Alexandra Bracken

"For the longest time, I saw them as the end of my journey, but now I think they were always meant to represent the beginning of yours."

"The end. But I'm telling you now, if either of you breathe a word -one goddamn word- about Cate, I will come down on you so hard, they'll be naming hurricanes after me for a fucking century."

"Etta saw the way Sophia took a deep breathe, set her shoulders back, and moved with practiced grace on her way out — and she understood something about the other girl, truly understood for the first time. Sophia wanted it, when she was only ever sent out."

"Are you sure this isn't a nightmare? And that we won't just wake up?Yes.Because dreamers always wake up and leave their monsters behind."

"The question stayed with me every day, through every class, through every Op. I felt its teeth tighten around the back of my neck each time I was dismissed without a second look; it had locked it’s jaws and wouldn’t let me or my conscience go."

"My mom said once that education was a privilege not afforded to everyone, but she was wrong--it wasn't a privilege. It was our right. We had the right to a future."

"I bet it gets pretty lonely with only your ego for company."