All that. And one more thing.” He held up his hand and inches from her nose squeezed his fingers into a tight fist. “I also felt a rush, Astrid. A rush. I thought, oh my God, look at the power I have. Look what I can do. A huge, crazy rush.”“ Power corrupts, ” Astrid said softly.“ Yeah, ” Sam said sarcastically. “I’ve heard that.”“ Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. I forget who said it.”“ I make a lot of mistakes, Astrid. I don’t want to make that mistake. I don’t want to be that guy. I don’t want to be Caine. I want to…” He spread his arms wide, a gesture of helplessness. “I just want to go surfing.”“ You won’t be corrupted, Sam. You wouldn’t do those things.” He had moved back. She moved to close the distance.“ How can you be so sure?”“ Well, two reasons. First, it’s not your character. Of course you felt a rush from the power. Then, you pushed it away. You didn’t grab at it, you pushed it away. That’s reason number one. You’re you, you’re not Caine or Drake or Orc.”Sam wanted to agree, wanted to accept that, but he felt he knew better. “Don’t be so sure.”“ And reason number two: you have me, .Michael Grant
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Who am I? I’m the Breeze, bitch!Michael Grant
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(..) But Gaia had absorbed the new information. "I won't need to kill billions, Diana. When Nemesis is gone, there will be no other like me. Just me alone. I will grow and spread, one body and then another, and soon there will be so many of me that it will be impossible to eradicate me. Eventually all will be me, and I will be all."" Won't that be boring?" Diana asked. "You'd be dating yourself. You'll have no one to discuss your evil plans with. (..) .Michael Grant
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If you don’t deal with the past, the past deals with you.Kathleen Jeffrie Johnson
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Female say Pack Leader stop, ” Pack Leader said angrily.“ What?” Caine could make no sense of it till he saw Diana striding up, dark hair flying, eyes furious.“ I told this filthy beast to stop, ” Diana said, barely controlled.“ Stop what?” Caine demanded.“ They’re still attacking the kids, ” Diana said. “We’ve won. Sam is dead. Call them off, Caine.”Caine turned his attention back to the battle between Drake and the monster. “They’re coyotes, ” Caine said coldly. Diana flew at him. “You’ve lost your mind, Caine. This has to stop. You’ve won. This has to stop.”“ Or what, Diana? Or what?” Caine demanded. “Go get Lana. I’m hurt. Pack Leader, do what you want.”“ Maybe this is why your mother abandoned you, ” Diana said savagely. “Maybe she could see that you weren’t just bad, you were twisted and sick and evil.Michael Grant
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Find Sam Temple. Tell him you escaped.” Jack gulped and bobbed his head.“ Better yet, find that girl, Astrid.” Diana recovered some of her mocking attitude. “Astrid the Genius. She’ll be desperate to save Sam.”“Okay. Okay.” He steeled himself. “I better go.” Diana touched his arm. “Tell them about Andrew.”Jack froze with his hand on the key. “That’s what you want me to do?”“ Jack, if Sam blinks out, Drake will turn on me, and Caine won’t be able to stop him. Drake is stronger than before. I need Sam alive. I need someone for Drake to hate. I need balance. Tell Sam about the temptation. Warn him that he’ll be tempted to surrender to the big jump, but maybe, maybe, if he says no…” She sighed. It was not a hopeful sound. “Now: go. .Michael Grant
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What’s up, Albert?”“Well, I’ve done inventory at Ralph’s, and I think if I had a lot of help, I could put together an okay Thanksgiving dinner.” Sam stared at him. He blinked. “What?”“Thanksgiving. It’s next week.”“ Uh-huh.”“ There are ovens at Ralph’s, big ones. And no one has taken the frozen turkeys. Figure two hundred and fifty kids if pretty much everyone from Perdido Beach shows up, right? One turkey will feed maybe eight people, so we need thirty-one, thirty-two turkeys. No problem there, because there are forty-six turkeys at Ralph’s.”“Thirty-one turkeys?”“ Cranberry sauce will be no problem, stuffing is no problem, no one has taken much stuffing yet, although I’ll have to figure out how to mix, like, seven different brands and styles together, see how it tastes.”“ Stuffing, ” Sam echoed solemnly.“ We don’t have enough canned yams, we’ll have to do fresh along with some baked potatoes. The big problem is going to be whipped cream and ice cream for the pies.” Sam wanted to burst out laughing, but at the same time he found it touching and reassuring that Albert had put so much thought into the question.“ I imagine the ice cream is pretty much gone, ” Sam said.“ Yeah. We’re very low on ice cream. And kids have been taking the canned whipped cream, too.”“ But we can have pie?”“ We have some frozen. And we have some pie shells we can bake up ourselves.”“ That would be nice, ” Sam said.“ I’ll need to start three days before. I’ll need, like, at least ten people to help. I can haul the tables out of the church basement and set up in the plaza. I think I can do it.”“ I’ll bet you can, Albert, ” Sam said with feeling.“ Mother Mary’s going to have the prees make centerpieces.”“ Listen, Albert…”Albert raised a hand, cutting Sam off. “I know. I mean, I know we may have some great big fight before that. And I heard you have your fifteenth coming up. All kinds of bad stuff may happen. But, Sam–”This time, Sam cut him off. “Albert? Get moving on planning the big meal.”“ Yeah?”“ Yeah. It will give people something to look forward to.Michael Grant
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[Caine]"Interesting. Me, I've always wanted to know who my real parents were."[ Sam]" Let me guess: you're secretly a wizard who was raised by muggles.Michael Grant
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I want my mom, ” a little boy cried out suddenly. Every voice fell silent. The boy had said what they were all feeling. Caine hopped down from the car and went to the boy. He knelt down and took the boy’s hands in his own. He asked the boy’s name, and reintroduced himself. “We all want our parents back, ” he said gently, but loudly enough to be overheard clearly by those nearest. “We all want that. And I believe that will happen. I believe we will see all our moms and dads, and older brothers and sisters, and even our teachers again. I believe that. Do you believe it, too?”“ Yes.” The little boy sobbed. Caine wrapped him in a hug and said, “Be strong. Be your mommy’s strong little boy.”“ He’s good, ” Astrid said. “He’s beyond good.” Then Caine stood up. People had formed a circle around him, close but respectful. “We all have to be strong. We all have to get through this. If we work together to choose good leaders and do the right thing, we will make it.” The entire crowd of kids seemed to stand a little taller. There were determined looks on faces that had been weary and frightened. Sam was mesmerized by the performance. In just a few minutes’ time, Caine had infused hope into a very frightened, dispirited bunch of kids. Astrid seemed mesmerized too, though Sam thought he detected the cool glint of skepticism in her eyes. Sam was skeptical himself. He distrusted rehearsed displays. He distrusted charm. But it was hard not to think that Caine was at least trying to reach out to the Perdido Beach kids. It was hard not to believe in him, at least a little. And if Caine really did have a plan, wouldn’t that be a good thing? No one else seemed to have a clue.Michael Grant
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Sam, can you, you know, like burn that concrete off her hands?”“ No. I can’t aim that precisely.”“ I don’t even know what can be done, ” Edilio said as he fed the girl another microscopic bite of food. “You try and break that stuff off with a sledge hammer or something, or even a hammer and a chisel, it’s going to really hurt. Probably break every bone in her hands, man.”“ Who would have done this to her?” Lana wondered.“ That’s a Coates Academy uniform, ” Astrid answered. “We’re probably not far from there.Michael Grant
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Help me, ” the girl pleaded softly. Sam knelt beside her. He recoiled in shock. “Bette?”The left side of Bouncing Bette’s face was covered in blood. There was a gash above her temple. She was panting, gasping, like she had collapsed after a marathon and was trying with her last ounce of energy to crawl across the finish line.“ Bette, what happened?”“ They’re trying to get me, ” Bette cried, and clutched at Sam’s arm. The three dark figures advanced to the edge of the circle of light. One was clearly Orc. No one else was that big. Edilio and Quinn moved into the garage doorway. Sam disengaged from Bette and took up a position beside Edilio.“You want me to beat on you guys, I will! ” Orc yelled.“ What’s going on here?” Sam demanded. He narrowed his eyes and recognized the other two boys, a kid named Karl, a seventh grader from school, and Chaz, one of the Coates eighth graders. All three were armed with aluminum bats.“ This isn’t your business, ” Chaz said. “We’re dealing with something here.”“ Dealing with what? Orc, did you hit Bette?”“She was breaking the rules, ” Orc said.“ You hit a girl, man?” Edilio said, outraged.“ Shut up, wetback, ” Orc said.“ Where’s Howard?” Sam asked, just to stall while he tried to figure out what to do. He’d lost one fight to Orc already. Orc took the question as an insult. “I don’t need Howard to handle you, Sam.”Orc marched right up to Sam, stopped a foot away, and put his bat on his shoulder like he was ready to swing for a home run. Like a batter ready for the next fastball. Only this was closer to T-ball: Sam’s head was impossible to miss.“ Move, Sam, ” Orc ordered.“ Okay, I’m not doing this again, ” Quinn said. “Let him have her, Sam.”“Ain’t no ‘let me, ’” Orc said. “I do what I want.” Sam noticed movement behind Orc. There were people coming down the street, twenty or more kids. Orc noticed it too, and glanced behind him.“ They aren’t going to save you, ” Orc said, and swung the bat hard. Sam ducked. The bat whooshed past his head, and Orc rotated halfway around, carried forward by the momentum. Sam was thrown off balance, but Edilio was ready. He let loose a roar and plowed headfirst into Orc. Edilio was maybe half Orc’s size, but Orc was knocked off his feet. He sprawled out on the concrete. Chaz went after Edilio, trying to pull him off Orc.The crowd of kids who had come running down the street surged forward. There were angry voices and threats, all aimed at Orc.They yelled, Sam noted, but no one exactly jumped into the unequal fight. .Michael Grant
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Guys, he’s hurt bad.” The blonde scrambled to him. She tore the wounded boy’s shirt open. A river of blood ran down his chest.“ Oh, God, no, ” the blonde cried. Lana pushed her aside and laid a hand against the pumping wound. “He’ll live, ” Lana said. “I’ll fix him.”“ What do you mean, you’ll fix him?” the blonde demanded. “We need stitches, we need a doctor. Look at how he’s bleeding.” Lana said, “What’s your name?”“ Astrid, what does it matter? He’s…” She stopped talking then and leaned in close to see. “The bloodflow is slowing.”“ Yeah. I noticed that, too, ” Lana said dryly. “Relax. He’ll be fine. In fact…” She tilted her head to get a better look at him. “In fact, I’ll bet when he’s not covered in blood, he’s cute. Your boyfriend?”“ That’s not what it’s about, ” Astrid snapped. Then, in a low voice, like she didn’t want the others to hear, she said, “Kind of. .Michael Grant
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Because with the right person, sometimes kissing feels like healing.Lisa McMann
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..you have me, ” Astrid said.“ Do I?”“Yes.”That drained the anger and frustration from him like someone had pulled a plug. For a long moment he was lost, gazing into her eyes. She was very close. His heart shifted to a deeper rhythm that vibrated his whole body. There were just inches between them. He closed the distance by half, stopped.“ I can’t kiss you with your little brother watching, ” he said. Astrid stepped back, took Little Pete by the shoulders, and turned him so he was facing away.“ How about now?.Michael Grant