A Far Wilder Magic Quotes
"It’s too cold for mid-autumn—the kind of cold that catches even the trees out."
"You’re only seventeen once, Maggie. There are far better ways to waste it than keeping that damn house, believe me."
"Cold settles into her wound, and the dull taste of copper coats her tongue."
"She’ll survive without it until her mother comes home—if she comes home."
"The gift of imagination skipped her over, and Wickdon is all she knows."
"Every autumn, the hala emerges somewhere in the coastal wood."
"The grand prize is money, glory, and the hala’s carcass."
"There are no more well-connected alchemists left in the Dunway metropolitan area whose apprenticeships he hasn’t already flunked out of—or else advertise NO BANVISH NEED APPLY."
"His gaze anxiously drifts toward the upstairs window, where a ghostly silhouette flickers in what looks to be firelight."
"Every week, the four of them would go into Wickdon to buy their groceries, and without fail, Margaret would ask her mother to carry her home."
"Maggie purses her lips like she’s measuring the worth of every inch of space that arrangement would put between them."
"Wes unhitches the gate and makes his way through the overgrown yard, the sweet scent of decay curling up from the fallen leaves."
"Weston leans against the bar with affected nonchalance."
"The canopy’s so dense he can scarcely see the flushed face of the sky, and the redwoods’ trunks are so tall and straight they cage him in like prison bars."
"Through the cracked window, he sees Maggie standing at the counter, chopping carrots with such solemnity it must be an act of devotion to some vegetal god."
"Destroying things has always come easy to him."
"Relax, he tells himself. He’s seen albedo done countless times."
"If it’s any consolation, I did cut some firewood."
"I’m not a bad alchemist, I swear. I just don’t test well."
"You shouldn’t try transmutations you don’t know how to do. It’s dangerous."
"It’s hardly been two weeks, and already, it’s killing livestock."
"I’ve heard of the kinds of stunts alchemists pull during the hunt."
"I’m Sumic. Just in case that bothers you."
"If we win, my mother will give him the apprenticeship and the prize money will be enough to pay for your mother’s surgery."
"I can’t let you do this in good conscience," Aoife says, "but I can’t stop you, either. All I can make you promise is that you’ll come back to me in one piece."
"I want to understand why you’re so determined to be cavalier when we stand to lose everything."
"Talk to me honestly, or don’t talk at all."
"All I am is a disappointment, and if I acknowledged it, I’d…"
"We can’t do this," he rasps. "I made a promise to them—and to you. I’m not backing out of it now."
"It’s you and me against the world, Margaret."
"We’ll have no way to weasel your way out of showing me around town this time."
"I don’t intend to cry over you. Certainly not if you got yourself killed in some careless way."
"If you’d died, what would I have done? What would your family have done? Everything you’ve ever dreamed and worked toward would be for nothing!"
"Despite her misgivings, she wants to believe in him and his dream."
"The sun is beginning to breach the water and stain it a brilliant red."
"Wrapped in the warmth of her wool socks and alchemy, it’s oddly ... cozy."
"The corner of her book presses into her back. 'I was before you interrupted me.'"
"This man is a demon, she decides. There are no two ways about it."
"He looks utterly stunned, like she's the one who wronged him."
"Her heart leaps into her throat. 'No, I'm not.'"
"Her every rational thought dulls until the only noise in her head is a sustained scream."
"He looks wistful, almost sad, before he remembers himself and shakes his head. 'I'll pay you back.'"
"Everything depends on that. His future. His mother's health. His family's security."
"But alchemy is about intuition, too, right? It’s not hard science. It’s ... well, it’s magic."
"Her mother would call that kind of ethical application misguided or sentimental."
"He can’t afford to have a weakness yet."
"The soul of the nation is what’s at stake for them."
"You want to be just like Jaime—like the rest of them? You want to be a bully?"
"By the time I’m through, it won’t matter where our grandparents came from."
"He has such beautiful dreams. 'And for you?'"
"When he meets her eyes, she can’t remember how to breathe."
"All of his opposites marrying together in a perfect whole like an alchemic reaction."
"It’s only when his head lolls and the glass tips in his hand that she moves."
"In sleep, he looks peaceful. No scheming, no temper, no fire."
"Margaret turns over the future he offered her like an apple at market, weighing it against the bright, warm memory of her family."
"No, she can’t bear to lose something so precious again."
"The sound of gunfire ricochets through his skull."
"She stands on the edge of the yard, aiming her rifle at a target she’s rigged at the tree line."
"The taste of salt and copper coats her tongue."
"The familiar gravity of Mrs. Wreford’s voice stills her."
"She’s tired of enduring it, just as Wes is."
"Trouble, loyal and steadfast as ever, is the only one who hasn’t left her."
"Her heart pounds as he furrows his brow and reaches out to her."
"She can’t watch it happen again. Not to someone like Wes."
"He looks at her helplessly as she repeats 'No' like a prayer."
"The entire apartment smells of brewing beer and baking bread, yeasty and comforting."
"Margaret ducks her head to conceal her smile."
"The sun languishes low on the horizon, oozing red light like a sliver of bloody meat."
"She feels her teeth chattering more than she hears them."
"The magnum opus: the great work. The creation of the philosopher’s stone. With it, it’s said an alchemist can live forever—and create matter from nothing like a god."
"My mother wasn’t always the way she is. But when I was about six years old, my brother fell ill and died in his sleep. After that, my mother threw herself into her work."
"Ancient alchemists devoted themselves to research on the prima materia—the divine spark buried in the darkness of matter—with the same intensity of an ascetic saint."
"No one had ever succeeded, though, and most who tried went mad. Eventually, the Katharist church decreed it a heretical pursuit, an offense against God himself."
"Because she believes it can bring my brother back."
"It’s not only that she’s terrifying and wild. It’s that he wants her in spite of her plainness or that she’s driven him mad or ensorcelled him. It is so much more than that. Margaret Welty is the most beautiful woman he has ever seen, and he is completely, hopelessly in love with her."
"I’m sorry. I still don’t think I can do anything with—where are you going?"
"You were just a kid. You deserved to be taken care of, and someone should’ve done something. You deserve to be loved."
"She’s terrifying and wild, like one of the aos sí, and the sight of her punches a hole straight through his chest."
"I can’t bear the thought of those three words. They plunk into her gut like dropped stones, each one ringing hollower than the last."
"I don’t care if you’re the goddamn president. I want you out of my house."
"I’m not like you, Wes. The only thing I’ve ever wanted is to be safe. This is my home, and it’s the only safety I’ve ever known."
"It’s then that he realizes she is crying. Margaret lifts her chin and smears away the tear tracks with the back of her free arm’s sleeve."
"I think your mother has a dark sense of humor."
"I don’t care about that. What does it mean for you?"
"I can’t risk everything for what-ifs. Empty promises aren’t enough."
"You will not talk about yourself that way."
"I love you, Maggie. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?"
"He could spend an eternity learning to love her this way and still want for more."
"Together, they listen to the sea crash against the shore."
"Her black jacket hangs over the back of the chair she’s claimed in the inn’s dining room."
"Even now, she thinks she is half-dreaming."
"You’re your father’s daughter through and through."
"The only thing he can offer you is trouble."
"I’m your mother. Of course it’s my business."
"He looks at the world like he wants to swallow it whole."
"Politics is nothing but bureaucratic drudgery."
"If there is one alchemical law she believes in, it’s that one."
"This is the beast half of the hunters here today would’ve killed them for."
"I can’t ask you to give up everything for me."
"The rest of the night passes in a blur."