Beneath the Sugar Sky (Wayward Children, #3)

by Seanan McGuire

Everything did, if left long enough to its own devices. Futures, pasts, it didn’t matter. Everything fell apart.

“A cake’s a cake, whether or not it’s been frosted,” said the stranger primly. “You are not a cake, you are a human being, and I can see your vagina,” snapped Nadya. The stranger shrugged. “It’s a nice one. I’m not ashamed of it.”

“You were a mermaid, weren’t you? That’s what Nadya said.” “I still am,” said Cora. “I just have my scales under my skin for now.” Christopher smiled, a little lopsided. “Funny. That’s where I keep my bones.”

Cheating was always a matter of perspective, and of who was giving out the grades.)

Sometimes that’s all you can do. Just keep getting through until you don’t have to do it anymore, however much time that takes, however difficult it is.”

(And even though she wanted to, she never wanted to. If the fat person was the first one to say “hey, I’m tired” or “hey, I’m hungry” or “hey, can we sit down,” it was always because they were fat, and not because they were a human being with a flesh body that sometimes had needs.

“Nobody promised me a happy ending. They didn’t even promise me a happy existence.”

There is kindness in the world, if we know how to look for it. If we never start denying it the door.