Fledgling Quotes
"The hunger was a violent twisting inside me."
"My head pounded and throbbed, and I held it between my hands, whimpering."
"I lay in the dark, trembling. What if I were blind?"
"The pain of my hunger won over all my other pain."
"I began to believe then that my eyes had been injured somehow, but that they were healing."
"I let it wash away my prey’s blood and my own, let it clean off the crust of dirt that I had picked up from where I had lain."
"I wasn’t only healing, I was remembering things."
"I had to look at these things, let the sight of them remind me what they were called—the hillside, the rock face, the trees."
"I climbed to my feet slowly, my knees protesting the movement with individual outbursts of pain."
"Somehow, I had been hurt very badly, and yet I couldn’t remember how."
"Being naked had seemed completely normal until I became aware of it. Then it seemed intolerable."
"Feeding my hunger suddenly became more important than anything."
"I lived that way for the next three days and nights, eating, hunting, examining the ruin during the night, and hiding myself in the earth during the day."
"Curiosity and restlessness got the better of me."
"I was surprised when the car stopped alongside me."
"I don’t know what my name is. I don’t remember."
"He frowned and pulled away from me, all the while looking uncertain, unhappy."
"I thought I should be afraid, should try to stop him, but I was calm."
"I wasn’t uncomfortable. Being wet didn’t bother me, and I wasn’t cold."
"I’ll need to call you something. What do you want to be called?"
"I rent a cabin from my uncle. If I take you there, you’ll have to stay inside during the day."
"I can sleep during the day. I won’t go out until dark."
"I don’t know what I am. I don’t know why I remembered just now about flesh and blood."
"If you’re right about what you’ve remembered so far, you’re not human."
"Are you going to let me eat my pizza while it’s hot?"
"I killed a deer," I said. In all, I had killed two deer. And I did have their blood on my clothing."
"My injuries seemed to be healing, and it was easier for me to move around."
"I’m not sure how I’m going to do that, but yeah. I want you with me."
"I don’t think I’m as young as you believe," I said.
"Most important, I needed to eat again."
"I waited, making sure it was his car and not some stranger's. The moment I recognized the car and caught his scent, I could hardly wait to see him."
"I found myself laughing as he examined me, checked my leg, then the rest of me."
"Let’s go home," I said at last. "I want a hot bath, and then I want you."
"You are home," he said. "You must think of this place as your home."
"I’m sorry," I repeated, my voice not much more than a whisper.
"I don’t know how to deal with all this, Renee … Shori. It’s like being told that extraterrestrials have arrived, and I’m sleeping with one of them."
"What we need to do is find some place safe where we can hunker down, pool information, and figure out what to do."
"Not if I can take them over. I’m going to try."
"Imagine a doctor who has to ask her patient how to perform a life-saving operation."
"I don’t know what’s going to happen. I don’t remember anything about this."
"Embarrassment. Pride. Imagine a doctor who has to ask her patient how to perform a life-saving operation."
"Venom from Ina females is more potent than venom from males."
"If a group of sisters had the venom to hold a group of brothers, they were more likely to have several healthy children."
"In that sense, the Ina are kind of a matriarchy."
"I’m alive, Celia. My senses work. I can’t help but know."
"Bear it. Bear it and keep still. Later, when I can, I’ll make it up to you."
"I thought I had finally found a way to avoid all that pain—a way never to be alone again."
"I hope that my venom is strong and that you’ll come to me. It won’t be the same, I know, but you won’t be alone."
"I don’t want them to get hurt or killed because someone’s after us—or after me."
"I don’t have any idea when this will be over."
"I prefer to sleep during the day, but I don’t have to. I can sleep whenever I’m tired."
"You are more than a guest. You’ll be mated to the sons of the family in a few years."
"Don’t kill anyone. No matter how certain you are that you’ve found the right person, don’t kill."
"I’m sorry," I said. "Stay here, Wright. Stay near me while I finish this."
"I need you to stay together," I said. "Protect one another."
"Estimate the height of the shorter man," I said, just to be sure.
"That might mean his Ina was female," Joel said.
"Leave her to us," Martin said. "We’ll take care of her body. We’ll prepare her for burial."