"But when a person fakes happy, it has edges. Regular people may not see, but the people who count, they can see edges and lines where the sadness (me) or the anger (Grandma), begins."

"Since moving to the Castle, she'd discovered that only white men talked of "black magic." As though magic had a color. Effia had seen a traveling witch who carried a snake around her neck and shoulders. This woman had a son. She'd sung lullabies to him at night and held his hands and kept him fed, same as anyone else. There was nothing dark about her."

"She didn't like to be alone. Even more, she didn't like being with people."

"If you surrendered to the air, you could RIDE it."

"I do not write about nice people. I am not nice people."