To Clutch a Razor (Curse Bearer, #2)

by Veronica Roth

Dymitr chose this coffee shop because it has two exits.

Ala stabs at her soup with her spoon, even though it’s an ineffectual tool for stabbing.

“Hey,” Niko says. “Are you all right?” Dymitr nods, and Niko studies him for a moment—his eyes are closed, his brow furrowed. “I don’t believe you,” Niko says.

It feels like finding a spot on an apple, he thinks. You hope that you can just slice it away and still eat the rest of the fruit. But then you discover the flesh is brown all the way to the wormy core.

Elza’s grandmother straightens, becoming Joanna Myśliwiec all at once.

Every memory he has here is a horror, even the good ones.

Baba Jaga likes to go for walks on summer nights in Chicago. Even she isn’t immune to the charms of this time of year.

“I’d like to be entitled to you,” Dymitr replies. “Is that all right?”