The Girl Who Was Taken Quotes
"She looked for it and flirted with it. Became quaint with it and charmed it in a way foreign to most."
"The keys hung from the ignition and Nicole cranked the engine, shifted into drive, and stepped on the accelerator."
"She paused at the stop sign, rolled through it while she grabbed her phone. She needed her sister."
"The rain, she finally noticed, tasted wonderful."
"Megan sat spine-straight in the chair and watched Dante Campbell read through interview notes without a hitch."
"Her mouth went cotton-dry and a noticeable tremor took control of her hands."
"The makeup people melted away and suddenly it was just Megan sitting in the bright lights across from Dante Campbell."
"It was just time," Megan said, deciding finally on the answers that would best get her out of the bright lights.
"Megan wasn’t completely sure, since she hadn’t written much of it—that distinction went to her shrink, who snagged a byline on the cover."
"She squeezed her eyes shut and forced herself to think, tried to push away her grogginess brought on by the sedatives."
"I’d rather die fighting for my freedom than walk like a lamb to the slaughter."
"My sister went missing last year," Livia said at each interview. "I chose forensics because someday my parents and I will get a call that her body has been found."
"With her hands trembling and still bound in front of her, she pushed open the door."
"She took a hesitant step out of the bunker, into the thick and heavy rain that ran in cold streaks down her face."
"Driven by panic that he would come from the forest, she willed herself on with the sensation that he was near."
"Dr. Colt pouted his lower lip. 'Two months in, that’s good. Better than any of the other fellows.'"
"First, the findings point a strong finger at what exactly happened. Other times, they simply tell us what did not."
"A life might end, Dr. Colt told her, but sometimes their cases live forever."
"The country was transfixed, not by the girl who was gone, but by the one who made it home."
"Ignore anything long enough, and it will go away."
"She bothers me lately because she’s hooking up with Matt. I thought you were ‘so over’ him."
"Nicole made an ugly face. 'Great idea. I’ll suffocate him with neediness. Please meet my friends so they can love, love, love you!'"
"Nicole unhooked her bikini top and lay bare-chested on the lounge chair, closing her eyes and absorbing the sun."
"Regret, it's got no size. Mine can't be bigger than yours."
"Every single human body that comes through this place is someone’s wife, brother, son, uncle, sister. Treat them that way."
"In three weeks I’ll be home for a long weekend. We’ll talk then."
"The room looked like that of a dead child her parents didn’t want to forget."
"The country fell in love with Megan McDonald. She was the girl who made it home."
"As Livia sat in her childhood bedroom, she realized how much had changed in the last year, and how much had stayed the same."
"Estranged from his mother, and with an MIA father, he had no family looking for him and no one who ever knew he was gone."
"Mrs. Delevan slopped some vodka into the coffee cup and topped it with Coke, then looked at Livia."
"Dr. Livia Cutty saw death before it arrived."
"Megan’s stunning return home and heroic escape overshadowed everything else."
"The last years of Livia’s life had been spent analyzing the lifeless human body, its tissue and cells, and witnessing the destructive nature of the world."
"The drive looked easy. A straight shot and a good place to start."
"Nicole finally gave in. Stopped moaning and fighting and kicking."
"Like a gold nugget hidden away in a tiny satchel, those thoughts were all hers."
"Never having met anyone from this group before...Nicole wasn’t sure what to expect from her first Capture Club meeting."
"Our lost girl has returned home!" he shouted.
"Casey, she was certain, took things even before they were offered."
"Is it a fetish? I don’t know. Is it morbid? Probably."
"The other night was a thrill for us to shove you in that shed out back."
"You duct-taped my mouth and threw me in a shed overnight. This can’t be any more illegal."
"But one thing I can’t tolerate is snot and tears. So I’ll give you ten minutes to get yourself together. When I come back, I want my sweet girl back, you understand?"
"It was too embarrassing for her mother to allow Emerson Bay, and the people who worked under her father, to see that Megan had fallen from stardom."
"In reality, Megan knew, the main reason her mother periodically opened her door was to make sure Megan was there and safe and had not been taken again."
"The years had seen a great transformation take place in Emerson Bay, when shipping and port industries spread to the north and south, as if a drop of detergent had fallen onto Emerson Bay and pushed away the greasy factories and grimy shipping yards, leaving behind the squeaky-clean waterfront community of East Emerson Bay."
"Without the factories or the shipping yards, and without the benefit of a beautiful waterfront, West Bay became the dying side of town."
"What used to be a place where hard-working folk retreated after a day on the docks or in the factories, a place where a small yard for your kids and safe streets in the neighborhood were enough for a pleasant existence, West Bay now was somewhere only visited when necessary."
"No trouble. My name’s Livia Cutty. I wanted to ask you a weird question."
"I see you dying of lung cancer as you suck on that cigarette. I see your lifeless body on my autopsy table, and I see all the necrotic tumors in your stenosed lungs."
"The public’s attention span was short, and there were plenty of other stories that came along to distract them."
"Everyone hides under the cover of news watching and sadness for the victim and their family. Fine. Be sad. That’s normal. But don’t pretend you’re not curious."
"He stood and walked to the corner. On the table was a bottle of spray paint, which he shook violently, the small ball bearing rattling inside the bottle as it mixed the paint."
"All the attention led to an article in Events magazine featuring Megan McDonald and how she was taking the anxiety out of high school for not only the incoming class at Emerson Bay, but—as her program became widely adopted—for thousands of kids around the country."
"The future was something taken for granted. It was always there, waiting to be lived."
"She looked like a goddamn zombie when we cut her loose."
"Either way, better to close things down for a while just in case."
"Doesn’t matter. All I know is that we’re done with club stuff for a while."
"This is bullshit. It’s not our fault she’s so soft."
"External exam was unremarkable for burn wounds."
"Internal exam showed classic signs of smoke inhalation."
"The book wasn’t my idea. I never wanted to write it or be part of it."
"Don’t let them, okay? It’s not right for them."
"I’ve never seen him before. And I didn’t know Nicole was dating anyone."
"Every gazelle wakes knowing that to survive the day they gotta run faster than the slowest gazelle in the herd."
"Each morning when the sun comes up, cresting the horizon and stretching shadows across the sand, every gazelle and every lion opens their eyes."
"What more did they want than to be loved and cared for?"
"Back in the day, parents used to worry about testosterone-filled teenage boys wanting to get laid, or about kids swigging peppermint schnapps."
"None of us need to lose five pounds," Jessica said, lying on a lawn chair and soaking up the sun.
"If you keep thinking you're going to end up fat and ugly, you will," Nicole said. "Self-fulfilling prophecy."
"Before we get too concerned about next summer," Jessica said, "let's concentrate on this weekend. We're all still going to the beach party, right?"
"You know something, Nicole? I can't understand why you need so much attention. But offering someone sex is a stupid way to get it."
"Trying to convince me to cheat on my girlfriend is not the best way to get noticed. Do something original, Nicole. Then people will pay attention to you."
"That's what everyone thinks about you, you know that? That you've become an STD-spreading slut. Slutty Cutty they call you."
"It was amazing how even her concern disgusted him. She did not love him, not any longer, and her feigned worry turned his stomach."
"The sloppiness of his actions was dangerous, and he was scared."
"It was a thirst for connection. For trust and dependency."
"And though the heavy burden of melancholy sat on his shoulders from the way things had ended with his last love, there was hope buried under those emotions."
"Take it or leave it. The whole scene confirmed for Livia that Nathaniel Theros was a different breed."
"He thinks he’s filling the same gap for these girls that he’s trying to fill for himself."
"Because he loved them. Because he couldn’t stand to look at them after what he did."
"It’s hard to say that the first person you ever fell in love with is also the first you ever fell out of love with."
"These last few weeks have taught me a lot. Mostly that keeping things inside and not expressing how we feel doesn’t help anyone."
"He’s filled with remorse. It’s written all over these pictures."
"She was his perfect match, his exquisite accomplice."
"I did what he knew I would do. I found my way home."
"The relief she felt from finally telling someone confirmed her decision. Her parents needed to know. It was time."
"Excitement filled her gut and emotion stirred her heart, and with so much clouding her mind, no single thought shouted loud enough to give her pause."
"Panic wiped her mind blank—all the ideas and images there just seconds before, erased now—allowing her primitive instincts to take over."
"The lighthouse in the distance—with its bright beacon calling out to lost boats in the night—was all she knew and all she needed."