You see, the cold ones are the natural enemies of the wolf—well, not the wolf, really, but the wolves that turn into men, like our ancestors. You would call them werewolves.

All I caught was that one of the girls was also named Jessica, and the boy who noticed me was named Jacob.

Have you ever seen a driftwood fire?

I’m going to pretend I didn’t see you behind the wheel, Jake.

Now and then, his lips would move, so fast it looked like they were trembling. But, when I asked, he told me he was singing to himself; it was too low for me to hear.

It’s too bad you didn’t figure that out earlier. You could have saved yourself all this regret.

The more familiar someone’s… ‘voice’ is, the farther away I can hear them.

I thought we were past all the evasiveness.

There was uncertainty in his voice. He was really giving me a choice — I was free to refuse, and part of him hoped for that. It was a vain hope.

It was nice to be alone, not to have to smile and look pleased; a relief to stare dejectedly out the window at the sheeting rain and let just a few tears escape.