"A key turned in the lock of the world"

"If she could have burned him with her gaze, he would have been dust already."

"There was no ritual beyond what felt right, and nothing did"

susurrus

"a round-chested skeleton who bore down so heavily on his note-taking pad that Kai wondered if he might be writing with rips instead of ink"

"Ghostlights glimmered from panels and instruments on the walls. A metronome ticked the beats of her heart."

"Sunset purpled the sky. A single star gleamed through a gap in the roof. She didn't know the star's name. Her mother would have. Her mother was gone."

"Her dreams the last few weeks had been dark and drowning."

"Look at my personality profile. ... The profile's a guide for growth, not a list of limits."

"she slipped down between window boards into the top floor's haze of bad dreams and sick sweet smoke"