In the backseat Moose and Squirrel inhabited a pair of six-year-old-twins, and wouldn't stop bickering and picking their noses. They were clearly in their element.

Neal Shusterman

The way I see it, the impossible happens all the time; but we're so good at taking it for granted, we forget it was once impossible.

Neal Shusterman

impossible forget way

How can you pass laws about things that nobody knows?" "They do it all the time," says Hayden. "That's what law is: educated guesses at right and wrong.

Neal Shusterman

nobody-knows educated law

You can't change laws without first changing human nature.

Neal Shusterman

human-nature law firsts

There's a set of unspoken rules we live by when it comes to fighting. We can't help it. It comes from living in a civilized world. Even when you're fighting your hardest, somewhere deep down, you know how far you can go. But today the rules are gone. Today I fight not to win, but to destroy.

Neal Shusterman

fighting winning life

Lev smiles. "Leave it to you to turn someone else's screwup into gold

Neal Shusterman

turns gold

I smell fear, he said with a quiet intensity. But not nearly enough.

Neal Shusterman

smell fear quiet

I don't want to be empty on the inside.

Neal Shusterman

empty want

In short, there are mysteries of science and of soul that will never be understood no matter how hard we measure, no matter how strongly we believe, no matter how deep our think tanks and how high our aspirations. But as anyone will tell you—for we all know this within our hearts—the impossible happens and grand cosmic mysteries are solved on a regular basis, although most of the time the solutions lead to even greater mysteries.

Neal Shusterman

heart believe thinking

I came running down the stairs that morning, like it was Christmas. My parents were already up. In my family, presents never waited; they were there upon waking. Our family has a problem with what they called delayed gratification. We want what we want when we want it, and we always want it now.

Neal Shusterman

parent running morning

Teenage rebellion is for suburban schoolchildren. Get over it.

Neal Shusterman

over-it rebellion teenage

I can't destroy things so beautiful." "Time will destroy them if you don't. Time destroys everything. But if you destroy them, it will mean something.

Neal Shusterman

ifs beautiful mean

There's a quickening of her heart when she sees him. She tells herself it's anger.

Neal Shusterman

quickening heart

Walls don't fall without effort.

Neal Shusterman

wall effort fall

The thing was, if I had found a way to escape- even for just a little while- I knew the pain would be there waiting for me when I got back.

Neal Shusterman

pain would-be waiting

Lord, if what I'm doing is wrong, then by all means strike me down. Otherwise set me free.

Neal Shusterman

strikes lord mean

We want what you no longer want.

Neal Shusterman

want

Hayden shouts, "To the new Teen Uprising!

Neal Shusterman

uprising

How many kids are in the Graveyard?" "A bunch." "Who sends your supplies?" "George Washington. Or is it Abraham Lincoln? I forget." "How often do you receive new arrivals?" "About as often as you beat your wife.

Neal Shusterman

wife forget kids

All this time, Lev ever realized what he needed. He did not need to be adored or pitied. He needed to be forgiven. Not by God, who is all forgiving. Not by people like Marcus and Pastor Dan, who would always stand by his side. He needed to be forgiven by an unforgiving world.

Neal Shusterman

forgiving people needs

Because if their own parents didn't care enough about them to keep them, who would want them in Heaven?

Neal Shusterman

care parent heaven