And I met Madeline's necromancer. His name's Luca." "A death detector?" Tod made a face. "That's creepy." "It gets weirder. He's dating Sophie." "On purpose?

Some things are private. Some things needed to be said, even when the person who needed to hear them couldn’t hear anything. Ever again.

When I was a child, all problems had ended with a single word from my father. A smile from him was sunshine, his scowl a bolt of thunder. He was smart, and generous, and honorable without fail. He could exile a trespasser, check my math homework, and fix the leaky bathroom sink, all before dinner. For the longest time, I thought he was invincible. Above the petty problems that plagued normal people.And now he was gone.

Ethan was loyal and funny and protective. When we were little, he was the brother most likely to make me cry—and mostly likely to wipe away my tears.

...the dead have a way of becoming saints in the eyes of their survivors...

Can’t clean up after you anymore, baby brother, so don’t punk out. Make it count.

Yeah.” I took another deep breath. “I’m gonna die, Emma.”“You mean eventually, right?” She blinked, and I could tell it hadn’t sunk in. “Please tell me you’re making some kind of big-picture philosophicalstatement about the inevitability of death and the transient nature of human existence.”“Not eventually, Em. Sometime on Thursday.