The Darkest Part of the Forest

The worst part was how quietly she wept, as if she’d taught herself how, as if she was so used to doing it that it had just become the way she cried.

“His blood was hot enough,”

“You killed him? In cold blood?”

We love until we do not. For us, love doesn’t fade gradually. It snaps like a branch bent too far.”

do not love as you do—once won, our love can be terrifyingly constant.

She tried to keep her fingers steady as she typed to Ben without looking at her phone, grateful for a lifetime of texting during class: HELP AMANDA HURT ON GROUSE RD!!! MONSTER!

. “What just happened? Seriously, Hazel. That was insane.”

She shook her head, equally baffled. “I think you impressed him with the sheer force of your stupidity. How did you find me?”

He’d be invited to more dinners than a preacher on a Sunday.”

“He’d be invited to more beds than a preacher on a Sunday