Never Fade (The Darkest Minds, #2)

by Alexandra Bracken

I used to dream about turning back time, about reclaiming the things I’d lost and the person I used to be. But not anymore.

“I don’t want to just see someone’s face; I want to know his shadow, too.”

“You were the gawky one,” he corrected, “Lee was the reckless one, Zu was the cute one, and I was the wise one.”

“And people like you are the reason we have middle fingers.”

And we would be leaving together. Today.

I was still broken and would always be—but now, at least, I was piecing myself back together, lining up one jagged edge at a time.

“Sometimes you’re the one speeding along in a panic, doing too much, not paying attention, wrecking things you don’t mean to. And sometimes life just happens to you, and you can’t dodge it. It crashes into you because it wants to see what you’re made of.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Chubs said, “apparently the middle of my sentence interrupted the beginning of yours. Do continue.”

“I love you.” He turned toward me, that agonized expression still on his face. “I love you every second of every day, and I don’t understand why, or how to make it stop—”

“Life isn’t fair,” I said. “It’s taken me a while to get that. It’s always going to disappoint you in some way or another. You’ll make plans, and it’ll push you in another direction. You will love people, and they’ll be taken away no matter how hard you fight to keep them. You’ll try for something and won’t get it. You don’t have to find meaning in it; you don’t have to try to change things. You just have to accept the things that are out of your hands and try to take care of yourself. That’s your job.”

“Give ’em hell, darlin’.” “And for the love of God, bitch, don’t get stabbed this time!” Vida added.