Mislaid in Parts Half-Known (Wayward Children, #9)

by Seanan McGuire

“If we all paid for everything we’d done, there’d be nothing left in all the worlds but debtors’ prisons.” Sumi yanked on his hand again. “We’re your penance, silly, the whole chaotic bunch of us, and as part of your penance, I say you’re not done suffering us yet.

“Not wanting to look at a thing doesn’t make it not so; it just makes it so the thing can lurk and loom and leap out when you don’t expect it. If you want a life without terrible surprises, you should always look at the worst possible answer until you understand it all the way down to the bottom. Once you can do that, you’ll know what’s coming, even if you’ll never learn to like it.”

“I don’t think we get second chances with our own injuries,” said Sumi. “All we can really do is try to clean up all the broken glass before someone else gets there.”