Small Spaces (Small Spaces, #1)

by Katherine Arden

The rain slanted across the glass. It was like looking into an aquarium. Maybe, Ollie thought, they all really lived underwater, like merpeople, but didn’t know it, because to them water was just like air.

You might get to know characters in books, Ollie thought, but getting to know a human was an entirely different thing.

Even bad things can lead to good. Maybe in sad times, it helps to think of that.”

Wherever you go in this big, gorgeous, hideous world, there is a ghost story waiting for you.

“Why scarecrows then?” He shrugged. “No one notices them in the sunlit world. They have hands; they are useful. They can be my eyes and my ears, and since they are neither flesh nor spirit, they can be my doorway.” He grinned. “Also they are frightening, and I do love that.”